Blurg Ketchup (Lot No. 090907)

Or is it catchup? Definitely not catsup. Thought I'd start a recap feature weekly or bi-weekly - a chance for me to catch up on the posts that I may have started to write, but never got around to finishing. Or sometimes just stuff that I don't have much to say about, so I throwing it in here. This was a good week to start, lots of interesting stuff happened.

Schmidt plagiarizes and was exposed by Bill over at The Daily Bellwether. Props to Sloat for a good catch!

Coulter's appearance raises $26,000 for groups she's opposed to, and her speech was described as pretty tame lame. So, the NeoCons blew their money on a dud and helped raise money for groups they oppose. How lovely.

There's an ongoing controversy about a potential "Wall of Buildings" to be built in the area of the Banks. I don't think that's very likely, but Cincinnati's Planning Commission approved amendments allowing developers to build up to 30 stories. The current downtown building owners aren't too happy about losing their river view, but my question is, how do cities like New York and Chicago deal with this same issue on their shorelines?

Good Sam was named the number one hospital for births, in terms of numbers of babies born, in Ohio.

Did I mention that in the last couple o' weeks I added some new features to the Blurg? See those nifty icons below each post? They're for helping you share the articles you like via some of the more popular social bookmarking networks out there. Oh, yeah, I added Space Invaders to the right column too. Enjoy.

And lastly, it's been 10 years since the first blog was born. Happy Blogiversary!
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Best Views of the City?

So City Council commissioned a $75k report on the best views of the city, "intended to help city planners formulate development guidelines within those view corridors." The 229 page plan was put together by Human Nature, a landscape architecture firm and The Hillside Trust, an advocacy and land conservation group. If you visit the first link I have here, you also get a nice Yahoo Maps guide to great views of the city. Some of the photography is so-so, but it gives you some great starting points for a fun day trip to take your own collection.

On one hand, I like that they spent the time to study these views and that there is the intention on using this info in urban planning. But $75k seems pretty steep to me for this report (and yes, I have actually read it). I applaud The Hillside Trust and their efforts over the years. I guess I'm more skeptical of the city actually using it in their planning and future development. I just hope this money wasn't wasted and that the report comes to good use.
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Regatta destroys OTR?

The good folks over at Cincinnati Downtown Parents pointed out that this weekend's Rubber Duck Regatta will help raise money that will be funding the demolition of two historic OTR buildings so they can build a parking lot for semi trailers.

(Pics of the buildings after the jump.)

I never go to RiverFest anyway (too crowded), and have never participated in the Regatta. But I wanted to spread the word in case you're thinking of sponsoring one of those cute little ducks this weekend. I'm not saying they're satan's waterfowl, but I just wanted you to know where your money's potentially going. I think this is an important issue and the Freestore needs to be made aware of how you stand on it.
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BSM: New Downtown Hotspots

A few in particular come to mind, but I'm sure there's others that I'm not thinking of and more to come. Let's just talk about Bang Nightclub, Cadillac Ranch, Lodge Bar, Sully's and McFadden's. One might see all these bars as a positive step in the continued development of downtown. These are the new "hotspots." But what do they really bring to the city?

Well, they're pretty generic in their personality. Sully's and McFaddens are basically sports bars with lots of dark wood and brass. Whoopty sh*t. Their appearance may be an attempt at upscale, but a constant barrage of TVs (tuned to sports, mostly) really kills that "refined" atmosphere.

Then there's the Lodge Bar and the Cadillac Ranch which I can only describe as "redneck chic," - I blame NASCAR for this sh*t. If you want a real country bar then grow a pair and go to Bobby Mackey's. But DJs and live music with no country bands don't a country bar make, just cuz you got tacky hick sh*t on the walls. Does this LOOK like a country crowd?

Bang - which is basically the same sh*t as Club Klau and whatever the hell it was after that - and other clubs like it remind me of one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies, The Fisher King:

"I told you about these people. They only mate with their own kind. It's yuppie inbreeding. That's why they're retarded and wear the same clothes. They don't feel love. They only negotiate love moments. They're evil, Edwin. They're repulsed by imperfection, horrified by the banal... everything that America stands for! They must be stopped before it's too late. It's us or them."

Funny thing is, after re-reading that bit from the script, I'm thinking it applies all of these bars. You've got five bars that are so pathetic in their concept that they're excellent at attracting a pathetic crowd. Great, that's just what we need more of downtown (or in any neighborhood): pretty sheep.

The only hope we have is all that all these places can help bring critical mass downtown so that a wider audience is willing to come down and see all the other great places and things to do that downtown has to offer.

