Jeffery

I had a buddy in high school who used to call them MF hats. Because the rural types who wore them got them from Massey-Ferguson, who made tractors or farm equipment or somthing aggy, so these hats had this big M-F emblazoned on them. Of course the pun was that MF also stood for something other than Massey-Ferguson. @@@ I guess there are varieties to subculture things. I tend to like that jam band style more, which is sort of mix of rasta looks and updated hippy/grunge style (grunge was pretty close to the "backwoods hippy/counterculture" thing we had going on in Kentucky back in the 1970s. Very close to it. I think this probably survived the more extreme punk and new wave subculture styles and resurfaced with bands like, say, Huusker Du. Say, does anyone here recall NYC "Dowtown" alternative culture called "No Wave"? It was back around 1977-1981 or so. Sort of a cross between punk, anarchism, and avant gard art. There was a famous art show geared around it called "The Times Square Show". Sort of the Armory Show of it's era.

I guess I sort of didnt catch on to the white trash/hipster connection thing until just very recently. I lived around that stuff while growing up in KY (and now, I can see more recent version of it in Dayton), and it never did much for me...I sort of dislike a lot of that....the real white trash culture, not the hipster version. Maybe its been so altered by their ironic take on the style that I dont recognize it in hipsters. As for irony, that used to be a gay thing....crossing over into that old concept of "camp".

Wow, I'm obsessed with hipsters too! I've read up on the phenom quite a bit. Lots of fun stuff out there on it, including this little book, which I read earlier in the year: http://nplusonemag.com/what-was-hipster]What Was the Hipster[/url] (though the pix books and Hipster Handbook are maybe more fun). Then there is "Hipster Bingo"...'Blogger with Camera" is one square that I fit for awhile (so, a wannabe hipster for a while). The thing about this is that its sort of an infinite regression of coolness and insder knowleged. You (or I) can never be one because we might want to be one, since hipsters never cop to being hip, they just are.... ...or something like that. Which I guess makes the phenom so interesting. Maybe its the larger concept fo bohemianism that I find appealing...I guess hipsterism (is that a word?) is a subset of the bohemian, no?

...I was thinking he cut throw a Skyline Chili bowl or Reds baseball hat up in the air or something ...I'm wondering if that house is a real no-kidding tourist attraction. Maybe to only that generation that remembers the TV show.

Well, the population, and political power, is going to the suburbs, which is Kasichs constituency. If a muncipality really can't afford to offer the full range of services it needs to cut services, or even surrender its charter and de-incorporate, shifting the services burden onto counties, which sort of is a back-door way into consolidation and streamlining.

Getting beyond the hand-wringing. This shrinking thing will become the norm soon for a lot of places. This has been the case in Germany. The German "International Building Exhibtion" (a bit of misnomer) did a project for an entire German state, Saxony-Anhalt, to address shrinkage issues: Less is the Future Saxony-Anhalt is almost like the US midwest in that its a flat, glaciated ag region that has a network of small and mid-sized cities that experienced industrialization in the later 19th and 20th century. They are seeing the same things the "Midwest" is seeing, decling urban and rural populations and de-industrialization, through a mix of outmigration and demographic transition (deaths exceeding births). So this was one way of studying coping mechanisms and approaches that accepts demographic decline, addressing the consequences of population loss.

I should update this a bit. So far transit via bus has been OK, my third consecutive week of being more or less car-lite. And, now with DST it's light out later, so I can get in my after-work recreational walks in in the local forest preserve or on side streets. Turns out Bus 17 has been my reliable wet-weather bus, since it stops right at a corner across from my apartment. I sort of prefer the walk to the bus hub for the morning bus, though. This weekend I take the bus on weekends for a change, to do some shopping and halve coffee and brunch with a freind who also doesn't have a car (and hasnt for a long time). So I compare notes with him on things (or he has been sort of mentoring me a bit on this car-free thing). Also, noticed some more paratransit things...seems like Greene County CATS has a loop line into Dayton city to drop off/pick up at local hospitals...not just to the downtown bus hub, and there was a Warren County Transit van at the South Hub. Now it is news to me that Warren County had any kind of public transit service!

So, has our thread parent visited the Mary Tyler Moore House yet?

The Urbanophile is Aaron Renn, and he has an account here at UO, and has posted on the forums. The question about "white cities" having a positive buzz and not the same level of urban problems that, um, 'non-white' cities do, would be a great topic for Stormfront.

