Ram23

I'm glad Cincinnati's local regulation is in line with the state law that was overturned - so nothing here will really change: Article XIV. - LIMITATIONS ON USE OF PHOTO-MONITORING DEVICES TO DETECT CERTAIN TRAFFIC LAW VIOLATIONS

Former Red Todd Frazier's first at bat as a Yankee was against the Reds last night - and with bases loaded and no outs, he batted into a rare triple play. Even rarer was that because of the way the third out occurred (runner got into a pickle between second and third), the Yankees actually scored a run. The last time a run scoring triple play occurred was 2006 - sources indicate this has only happened 10 to 20 times, depending upon who you trust. Here's a link to a video of the play: https://streamable.com/2cdni

Yeah that is really interesting. Above I had stated my example with a 4-story, 6 apartment + storefront rehab that was valued by the 2017 assessors at less than $200K. And this is in OTR where $800K+ townhomes are going up, so I'm like 'OK, but... that doesn't make any sense.' I can't even remember what I put down for a cost estimate on the original permit but ... I've got a sneaky suspicion that's exactly where the auditors valuation came from. When you fill out the building permit I wonder how many folks are thinking that the rough cost estimate is going to be used by the auditor? (As opposed to thinking that you're going to be paying a permit fee that is proportional to the cost estimate :wink:.) If it were me, I'd definitely say that Dusty's reliance on permit estimates is a bad idea, except only to trigger the application of a real valuation. What's interesting is that the folks doing the valuation spent some time looking around the building and even called me up to ask questions about it. But in the end they ended up just using the permit cost estimate! There's an official "Building Valuation Data" table prescribed by the ICC that is meant to be a way to normalize pricing and prevent people from putting low-ball estimates on permit applications to avoid paying high permit fees (and, in a place like Hamilton County, ultimately end up dodging property taxes). It's not used in Cincinnati, though. In fact, I've applied for permits in probably 50+ jurisdictions and have only come across one that actually uses it. The owner I was working for was pissed because the table had a cost per square foot that was about double what the contractor had bid, so it doubled the permit fee they had budgeted for. And this was a ~$20 million building, so we're talking six figures of additional permit cost.

^^ In 2014, the auditor adjusted property values based on recent sales, only. In 2017, the auditor did a physical assessment. If they took your 2014 assessed value and are proposing to drop that by $110,000, they probably made a mistake unless there's some sort of significant structural damage visible from the street. Construction/improvements result in an immediate update to your assessed value. If you pull a permit and list $10,000 as the total cost of the work, the auditor adjusts your property by exactly that amount upon closeout of the permit. The 2017 adjusted values aren't visible yet on the auditor's site unless I'm missing them somewhere. This process repeats every 6 years, so in 2020, they will update based on recent sales and in 2023 they will physically appraise each property.

It's quality vs. quantity. In OTR and downtown, these guys know they can approach 100+ people an hour, most of whom will ignore them, but 5-10 of whom will give them a buck or two. In less trafficked areas, they know they have fewer targets but a higher percentage who will pay attention to them, so they need to get 1-2 people per hour to really buy their story and hand them $5-$10.

Here is the Auditor's explanation - I think I saw Dusty post this on Facebook or some place, too: http://www.hamiltoncountyauditor.org/pdf/news_New_Property_Values_On_The_Way.pdf 2014 was a comparable sales revision, and 2017 was the physical assessment revision. Maybe condos are especially tricky because they can't physically enter them, so there's not much to go by from the street? And perhaps the physical assessment does not factor in comparable sales, so you have to wait for 2020 for an adjustment based on that? Also, if your value is too high or too low, you can go before the Board of Appeals with your evidence and get the value adjusted. This was all also explained in the letter sent to me a month or so ago. If you ask them to raise it they might give you a funny look, but I can't imagine that'd argue much, so long as you've got some comparable sales in hand as evidence.

^ If he's undervaluing the properties, he's ultimately doing you a favor. The county's assessment means next to nothing when it comes to the actual market value and what you could get for your house. It's possible his hatred is clouding his judgement, but if he really hated the urban core and wanted to screw residents over, he'd overvalue the properties and make you pay more. My house in CUF jumped up in value about 40% according to Dusty. If you really feel bad you can write me a check for the additional taxes I'll owe next year, and I'll make sure the county gets it!

It's probably not a bad strategy given the fact that Trump carried Ohio with one of the biggest victory margins in nearly three decades.

Ulysses S. Grant, an Ohioan who did more for this nation on any given day than all of us here combined will ever come close to doing, knew how important reunification and reconstruction was. He would be rolling in his tomb (an inspiring place in Morningside Heights, a few blocks from where I once lived) over this recent wave of historical revisionism via the destruction of artifacts and monuments.

I'm honestly surprised COAST hasn't floated the idea of an Issue 9 style ballot initiative - basically, a short catch-all amendment that would prohibit the City of Cincinnati from spending any money on a new soccer stadium. It would probably pass.

^ You might not be finding it because the address is on Ohio, not Van Lear.

^ I dropped Netflix a few months ago when I came to the realization that they were too dedicated to their own original content, which for the most part is not good, at the expense of quality movies and shows produced by others. I've found myself going to the library for DVD's a lot more often now, like I used to do years ago. Cincinnati's library has a great selection of older movies and independent movies. If you're primarily interested in older movies, check out FilmStruck. I had it for awhile and enjoyed it, but I just don't spend much time watching TV/movies so I got rid of it. I mostly just watch Amazon Prime now as I have that for the shipping benefits, anyways, so the streaming is almost a free bonus.

