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Chinese = Oriental Wok in Fort Mitchell on the KY side and Hyde Park on the OH side. Full sit down and bar restaurant, but they do a brisk carry out business too. Load of dishes and one of the few Chinese places I actually like.
As for a Louisville vs. Cincinnati impressions? No. Cincinnati is not a "bigger" version of Louisville, especially when it comes to actual day-to-day living metrics such as home values, lifestyle, schools, safety, etc. I am going to tackle this by assuming when you say "bigger" you are primarily talking population being larger and most other things being the same or similar.
Louisville has good areas in Jefferson County. And Cincinnati's Hamilton County has bad areas. But there are far more good areas in Hamilton County, which is still growing through redevelopment and gentrification (good or bad) in not just core neighborhoods but other urban areas as well. Think Northside or Madisonville among others. Hamilton County is not burdened by a large shared urban school district setup to its public schooling like Metro Louisville is either. That helps in maintaining higher home values for people in suburban districts. It also raises property taxes in those Cincinnati suburbs and can point towards racial topics (school ratings are better in whiter areas on the east side suburbs and home values are higher versus west) Also on the topic of race, many west side suburban districts such as Finneytown, Mt Healthy, North College Hill, Northwest, Lockland and Princeton Local see depressed scores because many of the wealthier families (typically white) will send their kids to a myriad of catholic grade and high schools, many of which are found on the Cincinnati metros west side.
Beyond that, Cincinnati has two pro sports teams. A much larger research university in University of Cincinnati (not counting Xavier University and Norther Kentucky University, which are both rather large as well) where incoming students posses higher ACT/SAT scores and the undergraduate population is larger in number and number of full-time students. Better historical recognition for being a leading early-American western city, OTR's historic district not withstanding. A bigger airport with more commercial flights. Better shopping options at the higher end of the fashion scale. And there is probably more. To me, that is not just a "bigger" Louisville, if by "bigger" you mean similar but just a larger population.
Def more to do. Not a knock on Louisville as they have a good variety of QOL opportunities and entertainment. There are a lot of concerns, for example, that pass Cincinnati to play at YUM! Center in Louisville because Heritage Bank Arena is old and rather small.
That said, Cincinnati is going to of course have more to do by the shear fact it is a bigger metro. It is a city that has a lot going for it. It has its faults for sure, but it is in a positive direction over the last 7-10 years.
First, the Cincinnati Catholic schools have been integrated since 1947 before many of the public schools. The implication that Catholic schools are "white only" like some of the private schools in some parts of the country is inaccurate.
Second, Louisville also has a good number of Catholic schools.
First, the Cincinnati Catholic schools have been integrated since 1947 before many of the public schools. The implication that Catholic schools are "white only" like some of the private schools in some parts of the country is inaccurate.
Second, Louisville also has a good number of Catholic schools.
That wasn't my implication on catholic schools at all, though apologies if it came off that way. My implication is a lot of wealthier families, who tend to be white, send their children to catholic schools (or private schools, but a vast majority on the west side are Catholic). Thus, the public schools get weighed down further in test scores and ratings because of the higher minority population due to white flight in the public schools. That and the levy funding system becomes broken at that point because families sending children to private schools (usually) won't vote to increase property taxes for a service they do not use. So funding is effected rather heavily as well for poorer performing west side districts.
You can simply look at PI scores and compare to the demographic profiles to see the disparity. Even accounting for overall demographic shifts in many west side cities and townships over the last 10-20 years, performance is even poorer in those districts because their minority headcount in the public space is even higher than local percentages of the district's population.
Now, this isn't saying all those districts cannot provide a perfectly fine education that can get you into a good college or trade school. Most of those schools can and have plenty of opportunities for students beyond just 8-2 school hours or sports programs. Some still are better than others. Larger schools like Northwest or Princeton have extra curricular programs simply due to the size of the student body. Smaller districts like Mt Healthy or North College Hill can't provide those additional resources, which weighs college admission chances down further.
On the topic of size and number of Catholic schools between Louisville and Cincinnati. The Archdiocese of Louisville has 9 high schools that are in the archdiocese. Cincinnati metro (Butler, Hamilton and Warren Counties) on the Ohio side of the river has 18. That doesn't include the Dayton metro (which is part of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati) or Covington (KY) Diocese high schools. While Louisville's 9 is a decent number, I don't think a city of Cincinnati's size has even close to that number of private catholic high schools in its served area. You have to go to a Chicago's or NYC's Archdiocese to see numbers like that, but those metros don't have as much concentration of schools per eligible populations because they simply are larger in population count. It still stuns me that we have so many catholic schools for the size of Cincinnati's metro. And I grew up in the Archdiocese.
That wasn't my implication on catholic schools at all, though apologies if it came off that way. My implication is a lot of wealthier families, who tend to be white, send their children to catholic schools (or private schools, but a vast majority on the west side are Catholic). Thus, the public schools get weighed down further in test scores and ratings because of the higher minority population due to white flight in the public schools. That and the levy funding system becomes broken at that point because families sending children to private schools (usually) won't vote to increase property taxes for a service they do not use. So funding is effected rather heavily as well for poorer performing west side districts.
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Most of my friends who lived in the southeastern part of Cincinnati and Hamilton Co. moved out of the city after college and are now living in Anderson, western Clermont and Northern Kentucky. Most of them are actually not sending their kids to Catholic schools despite being practicing Catholics. I think many believe that you can get as good an education at Anderson or Turpin HS than you get at McNicholas.
One of the big issues is the "three card monte" that is played in Cincinnati Public Schools. That is, the district has a handful of schools that are well-funded publicly and privately and who rank among the best schools in the state. The rest are fairly mediocre. If anyone criticizes the CPS, you get the typical, "don't YOU know that Walnut Hills High School if the best in the state?"
