Ram23

^ The article, to me, came off as being a classic "we were hipsters before you were" piece. It was just pointless bickering. But thanks kingfish for clearing that up; I'm not a journalist writing about Detroit, I'm an architecture student studying potential sites that can contribute to a thesis. A lot of beautiful architecture in Detroit is endangered, and I don't see why anyone there would be upset about people bringing attention to it, no matter how they go about it - good journalism or bad. The whole "bad journalism" thing is done for anyways, in my opinion. Blogs (or what the established journalism scene calls "bad journalism") are taking over in terms of spreading information. Again, thanks for the compliments on the photos. Architecture that has failed (become abandoned) is my interest, nothing more..

Yeah, a few bloggers splattered 300 feet down would probably be unappealing to them. I was just encouraged by an Extreme Engineering (I think) episode where they took the host to the top of the crane during the construction of the Shanghai World Financial Center. It was a very interesting perspective!

Mason is an example of a well run, efficient city government. They've done an amazing job of annexing surrounding lands, and have used business taxes to keep residential property taxes extremely low, all while dealing with one of the fastest growing populations in Ohio. Not to mention they've maintained excellent schools throughout all of that. That's a strong point for metro Cincinnati though, don't think of it as competition. Hopefully the streetcar will lead to bigger transit ideas, and an I-71 light rail will link the wildly successful north/northeast suburbs to the core.

I've Already seen it, and discussed it elsewhere. Unless you have something to add?

I took a trip to Detroit a few weeks ago with Sherman and Gordon Bombay. We did our usual type of exploration, visiting a few of the more infamous parts of Detroit. Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip: By the way, I am working on a series of posts on my blog, Local Architecture, that correspond to these photos and will continue on, eventually leading into a thesis. You can follow it on Facebook if this kind of thing interests you. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. Click Here for the all my photos from Detroit. Sherman and Ronny should have some excellent photos to post around here soon, too, so keep an eye out for those! Edit: by Robert Pence to fix typo in topic title

I always forget that's the reason I won't set foot in Martino's. That just gave me another reason to oppose this project.

That's why God created Au Pairs, Governess' and nannies! :P And on a tangent, are there rules about dating Au Pairs? Just wondering, of course.. Ask your wife. Haha, you just made me look forward to getting married and having an Au Pair some day.

In Walnut Hills? I thought they closed that place recently? That was a pretty unenticing store...

That's why God created Au Pairs, Governess' and nannies! :P And on a tangent, are there rules about dating Au Pairs? Just wondering, of course..

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08182009/news/columnists/times_square_yawn_chairs_185119.htm TIMES SQUARE YAWN CHAIRS REVAMP DOESN'T SAVE THIS BROADWAY FLOP! IT TOOK 25 years to save Times Square from its dark age, and it took City Hall just three months to turn it into a squatters' camp. Despite all of yesterday's ribbon-cutting hoopla, complete with a confetti-firing cannon, the Crossroads of the World looks almost exactly like what it's been all summer -- a five-block-long sea of dazed, low-rent tourists glued like chewing-gum wads to the cheapest seats in town. continue reading...

^Beer is about the only thing I will buy at that Kroger, I drive to the one in Hyde Park/Paxton Rd to buy any groceries. That Kroger and the whole complex around it is a really uninviting place, unless you're a rat apparently.

I don't think you need to force yourself to live in a "liberal" neighborhood. If it's good schools you want, your choices are extremely limited after the first condition. The few neighborhoods in Cincinnati that could be considered liberal will be Cincinnati Public Schools, and although it has great high school options (as mentioned above) there is something to be said for a lot of Cincinnati's suburban school systems. Anyways, I consider myself pretty conservative/libertarian and have spent half my time in college living in New York City for an internship. I really enjoy it; so I'm just suggesting you not put too much weight on that aspect! Unless you live out in a rural area, you probably won't be made to feel uncomfortable because of your political leanings.

Nice. I will be returning to Cincy on Labor Day, for the first time in 3 months, and can't wait to see the progress. It's been amazing how much has been done since I last saw it. I'd love to see some photos from the tower crane. Hell, I'd love to take some photos :) I wonder how they feel about blogger tours?

Ram, to have a good design does not mean a signature architect needs to be involved. However your point is well taken that SEVERAL architects could have made this project less monotonous. There are multiple firms in town with the fire power to make this into a great project (most with better design credentials than C+R). A competition would have been a great way to divide this up amongst several firms, or just one prominent piece. It would also have provided a huge economic stimulus to a local architectural community that desperately needs one. Heck, make the majority of the competition judges the members of the design review board, and you could reduce the process of approval to one meeting! Oh well, what do I know? Good point, and I didn't mean any harm to C+RA, all I meant to suggest was a variety of architecture. Urban form is, historically, extremely varied. It's easier to get that variety by having a varied design team, rather than trying to imitate it. It would have been neat to have 3 or 4 local architects design different adjoining pieces of the block.

I would say most suburbs would prefer a vacant home than a Section 8. There are inherent problems with public housing that led to the current trend of centralization. I think those are the issues we should discuss before altering real estate markets and, essentially entire community demographics with force. The biggest issue being the “handout clause,” it’s not easy to find someone who will respect something they didn’t have to work for. How do we find people that will respect public housing that is paid for them by their very neighbors, rather than people who will abuse it?

So be it, but that doesn't make race any less of an issue with urban redevelopment, and it bothers me when people shy away from it for reasons of political-correctness.

It seems yokosuka1985 was just pointing out that a lot of people left urban areas for the suburbs, and racial tension was one of the reasons they did so . You guys really think the term "white flight" came about, and had nothing to do with race? Anyways, as we've seen in Cincinnati, the NAACP in particular, as well as some of the homeless organizations routinely oppose urban advancement because of the perceived notion that it would displace blacks. Race can’t be ignored when you have people from all sides throwing it into the mix constantly.

I like Rock Center better. You should try the dawn and dusk pass. I've heard the Rock is better from a number of people, and mnyc's pics here tell the same tale. But the dawn/dusk pass might not work for me.. the last time I saw a sunrise was on my way home from a night in the East Village.

It's been my opinion that the thing is lacking the signature design is because of the standard approach. There should have been a design competition or designs by a few different architects for different parts of the project. One design team for a poject of this scale, magnitude, and style is going to give it a feel of monotany no matter how good of a design it ends up being. Imagine if you had a few works by signature architects mixed in with the rest of the development (think UC's campus). Instead of the superblock design, you could have had a prominant spot like the corner across from GABP designed by competition, while the rest of the block was the style we see now, etc..

Thanks for these, of all the time I've spent in NYC the past two years, I've never been to the top of either of these buildings! You may have just convinced me to try it...

We need an UrbanOhio makeover thread. Queer Eye for the UrbanOhio Guy??

^ The best part is the HOV lanes, you can see the marking in the second lane from the curb. As you can clearly see, HOV lanes reduce traffic drastically. They should be utilized everywhere.

I'm on board, screw flat front pants. I don't/won't ever own a single pair.

Here is Michigan Ave. at around 6:30 or 7:00 on a Friday night:

^ Brooklyn Brewery brews most of their beer upstate, not in Brooklyn at their headquarters. That place only brews the kegs, which makes them easier to distribute to bars in the city, as well as an occasional 750mL specialty beer, and also serves as a party place on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, where people can hang out and drink the beer. I think a similar setup for Moerlein would be great.