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Half the kids on any youth sports team don't care who wins. At least half. Typically you get that one ringer kid who makes "competing" pointless for everyone else. It's his world and you just run around in it. He's not going to pass to you, and frankly, if he does, he'll probably regret it. Focusing youth sports on winning makes everyone sick of these ringer kids, and by extension sick of the games they dominate. Then everyone seeks out different competitions where they can hold their own, which often turn out to be video games. So if you want kids to be interested in sports, you can't just ascertain which one kicks ass and give him the ball. The trick is finding a way to get everyone involved, and in some cases, teaching them the game. That last step is often skipped, making broad skill differentials a foregone conclusion. Some kids have Sports Dad and others don't.

It makes me want to advocate density till the cows come home.

Hts121 just found this, which I'd never heard of before. Crazy... and I don't mean Agenda 21, I mean the organized opposition to it. http://news.yahoo.com/tea-party-versus-agenda-21-saving-u-just-050156332.html

Wow. I'm going to repost that here: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,26612.0.html

I think that may ultimately be for the best. While my personal taste is for older buildings, there are many to whom those buildings are completely unmarketable as residences. For some it's just a matter of taste, for others maybe a bad experience in the past. But I think it is incorrect to view rehabs and new builds as serving the same market. If the availability of warehouses somehow prevents construction of modern apartments in Cleveland... advantage Akron.

I don't mean to denigrate waterfronts, because of course they're important to development and tourism, but there are limits to what they can accomplish in a Great Lakes climate. The chief attraction of a town is still the town, no matter where it is. As C-Dawg said, there are several low-cost projects Ohio can undertake to rehab its beaches. We should do those things. And courts need to protect the public's right to waterfront access. But to really make the most of it, Ohio communities would also need to abandon the planning logic that has already left the waterfront so underdeveloped and underutilized. We have way too many private homes on the lake, which leads to way too many people getting shooed away from the water.

I like what you're cooking here.

If he doesn't get drafted, maybe I could get him SSI.

How did they get that bobcat up there?

That's exactly it. People prefer to interact with those who have similar outlooks. I think your analysis is spot on.

If anything, traffic looks a little too calm.

Ink, you really get around. These tours are always great. Usually I'm pleasantly surprised, as with Duluth. But I was expecting to see a lot more in SF, with the financial sector they have.

I think there's something to your first point, that small towns are inherently limited. But they used to be a lot more important, and nicer, than they are now. I don't think they have a bright future. The world increasingly revolves around education, and educated people seem to prefer larger metros. I think partisan politics plays a role in this.

Fullback-as-receiver died in the 90s. Larry Centers, Daryl Johnston, those guys. These days anyone who's any good at it becomes a "thunder" halfback. So happy about the win, I'll let the offense slide. It was good today but only 21 points good. D/ST gave us 13. Colts seem beatable next week, and correct me if I'm wrong but I think Phil Taylor is now at least eligible to come back.

Outstanding.

This! I vote for this. But I disagree that nothing would be different.

The Breathtaker

That's where I'm at. We still don't know if this was a good idea, and the opportunity cost is staggering. Remember that in all other regards we can't afford a darned thing. Go ahead, make your wish list. Can't afford it. None of it. They didn't need a cover for the tax... they just imposed the tax and that was it. Think of all the other things they could have done that for instead.

We could rename you. This discussion has entertained and enlightened a lot of people, nothing wrong with that.

They should both be arrested. tl;dr

All these things being used as excuses for Cleveland... you have to include suburbs, the industry is misplaced, there's a hole in the middle... these are the results of poor choices, not acts of God. They don't excuse anything. They're what's holding us back. Can't move the steel mills, obviously, but we can fix some of the ridiculous borders and we can approach inner-city development in a new way. But first we have to decide to do those things. We can't keep throwing up these negative facts as reasons not to try new policies, when they're the very reasons that we've got to try new policies.

Ah here we go, two very intriguing posts! Hopefully many more, because I would love to hear what the entire UO-sphere has to say on this issue. That's why I didn't put a city-specific heading. I guess I would rather try a bigger board of directors over the current quantity of boards. Reason being, we already have a lot of different ideas in play, but these ideas rarely get the chance to meet. Maybe an idea comes up in Old Brooklyn, and gets shouted down there, that would be perfect for Glenville. But Glenville never gets to hear it, unless all these different boards have scouts at each others' meetings. Or... maybe an idea would help everyone from Central through Woodhill tremendously, but never gets a shot because each board can always think of something better for its neighborhood alone, something the others may already have. I'm not blaming it on the building though. Heck of a building. What I'm suggesting does make that place more of a focal point, no doubt. As far as businesses contributing funds to their local development authorities, I'm not comfortable with that at all. That gets into the core ethical dilemma of the whole public-private trend. I mentioned the sunshine exemptions earlier, but then there's this, which creates a bright red flashing conflict of interest. Remember, such businesses may or may not be locally owned, and may or may not have interests that align with those of residents. Or residents who live across the CDC line. I'm not saying anything improper has ever happened. I'm saying we can't possibly know if it ever does, and I don't think there's a citable definition of conflict that wouldn't fit this situation.

The off-Chester buildings have a very cookie cutter suburban look to them, particularly the roofs. Similar to some of the postwar apartments seen off Rt 8 near UA. Creating such a large single-use area downtown could itself be considered a design issue as well.

I completely agree with you on YP/student issue. As far as the Akron/Cleveland issue, please note the CSU project is strictly residential and not mixed use. Also that issues have been raised regarding its design quality, issues that the Akron buildings do not have.

Enough with the personal attacks. Nothing in your post relates to Akron. If you want to discuss me, do it in a PM with me. Better yet don't.