You might think being a member of the Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce is tougher than planning the Enron company picnic or a USO tour for the Dixie Chicks.

But you would be wrong. I certainly was. I expected a small and gloomy group at the OTR chamber's annual meeting on May 1. Instead, I found more than 250 smiling, enthusiastic cheerleaders who believe that OTR is the hope for the future of Cincinnati.

"We used to joke about it 15 years ago, but nobody's laughing anymore,'' said Chairman Chris Frutkin. "This group will lead the way to the recovery of the city.''

Divine light

The meeting was held at the 1848 St. Paul's Church, which is now the Verdin Bell Co. It was accidentally symbolic: As they talked about the rebirth of Over-the Rhine, speakers stood under a sunlit stained-glass window of Jesus turning water into wine.

They said OTR now leads the downtown central business district in growth and leadership.

The new chairman, Bob Schneider, said projects are blooming like petunias in flower boxes on Vine Street. "It took just two weeks to sell 18 condos on Main Street,'' he said. "It's going to take the people of Cincinnati a year to catch up to what's going on here.''

City Manager Valerie Lemmie ran through a bulging portfolio of programs, grants and investments that are pumping more than $140 million into housing, development and neighborhood projects throughout the city, much of it targeted for OTR.

'In this together'

And OTR's chamber has been encouraged and supported by the Southeastern Butler County Chamber of Commerce, which has no reason to get involved - except that they care. "It's our responsibility to help,'' said President Joe Hinson. "When the core is hurting, it directly or indirectly affects the entire region. We're all in this together.''

Wetherington, meet Washington Park.

It's the kind of typically "Cincinnati" spirit that too often gets washed out by the dripping water torture of bad news.

Turning the city's most popular address for crime and poverty into a Chamber of Commerce brochure is not "cake." But the OTR Chamber is determined to put on some frosting.

They have new offices on 14th Street, shared with a Herman Miller showroom for office furniture.

There's more here than crime and soup kitchens. It's our regional "California" - the place that is out on the edge of our future.

While more comfortable neighborhoods drift downriver waiting to see what's around the next bend, OTR leaders are paddling furiously against the current.

Their corner of the city is a place on the map that scares people in the burbs. But it's home to families, singles, hardworking business owners and young professionals. It's a closet stuffed with our city's architectural antiques.

"Join the people who see the possibilities and the opportunities,'' Lemmie said.

Turn water into wine.

E-mail pbronson@enquirer.com or call 768-8301.