And if funding was the only problem, why do a lot of the farm communities in rural Ohio often outperform the large city schools which have a larger tax base??
That wasn't my implication on catholic schools at all, though apologies if it came off that way. My implication is a lot of wealthier families, who tend to be white, send their children to catholic schools (or private schools, but a vast majority on the west side are Catholic). Thus, the public schools get weighed down further in test scores and ratings because of the higher minority population due to white flight in the public schools. That and the levy funding system becomes broken at that point because families sending children to private schools (usually) won't vote to increase property taxes for a service they do not use. So funding is effected rather heavily as well for poorer performing west side districts.
You can simply look at PI scores and compare to the demographic profiles to see the disparity. Even accounting for overall demographic shifts in many west side cities and townships over the last 10-20 years, performance is even poorer in those districts because their minority headcount in the public space is even higher than local percentages of the district's population.
Now, this isn't saying all those districts cannot provide a perfectly fine education that can get you into a good college or trade school. Most of those schools can and have plenty of opportunities for students beyond just 8-2 school hours or sports programs. Some still are better than others. Larger schools like Northwest or Princeton have extra curricular programs simply due to the size of the student body. Smaller districts like Mt Healthy or North College Hill can't provide those additional resources, which weighs college admission chances down further.
On the topic of size and number of Catholic schools between Louisville and Cincinnati. The Archdiocese of Louisville has 9 high schools that are in the archdiocese. Cincinnati metro (Butler, Hamilton and Warren Counties) on the Ohio side of the river has 18. That doesn't include the Dayton metro (which is part of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati) or Covington (KY) Diocese high schools. While Louisville's 9 is a decent number, I don't think a city of Cincinnati's size has even close to that number of private catholic high schools in its served area. You have to go to a Chicago's or NYC's Archdiocese to see numbers like that, but those metros don't have as much concentration of schools per eligible populations because they simply are larger in population count. It still stuns me that we have so many catholic schools for the size of Cincinnati's metro. And I grew up in the Archdiocese.
Couple things. Louisville's Catholic school system is nearly as large as Cincinnati's. Louisville's schools are bigger and you did not include Providence HS which is 3 miles from Louisville across the bridge. There is no way there are 18 Catholic HS in Cincinnati unless you count NKY. Many of these Catholic HS are TINY. As such, I know of at least two of the non Archidiocese traditional Catholic elementary schools I will describe below that have HS kids (they literally have a handful or 10 per year such as Holy Angels). Thus, Louisville MSA has 12 schools serving Catholic HS kids plus at least two I am told by long time locals that have closed in the last couple decades to form mega schools.
The city of Louisville and its suburbs EASILY has 100 Roman Catholic Churches. At one point there was about 60 Catholic elementary schools. There are probably about 40 Catholic elementary schools left if you count the suburbs and the 4 or so independent Catholic elementary schools (these 4 are STAUNCHLY Catholic with most of the families having 5+ kids).
Louisville and Cincy are VERY similar. The best way to understand the size difference is Louisville MSA is equal to Cincinnati minus its KY suburbs (ironically where most the growth in the Cincy MSA is occurring).
While that makes a big difference....does it? How many people from Mason go to Independence, KY? I mean seriously. Louisville's pro teams are college. Both college football and basketball in Louisville have a very pro feel...similar size or bigger crowds, and just as many or more corporate luxury boxes. No, UC and Xavier cannot compare although the recent college sports success there is unprecedented for a pro town.
Louisville has tier 1 women's pro soccer and tier 1b men's pro soccer, AAA baseball. It really should have been MLS when Cincinnati joined but another story.
Louisville is so much more friendly and has better population growth over the last decade or more.
To act like Cincinnatti is a "big city" compared to Louisville is not true. They offer similar but different amenities and unless you plan a trip to Saks or a pro baseball game every day, the average Joe will notice NO DIFFERENCE except Louisville is more compact and its urban neighborhoods more easily connected, and its suburbs more easily navigable due to the smaller MSA.
Both are great, super underrated towns .Cincinnati downtown feels much bigger than it is due to its geographic isolation around hills and due to the fact the 1937 flood didn't destroy the urban history like Louisville.
Also, KY is going to NO INCOME tax. The tax drops to 4.5% Jan 1 and will phase out this decade. To me, that makes Louisville the clear winner. If you make 100k, that saves you almost 5 grand a year! In summary, both are great towns. Cincinnati is NOT a big city compared to Louisville. Not even close nor does it feel so.
Cincinnati does not have a New urbanist neighborhood like this yet. Why "love gentrification" when in fact you don't need it in a place like Norton Commons. The neighborhood is so elite a developer from OH has plans to copy it there, but it will take decades to build out.
If there's a better neighborhood in Cincinnati that's new made to look old, please do show me. And Cincinnati will not have a Publix in their new urbanist neighborhood when its built. Again, both great towns but to me Louisville is more interesting, substantially cheaper especially as KY goes to 0 income tax and has lower taxes all around, and also more festive.
Just as an example, let's look at September alone. Louisville hosted World Fest which is one of the largest international festivals in the Midwest, and also one of the larger Beatles Fests in the country.
The next two weekends, literally HUNDREDS of bands will play for a week straight!
Dude look at this list! Pearl Jam, Kings of Leon, Nine Inch Nails, Chili Pepppers, Alannis Morrisette. And Louisville has other nationally known music festivals like Forecastle. Louisville just has this vibe and direction for it these days....
Why "love gentrification" when in fact you don't need it in a place like Norton Commons.
I love it in a place I live already because it increases property value. I also like it because it pushes crime out of areas and adds a bunch of nice shops and restaurants. Gentrification is awesome.
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