A little while back you got the UrbanCincy stance on the trashy talk-radio in Cincinnati that unfortunately boasts someone as idiotic and simply rude/crude as Bill Cunningham. Instead of restating the same points I have already made…I’ll let you check out what others are saying.
Is Cincinnati ready to shed the Mark Twain complex? That infamous quote seems to rear its ugly head too often, and unfortunately is seemingly reinforced by the moves/actions of local politicians, businesses and residents.
I’ve been called “viciously optimistic” about Cincinnati before, but I know when to call a duck a duck. The Banks is going to happen and it will be sooner rather than later, but it has taken us a decade to get this far. Cincinnati finally told Eagle Realty to take a walk after wasting years of time with the valuable 5th & Race location.
Cincinnati is on the cusp of a vote on the Cincinnati Streetcar proposal. This is something that many cities are looking into, but we are one of the furthest along in the development process. Cincinnati, yes CINCINNATI has the opportunity to do something that cities like Atlanta, Washington D.C., Portland and Columbus (to name a few) are all trying or have done the modern streetcar push.
Well what do you know…a couple of weeks before the Finance Committee is to vote on the proposal John Cranley publicized a 9-page list of questions – questions that have been answered by city staff and City Manager Milton Dohoney. These answers will be presented at the Finance Committee hearing on February 25th…however it seems VERY unlikely that it will budge Cranley on his views one bit.
To throw another wrench in the works, Roxanne Qualls suggests that another route altogether might be a better idea. You know nothing is more productive than waiting until 5 days before the hearing and suggesting that we start from scratch.
I won’t bore you with why the current proposal is solid, and why I think these politicians are simply employing stall tactics…but rather I will make the bold statement that Cincinnati shed this Mark Twain complex and start proving to our citizens that we can do big things, and we can do them quickly/efficiently.
Image Credit:
Twain With Pipe from the Kingwood College Library
I thought I would mix things up a little bit and plug a local artist. Erikyasha has a variety of techniques and styles, but tends to use mechanical pencils, Faber Castel pens, Copic markers, and then takes his pieces into Photoshop and further toys with them.
He definitely has an interesting style that is fun and enjoyable. Check it out…it’s definitely worth a browse through the gallery.
How can you not like polar bears. Well, Maurice Smith from Walton, Kentucky isn’t a big fan. From the 2/14 Enquirer:
BUSH RIGHT TO PUT OIL ABOVE POLAR BEARS
Thank God President Bush is concerned about the supply of oil for our country. The radical global warming extremists are willing to destroy the entire country and our economy for the sake of polar bears, even though the polar bear
population is much larger than it has been for years. A major portion of the cost of a gallon of gas is to satisfy environmental extremists.Maurice W. Smith
Walton
I won’t say much…I’ll let Soapbox Cincinnati e-zine do the talking for themselves:
The passion that drives the staff of this new weekly experiment is the desire to find the innovative, the hip, the inspirational, the quirky and the positive that make up this city of ours. Cincinnati is a community of delicious tensions — a city of risk-takers and a city of critics. We praise innovation but worry about too much change happening too quickly. We value development and expertise but are quick to mock insincerity and celebrity. We look to magazines to rate us but rise up in righteous anger against anyone who talks trash about the ‘Nati. We are political, but too polite to talk about it at the dinner table. We are east and west; north of the river and south of the river; urban, suburban and exurban. We are upper, middle and lower; gay and straight; black and white and Asian and Hispanic and Indian and African; and a mosaic of traditions and cultures too rich to list, and yet our conversations about diversity never creep past our geography or zip codes. We are all these things and so much more than a rant on a bar stool. So climb up on this Soapbox of ours and take a look around. We exist to tell the story of a city in sustained transformation. Our goal is to have you seeing Cincinnati differently. And if we don’t, you’re always welcome to rant, but when you’re through don’t be surprised to hear us say, “I hear you, but what are you going to do about it?”
Soapbox Cincinnati seems to be yet another outlet for those who feel a change is needed in Cincinnati. For too long Cincinnati has been made up more pessimists than optimists. It is the new blogs like UrbanCincy, and those in my blogroll, that are helping change the perception of Cincinnati. We have the power to change Cincinnati with our words, thoughts, and information…and it is great to have a new outlet like Soapbox Cincinnati around.