My thoughts on Cincinnati: considering relocating (Columbus, Louisville: fit in, transplants, real estate)

[Barca_fan]

I moved to Cincinnati almost 2 years ago (for work) and I am currently considering moving to another part of the country. I wanted to share some of my thoughts on the city to see if anyone else (esp. young professionals who moved from other cities) had similar thoughts. I hope this is not taken the wrong way, as it is not my intention to hurt anyone's feeling.

Just to give you some perspective, I am a young professional working close to downtown and living in a trendier neighborhood of the city.

First of all, the things I like about Cincinnati: wonderful landscape (with the hills in Mt. Adams overlooking the Ohio river), neighborhoods like Hyde Park, Mt. Adams, Mt. Lookout, etc., moderate climate, some good restaurants (Wild Ginger, Ambar to name a few), Graeters ice-cream, world-class zoo, the Kenwood mall etc.

Now, the things I didn't like about Cincinnati:

* Level of cultural activities: there's some stuff going on in Cincinnati, but it's modest at best. The downtown is not as vibrant as it could have been. I don't usually see many people in downtown (even during this time of the year, I don't see many people around Fountain Square, which as I understand is the one of the focal points of the city). Or even in a place like Hyde Park square, which is considered one of the nicer areas here, there's not much to do apart from a few restaurants. The small park there is nice and Graeter's ice-cream is great, but there is little street life. My friends rate Newport (which is right across the river) highly but even that gets old after a few visits (and where are the people? even on weekend evenings, I don't see that many people). I've been looking for things to do around Christmas and 31st for the last 2 years but couldn't really find much to my liking. I spent 4 years in NYC and got a buzz just from seeing people walk on the street (instead of driving all the time), site-seeing, and watching something spontaneous happening on the streets. Cincinnati, on the other hand, is very spread out (you pretty much have to drive everywhere) and feels very suburban to me.

* A bit too conservative: I am not exactly a radical liberal, but most people I have met here are fairly conservative, and if you're not into the church scene, it may be a little hard to find people with similar interests (I am not criticizing the church scene or conservatives, I am simply stating that this is not my niche)

* Location: Other than Chicago, the other cities in the region (e.g. Indianapolis, Columbus, Louisville, etc.) are not very different from Cincinnati in my opinion. Flying out to one of the coasts is not a realistic option since flights out of CVG tend to be among the most expensive in the country. Amtrak service out of Cincinnati is very disappointing, and public transport within the city could have been better.

Every city has its pros and cons, and there are some people who like the city and some people who don't. I'm simply being honest in my assessment of the city as an outsider and I'm trying to see if there may be others (especially those who moved here from other parts of the country) who may feel the same way as I do.

[HuskerDu]

Just a quick question. Are you dating anyone or do you have a group of friends you've met and hang with since you moved here? I was kind of down on some of these same issues when I first moved to Cincinnati from Columbus by myself two years ago. Cincinnati can be difficult for a transplant to make friends with a group of people that are locals and have known each other for years, and probably even more difficult to find a date (at least for guys) when most locals seem to get married straight outta HS. Since my girlfriend and (now wife) finally moved here these issues are not really even important. Cincinnati has a lot of things to laugh at and some that are not very nice or exciting if you have lived in bigger cities but having friends or a significant other makes the less desirable things/people of any medium sized midwestern city seem less important. In short, you can have fun or be miserable anywhere you live. We decided to make our own fun and are actually starting to really dig it here.

Oh, it also helps if you drink lots.

[jlrosen]

"Cincinnati can be difficult for a transplant to make friends with a group of people that are locals and have known each other for years, and probably even more difficult to find a date (at least for guys) when most locals seem to get married straight outta HS."

Lots of people say this, but I have never found it to be the case

[Cincy-Rise]

Originally Posted by jlrosen

"Cincinnati can be difficult for a transplant to make friends with a group of people that are locals and have known each other for years, and probably even more difficult to find a date (at least for guys) when most locals seem to get married straight outta HS."

Lots of people say this, but I have never found it to be the case

I agree. Being married is weird because everyone is single ... no one can understand you or life without being married. It's just one of those weird things like having kids, etc.

