What type of city to you see Louisville growing into?

[rydertwentyone]

I just moved here from cleveland, ohio and I love it here so far only been here two months. The city feels to me like a big city with the amenties but it also has a small type feel to it. I will go out and almost always see someone i know when i go out .Some people might not like that but I like it. I just am awandering if people think that Louisville will grow a lot bigger and lose some of this feeling that I have noticed in my short stay here. And if you think it might what city to you think it has the potential to grow to ie Cinci. I might be totally off by saying that it feels small and big at the same time but its just how i see it. Thanks Kris

[Ian604]

I just moved here from cleveland, ohio and I love it here so far only been here two months. The city feels to me like a big city with the amenties but it also has a small type feel to it. I will go out and almost always see someone i know when i go out .Some people might not like that but I like it. I just am awandering if people think that Louisville will grow a lot bigger and lose some of this feeling that I have noticed in my short stay here. And if you think it might what city to you think it has the potential to grow to ie Cinci. I might be totally off by saying that it feels small and big at the same time but its just how i see it. Thanks Kris

Louisville will never be a large major city as far as population is concerned, in the same way Lexington wont catch up to Louisville, Louisville wont catch up to Cincy, barring some unforeseen natural or economic calamity. but it could very easily become a very very good city as far as culture, and vibe go. And I tihnk that's better anyway. I think Louisville is building on a lot of its strengths right now and needs to continue densifying. Hopefully we'll see limited development outside of the Gene Snyder Freeway and a lot of development inside Waterson.

I also thinking that this kind of density will only make the feeling that you're connected to your neighbors stronger.

[502ky]

I agree Ian, you probably won't see the same type of sprawl that Cincy endures, simply because of controled growth. Even though the housing market has slowed down a little bit, I know the outlying suburbs, Oldham, Clark county Ind, and Spencer country are growing very very fast. Which is evidenced by the new outdoor shopping complexes being built in the more affluent areas of the metro. As Ian stated, Louisville will never catch Cincy, but the metro area is steadily expanding as the population still shifts out into the exoburbs of the metro. I can pretty much agree with you though Ryder, I'm born and raised here, moved away to philly for a little while, but came back. Louisville has always had a big city/small city feel. Living in Philly it definitly seems small, but so do most cities compared to Philly. I'm sure coming from Cleveland you get a smaller feel also. It just depends on where you come from to be honest, but most folks here feel the same way. Its big enough to where you have enough to do, but small enough to where you don't have the traffic problems and all the good stuff.

By 2010 you should see alot of changes in the city especially downtown. Museum plaza will be built, a new arena, and hopefully a new concert venue at the fairgrounds. All three venues will be added additions to the city, one thing Louisville has sorely missed has been a outdoor concert venue. Cincy and Indy have benefited from having these because they are smaller than the arenas and big enough to have a tour. Plus with all the condo developments downtown and on the outer edges of downtown you add to the urban core. So Louisville is certainly right on the same foot with other cities of similar size outside of pro sports. Hopefully soon the city will go forward with its plans for Light Rail.

Question for Ryder? What part of the city do you live in? I live close to downtown and I rarely see the same folks if I go out. I'm sure you have been, but in case you haven't check out the highlands(bardstown rd) and the clifton area(frankfort ave) you should see some different faces in those areas. I would also suggest checking out Louisvillemojo.com if you get a chance. That is a great site for things going on in the city. I would also like to welcome to Louisville and Kentucky, hopefully you will make Louisville your permanent home.

Welcome to Louisville Ryder, hopefully you like enough to consider Louisville and Kentucky your permanent home.

[ppassafi]

I agree Ian, you probably won't see the same type of sprawl that Cincy endures, simply because of controled growth. Even though the housing market has slowed down a little bit, I know the outlying suburbs, Oldham, Clark county Ind, and Spencer country are growing very very fast. Which is evidenced by the new outdoor shopping complexes being built in the more affluent areas of the metro. As Ian stated, Louisville will never catch Cincy, but the metro area is steadily expanding as the population still shifts out into the exoburbs of the metro. I can pretty much agree with you though Ryder, I'm born and raised here, moved away to philly for a little while, but came back. Louisville has always had a big city/small city feel. Living in Philly it definitly seems small, but so do most cities compared to Philly. I'm sure coming from Cleveland you get a smaller feel also. It just depends on where you come from to be honest, but most folks here feel the same way. Its big enough to where you have enough to do, but small enough to where you don't have the traffic problems and all the good stuff.

