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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Rush-hour Sex

Ok. You caught me. Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. What's a girl to do when she's not wearing pants?

But seriously folks, did they get to finish? I mean, if you got the minerals to try a stunt like this, at 4:57pm on a Wednesday no less, the cop should at least let you get your nut off before taking you away to the loony bin.
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Coffee Emporium needs to stay open longer

So Coffee Emporium (OTR) extended their hours until 6pm on weekdays, but are still at 4pm on Saturdays, and not open Sundays at all. I wish they were open later, as I hate to have pack up my sh*t and find another place to use wifi or go home. And their Hyde Park location doesn't have any better hours.

At least I can kinda get wifi at Kaldi's via Main Street's Lily Pad cloud - if I make an extra antenna out of my silverware, and sit in the front window. Shame I can't get food there in the evenings any more.

And people wonder why locally-owned downtown businesses struggle, yet chain restaurants in the suburbs flourish. Well take Starbucks/Panera for example: at all available hours you see people there using their laptops. Well, their hours are consistent, and they have solid wifi connections.
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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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Kaldi's Finicky Hours

Again with the changing of the hours, and weird ones at that! I finally thought Kaldis was doing well and had ironed out all the kinks of new ownership when I found out the hard way that they're not serving food at night anymore on the weekdays, and only a limited menu at night on the weekends. Because I didn't have much time, I had to eat at the Courtyard Cafe, which no one really wants to do.
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Bastards on the street

Really cool little event: Heartless Bastards played a free concert tonight during Final Friday. Apparently it was to celebrate their music video. Weird part was, they never showed the video, at least not on the street. Lightborne - who I guess sponsored the event because they did the video - was having a party, but you had to have a pass to get in. So they might have shown the video inside, but I wouldn't know because I was not one of the ordained hipsters allowed inside. I'm fine with that, as I wanted to spend more time hitting the Pendleton and the other galleries, and I would have been completely sucked in by the free food and beer.
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