I also disagree about the meeting people thing. Almost everyone I hang with in Cincy are people that I've never met before moving back here in '04. If you're outgoing, you'll meet people, especially if you have a job here.

[Barca_fan]

Just wanted to clarify that in my original post, I didn't imply it is difficult to meet people here - in fact, I've met some very nice people at work and in my neighborhood.

What I was trying to suggest is that I haven't found many people who share my interests. I also meant that I haven't found very many things to do here after checking out the main attractions of the city.

[HuskerDu]

Ok... chalk that one up as a big zero helper on my part. I just mistook the all around unsatisfied tone of the post as the same thing I experienced when not really giving myself a chance to fit in to a groove on my own here. I will probably be batting -1000 with this but we don't really have much in common with the horde of people that seem to gather at places like RP McMurphys, Kenwood Mall (that all wear North Face jackets... what is up with that??) or consider Newport anything more than a mall on the river with surrounding chain places, but there are some very cool things to do in various parts of the city. Have you checked out Northside or Clifton? There is also some serious people watching to be done around OTR and Mainstrasse.

Just trying to help.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by Barca_fan

* Location: Flying out to one of the coasts is not a realistic option since flights out of CVG tend to be among the most expensive in the country. Amtrak service out of Cincinnati is very disappointing, and public transport within the city could have been better.

Amtrak service is disappointing; the service to Chicago is generally three hours late. Megabus is a low cost alternative to Chicago only.

As for air service, the city fathers sold their soul to Delta and until the Delta monopoly is broken, rates out of Cincinnati will remain the HIGHEST in the nation (other than Anchorage, AK). However, let's be frank. Name one other city that has four alternative airports within a reasonable drive other than LA, Chicago and New York.

[Joe 4520832257]

I'm in kind of the same situation as you are/were. I'm a young professional who moved to Cincy in 2008. The jury is still out on Cincy for me. There are things I like and things I hate. The biggest reason I post on these forums is so I can learn as much as possible (and not have an excuse for not knowing about local activities and information)

- I disagree with you about downtown. There are plenty of reasons to bash Cincinnati, but downtown isn't one of them. Maybe downtown used to suck a few years ago, but it's perfectly reasonable right now. It sure isn't Chicago or New York, but it actually stacks up well against other American metros with 2 million-ish people. I'm not saying there isn't room for improvement, but it's not bad.

- I'm still trying to wrap my head around the "conservative" thing (I even made a thread about it) since Cincy has a pretty even Right/Left split, which I think is kind of good. However, I certainly hate Cincinnati's overwhelming provincialism. I'm already getting really sick of local obsessions with really stupid traditions. Just because it's local doesn't mean it's any good!!! Sometimes I just want to shout that from the rooftops. When the entire rest of the country only understands "cornhole" to mean "anus" it takes a really special kind of oblivious provincialism to continue using it as the name of a family activity.

- I also have to disagree with you on the food. I've had extremely bad luck finding tolerable asian food. In fact, Wild Ginger was one of the many places where I overpaid for a "spicy" dish that was totally bland. If anyone wants to message me with suggestions, I'd be grateful.

Then there's the Chili ... I'll just leave it at that. And the high taxes and bad job market.

Ugh. Now I sound like a depressing city basher. So let me be positive to end my post. Dirt cheap real estate, friendly people, as mentioned downtown is decent for size of city, the fine arts are decent for size of city, decent selection of national chain stores.

[HSMom2009]

I have been here 3 years. The chili is a joke. The only friends my family has made is with others transplants. The public transportation is a awful. The taxes are high. If your not a Christian and a Republican, it's hard to fit in. I have 2 years left before I can transfer. Can't wait.

[Cincy-Rise]

Originally Posted by HSMom2009

I have been here 3 years. The chili is a joke. The only friends my family has made is with others transplants. The public transportation is a awful. The taxes are high. If your not a Christian and a Republican, it's hard to fit in. I have 2 years left before I can transfer. Can't wait.

1) You don't live here. Quit fooling yourself. I would never live in WC.
2) The city and county are both democratic.
3) The city is half black.
4) Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.