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I moved back to Cincinnati after living in both the San Francisco area and Orange County California. While visiting a friend in Cincinnati I got acquainted with Prospect Hill. I immediately fell in love with the area and purchased a building on Cumber St. This was in 1998 and it was one of the best decisions I've e ever made. My wife and I had a little girl in 2005 and wouldn't think of living anywhere else. Some people in the burbs think it is odd to raise a child where we do based on their ignorance of the area. We car pool to school with a neighbor who also has a 6 year old. She has two other friends ages 4 and 6 just two houses down in the other direction. We have friends in the neighborhood that we see almost every weekend. We walk to our entertainment. The new casino is close enough to walk to but far enough not to annoy us. We have one of the best view of the city. We have passes to the zoo, union terminal, and also walk to the Taft museum, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati Art Museum and Krohn Conservatory. We play in Eden Park, Friendship Park and soon the newly renovated Washington Park. If we need groceries we have 4 options...Findlay Market, Clifton Kroger, OTR (Kroger) which is actually clean and safe, and the recently built Kroger in Newport which is a 5 minute drive. There are still some dangerous spots in the city...but it's the city! As a city dweller you know where to go and where not to go and at what time. It's no problem for us. I can't say enough about this neighborhood and I think it is worth checking out.
I moved back to Cincinnati after living in both the San Francisco area and Orange County California. While visiting a friend in Cincinnati I got acquainted with Prospect Hill. I immediately fell in love with the area and purchased a building on Cumber St. This was in 1998 and it was one of the best decisions I've e ever made. My wife and I had a little girl in 2005 and wouldn't think of living anywhere else. Some people in the burbs think it is odd to raise a child where we do based on their ignorance of the area. We car pool to school with a neighbor who also has a 6 year old. She has two other friends ages 4 and 6 just two houses down in the other direction. We have friends in the neighborhood that we see almost every weekend. We walk to our entertainment. The new casino is close enough to walk to but far enough not to annoy us. We have one of the best view of the city. We have passes to the zoo, union terminal, and also walk to the Taft museum, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati Art Museum and Krohn Conservatory. We play in Eden Park, Friendship Park and soon the newly renovated Washington Park. If we need groceries we have 4 options...Findlay Market, Clifton Kroger, OTR (Kroger) which is actually clean and safe, and the recently built Kroger in Newport which is a 5 minute drive. There are still some dangerous spots in the city...but it's the city! As a city dweller you know where to go and where not to go and at what time. It's no problem for us. I can't say enough about this neighborhood and I think it is worth checking out.
Yours is definitely a glowing recommendation of the area and even more important due to it is personal experience. The fact you have found compatible families with kids close by is just great. This is what you look for when raising families. But please, when you talk about the suburbs, loose the word ignorance. Lack of knowledge, out of touch, these are all fine. But ignorance carries a different connotation. Best of wishes to you in the future, and may it be a long term situation.
I moved back to Cincinnati after living in both the San Francisco area and Orange County California. While visiting a friend in Cincinnati I got acquainted with Prospect Hill. I immediately fell in love with the area and purchased a building on Cumber St. This was in 1998 and it was one of the best decisions I've e ever made. My wife and I had a little girl in 2005 and wouldn't think of living anywhere else. Some people in the burbs think it is odd to raise a child where we do based on their ignorance of the area. We car pool to school with a neighbor who also has a 6 year old. She has two other friends ages 4 and 6 just two houses down in the other direction. We have friends in the neighborhood that we see almost every weekend. We walk to our entertainment. The new casino is close enough to walk to but far enough not to annoy us. We have one of the best view of the city. We have passes to the zoo, union terminal, and also walk to the Taft museum, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati Art Museum and Krohn Conservatory. We play in Eden Park, Friendship Park and soon the newly renovated Washington Park. If we need groceries we have 4 options...Findlay Market, Clifton Kroger, OTR (Kroger) which is actually clean and safe, and the recently built Kroger in Newport which is a 5 minute drive. There are still some dangerous spots in the city...but it's the city! As a city dweller you know where to go and where not to go and at what time. It's no problem for us. I can't say enough about this neighborhood and I think it is worth checking out.
No doubt you knew my relatives Bob and Tina D. who lived on Cumber.
