Cincinnati

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. The municipality is located north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border. The population within city limits was estimated to be 333,200 in 2009, making it the state's third-largest city. According to a 2008 Census Bureau estimate, the Cincinnati Metropolitan Area had a population of 2,155,137 making it the largest MSA in Ohio (surpassing Cleveland, which ranks 26th, and whose MSA has nearly fallen below 2,000,000) and the 24th most populous in the United States. Residents of Cincinnati are called Cincinnatians.

In the early nineteenth century, Cincinnati was the first American boomtown in the heart of the country to rival the larger coastal cities in size and wealth. As the first major inland city in the country, it is sometimes thought of as the first purely American city. It developed initially without as much recent European immigration or influence as took place in eastern cities. But by the end of the nineteenth century, with the shift from steamboats to railroads, Cincinnati's growth had slowed considerably and the city became surpassed in population by many other inland Midwest cities, especially Chicago.

Cincinnati is home to major sports teams, including the Cincinnati Reds and the Cincinnati Bengals, and it sponsors annual events such as the Cincinnati Masters tennis tournament, the Ohio Valley Jazz Festival, and the Thanksgiving Day race. The University of Cincinnati traces its foundation to the Medical College of Ohio, which was founded in 1819.

Cincinnati is known for having one of the larger collections of nineteenth-century Italianate architecture in the U.S., primarily concentrated just north of Downtown in an area known as Over-the-Rhine. Over-the-Rhine, for many years a neighborhood of German immigrants, is one of the largest historic districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

History
Cincinnati was founded in 1788 by John Cleves Symmes and Colonel Robert Patterson. Surveyor John Filson (also the author of The Adventures of Colonel Daniel Boone) named it "Losantiville" from four terms, each of a different language, meaning "the city opposite the mouth of the Licking River". Ville is French for "city", anti is Greek for "opposite", os is Latin for "mouth", and "L" was all that was included of "Licking River".

In 1790, Arthur St. Clair, the governor of the Northwest Territory, changed the name of the settlement to "Cincinnati" in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati, of which he was a member. The society honored General George Washington, who was considered a latter day Cincinnatus, the Roman farmer who was called to serve Rome as dictator, an office which he resigned after completing his task of defeating the Aequians. To this day, Cincinnati in particular, and Ohio in general, are homes to a statistically significant number of descendants of Revolutionary War soldiers who were granted lands in the state as payment for their war service.

In 1802, Cincinnati was chartered as a village. David Ziegler (1748–1811), a Revolutionary War veteran from Heidelberg, Germany, became the first mayor. Cincinnati was incorporated as a city in 1819. The introduction of steam navigation on the Ohio River in 1811 and the completion of the Miami and Erie Canal helped the city grow to 115,000 citizens by 1850.



Construction on the Miami and Erie Canal began on July 21, 1825, when it was called the Miami Canal, related to its origin at the Little Miami River. The canal became operational in 1827. In 1827 the canal connected Cincinnati to nearby Middletown; by 1840, it had reached Toledo. The name was changed to the Miami and Erie Canal, signifying the connection between the Little Miami River and Lake Erie.

During this period of rapid expansion, citizens of Cincinnati began referring to the city as the "Queen" city. In his poem "Catawba Wine", Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote that the city was "the Queen of the West".

Railroads were the next major form of transportation to come to Cincinnati. In 1836, the Little Miami Railroad was chartered. Construction began soon after, to connect Cincinnati with the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad, and provide access to the ports of the Sandusky Bay on Lake Erie.

The first sheriff, John Brown, was appointed September 2, 1788. The Ohio Act in 1802 provided for Cincinnati to have a village marshall and James Smith was appointed; the following year the town started a "night watch". In 1819 when Cincinnati was incorporated as a city, the first city marshal, William Ruffin, was appointed. In May 1828 the police force consisted of one captain; one assistant and five patrolmen. By 1850 the city authorized positions for a police chief and six lieutenants, but it was 1853 before the first police chief, Jacob Keifer, was appointed and he was dismissed after 3 weeks.

Cincinnati accompanied its growth by paying men to act as its fire department in 1853, making the first full-time paid fire department in the United States. It was the first in the world to use steam fire engines.

