Jeffery

I always wondered about this, too, since the streetcar dovetails well with what 3CDC is doing, and 3CDC is sort of a project of the downtown corporate community, to some degree (based on their funding of it). The streecar would enhance this investment.

^ In terms of books I get mine via Ohiolink. Which is the cost of a community borrowers card (I have two, so can double the amount of books allowed from Ohiolink). Ohiolink is turning out to be one of the few good things about living in Ohio since both private and public colleges are connected, even community colleges (im suprised the political jerks in Columbus havnt defunded it yet). I just ordered a book on "Food Justice" from the Cuyahoga Community College, to be delivered to WSU. Anyway.... I guess since im on foot or on the bus I "feel" gas prices only when I have to tank-up, which as with Graymare, is infrequent. Except when I do road trips to Kentucky, where it becomes noticeable. Before it I just grinned and bore it. Now it's become annoying. Its also more noticeable, since I see the spikes as more obvious or abrubt, rather than the "frog-in-a-slow boil" psychology, were people become accustomed to the rise. Anyway,

Bully for you.

If we see gas up to 3.90 by the end of April or in early May, I can see 4.00/gal in the summer, as the average and it going over that in spikes.

I filled up in Louisville last weekend for 3.57 or 3.53. 3.50 something. At a Marathon on the Outer Loop. Back in to Dayton on Sunday eveing and see gas is already at 3.80 something. Figure it will come after the weekend. Instead the gas CLIMBS to the high 3.80s. Finally found a gas station the other day that had it at 3.60-something, near UD. (a UDF), mainly I because I had to make a quick non-bus trip to UD that evening. I have to say I try not to "cheat" on my car-lite lifestyle, but do drive to Louisville and back once a month, but will be making more trips there during May. Usually I try to avoid driving if I can, and am fortunate that the city bus is an option for most of my trips. My big concern is that this will lead to higher bus fares, eventually. So I will be paying one way or another.

We've seen this redeployment of the workforce with every recession since, at least, the early 1980s. With every recession the unemployed from lost "living wage" jobs come back to work to low-wage/low-benefit jobs. Back in the comeback out of the early 1990s recession the joke was that there were a lot of new jobs, but you needed three of them to make ends meet. That was 20 years ago. See how things havn't changed.

John Steed and Emma Peel (the original ones, from the 1960s). Maybe not "in love", but I really like 'em?

Yes, good point. I agree you will see these vacancies come back as rentals. I recall reading that rental housing was more common back in the old days (before the 1920s), even if the houses themselves were built as single-family units. But that will be just some of the housing, since the premise of the shrinking city concept (which came from Germany, not the USA) is that population itself will be declining. Right now its due to out-migration. Later we will be experiencing what Germany is, and this is a demographic transition to where the population itself is declining (deaths exceeding births), which will lead ultimatly lead to reduced number of households as we move into this era of declining population. In Ohio's case this decline will be excaberated by the outmigration of young adults, who are the ones to form families and have kids. There's also the sprawl issue, but I dont see how you are going to get around that. It seems this is too locked-in to how we operate, in terms of crosssing powerful political interest groups and issues of intefering with property rights arising from mandatory growth control.

Ironically its those last few houses that might be in the best shape, sometimes with an old retired couple living in them. But yeah, realistically speaking there is going to be shrinking and how do you manage that. Its more than the built environment, which we focus on here at UO, but its also tax revenue and city budgets that are shrinking. So there is an entire panoply of cut-back management issues surfacing from population decline. In some ways this describes the idea behind Urban Renewal. That the city was obsolete and drastic measures (as in land assembly into larger parcels, revision of street networks, and demolition) where needed to renew the city. In the case of 1950s/60s urban renewal the idea was to put "something" (usually a modernist something) back in place. This new version doesn't bother with pretty renderings of a the new city, but just turns things into open space.

The comments at the Facebook page are interesting. This should be a simple deal to re-route a bus line that already goes out there. You know, Ive heard tell about these attitudes towards public transit and always thought they were urban legends. I would have NEVER believed this if I hadn't seen how this issue played out in Beavercreek. Amazing.

