Jeffery

Someplace where they speak English, which probably means Canada (Toronto). I think Australia might be too "good old boy" for me. England could be interesting (Liverpool or Manchester would maybe be more affordable than London) but I'd die on the highways since Im dislexic and they drive on the left. ' Move to England to die in an auto accident. Oi Mate!

Ohio is the Alabama of the Midwest. Indiana is the Mississippi. The only thing that saves Ohio is that it has the Great Lakes urbanist culture up in Cleveland and Toledo and maybe Youngstown and ..perhaps..Akron (though I've read somewhere there is a big Briar presence in Akron). And Cincinnati being this wierd urbanist island in a ruralist/small town cultural matrix. Don't forget, Dayton is the "northermost city in Kentucky" (though some dispute how "southern" KY is, and lets not open that can of worms).

Reich calls it "The Great Prosperity" and dates it from 1947 to the mid 1970s. Which is a good range, methinks. I think it's real, whatever you want to call this era.

They did tear down that old Shaker building, though. Pretty amazing in this day-and-age that they would do this..becuase...you know....Shaker stuff is, like, sacred to Americana/antique/history buffs.... but whatever. That is one of the nicer stretches of open country, since there are those long views over the river valley over there. San Mar Gael would have been nice. I saw some graphics of their site planning and I think it would have been an interesting developement working a lot of open space and somewhat new urbanist things in (if I recall it right). Yet, the traffic issue could have been bad for Oregonia. One of my favorite country villages around here. Almost like the 1970s back-to-the-land era in there. Oregonia as the Rabbit Hash of SW Ohio? Not quite, but it has that potential.

As someone said this is politics 101, that he doesnt have to do this since its not going to hurt him, when a bad answer might hurt him. I sort of get the feeling tha Kaisich is "playing to the crowd" with his christian stuff, and that he is probably not that religous in real life. In first part of his career he wasn't indentified with the Moral Majority/Cultural Conservative tendancy in the GOP, from what I recall.

Irony impairment is a terrible thing.

Yeah, I was really looking for ribbon developement along country roads as a harbringer of suburbanization, but didnt see much of that around Blanchester. (You see a lot of it in the "rural" areas around Dayton). One really started seeing it when crossing into Warren county. And I think I recall driving that stretch of highway through Bethel and was suprised on how far that suburban stuff was strung out...

Robert Reichs new book is pretty interesting, and its wierd seeing that he is coming to some of the same conclusions and IDing the same things I was doing here on this thread, in those various graphs I was posting on the recent past of the economy, the postwar era and the times starting in 1970. He has some interesting insites on the psychology of downward mobility. I also see he pretty much agrees with Ragerunner about the lowering of incomes affecting demand on things, like housing. He made an interesting point that that "stagnation of real wages" we talk about is a statistical artifact, that this is not so much people not getting raises, but people being made redundant and rehired into jobs that pay less....that famous switch from manufacturing to service employment that started to pick up in the 1970s.

^ On a more abstract basis, you had an economic boom time..the 1950s...when the defense budget was porportionally. Using the usual percentage of GDP metric, the defense budget was 18% of the GDP in 1952, during Korea, dropping down to around 9% in 1959 and staying there into the 1960s. Yet we managed to have a growing economy and payed down the debt from WWII, while also having porportionally larger defense spending. Now the defense budget is around 4.8% of the GDP. I think that ends the story about how defense spending has a negative impact on the economy. The real issue, as was stated in the title of famous book on the subject, is "How Much is Enough"...and where to cut defense spending as a contribution to deficit reduction That's where the cuts are going to have to come from.

Great idea. This could be pretty interesting if they execute it. And good to see people are thinking like this (that Cuyahoga Valley site...sweet!).

The reason I thought Larchmere was in Shaker Hts was due to the police car I saw parked there, and the city limits sign on the street...I see i was right on the city limits. Also, I should say I didn't actually eat (or have coffee) at the "Shack on the Track", but I couldn't miss it. Just really neat seeing that. Yeah, thanks, I did enjoy this visit, getting out of the car for once & really exploring the place. I thought the area was really unique. Havn't seen anything like it. Ouch! And here I am the big hiker! Too bad I missed that nature preserve...this would be a good thing to see if I had more of a day vs an afternoon. Combine stops and visits. Nature Center walks and then lunch or dinner at Shaker Square.