By 2010 you should see alot of changes in the city especially downtown. Museum plaza will be built, a new arena, and hopefully a new concert venue at the fairgrounds. All three venues will be added additions to the city, one thing Louisville has sorely missed has been a outdoor concert venue. Cincy and Indy have benefited from having these because they are smaller than the arenas and big enough to have a tour. Plus with all the condo developments downtown and on the outer edges of downtown you add to the urban core. So Louisville is certainly right on the same foot with other cities of similar size outside of pro sports. Hopefully soon the city will go forward with its plans for Light Rail.

Question for Ryder? What part of the city do you live in? I live close to downtown and I rarely see the same folks if I go out. I'm sure you have been, but in case you haven't check out the highlands(bardstown rd) and the clifton area(frankfort ave) you should see some different faces in those areas. I would also suggest checking out Louisvillemojo.com if you get a chance. That is a great site for things going on in the city. I would also like to welcome to Louisville and Kentucky, hopefully you will make Louisville your permanent home.

Welcome to Louisville Ryder, hopefully you like enough to consider Louisville and Kentucky your permanent home.

I do believe that one day Louisville may equal Cincy in metro size. That is a bold statement, yes, but the city is growing faster and I do believe it is about to hit a substantial growth spurt on the level of Charlotte or Nashville, two cities which will catch Cincy soon.

In the meantime, Louisville's slow and steady growth is great news for the future. We will have less sprawl than aforementioned cities.

Considering you are not from Louisville, I am surprised you say you see "familiar faces" all the time. You need to mix up your scene, as people tend to frequent the same places every week bc they are familiar with them. Any city I have seen is like that. As you know, there are two main bar strips downtown being the 4th street corridor and the main/market corridor. Also, Bardstown Rd and the Highlands have a substantial amount of nightlife. Clifton and Crescent Hill have a few places but especially the Heart of St Matthews does now near where Shelbyville Rd meets Breckenridge. There are also neighborhood taverns all across the metro and good suburban nightlife options now. Check Velocityweekly.com and Leo.com for things to do.

Louisville IMO offers everything a major city does except for pro sports and exclusive designer shopping. With new projects like www.museumplaza.net, www.riverparkplace.net, the new riverfront arena and hotel, and continued addition of nightlife and hotels downtown, Louisville is really heating up. Shhh, don't tell too many people that there is a lot of fun and culture in a city with light traffic, relatively low crime, low coast of living, and a friendly populace that may even let you change lanes if you are lucky

[rydertwentyone]

Question for Ryder? What part of the city do you live in? I live close to downtown and I rarely see the same folks if I go out. I'm sure you have been, but in case you haven't check out the highlands(bardstown rd) and the clifton area(frankfort ave) you should see some different faces in those areas. I would also suggest checking out Louisvillemojo.com if you get a chance. That is a great site for things going on in the city. I would also like to welcome to Louisville and Kentucky, hopefully you will make Louisville your permanent home.

Welcome to Louisville Ryder, hopefully you like enough to consider Louisville and Kentucky your permanent home.

[krazeeboi]

I could see Louisville at least becoming as a big as Cincinatti is now. I've visited both cities, and the difference wasn't all that drastic as far as size goes. I firmly believe that inland river cities like Louisville will eventually see a resurgence in popularity. They just have character that many other cities would kill for.

[502ky]

I could see Louisville at least becoming as a big as Cincinatti is now. I've visited both cities, and the difference wasn't all that drastic as far as size goes. I firmly believe that inland river cities like Louisville will eventually see a resurgence in popularity. They just have character that many other cities would kill for.

The thing that hurts Cincy right now is politics. Just as louisville just went through a great deal of political grief over the arena situation, Cincy goes through the same thing and probably even worse. All the business in Cincy is basically locating to Northern Kentucky, which is also hurting Cincy proper. Even though its hard for me to imagine Louisville metro catching Cincy because of controled growth, I can definitly understand the reasons and rational that people have presented in this thread.

[502ky]

Question for Ryder? What part of the city do you live in? I live close to downtown and I rarely see the same folks if I go out. I'm sure you have been, but in case you haven't check out the highlands(bardstown rd) and the clifton area(frankfort ave) you should see some different faces in those areas. I would also suggest checking out Louisvillemojo.com if you get a chance. That is a great site for things going on in the city. I would also like to welcome to Louisville and Kentucky, hopefully you will make Louisville your permanent home.

Welcome to Louisville Ryder, hopefully you like enough to consider Louisville and Kentucky your permanent home.