There is a push to encourage biking in Dayton and Montgomery County. The Dayton paper ran a big article on this, with some good graphics on types of bikes (I think I need a "City bike"). Get on Your Bike and Ride! Dayton’s formidable biking system earned it a bronze award last year from the League of American Bicyclists, making it the second city in Ohio to receive such a designation. Columbus is the other city to be named “bike friendly” by the 130-year-old league, the nation’s largest bike advocacy organization. Beverly Owens, 68, of Englewood is a MetroParks Volunteer Patrol rider who helps people master their cycling skills during the Bike for the Health of It event that meets for a group ride every Saturday from April through October. (Visit metroparks.org/ BikeHealth for a complete schedule.) Metroparks is going beyond this and is hosting a series of classes/workshops for beginning commuter riders. Intro to Smart Cycling Smart Cycling Basics ...and so forth.

Today was the experiment with carless shopping at Dorothy Lane Market (DLM) I figured I could do some shopping at DLM since they carry Hessiche landlebewurst and Camenbert cheese, juniper berries, and Boston lettuce, some stuff Im looking for, and don't feel like driving around to get. So, "who meets the dawn owns the day".....I go on foot starting at 7 AM and walk first to the PO, who's automatic parcel machine is out of order (damn!) and then walk to the Washington Village (DLM). It takes me an hour, nearly exactley an hour, to get there (including the stop at the PO). I deliberatly chose the wee hours of Sunday Morning to avoid traffic, becuase stretches of this walk are unsafe for pedestrians (SR 48 at LA Fitness and the I-675 overpass). Otherwise this is a farily good walk, reasonable. DLM was open and they had what I wanted, but the bus was going to take some time in getting there. I was in- and out- fast. So, what to do. Turns out Washington Village has a Boston Stoker, a local coffeeshop chain, and they opened at 7 AM on Sunday. So, get a nice sunny window seat and have a latte while waiting for the bus. Very civilized! I get a nice no-traffic morning walk in, plus groceries in a mostly empty store, plus coffee, plus a bus ride back to the house. Excellent! Later that morning, a long hike through Grant Park (not the famous Grant Park, rather, the forest preseve in south suburban Dayton), then I take the bus downtown to try the downtown PO automatic mailing machine. Yep, that one works. And I stop at the library to FINALLY get that "Changing New York" book and two on Atget. Urban pix by people who are serious photographers. And here I sit, typing to you all while waiting for the next bus (bus stop across the street from the library!). Weekend Nights Downtown by Bus On Friday night I did a night out downtown. Met a friend at a local bar and we went to this lame-ass new gastropub called 'Luckies' (lame-ass compared to Louisvilles' "Blind Pig" in terms of food...pretty nice for Dayton...more "pub" than "gastro" in Dayton, when its reversed @ Blind Pig). Anywho, they DID have a good beer section on tap. One of the best tap selections (though somewhat predictable) that I recall here in Dayton (thought I must say I dont really go out that much to drinking bars), and since it was First Friday the place was PACKED. So packed that the order was slow in coming, so I just blew off the bus I wanted to take home and wandered around the few "First Friday" gallery things in the Oregon. Friend dropped me off at the Century. Had another beer. Bored silly. Said 'hell with it, I'll take the express south'. So I did. I figured If I was going to be bored waiting for a bus I will do it at the south bus hub where I can wait for free vs paying for a drink while waiting. Lucky for me there was a connecting bus just a few minutes later, which I took home. Sort of the last lonley and wretched on the bus on Fridays, rainy Friday night to the mall, catching the bus at a sort-of line-up (I think they just had a back-up, so we just borded in the outside lane). Not too keen on this just yet. But otherwise Im seeing I can inhabit suburbia with minimal car use, plus work in fitness walks into errand-trips. Lucky for me I live in the middle of a lot of stuff AND I'm on two bus lines and about a 30 minute walk from the bus hub. It's working out, so-far.

On the segregation map....interesting to look at the map of Chicago, the way the high-concentration Latino neighborhoods act as buffer zones between the whites and the west side black ghetto, hemming it in on the North and South (following the now-former industrial and railroad barriers of the old Milwaulkee Road and Burlington Route). In Chicago railroads and industrial districts act as racial boundaries to some degree.

