cincinnati is going down the toilet

i don't feel like food blogging anymore but that doesn't mean i feel like giving up my public megaphone. today i am going to bitch about how this city (and state) is a complete hell hole.

this week alone we have learned that cincinnati's population figures have (gasp) dropped 10%, just a week after mark mallory announced on undercover boss that "cincinnati is growing!" ummm, maybe should have checked your facts first. not only that, but unions are going the way of the betamax and apparently the streetcar funding is going to get sent back only to go to some other state where, you know, people might actually want something more out of life than living in isolation in the burbs with only gigantic televisions and high doses of antidepressants to keep them from a) suicide and b) having to actually interact with another human being. and on top of all that, forkheartknife is closing.

the last item might seem insignificant, but it's not. as a food lover, and an otr lover, and an always-trying-but-never-quite-succeeding cincinnati lover, i think it is just one illustration of the very big problem that we have in this city. people just don't give a fuck about other people (unless of course they went to high school with them).

tell me this isn't the most depressing thing you've ever read:

things feel pretty wild and crazy and we are starting to see lots of new customers who are finding out about us, making treks to OTR from who-knows-where. bringing with them expectations that we can’t and don’t want to meet. managing new customers and their expectations, managing long wait times: this is starting to feel overwhelming. our space is so intimate, the experience we offer is so giving of ourselves: our creativity, our emotion, our grieving, our energy. we are sharing all of this with a new kind of customer. one who doesn’t know that we are limited. one who doesn’t know that there is a long week of work going into just these four meals. one who doesn’t respect that we have opened and are maintaining a business (and a restaurant at that!)- we find it hard to rejuvenate after these meals. we are not getting the joy from our neighbors and friends and families (who decide not to wait, or take up a table) that made this place feel so magic. we can’t imagine another year of trying to make this tiny, ill-equiped, intimate space work . . .

do you know why they are closing? they are closing because there are just not enough other people like them in cincinnati. if there were, we would have other cozy, welcoming kitchens serving creative, wholesome, delicious food where we could go eat if it was too busy at forkheartknife and then they wouldn't be so overwhelmed. if there were, the suburban zombies wouldn't be suburban zombies and therefore wouldn't be driving an hour downtown on a quest to grasp some tiny feeling of connection via a lovingly cooked meal only to have a panic attack after having a HOMELESS PERSON!!! ask them for money while they shivered on the sidewalk (they didn't wear coats) waiting for a table.

these are the same people who don't want a streetcar and hate unions and thought that cincinnati was growing just because their subdivision razed a hundred more trees and threw down 20 more plots of land to build 20 more houses with 20 more 3 car garages for 20 more families just like theirs, not that they're going to actually interact with them other than sending them daily invites to play farmville on facebook.

i'm not even going to get into my usual rants about how this place treats immigrants like shit they just scraped off the bottom of their collective shoe (which went in and out of style five years ago everywhere else in the world), has no interest in learning or accepting anything about anyone who hasn't been here since their half german/half irish catholic ancestors came over on the mayflower, and has a population with an alarming number of people who have never even traveled to chicago (let alone outside of the country). not to mention that our state's superbowl (sorry, national championship) winning football coach is a national spectacle of hypocrisy and that nobody seems to give a fuck about whether some dude in warren county gets a fair trial (a fair trial? that sounds like socialism!).

in the name of tradition, family, and pseudo-christian morals the majority of cincinnatians run around in these isolationist bubbles of fear coated in insecurity wanting nothing more than to just. feel. safe. this drives them to compulsively live the exact same life as everybody else they know, with absolutely no interest in anyone else (unless, remember, you went to high school with them).

i tried to be optimistic for years but let's face it, it's never going to change. if you don't fit into a very specific demographic (white, moderate to conservative politically, christian, middle to upper class, and originally from cincinnati) or are not rich enough that nothing else matters, there's not much for you here, and it's only getting worse. most of the people who do fit that demographic are at best not doing anything to change things, and at worst doing everything in their power to keep it that way.

i'll admit that i'm feeling especially hateful right now but seriously, this place is a fucking joke on a stick. don't delude yourself with a new restaurant or a couple renovated buildings. if you're smart you'll get the hell out just like that 10% who already did. if you think there's any real hope you're only lying to yourself. and if you don't agree with me, you can... well, you know.