Six years later, in 1859, Cincinnati laid out six streetcar lines, making it easier for people to get around the city. By 1872, Cincinnatians could travel on the streetcars within the city and transfer to rail cars for travel to the hill communities. The Cincinnati Inclined Plane Company began transporting people to the top of Mount Auburn that year.



The Cincinnati Red Stockings, a baseball team whose name and heritage inspired today's Cincinnati Reds, began their career in the 1800s as well. In 1868, meetings were held at the law offices of Tilden, Sherman, and Moulton to make Cincinnati's baseball team a professional one; it became the first regular professional team in the country in 1869. In its first year, the team won 57 games and tied one, giving it the best winning record of any professional baseball team in history.

During the American Civil War, Cincinnati played a key role as a major source of supplies and troops for the Union Army. It also served as the headquarters for much of the war for the Department of the Ohio, which was charged with the defense of the region, as well as directing the army's offensives into Kentucky and Tennessee. Due to Cincinnati's commerce with slave states and history of settlement by southerners from eastern states, many people in the area were "Southern sympathizers". Some participated in the Copperhead movement in Ohio. In July 1863, the Union Army instituted martial law in Cincinnati due to the imminent danger posed by the Confederate Morgan's Raiders. Bringing the war to the North, they attacked several outlying villages, such as Cheviot and Montgomery were attacked.



In 1879, Procter & Gamble, one of Cincinnati's major soap manufacturers, began marketing Ivory Soap. It was marketed as "light enough to float." After a fire at the first factory, Procter & Gamble moved to a new factory on the Mill Creek and renewed soap production. The area became known as Ivorydale.

In 1884, one of the most severe riots in American history took place in Cincinnati. On Christmas Eve 1883 Joe Palmer and William Berner robbed and murdered their employer, a stable owner named William Kirk. The duo dumped his body near Mill Creek before they were captured. One of the men, William Berner, was spared the gallows in sentencing after his conviction, but the case had provoked outrage and an angry mob formed. Beginning on March 28, thousands of citizens stormed the county jail and set the Hamilton County Courthouse on fire while seeking Berner. A small group of Hamilton County deputies, led by Sheriff Morton Lytle Hawkins, fought to save the jail from a complete takeover. After losing ground, they succeeded in protecting the inmates from the mob. Two deputies were killed in the conflict, including Captain John Desmond, whose statue stands in the Courthouse lobby. In total, 45 men were killed and 125 injured in the rioting.

Cincinnati weathered the Great Depression better than most American cities of its size, largely because of a resurgence in river trade, which was less expensive than rail. The rejuvenation of downtown began in the 1920s and continued into the next decade with the construction of Union Terminal, the post office, and a large Bell Telephone building.

The flood of 1937 was one of the worst in the nation's history. Afterward the city built protective flood walls. After World War II, Cincinnati unveiled a master plan for urban renewal that resulted in modernization of the inner city. Like other older industrial cities, Cincinnati suffered from economic restructuring and loss of jobs following deindustrialization in the mid-century.

In 1970 and 1975, the city completed Riverfront Stadium and Riverfront Coliseum, respectively, as the Cincinnati Reds baseball team emerged as one of the dominant teams of the decade. In fact, the Big Red Machine of the 1970s is considered by many to be one of the best baseball teams to play the game. Three key players on the team (Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, and Joe Morgan), as well as manager Sparky Anderson, were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, while a fourth, Pete Rose, still holds the title for the most hits in baseball history. On May 28, 1977 165 persons were killed in a fire at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in nearby Southgate, Kentucky. On December 3, 1979 11 persons were killed in a crowd crush at the entrance of Riverfront Coliseum for a concert by the British rock group The Who.

In 1988, the 200th anniversary of the city's founding, much attention was focused on the city's Year 2000 plan, which involved further revitalization. The completion of several major new development projects enhance the city as it enters the early years of the new millennium. Cincinnati's beloved Bengals and Reds teams both have new, state-of-the-art homes: Paul Brown Stadium, opened in 2000; and the Great American Ball Park, opened in 2003, respectively. Two new museums have opened: the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in 2003, and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in 2004.