The BLS finally put up their January employment estimate for Ohio, and as expected there was a drop after December, which happens every year. The difference is that this drop was considerably less than in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. In fact it was less than the pre-recession years of the later 2000s: Drop in employment between Dec & Jan: Thousands Dec-Jan 147.3 2005-2006 136.2 2006-2007 141.8 2007-2008 187.6 2008-2009 133 2009-2010 97 2010-2011 So, if we see a ramp-up in employment during the winter and spring quarters, as is usually the case, we have a good foundation for a slow employment recovery in Ohio due to this relativey shallow end-of-year drop.

By layoffs and service reduction. And SB 5 will give local governments the upper hand in dealing with their public employee unions, which could help contain personnel costs. Or they could put on new tax levys, which puts the decision on how much local government people want in the peoples laps, via referenda. I am actually starting to like Kaisich, after that 3-C stupid move.

Great update! I wondered what happened to you! BTW, what do you think about St Paul? Have you been yet? I'd love to hear your opinions and how it contrasts with Minn. and Ohio places.

Meanwhile, back in the South.... ...."Ridin' on the L&N" (well, not really, buut..). The proposal for a passenger connection btw Lexington, Frankfort, and Louisville gets some positive press from LEO, the free "alternative weekly" from Louisville: All Aboard?. "....The mayors of Kentucky’s largest cities — Democrats Greg Fischer of Louisville and Jim Gray of Lexington — have vocalized a need for both communities to work together to bring about what they have referred to as a “regional economy” to shore up job creation, not unlike those that have sprung up in North Carolina. As such, the prospect of a rail line could factor heavily in the growth of not only those economies, but, as Schneider notes, it could bolster economies in each town serviced by the line. To this end, Fischer is supportive of any project, including a rail line that could bring about a so-called “super region” in the commonwealth. “My administration is all about pursuing big ideas that can help move the city forward,” Fischer tells LEO Weekly. “We are open to looking into ways to improve the corridor between Lexington and Louisville, as well as develop the regional economy.”[/i] The article mentions, early on, North Carolina as a model for what they could do in Kentucky. As you all know NC has that passenger train between Raleigh and Charlotte, which serves the booming Piedmont region, so I guess they see the Piedmont as a model for the Bluegrass, as an economic growth region in KY.

More census news, but not population..... Dayton Leading Region in Vacancies As of last April, when the 2010 Census was taken, Dayton had more than 20 percent of its housing units vacant, according to the new data, released Wednesday. A total of 15,661 houses, condos and apartments in Dayton were vacant. The city also showed an 8.3 percentage-point growth in its vacancy rate, up from 12.8 percent in 2000 to reach 21.1 percent in 2010.... ....And that’s despite a loss since 2000 of 3,256 housing units, or 4.2 percent of its housing stock. Didn't know these vacancy numbers have been released. How does the other Ohio cities show? Or do y'all dare look! But wait! Theres More! WPAFB Drives Housing Boom Near Base “There’s a high percentage of people living in Beavercreek who are either retired, are active duty, or a civilian or contractor, or something to do with Wright-Patterson,” Buddelmeyer said. “Once they get here, they really like it. It’s got everything for raising a family.” That’s why Ian Chadrick, 26, moved his family in 2008 from Dayton. “We have little kids going into school and wanted a good school district,” Chadrick said.

I noticed the same differences. Today at Shell stations I saw it up to 3.59, but I swear I saw it lower earlier in the week elsewhere, riding by on the bus. I dont know if I like that attitude.

