CINCINNATI: THE NEW CITY OF LIGHTS

Move over Paris, make way for ...Cincinnati, Ohio?

That's right, Cincinnati, located along the beautiful Ohio River and America's first city to adopt a master plan to illuminate its downtown structures. Today the spotlights are shining on approximately three dozen stars in the city's downtown "skyline show".

Cincinnati's is not the typical urban "light-up" program, in which lights are left on inside of buildings. Instead, this city's illumination project incorporates permanent exterior lighting highlighting a diverse collection of architecture ranging from the newest of designs to Cincinnati's celebrated Art Deco structures.

Cincinnati's new downtown illumination program, experts agree, has certainly taken the concept of building lighting to new heights. One building, for instance, even provides weather forecasts via roof top lighting. By shining different colored lights atop the Chiquita Center, on-lookers receive an early indication whether an umbrella or a jacket will be appropriate for the next day. Green means precipitation is ahead. Red stands for warm weather. White is a sign that there will be little change in the present conditions, while blue gives fair warning that temperatures are falling and cold weather is on the way.

While it sounds as though Cincinnati's innovative lighting plan would leave the local utility company beaming, actually they too are involved in making sure the program works. Cinergy Corporation provides an incentive to downtown buildings by awarding rebates on the light bills of companies that participate.
Cinergy Corp. also donated exterior lights for City Hall and Cincinnati's world famous Music Hall as a gift during the city's 1988 Bicentennial observances.

The centerpiece of Cincinnati's illumination program is a nighttime halo on the banks of the Ohio River, Riverfront Stadium. Future stages of the illumination plan call for the addition of colored lights to the stadium's lighting scheme, denoting Cincinnati sports teams and their opponents.
Besides being the nation's first city to develop a formal plan for it's skyline, Cincinnati is only outdistanced by New York City in the number of buildings lighted nightly.

Companies which participate in the program not only add to the ambiance of the city, but increase the value of their particular piece of downtown real estate. And since no company wants to be left in the dark, participation in Cincinnati's voluntary program is burgeoning. One measuring stick of the program's widespread appeal is that Delta Air Line pilots are now pointing out the view to passengers on the approach to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport Delta hub.

Travelers who have not visited Cincinnati since the illumination plan was adopted are in store for an exciting experience. Some say the best vantage point to view the glowing skyline is directly across the Ohio River, aboard one of the many floating restaurants moored on the river in Northern Kentucky. But the city's topography is equally conducive to appreciating the show from hilltop restaurants, and parks which surround Cincinnati's downtown from a number of different vantage points.

Whichever perspective you choose, you won't go wrong. The nighttime view is so spectacular that even so-so photographers will return home with the perfect souvenir shot of Cincinnati, America's own City of Lights.