Jeffery

hah, yeah. All these well-travelled jet-setting transit users. I used exactley two transit systems in my adult life for commuting 1. Metra (Chicago) to avoid suburban traffic snarls on a reverse commute. 2. RTA (Dayton), for a few months since my car was unreliable & I couldnt afford a new one. In both cases I was lucky that the station and bus stop was walking distance from work. I've used the following while on vacation or on visits to friends and family: 1. Toronto subway and streetcar 2. DC Metro 3. Chicago L 4. Atlanat MARTA 5. South Shore Line (long story) 6. Detroit People Mover (just to try it out). I've been on the Sacramento RTA light rail just for kicks, like the Detroit People Mover. When I was younger I spent a summer in Germany. Staying with my carless grandparents. While there we used: 1. Kraftwagen Betrieb Wetterau, a rural/small town bus line 2. Deutsches Bundesbahn local and express service 3. Trams in Frankfurt, Nurnberg, and Koblenz And, living in nearly carless household in Chicago we used 1. Chicago CTA busses and L (very frequent use) 2. Milwaulkee Road and Chicago & Northwestern commuter rail We also used the Milwaulkee Road for excursions up into Wisconsin. Also, one time Amtrak ride from Louisville to Chicago in 1971. And, Greyhound, to and from college and on summer visits to Chicago.

...and I invite readers to form an impromptu Urban Ohio boarding party: follow the link to the op-ed and post some positive comments to contradict the usual deluge of negativity (so far already one "Dayton is Dead, Dead, Dead!" comment).

Dayton Daily News editor Dan Riley has been op-edding on behalf of downtown regeneration for the past year or so. Here is the latest, on a forthcoming downtown plan. Dayton is fortunate that we have a paper who's editorial page has come around on behalf of the center city: Here's Your Change to Help Shape Downtown Led by Michael Ervin, a retired physician and health insurance executive, and supported by the Downtown Dayton Partnership, the planning effort is not yet complete. Citizens are still being asked for input. And while the process is going slower than scheduled, Ervin and others are insistent that input and buy-in are more important than speed. The article continues with the following bullet points and details for each, the focus areas of the plan Being Bicycle Friendly (street improvements to make downtown amenable to cyclists) Hidden Treasure (about the underutilized fibre optic system that was installed for traffic lights but has excess capacity, presumably as a lure to business) Downtown Housing (talk of up to 5,000 additional units, and a talk of a "private equity investment fund" to finance housing) The article concludes with dates and times for a public vieiwing/input session.

^ I'll say! Check out how they developed that tower. Very nice.

Yeah, I used to backpack in there when I was in college. Dayhikes, too. Probably have a heart attack if I tried that now. Thanks for the pix (beautiful as always) ...and for bringing back those memories.

I was into this back in the 1970s, when that second back to the land movement was part of the culture. There was a lot of itnerest in self-sufficiency back then, going solar, etc. In a way it was a mix of the 1960s idealism/rejection of mass consumer culture, the early environmental movement and a response to the "energy crisis". The back-to-the-landers of the 1970s were rediscovering the earlier proponents, writers like Borsodi and the Nearings. Now we have the "Green movement", for want of a better word. I guess past was prologue.

Now in its 5th year: on Myspace or the website: Dayton Music Fest , with hyperlink band list. I recognize two Cincy bands that play here, Frontier Folk Nebraska and the very enjoyable Lions Rampant, will be playing the fest. The mission statement: About DMF Dayton Music Fest (DMF) started because we felt that there was a lack of focus on the Dayton Indie Rock scene. We have some great music coming out of our fair city and we thought that we should get the word out to more than just the 18-21 crowd that already knew. We make no claims of being all inclusive or of being the last word on who you should listen to. What we are trying to do and have always tried to do is open some doors to some clubs that bands like these might not have played before, put the bands in front of crowds that might not have ever seen them before, and have the bands be a part of something bigger than the sum of its parts. This is truly a labor of love. We want nothing more than to make Dayton a destination for people who want to see the great music this town has to offer. We start working on the fest in January and don't stop until the show is over. Thank you for supporting the music scene and for supporting DMF