Look, Prospect Hill is very interesting. Great views. But, there is really not much in walking distance and there are only a very small number of houses up there.
I think Pendleton is the potential crown jewel of the city.
I moved back to Cincinnati after living in both the San Francisco area and Orange County California. While visiting a friend in Cincinnati I got acquainted with Prospect Hill. I immediately fell in love with the area and purchased a building on Cumber St. This was in 1998 and it was one of the best decisions I've e ever made. My wife and I had a little girl in 2005 and wouldn't think of living anywhere else. Some people in the burbs think it is odd to raise a child where we do based on their ignorance of the area. We car pool to school with a neighbor who also has a 6 year old. She has two other friends ages 4 and 6 just two houses down in the other direction. We have friends in the neighborhood that we see almost every weekend. We walk to our entertainment. The new casino is close enough to walk to but far enough not to annoy us. We have one of the best view of the city. We have passes to the zoo, union terminal, and also walk to the Taft museum, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati Art Museum and Krohn Conservatory. We play in Eden Park, Friendship Park and soon the newly renovated Washington Park. If we need groceries we have 4 options...Findlay Market, Clifton Kroger, OTR (Kroger) which is actually clean and safe, and the recently built Kroger in Newport which is a 5 minute drive. There are still some dangerous spots in the city...but it's the city! As a city dweller you know where to go and where not to go and at what time. It's no problem for us. I can't say enough about this neighborhood and I think it is worth checking out.
Before we were married my wife lived in Prospect Hill for six years, and I effectively lived there on weekends when I was living in Tennessee, so I know the neighborhood very well. It met our needs very well when we were single and had no plans for a family. As a neighborhood for kids it does not stack up very well. That is why the demographics of the area are what they are, and why there is such high turnover.
Before we were married my wife lived in Prospect Hill for six years, and I effectively lived there on weekends when I was living in Tennessee, so I know the neighborhood very well. It met our needs very well when we were single and had no plans for a family. As a neighborhood for kids it does not stack up very well. That is why the demographics of the area are what they are, and why there is such high turnover.
Hi CG,
Though I appreciate your perspective, it seems that you keep re-telling this story over and over. I was curoius when you last spent significant time in Prospect Hill, because just this week, I could tell the demographics of the neighborhood are changing rather rapidly.
I was driving down Boal toward Sycamore the other night to drop off some dry cleaning, and I slowly passed those brand new houses at the bottom of Boal (I always go slow down the hill)...the ones with the big "bay" windows in front that are right above their respective garages. I think there are four of these units (could be five). Anyway, it was dark out, and all of these units had their lights on and curtains open and I caught a glimpse of young family in the big "bay" window sitting down eating dinner. There were two children there sitting with their parents...probably around 4 or 5 years old. Could have been twins.
Anyway, the anecdote is to illustrate that it seems to me that more young familes are moving into Prospect Hill recently. I have seen other children and their parents out around Milton and Boal recently. Anyone else notice this besides Jeffrey?
Different parents have different priorities, but I don't think it's unreasonable to think that Prospect Hill would not meet many parents' requirements. Not if those requirements include things like a good public school system, a neighborhood where kids can circulate freely on foot among friends' houses, or reasonable size yards that can accommodate a swing set or other outdoor play activities.
Not a slam on parenting in Prospect Hill--you certainly could make it work--just pointing out what it seems to me ought to be abundantly obvious.
Different parents have different priorities, but
Not a slam on parenting in Prospect Hill--you certainly could make it work--just pointing out what it seems to me ought to be abundantly obvious.
I'm raising my son in Clifton Heights and I am not alone. I have no front yard and the tiniest of backyards. My son has many friends and when we need a swing set we goto one of the very excellent parks nearby - Bellvue or Fairview. My son goes to an excellent daycare within walking distance and he is enrolled to start in SCPA in the fall. We are perfectly happy and if we do move it will be downtown or Prospect Hill. I know you aren't slamming anyone or thing. I'm just saying not all parents feel a backyard or more suburban setting is desirable. But then I am a former New Yorker and have concrete flowing in my veins.
Though I appreciate your perspective, it seems that you keep re-telling this story over and over. I was curoius when you last spent significant time in Prospect Hill, because just this week, I could tell the demographics of the neighborhood are changing rather rapidly.