The City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County are currently planning the Banks--development of a 24-hour urban neighborhood along the city's riverfront, to include restaurants, clubs, offices, and homes with sweeping skyline views. Cincinnati has received accolades for its quality of life:


 * 1993, "Most Livable City" (1993);
 * 2004, Partners for Livable Communities;
 * 2004, Number 5 as a U.S. arts destination, American Style Magazine;
 * 2004, Top ten "Cities that Rock", Esquire magazine, April 2004; and
 * 2007, Highest rated city in Ohio for "Best Cities For Young Professionals" and 18th overall, Forbes magazine
 * 2008, ranked the 10th most walkable city in the United States, and the most walkable in Ohio.

Geography


Cincinnati's core metro area spans parts of southern Ohio and northern Kentucky. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 79.6 square miles (206.1 km²), of which, 78.0 square miles (201.9 km²) of it is land and 1.6 square miles (4.1 km²) of it (2.01%) is water. The city spreads over a number of hills, bluffs, and low ridges overlooking the Ohio River in the Bluegrass region of the country. Cincinnati is geographically located within the Midwest and is on the far northern periphery of the Upland South. Two-thirds of the American population live within 600 miles of Cincinnati. 

Climate
Cincinnati is located within a climatic transition zone at the northern limit of the humid subtropical climate and the southern limit of the humid continental climate zone (Koppen: Cfa/Dfa, respectively). Summers are hot and humid, with significant rainfall in each month. July is the warmest month, with highs just above 86 F, reaching 90 F or above on 18 days per year, often with high dew points and humidity. Winters are slightly cold and snowy, with January, the coolest month, averaging at 29.7 F; however, lows may reach 0 F several times a year. An average season will see just above 20 in of snowfall, contributing to the annual 42.6 in of precipitation, which is somewhat evenly distributed. Extremes range from &minus;25 to 109 °F on January 18, 1977 and July 21, 1934, respectively.

Cityscape


Downtown Cincinnati is focused around Fountain Square, a popular public square and event location.

Cincinnati is home to numerous structures that are noteworthy due to their architectural characteristics or historic associations including the Carew Tower, the Scripps Center, the Ingalls Building, Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, and the Isaac M. Wise Temple.

The city is undergoing significant changes due to new development and private investment, as well as the construction of the long-stalled Banks project. Nearly $3.5 billion has been invested in the urban core of Cincinnati (including Northern Kentucky). More investment is expected to take place.

Construction has begun on a new office building that will dominate the Cincinnati skyline. Queen City Square is scheduled to be open in 2011. The building will be the tallest in Cincinnati and the third tallest in Ohio, reaching a height of 660 feet.

Government
The city is governed by a nine-member city council, whose members are elected at large. Prior to 1924, city council was elected through a system of wards. The ward system was subject to corruption and as with any one-party dominance, abuses arose. From the 1880s-1920s, the Republican Party dominated city politics, with the political machine of "Boss" Cox exerting control.

A reform movement arose in 1923, led by another Republican, Murray Seasongood. Seasongood founded the Charter Committee, which used ballot initiatives in 1924 to replace the ward system with the current at-large system. They also gained approval by voters for a city manager form of government. From 1924 to 1957, the council was selected by proportional representation. Beginning in 1957, all candidates ran in a single race and the top nine vote-getters were elected (the "9-X system"). The mayor was selected by the council. In 1977, Jerry Springer, later a notable television talk show host, was chosen to serve one year as mayor.

Residents continued to work to improve their system. To have their votes count more, starting in 1987, the top vote-getter in the city council election was automatically selected as mayor. Starting in 1999, the mayor was elected separately in a general election for the first time. The city manager's role in government was reduced. These reforms were referred to as the "strong mayor" reforms, to make the city government accountable to voters. Cincinnati politics include the participation of the Charter Party, the party with the third-longest history of winning in local elections.

The current mayor of Cincinnati is Mark Mallory and the current City Manager is Milton Dohoney. The nine-member city council is composed of Vice-Mayor Roxanne Qualls and Councilmembers Y. Laketa Cole (President Pro-Tem), Jeff Berding, Chris Bortz, Leslie Ghiz, Chris Monzel, Laure Quinlivan, Cecil Thomas, and Charlie Winburn.

