Ram23

^ A few weeks ago I was at a cabin in Hocking Hills when a snowstorm hit. When the time to leave came, we had a few miles of ice/snow covered, extremely hilly backroads to navigate before we got to anything resembling a treated road. About halfway through flooring it in low gear as I went down one hill, hoping I'd have enough momentum to get up the next, I thought to myself that it'd be really interesting to watch a driverless car attempt this drive. There's a lot of nuance to driving in snow, in addition to the technical issues that article points out. I think the only widespread usage of driverless vehicles we're going to see in our lifetime will be for transit and commercial use. They would be limited to only certain routes, and both the routes and sensors/equipment could be maintained on a regular, daily basis. Think of all the inspections and maintenance an airplane goes through between each flight - a driverless vehicle would probably need a similar gamut. And in very bad storm/snow conditions, these vehicles could simply stop running for a few hours. People won't be as upset about the buses not running as they would be about their personal vehicle telling them it can't drive them anywhere because of the weather.

^ There's one hoop (pictured in the PDF linked above). I think the unspoken urban design compromise for basketball courts has long been to make hoops child-sized, but the one at Findlay is comically low - you'd hit your head on it if you weren't careful and the "court" is a concrete circle. It was definitely built with the hope that no one would ever actually use it.

Findlay Playground is way too isolated from the streets around it. It's almost like it was designed to allow nefarious activity to fester just beyond the line of sight from the street. IMO, Republic St. should be extended through the park, and the west half should have a parking garage built atop it (with a bit of ground level retail along Findlay). The footprint of the park should be reduced to the east half along Vine. The trees and fence along Vine should be removed, and there'd be enough room for a playground, dog park, etc. There are plenty of tables and chairs a block away at Findlay Market.

I think FC only wants the Citirama site for parking. The Stargel site, coupled with the Central Ave. ROW and properties east of that over to Providence seem ideal for a stadium. They probably only want the rest of the Laurel Homes properties so that they can have control over what's eventually built there. Maybe they can cut UC a check to let CPS use Nippert for high school games?

Right, I don't think the Cincinnati accent has leftover similarities to New York/Philly accents because it has had outside influences over the years, I think it's precisely the opposite. Cincinnati's population growth began about two decades prior to most other inland cities, which likely means more of Cincinnati's later growth was due to local births rather than relocations from elsewhere. This would explain why anyone who has the Cincinnati accent likely has family that's been around town for a few generations. Pittsburgh followed a similar growth pattern, though not as quick a rate early on, which is why it, too, has a somewhat strange local accent.

The auditor doesn't show any West End properties changing hands in the area yet, though this is just through 1/15 - they could have transferred last week and it wouldn't show up yet" http://www.hamiltoncountyauditor.org/dailysales/dailysales.html

^ It's bizarre that they put that so low. In other neighborhoods I've seen what I believe are similar boxes for fiber optics up higher on poles, with a little platform below them: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1250312,-84.5238756,3a,45y,291.65h,98.65t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s1hZSiP_zn66HcsH_JtBokw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

New golf cart shuttle service comes to Downtown and OTR https://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2018/01/22/new-golf-cart-shuttle-service-comes-downtown-and-otr/1053378001/ While several Cincinnati streetcars were shut down for repairs over the weekend, a local couple launched an alternative form of transportation in Downtown and Over-the-Rhine: golf carts. GEST, a new golf cart transportation company headed by local entrepreneurs Patrick Dye and his wife, Lauren, began offering free shuttle service from The Banks to OTR and from JACK Casino to Music Hall.

Supreme Court blocks redrawing of North Carolina congressional maps https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-election/supreme-court-blocks-redrawing-of-north-carolina-congressional-maps-idUSKBN1F73C1

^ It had the same issues a few times last winter. It seems that any time we have several days in a row below freezing, the same issue occurs. The Enquirer has some more details now: The streetcar doesn't work in the cold. Now what? https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2018/01/18/streetcar-doesnt-work-cold-now-what/1044102001/ The Enquirer has been told CAF has a team working in Cincinnati. It bills the city for work, but the city has refused to pay over $4 million in invoices since November 2016. ... Several failures have been identified; the most typical problem is water seeping into the cylinder. It freezes and blows into the piston or breaks a rod. And that makes it impossible to operate. ... There was trouble from the start, with delayed delivery. And now, with so many problems, the city has refused to take ownership of the cars, which is part of the contract. This is important because that would signify the city and manufacturer were happy with the cars and start the clock running on a two-year warranty.

The streetcar started out this morning with 1 car in service, and it has since broken down. Service is currently suspended. It was also suspended last night:

^ Right, you already posted that, and I referenced it in the paragraph you failed to quote. What do you think I was referring to when I said "bigger" (a comparative adjective)? The good news here impacts tens, even hundreds of thousands of hourly workers. Brick and mortar retail closings, though sad news, are inevitable and pretty routine at this point.

