Over-the-Rhine (OTR) may seem an odd name for a neighbor's but to us downtown dwellers it is common place. To non-downtown dwellers, OTR may bring a connotation of filth, poverty, crime and unsafe feeling. To us who live here know that the cramp living quarters and close proximity to jobs and transit hubs brings some who are poor which draws criminals, but we also know that OTR is more than that and definitely has more to offer.
The University of Cincinnati launched a major revitalization project in OTR in 2002 and yesterday, they invited the community and its organizations to Memorial Hall at 1229 Elm to give a presentation of how far they have come. The former OTR Community Council president spoke after a few invigorating and thought provoking prose by one of InkTank;s writers. Brian Tiffany, president of the OTR Chamber of Commerce then gave a laundry list of their efforts in trying to stimulate economic growth in the area.
After UC gave their presentation updating their project in OTR, Milton R. Dohoney, Jr., gave a rousing speech chronicleing his experience in Lexington and Louisville and his vision for this area. He was candidly honest in saying that the National Underground Freedom Center may not have been the best idea for this area, not to say it was a bad idea, just not the BEST idea. He also claimed that we, as a city, can be abit more cleaner.
I was surprised that their were not any bo's or hisses that emanated from the crowd at his surprisingly honest approach. I think that it may be he gave more enlightenment than gloom. His speech was capped off with a resounding cry for investment in our neighborhood.
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