Race relations
Because of its location on the Ohio River, Cincinnati was a border town between a state that allowed slavery, Kentucky, and one that did not, Ohio, before the Civil War. Some residents of Cincinnati played a major role in abolitionism. Many escaping slaves used the Ohio river and Cincinnati to escape to the North. Cincinnati had numerous stations on the Underground Railroad, as well as slave catchers.

In 1829, a riot broke out, as anti-abolitionists attacked blacks in the city. 1,200 blacks left the city as a result and resettled in Canada. The riot and its refugees were a national topic of discussion throughout the nation, and at the first Negro Convention held in 1830 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Riots also occurred in 1836 and 1841. In 1836, a mob of 700 anti-abolitionists again attacked black neighborhoods, as well as a press run by James Birney, publisher of the anti-slavery weekly The Philanthropist. Tensions further increased after passage in 1850 of the Fugitive Slave Act.

Harriet Beecher Stowe lived in Cincinnati for a time, met escaped slaves, and used their stories as a basis for her watershed novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. Levi Coffin made the Cincinnati area the center of his anti-slavery efforts in 1847. Today, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, located on the Cincinnati riverfront in the middle of "The Banks" area between Great American Ballpark and Paul Brown Stadium, commemorates this era.

In the second half of the 20th century, Cincinnati, along with other rust belt cities, underwent a vast demographic transformation. Predominately white working-class families that had filled the urban core during the European immigration boom in the 19th century moved to the suburbs. Blacks, fleeing the oppression of the Jim Crow South in hopes of better socioeconomic opportunity, filled these older city neighborhoods. Racial tensions boiled over in 1968 with the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. when riots occurred in Cincinnati along with nearly every major U.S. city. By 2001, decades of inner-city neglect, the crack cocaine epidemic of the 80s and 90s, and backlash against several violent incidences involving the overwhelmingly white Cincinnati police force and black residents reached another boiling point. In April 2001, racially charged riots occurred after police shot a black man, Timothy Thomas during a foot pursuit.

Crime
Before the riot of 2001, Cincinnati's overall crime rate was dropping steadily and had reached its lowest point since 1992. After the riot violent crime increased, and in 2005 Cincinnati was ranked as the 20th most dangerous city in America. The police force "work slowdown" correlated with this increase. For the first four months of 2007, incidents of violent crime were 15.3 percent lower than they had been in the first four months of 2006. Children's Hospital saw a 78 percent decrease in gunshot wounds, and University Hospital had a 17 percent drop. In May and June 2006, together with the Hamilton County Sheriff, the Cincinnati Police Department created a task force of twenty deputies in Over-the-Rhine that helped reduce crime in downtown Cincinnati by 29%. This substantial decrease had still not reduced crime to levels before the 2001 riots.

The city attempted to reduce gun violence by using the Out of the Crossfire program at University Hospital, a rehabilitation program for patients with gunshot wounds. Mayor Mark Mallory is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, a bi-partisan group with a stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets." 2007 saw 68 homicides, nearly a 25% drop from 2006; however, this was still higher than homicide figures in the year 2000. By May 2008, violent crime was down by 12% compared to the same period in 2007; however, by year end, homicides increased 10% from the 2007. As of December 12, 2009 there had been 60 homicides in the city of Cincinnati. In 2009, the CQ Press ranked Cincinnati the 19th most dangerous city in the United States

Demographics
As of 2007, the city's population was 52.0% White (49.3% non-Hispanic-White alone), 46.5% Black or African American, 0.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.0% Asian, 1.0% from some other race and 2.4% from two or more races. 1.7% of the total population were Hispanic or Latino (of any race).

As of the census of 2000, there were 331,285 people, 148,095 households, and 72,566 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,879.8.0 people per square mile (1,498.0/km²) with a housing density of 2,129.2/sq mi (822.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 52.97% White, 42.92% Black or African American, 0.21% Native American, 1.55% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.63% from other races, and 1.68% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.28% of the population. The top 4 largest ancestries include German (19.8%), Irish (10.4%), English (5.4%), Italian (3.3%).

There were 148,095 households out of which 25.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 26.6% were married couples living together, 18.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 51.0% were non-families. 42.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.15 and the average family size was 3.02.