I'm hoping the Arcade renovation will be putting apartments back in, too. The 4th Street building had apartments on the upper floors that could be remodelled. The 3rd Street side apartments were really an SRO situation, so they would need some signifigant rework to bring them to code. The one thing I missed from Urban Nights this year was the Circus. The one in the fall had a great little venue going on in the old Unicorn space, with performance stuff in one room, and that drum thing outside on the corner. I guess that Garden Station thing made up for it. The placed looked different at night, with the candles and torches.

press release from the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission(MVRPC): Special Event for Our Region’s Economic Development and Business Leaders to Learn About the Economic Development Benefits of Passenger Rail Returning to Ohio The Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission (MVRPC) and the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce (DACC) invite you to attend a special event for our region to discover first-hand from Robert Martin about the potential economic development benefits of passenger rail and how we can be prepared for this opportunity. Mr. Martin is the private developer of the $100 million Saco Island project near the new passenger train station in Saco, Maine. In Maine, the state-sponsored Downeaster Service is expected to generate $3.3 billion in construction investment and create 8,000 new jobs in that state over the next two decades. Mr. Martin will talk about how Dayton is in a prime position to experience the same kind of economic development boost, if Ohio’s 3C “Quick Start” Passenger Rail plan gets funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2009 Location: MVRPC’s Center for Regional Cooperation 1100 West Third Street Dayton, OH 45407 Time: 9:00 a.m. – Meet and Greet with Robert Martin, Chief Operating Officer of Mattson Development 9:30 a.m. – Presentation 10:30 a.m. – Questions/Answers and Interviews

J-Alan's is sometimes a good place for live music. They have the Brown Street Breakdown blues jam on weeknights and various local bands on weekends. Example of how much fun J-Alans can be, a pix thread from a Reggae Fest afterparty ...and when Los Lobos played throuh for Cityfok last year or the year before, after the gig at the Victoria they played an unannounced aftershow at J-Alans

^ This must be whats going to happen to the Moraine Embassy/Schwind Building.

Theres' been talk about a streetcar between downtown and UD, but things are certainly going to happen with cycling when they open that bike hub and rental center downtown. There was a cycling summit here in August, where they brought in some author from Portland to talk about this (Jeff Mapes). More Here

Yesterday was a good music day: In the morning, at Second Street market, the sweet Sweet Betsy At night, at Jazz Central in scary east Dayton, at a benefit for a local photographer who had her equipment stolen: [ur=http://www.myspace.com/legbone]Legbone[/url] (one of the better punk bands I’ve heard, and I’ve heard some of the famous ones) …and the always outstanding girrl punk band Jaspar the Colossa. (they will be playing Cincy on the 18th @ Stockyards Café)

This includes health care but not eduction, as in K-12 and state universities. Adding these in would dampen the cyclic employment, and the recession drops wouldnt be as deep. I was really more interested in private sector as this is the "worst case" number, indirectly showing how the economy is performing. I wish there was numbers like this going back that far. I think they might to the mid 1970s by year, but not with this BLS monthly data since the detail ends in 1990. There is a yearly average that goes much futher back avaiable from an Ohio site, but it doesnt have that goods/services sector detail. However the long term trend of manfuacturing employment declining and services growing was noted even as far back as the 1960s. So what we are seeing today is that trend continuing. One interesting aspect of this is the size of the civilian workforce and worforce participation. I think there is a long range trend of this increasing since there are more two-earner households, or the trend was in that direction. This might be a form of unemployment insurance as it means that even if the primary wager or salary earner loses his or her job there is still another earner in the household to pay the bills. It really gets sucky if both earners lose their jobs. Then that household is really up shit creek. BTW, glad you found these interesting. I want to periodically update these with new numbers to see how things turn out, or how my hunches are going.

Heh, Looks like Urban Ohio won over 3-C Circle Jerk...by one vote.

