CINCINNATI - BLACKOUT and OKTOBERFEST
Sep. 14 Sep. 20 2008
The Blackout of '08! Cincinnati has such a fragile utility infrastructure that a dry wind knocked out power to 90% of the area. Much of it wasn't restored for over a week. The first 2 items in this batch show that power generally returned to more affluent neighborhoods first, however. The final 6 items in this set are from Oktoberfest, days after power to downtown was restored. I call it Ploptoberfest because stuff gets plopped (put in toilets). At this Oktoberfest, someone put a pair of jeans in the toilet bowl in a portable outhouse.
In Bellevue, KY. The foreground is in Bellevue, a working-class burg; the hill in the background is in Cincinnati's relatively opulent east side. What does the east side of Cincinnati have that the Belv doesn't? Lights! Power! The only light in the Bellevue portion of the photo is a car's taillight. This section of Bellevue didn't get its power restored for another 30 hours.
Another photo proving that the well-off east side of Cincinnati got its power back before blue-collar Bellevue. The only lighting seen in the Bellevue portion is car lights and the camera flash reflecting off traffic signs.
The Peace Bike sports new signs just outside Cincinnati's Oktoberfest. This is looking south on Broadway at 5th.
In the middle of the Ploptoberfest action, this is south on Walnut near 5th. Walnut lines up perfectly with Greenup Street in Covington, KY. That's Greenup straight ahead in the background. The barriers in the foreground are temporary devices for the festival.
I thought this was gone, because I hadn't been able to find it in years, but here it is! At the southeast corner of 5th & Main is this unusual sculpture. It consists of a pair of giant rectangles that slowly move about. This display generated much controversy when it opened: Its creator considered the display evocative of Cincinnati, but many locals disagreed.
Because this is a roads site, I had to do more items showing...roads! This is a video of Broadway at night on the Peace Bike, going home from Ploptoberfest. The first block is included twice, because I thought I had the camera off when I first filmed it, so I redid it. These clips are noisy because of all the festival noise.
An attempt to create a nighttime video of the Peace Bike traveling on the west sidewalk of the Taylor-Southgate Bridge. This span carries US 27 over the Ohio River from Cincinnati to Newport, KY. It opened in 1995 to replace the Central Bridge.