Sam's Club closings were pretty much inevitable - their bulk prices weren't any cheaper than buying bulk online or buying store-brand items elsewhere during sales, add in the membership fee and the traditional hassle of brick and mortar shopping and I can't see them doing to well long-term. A bigger move by WalMart this week, the nation's largest employer, was raising their starting/minimum wage to $11 and enhancing maternity/family leave - all at a cost of $700 million. I imagine that's a pretty big step up for tens of thousands of people. That's money directly in the hands of the working poor who need it most. A full time WalMart worker now gets better parental leave than many white-collar office workers. And of course, this was all made possible by the tax cut they are set to receive.

For the last 10+ years my email address has had the "Cinci" version in it.

^ Sounds like he's channeling his inner Kucinich.

That's actually a very good question. Every plan I've seen for the Brent Spence project includes improvements to I-75 in Ohio from the river to the Viaduct. From the Viaduct to the north, the improvements were a part of Mill Creek Expressway project. I remember having a discussion with someone from ODOT and the city's DOTE years ago at UC - they stated that the southern limit of the I-75 improvements were drawn at the Viaduct specifically because everything south of there would be a part of the Brent Spence project and could be subject to changes based upon the final design. At the very least, you'd think a portion of the WHV - the interchange or section in the 75 ROW - could be funded by that project, which could lower the overall local costs.

Interesting. None of the other Republicans really seem viable - I wonder if someone else is going to jump into the race? What's Kasich doing later this year?

The new property values are now posted on the auditor's website for all properties.

The Enquirer is reporting that officials included the Macy's site in the city's bid for Amazon's HQ2 (so they must have either known it was coming or at least anticipated it would be closing). An Amazon tower there would be quite the symbol - the eCommerce giant literally replacing a department store. Not a big enough footprint for HQ2 Pretty much all of Cincinnati's biggest towers sit on smaller footprints. The Carew Tower/Netherland Plaza footprint is almost exactly the same. Scripps and 600 Vine are probably about half as big (1/4 of a block). Queen City Square's footprint is about the same sans the parking garage.

I hear King of Falafel in Astoria has grown from a little food cart to a full restaurant now. That's number one on my list when I get back to NYC. In general, check out Queens since you'll be staying there - IMO the food is way better out there. Flushing beats Chinatown, for example.

How could it be pretty well documented if it is untrue? https://poseidon01.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=674066092020081064125011007085022101038046007020059034127066093110126111099074018028056033058006042055014025030105120116084098053082054001060121116077012098097073006061053066087028067080075030126008071027065024123092029017091097086071015101097072024104&EXT=pdf "At the individual level, the large bivariate relationship between giving and conservatism vanishes after adjusting for differences in income and religiosity." What a nonsensical premise. The authors clearly had a conclusion they wanted to make, and then formulated the question to ask to achieve their predetermined results. I trust the unaltered, bulk data presented in the polls I linked above much more than the data these authors attempted to adjust to post-rationalize their worldviews. Their attempt to eliminate differences along religious lines is a pretty blatant attempt to downplay conservative generosity.

It's pretty well documented that political conservatives are much more charitable than left wingers. http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/almanac/statistics/ Even the HuffPo blog has documented this: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/19/giving-back-_n_3781505.html Much of this is due to the fact that a large percentage of charity work is undertaken by churches.

My fiance and I will likely raise our children (at least until age 5-6) in Ohio City. Both of our families think we're insane for this. It's funny the article didn't really discuss kids. I'll guess you said "until age 5-6" because of schools. I'll likely be in the same boat if and when I have kids. I love where I live but the local elementary school is among the worst in the state and there's absolutely no circumstances in which I'd send my child there. So, at some point there likely will be a peak. Millennials will reach the age where their children are entering school, and they're moving out to the suburbs, and while new young people will replace them in urban centers, there won't be much more growth. Schools are probably the biggest problem urban areas will face in retaining/growing population. Meanwhile, walk-able inner suburbs will probably become some of the most expensive (if they aren't already). In Cincinnati this means places like Mariemont, Wyoming, etc.

I did see some work going on at the site on Tuesday morning. There were a few trucks, including some from Turner, and there were crews shifting the traffic barriers on Race over one lane into the street. There were also some crews doing some work down Duke manholes, though that might have been unrelated. I go by there at least a few times a week and that's the first I've seen anyone on site since the demolition was wrapped up.

^ 14% directly own stocks. When you factor in 401ks, the number of Americans who own stocks is around 52% according to Gallop - and we're actually at a pretty low point as many people never got back into the market after the recession. So it's safe to say that gains in the stock market directly benefit most Americans. The 48% that aren't invested benefit indirectly, and honestly should be encouraged to invest again.