I don't think that was the original topic. In fact I think its sort of stupid issue. Military spending is a cost of being a nation-state...national defense...and the issue of whether its good or bad is irrrelevant to the purpose of this kind of spending. Whatever economic benefit or harm that comes from this is incidental. When talking about the defense budget note this is part of the discretionary spending half of the overall budget pie. Defense spending accounts for about half that, maybe more now. The other half are the entitlements, things people are entitled to due to various demographic criterea. This is a growing part of the budget pie too. Now for defense spending, we are now above the Cold War high in defense spending in current-year dollars. The highest since WWII. I think everyone agrees this isn't sustainable. This is too high given the technological superiority we have. When push comes to shove and there are going to have to be cuts I think there will have to be cuts in defense spending if cuts are going to be taken in the discretionary part of the budget. This is just where the money is. Note I say cuts, not reallocation. Boreas seems to be talking about reallocating existing spending to other parts of the discretionary budget. But that's not an overall reduction, just reallocation. I'd say look at the defense budget and see where the cost growth is at and what area has the largest part of that budget (research, operations, military pay, etc), and look to that area to start cutting.

Yeah, recall my ongoing posting of those GMP and employment graphs for Ohio and the Ohio metros. No recovery....or a minimal one. That's were I first realized that the '00s was a lost decade for this state.

It IS interesting to see that...and yes I've noticed that before. What do you think it suggests?

What? No. Being part of audience participation/act-along during a Rocky Horror screening does not make one gay. Is this the source of those rumors? Gee whiz... ...and yeah, I heard something about Kasich being gay but never the details. After this started being whispered about Kasich dropped out of politics and got married (not sure of the order). I guess he waited a decent interval before getting back in again. Back in the day Kasich was seen as a young rising star of the new conservative GOP. Hard to believe having some fun at Rocky Horror was a career killer (well, maybe for the Ohio GOP base it is...)

I was coming back from a hike at Fort Hill and decided to take SR 28 in to see some places that intrigued me on the map but I had never visited. This was Blanchester. I figured by coming in this way up to Goshen, then heding north to connect with SR 48, I could see where Cincy Sububria starts up (or ends). I guess I was just suprised with Blanchester. It looked like a largish country town on the map, but there is quite a bit of economic activity here, including new things like I think new retail stuff. Yet I didnt see much subdivision action coming on or out of town. So, is Blanchester sort of a not-well-known outpost of Cincy suburbia, that suburbanites have sort of taken over this small town, or the places economy has shifted such that everyone who lives here commutes in to the Cincy area. I guess another interesting aspect of this is that there used to be interurban service between here and Cincy, so already back in the early 20th century you must have had some commuting. Maybe this habit or trend continued even after interurban service died. Blanchester was just close enough to permit it to become a far flung commuter suburb, vs a declining country town. For more convention suburbia, the north-south SR 48 axis certainly is the new frontier..the area between Goshen and the Little Miami. I think the first subdivision I saw on SR28, however, was at or near the Warren County line, as well as some earlier ribbon development. So the new-subdivision urban force field probaly extends out a bit from Goshen...small scale ribbon development...

The odd thing is that Tower City in Celeveland seems to still have a lot of retail and food things in it. Maybe there is more foot traffic through the place due to the rapid transit. Or maybe there is more of a market in Celevland for downtown retail. So I think that these downtown shopping places are not inherently doomed, since both Cleveland and Indianapolis both seem to have viable ones. For this one, maybe they just fill in the hole with additional floors and turn the place into a mix of "skywalk" between the parking/Saks and the Carew Tower arcade area (that double height space between the Carew Tower and Netherland Hotel), and offices (turn the parking area into offices). Or you could just fill in the hole with more parking deck since I think its ringed by parking anyway. The space facing the skywalk could be retail space, or big glass windows looking into the offices (to add visual interest to the walk) Or you could just tear the whole thing down and start over (the Columbus solution).

