Over-the-Rhine isn't as awful as they say

Recent articles have been citing a study by neighborhoodscout.com (who the heck are they, anyway?) that seems to think that Cincinnati's Over the Rhine neighborhood is the most dangerous neighborhood in the U.S.

Words escape me. I've been going there weekly (at night) since I moved here in 1980. One rainy night in 1991 while I was at the symphony, someone smashed a car window and stole something I should have kept hidden. Total loss: $25. Once in several thousand visits is certainly not the one in four statistics this website quotes.

I continue to visit OTR, to attend Music Hall events. Just three or four weeks ago, I left an event there, by myself, alone on the street, after midnight, and walked to my car. There was no security, and I certainly felt no need for it. It never occurred to me to be afraid.

My daughter works in Over the Rhine six days a week, often leaving work late at night. If I were the least fearful of her safety, I'd be there to pick her up every night.

If this is such a bad neighborhood, why are developers rehabbing buildings and selling them to the suburbanites who are moving to downtown and OTR in record numbers?

There is danger on city streets everywhere. Nine times out of ten, crimes of violence are intra-neighborhood problems. If you're in OTR doing something you shouldn't be doing, then perhaps you'll have a problem. Otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it.

Incorrect and outdated information like this can ruin the chances that OTR has to continue it's rebirth. In 2007, the National Historic Trust for Preservation designated Over-the-Rhine one of its 11-most endangered places in the country. Two years later, that "danger" is diminishing daily. Let's not let the misinformed derail the rebirth of OTR.

Below is a statement dated 6/22/09 from 3CDC (Cincinnati Center City Development Corp) in regard to the study:

“The study released today regarding Over-the-Rhine (OTR) focuses on approximately 20 square blocks, some of them not even located in OTR and is based on data that is more than two and a half years old. In fact, reported crime through 2008 in the area of OTR south of Liberty Street, known as OTR Gateway, is down 37% since 2004.

“OTR is 110 square blocks and includes several neighborhood districts including OTR Gateway, centered at the corner of 12th and Vine streets. This area, and other OTR census tract areas, was not part of the study.

“It is unfortunate and intellectually dishonest that the entire neighborhood was labeled in such a negative way. The fact is, $84 million has been invested in OTR Gateway since 2004 and new home owners and business owners are investing in the neighborhood. This past Saturday, a 5K run and day-long Summer Celebration arts festival brought about 2,000 people to the corner of 12th and Vine to shop, eat and listen to music. The only problem was that some of our vendors didn’t anticipate such a large crowd and ran out of food.”

What Happens When You Work From Home

Festival Deprivation

Free evenings! What to do with them?

After three weeks of non-stop festivals, I’m ready for the downtime. The problem is that the days seem to last forever when I don’t have to leave the house.

I did leave yesterday after work, to retrieve Pekoe from Alex’s house. Alex and Justin are heading for Florida today to see Alex’s college roommate, Rachel, so Pekoe is here until next Thursday or Friday.

Neither cat is very happy about it. Pekoe, when I pick her up, wraps her paws around my neck and mews plaintively. When I put her down, even if Nico is nowhere around, she hisses and growls.

So far, neither has killed the other, so I think we’ll get through this. Pekoe will go back with Justin and Alex next week, but in late July, she’ll come back here for a year. The theatre housing that Alex will be moving into doesn’t allow pets. The theatre has agreed to provide a “real” apartment for her after that, so eventually Pekoe will go back to being spoiled.

I found another old high school classmate on Facebook yesterday, and it was fun to catch up. He was a buddy back then, and we went to our senior prom together (since his girlfriend went with someone else). He’ll be at the reunion next month. He told me that he was printing banners and signs for the reunion, since he happened to have a 54-inch printer in his living room. Who do you know that has something like that at home?

