pippergal said:
Thank you everyone for the helpful input. I am still puzzling, but all your comments have really made me realize that I can't make a bad decision. I'll get some good sleep tonight!
Soooo I lived in Cincinnati for 2 years before moving out west with my hubby, who is born and raised Queen City. You're right, the program is amazing. Here's my take on Cincinnati as an outsider, originally from the deep south. To my suprise when I was transferred there, I liked it, alot - a great "neighborhoody" kind of city with a real sense of midwest hometown values. Locals are nutso about Skyline Chili, Graeters Ice Cream, the Bengals, luv their Reds, it boasts a world class symphony, the museums and art scene, zoo and aquarium go waaaaaay beyond what's expected of a city that size. Wonderful lifestyle amenities, summers are mild, winters are grey, but you don't get that harsh lakeeffect snow. Like a PP said, it's not a podunk town - many big companies HQ there - Proctor & Gamble, Sara Lee, some big insurance co.'s, etc. Jobs are easy to find. So for lifestyle and employment, as far as I'm concernced and not knowing what your hubby does, I think you're set.
Buuuuttttt, Cincy ain't no utopia. IT is VERY racially divided, more so than my hometown in Louisiana, believe it or not. White flight is prevalent - suburbs of cookie cutter/soulless track homes are the norm. There are a couple of cool intown neighborhoods - Clifton Gas Light (real near UC), Mount Lookout, Hyde Park, but many white folks are skeedaddling to suburban Kentucky, West Chester, Lakota, Milford, Amelia - all outlying bedroom communities, leaving a dying urban core repleat with poverty, hopelessness and fear. Politically, the region is painfully conservative - progress is hard to come by. A very entrenched Catholic city, which can be good or bad, depending on your take (my husband is Catholic, so for the sake of marital harmony, I'll call it good) Voters keep naying lightrail and public school initiatives. Most, not all, educated young people take off after high school and college, brain drain is a problem. There are some groups trying to counteract the brain drain and white flight and encourage urban development, etc. Guppies against the tide, IMHO. VERY different climate compared to Chicago, and especially Seattle. Keep that in mind.
That having been said, there's a good chance we'll move back - the program is tops, it's a good place to raise a family and housing is still DIRT CHEAP - you can purchase a 100 year old Victorian home in one of the aforementioned intown neighborhoods for less than $250K. Great things for families to do. Guess we'll try to be some of those guppies!
