Cincinnati, Louisville, or Lexington? (Frankfort, Anchorage: crime, homes, top school)

[censusdata]

As for the original question... didn't I already post here??

Cincinnati has the most urban downtown, most museums, and more pro sports by far than Lou or Lex. Based on driving there and using Street View to see areas I haven't been I find the core of the city to be extremely run down looking, dirty, and very depressing. The grittier streets in Lou or Lex are still a lot nicer looking IMO than the nicer areas of Cinci like Blue Ash or Fairfax.

Louisville is the prettiest of the three IMO. The Olmstead Parkways, River Road, even rougher areas like neighborhood streets in Shively or near Shawnee Parkway are very scenic. Old Louisville is incredible and parts of Downtown, The Highlands, even Portland have architecture gems. It is also the easiest to get around

Lexington is basically an overgrown college town, in both good and bad ways. It is the 10th most educated US city, with 40% of 25+ people having at least a bachelor's degree. The evening newscast is about 45 minutes of UK sports, 25 minutes of other news and 20 minutes of commericials. It is very dense and has terrible traffic problems - however this design also means that the horse farms and country roads surrounding the city look just like they did 100 years ago. Violent crime in Lex is quit rare and isn't concentrated in any one area compared to most cities

[EclecticEars]

Originally Posted by censusdata

Cincinnati has the most urban downtown, most museums, and more pro sports by far than Lou or Lex. Based on driving there and using Street View to see areas I haven't been I find the core of the city to be extremely run down looking, dirty, and very depressing. The grittier streets in Lou or Lex are still a lot nicer looking IMO than the nicer areas of Cinci like Blue Ash or Fairfax.

Cincinnati has a quintessential example of a town that is all about college and pro sports. There are sizable numbers of UC, OSU, and UK fans in the city. The only other major college/pro sports-crazy town is Chicago, IMO.

Cincinnati has seedier feel in parts of Over-the-Rhine (west), West Cincinnati, and Clifton, yes. Those are the dirtiest parts of the city. Hovever, east OTR is gentrifying rapidly and has a decreasing crime rate; west OTR is slowly entering the gentrification stage, and according to (I think) NBC 5 downtown had a 35% drop in the crime rate just from 2005 to 2007.

Don't forget cool and historic neighborhoods like Mt. Lookout/Hyde Park, Walnut Hills/East Walnut Hills, Mount Adams, and Norwood (south of I-71, anyway). What about gorgeous parks like Eden and Ault with great public gathering places and beautiful bluff views of Kentucky from several hundred feet above the river? Oh, and the views from the top of Mt. Adams are some of the most beautiful in all of urban America.

Louisville is the prettiest of the three IMO. The Olmstead Parkways, River Road, even rougher areas like neighborhood streets in Shively or near Shawnee Parkway are very scenic. Old Louisville is incredible and parts of Downtown, The Highlands, even Portland have architecture gems. It is also the easiest to get around

Louisville has the Highlands, Crescent Hill, and Old Louisville. The first has the city's busiest urban vibe, and the latter has the densest feel of any urban neighborhood in the city. But, these are really the only cool neighborhoods in the city that are also safe--and even Old Louisville is going downhill steadily.

The inner city (urban service crime rate) is comparable to supposedly more dangerous Cincinnati. Jefferson and Hamilton (OH) counties have similar crime rates. To say that L'ville is safer than Cincy is frankly a crock.

I DO love Louisville's parks, though, and the variety of them. Olmstead Parks are irreplaceable and never duplicated (although modeled after world-famous Central Park), and chock full of history, also. However, many of these Olmstead parks and the Olmstead-planned interconnecting parkways are in seedy/rough parts of the city (i.e. Algonquin, Chickasaw.)

If any major city in the Ohio Valley is not living up to its potential in terms of economic foresight and arts/culture, it's Louisville. Cincinnati, despite having a higher tax rate per capita, is more prosperous than Louisville b/c economic leaders on both sides of the river have it together. Louisville is struggling to keep Ford, Yum! has laid off 300 jobs, and it's economy is much less diverse.

