Ram23

The Aronoff is privately owned, by the Arts Association, right? I know it gets a heck of a lot of public funding though, so I'm not sure how it qualifies. I also am pretty sure that you have a right to photograph any public space within a business, unless a rule is posted, or you are specifically told not to.

^ I sublet the apartment from a professor who is out of the country on sabbatical, so I pay him directly, and it's only temporary (3 months). I was amazed at how many buildings Columbia owns around the neighborhood though, basically two, three, four blocks out from campus in every direction! My building seems to be mostly professor housing..

I'm living in New York for a few months, and thought I'd share a few photos of my new neighborhood: Morningside Heights. These were taken on a few pretty dreary days, this weekend is calling for 56 degrees and sun though, so expect some much nicer shots soon! 1.) My aparment building, it's owned by Columbia U. which is 1/2 block away: 2.) Claremont Ave: 3.) Columbia University: 4.) Riverside Church: 5.) Cathedral of St. John the Divine: 6.) Cathedral of St. John the Divine, started in 1892 and still not quite finished: 7.) Cathedral of St. John the Divine: 8.) Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the last shot I got before I was kicked out for using a tripod (if I had a dime for every time that's happened...): 9.) My street during a bit of snow, these flurries have nothing on Ohio: 10.) My street in the snow again: 11.) 116th & Claremont: 12.) Columbia University in the snow: 13.) 116th Street: 14.) 116th again, looking out over Riverside Park and into New Jersey:

That's an interesting poiint, but there's a better view of it from this position, I think: http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&layer=c&cbll=40.457684,-80.007905&panoid=2qb3c0ZZvnQVS5Zf7zV5ag&cbp=12,104.22841706211522,,1,3.6992372993223354&ie=UTF8&ll=40.457764,-80.007929&spn=0,359.994904&z=18

^ As one of the most conservative people most of my acquaintances know, I would do my best to educate people about this issue. Even if they don't support a street car, pointing out the fact that the wording of the issue is ridiculous, and that it has no place in a city charter might help change a few minds. The key would be making people aware that this is different than the light rail measure a few years ago, and that there is no tax hike involved here. That is the big point, you wouldn't be voting to give the city more money, just voting to allow the city to spend it on infrastructure projects in the future.

This looks like a completely ordinary day in Pittsburgh, is there something I should be noticing that's out of place? ;-)

Please find a citation for this, that is not the FHWA or a pro-highway agency. Please tell me you have read this thread to find the many valid citations on the ROR for a streetcar. Whichever one will have more of an economic point isn't too big of an issue, I think. Honestly, we need both the streetcar, and an I-75 upgrade - that highway is greatly undersized for its current traffic load. They don't need to be competing issues, though. The I-75 project is state and federally funded, while the streetcar is going to be mostly locally and privately funded.

I still wish in vain for a Bellevue Incline Plane, rather than an awkward, try to stay on your feet, 2 mph climb up Vine St.

A Moerlein Ale House would have me visiting at least once a week. It would be huge. Now if only someone could find something to put in that Freedom Center that would actually attract as many visitors as a Moerlein House/Beer Garden would...

While reading this "idea" all I could think about was this: Seriously though, these are the kinds of initiatives that give environmentalists a bad name. Not to mention the emphasis is on greenhouse gas emmisions, but I'll save that for the global warming thread... I hope these people can think of something better to do with the semi-arid western Plains states, too. Not much you can grow there, but cattle do exceptionally well.

Aside from this driving up costs for production of infrastructure, we might also see an outcry from trading partners. Nations have tried this before, and it has always failed. If you start to restrict imports from other countries, they will retaliate with restrictions of their own, and in turn everyone is hurt.

I just hate that everyone always cites LEED as the reason for doing things. Just do it because it makes sense economically and environmentally. I can't wait for the day that the flawed LEED system dies out. There are too many alternative interests on the board of directors at USGBC that affect the points-based system. Anyways, I'm glad they decided to spend a bit more up front in order to save down the road. Some of the design aspects that save energy will take 15-20 years to pay themselves off via utility savings, but a building like this that will be around for as long as any of us live is a perfect place for these things.

I always enjoy when Smitherman whips out the "Chris Smitherman Book O' Facts" to cite his sources. His silly unemployment math would have every white in Cincinnati having a job, and the entire 25-30% unemployed being black. I'm really hoping that's just a math mistake, and his common sense didn't click in. If he really believes that.. well I was going to say I'd think he was an even bigger idiot, but that's not possible, so if he believes it I guess it changes nothing.

