"Cincinnati...Yes or No?" Topic

I was recently offered the opportunity by my company to take over the management of a larger store in the Kenwood Mall. Its a decent pay raise and better hours than I'm getting at my current location.

So my question to you fellow wargamers. What is Cincinnati like? Good town for a single guy in his late 20's? Good places to live, preferably affordable but not ghetto. So basically do your best to sell me on this potential move.

Somebody better get Mark Severin in here for this.

Back in the 90's Cincy hosted a world's ugliest baby pagent. Ugly toddlers from around the world came to compete. Unfortunately after the pagent was over, they sll decided to grow up here.

LOL!

We used to make this kind of comment about a certain University in a certain state:

"The local farmers keep their daughters at home and send their pigs to college!"

Cinci is OK -- been a very long time since I have been there so not much relevant help for you.

mjc

Meh, I live in Indianapolis, so it couldn't be much worse.

Also may I say bravo on the Zardoz imagine in your profile.

I went to school in Cinti and my brother in law still lives there. I liked it when I was there and when I visit. They have year round sports (college and pros) and there are plenty of great places to eat… food there is pretty darn good, winters are better than what they are in the norhtern part of the state.

Kenwood Town Center is an upscale, high volume mall. A good opportunity.

We have a lot of affordable housing stock in Cincinnati. It's more affordable lately. You need to watch which neighborhood you buy into; some are stable, others are coming down. Crime is high in some places. Stay out of those places. If you go looking for trouble, it will find you. Most of the city is clean and safe.

There's plenty of entertainment: restaurants, bars, concerts, parks. Lots of single women who want to meet a worthwhile man. There's even a hot wargaming scene here.

Let me know if you come for a visit.

Im driving through tomorrow on my way to a cousins wedding. Ive got a few locations Ive been told to look at. Mt Lookout, Hyde Park being high on the list due to favorable recommendations. I was told to avoid Over the Rhine by every single person…so Im gonna guess thats a pretty rough area.

Didn't our Scale Creep/Deep Fried something-or-other decide to reside in Cincy? I've been there a few times. Nice enough, I suppose. Great aquarium in Newport, KY. Absolutely nothing in Hebron, KY.

There is no there, there.

The apparently do this weird thing about putting chili (with beans) on pasta. If you can avoid that you may be okay.

Chili on Pasta? What kind of barbarous people will I be associating with?

They do it at Shoney's.

As you can imagine, I like it here. Indy is a nice place too. You'll find a lot of affordable housing around. If you stick to north of the river and mostly north of town, you can live pretty far away and not have much trouble getting to Kenwood. Although traffic around Kenwood can get crowded.

When people talk about chili around here they do mean over spaghetti with a big heap of shredded cheese on it. It's something to try. Some people love it, others can take it or leave it. I don't know of many who hate it.

While I can tell you about the chili, I really have no idea what the single life is like. It does seem like we but we have our share of good looking girls.

Skyline…its 3 way time!

I grew up outside Cincy and still live in the area. Its not a *bad* city, its just not an awesome city.

For housing, don't hesistate to widen your search and look north of Kenwood Mall in the Blue Ash – to Mason area as well. West Chester to Deerfield Township are both very nice. Mason is very nice. Mason and Sycamore both have good schools if that is important.

Kenwood Mall is indeed 'the' mall in the greater Cincinnati area. Good hospital (Jewish Hospital) right across the street too.

Pluses;
Lots of universities in the area. Good mix of football and basketball games.
Cincinnati Reds – one of the cheapest tickets in baseball
Good arts scene.
Affordable housing
Air Force Museum an hour or so away.

Downside
Cincinnati (the actual city) is having had budget issues.
Lousy daily newspaper. The Enquirer is a shadow of its former self. Pick up a copy and judge for yourself.
Traffic. Its not LA bad, but its getting there.
Airport. One of the more expensive airports in the region. We generally use Dayton, Columbus or even Indy.

Oh…and the GAMING! We got lots of that here.

We have a fair number of Skyline Chili's here in Indy so I really am familiar with the concept. I must admit my earlier statement was a little sarcastic.

I stayed in a hotel in the Blue Ash area last year and liked it quite a lot. So Ill have to make sure I swing through there tomorrow as well.

And as long as the gaming is good, I cant imagine needing much more.

Jerry Springer was a former mayor. Does that tell you anything?

That its awesome?

Rats, I'm tied up Saturday. I'm attending Johnny Con (a national ACW minis con) which Extra Crispy Mark Severin has organized this weekend. Speaking of hot gaming. Give me more notice next time.