Lexington is basically an overgrown college town, in both good and bad ways. It is the 10th most educated US city, with 40% of 25+ people having at least a bachelor's degree. The evening newscast is about 45 minutes of UK sports, 25 minutes of other news and 20 minutes of commericials. It is very dense and has terrible traffic problems - however this design also means that the horse farms and country roads surrounding the city look just like they did 100 years ago. Violent crime in Lex is quit rare and isn't concentrated in any one area compared to most cities

Pretty spot on about Lexington. Lexington is very clean and it's downtown is the cleanest of ANY city I've ever been to. It's almost spotless. But, it also almost feels too "new" to me. Historic preservation is not greatly appreciated in Fayette Co., as city zoning officials and developers seem to have adopted the slogan of Atlanta, "tear the da*n thing down." I also think the suburban areas (i.e., Nicholasville, Georgetown, Winchester) are more "necky" than those of Lou. and Cin. (although around Lou. parts of SW Jefferson Co. and Shepherdsville hold their own quite well.)

I agree with InLondon (for once) that the horse farms add an ambiance, almost an elegance, to the metropolitan area. The countryside truly is stunning.

[censusdata]

Originally Posted by jcm1986

BUT, to allude to your point censusdata, a small contingent of UK fans (that I'm not friends with) are so outright obnoxious and arrogant that they're a blemish to the fan base.

To me its one thing that some people in Lexington would hate U of L, but I don't understand why a large percent of UK fans in Louisville constantly bash U of L and treat U of L students (who bring millions of dollars into the Louisville economy) so rudely

Lexington is outgrowing Louisville for one reason: the Louisville media constantly props up UK and UK sports as being wonderful and superior to U of L so many Louisvillians go to UK and, surprise, very few of them come back. I personally know 20 from church who grew up in Louisville, went to UK, and never went back. If you add in their children you're talking about dozens more college educated people who live in Lexington instead of Louisville - and that's just the people I know.

The CJ could instead ask why Lexington spent millions redeveloping abandoned tobacco warehouses near UK while thousands of acres of brownfields near U of L sit idle (including some owned by a certain councilmember). It truely seems that the UK fans and alums in Louisville would rather their city head back to the stone age rather than do anything that might mutally help the city and U of L

[EclecticEars]

One thing that does get me about Lexington is the very strong presence of that hillbilly twang (predominately from transplants from Eastern Kentucky, but also some from Lexington's surrounding exurbs) that gets under my skin. Annoying! Southern accents are one thing, and gentle ones I can definitely dig, but...okay, I was in a doctor's office off Nicholasville Road on Monday and in the background one of the clinical assistants yell "GIT 'R DONE!" with a loud, twangy voice. I kid not.

Louisville and Cincinnati don't really suffer from that problem. Sure, rednecks exist there too, but they're not spread throughout the city like they are in Lexington. (Lex. has an odd combination of street-dressed thug wannabes, the "twangies"/poor mountain folk, average middle class, and snooty, pretentious faux rich at nearly any given point in the city.)

Oh, and on a different note, I actually think many parts of Louisville are prettier than Cincy or Lex. during the springtime. I'll admit, it's heard to beat nabes like Belknap, Highlands, Original Highlands, Germantown, Crescent Hill, Clifton, the eastern side of Old Louisville, St. Matthews, the River Road corridor...you get the idea. But Cincy's Walnut Hills, E. Walnut Hills, Hyde Park, East Over-the-Rhine, Norwood can hold their own, too, as well as parts of Covington and Newport across the river.

[Tiger Beer]

Very interesting thread...I really gotta visit Louisville & Cincinnati.

[EclecticEars]

Originally Posted by easydoesit

I have known some No KY people and they don't seem to like to be associated with KY or consider themselves to be Kentuckians not that I take offense to it.

They like to just be called N. KY. They don't like to be associated with Cincinnati either...yet they like the Reds, Bengals, UC Bearcats, OSU Buckeyes (many of them), Cincinnati-style chili (especially Skyline), Montgomery Inn, etc., which are all based in O-H-I-O.

