There goes the neighborhood
It's official. The last vestiges of the old neighborhood we called the "near west side" thirty years ago have been erased. In words, at least.
Our local development group, formerly "Ohio City Near West Development Corporation" is now "Ohio City, Inc." Its earlier, more populist predecessor was "Near West Neighbors In Action." Bye, bye, neighbors.
There's a telling line on the OCNW.org website, soon to become OhioCity.org:
"Our identity is defined by our business and the interests we represent."
Ain't that the truth. I guess we're not happy being neighbors anymore, we want to be a corporation. We're concerned about our branding. Maybe people who live here should call each other "associates" like they do at Target and Wal-Mart.
This "rebranding" of the place where I've spent most of my adult life has pissed me off for years, but it's a fight that's not worth continuing. The marketers, the image-polishers, have won. We are officially Ohio City, Inc.
It's a term that I'm still going to avoid, but most people think that I live in Ohio City.
I don't.
