Why hasn't Cincinnati grown as a city?

[RedTruck]

I'm sort of envious.

Cincinnati is, what it is. But why hasn't it grown to become a major city? We have so many big companies here, why hasn't the core grown? I love cincinnati, but at the same time I realize that the core is 75% composed of african americans/low income families, and 25% middle, to high income families.

I just love cincinnati, and I love the reds. But I always hoped during the 70's of the era of the BRM that Cincinnati would one day become a sister to Chicago, and expand in size and scope. Instead it feels we make minimal progress decade by decade.

I just look at the Reds, and there week day 20K fans, and realize it's mainly due to most of the reds fans living in the suburbs and outside bordering states and middle ohio. If cincinnati grew, the core would follow. The stadium would be packed every night.

I still love cincinnati, and accept it for what it is. But sometimes I close my eyes and envision how it would be if it was similar to chicago in scope and size. How lively the city would be, how lively the stadium would be on a nightly basis regardless of the month.

We're making solid progress with the banks, and hopefully that's a sign of things to come..hopefully...

[1940757690]

Gosh. Huge question with lots of answers but maybe not so different from what you see in most of the other non-Chicago midwest cities. Hoping with you. I'm not from Cincinnati but as someone who's been a diehard Reds fan for more than 30 years, I'd love to see the city grow.

[ProfessorTofty]

Perhaps it's a problem of promotion in part? I live in Dayton, and I hardly hear anything about Cincinnati here, other than the Reds, and maybe stuff about casinos. If there's exciting stuff going on in Cincinnati, we need to be hearing more about it here.

[Mastodon]

The city used to be almost twice the size in population at one point. The midwest in general seems to be hemorrhaging population. People for whatever reason want to move southwest. I guess people are just turning into wimps when it comes to the weather or something?

[MrRedLegger]

I would not change anything about Cincinnati ever. The team wears the C and not an R. Sports make you sick but my goodness I LOVE being a Cincinnati man and fan.

I know I joined in May but I feel like I am part of something special. When I am at GABP and when I log in.

[RedTruck]

Originally Posted by ProfessorTofty

Perhaps it's a problem of promotion in part? I live in Dayton, and I hardly hear anything about Cincinnati here, other than the Reds, and maybe stuff about casinos. If there's exciting stuff going on in Cincinnati, we need to be hearing more about it here.

Well I can't really imagine what would fit the bill in that regard. As someone who lives in the suburbs, I mainly go to downtown for the Reds/Bengals game, the Cincinnati Zoo, and the Museum.

When I look at big cities like Chicago, or NYC, the main reason why people visit during the weekends is to go shopping on Michigan Avenue. I think that's were Cincinnati needs to develop itself more. To be more people friendly, to invest in more shopping plaza's and stores.

Because right now, the perception about Cincinnati is that it's filled with dangerous black people, and that there really only a few "safe" area's to walk around. Which is, somewhat true I guess.

[RedTruck]

Originally Posted by MrRedLegger

I would not change anything about Cincinnati ever. The team wears the C and not an R. Sports make you sick but my goodness I LOVE being a Cincinnati man and fan.

I know I joined in May but I feel like I am part of something special. When I am at GABP and when I log in.

Yet, only 20% of it's fans actually live in the cincinnati metro.

Honestly, the Reds should be renamed to the "OHIO" Reds. That's a better fitting name, considering most of it's fans are compiled from outliers like Middle Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tenn, Virginia, etc.

[ProfessorTofty]

Originally Posted by RedTruck

Well I can't really imagine what would fit the bill in that regard. As someone who lives in the suburbs, I mainly go to downtown for the Reds/Bengals game, the Cincinnati Zoo, and the Museum.

When I look at big cities like Chicago, or NYC, the main reason why people visit during the weekends is to go shopping on Michigan Avenue. I think that's were Cincinnati needs to develop itself more. To be more people friendly, to invest in more shopping plaza's and stores.

Because right now, the perception about Cincinnati is that it's filled with dangerous black people, and that there really only a few "safe" area's to walk around. Which is, somewhat true I guess.

