Cincinnati Still Scratching its Head Over Population Loss
The Enquirer is still buzzing with talk about why people are leaving Cincinnati. The popular opinion still seems to be that crime, real or perceived, is the driving force behind our dwindling population.
That's just not the case.
You look around the country at the success of big cities and they're not thriving because they are "safe." They're thriving because they embrace what urban life is about. If people want pure safety and pure conformity, they're going to move to the suburbs. The city just can't match that sense of calm one finds in the burbs and it shouldn't try to. People don't live in NYC, LA, Chicago, Portland, Seattle, or Miami for the sense of "calm."
Cincinnati has culture. There's no denying that. But instead of embracing Cincinnati, our elected officials keep telling us how bad it is and Peter Bronson keeps telling us that black people are just sitting around waiting to kill suburbanites (hyperbole).
Don't take taxpayer money and hire more cops. That's a misdirected effort. Build a transit system, give us community wi-fi, support events like Desdemona, subsizide small businesses, overall, just make it easier for people to enjoy what they come to the city to experience.
Ultimately, the more business you create and the more population you attract to the city with needed amenities, the more money you'll have to make the schools better and more creative than they already are and the police department better equipped to do their job.
Just once I would like to see council come up with something other than "more cops" to cure our ailing city. There are better ways if only someone had the will to explore them.
That's just not the case.
You look around the country at the success of big cities and they're not thriving because they are "safe." They're thriving because they embrace what urban life is about. If people want pure safety and pure conformity, they're going to move to the suburbs. The city just can't match that sense of calm one finds in the burbs and it shouldn't try to. People don't live in NYC, LA, Chicago, Portland, Seattle, or Miami for the sense of "calm."
Cincinnati has culture. There's no denying that. But instead of embracing Cincinnati, our elected officials keep telling us how bad it is and Peter Bronson keeps telling us that black people are just sitting around waiting to kill suburbanites (hyperbole).
Don't take taxpayer money and hire more cops. That's a misdirected effort. Build a transit system, give us community wi-fi, support events like Desdemona, subsizide small businesses, overall, just make it easier for people to enjoy what they come to the city to experience.
Ultimately, the more business you create and the more population you attract to the city with needed amenities, the more money you'll have to make the schools better and more creative than they already are and the police department better equipped to do their job.
Just once I would like to see council come up with something other than "more cops" to cure our ailing city. There are better ways if only someone had the will to explore them.
i wholeheartedly agree with this. some of the most livable cities are those which have embraced the messiness, the chaos, the noise and constant interruptions, of living in a city. and rather than trying to escape all that, sticking cafes and clubs and art spaces right in the middle of it all. in order to make cincinnati one that will attract people, we desperately need support of the entrepreneurs and small-business owners. our city is too big-business-y and not very inviting to someone trying to do something out of the ordinary. if we create the space for this, people will come. and stay.
Posted by kelly | 11:12 AM
AndrewWarner.org is trying to get CincyNation's attention!
Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati | 12:21 PM
What do you mean?
Posted by Andrew Warner | 12:40 PM