Im in the middle of Counterculture Green (link is to a NYT book review) which is about Whole Earth Catalogue and its sister publications, the people behind them, and the "alternative technology' movements relationship to it. This is an interesting book as it talks about Stewart Brand, sure, but also other folks involved with that whole scene, like J Baldwin and Peter Warshall and others who I hadn't heard of. It gives some good backstory, and some details behind the Point Foundation, which is where the catalogue money went., and how Point funded things that seemed related in spirit but not officially. Turns out there was a relationship, a financial one, with Point money going to stuff like the New Alchemy Institute. To some degree this book is, for me, an exercise in nostalgia as I recall this stuff from my younger days (I was 10 years old 1969, when the first Whole Earth Catalogue came out). This book explains how this "practical environmentalism" came out of the 1960s counterculture and then into mainstream society in the 1970s. So, a bit of "1970s nostalgia" in reading it, even though its not a light reading "remember when" kind of book. Things I had forgotten about like "Bolinas" and the "New Games" where discussed. ...and, actually here is a bit of personal connection and nostalgia since not only did I subscribe to CoEvolution Quartelry (and even got some of the back issues) I used to have a plot in a communtiy garden in Sacramento that was part of a demonstration project during the Jerry Brown administration when Brown had the Whole Earthers as advisors and political appointees. The book does touch on that relationship, too (and mentions the California Water Atlas as a product of this connection, which I have in my personal library) Other writers have pointed out the libertarian undertone in this movement, especially the book From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism, which was a more negative look at this unholy mix. Counterculture Green is a bit more optimistic, and doesnt focus on the IT/internet side. As befits the title, more on the environmental/"sustainablity" side (interesting also that the term "sustainability" wasn't used by this movement, coming into use in the 1980s, first. Anyway, a little trip down countercultural memory lane.

The Dayton Daily News has a story: Population Hits 90 Year Low ...with neat map showing increases and declines for city and suburbs (incorporated suburbs, not townships). "...Dayton lost 24,652 people during the decade, according to the data released Wednesday. That was twice the loss previously estimated in 2009 and puts Dayton’s population at 141,527, its lowest since 1920, when it had 152,559 residents... .... Trotwood, the only other city in the region to lose more than 10 percent of it population, fell 10.9 percent...."

As for the referendum, I find it difficult to believe that this will pass since the past anti-streetcar referendum failed.

If they dont get that state money y'all can just cut scope and have the line loop in the basin, instead of going uptown, correct?

^ Well, yeah, if you dont actually own a car, maybe. Im beginning to see the concept of this zipcar and car sharing thing thats out there. @@@ Anyway, rainy weather bus riding was no problem. Took an alternate bus (Route 17) to & from downtown, so no biggy. Complaint on some of these buses...they dont have good reading ligth. Some have replaced the usual white fluorscent lights with these wierd blue lights, which flip on while running (I think the white lights turn on when the door open), which are tough to read by. Meh. I'm going to cheat on groceries this weekend by using my rental car to pick stuff up while on my way home....mainly to stop at Aldi, since its tough to reach Aldi by bus (do-able, but theres one on the way up from downtown Dayton).

Gas seems to be dropping. Saw it below 3.40/gal at a Shell station while on the bus today.

And Youngstown is shrinking toward the Hamilton and Springfield size range. That is interesting. Cincinnati is now close in population to where Dayton was in 1960: 200,000- 300,000 range.

It will be interesting to see this broken down by tract level and age cohort, particularly age cohort. I did some calcuations using that Texas A&M real estate site and it seems that the Dayton area will undergo demographic transition around 2015 or 2016 or so, where deaths will exceed births (I think this is for Montgomery County)

Daytons 14% drop is the second greatest drop since the postwar era. The worst was between 1970 and 1980, when Dayton lost 20.6% of it's population. Between 1980 and 1990 thec city lost 5.9% Between 1990 and 2000 the city lost 8.7% Between 2000 and 2010 the city lost 14.8% So, if one following the 1980 thru 2000 accelerating loss trend, the city should have lost around 11%. Instead it lost an additional 3.8%, probably due to the foreclosure crisis vacancy explosion. I'm sort of curious about Dayton MSA numbers, to track the MSA numbers from 1970 trhough 2010...using the Montgomery, Greene, Miami, and Preble County definition of MSA (understanding that this would be somewhat limited since the northern tier of townships in Warren County plus Franklin in Hamilton could be considered part of the Dayton metro area....to some degree). The MSA trend since 1970 seemed to be fairly steady-state, with gains in one decade cancelling out losses in another and so forth. So there was minimal net gain in population since the 1970 metropolitan area peak.

It's interesting to see the competition for that Dayton back-office relocation: The law firm narrowed the search to four locations — Dayton, Indianapolis, Louisville and Roanoke — before selecting a site in the Miami Valley ResearchPark in Kettering near Dayton. The only outlier was Roanoke, and it seems workforce availablity was clincher for the deal (though the article doesnt go into that). Lousiville is actually at a disadvantage compared to Dayton area re a quality, well-educated workforce , believe it or not. This would be a good lessons-learned for local economic development experts, finding out why companies locate here and not "there", what are the "deciders", and built on or feature those decision points in marketing the area.