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I was only talking about the URBAN experience and in that comparison at first glance Baltimore seems to have more to offer. Is that an insult?
No. It isn't. Your questions were legit.
Baltimore is more urban (OK, I've only been there once or twice) but there's really nothing wrong with Cincinnati being one way and Baltimore being another. Life would really suck if every city were identical. Variety is one of the things that makes the world go 'round.
One sure way, though, to raise a Cincinnatian's hackles is to compare it to other cities, favorably or unfavorably. Rose colored glasses are given out to all babies at birth. Just a caveat, should you land in Cincinnati permanently.
It's really not a bad place. There's a lot to love about it. Since I moved to Philadelphia almost eight years ago, here's what I miss:
Affordable living is #1. The ability to live within the city limits in an affordable (working class income) home in a safe, clean and quiet neighborhood, only minutes from downtown, can't be beat. You don't have to decide if you're going to skip a day's worth of food in order to park your car downtown for the day.
A slower pace. It took me a long time to get used to it, coming from Cleveland, but I learned to appreciate it.
The smaller metro is easy to get around in. Traffic is rarely a nightmare. You don't have to drive an hour or more from downtown to get to the countryside.
It may take awhile to make friends, but once you do, they're your loyal friends for life.
Baltimore is more urban (OK, I've only been there once or twice) but there's really nothing wrong with Cincinnati being one way and Baltimore being another. Life would really suck if every city were identical. Variety is one of the things that makes the world go 'round.
One sure way, though, to raise a Cincinnatian's hackles is to compare it to other cities, favorably or unfavorably. Rose colored glasses are given out to all babies at birth. Just a caveat, should you land in Cincinnati permanently.
It's really not a bad place. There's a lot to love about it.
Thread not closed yet?
Your posts are kind and fair! And you convince me a lot more than those hard core Cincy defenders that Cincy has a lot to offer ! You do a good job speaking nicely and informed about Cincy and you have concrete info to share.
Thank you!
Speaking of autobahns, Baltimore has a much more robust public transportation network than does Cincinnati which has a profound effect on the value of its downtown. Specifically, it has a true subway line that was finished around 1983 that single-handedly transports roughly the same number of people (60-80,000) each day as all of Cincinnati's buses. This subway line along with light rail and buses mean probably 3-5x more people ride public transportation through downtown Bailtimore than downtown Cincinnati on a typical workday.
So if you want to compare downtowns to downtowns in the US, there will almost always be a profound difference between those with rail public transportation and those without. However, it is not a simple matter of a city voting to build one, as the way these things are built in the US is very complicated and there are many ways for obstructionists to block the projects. Baltimore only has a subway line because the state of Maryland had to pay for those portions of the Washington Metro that travel through suburban Maryland. Baltimore was upset that suburban Washington, DC was getting money and they demanded a similar sum for their city. The citizens of Baltimore never voted to build the subway, it just magically appeared.
Meanwhile, in Cincinnati, fights over public transportation have been epic. This past summer Chris Smitherman's goons made death threats to supporters of the Cincinnati Streetcar project, the incident went unreported despite it having happened in City Hall chambers, and Smitherman was rewarded by being elected to City Council.
Not sure where the insult was...can one not ask where a medium size city such as Cincy feels urban?
Some folks simply replied by listing what the interesting areas are; that reaction was appropriate.
Is using the word "disappointment" and a comparison of the URBAN factor to Baltimore an insult?
Now I feel challenged to defend Baltimore. A couple of weeks ago I took a couple of colleagues from Cincinnati - people who have lived in Cincy all their life - to downtown Baltimore, on a Wednesday night. They could not believe how busy the downtown area was, people (decent ones) on the street, the restaurants full.
They were impressed with their mouth open - no kidding, I am serious. And THEY told me Cincy is no comparison. These are not my words.
Baltimore just has a pretty cool downtown area that is not dead when the offices close. And yes, as one poster wrote, it is guarded by the police like Fort Knox. True.
Cincinnati probably has a lot of other things that are unique, nice and good. (Good public school in the burbs for example, that is a big one).
I was only talking about the URBAN experience and in that comparison at first glance Baltimore seems to have more to offer. Is that an insult?
Baltimore is the No. 20 MSA in the U.S. with 2.7 million people; Cincinnati is No. 27 with 2.13. If Cincinnati is a medium-size city, so is Baltimore.
As to the rest of this post, I'm skeptical as well. I don't know many Cincinnatians who would say something like that; we don't exactly live in Sioux Falls here. Not to mention, Baltimore is hardly around the world - it's only a seven-hour drive from Cincinnati, is in Washington's shadow and is likely a city these Cincinnatians would have visited before.
Baltimore's Inner Harbor is impressive from a tourist's vantage point, but other than that there is little to no comparison between the two cities. And your "people (decent ones) on the street" comment is about as insulting as anything I've seen on this forum. It says a lot about what you are looking for.
I agree with Wilson513 completely: If you were really coming here without an agenda, you wouldn't have approached this thread the way you initially did. And if you are truly being relocated to Cincinnati, congratulations on starting off on the wrong foot. I hope you're around our city long enough to realize that a 20-minute car ride was a lousy way to formulate an opinion. I suspect that, should you move here, particularly with your European background, you'll come to love Cincinnati.
