Ram23

^ I like how 45% of respondents have "not heard enough" about Portman despite the fact that he's been our Senator since 2011. Makes me wonder how many of the "favorable" views of Strickland are based entirely on name recognition, from people who vaguely remember him being governor.

The rendering is definitely more "orange" than the daffodil yellow specified and shown above. I also think the paint job in the rendering is a bet bland, hopefully the actual scheme has been tweaked since then. I get that they're trying to call attention to the door locations, but I wish they would have incorporated the stripes and horizontal a bit more. The logo is a nice nod to the old streetcars, and I wish we could see some of that language make its way into the actual streetcar appearance.

For those curious, Cleveland ranked 84th (which sadly was the highest in Ohio) and Akron ranked 85th. Pittsburgh ranked 69th. And it seems the study is just the results of a survey that consists of some very touchy-feely questions, answered by the weirdos who are willing to respond to a random phone call survey.

The pace of game changes were pretty substantial, in my opinion. I forgot about them until I noticed the clock ticking down in the outfield. There's a maximum of 2:25 allowed between innings (not just the break, but the pitcher and hitter must be playing by the time the clock hits 0:00), and hitters must keep one foot in the batters box at all times. Right now a violation just gets a warning, but starting in May there will be up to a $500 fine for every violation. Apparently the average game time was 2:49 yesterday, compared to 3:08 last year. Given one day worth of games is a small sample size, but that's a pretty substantial difference.

According to state law, even the streetcar would have to yield to funeral processions: 4511.451 Right-of way of funeral vehicle. Excepting public safety vehicles proceeding in accordance with section 4511.45 of the Revised Code or when directed otherwise by a police officer, pedestrians and the operators of all vehicles, street cars, and trackless trolleys shall yield the right of way to each vehicle that is a part of a funeral procession.

With Union Terminal about to spend a few hundred million dollars on a renovation, something like a streetcar extension to increase attendance would be a spectacular idea. While I don't know much about Ezzard Charles Drive, I'd wager that any costs for utility relocation would be much lower than the costs on streets like Race and Elm. It could be an extremely cheap installation cost per mile.

^ When I saw the address I immediately worried about Burp Castle, my favorite bar in the world. Fortunately it was a few buildings away and I imagine it's fine. Unfortunately, Pommes Frites appears to be completely gone. I'm always surprised at how something like this, or the Chinatown explosion a year or two ago, result in no deaths. I'm guessing that in the middle of the day the apartments are empty for the most part.

Though it is a remodel, the building on Wade Street that is listed right now is selling for exactly $150 a square foot, which means construction costs were somewhere below that. The house is a massive 3500 square feet. I think condo buildings like Mercer are likely to cost more than $150 per square foot because of steel, elevators, etc. but I honestly think new houses like the one built last year on Race Street can’t be much more than $150 per square foot to put up. Townhomes are likely cheaper than condos too, as you’re going to have things like party walls, fewer exterior finishes/insulation, etc. yet no need for much steel, concrete, or vertical transportation. I think a modest 1500 square foot 2 or 3 bedroom house could be built on a vacant plot in OTR for under $300,000, if not down around $250,000, and I think it would do wonders to bring middle class residents to the area.

The $100 a square foot is closer to what the construction costs should be, in my opinion. I think $150 a square foot is probably more realistic for the quality of materials being used (somewhat high end) and the difficulties of urban construction, but from the photos and plans I've seen of some of the new homes going up I don't think they're anywhere near $200 per square foot to build. The $300,000 price tag is closer to appropriate than $600,000, it's just the extremely limited supply that results in the $600,000 price tag. I think a hypothetical 3000 square foot townhome in OTR that sells for $600,000 would result in triple digit profits for the builder.

I understand that these houses are priced at market rate and they will sell for $500,000-$600,000, but I agree that they're "overpriced" if there is such a thing. There's a limited supply for a massive demand, despite the fact that there are hundreds, if not thousands of empty lots and units in OTR. For whatever reason most developers seem to still not trust OTR. I'm not sure if they don't realize the demand is there or don't want to risk doing something "new." The profit margins for those building in OTR have to be huge, though.

Are you saying KJP quoted out of context and in a misleading fashion??? In the quote he used, the “more” wasn’t comparing Kasich to other people, it was relative to himself. The article makes it clear that he was agnostic, revisited his faith, and came out of the experience with more empathy than he had before. He wasn’t saying he has better views than other politicians because of some sort of divine intervention, but out of context that’s how it reads. I think the quote below sums up the article, and Kasich's religious views, much more accurately than the quote above: “Here’s the way I look at faith,” Kasich says. “There are a lot of don’ts, but there are a lot more do’s. Humility. Empathy. Love your neighbor as yourself. I choose to focus on the good lessons before I start worrying about who’s married to whom.” I’ve never been religious myself but that description does seem to fit many of the religious people I know. I wouldn’t mind if Kasich got the nomination simply because he’s more moderate than most of the Republican frontrunners.

I hope those become the standard and they get rid of the spot-specific meters. In many blocks, the meters are so far apart that you can fit 3 cars in spots where there are only 2 meters. Here are three cars, with room to spare parked along 3rd street where only two cars are supposed to be able to fit: I have a small car and park like this all the time. It's a good trick for free parking. I'm sure it could result in a ticket, but it hasn't so far. It seems many spots are laid out for 24 foot long SUVS and people who have never parallel parked before. If you're not touching bumpers and pushing cars back for that extra inch or two, you're not parking tightly enough. Having one box per block allows people to park as tightly as possible, as they do in residential areas.

