It happens like clockwork. Every time the Powerball prize money begins to rise, my friends' cocktail chatter turns into very serious conversation: How will we spend our jackpot money?

The immediate answer is predictable.

Shoes. Fabulous, fabulous shoes.

Then, grudgingly, we admit we would use a little of it to take care of business first. Pay bills. Invest. Donate to social causes. And then buy some strappy heels.

And so it is with Convergys Corp. and a $52.2 million deal, the largest tax-subsidy package in Cincinnati history, which was passed last week by city council 8-1.

Sure, we need to take care of business. Under terms of the deal, Convergys will invest $125 million in Atrium One and will keep the company's 1,450 high-paying jobs here, with the prospect of doubling that number in 15 years.

But imagine all the fantastic things that could be done with that cash ... and I'm not just talking Jimmy Choo stilettos.

So I asked other young professionals one simple question: How would you spend that wad of dough to revitalize downtown?

• Matt Dietz, 29, Covington, insurance agent

Develop better public transit. The metro in D.C. costs roughly $3-$5 to ride, the same in Chicago. It costs much more to park in downtown Cincinnati.

• Kevin LeMaster, 29, Springfield Township

We have a ton of 100-year-old buildings that are sitting idle. The best way to revive a downtown is to actually have people living there. Bring people in to live. Demand for clubs, retail, etc. will follow.

• Conrad Thiede, 35, downtown, director of development for a non-profit group

I'd buy the Reds some starting pitching. If there was a stipulation on it being utilized for the young and/or hip, there could be a clause where the pitcher had to be under 30 with some interesting piercings.

• Peipei Zhou, 23, Hyde Park, IT analyst

Provide comfortable/chic downtown living and enable young professionals to come together.

Our supplications: 24-hour coffee shops, please. Artsy movie theaters. Pedestrian-friendly streets. Shops kept open till late night.

A bustling downtown will let us congregate, making us consumers, residents, cohorts, and in short, a lot happier.

Once the downtown population density increases, make ways for us to meet. Social groups and dating opportunities can be constructed.

• Connie Kolita, 33, Mount Washington, communications manager

I think that downtown has some decent things to offer, but what's lacking for young professionals is cohesion. Downtown has, for example, a beautiful new ballpark. I like to go to games, but give me a reason to come downtown early and stay late.

Give me low-cost, accessible parking in the afternoon. Give me a place to grab a snack and browse through a variety of eclectic shops and kiosks. Give me hip, new lofts I could tour to see if I might want to move downtown.

After the Reds have won, give me a reason to stay downtown - give me '80s bars, cigar bars, alternative clubs, pool halls, a lit-up walking trail, a pizza joint that opens at midnight and other affordable, late-night restaurants, an Internet cafe, a rooftop bar that closes at 4 a.m.

Oh, and one more thing. Give me more of an open-minded attitude - or else the plethora of problems you're reading about today in Cincinnati are here to stay.

• Drew Hester, 35, North College Hill, public-relations consultant

The money to keep professionals downtown would be better spent in really cool happy-hour pubs for networking groups to unwind in style. Parking wouldn't be a bad idea either.

• Brian Griffin, 31, Mount Washington, database administrator

First, I would invest in building up downtown residency by creating new middle-class condominiums and apartments, not just upscale places out of the reach of most 35-and-under single people, and creating a full range of retail coverage downtown, especially grocery stores; promote and create a community focused on adults, married or single, but not focused on families or children.

Second, I would invest in small businesses and new start-up companies. I would invest in new local media, Internet businesses, and other new technologies. The big corporations and these new small companies would feed off of each other, allowing both to prosper.

• Josh Heuser, 24, Devou Park, club director of operations

I would start an event-coordinating organization that would bring young professionals downtown.

There is no event catered to the 21-to-35 crowd downtown on a large scale. Sure, you have Tall Stacks, but I'm 24 in 2003 - way past the days of chasing steamboats down the river. And Jammin' on Main - more like Jammin' with Teens. And Taste of Cincinnati is good, but how many young professionals really want to spend a hot Saturday eating spiced sausage and listening to B105?

• Kris Geiger, 29, Over-the-Rhine, account supervisor

Subsidize ticket prices, so arts/culture attractions are free to the public.

• Adam Stovall, 24, Liberty Hill, magazine writer

Invest in start-ups and smaller competitors in the same field as Convergys to encourage growth from within the city. This is the kind of thing that must happen if Cincinnati is going to attain a reputation on the national level of being a progressive city that encourages small-business growth.

• Leah Sweeney Spurrier, 33, downtown, Over-the-Rhine business owner

Spend $50 million toward the development of new businesses that fit a certain profile for the progression of downtown. The profile would include retail, galleries, food, and entertainment almost exclusively. Form a small, relatively impartial, board of advisers/panelists comprising three to five very cool macro-thinkers.

Draw up a 36-month plan to draw as many cool businesses that fit the profile as possible. Give no more than $1 million in extremely low-interest/deferred-payment loan guarantees, and rent/mortgage abatements to these businesses each.

Make sure the system provides networking, and some volunteer business people who will give their advice to the fledglings.

Keep $13.4 million for doing this good, smart deed.

• Jeff Wonser, 33, Hebron, air traffic control specialist

How about this? A $2 million grant for each college and university in a 60-mile radius. This money could go for additional classes (or reduced tuition or prestigious educators), professional services such as preparing students for the world, like interviewing, resumes, writing skills - even which fork to use on the salad at a lunch interview.

Any remaining money should be given to the Reds to bring in at least one solid starting pitcher, and one consistent middle reliever. The Bengals, however, shouldn't get a dime.

E-mail mdowns@enquirer.com