On the way to the gig, just four blocks from our fancy-pants hotel in downtown Cincinnati is the worst neighborhood Ive ever seen. The neighborhood goes from glass high-rise buildings and Saks Fifth Ave to burnt out broken down hundred-year-old tenements just like that. Driving through it I felt like I was in a zombie movie. The tension in the air was palpable. I dont claim to be an expert on urban renewal, race relations or anything else for that matter (well maybe Silver Age Marvel Comics and Stephen King) but from my perspective I cant help but wonder why our government sends billions of dollars all over the world when such urban blight exists in this country. Id be much happier to pay my taxes directly to schoolteachers, or to re-build inner cities. Not to pay for the Enron rip-off. Is Arnold going to answer that question? How about George? Can he even understand that question?
Scott Ian on Cincinnati....
- Thread starter SlappyWhitey
- Start date
Anyway, im sure you all have read this but he is so right about this. I mean, the cops hands are tied, the murder rate is through the roof, and nobody can come up with any answers to this shit. The "Boycott" is not the answer and downtown has died since the riots. I mean, who wants to go down there and face gunfire? Oh well, I live in NKY so I guess its really not my problem but hell, something needs to be done. You cant even go downtown after sundown anymore.....The "Boycott" did cost me a chance to see Dave Chappelle though!!!
Welcome to my world....did you see what he wrote about Detroit? I actually started to defend my birth city, but realized he was right and had to make a joke so as to not get all bummed! Harpos, where they played, is in a "scary ghetto", guess we just have to deal with it. 
Lordlindsey
Metal Royalty
I kind of felt the same way.
Harpo's is a shit hole though.
Once, while walking into Harpo's with a bunch of guys, a crackhead came up to us and said that if we wanted to see our tires on the car when we got out, we'd better give him $10.
Wasn't my car...but the whole situation sucked!
Harpo's is a shit hole though.
Once, while walking into Harpo's with a bunch of guys, a crackhead came up to us and said that if we wanted to see our tires on the car when we got out, we'd better give him $10.
Wasn't my car...but the whole situation sucked!
Yeah Over the Rhine is a shit hole but I hate those pot shots at Bush. I mean really, like its W's fault that that the Nati is a shot hole?
jdelpi
Imported Killer
DoctorX3
Buddha with drugs & anger
I don't think he's saying Bush caused it, but he thinks our politicians should put domestic problems as their first priority, and he imagines they don't give a flying fuck.
You won't solve any of those issues, until you get businesses to invest in urban America again. Busineses bring money and jobs, which pay taxes, so that you can get better schools, better police forces, and better public services. It's cheaper for factories to keep buying up farmland, and moving farther and farther from major cities though. Because most of these companies (like Enron) pay for the cost of our politicians' campaigns, don't count on anything getting done soon. It's one massive corrupt game of favors, and has been that way for years. It doesn't matter what party you vote for, 'caue you'll get screwed by one group or another who has friends in high places.
Sometimes, people disgustipate me.
You won't solve any of those issues, until you get businesses to invest in urban America again. Busineses bring money and jobs, which pay taxes, so that you can get better schools, better police forces, and better public services. It's cheaper for factories to keep buying up farmland, and moving farther and farther from major cities though. Because most of these companies (like Enron) pay for the cost of our politicians' campaigns, don't count on anything getting done soon. It's one massive corrupt game of favors, and has been that way for years. It doesn't matter what party you vote for, 'caue you'll get screwed by one group or another who has friends in high places.
Sometimes, people disgustipate me.
jdelpi
Imported Killer
DoctorX3 said:
The federal government does not know what's best for inner cities. Otherwise the HUD would have solved many problems decades ago.
As for business, there is nothing corrupt in moving to where taxes are lower. Ever heard of the phrase, "business, not a charity"?
DoctorX3
Buddha with drugs & anger
Ummm... I think it IS corrupt to offer small town and county governments "favors", in order to have them change some farmer's land from agricultural to industrial zoning classification on the ordinance charts. It's also rather corrupt for industiral heads to be part of presidential cabinets, which was quite common back when businesses were beginning to move from urban to rural America. Our federal government practically subsidized the whole fiasco!
So please, tell me why I should be happy with the process of urban decay, which inevitably leaves little ghost towns all over Ohio and Tennesee, as various corporations build and abandon plants and factories like slash-and-burn farmers. Cities are where all the most important scientific and cultural innovations have happened in the history of society. By constrast, suburban America has been quite dysfunctional.
Urban growth boundaries and neighborhood renewal tax incentives could have helped to prevent a lot of these problems in the late '60s and early '70s. They've worked damn well in Washington and Oregon. Now it's probably too late for a great number of decaying cities.
So please, tell me why I should be happy with the process of urban decay, which inevitably leaves little ghost towns all over Ohio and Tennesee, as various corporations build and abandon plants and factories like slash-and-burn farmers. Cities are where all the most important scientific and cultural innovations have happened in the history of society. By constrast, suburban America has been quite dysfunctional.
Urban growth boundaries and neighborhood renewal tax incentives could have helped to prevent a lot of these problems in the late '60s and early '70s. They've worked damn well in Washington and Oregon. Now it's probably too late for a great number of decaying cities.
Over the Rhine has been and will be that way for years. I still feel safe walking around downtown, but I know to avoid that particular part of the city. We've been trying since LBJ's "Great Society" to fix inner cities, but no one has all the answers. Columbus's outer belt is growing into a Megalopolis, but downtown has the 2nd or 3rd worse (lowest) occupancy rate in the nation, Mayor Coleman is trying his best to fix that before it goes Ghetto, but who knows.....
mrthrax
riffer madness
yeah it sucks how living standards can vary from city to city but its impossible to have a perfect country!
