Why Are Natives So Negative? (Cleveland, Cincinnati: home, neighborhood, tax)

[Ohiogirl81]

Originally Posted by TomJones123

Perhaps criticism w/o giving credit where it's due devolves into negativity. Just a thought.

Or without any thought to constructive and/or meaningful change at all. At least you get it.

Many in Cincinnati don't; they take a suggestion or a criticism -- even a well-thought out one -- as a personal affront. Having to deal with such hypersensitivity on a daily basis can make one ... negative.

[TomJones123]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

Many in Cincinnati don't; they take a suggestion or a criticism -- even a well-thought out one -- as a personal affront. Having to deal with such hypersensitivity on a daily basis can make one ... negative.

There does seem to be a lot of that here, IMO.

[deg1114]

There are jerks everywhere and if you want to pick apart jerks in each city, I can show you some Steeler fans or Red Sox fans. But, I would not say an entire city is represented by these jerks. I have met some very nice people in Philadelphia so I can't say that the citizens of Philly are jerks.

But each city has them, does anyone remember this article from the 2010 NLCS when the Reds played the Phillies?

Touch 'Em All: This Philadelphian has some issues with Cincinnati - Philly.com

This guy is indeed a jerk but I would not say that he represented the entire city. It's too bad that the comments are no longer with the article because there were so many Philadelphians who apologized for this article and said nothing but good things about Cincinnati.

Originally Posted by SoFresh99

I also think it s about context. You have a difficult time appreciating what you have if you have not spent time living away from it as well. Even as a teenager I observed that "everybody always comes back." It seemed so strange, like there was a gravitational pull that people/families/adults could not escape. So I thought "heck no, not me, I'm never coming back." Now I am the adult with many years of living elsewhere under my belt, and we are trying to move back. Every single one of my friends who "made it out" has chosen to return. I can't explain it, certainly family has something to do with it, but that's not it entirely in the situations I can observe.

There is a stigma to the small midwestern cities that makes outsiders hesitate to move there, which can keep costs low and many gems secret. Which is what people are able to observe once they do their time in Chicago/Boston/LA, etc.

Well said. I was only a teen when I moved back with my family. I didn't realize it at the time of moving back but as I grew older, I realized that this is where I want to live.

[unusualfire]

Negativity happens when things don't go THEIR way. They maybe single and can't find a mate and do things together. Nothing wrong with the city. It just maybe be something is wrong with you(whoever) and you try to take your frustrations out on everyone else.

[Ohiogirl81]

Lest I be branded a Negative Nellie , let me say that these pro-Cincinnati ads during the tennis tournament are pretty darn fabulous. Western and Southern must be shelling out some big bucks these days.

Where was all this money when I was asking them to sponsor fundraising events? For cute little underprivileged children, even?

Oops ...

As for SEPTA ... the conductors on the trains are helpful, but everyone else? Argh. Come to think of it, a lot of the drivers I encountered on my days riding the Metro could be pretty cranky. Must be the nature of the job.

Philadelphia is an awesome city, but it's just too big for me, too crowded, too dense. I'm starting to consider the possibility of fleeing back across the border, or at least close to it.

[neilworms2]

As for SEPTA ... the conductors on the trains are helpful, but everyone else? Argh. Come to think of it, a lot of the drivers I encountered on my days riding the Metro could be pretty cranky. Must be the nature of the job.

There are always a few rotten apples everywhere, but compared to my experiences with the CTA (in spite of a lot of issues they have themselves), its like night and day - there even is a guy who works at the station I get off of everyday for work now who literally greets everyone with a smile and good morning when we all leave the station. He's an extreme example in the other direction but I've yet to see anything that friendly on SEPTA (though of course I do live here and don't live there)...

[deg1114]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

As for SEPTA ... the conductors on the trains are helpful, but everyone else? Argh. Come to think of it, a lot of the drivers I encountered on my days riding the Metro could be pretty cranky. Must be the nature of the job.

I love how they still punch the tickets when you get on the train in Philly. Kind of takes you back in time to have a "train conductor" coming around and doing that.

I must say that I have never encountered a cranky Metro driver. All of the drivers I have spoke to are polite and very helpful. But everyone is allowed to have a bad day. I know I have more than my share of them. I'm just glad that my work is not customer service oriented.

[Briolat21]

Originally Posted by jlawrence01

Ever been to Detroit or ST. Louis?

When I attend NATIONAL conventions and ask tehm where they are from, they tell me the city that they live nearest to. People always tell me they are from Cincinnati rather than the suburb they are from ... except for Detroit and St. Louis.

People from the Detroit area will tell you that they are from Bloomfield Hills or Dearborn or Gross Pointe. If you say, so you are from Detroit? No!! I am from [insert name of suburb]. This is particularly true if they are caucasian.

When I lived in St. Louis, I threw a party for teh co-workers. The city people all showed up. The suburbanites did not.

Okay - I have to respond to this...

I grew up 15 minutes outside of Detroit, in a suburb that - unless you were from the Detroit area you would not know of - and when I went to college, attended symposia, etc... I told people I was from Detroit.

Because saying I was from my actual suburb would have no meaning. And that was very common.

In Chicago on the other hand, if someone from the suburbs identified themselves as being from the city they were derisively dismissed as being from Chicago-LAND. There the city sees itself as very superior to the 'burbs.

As far as people from Bloomfield Hills or Grosse Pointe calling out their city names - those are likely snobs darlin'. Those 'burbs have MOOOLAH and they wanted you to know that they have CASH. Bank.

Basically, they are better than the Detroit metro area in general.

My suburb was a middle class one, right next to the Grosse Pointes (there are 5, thanks, and anyone from the East Side should be able to name them). So identifying my particular suburb would have done nothing for me - other than confuse people who had never heard of it.


Now that I live here, I usually say "cinci", but sometimes my husband gets more specific and says we live in a speck of nowhere half way between Cinci and Dayton.

Of course then you're hoping the people you're talking to have actually heard of both Cinci and Dayton. Which isn't really always the case (outside of Military, Dayton isn't always well known).

[rrtechno]

I told someone once that our sons live just north of Cincinnati and they looked at me with a perfectly straight face and said, "That's near Cleveland, right?"

[WILWRadio]

I'd much rather live in a place like Cincinnati where you get people that will on occasion tell it like it is than Kanas City where people walk around and think and and act like this the place is flawlessly perfect. That kind of arrogance has led to in my own opinion, a very marginal quality of life in the KC region. Just a couple of examples: It seems to be a daily occurrence to see a major water main break in the area. I drive down countless numbers of streets that are being torn up to replace infrastructure that has deteriorated to the point of usefulness. Water rates are going to double here in the next year in order to compensate for the billions needed to repair the water system. And the violent crime here consistently rates the city in the top ten worst in the country. St. Louis is usually ranked as the worst. Yet, aside from talk radio which might deal with some of these issues you rarely hear local people get angry about a problem which essentially leads to non action or when action is taken, the damage is already done.

I think if someone is honest when they criticize an area and don't do it in a hostile manner then it can lead to a healthy dialog on more than one level. People that criticize often are frustrated with how some change may be needed to improve an aspect of the quality of life in a region and so they vent with the hope that someone will "listen" and perhaps it will lead to change. Others just like to gripe because they lead boring and meaningless lives. I try to ignore them. The squeaky wheel gets the grease on this issue.