The Cincinnati Public Library Downtown Main Library location has recently undergone a major renovation. The library is continually trying to meet the advancing technological and research needs of the public in all age groups. Under the new plan, resources previously divided among five Main Library subject departments were drawn together into the Information and Reference Department. The Popular Library was created by merging the Fiction and Films and Recordings Departments and the Atrium Collection.

An area that was greatly enhanced was the Teen and Student Department. Parents will be happy to know that there is now a program called “Homework Central” which supports the educational needs of Hamilton County primary and secondary students by providing homework assistance in person, by telephone, and via the Internet. There is also an area called “TeenSpot” which features a high-interest collection of teen print and audiovisual material, the latest technology, and an inviting and comfortably furnished floor plan that supports a wide variety of group and independent activities.

The other two areas that were improved with this renovation are the research level resources and services in local history and culture, river history, African American history, and genealogy are provided by the Genealogy and Local History Department, as well as the TechCenter which offers access to a broad spectrum of technological applications.

Last night we went to the Cincinnati Blackfinn for dinner with another couple for the soft opening. Across the street from the URS Tower and in the space McFaddens used to occupy BlackFinn has an updated menu with a few more sophisticated choices and some old favorites. We had the opportunity to try a sampling and were reasonably impressed.

Our table dined on some beer steamed mussels and Ahi tuna for starters. You could really smell the beer in the mussels and the tuna was seared just right with a sweet glaze drizzled on top. I enjoyed my penne primavera and my husband thought the Ahi sandwich was great. Our friends enjoyed the BlackFinn grilled chicken and rice dinner and buffalo chicken sandwich.

The desserts were equally as good. The ice cream cake was easily large enough for two and our friends spoke highly of the apple pie. There was a glass of Guinness inspired chocolate mousse that we missed out on but it looked amazing.

We are running a small contest here for free passes to the BlackFinn grand opening Party Thursday night March 13th. The first people to track back and comment will get up to 4 VIP tickets to the event.

Downtown Cincinnati has once again come alive. With plenty of new restaurants opening up and a thriving nightlife, it has once again become a thriving place to be. In the past year, we have seen new restaurants open on or near fountain square such as Boi Na Braza (Brazilian Food), Nada (Contemporary Mexican Food), and Vie Vite (Italian). Mortons reopened in the Carew Tower and Fountain Square welcomed their new tenants Greaters Famous Ice Cream and Potbelly Sandwich Shop. The nightlife has revived with The Lodge Bar on 7th Street, Havana Martini, Sully’s reopening, and Cadillac Ranch the Country Bar with a mechanical bull for endless entertainment. Although McFaddens closed there will be a new restaurant/bar opening soon in the same location.

Since a lot of the 20, 30, and 40 somethings that are re-locating to Cincinnati from larger cities like I did such as Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Miami one of the concerns about moving to Cincinnati is losing the culture and excitement of living in a large city which includes the fine dining that is available there. The restaurants listed above as well as Jeff Ruby’s (steakhouse), McCormick and Schmicks (steak and seafood), Palomino (American), Pigall’s (French),Oceanaire (a new seafood restaurant opening soon), and Nicholsons (Irish pub food) are only adding to the excitement of the new downtown. These are all trendy restaurants that have excellent food and service and have a contemporary decor and ambiance that was not found in Cincinnati a few years ago. Many of these restaurants have hip bar areas where guests can enjoy happy hour as well.

Fountain Square has been reconfigured and currently has an ice skating rink with rental equipment available for visitors to enjoy. There were many events over the holidays and as the weather warms up the lunchtime events during the week will return. All Cincinnati residents should come see for themselves the changes that have occurred and support the businesses who have taken the leap of faith that things have changed and will continue to improve.

Downtown has returned as the hot place to be. You should feel safe coming downtown to work, eat, and party! Crime rates have decreased in the double digit percentages over the past 7 years and the crowds have returned. I look forward to enjoying the places that are there now and to see the new restaurants and bars that will open soon. You will not be disappointed!

Team Lachey hot off of their win on the NBC Clash of the Choirs competition is performing tonight, New Year’s Eve on Fountain Square downtown. As part of Nick continuing to give back to his hometown community those who brave the seasonably cold weather will be no doubt treated to some amazing choral arrangements. The $250,000 prize money from the Clash competition is going to support Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in Clifton and is sure to bring much needed support to the nationally recognized pediatric center. If you are going downtown tonight pack warm and dry as the weather will be in the high 30’s with a few possible light showers.

There are now drawings and models of the new Queen City Square available for viewing. Western and Southern has a press release available for viewing and it describes some of the attributes of the structure. The real question is in the wisdom of constructing a new office high rise in a market that has such a high vacancy rates. Even though the QCS project is not due to open until 2011 I hope there will bee a serious need for the space. Downtown is growing with more living space and now hopefully there will be an attraction of new creative class workers to fill both the new offices and new residences. A recent Grubb report on office vacancy rate show the third quarter of 2007 continues a trend of decreasing vacancy rates initiated in the 3rd quarter of 2006. We will keep our eye on the development downtown as the QCS and The Banks come on line adding even more high quality new living and working space to Cincinnati.

I have been looking over the some of the blogs that talk about Cincinnati. I found a few that were really interesting reads and filled with insightful thoughts. Here are a few of the better blogs I found and a description of them.
Cincinnati Blog - A general blog that talks about local politics and activities
Bearcats Blog - A sports blog about the UC Bearcats
Building Cincinnati - an AMAZING blog about Queen City Architecture with Photos
The ‘Nati Life - A well written blog about life in Cincinnati covering in-town happenings
Cincinnati Urban Life - a fantastic collection of dozens of useful links to just about any topic
UrbanCincy - An urban planner writing about his vision for the city, very inspiring

As soon as I can get our sidebar working these links are going up right away