The age distribution was 24.5% under the age of 18, 12.9% from 18 to 24, 31.6% from 25 to 44, 18.7% from 45 to 64, and 12.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 89.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $29,493, and the median income for a family was $37,543. Males had a median income of $33,063 versus $26,946 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,962. About 18.2% of families and 21.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 32.0% of those under age 18 and 14.8% of those age 65 or over.

For several decades the Census Bureau had been reporting a steady decline in the city's population. But according to the Census Bureau's 2006 estimates, the population was 332,252, representing an increase from 331,310 in 2005. Despite the fact that this change was due to an official challenge by the city however, Mayor Mark Mallory has repeatedly argued that the city's population is actually at 378,259 after a drill-drown study was performed by an independent, non-profit group based in Washington, D.C.

The Cincinnati-Middletown-Wilmington Metropolitan Statistical Area has a population of 2,155,137 people, making it the largest metropolitan area in Ohio and the 24th largest in the country. It includes the Ohio counties of Hamilton, Butler, Warren, Clermont, and Brown, as well as the Kentucky counties of Boone, Bracken, Campbell, Gallatin, Grant, Kenton, and Pendleton, and the Indiana counties of Dearborn, Franklin, and Ohio.

Economy
Cincinnati is home to many major and diverse corporations such as Procter & Gamble, The Kroger Company, Macy's, Inc. (owner of Macy's and Bloomingdale's), American Financial Group, Convergys, Chiquita Brands International, Great American Insurance Company, Fifth Third Bank, Western & Southern Financial Group, The E. W. Scripps Company, Scripps Networks Interactive (owner of HGTV, Food Network), Cincom Systems, Cincinnati Bell, Kendle International, DunnhumbyUSA, and Kao Corporation's United States headquarters are based in Cincinnati. Cincinnati is also home to thousands of small and medium size businesses that are a vital part of the Cincinnati economy.

The Cincinnati area is also home to Ashland Inc. (neighboring city of Covington), Omnicare (Covington), General Cable Corporation (suburb of Highland Heights), GE Aviation (suburb of Evendale), United States Playing Card Company (suburb of Erlanger), Cintas (suburb of Mason), AK Steel Holding (suburb of West Chester), Cincinnati Financial (suburb of Fairfield), Columbia Sussex (suburb of Crestview Hills) and Sunny Delight Beverages Co. (suburb of Blue Ash). Toyota also has many operations in the Cincinnati area with U.S. headquarters of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America (suburb of Erlanger) and Toyota Boshoku America.

Altogether, nine Fortune 500 companies and fifteen Fortune 1000 companies are headquartered in the Cincinnati area. With nine Fortune 500 company headquarters in Cincinnati USA, the region ranks in the nation's Top 10 markets for number of Fortune 500 headquarters per million residents, higher than New York, Boston, Chicago, or Los Angeles. In addition to Fortune 500 headquarters, more than 360 Fortune 500 companies maintain operations in Cincinnati. Cincinnati has three Fortune Global 500 companies; three of the five Global 500 companies in the state of Ohio.

The largest employer in Cincinnati is the University of Cincinnati, with 15,862 employees. Kroger is the second largest, with 15,600 employees.

Education
The Cincinnati Public School (CPS) district includes 16 high schools accepting students on a city-wide basis. The district includes public Montessori schools, including the first public Montessori high school established in the United States, Clark Montessori. Cincinnati Public Schools' top rated school is Walnut Hills High School, ranked 36th on Newsweek's list of best public schools. Walnut HIlls offers 28 Advanced Placement courses, highly ranked athletic teams, a wind ensemble that has performed in Carnegie Hall, and its marching band has performed in the London New Year's Day Parade.

The Cincinnati area has one of the highest private school attendance rates in the United States; Hamilton County ranks second only to St. Louis County, Missouri among the country's 100 largest counties.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati accounts for numerous high schools in metro Cincinnati; ten of which are single-sex: four all-male, and six all-female. Cincinnati is also home to the all-girl RITSS (Regional Institute for Torah and Secular Studies) high school, a small Orthodox Jewish institution and the Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) founded by Isaac Mayer Wise.

