Column: Inaction causes steady decline

Downtown Cincinnati is suffering a slow death. 

While projects like "The Banks" riverfront development repeatedly take one step forward and two steps back, the city's downtown continues to deteriorate because of a lack of commitment from the city. 

The most recent area of concern for the city was the announcement that the Maisonette, the country's longest continuous five-star restaurant, was considering a flight to the suburbs. 

If the Queen City loses the crown jewel of its restaurant scene, it might well be a death knell for downtown. 

Since voters approved a tax levy for the new stadiums, we have heard about this $800 million Banks project that was going to revitalize downtown Cincinnati and bring people back into the city. To date, we have the two stadiums and an almost completed Underground Railroad Freedom Center, none of which are likely to improve the plight of downtown Cincinnati. 

Paul Brown Stadium is used eight days a year on Sunday, when most downtown businesses are closed. Mike Brown's reluctance to let the stadium be used for other purposes virtually assures this potential moneymaker will not benefit the city as promised when voters passed the levy. 

Great American Ballpark is certainly a beautiful addition to the city's skyline. With an owner who is unwilling to spend money to field a competitive team however, it won't be long before the bloom is off of this rose (unless, of course Cincinnati's favorite Rose is reinstated and becomes the team's manager). 

That leaves the Freedom Center. While this project had the potential to be a major tourist attraction, the recent history of civil unrest in the city has alienated many of the groups that the project was targeting. 

The promised retail and entertainment venues are merely a pipe dream at this point. The Port Authority, which oversees the project, is focusing most of its efforts on the development of the park which is the project's centerpiece. It doesn't do any good to have a centerpiece if there is no table. 

The city needs revenue and while the park will probably be beautiful, it might be a better idea to get some businesses and generate a little interest in the area before adding another riverfront park. 

To the Port Authority's credit, they are responsible for obtaining most of the grant money earmarked for the project, but they are not getting much help.The development needs underground garages to accommodate visitors and bring the area out of the flood plain but county officials have not been willing to put up the necessary cash. 

The city is not likely to see any real benefit from this development until 2008 and that may be too late for the rest of downtown. How can city leaders work so hard to develop a plan for new business and ignore the Comisar family (owners of the Maisonette) and others that have worked for years to try to revitalize downtown? 

Imagine what could be done in downtown Cincinnati if that $800 million were invested in businesses between Fourth Street and Central Parkway. The city should be focusing on ways to draw people back into the city with more market-rate housing and a revitalized night life within the city. The Aronoff Center and the Contemporary Arts Center provide an ideal hub to build around. 

It would seem that young professionals working downtown would flock back to the city if a safe, entertaining, affordable neighborhood existed. 

Instead city leaders are "banking" on a project built on a connector of two major interstates so patrons can flee back to suburbia after their night out.