Fahreed Zakaria has a long article on recession and how it might be accelerating longer-term trends. It's couched in a "postive" set of policy recommendations, but I think too rosey and probably not politically do-able given the current political climate. How To Restore the American Dream "But Americans are far more apprehensive than usual, and their worries seem to go beyond the short-term debate over stimulus vs. deficit reduction. They fear that we are in the midst of not a cyclical downturn but a structural shift, one that poses huge new challenges to the average American job, pressures the average American wage and endangers the average American Dream. The middle class, many Americans have come to believe, is being hollowed out. I think they are right." ...and the article goes on to make this case, with some impressive charts. The number I am looking at in this set of charts is the relative drop in new-employment in chart #1, for the management, techincal, and professional subsectors, for th 2000-2007 time frame. This was a recovery era...Zakaria calls it a "phantom recovery", and these should have been the "good jobs" people talk about. Set of Charts (there are more graphics in the print version, like a one showing wage/salary growth flatlining in current-year dollars). He goes on to say things we need to do are: "Shift from consumption to investment" "Training and Education" "Fiscal Sanity" (mainly about health care costs and state/local pensions) "Benchmarking" (against foreign economic competition). (he explains these in more depth). Yet, I'm thinking the intellectual/academic/media elite (people like Zakaria, his publishers & editors, and the rest of the people who shape opinion and otherwise help run the country) are getting a bit worried about the situation, mainly about a runaway populist political response. That seems to be the big concern in Robert Reichs' new book (which I am just starting to read). The way I see it if we move back to "economic growth"...if the GDP is growing and business of whatever type and sector, return to profitablity, that should be enough. These other issues, of skewed income distribution and long-term unemployment, that's just the way things are going to be into the future. The political response we are seeing, the Tea Party and fiscal conservatism in general, seems to me to be a reality check on things, a pretty expedient ideological rationalization that the governemnt will not be brining in enough tax revenue (even in good times) to afford entitlements any more, especially given that entitlement eligibility will be increasing during this era of structural adjustment.

Living Large in Shaker Square Easy to get large in Shaker Square, what with all the food options. But more on that later. I decided to do the railfan thing and ride the Shaker Rapid the end of the line and back, but also to make a stop at Shaker Square and walk around and get dinner. Shaker Rapid is the light rail line, so the platforms are lower in the stations..noticed the mixed high & low level platforms. Fairly interesting ride as you get to see some of the city this way. I noticed that the median widens near the end of the line, and I seem to have heard or read that this line was to extend out into Pepper Pike or maybe out to Chagrin Falls? Are there plans to extend the lines further out? The stations beyond Shaker Square seem like little flag-stops, really more like bus or streetcar stops (which makes sense since this was sort of a streetcar, vs that other Rapid, which is more like the L, except without a third rail. I do wonder why they bother with those two ‘Green’ stations at the end of the line. Maybe just one would do? The neat thing about this excursion is I get to look closer at the buildings. I had driven around here before but couldn’t give my full attention to the scenery. So some housing notes…. Those old Shaker Heights houses are different take on period styling, particularly the colonial/georgrian ones. They look like a hybrid, almost, with art deco/moderne touches and moves. Very distinctive. Also, seems there is more mock tudor/craftsmen stuff nearer to Shaker Square. Noticed a “Coventry” station and was wondering if the Coventry shopping area was walkable. Not enough time to find out today. So, on to Shaker Square. Noticed the apartment buildings approaching Shaker Square, both directions. Nearly all of them seem to be a colonial/geogrian style, except I saw this funky curved-front modernist mid-rise thing just before Shaker Square, on the south side of the tracks. Neat, and makes this area unlike any other I’ve been to. This apartment stuff continues north of Shaker Square up to Larchmere. Remarkable how consistent this development is. Maybe all developed by the “Vans”…so they controlled the style and density over a large area around the square? Shaker Square itself was excellent. Great planning by the Vans (I guess, or their architect). You leave that little station (with the short order restaurant in it…very old school to have a eatery like this at a transit station!) and follow the sidewalks directly into the shopping area, where you can make a loop of the Square and back to the station. Very Nice! I notice the Square has a lot of upscale stuff, particularly restaurants. But also a supermarket (and a little passage next to it to a bus stop in the rear), and a movie theatre. This is really, really good, true walkability and it’spossible to be carless here without much hassle, it seems. My destination in Shaker Square was Balaton, a Hungarian restaurant, and “dessert” at Deweys. This was a rainy day, but the rain had finally stopped by the time I got to the Square. So, I walked up Moreland (past blocks of those old apartment buildings) to Larchmere. Larchmere is a city busy street, but I think in Cleveland Heights? Lots of stuff here, but I just walked up to the city limits sign, crossed and headed back. As I was crossing I saw the Terminal Tower ending the vista west down the street. Cool. Wonder if this was planned? Briefly stopped into an import clothing store, then continued on. Looks like antique shops, galleries, little taverns. Went to Loganberries again (see upthread) and did quite a bit of browsing (bought a “history of German cinema” in German for my ma). Noticed that this area is pretty solid in that there’s new construction, a new mid-rise, right off Larchmere near the city limits sign. Finally back to Shaker Square to Balaton. Another wonderful little white-tablecloth ethnic place, quality food, bright interior due to the big windows, done up in ethnic décor. Excellent place and a good value. I did not have goulash or cabbage rolls but tried something different, a stew, Lecsó Kolbássza. Should have had dessert here, too (you just know it’s going to be good). Next time maybe. After that, for coffee and one of those biscotti things at Deweys, got a sunny window table to write some cards & notes. Thinking it’s so civilized here….good food, a good bookstore, a coffee shop, essential shopping (supermarket) in walking distance, and very easy access to rapid transit. Then, back to the station to catch the train back to Tower City. I think this station might have more frequent service since that Van Aitken branch curves in here, so you get more trains. Seems I was seeing a lot coming through here. Riding the Rapid …takes some getting used to. I like that farecard machine they have, but it’s a bit odd that you can get on the train without paying? Seems you swipe the card after you leave the train at Tower City. And the card has to be activated each day. I bought a multi-trip card and didn’t know that. Imagine my surprise when the card wouldn’t read at the turnstile. Transit cops jumped right in, showed me how to do this and what the story was about the activation. Another nice thing at the Tower City (and Ohio City) station was they have a time display saying how many minutes the train is before reaching the station. Makes the waiting easier, and I never had to wait very long. Also, the Rapid is used. I was riding the one to Ohio City/West Side Market at odd hours, like early Sunday and around 8 PM at night, and it still had riders. During the day the cars were not totally packed, but where pretty full (same for the health line). The lines seem to run with reasonable frequency…every 15 minutes or so? Or something like that. Seemed the health line was more frequent, though.