Cincinnati is home to the University of Cincinnati and Xavier University. The University of Cincinnati, often referred to as "UC," is one of the United States' major graduate research institutions in engineering, music, architecture, and psychology. The University of Cincinnati Medical Center is highly regarded, as well as the College Conservatory of Music, which has many notable alumni, including Kathleen Battle, Al Hirt and Faith Prince. Xavier, a Jesuit university, was at one time affiliated with The Athenaeum of Ohio, the seminary of the Cincinnati Archdiocese.

The Greater Cincinnati area has Miami University (one of the original "Public Ivies"), and the 17-thousand-student-strong Northern Kentucky University campus in Highland Heights, Kentucky, 8 miles SSE of downtown. NKU is connected with downtown Cincinnati via the radiating-spoke interstate system: Daniel Carter Beard Bridge and I-471 which puts this newest public university of Commonwealth of Kentucky within convenient reach of the Cincinnati city population. Cincinnati State is a vocational school which includes the Midwest Culinary School, one of the best culinary institutes in the United States.

In 2009 Cincinnati was listed fourth on CNN's Top 10 cities for new grads.

Culture


Cincinnati's culture is influenced by its history of German and Italian immigration as the city's geographical position on the border of the Southern United States and Midwestern United States. The History of the Jews in Cincinnati was developed by immigrants from England and Germany who made the city a center of Reform Judaism. It is home to Isaac M. Wise's Plum Street Temple.

Festivals
Cincinnati is home to numerous festivals and events throughout the year, including: The city plays host to numerous musical and theater operations, operates a park system currently ranked 4th in the country boasting that any city resident is within a mile of a park, and has a diverse dining culture. Cincinnati's Fountain Square serves as one of the cultural cornerstones of the region.
 * The Cincinnati Flower Show, organized by the Cincinnati Horticultural Society in late April. This floral event, endorsed by the Royal Horticultural Society, is staged at Symmes Township Park and claims to be the biggest outdoor flower show in the United States.
 * Oktoberfest, celebrating Cincinnati's German heritage, is the largest Oktoberfest in the US.
 * Thanksgiving Day Race, the sixth-oldest race in the country.
 * The Taste of Cincinnati and since 1962 the Jazz Festival(now Macy's Music Fest), held annually during July.
 * The MidPoint Music Festival is a yearly music festival that takes place in many venues across downtown and Over-The-Rhine.
 * The Tall Stacks Festival, held every three or four years to celebrate Cincinnati's riverboat history.
 * The Festival of Lights, hosted by the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden during the year-end holiday season.
 * The Cincinnati Bell/WEBN Riverfest fireworks display on Labor Day weekend, attracting annual crowds of over 500,000.
 * The Cincinnati Fringe Festival 12 Days of Theatre, Film, Visual Art, and Music in the heart of Over-the-Rhine. Ohio's Largest Performing Arts Festival. Begins the day after Memorial Day each year.

Cincinnati is identified with several unique foods. "Cincinnati chili" is commonly served by several independent chains, including Skyline Chili, Gold Star Chili, Price Hill Chili, Empress Chili, Camp Washington Chili, and Dixie Chili and Deli. Cincinnati has been called the "Chili Capital of America" and "the World" because it has more chili restaurants per capita than any other city in the nation or world. Goetta is a meat product popular in Cincinnati consisting of sausage and pinhead oatmeal, usually fried and eaten as a breakfast food. Cincinnati also has many gourmet restaurants. Until 2005, when the restaurant closed, The Maisonette carried the distinction of being Mobil Travel Guide's longest running five-star restaurant in the country for 41 consecutive years. Jean-Robert de Cavel has opened four new restaurants in the area since 2001, including Jean-Robert's at Pigall's which closed in March 2009. Cincinnati's German heritage is evidenced by the many restaurants that specialize in schnitzels and Bavarian cooking. Another element of German culture remains audible in the local vernacular; some residents use the word please when asking a speaker to repeat a statement. This usage is taken from the German word for please, bitte (a shortening of the very formal, "Wie bitte ist es?" or "How, please is that?" in the literal), which is used in this sense.

Findlay Market is Ohio's oldest continuously-operated public market and one of Cincinnati's most famous institutions. The market is the last remaining market among the many that once served Cincinnati.

In August, 2008 Forbes magazine ranked Cincinnati as tenth in a list of "America's Hard-Drinking Cities".

