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In Grand raids they recently did an investigation on many pan handlers. Though some are legit, many were found to work in shifts, live or have houses, or have major drug/alcohol addictions and they will say anything to get you to buy their story and most do not at all feel bad at what they are doing. Point being, use your best judgement, but understand often there is more reasons than unemployment that gets people a pan handling.
Monday, I had to go down to the Recorders office with a deed. I was accompanied by two people not used to the urban environment. As we left we took Court and went up Vine we were approached by an addict who looked like he had just got out of jail that morning. He approached with some sob panhandling story I've heard a million time before and I told him he was wasting his time.
He "invaded" our space , got increasingly belligerent and finally I had to turn , face him, let him see my 9 mm, and advise I had a permit to carry and would put him to the ground and sit on him until the police came... he immediately backed off., using every profanmity as he skulked away.
I can tell you having lived in Indy, Louisville KY, Charleston SC and several other major cities I have never been agressively approached by pan handlers.....Why?...because the police don't tolerate it. Cincinnati with its 'sanctuary city" mentality fosters the bad behavior and the police have been constrained by doing thier job after the riots, lest we 'offend' anyone.
This city "could" have a convention business and a real downtown if they would do the hard work and get these people out of here. If you want the city and OTR to be sucessful you have to make some tough decisions and frankly we are so "PC" our council is afraid to do anything, lest we upset the poverty pushers.
3CDC is doing a great job but the Police need to have the tools, (and support), to clean the trash out of the community.
RC, you've done amazing things over in South Fairmount, and Cincinnati is a stronger city with your efforts. I imagine you moved here when you saw the potential, as I did from Milwaukee 7 years ago...and while I agree with your general sentiment, I can't help but detect a disgruntled tone in your posts lately. I've noticed personally that accomplishing things in this city feels like an uphill battle most of the time, but in the end it makes our efforts stronger and longer lasting. As for changing the attitude of the police...keep telling them as I keep doing. I'm down at District 1 at least once per month school the officers. I've been pulled over on my bicycle three times now for doing perfectly legal things...like riding on the street. It's absurd. However, this city is on the uphill and will continue to move forward (unless a certain "West Sider...err Mt Lookout Resident" get elected. I have more faith in Sandra Queen Noble. Keep doing what you're doing, RC...but give yourself a break even if it's a short one.
As for the topic, I can understand a first time impression being negative as there's still some grit around the park. But I guarantee that if the OP were to come back next year, they'd notice improvement as we've all seen steadily over the last 7 years. As for 1127...I've always had a negative impression of the place because the owner was so vocal about his disdain for 3CDC a few years back. It seemed like he didn't want to see the neighborhood in a better place. In retrospect, I could see the sudden changes brought on by 3CDC being terrifying for a small business, but ultimately it could be quite lucrative if he's successful in renovations. I would LOVE to see a mixed income bar to counter the yuppie dens on Vine St. However, in order for that to be successful he needs to do a little PR blitz to up his local reputation.
Uh I don't live anywhere close to Miami, 3 and a half hours away in fact, so I wouldn't know too much about it. Poverty is much more evident in Cincinnati than it is in Florida from my experiences living in both places.
Are you kidding me, seriously your saying poverty is more in Cincinnati than florida, are you crazy? Florida is known for there Cuban, Haitian immigrants that come to there and live in shacks literally, even though I don't live in cincy any more I know that cincy has way less poverty than florida.
Are you kidding me, seriously your saying poverty is more in Cincinnati than florida, are you crazy? Florida is known for there Cuban, Haitian immigrants that come to there and live in shacks literally, even though I don't live in cincy any more I know that cincy has way less poverty than florida.
When the hell did I say that? I said poverty was more obvious in Cincinnati than in Florida, by a long shot. Use quotes so you know exactly what I said so you don't accidentally take out or add words out of what I said. As for more poverty, sure South Florida does. It has over twice the amount of population Cincinnati will ever have in it's greater region.
I said poverty was more obvious in Cincinnati than in Florida, by a long shot.
Actually, that's an accurate observation. Cincinnati ranks third in the nation for highest poverty rate, Miami is 5th (even though you were not talking about Miami).
You're still way more likely to get injured or die in a car accident. Being in a car on a suburban street is more dangerous than walking on a city sidewalk.
Not sure if anyone else has read Jeff Speck's book "Walkable City" but one of the most interesting lines comes when he is discussing people moving to the suburbs for the safety of their families.
From the book:
"Dr Jackson is famously fond of asking his audiences 'In what kind of community are you most likely to end up dead in a pool of blood?' He points to the work of Alan Durning, who analyzed the combined risk of dying from two causes -- traffic crashes and crime -- in Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver British Columbia. He found that, on average, if you add the two factors together you are 19% safe in the inner city than in the outer suburbs."
Granted, it is just one study of a few cities but I still thought it was interesting.
^ And that is when you factor in car accidents in the city, which wasn't part of the point I was making. Car movement and speed are more restricted in the city, which makes accidents there less dangerous -- even when considering the higher number of potential vehicle-pedestrian conflicts on city streets. The factor of vehicular speeds can't be understated when assessing the overall risk of being in a certain place. Cars are the biggest threat to our person, period, and speed kills is not just a cliche.
"Dr Jackson is famously fond of asking his audiences 'In what kind of community are you most likely to end up dead in a pool of blood?' He points to the work of Alan Durning, who analyzed the combined risk of dying from two causes -- traffic crashes and crime -- in Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver British Columbia. He found that, on average, if you add the two factors together you are 19% safe in the inner city than in the outer suburbs."
Vancouver shouldn't be included in those results, Canadian Cities for the most part have a lot less crime than american cities of similar size. The Vancouver metro is the same size as the Cincinnati metro, and when I was there the local news was going crazy over the 4th murder happening that year - I was there in August btw. :P This isn't a very scientific study for that reason.
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