I'm in Mt. Lookout myself, a couple blocks up from the Square and Boardwalk Hobby Shop. The Scale Creep Miniatures store is just a mile or so up the hill, near Hyde Park Plaza. These neighborhoods were built in the 1920s, are beautiful and stable. Good houses, lots of shopping and entertainment, many old trees. I get deer in my back yard. I see lots of singles and couples out jogging, riding bicycles, walking dogs. It's just a few miles from Kenwood.

Blue Ash is nice too, in a completely different way. It's a newer neighborhood, the trees aren't as big. Bagelman Marx's Bagel Factory is in a strip mall there, best darn deli in town, more authentic than Izzy Kadetz. Blue Ash is right next to Kenwood.

Over-the-Rhine has possibly the highest murder rate of any neighborhood in the US. It's wall-to-wall crackheads, tweakers and junkies; s and the thugs who sell them dope and turn them out. Parts of the OTR are being gentrified and redeveloped into an arts and entertainment district. Be careful when you party down there. Many displaced thugs have moved up Reading Road to Bond Hill/Roselawn or up the Viaduct to Price Hill. Fortunately, none of these places are anywhere near Kenwood.

Zippy, youve been a wealth of good info. Now I just need my boots on the ground to scout some apartments/rentals. Ive been to Scale Creep before so Im vaguely familiar with the surrounding area and its condition. Pretty similar to what Im living in now.

The more I learn the more excited I am to leave Indy.

I drove through there once. Seemed like a nice enough place. Two pluses:
1) The people of Cincinnati donated the Twin Sisters, 2 6 lbers that helped us win the Revolution in 1836.
2) There was a great TV show set there in the 1980s featuring Venus Flytrap, Dr. Johnny Fever and Herb Gundman ("I swear I thought turkeys could fly!"
Rock on Cincinnati!

Skyline Chili is the food of the gods. Only Cincinnati has anything worthy of being called chili.

Cincy is a fun place.

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is just across the river. If you site your artillery carefully, you can cover all the potential crossings with preplanned fire missions.

good luck with your move – hope everything works out OK

One of the great things about Cincinnati is that if you live close to I-275 you can be pretty much anywhere from Northern Kentucky to The north of the city ala West Chester/Fairfield withing 30 minutes give or take. The area has a lot to offer. One of the best Zoo's in the country. The 3 Museums at the Museum center are nice. The Reds have recently become contenders again. The gaming scene is very good. We have started running Cincycon for the last two years. Attendance this year was above 300. There are several gaming stores in the area. The Air Force Museum is just up the highway a ways. The cost of living probably isn't much different from where you are now. There are lots of food choices. I grew up in the area and other than moving to North Carolina for about 5 years have always lived here. There are some excellent public and private schools here too.

Thanks,

John

Stayed there for a couple of days and really liked the place. I found it quite picturesque and friendly, and I found a couple of quite neat gaming stores (one in a really nice neighbourhood)!

I have visited it several times and always enjoyed myself and don't knock Chili on spaghetti till you have tried it.

Thanks gents, a wealth of good information. Oddly enough this has been the best group of responses Ive received. My post on Facebook might as well have been asking about the merits of Nascar versus Monster Truck rallys for all the useful insight I gained from it.

So now depending on one or two other important factors I will see you Cincy guys in the near future.

The neighborhood I live in(Cheviot)is just outside the city limits on the west side,and has some fairly decent housing,city busline runs through it.

Ok looks like its a go for my move to Cinci. Anybody need a roommate?

Dunno. Are you cute enought to play the Suzanne Somers role in Three's Company?

My sister lives in Cincy and I visit there fairly often. She got a sweet deal on a house in the W/NW part of Cincy -- but the neighborhood name escapes me at the moment.

Nice neighborhoods -- Blue Ash, Mason, the area north of Kenwood.

Stay out of Over the Rhine. Parts have been rehabbed but it's not a place I would go at night. My sister and I do like the Farmer's Market down there.

Cincy has a good arts program, the University of Cincinnati for arts and college sports, the Red, the Bungals (Bengals) and across the river is a really nice acquarium.

The airport stinks -- it's the most expensive in the country. When I visit my sis, I fly into Louisville and drive up I-71.

Cincy is easy driving from Indy, Louisville, Lexington, Nashville and St. Louis. The gaming is good -- Scale Creep is right there and you are also close to Columbus (Origins). Wee Sparky Goddard is in Columbus as well --so another gaming dude.

I've always thought I would look good a a blonde.

UPDATE: I accepted then job and found a place near Observatory and Delta that will let me have my big dog. See you guys in a week.

I have no opinion, having never been to Cincinnatti.

Well, everyone else here does it.

Sounds good.Nick.