^ I worked my way through college at a job wearing those uniforms with my name embroidered on the front. I took a shirt as a keepsake when I left and the company docked like $12 of pay from my last paycheck for it.

There were some pretty significant code issues with the building that it looks like it took months to sort out. I don't think if this link will work for everyone but if you to to ezTrak and search for 8 East 4th you can see the plans examiner's comments: https://cagis.hamilton-co.org/opal/ezTrakAPDList.aspx?ezstdadrtag=8|E|4TH|ST|GJ1511830848|||CINC|CINC|008300010076000084|008300010076|008300010076|CINCINNATI

This was what was done in Taiwan, to save costs on a high speed rail line that is seemingly in tunnels or on bridges/viaducts more often than it's on the ground. The line still hits all of the major cities along the cost, but the stations are all way out on the outskirts, like this one in Tainan. There are also stations where entire neighborhoods sprung up around the stations, like this one.

The signal to make a left turn from MLK onto the 71N ramp takes a very long time, and the series of signals on MLK to the west of 71 aren't coordinated very well. I imagine it's just a temporary setup still until the project is completed, but it seems the signals themselves are causing much of the backup.

^ Yeah over the course of two years MPMF went from 15+ venues and 3 days of music to one venue with 3 stages, and 2 days of music. The cost for the tickets has nearly doubled, and it moved out of OTR. They should probably change the name as it's just getting confusing at this point. Someone should start another festival and do exactly what MPMF had been doing in years past. The formula worked great and seeing as how MPMF abandoned it, someone else should use it. Woodward and MOTR had an anti-midpoint last year, maybe that will eventually grow into something bigger.

I extremely vet my charities and ignore any and all that approach me, in lieu of me finding them. I try not to give to any that are too big or have too much overhead or are primarily concerned with lobbying. I also donate more money to cats than people, because I've never met a cat I don't like. I can't say the same for people.

Yeah, I had no idea what was going on in episode 8. It was pretty and all, but came out of nowhere. I've been avoiding reading any reviews or analyses until after the season is complete. I just want to watch it, and then maybe piece it together afterwards. I do feel like I should re-watch the movie, though. For some reason that's not as fresh in my memory even though I've watched it more recently than the old shows.

I go through this intersection every day, most days several times. Here are the problems I've noticed, in order of seemingly easiest to fix to more complicated: [*]Southbound Vine has two right turn lanes, both onto Findlay, which has 3 lanes, one of which is permanent parking and one of which is often illegally parked in. Everyone tries to turn into the center lane, causing near wrecks on an almost daily basis. One right turn lane would probably suffice here. [*]The walk signal is only given when the button is pressed, and when this happens it gives all red lights to all traffic. This takes a long time. The light should be set up so walk signals are automatically given when traffic is stopped. Turning vehicles would yield to pedestrians. [*]Half the time, after the walk signal ends, the stoplight starts its cycle over again instead of starting where it had left off - I think this is what leads to this being referred to above as the "longest stoplight in Cincinnati." It gives a green to northbound Vine even if southbound Vine should have been next up. This seems to be intermittent, and I'm not sure why. [*]Departing trucks from the fire station adjacent the intersection override the signals and give all red lights. That's fine, but similar to above, after this is over the stoplight doesn't always start where it left off. I was once at this stoplight when a truck left, and then someone hit the walk signal - it took ages for a green light to appear. [*]Left turn arrows should be set up more traditionally, instead of northbound and southbound Vine moving separately. It's really not that complicated of an intersection when you think about it, since Findlay is one-way away from it. I think it's been overthought.

MPMF announced their initial lineup: http://www.citybeat.com/music/article/20866053/onthemove-midpoint-music-festival-announces-initial-2017-lineup Instead of last year's sea of parking lots, this year it will be held in the Taft theater and surrounding streets. Weekend passes are all the way up to $115.

I can't believe they still had 109,000 square feet of leased space in that building. That place must feel like a ghost town. Interestingly enough, at 109,000 square feet they have/had almost exactly 1 square foot of space per newspaper circulated daily.

Isn't it iRobot where the automatic vehicles all cruise down the highway at well over 100MPH? This is one of those hypothetical that would require every car on the road to be autonomous. If mechanically capable, a self driving car would have no problem traveling/merging safely in traffic at that speed given it was actively communicating with every vehicle around it. In theory, you wouldn't even need a speed limit on limited access highways as self-driving vehicles could collectively calculate what the fastest safe speed would be and adjust accordingly, in unison. This would obviously not be the case in cities.

^^ Ohio doesn't quite have a left lane passing law, but there's a requirement for a driver to move out of the way to the right when someone is trying to pass. Per code, if you're trying to pass someone who won't move to the right, you're actually supposed to lay on the horn: 4511.27 Overtaking and passing of vehicles proceeding in the same direction. http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/4511.27 (2) Except when overtaking and passing on the right is permitted, the operator of an overtaken vehicle shall give way to the right in favor of the overtaking vehicle at the latter's audible signal, and the operator shall not increase the speed of the operator's vehicle until completely passed by the overtaking vehicle. Though the next clause stats on a divided highway, you don't have to beep - implying the passee should have the common sense to move over, which is unfortunately rarely the case.

I assumed traffic would back up all over downtown and Covington during rush hour as people tried to avoid the Brent Spence and take other bridges over the river, but this morning at around 8:00 traffic was completely normal, at least on the Cincinnati side. It looked like there was some backup coming north into the city on 71/75 and 471 but nothing as bad as I was expecting. As of about 8:30AM traffic was moving a bit slow but there was no backup on 75 Southbound, and 71/75 Northbound is only slow from the cut in the hill to the bridge.