The Riverfront

Robyn and I spent last evening with a friend couple who live in Crestview Hills. We seem to end up at the Levee a few times each year, and every time Robyn and I leave impressed with what the developers did with that piece of land. There were many dinner options, and we chose Dewey's (get the whitesauce pizza with Amish Chicken, you won't regret it). After dinner, we decided to just walk around, as that seems to be the best way to get The Tobe to sleep, plus we had time to kill. The purple bridge was right around the corner, so we went across. It's a nice walk, as the bridge is adorned with flower-filled planters the entire length of the bridge. Over the course of the evening, we saw no littered items, we saw no panhandlers, we encountered no uncomfortable situations.

The Cincinnati side was less impressive. We walked down the steps to Bicentennial Commons, I looked up Cincinnatus' skirt (no lie), and continued on down to the water's edge. There was litter. There were homeless folks sleeping on the Serpentine steps. There was a less-than-pleasant odor. I picked up a mostly-empty vodka bottle and deposited it into a trash can once we made it over to the public landing.

Memo to City Council, Hamilton County Commissioners, and anyone else who might have some pull around here. Build something on the riverfront. A movie theater, a comedy club, an ampitheater, some restaurants, an ice cream shop or two, a nice pub. Heck, how about some grass? Can't we at least plant grass down there? How many years has it been? There are lots of people that would much rather spend their discretionary income in Cincinnati than in Newport. Please. Just do something. Even if you're wrong, do something.

I love my city. I want to see it thrive. An empty riverfront is not helping the situation.