Thanks 502ky for welcoming me to Louisville appreciate it. I live on the far east side near the summit shopping center. I didnt mean that I see the same people over and over every weekend just that when I go out I will see one or two person I know in the night. I like that its not a bad thing at all.

Thats a nice part of town, my girlfriend lives in the springhurst area which is pretty much the next burb over from where you are. They are building over in that area like crazy, with all the hospitals and retail being built. I love the norton commons development that is probably one of the best developments in the city right now.

[coyotetrickster]

Thats a nice part of town, my girlfriend lives in the springhurst area which is pretty much the next burb over from where you are. They are building over in that area like crazy, with all the hospitals and retail being built. I love the norton commons development that is probably one of the best developments in the city right now.

Why do folks in this thread think Cincinnati is larger than Louisville. According to recent census data, cincy is the 55th largest U.S. city while Louiville (the merged version) is pulling in on my hometown, SF, in terms of population (700K plus). I've been in both cities in recent years, and I think Louisville has the momentum over it's up-river rival.

[Ian604]

Why do folks in this thread think Cincinnati is larger than Louisville. According to recent census data, cincy is the 55th largest U.S. city while Louiville (the merged version) is pulling in on my hometown, SF, in terms of population (700K plus). I've been in both cities in recent years, and I think Louisville has the momentum over it's up-river rival.

You're right about the census data but going by the same numbers Lexington's merged city-county was larger than Louisville as far as population is concerned. However anyone who just passes through both cities on 64 can obviously tell that in actuality Louisville is much larger than Lexington. It's that kind of thing we're talking about.

[rydertwentyone]

Why do folks in this thread think Cincinnati is larger than Louisville. According to recent census data, cincy is the 55th largest U.S. city while Louiville (the merged version) is pulling in on my hometown, SF, in terms of population (700K plus). I've been in both cities in recent years, and I think Louisville has the momentum over it's up-river rival.

Hey sorry coyotetrickster I just moved here dont know all the pop data my bad

[ppassafi]

Hey sorry coyotetrickster I just moved here dont know all the pop data my bad

Well the fact is, the CITY of Cincinnati is approximately the same size as the OLD CITY of Louisville by its old definition. The city of Cincy probably has about 20k more people than Louisville before Louisville merged (Cincy's latest estimate is around 280k, a loss of 50k people in only 5 years).

However, Cincinnati has substantially more suburbs than Louisville and thus has a metro population of 2 million compared to 1.2 million for Louisville. Still, much of this is sprawl (like much of Louisville's metro), and the key comparison comes in the two cities' amenties in their old urban cores. I think architectually, culturally, and restaurant wise the two are nearly identical. Their bus systems are both decent with a good amount of suburban commuter buses that serve both sides of each city's river divide.

Louisville is experiencing a much stronger economy and growth both in population and jobs (both as a city and metro). Both downtowns are coming up but I like what Louisville has done better and I feel Louisville has a leg up on urban infill throughout the city while controlling massive blight--there is no Over the Rhine in Louisville--and that is a good and bad thing. Louisville also has more major projects in the works like Museum Plaza. Cincy has the upper hand with more big companies, pro sports, and slightly better shopping (this is sort of moot since all that Cincy has that Louisville doesn't is essentially a subpar Saks).

For all practical purposes, the cities are a lot alike with many of the same struggles, so people move back and forth from either and rarely notice much of a difference.

[502ky]

You're right about the census data but going by the same numbers Lexington's merged city-county was larger than Louisville as far as population is concerned. However anyone who just passes through both cities on 64 can obviously tell that in actuality Louisville is much larger than Lexington. It's that kind of thing we're talking about.

Exactly, plus Cincy has Covington right across the river which basically has its own skyline and adds to the urban feel of downtown Cincy. Plus Cincy sits in a valley on the ohio basically giving its downtown a better infill look to it. Hamilton county has about 75k more people than Jefferson County. You can't always go buy the census date especially for consolidated municipalities and counties. Louisville is also listed bigger than Boston, but we all know this isn't true. Thats why most folks usually use the metro pop to get a accurate census on a city. You certainly make a good point though.

Well the fact is, the CITY of Cincinnati is approximately the same size as the OLD CITY of Louisville by its old definition. The city of Cincy probably has about 20k more people than Louisville before Louisville merged (Cincy's latest estimate is around 280k, a loss of 50k people in only 5 years).

However, Cincinnati has substantially more suburbs than Louisville and thus has a metro population of 2 million compared to 1.2 million for Louisville. Still, much of this is sprawl (like much of Louisville's metro), and the key comparison comes in the two cities' amenties in their old urban cores. I think architectually, culturally, and restaurant wise the two are nearly identical. Their bus systems are both decent with a good amount of suburban commuter buses that serve both sides of each city's river divide.

