Middletown (Cincinnati, Dayton, Springfield: landlord, closing, wage)

[WILWRadio]

Originally Posted by Zen_master

Coincidentally the annual Homearama home show put on by the Cincinnati Home Builders Association was held in Liberty Township this year. This is less than 10 miles from Middletown. With much of Cincinnati built out it is no surprise builders are going deep into Butler County to find large tracts of land for luxury developments. Could it be that Middletown will see some retail shopping overflow from an influx of high-end homeowners in the decade to come?


Homearama, Builders in Homearama Show, Builders Cincinnati Show 2013, Cincinnati Custom Home Builders | Carriage Hill

Excellent point. The people that have been posting these positive articles and also showing that the board denizens from the other forum in Middletown are the exception (their negative, warped views) in their way of thinking rather than the majority are winning me over into believing that Middletown may really be turning the corner. I may try to invest there in addition to NKY. I will know after my visit there in about a month.

[Whip5000]

Let me tell you a little bit about what I've learned as to the frequent posters at MiddletownUSA. For the most part, they are a bunch of old geezers that made good money from investments here in Middletown during the "heydays". They're like the old guys you might meet in the local diner that complain about everything from the doctors office visit to local politics. They're mostly semi retired and wish things were like they were back in the good old days but they don't seem to realize the good old days are gone no matter where you live.

Please pay no attention to them.

[WILWRadio]

Originally Posted by Whip5000

Let me tell you a little bit about what I've learned as to the frequent posters at MiddletownUSA. For the most part, they are a bunch of old geezers that made good money from investments here in Middletown during the "heydays". They're like the old guys you might meet in the local diner that complain about everything from the doctors office visit to local politics. They're mostly semi retired and wish things were like they were back in the good old days but they don't seem to realize the good old days are gone no matter where you live.

Please pay no attention to them.

Thanks for reinforcing this belief that was mentioned by a couple other people. That is now appearing to be the case.

I don't like some of the changes that have taken place in our society any more than the naysayers on that board, especially the loss in manufacturing jobs. But our politicians decided decades ago to wipe out manufacturing in this country and now we have to reinvent our cities and towns to deal better with a more service oriented economy.

What I don't understand is how these Middletown bashers fail to grasp the most basic concept of rebuilding a city of any size. The need for a healthy downtown. Apparently Middletown has decided to welcome some non profit groups which is fine. Not every building in the city is going to be taken over by non profit groups. This is simply a small building block to help attract some new residents and also small businesses, many of which will look at the arts and entertainment in the area as a draw for potential customers And it's a quality of life issue for residents in the area.

I will definitely give it a visit in about a month. Based upon what I've read the city is getting pointed in the right direction and while it has a lot of work to do to improve the neighborhoods and downtown area, it is a matter of having a positive attitude and a willingness to welcome new people and new business concepts that will help revive Middletown.

[midwest1]

Glad to hear.......https://www.facebook.com/downtown

[Ohioan58]

Originally Posted by Whip5000

Let me tell you a little bit about what I've learned as to the frequent posters at MiddletownUSA. For the most part, they are a bunch of old geezers that made good money from investments here in Middletown during the "heydays". They're like the old guys you might meet in the local diner that complain about everything from the doctors office visit to local politics. They're mostly semi retired and wish things were like they were back in the good old days but they don't seem to realize the good old days are gone no matter where you live.

My perception is that it's individuals like that that control what little private wealth exists around Middletown today.

My own experiences in dealing with Middletown businesses on a B2B level have been uniformly negative. I didn't get this from the Middletown Forum, either. The smugness of affluent and really stupid individuals is the vibe about Middletown that I despise.

This is the kind of feeback that WILW needs in order to make an informed decision.

[WILWRadio]

Originally Posted by midwest1

Glad to hear.......https://www.facebook.com/downtown

This links to a guy that appears to have a name in the Russian language. Is this the wrong link?

[WILWRadio]

Originally Posted by Ohioan58

My perception is that it's individuals like that that control what little private wealth exists around Middletown today.

My own experiences in dealing with Middletown businesses on a B2B level have been uniformly negative. I didn't get this from the Middletown Forum, either. The smugness of affluent and really stupid individuals is the vibe about Middletown that I despise.

