Top 6 Things I Hate About Cincinnati (Columbus, Cleveland: work, health, housing)

[hillside]

Originally Posted by meatwhistle

Yeah, and how about Avondale? The dealers are raking in the BIG BUCKS there these days.....That's probably become the #1 pure slum in the Nati.

Oh I grew up in Avondale/Bond Hill, so I know all about THAT area....It's nuts out there no question.

[captaincatfish]

Originally Posted by hillside

Oh I grew up in Avondale/Bond Hill, so I know all about THAT area....It's nuts out there no question.

I moved to Cincy from Cleveland in 1998, stayed here for a year, then moved to Indy...I lived in the Glenmeadow Apartments on Seymour near Reading, and I kinda have fond memories of Bond Hill...got my hair cut at Sonny's (if I still have the name right LOL), got many, many take out meals at KFC, Richies, and what is now a Muslim fish place, I believe...watched more than a few movies at the Showcase, and ate many 3-ways and coneys at Gold Star near Tennessee Ave. My question to you though is this---has Bond Hill REALLY gotten that bad in a span of 10 years? I felt it was best to ask someone who was raised in the area, and I know you'll give me an honest answer...and feel free to correct me if I got any of those locations wrong...time tends to dim one's memory LOL

[Hartwell Girl]

Captaincatfish--Maybe I need to take my rose colored glasses off but I dont think Avondale and Bond Hill are that bad...even Walnut Hills. Unfortunately in the society we live in we hear about the bad things much more than the good. I know a lot of people who are very actively involved in many of the mentioned Cincinnati neighborhoods here but the great things going on in Avondale with The Community Pride center, Ceasefire, Avondale Youth Council. Bond Hill..same thing. Newly involved residents becoming involved in their neighborhood councils and being a part of addressing residents concerns instead of pointing fingers at the problems while shaking their heads. There are bad areas in most every neighborhood but having people involved in making a neighborhood safe is the deal breaker. In my opinion, more is being done by residents to revitalize our City than tear it down.

[hillside]

Originally Posted by captaincatfish

I moved to Cincy from Cleveland in 1998, stayed here for a year, then moved to Indy...I lived in the Glenmeadow Apartments on Seymour near Reading, and I kinda have fond memories of Bond Hill...got my hair cut at Sonny's (if I still have the name right LOL), got many, many take out meals at KFC, Richies, and what is now a Muslim fish place, I believe...watched more than a few movies at the Showcase, and ate many 3-ways and coneys at Gold Star near Tennessee Ave. My question to you though is this---has Bond Hill REALLY gotten that bad in a span of 10 years? I felt it was best to ask someone who was raised in the area, and I know you'll give me an honest answer...and feel free to correct me if I got any of those locations wrong...time tends to dim one's memory LOL

Naw, you got all of the hometown spots right, no doubt you're familiar . I have fond memories of Bond Hill too...it's a nostalgic place for me no matter what but crime is out of control out there. It was bad enough back then, but nowadays these kids don't care. They'll shoot you for nothing more than a pair of tennis shoes, if that. And I disagree with HartwellGirl, Avondale, Bond Hill, Walnut Hills and Evanston are all bad areas. I was in Walnut Hills and seen the madness out there on McMillan, Gilbert and Victory on Friday. There are lots of things located in those areas that serve the city, but as far as crime, it is VERY dangerous out there. I was on the westside and in Northside this week and it looked worse than I remember out there. Businesses were lively (in Northside) but the neighborhoods looked bad, espescially Fairmount.

[captaincatfish]

Originally Posted by hillside

Naw, you got all of the hometown spots right, no doubt you're familiar . I have fond memories of Bond Hill too...it's a nostalgic place for me no matter what but crime is out of control out there. It was bad enough back then, but nowadays these kids don't care. They'll shoot you for nothing more than a pair of tennis shoes, if that. And I disagree with HartwellGirl, Avondale, Bond Hill, Walnut Hills and Evanston are all bad areas. I was in Walnut Hills and seen the madness out there on McMillan, Gilbert and Victory on Friday. There are lots of things located in those areas that serve the city, but as far as crime, it is VERY dangerous out there. I was on the westside and in Northside this week and it looked worse than I remember out there. Businesses were lively (in Northside) but the neighborhoods looked bad, espescially Fairmount.

LOL...I'm glad I had my locations right...and speaking of right, you were on the money about the areas you spoke of...it's like Dodge City in certain parts of Cincy, and when my wife and I roll into town from the North (Middletown, to be exact LOL), I ALWAYS tell her to roll up the windows and be especially alert in those areas---and this is in BROAD DAYLIGHT! For example, I like Northside---it has a kinda funky, Bohemian vibe to it that appeals to me, but you couldn't pay my wife to live there...I'm always advocating maybe moving closer to the city so that we can take advantage of the stuff there is to do, but her idea of 'closer' is West Chester...I used to go to the main library downtown, and Alabama's shoulda given me a Gold Card, for all the fish I used to eat there LOL...Rachel's in Roselawn has great food too, but last time we went there for carry-out, the knuckleheads were shooting and carrying on in that Sunoco (or is it Shell) on Seymour, and we broke camp REAL quick and got back on 75 North...I like the city proper, I like its' vibe in a lot of ways, but your assessment of the 'bad areas' is dead-on, because you speak with the authority of a native, someone who is in or around those areas every day, and has seen certain things up close and personal.

[Igor1977]

Originally Posted by jersey_too_expensive

Sorry, I'm usually very positive, but during the past 14 months, the following have made the transition to life in Cincinnati more difficult than it ought to be:

1) You people can't drive. Really. Either you're racing past us at 100mph on the highway, or you're queuing up behind someone who's turning left -- and you sit there forever rather than going around them to the right. Either way, you almost never use your turn signals.