Louisville is experiencing a much stronger economy and growth both in population and jobs (both as a city and metro). Both downtowns are coming up but I like what Louisville has done better and I feel Louisville has a leg up on urban infill throughout the city while controlling massive blight--there is no Over the Rhine in Louisville--and that is a good and bad thing. Louisville also has more major projects in the works like Museum Plaza. Cincy has the upper hand with more big companies, pro sports, and slightly better shopping (this is sort of moot since all that Cincy has that Louisville doesn't is essentially a subpar Saks).

For all practical purposes, the cities are a lot alike with many of the same struggles, so people move back and forth from either and rarely notice much of a difference.

Basically, both cities have many many similarities. Outside of Cincy having a much larger suburban area and pro sports, there really isn't much difference.

[coyotetrickster]

Exactly, plus Cincy has Covington right across the river which basically has its own skyline and adds to the urban feel of downtown Cincy. Plus Cincy sits in a valley on the ohio basically giving its downtown a better infill look to it. Hamilton county has about 75k more people than Jefferson County. You can't always go buy the census date especially for consolidated municipalities and counties. Louisville is also listed bigger than Boston, but we all know this isn't true. Thats why most folks usually use the metro pop to get a accurate census on a city. You certainly make a good point though.

Basically, both cities have many many similarities. Outside of Cincy having a much larger suburban area and pro sports, there really isn't much difference.

Thanks for the clarification. Yes, evidently the cincy metro is about 800K larger than the louisville metro, but metro areas are fairly porous (and the Census Bureau designations are pretty pointless at times, e.g. aggregating San Jose/Sunnyvale from the SF/Oakland metro area), so I'd take the MSA stats with a grain of salt. For my money, I'd place bets on Louisville over Cincy.

[502ky]

Thanks for the clarification. Yes, evidently the cincy metro is about 800K larger than the louisville metro, but metro areas are fairly porous (and the Census Bureau designations are pretty pointless at times, e.g. aggregating San Jose/Sunnyvale from the SF/Oakland metro area), so I'd take the MSA stats with a grain of salt. For my money, I'd place bets on Louisville over Cincy.

I was just saying in another thread how overrated the TV market argument is. You can almost say the same thing with the whole metro arguments. For example look how close the twin cities are in MN? Do you not think the metro numbers would be super inflated? Just like you said the San jose all the way to Oakland. That is a huge area locked into one metro. With the way that Covington and NKY is growing, Cincy's metro numbers are going to continue to climb, while Cincinnati proper will continue to decline. Its just the way the economy has spiraled. I've always found it weird how some cities incorporate other cities like 100 miles away and consider them apart of the metro. Maybe its because of the people that commute to those cities. If thats the case then you could combine, Indy, Cincy, and Louisville and get one big azz metro.LOL

[coyotetrickster]

I was just saying in another thread how overrated the TV market argument is. You can almost say the same thing with the whole metro arguments. For example look how close the twin cities are in MN? Do you not think the metro numbers would be super inflated? Just like you said the San jose all the way to Oakland. That is a huge area locked into one metro. With the way that Covington and NKY is growing, Cincy's metro numbers are going to continue to climb, while Cincinnati proper will continue to decline. Its just the way the economy has spiraled. I've always found it weird how some cities incorporate other cities like 100 miles away and consider them apart of the metro. Maybe its because of the people that commute to those cities. If thats the case then you could combine, Indy, Cincy, and Louisville and get one big azz metro.LOL

My complaint is the other direction. San Jose is definitely part of the Bay Area, with almost 100 commuter rail trips daily between sf and sj, slightly smaller number from oakland to sj. And, while it galls folks in SF that San Jose is now bigger (by almost 200K), the two cities are clearly linked and becoming more so. The towns in between are left to fight the development pressuresrresulting from the geographical accident of being between to extremely weathly cities. But, there are some CSA/MSA configurations that leave me scratching my head.

[502ky]

My complaint is the other direction. San Jose is definitely part of the Bay Area, with almost 100 commuter rail trips daily between sf and sj, slightly smaller number from oakland to sj. And, while it galls folks in SF that San Jose is now bigger (by almost 200K), the two cities are clearly linked and becoming more so. The towns in between are left to fight the development pressuresrresulting from the geographical accident of being between to extremely weathly cities. But, there are some CSA/MSA configurations that leave me scratching my head.

I agree and I don't know how they come up with some of this stuff.