This is the kind of feeback that WILW needs in order to make an informed decision.

Can you elaborate with a bit more detail about the issues you've run into with the businesses there? What kind of problems did they create for you?

[SWOH]

Originally Posted by WILWRadio

What I don't understand is how these Middletown bashers fail to grasp the most basic concept of rebuilding a city of any size. The need for a healthy downtown. Apparently Middletown has decided to welcome some non profit groups which is fine. Not every building in the city is going to be taken over by non profit groups. This is simply a small building block to help attract some new residents and also small businesses, many of which will look at the arts and entertainment in the area as a draw for potential customers And it's a quality of life issue for residents in the area.

I will definitely give it a visit in about a month. Based upon what I've read the city is getting pointed in the right direction and while it has a lot of work to do to improve the neighborhoods and downtown area, it is a matter of having a positive attitude and a willingness to welcome new people and new business concepts that will help revive Middletown.

The primary reason why is because of the City Center Mall (an ill-fated, moronic 1970's concept to suburbanize downtown). Some background:
MALL HALL OF FAME
Construction pics of City Centre Mart/Mall, Middletown, Oh circa 1970s

Additionally, Middletown's street infrastructure does not lend itself to an urban environment. Way too many wide boulevards fragment the city, and nobody seems to think it would be a good idea to tear a few of them out and covert the space to parkland or new development (except me, of course!). Verity Pkwy., Central Ave, and University Blvd. would be the first on my demo list if anyone was listening to me and though they could be demolished.

This would be a bad idea to do, though, if they want to put more industrial into the city. To me, this is the only other long-term strategy, and probably is a favorable one given the growth of "Daytonnati", undesirability of the city's residential areas due to pollution, blight, etc., and the higher tax revenues industrial brings over residential.


So that's why I'm betting little will be done about the city in the near-term to make it a better place for residents. But I could definitely be wrong.

[WILWRadio]

Originally Posted by OHKID

The primary reason why is because of the City Center Mall (an ill-fated, moronic 1970's concept to suburbanize downtown). Some background:
MALL HALL OF FAME
Construction pics of City Centre Mart/Mall, Middletown, Oh circa 1970s

Additionally, Middletown's street infrastructure does not lend itself to an urban environment. Way too many wide boulevards fragment the city, and nobody seems to think it would be a good idea to tear a few of them out and covert the space to parkland or new development (except me, of course!). Verity Pkwy., Central Ave, and University Blvd. would be the first on my demo list if anyone was listening to me and though they could be demolished.

This would be a bad idea to do, though, if they want to put more industrial into the city. To me, this is the only other long-term strategy, and probably is a favorable one given the growth of "Daytonnati", undesirability of the city's residential areas due to pollution, blight, etc., and the higher tax revenues industrial brings over residential.


So that's why I'm betting little will be done about the city in the near-term to make it a better place for residents. But I could definitely be wrong.

I just read an article in the Journal online indicating a mobile home park owner is going to convert more than half the space into industrial use for potential new industry coming to Middletown. I don't see a problem with manufacturing or warehousing but people need to be aware these are startup companies that move into these places, at least in most cases, and will only employ a dozen or a few dozen people at the start. But one step at a time.

Why does Middletown have the perception that it is a bad place to reside? Solely because of the manufacturing base that once was the major tax base for the city? It does not appear to have worse violent crime than many cities its size or larger though property crime is definitely a problem. Other than that I don't get it.

[SWOH]

^From my perspective, the pollution is a major factor. Air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution. And a lot of it.

Up until about 2005, environmental activist groups from all over the US would flock to Middletown to criticize Armco (now AK Steel). One specific spot they would stop at was Oneida Elementary School off Yankee Rd.

The elementary school's playground was right in front of (if I remember correctly) the hot roll mill, and the pollution coming off of it was a giant white cloud of smoke which would blow across the playground. The kids didn't seem to care. That picture as a whole kind of characterizes Middletown's relationship with AK and pollution - complete disregard.

Here's some info on Middletown's pollution and mortality rates:
NDCA » Clusters - National Disease Cluster Alliance
http://www.nrdc.org/health/diseasecl...seclusters.pdf
http://vslb109-148.ohiolink.edu/send...iami1133222677