...interesting name since I didn't see any islands in the river, and the place doesn't seem to reach the river. It's an island, for sure, though. I'm sort of interested in that side valley that had those factories in it. How far in does that go. And was Tremont always sort of isolated? I also seem to recall that this was where Dennis Kucinch lived when he was a kid or at some point in his life.

Since I mentioned “Civilization” lets head over to Tremont. Tremont Getting to and from the place was half the fun. Unfortunatley I didn’t take as good of notes with Tremont since I was heading there to visit Visible Voice books and was a bit worn from already walking Ohio City. Tremont seems a bit hard to reach since it’s tucked in behind that freeway (I recall I had to work at getting there by car during a windshield tour type of visit during one of my earlier Cleveland visits). This time I walked down Abbey Avenue from Western Market. Abbey crosses the Rapid line, but there is a second bridge, a longer one, over this ravine or valley that opens into the Cuyahoga “industrial valley”. This smaller valley is also filled with factories and a railroad. It sort of curves off to the west…don’t know how far into the city it goes. I realize that Cleveland must have a few of these, in various states of urbanization or development. The most famous is the Kingsbury Run valley due to it’s connection with Standard Oil, but that’s east of the Cuyahoga, not here…and Kingsbury has that railroad yard for RTA and a wooded side valley visible from the train…the one with that old suspension footbridge. Anyway, crossing this valley, and on the left is this big loft factory building, then the freeway, which wasn’t as awful as I though it would be (expecting a big paved wasteland interchange like they have in downtown Dayton or Louisville). Beyond the freeway is that Polish place, Sokolowskis, and Tremont proper. Tremont can be confusing since the neighborhood has two street grids, a diagonal one and a north-south one, which meet at I think 10th or 11th Street, which I followed down to the park and Civilzation coffee house, which I already mentioned in a previous post. Tremont is “like” a East or North Dayton neighborhood with the somewhat wider (compared to Buffalo) streets and the frame houses. Unlike Dayton there is more variety, more a mix of building types (like apartments, I think) on some of the streets. Also more trees, it seems (which made me think of Chicago side streets). Noticeable, too, are the little neighborhood retail things, like corner stores (or mid-block stores in some cases), many which have been gentrified in various ways. It’s almost like a vision what could have happened in parts of Dayton if the money and desire (ie desire for city living) was there; sidestreet corner-store retail buildings in Dayton usually don’t survive as restaurants or gentrified things, even in gentrifying neighborhoods like South Park and Oregon. Yet, oddly enough, the place seemed less gritty than I imagined. I recall that this neighborhood was featured in the Deer Hunter. For some reason it seemed smaller and more intimate in that movie (maybe because of how the film was shot or the cinematography). Anyway, back to Tremont. Make it to Civilization, which has an excellent location on the corner near that park. Tables were out and mostly full, and it was warm, so I sit inside near the window. An exceptionally warm, comfortable space, very good vibes here. After coffee at Civilization I try to find the right street to get to Visible Voice (which was tabling at the conference). VV is in one of those mid-block corner stores, and is quite good for a small bookstore, akin to Carmicheals in Louisville in that they keep a limited selection but have a certain niche-market focus, meaning in this case a somewhat progressive/political cast (Carmicheals has maybe a bit of a feminist pitch, but also a limited mix). Ended up buying “The Nation guide to the Nation” there (which would be hard to find in this area...maybe Joseph-Beth would carry it). After doing the bookstore thing I did the flaneur thing like I did downtown, just wandered around the neighborhood. I worked my way to the south, or maybe east, till I reached that Russian Orthdox church with the onion domes. Here, as in parts of Chicago (like my old neighborhood), and in Dayton (Xenia Avenue at St Marys, the little “corner store” neighborhood retail clusters a bit more, forming a small commercial district. In this case I noticed a candy store, wine place, maybe a restaurant. There was a wedding at the church, too. At the church I had a decision point. Do I head toward the Cuyahoga valley or do I work my way back to Abbey? I noticed some newer stuff beyond the church, but was more interested in the older parts of the neighborhood. I walked back on one of those streets with the academic names…Literary or Professor. What I though was interesting here was how low-key things are. There is a lot of gentrified retail space, but not that much foot