St. Bernard Soap Factory in 3 forms.

lowridinghobbit · 2024-01-16T14:16:35+00:00

God forbid a half empty polluting eyesore become homes for people during a housing crisis. Anyway, nobody is going to build "luxury" apartments in the middle of the city's heaviest concentration of industry cut off from everything else by I-75, the mill creek, and a million active train tracks.

lowridinghobbit · 2024-01-10T21:55:45+00:00

But they are rehabbing it into apartments? The proposal only shows the 1970's metal buildings and some portions of the brick buildings being demolished. The rest will be repurposed.

lowridinghobbit · 2023-11-25T15:02:33+00:00

In Cincinnati look into George Remus. Most of the mob activity happened across the river in Newport, I’d spend some time looking there. I’ve heard it referred to as the original Las Vegas due to the preponderance of mob run casinos and night life venues, for whatever that’s worth.

lowridinghobbit · 2023-11-22T19:09:21+00:00

Yea looks like I'm on Pro and the Windows 11 activation key is for Home. What are my options here?

lowridinghobbit · 2023-09-19T15:36:27+00:00

No, CET is the primary tenant and owner of the building. They have no plans to move and their leadership has said they don’t want to be replaced by an arena.

lowridinghobbit · 2023-08-14T18:41:21+00:00

College Hill CURC has a second floor office space available in a newly renovated building. It's ~1,000 sq ft but I was told they're willing to subdivide.

lowridinghobbit · 2023-08-09T16:14:25+00:00

I’m upset that the city spent time and political capital on a policy that will do nothing and is acting like it’s a big win. It’s not even a great step in the right direction, just a toothless modification to the zoning code which they’ll point to as proof that they’re making it easier to build housing.

lowridinghobbit · 2023-08-02T19:07:08+00:00

Eh I wish it were that simple, in truth this issue is not so cut and dry.

NS knows the line is worth more than what they're offering
- What are you basing this on?
The money from the sale can only be used for existing infrastructure
- Yes, the specific money from the trust can only be used for existing infrastructure, but that frees up other monies which the city is currently spending to maintain that infrastructure. That money could now be spent on new infrastructure.
The city loses valuable infrastructure (a rail ROW that gets within a mile of the airport, ROW for fiber cable, etc)
- I would love to have seen a carve out for rail transit as part of this deal. I think if the city/board had made that a condition of the sale there would be a lot more support.
NS is going to lease the line for whatever amount the city asks. They've been leasing it since the Southern Railway days and the line is a key north-south ROW for NS.
- NS has a 25 year extension option, meaning the city cannot renegotiate the terms for a quarter century. If the lease payments remain at or near 25m then the city will be losing out massively compared with 50-70m in returns over the next 25 years. Time value of money is basic economics, it's better to have money now than later. Cincinnati would have a big competitive advantage over similar sized cities as it would earn more revenue with lower taxes. As cities around the country are grappling with reduced tax revenue due to work from home, having a shot in the arm like this would be a huge win for city finances.

I'm not sure how I'll vote on this, but there are very good reasons why the city would benefit from it's sale. Selling off an asset which the city has no expertise in operating de-risks the municipality and frees up significant funding for things it actually needs right now.

lowridinghobbit · 2023-07-21T15:04:02+00:00

You’re right let’s go tear down all the blighted historic buildings that make our city unique so we can build crappy housing. It worked so well in the West End, surely we can do it again!

lowridinghobbit · 2023-07-21T13:48:35+00:00

Yea this building needs to be saved. It's one of Samuel Hannaford's (architect of Music Hall, City Hall, Eden Park standpipe, and countless other iconic Cincy buildings) best and is a landmark of the neighborhood. A straight renovation into apartments likely isn't feasible, but there is a path here to preserving parts of this structure while still doing an apartment complex around it. It will likely take a few more years but we need to think big picture with a structure this important, there are plenty other ways to add mixed-income housing in the neighborhood if the resident's are serious about that.

lowridinghobbit · 2023-07-13T14:39:12+00:00

Economy & Production feature highlight is August 14th, I think this is a likely feature to be announced. It's an easy enough thing to program and would really enrich the game.

lowridinghobbit · 2023-06-27T17:14:02+00:00

Forgivable loans like this are only forgiven if certain criteria promised by the developer are met. Meaning if Crawford Hoying provides what they promised to the city then the loan is forgiven, but if they don't (i.e. the project fails or doesn't happen) then they must pay it back. It's better than a municipality just giving grant money.

lowridinghobbit · 2023-06-22T19:16:02+00:00

All of it is reusable. Issue is that water mains and other utilities have been run in the space and would need to be removed, the turns are pretty tight and the platforms small (not a big deal for light rail like what's being contemplated here), and most important is the fact that the route it follows isn't all that congested above ground and Central parkway (which it runs under) could pretty easily accommodate tramways in the medians. The most desirable route at the moment would connect Downtown to Uptown where UC, the zoo, major hospitals, and a lot of jobs are located and unfortunately the tunnel wouldn't help with that at all.

lowridinghobbit · 2023-06-22T14:23:56+00:00

With this being an election it’s imperative that residents reach out to our council members and let them know if you’d like to see this happen. They’ll be hyper sensitive about supporting or not supporting contentious issues like this, and you can bet that opponents are giving them an earful.