We could have a huge discussion on the development of architectural detail over the past century, but I don't have a few hours to spare! I'm not saying a building has to have an Italianate or Victorian character to be beautiful, in fact when modern buildings try to do that they end up looking like they belong in Disney World or a movie set. An attractive building just needs to (as said above) take advantage of the best technology available to decide upon details.

^ His neighbors/family seem to be looking for someone else to blame, and arrive at the electric company because it was evil enough to not give away its product for free. If you have an 87 year old neighbor or uncle, and you think he might be getting forgetful in his old age, take care of the guy. Check up on him once in awhile, make sure he's paying his bills, has food, staying healthy, etc. Whatever happened to compassion? That is what sickens me. It's obvious this guy was old, and sick, and needed to be taken care of. His family and friends are looking for someone to blame for their failure.

Activity levels ultimately depend on "what's there," basically. If tenants of any place are popular, that will drive activity. Kenwood Towne Center is a prime example of this. My belief is that it doesn't cost much more, and isn't much harder to make a development attractive, so long as the architect is talented. Even if the Banks ends up butt-ugly, it will still be a destination... but why settle for mediocrity? Plus, the Banks needs to make up for the ugliness of the Freedom Center. I agree with what's been said here about craft as well. It is a dying skill. ^ Take the Freedom Center for example...

Heh, not when it's me and my 3D computer programs ;-)

That's a depressing (unfortunately true) statement. I've always wondered how Ohio's in-state tuition could somehow aim to keep graduates in the state. Maybe a two-tiered program? One for in-state students planning to stay, and another for those planning to leave. Tuition could be 30% or so lower for those planning to stay in Ohio for at least 5 years. That 30% could act as a sort of loan, anyone could choose to not pay it at the time, if they signed a document stating their intent to stay in Ohio. If, after they graduated, they didn't pay income taxes/have a permanent residence in Ohio, then they would owe it back. I may just be insane, and upset that 75% of my classmates in DAAP plan to leave the state the second they get their degree.

This. Hell, give me a week and I could come up with better renderings. The buildings they keep showing are just bland, and hopefully some more detail will come along as they progress. A different design architect for each building would be a logistical problem, but lead to the best overall appearance. There is some precedent for a move like that, a community of row houses in Europe (the name escapes me, I may remember it later?) that had a strict set of rules and made use of standardized construction documents, yet eash house was designed by a different architect. There were dozens of these 20' wide buildings, and each one was different enough to add some spice. The problem with designs like the Banks are that they're superblocks, now matter how much you try to disguise it. yea, i hope not as well. It should be a cohesive wall, but there should be a break up of materials and height, minimum ___ stories, max ___ I thought they had planned a 14' or 16' sidewalk? I heard that here somewhere. It would be similar to Calhoun Street in uptown, I just hope the buildings on the Banks look better than the UPA.

I don't know about this one. Maybe a more strict size and lighting restriction, but signs and billboards can definately add to a feeling of livliness in a nieghborhood. Have you seen some historic photos of downtown and Over-the-Rhine? There are hundreds of signs on each block, and painted advertisements on the sides of buildings (that you can still find slowly fading away quite often).

Yeah, the $325,000,000 in the stimulus dedicated to preventing STD's could probably build a decent amount of rail, instead of highways. But, face it: we can't go spending billions on rail when our roads are falling apart. Roads are overburdened as it is, and even a great rail system wouldn't change that over night. This much bureaucracy and government spending will never accomplish anything. There's plenty of tax dollars being spent that there's enough to maintain our roads and build rail/public transit, but it's currently being spent on ridiculous items.

Cunningham usually tells it like it is and hits the nail on the head. As for the statement about the Banks, who knows what he was thinking. There aren't many outlets in this city that ever say anything positive about it, other than this forum. There marketing seems flawed, to me. They need to put on a campaign to show the public the right information, rather than what the mainstream media in this town decide to say that day. And as for Xavier, he's right again. No one cares. There are many, many more UC fans in Cincinnati that couldn't ever possibly find a reason to root for XU no matter who they were playing (me, for example). People take their sports seriously.

Grand Central is a great station primarily because of its utilization and location, and the fact that I transfer there every day on the way to work. Union Terminal in Cincinnati is great because of its architecture. It is truly a great design, and along with just a handful of other buildings in the world, a prime example of art-deco.

^This. I do the same thing, and when it's all said and done I cash in rewards points for restaraunt gift certificates. Every couple of months I get $50 for free.

LEED is silly. Most architects take care when they design a building. "Sustainable" design is a trend. Architects are becoming more responsible, however. So long as a design isn't wasteful it will be energy efficient. A design that doesn't make the best use of energy is just a bad design - of course what "good" uses of energy are are always open to debate.