OTR among city’s assests

A controversial June 2009 Neighborhoodscout.com article, named Over the Rhine the most dangerous neighborhood in America. If you drive down Vine Street, north of Liberty Street, you would be hard pressed to side with the article. It’s almost another world.
Once home to as many as 40,000 people, comparable to New York City’s Greenwich Village, OTR is a shadow of its former self. It now can boast only 7,000 residents with two-thirds of the neighborhood’s buildings abandoned or underused.

Since America’s birth, its people have been on the move. The latest stage of American migration began in 1947 when William Levitt announced plans to build the first modern suburban community in Long Island, N.Y. Since then, millions have joined the exodus and left American’s urban communities, lured by the promises of safer, cheaper living in the suburbs.

As cities sprawled and new municipalities sprang up, money needed for inner-city maintenance evaporated with the loss of tax revenue. The sudden drop in population meant most local businesses floundered and once-prominent city centers collapsed. Few cities have managed to recapture their former economic vitality.

OTR is no exception to this relocation, and Cincinnatians are left with the legacy of today’s American inner city, a place of abject poverty, escalating crime and crumbling infrastructure.

Cincinnati is hard at work on the area’s rebound, putting more than $100 million into revitalization efforts. But local business officials are struggling to bring people back downtown for their shopping, dining and nightlife.

“We’ve done a great job of reaching the people who live here,” said Brian Tiffany of the Over the Rhine chamber of commerce. “The real challenge is reaching those who live in West Chester and Mason.”

Part of the problem lies in stereotypes. Urban communities have long been reviled as the decadent core of any city, but the civil unrest of the 2001 race riots earned OTR the stigma of being the hotbed for the city’s violent crime.

While such worries are grounded in truth — OTR does have a crime rate higher than all of Cincinnati’s other 52 neighborhoods — you can’t deny the impact new investment is having on the area. Last year showed double-digit drops in the area’s crime. With the trend expected to continue, the average visitor shouldn’t worry about becoming a victim of violence so long as they follow a normal safety routine.

OTR is also uniquely positioned to become a model of urban sustainable living. Its designation as one of the largest urban sights on the National Registry of Historic places means its materials can be readily recycled.

Other plans like the revival of Washington Park, the presence of Findlay Market and numerous locally owned shops like Park + Vine nestled in the heart of the neighborhood, are factors that should green up and clean up the area.

Dan Korman, a UC graduate and owner of Park + Vine, the defacto headquarters of Cincinnati’s green movement, said the strength of OTR lies in the arts. Home to the Art Academy, Music Hall, the Ensemble Theater, SCPA, the Know Theater, a scattering of galleries, the Fringe Festival and the soon-to-be remodeled Emery Theater the expanding arts will be vital in attracting the younger crowd the neighborhood needs to thrive.

Other city initiatives look promising. The streetcar is expected to bring $1.9 billion in new investments to the area, the construction of a casino at Broadway Commons will increase foot traffic and the completion of the Banks project and new Riverfront Park will provide constant draws to bring people downtown. It’s up to us to make sure OTR is put to
good use.

Max Webster is a second-year journalism student.