traffic (this was Saturday afternoon), so the place still keeps a quite low-key feel during the day. Maybe things pick up later, more around dinner time? Walking back some more I notice yet another wedding, this time I think a Polish one by a Catholic church. Which makes me realize that this neighborhood is somewhat unlike the type of one-ethnic-group places you’d see in Chicago, that there is a mix here. Makes me wonder if the place actually had a clustering within the neighborhood, say, Poles on one end or one group of blocks, Russians on the other, and so forth. Probably an interesting social history here. Notice that there still is an ethnic presence here, the Polish Veterans hall is still in business and there was these guys hanging out in front of the side door to it. Seems that this street (10th or 11th) had more bigger buildings..apartments and storefronts? I finally did dip down toward the edge of the Cuyahoga Valley, walking past a bunch of new apartments and townhomes. Seems the streets closer to the valley are being reconstructed or infilled with this new housing stock, some with excellent views over the Cuyahoga, some toward downtown. Eventually made it back to Sokolowskis and the freeway. On the way back on Abbey I noticed there is a sort of unnamed snaggletooth neighborhood between Tremont and Ohio City, just a few streets. Looks like it could be a good redevelopment opportunity? I took Maydays’ advice and returned downtown via the Hope Bridge, that loooong walk over the Cuyahoga valley, with the downtown skyline to the left, in the afternoon sun. You could see houses and yards and woods down below, interesting to see these humble places with such a spectacular setting. Lots of opportunities here for infill stuff. Also, the big empty fields of the Flats were pretty visible too. Believe it or not I was not the only person on this bridge! Saw three cyclists, too. The Veterans Bridge gets more foot traffic (and cyclists), and seems designed for this with the wider sidewalk. Yet you can walk across that Hope Bridge…but don’t be afraid of heights. Bookstore Digression One thing I noticed about Cleveland (and Buffalo) is that people must still read there, or there must be somewhat of a literary/intellectual/progressive culture in both cities. Independent, quirky bookstores still survive on the Lake Erie shore. And they, some of them, apparently do events and programming. For Buffalo, two I liked: Rust Belt Books: A new favorite, probably one of my favorite bookstores now. More a used bookstore but some new. I got a copy of Andy Merrifields bio on the situationist Guy Debord there. Something I’d never find down here. Also some german language things for my Ma. Rust Belt has a performance space in the rear where they host various things, including little theatre. Talking Leaves Books. New books, but a broader selection. Architecture and design section was particularly good. Good magazine rack. They even had a book, sort of a catalogue, related to the 2010 Internationally Bauaustelleng, which is dealing with issues faced by smaller declining cities. I was surprised to see this in a general-purpose US bookstore. Both of these have a lot of free info and flyers and such on events in Buffalo. You saw the same in Clevleand bookstores. For Cleveland, the ones I went to: Visible Voice. I already mentioned it. But I should also mention they do programming, like readings, music, etc. They are sponsoring a bus to that parody rally in Washington. A bookstore like this would never, ever survive down here. Loganberry. This is a specialist used bookstore. No politics or current affairs (or very minimal), but an outstanding arts section, local authors, a bindery (I think), and a room full of lit and theatre stuff (including foreign language books). And an antiquarian section in the back. This place is the comfy chair/Persian carpet kind of bookstore vs Visible Voice, which is lighter and more blond wood. Mac’s Books I found this place during a quick visit to Coventry to see if the “Communist bookstore” is still in business (it is), since I didn’t see them at the Columbus ComFest this year. After spotting Mac’s I parked and went for a look. This is another mixed new/used bookstore. Seems they have a loft or upper level for SciFi, but their basement has the non-fiction used books. Main floor has the new books + magazine section (and a plethora of local free things, flyers, newsletters, events, etc). Mac’s also has sections on judaica, which I havn’t seen since visiting Seminary Co-Op Bookstore in Chicago. Got a copy of Robert Reich’s new book “Aftershock” there. Mac’s is connected, it seems, to either a coffee shop restaurant next door. And a neat feature are these colossal sized portraits on Cleveland authors high on the wall behind the cash register. You have got to love towns that have good local bookstores and coffee shops. So urbane! @@@@ Coming up (but not in this order): Ohio City, foody things, the Bells of St Malachi, Shaker-land, looking for Wendy Park…

