erinleitner

I have house sat in Mount Lookout multiple times and I really enjoyed the time I spent there. Its a quiet area with beautiful homes and clean streets. Its a very hilly neighborhood and lots of curvy roads. This kind of makes the area hard to navigate if you are new to it. (I've gotten lost in it and have made others lost by trying to give directions on more than one occasion) but I bet once you know the routes you will like living there as there won't be much thru traffic.

The other great thing about Mount lookout is its close proximity to Downtown and Hyde Park, two hotspots in Cincinnati; and the Universities Xavier ad UC are not far as well. Its about 15 minutes max to each.

A not so good thing about this area is the cost of housing and its resale value. The place that I house sit is actually up for sale and it has been for about a year I think. The owners are having a tough time getting interest to buyers with the housing market being the way it is and because their particular house is too grand and its not very practical for them to want to continue living there.

Ault Park is also a great place to have a picnic or take a nice walk. I did both on the Forth of July and I watched the fireworks from the different areas trying to find a friend. It was a nice little adventure and I could see the Fireworks the whole time.

Overall I would tell people looking for a place to settle for a long time Mount Lookout is one of the best in Cincinnati.

Columbia-Tusculum is mostly a residential area that is one of the nicer areas of town that is close to downtown. I house sit in this area from time to time and it has struck me as a nice, clean, and safe area to be in. From my outside observation, the people seem to be the busy type. Not unfriendly, but I would say they don't step outside their individual lives as often as other communities i have experienced in Cincinnati do. There are many unique and fun houses along the streets, and their owners stay on top of their upkeep. They look like houses I could live in one day, but certainly not something I could afford fresh out of college.

Highway 50 runs straight through Columbia-Tusculum and is the main traffic center for the area. This road has been developed in the recent years adding more businesses, restaurants and bars making the residential area more appealing and handy. Unfortunately, there is still no grocery stores or drug stores within the border of this neighborhood. So one has to dive a few miles out of the are to reach one.

The Precinct is probably the gem of the area's eating out options. This Jeff Ruby steakhouse is pricy, but from what I am told is unmatched in service and in taste for steak in the city (except for other Jeff Ruby branches, of course http://www.jeffruby.com/ )

Greener Stock is a green initiative company based right off OH-50 that is one of the only businesses that sells Green initiative products to Cincinnati. It's definitely a company striving to help establish Cincinnati as one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the USA, so for that they are worth taking a closer look at them and something unique Columbia-Tusculum has to offer. (http://www.greenerstock.com/)

Although I don't live in the area, Its easy to see that the neighborhoods are nice to take leisurely strolls in, and the people there often do. The area is very safe, peaceful and I would encourage families who want to be close to the city to look for a residence there.

When going to school at UC, the Heights was my favorite neighborhood to live in. It simply was close to everything I needed and wanted and though the atmosphere was not as clean as the CUF or Clifton Gaslight district, It is way more affordable. While this neighborhood was fun for me, it is certainly not for everyone as there are lots of factors that make it great and unbearable at the same time.

The Heights has an amazing view of the city on the south side, If you are not lucky enough to get a place close to the overlook then go to Bellevue Park to see what it is like. Its a fun little park with a one of a kind gazebo shade structure that makes the park unique. (My favorite fun fact to share about this park is that the rock band Three Doors Down used the structure in their music video "Its Not My Time" http://youtu.be/qpfhcljJ9bQ . You can see exactly what I mean by the city view if you watch it. ) There is also Fairview Park, which is also a nice walking and driving park.

A great thing about the Heights is that there is always a party going on, and a bad thing about The Heights is that there is always a party going on. The noise can be intolerable if you are trying to sleep and the neighbors are cranking up tunes or any other noisy shenanigans they can think up, but if you are an active partier, then this scene may be a good place to settle for a few years.

The partying and the Height's close proximity to UC makes street parking pretty bad. At night, one is pretty lucky to find one under a 5 minute walk to their destination, and its even worse when school is in session. Another thing to look out for if you are parked off-street, is getting blocked in by unobservant drivers. This happened to me several times, and I had to get a couple cars towed after being blocked in for a ridiculous amount of time.