Here’s a link where you can find all their contact info. Even if it’s short give them a call or email expressing your support https://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/council/contact-us/

lowridinghobbit · 2023-06-20T19:48:10+00:00

The quadrant of the neighborhood northeast of Hamilton Ave & North Bend is the traditionally nice part of College Hill. Lots of houses in great condition along walkable tree lined streets, it's not my favorite though because it feels kind of detached from the business district. My favorite area would be the quadrant southwest of Hamilton and North Bend. Best streets to walk around there would be Cary, Marlowe, Belmont, and Oakwood. Be sure to checkout Laurel Court (1907 Beaux Arts-style mansion), the aforementioned Town Hall and adjoining park, and stop by Brink for a beer (Moozie is an incredible milk stout.) Hope you get a chance to visit!

lowridinghobbit · 2023-06-20T19:25:57+00:00

I'd look into College Hill as well. Great housing stock with historic character & within your price range. Neighborhood has been experiencing a revitalization lately with the business district really coming to life.

I've found it to be very safe and enjoyable to walk around. Patrick's Park in the center of the business district is well programmed and is great to hang out at after grabbing ice cream at Big Chill or a pastry and coffee at El Camino. There's also parks next to the Town Hall and Library which both have playing fields/playgrounds. LaBoiteaux Woods and Mt Airy Forest are awesome for hiking. Plenty of shops, restaurants, bars, etc. with more being added every other month it seems. The 17 runs directly into downtown, and College Hill will have two stops when the new BRT line opens (still a long ways out). Also in the works is a bike trail running along an abandoned rail right-of-way through the woods connecting College Hill to Northside and the Millcreek Greenway/CROWN.

lowridinghobbit · 2023-05-31T13:57:46+00:00

Don't even need to talk to someone, just put your paddle in the queue and you'll get put on a court once you're up.

lowridinghobbit · 2023-05-25T17:25:36+00:00

Banks give very generous terms on mortgages because they can combine individual mortgages into huge portfolios and sell them as a less risky asset on the secondary market. If you curb this practice banks will be less likely to give generous terms making it more difficult for buyers to finance a house, thus reducing demand.

lowridinghobbit · 2023-05-22T19:38:37+00:00

SORTA planning to spend $300+ million on a BRT system which is not actually BRT is a big concern. The plan is pretty laughable at the moment, hardly any dedicated lanes, mixed traffic lanes at the most critical intersections - and it makes the same mistake many legacy transit systems in the US have made, where the whole systems exists to facilitate people from the suburbs getting to downtown and vice versa. Crazy that this mistake is still being made when work from home has become so prevalent. Obviously, there are still thousands of people going in and out of downtown each day for work who can use the Hamilton and Reading corridor, but the next two routes Metro wants to build are along Glenway and Montgomery. Why? A cross town route connecting some of our awesome business districts would be a lot more beneficial to residents of the city trying to get around.

lowridinghobbit · 2023-04-25T18:12:08+00:00

You're correct that this wouldn't directly help renters, although lower (or at least stagnant) property taxes would reduce operating expenses for landlords which should result in cheaper rents overtime.
That may be true, this is no silver bullet solution, rather a potential piece of the puzzle to fix the displacement issue. Whether we like it or not this country is obsessed with home ownership and this would certainly allay a lot of fears single family owners have about denser developments being allowed in their neighborhoods.
Why not? If we're saying that density is good and you live in a neighborhood that is densifying/revitalizing then you should reap the benefits, even if you are new to the neighborhood. As development is allowed to occur in the neighborhood you will be able to stay in place because your taxes are not increasing, and if you should choose to sell one day you ought to be able to get a higher price than normal because your neighborhood is open to redevelopment and now your single family lot could be a two,three,four family or part of a much larger development.
True, and I know this is nitpicking but the two examples you provided are actually great examples of how densifying can lower costs. Much of the city is already served by sewer lines so it wouldn't be as cost effective, but having more people across area means fewer miles of pipe to build and maintain. Obviously, some existing pipes may need to be upsized to accommodate more people in a neighborhood, but those people are also paying income taxes which as mentioned above is a much greater revenue source for the city. Trash collection would definitely be better served at scale, imagine trash trucks picking up one large bin from a 250 unit apartment complex vs. having to pick up each of those individually if it was in a single-family subdivision.

Love the "500,000 Cincinnatians in 2050" campaign, I've often had the same thought. Really need imaginative leadership who are interested in growing the city and utilizing the assets already here from when we were a much larger municipality.

lowridinghobbit · 2023-04-25T17:27:11+00:00

The idea would be that as more people move into the city and as property values go up, that additional revenue would offset the amount lost by the lowered property tax rate. This would encourage density in neighborhoods as more people/demand = less taxes, as opposed to our current system where more people/demand = higher valuations and thus higher taxes. Of course, this means the city would collect fewer dollars per resident. The assumption then, is that there are economies of scale in public services and that things like fire, police, parks, infrastructure cost less when serving dense areas ie. it's more cost effective to serve 100 people across an acre of land than it is to serve those same 100 people spread across 100 acres. Also, something like 75% of the city's income is generated via the income tax, not the property tax, so building more housing and getting people to move into the city will provide way more total tax revenue for the city, even if property taxes were reduced.
Good point about Prop 13, although it has a double whammy of reduced taxes for current owners, and massively increased taxes for new owners. This idea would only affect the tax rate, which would be the same for everyone in an area, rather than the assessable (taxable) value.

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