Media and music


Cincinnati is served by The Cincinnati Enquirer, a daily newspaper. The city is home to several alternative, weekly, and monthly publications, as well as twelve television stations and many radio stations. Free weekly print magazine publications include CityBeat and Metromix, which have a local events and entertainment focus.

Movies that were filmed in part in Cincinnati include Fresh Horses, The Asphalt Jungle (opening is shot from the Public Landing, and takes place in Cincinnati although only Boone County, KY is mentioned), Rain Man, Airborne, Grimm Reality, Little Man Tate, City of Hope, Eight Men Out, Milk Money,Traffic, The Pride of Jesse Hallam, In Too Deep, Public Eye, The Last Late Night, and The Mighty. In addition, Wild Hogs is set, though not filmed, in Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati skyline was prominently featured in the opening and closing sequences of the daytime drama The Edge of Night from its start in 1956 until 1980, when it was replaced by the Los Angeles skyline; the cityscape was the stand-in for the show's setting, Monticello. Procter & Gamble, the show's producer, is based in Cincinnati. The sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, and its sequel/spin-off The New WKRP in Cincinnati featured the city's skyline and other exterior shots in its credits, although was not filmed in Cincinnati. The city's skyline has also appeared in an April Fool's episode of The Drew Carey Show, which was set in Carey's hometown of Cleveland. 3 Doors Down's music video "It's Not My Time" was filmed in Cincinnati, and features the skyline and Fountain Square.

Cincinnati has given rise to popular musicians Bootsy Collins, The Isley Brothers, Mood, Midnight Star, The Afghan Whigs, Over the Rhine, Blessid Union of Souls, 98 Degrees, The Greenhornes, The Deele, Enduser, and Heartless @. Adrian Belew, Peter Frampton and alternative Hip Hop producer Hi-Tek call the Greater Cincinnati region home.

Cincinnati is the broadcasting home of WOXY, The Future of Rock & Roll (Historically 97.7 or 97X): woxy.com online and available on Cincinnati Public Radio Inc. HD Radio station 91.7-2. WCET channel 48, now known as CET, is the nation's oldest licensed public television station (License #1, issued in 1951).

The Cincinnati May Festival Chorus is a prestigious amateur choir that has been in existence since 1880. Music Director James Conlon and Chorus Director Robert Porco lead the Chorus through an extensive repertoire of classical music. The May Festival Chorus is the mainstay of the oldest continuous choral festival in the Western Hemisphere. Cincinnati's Music Hall was built specifically to house the May Festival. The city is home to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Boychoir and Cincinnati Ballet. The Greater Cincinnati area is also home to several regional orchestras and youth orchestras, including the Starling Chamber Orchestra.

The Hollows series of books by Kim Harrison is set in a alternative version of Cincinnati.

Sports


Cincinnati has seven major sports venues, two major league teams, six minor league teams, and five college institutions with their own sports teams. It is home to baseball's Reds, who were named for America's first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings  ; the Bengals of the National Football League; and the historic international men's and women's tennis tournament, The A.T.P. Masters Series Cincinnati Masters. It is also home to three professional soccer teams, two outdoor teams, the Cincinnati Kings (men's) and Cincinnati LadyHawks (women's), and one indoor team, the Cincinnati Excite (men's). On Opening Day, Cincinnati has the distinction of holding the "traditional opener" in baseball each year, due to its baseball history. Many children in Cincinnati skip school on Opening Day, which is commonly thought of as a city holiday.

Fans often refer to the city and its teams as "Cincy" for short. Even the Reds' official website uses that name frequently.

Transportation
Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) is the major airport serving the metropolitan area and is located across the river in Kentucky. The airport is the fifth largest hub for Delta and the largest for its subsidiary, Comair. The city has four other airports; Lunken Airport, a municipal airfield used for smaller business jets and private planes; the Butler County Regional Airport, located between Fairfield and Hamilton, which ranks just behind Lunken in business jets and has the largest private aircraft capacity of the Cincinnati area; Cincinnati West Airport, a smaller airport located in Harrison, Ohio; and the Blue Ash Airport, in Blue Ash.

The Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport, along with the two other regional international airports [the Dayton International Airport (78 miles north) and the Port Columbus International Airport (128 miles northeast)], form an important regional transportation network. Combined, they anchor the corners of a triangular region that serves about 50% of the population of the State of Ohio and about 10% of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The region encompasses over 6,000 square miles with about 50% available for development.

Cincinnati is served by the Metro city passenger bus system, operated by the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA). The Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky (TANK) serves Northern Kentucky and operates bus links in Cincinnati at Metro's main Government Square hub. There is also rail service by Amtrak with ticket offices and boarding stations at Cincinnati Union Terminal. Several freight railroads service Cincinnati, the largest being CSX Transportation which operates a railroad yard west of Interstate 75. Other railroads include Norfolk Southern, which operates a large intermodal yard in the west end neighborhood of Queensgate and the Indiana & Ohio Railroad which operates several small predecessor yards throughout the city. The city has a river ferry and many bridges. The Anderson Ferry has been in continuous operation since 1817. Cincinnati's major bridges include: Cincinnati is served by three major interstate highways. Interstate 75 is a north-south route through the Mill Creek valley. Interstate 71 runs northeast towards Mount Adams and Walnut Hills. Interstate 74 begins at Interstate 75 west of downtown and connects to Indiana.
 * The Newport Southbank Bridge (a.k.a. the Purple People Bridge because of its status as a pedestrian-only bridge as well as its color)
 * The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge Opened in 1866, this bridge was the prototype for the Brooklyn Bridge, also designed by Roebling.
 * The Daniel Carter Beard Bridge (a.k.a. the Big Mac bridge for its yellow arches, reminiscent of the McDonald's logo) carries I-471 and connects Cincinnati with Newport, Kentucky
 * The Brent Spence Bridge A double-decker truss bridge carrying I-71/75 connecting Cincinnati with Covington, Kentucky
 * The Clay Wade Bailey Bridge
 * The Taylor-Southgate Bridge
 * The Combs-Hehl Bridge a twin-span truss, part of the I-275 loop and commonly called "The 275 Bridge," it travels through Fort Thomas, Kentucky and connects to the neighborhood of California, the easternmost neighborhood in the city limits.

The city has an outer-belt, Interstate 275 (which is the longest circle highway in the country), and a spur to Kentucky, Interstate 471. It is also served by numerous U.S. highways: US 22, US 25, US 27, US 42, US 50, US 52, and US 127.

Cincinnati has an incomplete subway system. Construction stopped in 1924 when unexpected post-World War I inflation had doubled the cost of construction. As a result, the funds that were originally set aside were not enough to complete the subway system. There have been several attempts by SORTA to utilize the subways for a modern light rail system within Hamilton County. All of these initiatives have thus far failed when placed on the ballot, with the most recent (a $2.7 billion plan) failing 2 to 1 in 2002. Today the subway is used as a conduit for fiber optic and water lines.

There have been numerous attempts over the past decade to build commuter rail from Milford (in nearby Clermont County) to the Downtown Transit Center in Cincinnati. The most recent of these began gaining support in early July 2007. The $411 million plan currently calls for using and upgrading existing rail lines and new diesel cars called DMUs (diesel multiple units).

Cincinnati is also currently planning a streetcar line to connect Downtown, Over-the-Rhine and the area around the University of Cincinnati. An initial study conducted by Omaha-based HDR Engineers was completed on May 31, 2007 and estimated the cost to be around $100 million. Additions made later, of a connection from Over-the-Rhine to Uptown and a loop through Uptown, have raised the overall estimated cost to $185 million. It is predicted that the system could generate more than $1.4 billion in new private investment over the next 15 years through property redevelopment and attracting new residents. However, the plans have faced opposition from some groups arguing that there are more urgent needs on which to spend public funds. Opening of the first streetcar line would not take place before 2011 or 2012.

According to Forbes Magazine, Cincinnatians spend 20% of their income on transit, which makes the city the sixth most expensive city for commuting in the United States. , the port of Cincinnati is ranked 5th by trip ton-miles for an inland port.

Sister cities
Cincinnati has seven sister cities:

A sister city relationship with Harare (Zimbabwe) was suspended in protest of irregularities in the 2008 Zimbabwean presidential election.