4th and vine downtown living (Cincinnati, London: lower-class, rent, insurance)

[wolden]

I have read many times on this forum about downtown living and the notion seemed to be that south of about 12th street it was more safe than in OTR. So, I started looking at some loft condos on 4th street and they looked pretty cool, even reasonably priced. Finally, I checked old "Cincinavigator" for crime...lol 3 armed robberies around 4th street in the last few weeks-- some in the middle of the day! The last one on July 3rd was with a shotgun!! None of it reported in the press of course. So my question is, whats going on with downtown living in the recession? Are things worse? I don't want to have a cool condo in the middle of everything and not feel like ever going out for fear of getting mugged. Also, if the area is going downhill I dont want to sink a lot of money into it.

[Cincy-Rise]

You shouldn't feel worried about 4th St. at all ... actually, I'd find it odd if there were never any robberies in a large city.

Here's a copy & paste from another thread:

Take it from someone that's lived in Downtown. I think HuskerDu also lived downtown (although in a much more lower-class apt. ... 4th & Plum ... lol, j/k).

Check out Towne Properties ... these folks bend over backwards for their tenants. Seriously. Call the Downtown office and ask for Danè. Lived in the Shillito for 2 1/2 years. Every month they throw a get together at the rooftop pool or rent out a bar/restaurant and give you a couple of drink tickets. It's a great way to meet your neighbors ... something that the burbs lack.

I've met people from London, Scotland, NYC, and Chi-town ... everyone that I've met loves living Downtown.

Also, when you move Downtown and work Downtown, your auto insurance can be changed to a "leisure" status ... meaning that it's reduced to an extremely small monthly payment.

Nightlife is amazing DT. When you're stuck at a redlight for 2 cycles because of traffic ... this isn't a sign of a lack of nightlife, wouldn't you agree? Call me crazy, but 40+ restaurants/bars in 3 years also isn't a sign of a "dead" downtown.

Cons:

Lack of an extensive grocery shopping options. DT Walgreens do usually carry more than suburban locations, such as fruit and dairy products, but that plus Finlay Market help out. If someone asked me where I grocery shop, I ask them where they grocery shop. However, I've read that a 35,000 sq. ft. grocery store will be added at the Banks?

We need more pub-like bars.

We need a movie theatre.

We need a DT bowling alley.

Most American DT's are not 24/7 DT's, thanks to American's aside from NYC. If we can ever be compared to NYC, I'll rejoice. You get my point.

Downtown Cincinnati is extremely safe, thanks to someone/cops always passing by whether it's 4 am or 8 pm.

Most DT garages have gates that come down or up based on a magnetic key pass that's about the size of a credit card. It you're a DT resident, your apt. will usually offer you a hefty monthly discount. If you're smart, you can rent your space during football season ... stretch your dollar, you know what I mean?

Your new best friend is this site:

Downtown Cincinnati Incorporated :: Living Here

[wolden]

Thanks-- I saw that post. But, armed robberies with shotguns in daylight caught my attention. The hard part is none of this sort of thing makes the news. So, if you want to invest in a house these days, you have to form an opinion where the neighborhood is heading. We are living now in Clifton and I see more tags each day, but here at least, the armed robberies are mostly at night Maybe we are getting too old for downtown living. I just don't want to get held up going to get coffee. This may mean I have to live in Mt Lookot or something

[wilson1010]

I saw that rooftop pool at the department store lofts. It looked like it was about 15000 gallons. And, with a couple hundred people using it, you'd have to take a regular course of antibiotics if you dangled you feet in there.

[Cincy-Rise]

Originally Posted by wolden

The hard part is none of this sort of thing makes the news.

I find this very hard to believe, ESPECIALLY with the local news. They enjoy covering a hold up by knife in Downtown, but fail to cover the 30 other hold-ups happening in or around our metro of 2.1 million people... talk about biased.

Care to post a link?

[Cincy-Rise]

Originally Posted by wilson1010

I saw that rooftop pool at the department store lofts. It looked like it was about 15000 gallons. And, with a couple hundred people using it, you'd have to take a regular course of antibiotics if you dangled you feet in there.

You mean at the Gramercy, right?

The Shillito doesn't have a pool.

[TDE]

Just don't floss any jewelry, as long as you stay inconspicuous, you'll most likely be safe.

[wilson1010]

Thinking about it, I guess it was 4th and Plum whatever that is called now. I know it just looked a little scary because the pool for a couple hundred tenants was about one-third the size of my back yard pool.

[wolden]

Originally Posted by Cincy-Rise

I find this very hard to believe, ESPECIALLY with the local news. They enjoy covering a hold up by knife in Downtown, but fail to cover the 30 other hold-ups happening in or around our metro of 2.1 million people... talk about biased.

Care to post a link?

I am sure you know how to use Cincinavigator: Cincinnati.Com Data Center: CinciNavigator Maybe you didn't read my first post-- I found out about the 3 armed robberies, including the one with the shotgun, NOT on the web or the news-- so I can't post a link-- but by going to 4th and vine on Cincinavigator, setting the time frame to two months and looking to see what the crimes were. That is where I found the 3 armed robberies including one with a shotgun, right in that area. That is a much higher rate of crime than your typical Clifton etc.

[Cincy-Rise]

No, you are not more likely to be robbed in Downtown than Clifton.

1) You're talking about an area that has a larger land area.
2) You do realize there is something like 200,000 people in Downtown daily throughout the week.

More people+smaller area=more thumbtacks lol


If you're looking for Downtown living zero crime, you'll have to move to Malta. If you can think of a major city that you'd desire to live in, post the city and I'll post crime stats for its Downtown. Looking forward to it!