I'm glad the wrap on the outside is temporary because it's simply unattractive. Is the Windows 3.1 screensaver looking finish on the inside temporary too? I think it would actually look better if it actually were a Windows 3.1 screensaver. Usually when there are unimaginative, unattractive exhibits at the CAC one can find solace in the fact that they'll be gone soon. I'm still hoping the whole new lobby is just a big performance piece, and one day it'll all be back to what it was.

I think the building is already 3 stories if you count whatever basement it must have. If the roof deck counts as 4, they will need to supply an elevator due to ADA. I'm not sure if the roof will count as a story, I could argue it either way.

It's the EPA. The system is designed to deal with poop all day long, but not necessarily the waste product from brewing. I think the issue here is that MSD didn't realize they had been letting these breweries skirt EPA regulations, so they had an "oh crap" moment and sent them all letters stating they had to comply.

I’m sure someone will dispute this, but I claim to have first come up with the term “BroTR” on a beautiful Friday night in 2011, sometime around the opening of Japp’s, to refer specifically to people that looked like they meant to go to Mt. Adams but got lost and ended up at Neon’s instead. It’s a sign of the neighborhoods resurgence when some guy who probably was too afraid to buy weed on Liberty and actually got it from some college buddy is now hanging out there, but it’s a big change from the crowds that used to frequent events like Bockfest, many of which have moved elsewhere.

I’d bet that a majority of people call everything remotely close to UC “Clifton.” If I tell people I live in CUF, no one knows what that is. I always have to pause for a second before I even remember which one of the “Heights” I actually live in (Clifton Heights). This church is in the weird part of campus that is apparently just called “Heights,” and if they said this church was in “Heights” absolutely no one would know where that is. Sometimes I think we should seriously consider renaming both CUF and Heights to just “Clifton Heights” or else no one is ever going to bother with distinguishing between them. Though Corryville is a different story, those on Short Vine have no excuse.

Yeah, it was definitely rejected just last week so I was surprised to see it already coming down first thing this morning. They seem to be in a rush to get it down - I hope it's not just for parking, which even on a busy day there's plenty of along Central Parkway, though this weekend half the cars were parked in the bike lane and the other half were parked correctly.

^ Beer didn't used to be overpriced at Bockfest, and now it is. I was in Bockfest hall for all of 5 minutes and went elsewhere to drink because of it. It's a festival that is slowly abandoning its roots as it becomes more popular, and seems to be on a trajectory to morphing into something more like Taste of Blue Ash.

The Fish/Chicken/Gyro building just outside Findlay Market was coming down this morning.

Megachurch, cult, whatever - the building is a beautiful, historic church, and I'm excited to hear it will finally be repaired. I don't go to church, but I appreciate when old, abandoned buildings can be restored to function as they were originally intended to. Not everything needs to be an adapted reuse. Though there will always be something interesting in the inherit dichotomy of adaptively reused churches - I wasn't raised on religion at all but the contrast between religious ornamentation and tiny women's panties in the Urban Outfitters across the street from this place is slightly amusing to me.

“But the project's rainy-day fund is down to its last $1.1 million with still 1 1/2 years before the streetcar opens to passengers. That is how much money project leaders expect will be left over after construction is done in a worst-case scenario. Project leaders, however, warned they still could run into unexpected underground infrastructure while installing electric poles along the 3.6-mile route.” I have yet to see a single Enquirer article that correctly explains what a contingency budget is. They either don’t understand themselves, or they are presenting it incorrectly. A contingency is set aside on essentially every construction project, big or small, to pay for unexpected discoveries during construction. What they should be stating is that the contingency budget was originally X dollars, Y has been used so far, and Z is left. Instead, they state that there will be $1.1 million left at the end of the project if everything that could go wrong does, and they frame it in such a manner that makes it seem like a bad thing. If you’re in the green at all at the end of the project, let alone $1.1 million, you did a good job of estimating the contingency.

So that address is some sort of brand protection company, I'm not what the deal is with that but Googling it came up with this PDF: http://city-egov.cincinnati-oh.gov/Webtop/ws/council/public/child/Blob/30724.pdf?m=29616 The address shown there is Urban Sites headquarters, and the name listed there is Urban Sites' president.

Funky's/Gratzi's has been around for awhile and does a lot of catering for the corporate world. They do a decent job at it and it isn't cheap, so I wouldn't be surprised if they had some capital to put towards this project. I have no idea what Agar is though, but it seems like an odd partner. A catering/restaurant company opening a venue that they can operate and control the food/drinks at seems logical, though.

There was a demo permit pulled at the end of January for "DEMO EXITING COMMERCIAL BLDG (KROGER/WALGREENS/RETAIL CTR)" (sic) and a permit for a new building, as well. I've worked on similar projects, and I'd say Kroger will probably have to be closed for 9 months to a year, unless they somehow revised the plan in such a way that they can build the new building without demolishing the old one. Here's a link to all the permits (I'm not positive this will work, if not just go to Cagis EZTrak and search for 1 W. Corry). Personally, this will be a sad project for me. That Kroger is basically the only place I've bought groceries for the last 10 years, aside from a handful of co-ops and that brief moment I could afford rent in OTR.