Long Time Residents of Cincinnati: How has Cincinnati changed over the past few decades? (Dayton: transplants)

[SMF575]

I'm not from Cincinnati, but I visit a lot and it seems like a cool, up and coming city. Recently, I've done some research and learned Downtown used to be dead, that OTR used to be the one of the most dangerous areas in the country and there were riots back in the early 2000s. I know that the city has undergone a lot of changes but in what about the metro area? In what other ways has the city changed and how has the metro area changed over the past 20 years or so? What are some major differences that you've noticed today vs 20 or 30 years ago (For example) in terms of the economy, politics, diversity, population, social aspects, quality of life, things to do, etc. Do you think the Cincinnati area is better or worse today and why? I've heard that the city and metro area used to be very segregated. How has that changed?

[robertbrianbush]

Originally Posted by SMF575

I'm not from Cincinnati, but I visit a lot and it seems like a cool, up and coming city. Recently, I've done some research and learned Downtown used to be dead, that OTR used to be the one of the most dangerous areas in the country and there were riots back in the early 2000s. I know that the city has undergone a lot of changes but in what about the metro area? In what other ways has the city changed and how has the metro area changed over the past 20 years or so? What are some major differences that you've noticed today vs 20 or 30 years ago (For example) in terms of the economy, politics, diversity, population, social aspects, quality of life, things to do, etc. Do you think the Cincinnati area is better or worse today and why? I've heard that the city and metro area used to be very segregated. How has that changed?

New Reds and Bengals stadiums with a soccer stadium on the way. Cincinnati was awarded a major league soccer expansion team this week.
Underground Railroad Museum. A GE Global Operations Center with thousands of employees. A new tallest skyscraper. Renovation of the old passenger station is underway.
Redesign of the downtown freeway system
Lots of growth in the area between Dayton and Cincinnati during that time. The two metro areas are merging.
Also a lot of new developments across the river...the Newpot Aquarium, Newport on the Lever, etc

[agreen9189]

Originally Posted by SMF575

I'm not from Cincinnati, but I visit a lot and it seems like a cool, up and coming city. Recently, I've done some research and learned Downtown used to be dead, that OTR used to be the one of the most dangerous areas in the country and there were riots back in the early 2000s. I know that the city has undergone a lot of changes but in what about the metro area? In what other ways has the city changed and how has the metro area changed over the past 20 years or so? What are some major differences that you've noticed today vs 20 or 30 years ago (For example) in terms of the economy, politics, diversity, population, social aspects, quality of life, things to do, etc. Do you think the Cincinnati area is better or worse today and why? I've heard that the city and metro area used to be very segregated. How has that changed?

Well Im 28 and has lived most of my life in Cincinnati, Like you stated downtown was a hot mess before they gentrified alot of it, I remember the riots, I was really young but we had a curfew when we had to be in our homes, it happened when this guy I think his name was Timothy Thomas was killed by the CPD. Its much nicer now and very diverse alot of people have started to move closer towards the city now that its been updated. Im not entirely sure about economy to be honest, but in my opinion the cost of living has gotten higher and I think they should upgrade the minimum wage here.

Politics is 50/50, depending on what part of town your in during elections you saw just as many Hilary posters as Trump posters, with Ohio being a swing state, its honestly a mix (until you get out the city limits)

As far as Segregation its not as big as it was, I see white, Black, Brown everywhere. Of course some parts of town will have more white people in it, but the city in itself is diverse, Especially Clifton area where UC is located .

The only difference I've really seen is time, Time changes everything. What it was 20 years ago it isnt now, just based off things changing in society and in life.

