Little has changed. Cincinnati now has a few bland, chain Mexican restaurants — but no Greektown, no Chinatown, no colorful islands of Latinos or other immigrants.

        While other cities are broadcasting in living color, Cincinnati is still black and white. The waves of German and Irish immigrants who built the city are now as faded as German names in peeling paint on decaying buildings in Over-the-Rhine.

The Urbanistas

        But a group in Cincinnati has a radical plan to throw out the welcome mat again.

        The New Urbanists, about 60 civic leaders, philanthropists and young professionals, hope to rejuvenate Cincinnati and protect the things that made it great. Members include former mayor Arn Bortz, pollster and researcher Al Tuchfarber, arts booster Melody Sawyer Richardson and Metropolitan Housing Director Donald Troendle.

        “The most important thing we can do is preserve our core cities, Cincinnati included,” said one of the founders, Terry Grundy. “And we can only do this if we re-settle these cities with a new middle class.”

        The Urbanists adhere to three principles:

        • Attract middle-class people to live in the city.

        • Strengthen and mobilize city assets.

        • Enhance the economic conditions of citizens and neighborhoods.

        While political leaders focus on problems, local treasures might be lost to neglect unless someone protects them.

        And the best medicine is a transfusion of new blood.

        “Like many other old U.S. cities, Cincinnati has lost nearly a third of its population since the 1970s, ... almost entirely middle-class people, the very people who are most important for the city's survival and health,” said Mr. Grundy, who teaches Urban Lobbying at the University of Cincinnati.

Xenophobics keep out

        What separates healthy cities from dying ghost towns is immigration. Philadelphia came to the same conclusion and a councilman there proposed an “Office of New Philadelphians” to recruit immigrants.

        But it went nowhere, a city official said: “Philadelphia is a very insular city, not into changing the way it looks at the world.” He could be describing Cincinnati. Or “xenophobia” — fear of strangers.

        Immigration is the answer, but it won't work if newcomers feel unwelcome.

        The Urbanists hope to target specific groups.

        “The countries of the developing world are full of people with the classic "middle-class' traits, who can't get ahead in their home countries because the local economies are corrupt or dead in the water,” Mr. Grundy said. “Coming to the U.S. — even to our "cast-off' cities where they often can get their best start — is the chance of a lifetime.”

        New ethnic communities could pump new life and excitement into stagnant neighborhoods and rearrange the tired furniture of black vs. white bitterness.

        But first we have to get past our Taco Bell attitude.

        E-mail pbronson@enquirer.com or call 768-8301.

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