Being on the south side neighboring UC the Heights falls in between of Over-The-Rhine with the school and the CUF/Clifton Gaslight districts, because of this the neighborhood has a elevated crime rate compared to the other areas surrounding UC. I fortunately never experienced a break-in or anything even close to that, but I would recommend to anyone planning on living in the area to tak all the precautions necessary of living in inner city (i.e. always have entrance ways locked, keep valuable things out of the car, walk with a group at night, etc.)

Overall, the Heights is an area I would highly recommend to students to live in. There are some great coffee shops, bars and small restaurants in the neighborhood. The college-age scene is pretty fresh and best of all down to earth. The people in this area generally are responsible young adults that are working towards a college degree on a budget. They are not trying to impress anyone, their main objective is to get through school and have a good time in the process.

Over-the-Rhine has always been the town with a stigma in Cincinnati, as it is said to be the neighborhood with the highest crime rate. That is not completely accurate as there are other neighborhoods in Cincinnati that rival Over-The-Rhine with crime frequency and severity. In my experience I have found it to be a decent place, but I wouldn't recommend to anyone to spend time there at night. Although, I expect this to change in the coming years as the area and its surroundings are changing rapidly.

Right now, on the eastern edge of Over-The-Rhine, a Casino is being built which is to be completed in 2013. As this will be Cincinnati's latest and greatest attraction I expect to see land developers sweep in and build more businesses and improved living spaces to meet customers demands. I am already seeing more and more start up business set up shop in Over-The-Rhine close to downtown. it may be because of the better property rates but I think some do it because they recognize that the area is going to improve with their help. I expect the movement to continue simply because the Ohio river prevents any development to be done on the other side on Cincinnati and Cincinnati will not stop growing.

Despite the negatives of Over-The-Rhine, there are some great attractions to do in the daytime hours which redeems this section of town in many ways. There is a nice YMCA, some great coffee shops and some nice parks and public pools within the area.

On the west edge of Over-the Rhine there is the Cincinnati Music Hall (http://cincinnatiarts.org/musichall ). It is one of the most beautiful buildings inside and out in Cincinnati. It frequently hosts Orchestra Concerts, balls, and other events that usher many Cincinnatians and outsiders through its doors. Directly across the street is Washington Park which is also undergoing a construction facelift, which I expect to be beautiful when it is completed.

Another distinct attraction to Over-The-Rhine is the Findlay Market ( http://www.findlaymarket.org/ ), which is Cincinnati's oldest continuously used produce and grocery market. Within the Market people can shop for locally produced goods from vendors and this creates a culturally diverse and exciting shopping experience. It is certainly much better than the small Kroger that is a few blocks away.

The actual residents of Over-The-Rhine are of lower income status the higher north they live, as you can obviously see this from their housing upkeep, which is dismal to say the least. But Over-The-Rhine gets prettier the closer one gets to Central Parkway as there are a good percentage of young professionals who want to live close to downtown.

There are a lot of outreach programs and mission work going on in this area that the "northern residents" can and do use for childcare and recreation. Such as the Boys and Girls Club, The LORDS Gym, The Freestore Foodbank, the Cincinnati Recreation Center and lots of churches who are stationed there.

The most annoying thing about driving through Over-The-Rhine is how the majority of the pedestrians cross the street without looking or caring about how the traffic is flowing. As the driver you must pay close attention and go under the speed limit, because children are frequently out without adult supervision and the adults themselves could easily step out in front of you and cause an accident.
Vine street and McMicken also hosts the worst traffic light in CIncinnati, one can expect to wait 5 minutes if they catch the red.

I would tell people looking to move close to this area just to be aware of what they are doing and target the south side close to downtown. Look into every detail of the move; Find out about the neighbors; make sure there is off-street and secure parking. The area can be a decent place to live if everything falls into place and like I said, I expect things to only go up from there.