[Natidaddy]

The city is starting to suck !!! I've noticed that most white people love the changes because it don't effect thier lives . Gentrification is destroying culture and history .Think about it , why would they put a freaking soccer team in a historical black neighborhood? . a lost city smh

[Nomomo07]

Originally Posted by Natidaddy

The city is starting to suck !!! I've noticed that most white people love the changes because it don't effect thier lives . Gentrification is destroying culture and history .Think about it , why would they put a freaking soccer team in a historical black neighborhood? . a lost city smh

Well this is a perspective with which I simply cannot agree. I've spent the vast majority of my life living in Cincinnati and the Cincinnati area. It is far more appealing to the average citizen today than it has been at any time in decades. What you call gentrification, others call renaissance. I am not one to gloss over the fact that their have indeed been missed opportunities for mixed-income development in many areas around town. That alone, however, does not negate the fact that many of these same areas are experiencing unprecedented levels of safety and new development. Yes, there should be an emphasis on maintaining neighborhood identities, but if your only way to do so is to continue self-enforced segregation in our communities than I am certainly not interested in your approach. Keeping poor communities predominately poor does not help anybody, nor will it help to increase the city's tax coffers that directly provide many of the essential services the poor rely upon. My family is by no means wealthy and we live in the working class community of Kennedy Heights. Do I qualify as one of the hated gentrifiers because I happen to be white and living in a neighborhood that is 75%+ black?

[ABQConvict]

Originally Posted by Natidaddy

The city is starting to suck !!! I've noticed that most white people love the changes because it don't effect thier lives . Gentrification is destroying culture and history .Think about it , why would they put a freaking soccer team in a historical black neighborhood? . a lost city smh

Why would a soccer field in a black neighborhood be an affront?

[blickcd]

I remember when Oakley and Norwood were blue collar areas. I rented half of a two-family house in Oakley for a reasonable rate and played with some bands in a number of biker bars in Norwood. Good times, but they are gone.


Today both areas are overrun with yuppies. I can't afford to buy a house in Oakley, the rent on my old place is probably equal to my mortgage payment in the Milford area, and of course those rowdy biker bars in Norwood have been closed for years. They might all be Starbucks now.

[Chemistry_Guy]

Demographics have changed a lot since the 70's. You don't tend to see the big catholic families with 8+ kids filling out the big houses in the city anymore. Instead, you have a lot of affluent DINKs or young professionals with one or two young kids rattling around in the single family homes while the less affluent typically rent. As a result, there are a lot less kids playing outside and on the streets in the single family house dominated city neighborhoods. This might be universally the case around Cincinnati, but I know it is true from my own experience as well as my wife's in city neighborhoods like Madisonville, Oakley, Kennedy Heights, Mt. Lookout, Hyde Park, and East Walnut Hills on the East side and Westwood, Price Hill, and Western Hills on the West.

A lot of the people my age (late 30's) who have deep roots in Cincinnati have grandparents who lived in the inner city, parents who lived in the peripheral city neighborhoods or inner ring suburbs, and now live outside of 275 in places like(going clockwise) Harrison, West Chester, Mason, Loveland, Milford, Anderson, and Northern Kentucky. The city neighborhoods have a lot of transplants and children of transplants, while I'd bet that the majority of people living in the subdivisions off of I-74 around the Rybolt and Harrison exits have grandparents or great-grandparents who lived within 3 miles of downtown Cincinnati. Migration mostly flows into the city and longtime residents flow outward. This has changed individual neighborhoods a lot, but the families have not changed much other than their location and number of kids. The families and culture that you see now in westside places like Cleves are very similar to what was going on in Western Hills 40 years ago and the eastside culture that was in Madisonville and Oakley is now out in Anderson and Clermont County.

[Misfit Toy]

Within city limits, OTR, Oakley, and other places have undergone big transformations in the last few decades. Cincinnati is gradually becoming seen as a desirable place to live, partly due to Cincinnati's attributes, but also because more people are starting to question how much better off they would really be in bigger, more "hip" and more costly areas like SF, Portland and so on.

Within the tri-state in general, it's good to see places like Covington and Newport starting to have their own rebounds. However, several of the older suburbs closer to Cincinnati (North College Hill, parts of Colerain Twp., etc.) seem to be in worse shape than 20-30 years ago.

The opioid epidemic has changed things alot too. I grew up in a small town in the tri-state. If heroin was around there 30 plus years ago, I never saw it. Now it's everywhere.

[Misfit Toy]

Another thing...I can't say this is an actual long-term change to Cincinnati as it hasn't happened yet. But I'd bet if Hamilton County had to vote this year on whether to approve a sales tax for a Bengals stadium, it wouldn't pass. Back in the '90s, such a tax passed by a pretty big margin.