Saturday, October 27, 2001
Give Vehr perfect 10 for effort
Look at us: We're not an Olympic city. We can't even get a department store built. Embrace the world? We have trouble embracing each other. The United States Olympic Committee had said it wanted an “internationally significant” city to host the 2012 Games. Lately, ours hasn't been nationally significant, unless you're interested in riots.
That the USOC on Friday deemed us not worthy comes as a shock to almost no one. When it comes to places able to host large sporting events, we're not even Indianapolis.
That doesn't mean Nick Vehr's dream, or the energy he spent the last five years working to realize it, shouldn't be applauded. Laugh at the guy if you want. I mean, a dome on Nippert Stadium?
But give him this: He had a vision. You could say it was blurry. I knew Nick was seeing things I could never imagine when he looked on Sydney's sparkling, expansive Darling Harbor in September 2000 and said to me, “Picture the Ohio River.”
Vehr
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Progressive thinking
But Vehr wanted Cincinnati to be something greater than it is. He ditched the city's complacency cloak, which more and more is looking like a shroud. He didn't worry about politics. Factions didn't tangle him; egos didn't trip him; petty jealousies never broke his stride.
Vehr, bless him, looked at the Ohio River and saw Darling Harbor. All his questions began with Why Not? For that alone, Cincinnati 2012, the organization over which he presided the last five years, should be cheered.
A day before the USOC announced we weren't good enough, Vehr said he'd call after the press conference “just to let everybody know we've been picked as a finalist.”
That was Vehr.
On Friday, so was this:
“We had the courage to wrap our hands around a dream. All of us are better for it. We are one heckuva lot better as a city than a lot of people give us credit for, but we're not yet as good as we can be.”
Corny boosterism? Sure. What's wrong with that? Somebody has to talk up this town. Especially now.
Ambassador Vehr
Vehr's enthusiasm was infectious. He got the suits on Fourth Street to pony up millions of dollars. He persuaded other cities to join a “regional” Games. He got people working together for a change.
The bid committee's slogan was “Cincinnati ... America at its best.” Vehr was not the best ambassador the city has had in years. He was the only ambassador the city has had in years.
His desire was unrealistic. Great cities host the Summer Games (except Atlanta). But Vehr's vision and optimism kept you wondering ... what if?
This is not a vibrant, innovative place. It is a comfortable, pleasant, slow place that has had too many kooks crafting its image. To the rest of the country, we're still Marge and Mapplethorpe.
Did Nick Vehr change that? Maybe not. But he tried. Man, he tried.
“The challenge is to find the next dream to follow,” Vehr said Friday.
Here's one: Between Sycamore and Elm, Fourth Street is a withered husk of missing commerce. The rest of downtown is equally vacant. Get your can-do self on that, Nick Vehr.
There is much to be done. The task is Olympian, you might say.
E-mail: pdaugherty@enquirer.com. Past columns at Enquirer.com/columns/daugherty.
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DAUGHERTY: Give Vehr perfect 10 for effort