So this week's BullSh*tMeter goes to the "yuppie watering holes" (also another quote from Fisher King) that are pockmarking our urban landscape. I wish you luck and success, as I wish any business downtown prosperity - but I'll be avoiding your bullsh*t like the plague. My boots are only thigh-highs.
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Demolish the Smith Foundation

So another "developer" is letting their OTR properties go to hell. The Smith Foundation is now going to demolish buildings they purchased for renovation. Instead of rehabing them, they just let them go to sh*t. When they're done with the wrecking ball they should swing it at Smith.

This is exactly the kind of thing the city needs to keep an eye on. We have so many wonderful historic building in OTR (I don't know in fact if these were historical or even that old), and so many building owners who would rather let them fall apart than spend the money to fix them or sell them to someone who would.

It's estimated that over 500 buildings in Over-the-Rhine are abandoned. So many opportunities, and they're going to waste: at the cost of some beautiful historic architecture.
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BSM: Fountain Square

Where the hell is the beautiful park-like city square they promised us from all those lovely conceptual drawings? Where is all the green they used so much to sell us on the changes to the Square? The square isn't that much different than it was before: lots of concrete and stone and very little shade. I call bullsh*t.

I started to rant about how they duped us and how the square hasn't changed much at all. But I decided to take a step back and look at the situation very closely.

After further review, the final layout of the square is pretty close to the drawings. Granted the trees haven't filled out yet and the construction on the north end of the square isn't done, however, the drawings are on target with what the square is shaping up to be. But let's take a close look at those original drawings.

Notice that in every drawing there's a lot of greenery, particularly trees. It gives the impression that the square will be more park-like. Every angle drawn is chosen to convey a idyllic setting, not an urban landscape.

Now I'm not saying this was a great conspiracy. But, there was definitely a sales pitch going on here. That's what designers (architects, landscapers, etc.) do with conceptual drawings: sell you on their design concept. Well, they certainly sold the square as a park. Just look at each drawing - green, green, green.

The drawings also show lots of shade. Now that doesn't mean they're incorrect. When I first saw the newly-opened square, I thought, where's all the green? The shade? Well, that was winter, and now it's summer and I'm still saying, where the hell is the green? One could argue that the trees haven't filled out yet, and that all the flower boxes aren't in - but look at all the concept pictures: way more shade than those trees will ever create - and I believe more trees than were planted.

Also take note of the fact that in every drawing greenery is used to cover up a stark urban streetscape, even in the periphery. Look at the drawing of the new facade on the 5/3 garage. This is the most urban of all the illustrations, and even this has the edges softened with trees.

So I come to the end of this rant with a mixed reading on the meter. On one hand, it's apparent that their drawings were designed to conjure a certain feeling. On the other hand, they're not entirely inaccurate. But I - and everyone else I've talked to - feel that we've had yet another architectural bait and switch pulled on us. They do it all the time in Cincy: the Accent, the CAC, Great American Ballpark, just to name a few.

But in this case, I have to say that their bullsh*t was spread on our crackers with such delicate precision that we gobbled it up without closer inspection. And for that, we, the enthusiastic supporters of the new square concept, are to blame as well. However this bullsh*t was of such fine caliber that they definitely had a solid reading on the meter, and thus this week's award.
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Building Cincinnati

I'll let you in on my new web obsession: Building Cincinnati. I have such a blog crush on this guy - stop it, I'm talking about his blog. His stuff is informative and detailed, and although the material is pretty dry, I have some amazing need to check it every day now (which I rarely check any one blog EVERY day), and have been spending free time combing through his archives (does that sound too much like innuendo?)

Because I'm very interested in the city's development (as in moving forward), after reading his site for a while I realized how much I'm interested in development in the city (as in building sh*t). Didn't know that about myself. Usually it's, "Oh, great, another Walgreens." But now I'm like, "Hmm, I know it's essentially a strip mall, but that 'life style center' will look a lot better in that area than the crap that was there before."
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Told you so.

The comments over at Cincinnati Blog exploded just like I said they would about the Pheonix Cafe. A bunch of people claiming the move was racist, gentrification, etc. Not that I want to get drawn down into such a stupid argument, but it wouldn't be so bad if all those comments were over here. Or at least some of them.

Which brings me to another thought. I'm in debate with myself about "marketing" this site (not sure what that would entail) or just letting it spread by word of mouth (or word of web, as the case may be). Do I want this to be a personal pouring out of my thoughts, or do I want to spread the word as much as possible. I know that somewhere in between is my answer, but the question is, what does that mean for my "promotion?" Any thoughts?
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