Introduction

Cincinnati is a city that too often defines itself by its failures, rather than its successes. By its missteps, rather than its accomplishments; by its delays rather than its progress. We are a city that subscribes wholeheartedly to the famous Mark Twain quotation, regardless of its veracity. A city that looks to the unfinished development at the river rather than applaud the hundreds of new residences downtown. A city that bemoans the loss of department stores to the suburbs rather than celebrate the new retailers that have sprung up in Over the Rhine. A city that laments its unfinished subway rather than one that advocates for its proposed streetcar. A city with a remarkable past, but with citizens that doubts its future. We need to change this mindset and these expectations.