From One Festival to the Next

Well, after May Festival was over, I didn’t know what to do with myself, so I volunteered to help Alex out at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. I did that for four evenings – helping with tickets, answering the phones, signing in some actors who were auditioning for another company that was using the Know Theatre’s space (the Know Theatre sponsors the Fringe). I set up a spreadsheet to tally patrons’ votes for the Pick of the Fringe and entered a bunch of data, and even sold a couple of Fringe t-shirts.

It was chaotic fun. Along the way, I saw a couple of shows, and on Friday, David came down and we saw two more after a nice dinner at Lavomatic.

On Saturday night I attended the Fringe awards ceremonies.

My daughter Alex is the one in the sparkly black dress at the end of the second video below.

Now there are no more festivals, so I guess I’ll have to clean the house. Finally. No more excuses.

The videos are little choppy because I had to stand with my arms in the air, holding up the camera, for over 40 minutes. There were people standing a foot in front of me, about ten deep. My apologies.





Part of the Fringe Festival is Art. (Note the Capital "A"). Last year, two talented volunteers painted a mural on the south wall of the theatre. This year they asked to paint the north wall. They were still working Saturday night when I left the party -- after midnight.

The Best of the Rest - The Cincinnati May Festival Wraps Up

Days Eight Through Sixteen

They were crazy days.

Day Eight began with a 9:30 am rehearsal for that evening’s concert performance of Verdi’s opera, Luisa Miller, and ended, of course, with the performance.

Day Nine gave me a chance to sleep in, thankfully. There was a dress rehearsal at Covington, Kentucky’s Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption that began at two, with the concert at eight. We (the Chamber Choir) followed the Youth Chorus with Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G Minor, and Brahm’s Zigeunerlieder (Gypsy songs).





Day Ten was a holiday, thankfully, so I had the entire day to rest up, since rehearsal didn’t begin until seven.

Days Eleven and Twelve involved more evening rehearsals with the orchestra.

Cleveland Chorus Arrives

On Day Thirteen, Thursday, the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus arrived, and there was a piano rehearsal with them of the repertoire for Saturday’s concert that began at four. That was followed by a seven o’clock dress rehearsal for Friday’s concert.

Day Fourteen was a little crazy. There was an eleven am rehearsal on stage with all 500 performers for Saturday’s concert, and our chorus alone assembled in the evening with the orchestra to perform a variety of choral works by Handel, Beethoven, Schumber, Bach and Mendelssohn.





Day Fifteen, Saturday morning, began with a dress rehearsal of Mahler’s 8th. After a nap, all 500 of us assembled for the Mahler. God it was good. This was, I think, my seventh performance of the work, and this was by far the best.




The reviews were effusive:

Mahler a Magnificent Finale to May Festival

Mahler Makes Music Hall Sing

The best review of all:

Bob sent us an e-mail afterward (this is Bob, for whom to issue praise is difficult, saying, “Congratulations on a truly wonderful performance. As I sat in the upper reaches of the gallery, I found myself thinking, ‘This is how the piece should sound.’ Thank you.”

One fun thing was that Emily, a fellow alto, had two, count ‘em, TWO, offspring in the Cincinnati Children’s choir, who sang from the balcony.




The evening ended with the annual Amen party, which involves an open bar and a great buffet – for hundreds. Attendees include the performers, their families, chorus alumni, the board, and on and on and on. There were well over a thousand people being fed that night.












Day Sixteen was spent at the computer, while I put the finishing touches on my skit for that evening's May Festival Annual Dinner. It was a parody of Schubert's Hirtenchor from Rosamunde, which we had performed on Friday night. It was sung by those of us who had broken bones, had joint surgery, torn shoulders and the like during the past year. This version was performed by The Hurtin’ Chor. It was pretty well received.

Other skits included a puppet-based parody of the way James Conlon tell us opera stories each year, entitled, “Jimm’s Fairy Tales,” an alto skit about a Gospel church where the main text was the Gospel of Bob, and a funny PowerPoint presentation about the trials and tribulations of the committee that had to come up with new dress designs to replace the witch costumes we’ve worn for the past dozen years.


The Church of the Gospel of Bob:

So, another May Festival has come and gone. Already I miss everyone.