The way I see it you only need to fill one block of that, the block directly west of Public Square. That one block needs some tallish buildings (doesn't have to be Keybank or BP tall), to define the space of Public Square. Or maybe one tower, and then some lower high rises. What's interesting is the three tallest buildings downtown front Public Square. If there is to be a fourth it should also be on the square.

Keep watching this space for more on Shaker-land.

Flats East Bank...I think this was that "Pesht" thing that KJP was posting on? I mentioned Erie Island Coffee. I should say that Cleveland has a fairly well-developed coffee shop market compared to Buffalo (and especially compared to Dayton). I am wondering about this, whether there is a market cut-off point or if this is a cultural thing. Anyway, for Cleveland... For the mornings and lunch I was mostly at Erie Island (since they opened so early) and the Phoenix in the Warehouse District. Phoenix is nice, they have an emphasis on fair trade coffee, too. Both of these are, apparently, local chains, but they seem to have the concept down pretty good without seeming "chain-y" (Phoenix moreso, it still seems like an indy, quasi-bohemian place). Both sell these large cardboard "high volume" containers, which I never saw before. I followed MayDays advice and made it that coffee vendor in the West Side Market and walked up the stairs for the overview. They made me a mocha, which I usually dont order, but I felt like some "hot chocolate" that morning. There is another coffee place near the market, next to the Flying Fig. I went there for "dessert" after dinner at the Flying Fig. This one has tables and chairs outside. Then there was that coffee shop in Shaker Square, Deweys, which appeared to be an outgrowth of this popcorn store, which is connected back to the coffee shop. Deweys was very well patronized. I was lucky to get a table. And there was Civilzation in Tremont. In an old storefront with one of those pressed metal ceilings. This place also had tables and chairs outside, well-used. Very cozy inside even with the high ceilings. One thing I noticed is that nearly all of these coffee shops, but especially Deweys and Civilization, had a lot of flyers, cards, and handouts and free papers for things in town. Algebra Tea Shop, which I mentioned upthread, had these too. This is something that is very scarce in Dayton (but which you do see in Cincy and Louisville() and what I miss here. The way these coffee shops are also information centers, almost little community centers, where you can take a quick pulse on what's up in town via some tangible graphics/print media. Yeah, yeah, I know there is the internet now, but I still think this info-center/cultural connection aspect is one of the selling points (for me) for this scene. It doesn't "make money", but it adds to the "brand promise", or something. Hard to put this into words. The Cleveland coffeeshop scene performs this information center role quite well. That's how I found out about some gallery things, and this neat project:Designing a Better Cleveland, put out by Cleveland Public Art. Now how cool is that? That an arts group does programming and a publication on urban desgin? Anyway, enough about the coffee shops. More walks. Since I mentioned Civilization the next one will be to Tremont.

There's an art gallery and performance space near that place on Pearl. I recall seeing flyers for some show there. Main Street in Buffalo is pretty long, and has that old Marine Midland Bank high rise to block the view, sort of like the Pan Am building in NYC. Their light rail has that fareless square concept for the downtown running so you could traverse Main quicker. But its pretty empty, too, as you note. They could use a major clearance effort to remove all the old empty retail stuff. Since I was mostly on foot I didnt notice the one way streets downtown too much. They are pretty evident out in the neighborhoods, particularly the Fruit Belt, and I think these ones are one-way because the streets are so narrow. THis is a big change from Cleveland. Very little panhandling in Buffalo. Cleveland has a LOT of panhandling, even compared to, say, Dayton and Cincinnati.