Living in the City of Cincinnati

We live in the city of Cincinnati for a reason. We like the city life. We do not want to support urban sprawl.

Sure, if we lived in the suburbs, we would have a bigger, newer home, with a nice yard. We would send our kids to good public schools. We would have a much lower crime rate in our neighborhood- but we don't. We live in the city of Cincinnati because we like, and believe in the city lifestyle. We like the diversity of people in the city. My husband and I both believe so much time is wasted by commuting, so we choose to live where my husband has a bus option, or a 7 minute drive to work. We also try to use our car as little as possible. Living in the city of Cincinnati, we can walk to the post office, the bank, the grocery store, the movies, and so much more. So why would the city that claims to want people to stay in the city do things that only make families want to leave the city?

We live in a section of Cincinnati called Clifton. Clifton is the University of Cincinnati neighborhood with lots of old historic homes and character. People that live in Clifton LOVE this area, it's funky and friendly. We don't have any chain stores, with the exception of CVS. Sure, we might have a surplus of Indian restaurants, but we really do have a unique retail area.

But we have a problem these days...A developer named Jack Brand has come along to make a big change. At the end of our street, only a few houses away, he has purchased four homes in effort to demolish them, and build an eight story high-rise. This high-rise will have 40 apartment/condos, office space, store fronts, and God forbid, my biggest fear, fast food. The girls and I have been working with other neighbors to petition the neighbors, to put a halt to the project. With this development, zoning codes will have to be changed, so our residential section, will soon be zoned for business.

So with Cincinnati "trying" so hard to keep people living in the city, why are they pushing us away? Wouldn't it be safer to live in the burbs, where we know nothing will change. We won't have any risks like what we are facing now. Is Cincinnati turning into the next Detroit? If we don't do something to stop the zoning changes, we will have a vacant city that our Mayor Mallory speaks about. Everyone will be living in the suburbs, and eventually, all will be working there too.

Save our city- zoning codes were created for a reason. Let's keep it that way, Jack Brand. Do the right thing, think about your city, not your personal profits.