I like NKY, don't get me wrong, but I find this mentality to be ridiculously silly.

[pappy van winkle]

Originally Posted by JoshB

I think census is trying to say that in Lou you don't act all big with your money. In Lexington you act like your the cats meow with the same salary as a fellow lou.

I most definitely agree. Having grown up in Louisville and gone on to attend UK for the last few years, I have noticed that residents of Lexington, in general, are much more materialistic (although I wouldn't necessarily say snooty in most cases). It seems like if someone makes an above average salary, driving a brand new Lexus is a requirement (kids included).

This is not true in Louisville. I know it does happen, but it seems to mostly be transplants. Having grown up with people who's families were truly very old money, you would never know it if you didn't know them personally. And they wouldn't want you to know it. The kids mostly drove really beat up hand-me-down Jeeps or something. The parents maybe drove a Ford or Chevy truck or SUV or maybe a Civic or Accord, and then probably kept it for 10 years before getting a new one.

Nice clothes were/are worn but they're not brand new. In fact, it was kinda a "thing" in highschool (and even now in college) to have nice clothes (Brooks Brothers, etc), but for them to be frayed and otherwise falling apart. Many were hand-me-downs from dad or an older brother, so it made sense. It's hard to explain, but I'm sure some of you know the style I'm talking about. You probably wouldn't see this in Lexington.

In general, I'd say Lexington is much more concerned with what's new and shiny.

Overall, I'd say Lexington is much more interested in whats new and s

[pappy van winkle]

Originally Posted by EclecticEars

One thing that does get me about Lexington is the very strong presence of that hillbilly twang (predominately from transplants from Eastern Kentucky, but also some from Lexington's surrounding exurbs) that gets under my skin. Annoying! Southern accents are one thing, and gentle ones I can definitely dig, but...okay, I was in a doctor's office off Nicholasville Road on Monday and in the background one of the clinical assistants yell "GIT 'R DONE!" with a loud, twangy voice. I kid not.

I've actually found Louisville to have more residents with Southern accents, although not always the "git r done" type you're talking about. I would say most blue collar residents in both cities probably have that accent. I think you'll find many more white collar professionals who have an accent (although, again, not the 'twang' you're talking about) in Louisville than you would in Lexington.

[JefferyT]

Very interesting thread...I really gotta visit Louisville & Cincinnati.

Though fairly close in driving time and both on the Ohio they are actually quite different places.

I disagree about Lexington being an overgrown college town. There always was more to Lexington than UofK. The city was always a regional trading center with some industry traditionally based on local ag products. And the equine industry gives the place a truley unique character.

Lexington always seemed a mix of the old genteel South (local bankers and businessmen and wealthy farmers) and the more honk-tonk "dirty South" (factory hands and yahoo element) combined with the more entrepeneurial, flashy "New South" (think "little Atlanta").

Just a real interesting place, very unlike Cincinnati or Louisville, though I discerned Lexington had more relations with Cincinnati than Louisville when it came to trade or even cultural things like going to see the opera or symphony.

[rbryant]

Cincinnati and Louisville pretty much dwarf anything Lexington has to offer. And then from there, Cincy would be my top choice over Louisville. Both Cincy and Lou are historic river cities with good arts scene, parks system, museums, dining. Both have historic districts that are cool for a little urban exploration (i.e. Highlands, Over the Rhine, Germantown and many many more).
Honestly, I don't know how you guys can equate Lexington with the other two cities. The comparison to an overgrown college town is close to spot on, IMO. However, I would say it's a boring fusion of college town, a downtown that resembles a corporate office park, and horse farms. Sure, horse farms and the stone fences along Paris Pike are pretty, but they're pretty much off limits to the average Joe. And, once you've drove down Paris or Ironworks you've pretty much seen all the horse farm and rolling pasture you'll need to see in a lifetime. I guess the neighborhoods around UK and Richmond Road are cool, but the majority of south Lexington is a mesh of suburban housing and strip shopping centers with big box stores.
Anyways, to each their own, but I've never been impressed with Lexington/Fayette and would make it last on my list of places to relocate to.