"Our city has no image"

At least according to Councilwoman Laure Quinlivan, who chairs the City Council's Quality of Life Committee.

For those unfamiliar with Ms. Quinlivan's credentials, she is a former TV reporter who now runs her own marketing business in addition to being a first-term council member. Apparently her background ill prepared her to know the following about the city which she now serves;

- Cincinnati is the birthplace of such luminaries as President William Howard Taft, Doris Day, Tyrone Power, Steven Spielberg, Roger Staubach and of course Pete Rose.

- Cincinnati at one time had three professional sports teams; Cincinnati Reds (the first professional baseball team in the country), the Royals, and of course the Bengals (okay, I know this may be a stretch)

- Cincinnati is home to Proctor and Gamble, Chiquita Brands, GE Aircraft Engines, the Kroger Company, and Fifth Third Bank (I picked companies that have been around the Cincinnati area for a while and are probably familiar to readers outside the Cincinnati area).

- Cincinnati has the Art Museum, Taft Museum, Music Hall (home of the Cincinnati Ballet, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and Cincinnati Opera), the College Conservatory of Music (at UC), the School of the Creative and Performing Arts, and the Museum Center (which includes the Natural History Museum).

- Cincinnati was originally called Losantiville (hmm, I wonder where I've seen that name before?) and Porkopolis. Cincinnati was the premier pork butchering center in the world during the 19th Century until Chicago surpassed it for beef butchering (which could only happen because of the invention of refrigerated rail cars).

-Cincinnati was major part of the Underground Railroad (hence the National Freedom Center), had at one time as many as 14 breweries (thanks to the German immigrants), invented Cincinnati style chili (thanks to Greek immigrants) and eats goetta (a type of sausage made from pork and pinhead oats, again thanks to the Germans).

Despite all of this histroy (plus much I either left out or forgot), Ms. Quinilvan thinks we have no image.

The Bengals have never won a super bowl and residents born after 1990 can't remember ever seeing them win a divisional playoff. Those same residents can't remember the Reds winning the World Series. The Cincinnati Royals folded so long ago that most residents don't remember that we ever had a NBA team.

But once upon a time there was Oscar Robinson who played for the Cincinnati Royals. Once upon a time there was Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, and Joe Morgan and they all worked for this guy name Sparky Anderson. Together they and their teammates were called The Big Red Machine. They won back to back World Series championships (1975, 1976)

They was this guy named Ezzard Charles. Although not born in Cincinnati, we claim him as our own. He was once heavyweight boxing champion of the world (back before they invented MMA and UFC). He won 93 of his fights.

There was this really neat lady who was a radio and television broadcaster and probably is most responsible for creating daytime talkshows. She was also incredibly generous and created a charity to make sure hospitalized children received toys. Her name was Ruth Lyons.

Apparently Ms. Quinlivan has missed out on the fact she owes her previous profession to Ms. Lyons. But we have no image.

Cincinnati does have an image, it just that people like her and the rest of city council are too busy bickering to tell the rest of the world our story.




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