I am not surprised the neighborhood demographics are changing. There seemed to be a lot of momentum building up in the neighborhood the last few years we were there. We were living on Milton Street near the intersection with Mansfield by the way, and my wife lived there between September 2003 and when we got married in 2009, and we were dating that entire time.
We didn't leave the neighborhood because we hated it, and in fact we talk about how we miss it sometimes. The fact is the location was no longer convenient for our married lifestyle as it was for our dating lifestyle. While downtown is a 'central' location for many people, it is not for us. My parents live in Kennedy Heights and hers live on the west side, and most of our best friends are scattered through Oakley, Hyde Park, Pleasant Ridge and Blue Ash. Since neither of us work downtown and we rarely go out to eat, there was no real motivation to stay in Prospect Hill.
While I don't feel that Prospect Hill was unsafe, it is a completely different feel from where we are now. In the six years we were there, we had our cars broken into and ransacked a half dozen times, a burglary occurred in another unit of her building, and I witnessed a heroin user pass out at the wheel and crash into my wife's roomate's car. I ran to the door to help him out until I saw the needle and called the police. The incident bothered my wife a lot more than me. Also, a tenant in the apartment across the street was a drug dealer(friendly guy, though), and he drove a Cadillac riddled with bullet holes that was always parked directly in front of our building.
I also find that different things make me happy now as opposed to then. The past few years my main social life (outside of family) in non winter months has been our monthly grill outs or dinner parties where we invite our friends over and their kids/dogs run around in the yard while the adults eat good food (often made from ingredients grown in the garden)and drink homebrewed beer (couldn't brew in the condo because my wife is sensitive to the odors) on the back deck or around the fire pit.
I also love riding my bicycle to work in the summer time. I felt the Prospect Hill area was a deathtrap for cyclists. Riding up Reading Road or Auburn Ave could be a real nightmare, and Clifton can be a nightmare during rush hour. Now I can ride to work almost exclusively on residential side streets. In a similar case, I also like to walk my dog about three miles a day minimum, divided up between a morning and evening walk. For most of the year, this is in the dark. I would not feel safe walking that much in the Prospect Hill area, not because of crime, but because of the traffic crossing Liberty St..
Although it is physically close, the walk from Milton to the Main St. entertainment district was not really a pleasant walk. Drivers are in a hurry, and they are not really concerned with pedestrians. This is in stark contrast to our current neighborhood, where most cars that pass me on our daily walks recognize me and wave, and the ones that don't slow down to a crawl, even on a wide street, so that they leave 5 yards of clearance between their vehicle and me.
I don't want to come across as ripping on Prospect Hill, because it is incredibly convenient to downtown, Clifton and Mt. Adams, the architecture is beautiful, the neighbors were mostly pretty cool people, and if an urban lifestyle suits you, it can provide a great experience. Still, I tried to illustrate why it was not for me, and I would imagine that my particular sentiments are not all that rare. As we have gotten older, I have watched MANY friends move from Clifton in their early 20's to downtown/Mt. Adams/Northside in their mid twenties/early thirties and then buy a house somewhere more suburban when they get married or have kids. I don't think that I am being too controversial when I say that a neighborhood like Prospect Hill has more to offer to the average young professional than the average young family.
Last edited by Chemistry_Guy; 02-24-2012 at 09:47 AM..
I've noticed an increase in families on the hill in the past few years for sure. Even more telling is that I've seen families with young kids moving here, not just people who already lived here and had kids. With the Milton/Boal playground and park central to everyone I don't see what more you'd need. I know people that takes there kids up the Young st steps to Filsom park as well. I feel like the fact that theyve now started showing family movies in the park show that there are more families here than have been in recent memory.
I don't think that I am being too controversial when I say that a neighborhood like Prospect Hill has more to offer to the average young professional than the average young family.
Not controversial at all, it's simply your perspective and it should be appreciated. It's really a case of different strokes. I am middle aged with a young child and you couldn't give me a place in the suburbs. It's just not for me. But again, I am a city person. Many folks who prefer subutban or even rural living seem to be of the opinion that urban living is sort of a passing faze for young people. While that may hold true for some there are MILLIONS of people in cities all over our country who are born, raised, and live their entire lives in inner cities. Many of them much more dense urban than Cincinnati.
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