Good stuff on segregation, though suprised to see NYC and LA on that list. The rest? "Round up the usual suspects"

Yep. 18% black. What's the local white flight tipping point? Though one could say "the Dayton Mall is the new Salem Mall", based on that RTA controversy. >cue Foghorn Leghorn accent< "Ah say, Ah, say, son, Too many coloreds wandering about. Don't feel safe." @@@ But it does look like the census tract south of the Mall (Say, "Villages of Miami") is becoming more, ahem, diverse? No?

Another good op-ed on the issue by Marvin Gottlieb, the DDN editor Non-Drivers Losses in 3-C, Beavercreek, show a pattern The bus-to-the-mall opponents can’t believe there are many who are law-abiding, non-troublesome and affluent enough to shop at Fairfield Commons. Search around the Internet a little and you’ll find words for people who are afraid of driving in a car (amazophobia), afraid of automobiles (motorphobia) and, for that matter, afraid of trains (siderodromophobia). What’s needed is a word for fear of people who don’t drive. The non-drivers are out there. They’re regular people, or there wouldn’t be so many of them. They’re keeping alive modes of transportation the rest of us only turn to in emergencies. They’re more numerous in bad economic times, it stands to reason. And they apparently need a public relations rep.

"Public Transit" sounds like "public schools", which are socialistic. Right? Lets face it the concept is no-win outside of the Northeast, West Coast and a handful of other places.

The comments at the DDN facebook page are a hoot. Fear of the Bus! But yeah, I do think the issue is more the "aesthetics" of RTA ridership vs the reality of the bus system as a "ghetto delivery system". No necessarily racial as just that RTA riders are too icky for Beavercreek sensibilities. Classic NIMBY attitude. Oh well, its just anothe Miami Valley dysfucntion.

Speaking of race, it seems Englewood is the "new Trotwood", for those of you familiar with Dayton suburban geography.

Actually the Bluegrass region is one of the better ag areas in KY, so its not really in the "middle of nowhere". Atlanta, on the other hand, really IS in the middle of noewhere.

It wouldn't shock me if LaHood pulls all federal money from TARC until Ohio quit playing around TARC= Transit Authority of River City...Louisville bus system.

Yes, that's right…attack. But this attack comes not from the far reaches of the galaxy nor the shadowy terrorist cells of abroad. No this attack originates in the cozy confines of our capitol city of Columbus, with an able assist from our regional "partner" to the north, Dayton. Huh? I think all of five people in Dayton know there is a streetcar proposed for Cincy, and three of them post on this board and more or less support the concept.

Before they put up the stop and trash can next to my apartment there was litter at the stop. But that was addressable by simply putting up a trash can an emptying it. Too bad about BC not supporting this. Though its doubtful Id take the bus to Fairfield commons I did use Route 1 to WSU, and probably will again.

I think this is dead unless the city comes up with the money itself or works a direct deal with the Feds somehow. Of course a no-vote in the upcoming referendum will nail the coffin shut for the foreseable future.

Finally did the test ride to WSU after work. This required me to transfer to Bus #1 (appropriately numbered since this was the first horescar line in Dayton, at the start). Crowded! And a trainee driver. They ended up pulling over somewhere in east Dayton and had us WSU-bound passengers get off and on to another bus since the bus we were on ended at Airway Shopping Center (Airway & Woodman). So, this more-empty bus continued on to WSU, actually beyond the Student Union to Millet Hall, just a short walk from the library. Was able to get my Ohiolink book, one other book, and almost catch the next bus! Saw the bus take off and then walked real fast (running in parts) to catch it at the student union. Luickly I made this bus. Otherwise another 20 minutes or so till the next one. One thing nice about this route is that it seems to operate a a little better frequency. Once downtown, I got to experience the "line-up", where all the busses seem to come in at once into the transit hub, parking on the outside passing lane as well as in the stalls, so you have to weave between busses to find the one you need. Mine was 17, so I got a nice fast transfer downtown. These line-ups dont happen a lot. I think once around 6:30 or so, then later at night. Reminds me of the "old RTA", whre buses would be lined up up and down Main Street. Things are better organized now. So, it looks like I can do weekday trips to WSU library to do some quick business (no browsing) and be home at a reasonable time. On Friday I experiment with going out on a Friday and taking the bus home. Dinner with a freind