Really? Wow, that's a bit sad. Dayton, Ohio used to have a similar problem with its downtown, but we've been working hard and it's a lot safer these days. It's actually pretty exciting - a lot of people actually live there now with new options in green housing and it's home to not only the Reds Dayton Dragons farm team, but also has a large theatre that hosts popular plays such as "Wicked," and if an upcoming ballot issue passes will have a completely renovated and modernized public library.

[cooperlamar]

Cincinnati is a great city and has undergone an amazing change in the last 5-10 years and has had more positive changes than any other city its size in my opinion. With the Banks, the renovation of Fountain Square, the Gateway Quarter, Washington Park, lots of new office space, and soon the casino and the street car, those that avoid it are just missing out - plain and simple. I used to try and convince people to go downtown to see what it offers. I don't do that any more - if you don't go downtown now and experience it yourself, you're missing out as well as closed minded in my opinion.

[osuredleg24]

Im guessing because for the past few years, it has been in the top 4 in poorest cities in America

[FlyingPig]

I live in Charlotte and believe me, there's no comparision at all between the two cities.

My wife and I made two trips to Cincinnati this summer. Of course, baseball was the main reason for the visits, but there are so many other things we love about your city. We stay in Newport and find things to do there. We visited the aquarium, the zoo, the museums, the Hall of Fame. I enjoyed morning runs along the river. We always try a different restaurant when we come to town.

Compare that to Charlotte. There is no nightlife in Charlotte. There are no museums, other than a sad little NASCAR museum. There is no river. The shopping is all on the outskirts along the interstates. There is a AAA baseball team that no one cares about. There is a bad NBA team that no one supports. Panther football is as bad as Bengal football.

I ran the Flying Pig Marathon. I also ran the New York City Marathon. The support that we received along the streets of Cincinnati, for a city that size, was comparable to NYC. Cincinnati doesnt have 3 million people to line the streets, but the turnout was amazing. They heightened the experience.

I'm in my fifties. I've been visiting Cincinnati since I was a West Virginia kid. I tell people at my job that Cincinnati is my favorite city to visit, and that it is one of the most under rated cities in America.

I can see people from Charlotte visiting your city for many reasons. I really can't see people from Cincinnati visiting Charlotte for any reason other than NASCAR. And even that is on the outskirts.

Cincinnati is a great city.

[cooperlamar]

Cincinnati will never become a major city for 2 primary reasons:

1 Not enough jobs. Yes, we have P&G and a number of other Fortune 500 companies, but nowhere near the number a major city has. Unless somewhere here starts the next Google or Starbucks for example it just isn't happening.

2 Public transportation. In order to become a major city, you need accessible public transportation. If the city had completed the subway it started ~90 years ago or so, I think it would be much more similar to Atlanta.

That's okay - Perhaps I'm biased but I think we're better than most other cities in the region. I think Cincinnati has more to offer than St Louis or Indianapolis or Louisville or Detroit, etc. Outside of Chicago we're the nicest city in the Midwest.

[Phoenix2]

Originally Posted by cooperlamar

Cincinnati will never become a major city for 2 primary reasons:

1 Not enough jobs. Yes, we have P&G and a number of other Fortune 500 companies, but nowhere near the number a major city has. Unless somewhere here starts the next Google or Starbucks for example it just isn't happening.

2 Public transportation. In order to become a major city, you need accessible public transportation. If the city had completed the subway it started ~90 years ago or so, I think it would be much more similar to Atlanta.

That's okay - Perhaps I'm biased but I think we're better than most other cities in the region. I think Cincinnati has more to offer than St Louis or Indianapolis or Louisville or Detroit, etc. Outside of Chicago we're the nicest city in the Midwest.

#1 is true; #2 is not. I live in Phoenix where we have grown exponentially the previous two decades while totally reliant on the car culture. Same for many cities.

[nate1213]

I'm pretty sure I read an article a couple years ago that by the 2020 census you could expect to see Cincinnati limits all the way to Dayton.

[nate1213]

< http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2...click_check=1>

Says if this happens, which should be in 2013, would become like a Dallas-Fort Worth area, so Cincinnati-Dayton. Cincinnati would become the 15th largest city in America with just a little over 3 million people.