Oh, and by the way, our downtown restaurants are full too. That's why we continue to get new ones all the time.
I did not see any insult, either intended or perceived, in that original post either, autobahn2000, and I never saw any reason that you needed to feel like you should make an apology. It appeared, as the heading says, that you were disappointed that your original expectations of the city were not met in the brief time you had available and you were asking for suggestions as to where to find those places. Simple request. All it asked for was a simple response. It is quite obvious that someone who is just in town for a brief stay, without some guidance, would not park their car and just start walking. You would want to know where to park in order to be able to walk around. Seems like a fair request to me.
Don't worry about the negativity and the accusations of story telling that you are getting. There are some people on here who seem to get their kicks by degrading anyone and anything that doesn't fit their mold.
If, in this merger, you do get transferred to Cincinnati, I hope that you are able to find the type of area you are after, with the type of residents who will welcome you. I am sure it does exist.
I did not see any insult, either intended or perceived, in that original post either, autobahn2000, and I never saw any reason that you needed to feel like you should make an apology. It appeared, as the heading says, that you were disappointed that your original expectations of the city were not met in the brief time you had available and you were asking for suggestions as to where to find those places. Simple request. All it asked for was a simple response. It is quite obvious that someone who is just in town for a brief stay, without some guidance, would not park their car and just start walking. You would want to know where to park in order to be able to walk around. Seems like a fair request to me.
Don't worry about the negativity and the accusations of story telling that you are getting. There are some people on here who seem to get their kicks by degrading anyone and anything that doesn't fit their mold.
If, in this merger, you do get transferred to Cincinnati, I hope that you are able to find the type of area you are after, with the type of residents who will welcome you. I am sure it does exist.
I agree with this posting 100 percent.
To the OP: if you come here, you'll probably find things you like about Cincinnati. Although they probably won't be the same things you like about Baltimore.
Many of the responses to your postings speak volumes about Cincinnati's provincialism--so on that subject, read and learn. Despite having the international headquarters of a huge multi-national corporation, a thriving arts community, and a number of other cultural amenities typical of any mid-size city, Cincinnati at heart is a mostly blue-collar town. Even residents who've experience life elsewhere are likely to take personal umbrage if you compare it any way but favorably to just about anywhere else.
Be warned, and it'll make your transition easier in a lot of ways.
I did not see any insult, either intended or perceived, in that original post either, autobahn2000, and I never saw any reason that you needed to feel like you should make an apology. It appeared, as the heading says, that you were disappointed that your original expectations of the city were not met in the brief time you had available and you were asking for suggestions as to where to find those places. Simple request. All it asked for was a simple response. It is quite obvious that someone who is just in town for a brief stay, without some guidance, would not park their car and just start walking. You would want to know where to park in order to be able to walk around. Seems like a fair request to me.
Don't worry about the negativity and the accusations of story telling that you are getting. There are some people on here who seem to get their kicks by degrading anyone and anything that doesn't fit their mold.
If, in this merger, you do get transferred to Cincinnati, I hope that you are able to find the type of area you are after, with the type of residents who will welcome you. I am sure it does exist.
It is fine you are holding out the olive branch also. But to say the OP's original post was not full of negativity - no way. Just look at the title, is this all thiere is to Cincinnati? When you come in with that view you will get negative responses in return. Hell, I don't even live in Cincinnati and I was offended, because I know the City has much to offer. Let's hope the discussions from here on concentrate on the positives rather than the negatives.
Baltimore is the No. 20 MSA in the U.S. with 2.7 million people; Cincinnati is No. 27 with 2.13. If Cincinnati is a medium-size city, so is Baltimore.
Exactly, that is why a comparison is fair.
Baltimore's Inner Harbor is impressive from a tourist's vantage point, but other than that there is little to no comparison between the two cities.
Correct, it is not DC or NYC or something, but at least it has what it has.
And your "people (decent ones) on the street" comment is about as insulting as anything I've seen on this forum.
Not sure what you read into it. What I meant is: Have you been to Baltimore? Did you walk around leaving the immediate downtown (inner harbor) area? These areas are so bad and scary, you want to be back where it is safe right away , I used to the word "decent".
It says a lot about what you are looking for. Another attack on me as a person.
I agree with Wilson513 completely: If you were really coming here without an agenda, you wouldn't have approached this thread the way you initially did. And if you are truly being relocated to Cincinnati, congratulations on starting off on the wrong foot. I hope you're around our city long enough to realize that a 20-minute car ride was a lousy way to formulate an opinion. I suspect that, should you move here, particularly with your European background, you'll come to love Cincinnati.
Yes, there is good chance for "love to Cincinnati" provided I run into more open minded people such as OhioGirl to name one who posted here. OMG, can't believe what kind of comments I get here that even do not shy away from personal insults. If your city is so great just tell me about it without insulting!!!
Oh, and by the way, our downtown restaurants are full too. That's why we continue to get new ones all the time.
Let's hope the discussions from here on concentrate on the positives rather than the negatives.
Yes, that 'd be good.
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