As Cincinnati prepares for an estimated 700,000 visitors to downtown this weekend — about a third of them from out of town — workers are spiffing it up in an attempt to put the city's best foot forward.

        But the city still isn't as clean as some people would like.

        “As a downtown resident I can tell you that in recent months, it has been clean,” said Mayor Charlie Luken. “But it's not as clean as I would expect.”

        The central business district wants its own crackdown on litter.

        “We want to make sure that downtown is — and is perceived as — very clean, very safe and very friendly,” said David Ginsburg, interim president of Downtown Cincinnati Inc.

        “That's a challenge. Downtown is a multi-use, multi-purpose destination, which isn't as neat and tidy as suburb destinations, but it's much more vibrant and much more exciting.”

        By any objective measure, downtown Cincinnati is relatively clean. The annual “litter index” by Keep Cincinnati Beautiful ranked the downtown area the second cleanest of 14 neighborhood groups, after the Clifton area.

        But perception is another matter, said Keep Cincinnati Beautiful Director Linda Holterhoff. Even her own board had a tough time believing that downtown ranked high on cleanliness.

        “My board meets downtown, and when we gave them this report, they all said, "No way.' But then they all got up and looked out the window, and there was no litter,” she said.

        Litter isn't the only problem. Pigeon droppings, vacant storefronts and crumbling sidewalks can also contribute to the perception. And those take more than a fleet of street-sweepers to fix.

        Still, even Ms. Holterhoff said the city shouldn't worry too much over a single weekend.

        “I think there will be too many people on the sidewalks to notice they're dirty,” said Ms. Holterhoff.
       

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