2) Speaking of turn signals: would it kill you to put some left-turn arrows at your major traffic light intersections? It is unbelievable how many busy intersections around here don't have such a simple and logical item.

3) Speaking of intersections: who is the genius that came up with the mess that is the Glenway/Crookshank/Boudinot/Glenhills Way "intersection"? What the heck were they thinking?

4) You haven't got a clue how to design a retail parking lot. There are either far too many or far too few spaces, no sense of traversal path, and where there are paths, poorly marked lane lines.

5) Plow your streets! You want to build a streetcar system but you can't even maintain your existing roads and infrastructure!

6) Shovel your sidewalks! Where we come from, clearing your sidewalk (the portion in front of your residence) is the law. Here, 95% of the sidewalk is a sheet of ice/snow whenever such precipitation presents itself. Get outside and shovel!

OK, enough with the rant. Sorry, but I needed to get that out of the way. Been bugging me for a long time now.

Pretty much true. Move to Cleveland for Jersey type driving.

[hillside]

Originally Posted by captaincatfish

LOL...I'm glad I had my locations right...and speaking of right, you were on the money about the areas you spoke of...it's like Dodge City in certain parts of Cincy, and when my wife and I roll into town from the North (Middletown, to be exact LOL), I ALWAYS tell her to roll up the windows and be especially alert in those areas---and this is in BROAD DAYLIGHT! For example, I like Northside---it has a kinda funky, Bohemian vibe to it that appeals to me, but you couldn't pay my wife to live there...I'm always advocating maybe moving closer to the city so that we can take advantage of the stuff there is to do, but her idea of 'closer' is West Chester...I used to go to the main library downtown, and Alabama's shoulda given me a Gold Card, for all the fish I used to eat there LOL...Rachel's in Roselawn has great food too, but last time we went there for carry-out, the knuckleheads were shooting and carrying on in that Sunoco (or is it Shell) on Seymour, and we broke camp REAL quick and got back on 75 North...I like the city proper, I like its' vibe in a lot of ways, but your assessment of the 'bad areas' is dead-on, because you speak with the authority of a native, someone who is in or around those areas every day, and has seen certain things up close and personal.

no problem man. i enjoy someone interested in hearing the harsh realities for once . i think you were at sunoco, and yes, i'm not shocked. northside is a very cool area, but hot as i don't know what if you're talking about crime. i've been at the udf on chase and somebody started shooting outside. mallory is a good mayor and the city is trying, but it has serious problems. cinci has pockets of excellence, but for the 80% majority, it's a true ghetto and a tough place to live by all standards of measurement. guess i should wait for the posts to flow in on that one .

[Cle440]

Originally Posted by hillside

no problem man. i enjoy someone interested in hearing the harsh realities for once . i think you were at sunoco, and yes, i'm not shocked. northside is a very cool area, but hot as i don't know what if you're talking about crime. i've been at the udf on chase and somebody started shooting outside. mallory is a good mayor and the city is trying, but it has serious problems. cinci has pockets of excellence, but for the 80% majority, it's a true ghetto and a tough place to live by all standards of measurement. guess i should wait for the posts to flow in on that one .

Hillside, since you know a lot about Cincinnati and you asked me the same thing about Cleveland, do you have any pictures of the bad areas in Cincinnati? I have been to Cincinnati lots of times and been to almost every part of the city and a couple suburban areas. There is no doubt that there was some bad areas but I didnt see anything like as bad as you are talking about. I wouldnt say its anywhere near 80% true ghetto, Detroits not even 80% ghetto.

[hillside]

i gotta run now....but have you been to fairmount? geez it was bad i didn't remember it as a place with falling down buildings and piles of filth but it is there. east price hill going east to walnut hills and almost everything in between has real issues.

[Hartwell Girl]

First, the issue of the Mayor. He is not a good mayor, he doesnt do much and I have seen nothing from his office impact my neighborhood since he has been in office. He will not be reelected because most know how useless he is. Sorry, but I have strong opinions about that man since he acts like he does so much but in reality he is just reinventing things already in process and putting his name on it. I cant wait till his term is over and for his bodyguard to retire too.
As for this City, I stand behind my earlier post that this City is not as bad as people make it out to be. There are problem areas in ever City and neighborhood and Cincinnati is no different..shoot the entire state of Ohio is having a hard time right now with economics and the Cities are old but that does not mean they are so bad. I love the neighborhoods of Northside, Walnut Hills, Price Hill, Avondale etc. If a white woman can walk each of these neighborhoods by herself during the day or night, I dont understand the problem. These neighborhoods are making great strides on their streets to address crime and blight but it does not happen overnight. I have been to Avondale sitting at a stop light and a young teen acted like his hand was a gun and pointed at me...he was trying to intimade me but do I allow him to change my perception of the community...no.
When people stop pointing fingers and blaming areas for crime is when things will get better. Do you think my family which grew up in West Chester, have siblings and family which live in Milford, give me crap about me living in the City of CIncinnati? Heck no because they know they can either believe what they see "reported" on tv or me who lives in the neighborhood every day. There was a sheriffs helicopter flying over Hartwell for about a half an hour yesterday...I bet the folks in Wyoming were freaking out but it was NOT a Hartwell person. There was a foot persuit from an accident just NORTH of I-75 and it came into Hartwell...so Hartwell has to arrest records on our crime stats for March but no one from Hartwell. Do you see how this works? The biggest problem the City has is PERCEPTION....and I chose not to allow others perception to distort my facts.