The recession so far, using the Bureau of Labor Statistics data for private sector employment. These are non seasonally adjusted, which is what I’m looking for since it shows month to month employment. The next graph looks the pattern in a year. There is a pattern to the BLS numbers for Ohio 1. Winter trough, typically the low numbers for a year, were the employment numbers drop from the previous years highs. 2. Spring increase to a high in the summer, usually June. Typically the months were the employment numbers increase the most. 3. Summer and fall plateau, where the BLS numbers come off the summer peak, sometimes with a second peak in December. This cycles through year after year, even in recession years. One can compare patterns to see how employment changes; increases may not be so steep and lows may be exceptionally low, and times of growth or stability can be times of deterioration. And since these patterns repeat one should keep this in mind when hearing the monthly numbers reported in the news, because they fit into a larger pattern. A big drop in the employment numbers in the winter does not signal a double dip recession, it is to be expected. So, comparing the seasonal employment cycle for this year so far and the three previous years. 2006 & 2007 would be “good years”,, and one can see the deterioration in 2008. So far 2009 is following the pattern of a summer high. And we can expect a drop to the early 2010 trough. We would be dropping from a low level, so the employment lows havn’t been reached yet. Note this might not be measured by the unemployment rate, since people would be dropping out of the labor market, not necessarily finding work. That’s why I like to use this employment number, rather than the unemployment rate. Another relevant measure is the population/employment ratio (people aged between 16 through 64) or labor force participation rate. Taking a closer look at the two big subsectors. First, goods producing…manufacturing and construction. Oy Vey! No sign of any tracking of previous years patterns. Just a sold low downslope when this sector should have been adding employment. Maybe we wont see a big drop in the winter, too… …because if we do the BLS number will drop below 800,000 manufacturing jobs statewide. How low can manufacturing and construction employment go? I think we are in uncharted territory. Ahead: here be the dragons? On a brighter note, the services producing subsector, which includes medical and profession/technical employment. This sector seems to be doing better, tracking previous years annual employment patterns. Now the question is if there will be a plateau like in 2006 & 2007, or a downslope like 2008. As in manufacturing the low hasn’t been reached yet as there will be that winter trough in early 2010. The Long View BLS monthly employment numbers, with the last years of the 1990s boom. One can see a sort of pattern from that boom of two peaks, on in early summer the other later. But in 2000 the pattern distorts, something changes, with the latter part of the year being weaker. Then the recession year of 9-11, which drags out for two years. Finally there is some recovery in 2004. What’s interesting is the 2000 winter employment low is as high or higher than the summer employment highs for the recovery years of the latter part of the 00s. And that 2000 foreshadows the employment cycle for rest of the decade, not the pattern of 1998 and 1999. A closer look at the 9-11 recession, showing how the bottom of that recession, with the lowest employment highs and lows, came two years after the recession started in 2001 (actually one can say the deterioration started in late 2000). Trying to show some trends without the spikeyness of the month to month numbers, mapping out the lows and highs showing the general pattern between the last years of the 1990s boom and today. Something to think about when considering when recovery may come from our current recession. Heres’a quick look at the goods producing (manufacturing and construction) and services producing sectors for the 2000s, showing the last three years of the 1990s boom. …on can see manufacturing/construction never really recovered, and has sunk even deeper. One wonders what the bottom is For an even longer view, here is around 20 years of Ohio employment trends, demonstrating what a good decade the 1990s was (including that little spike of irrational exuberance mid decade), and how the 2000s were pretty anemic in comparison. The so- called 2000s bubble never hit here when it came to employment growth. And, a closer look at the early 1990s recession that helped get Clinton elected. There was only one year of low employment numbers, followed by a year of mediocre recovery. Then the 1990s expansion kicked in. In retrospect this was just a hiccup in the employment growth that started in the 1980s. For Ohio, Compared to the early 1990s recesssion, the 9-11 recession was more of a true phase-shift into an economy that was weaker in generating employment. Based on these numbers at least something changed during that time that set us up for the situation we are in today. It will be interesting to see where this current recession will lead, but we have probably two more years of it. There is some indication that the leading indicators for the US economy shows an uptick. The Ohio state governemtn offices that look at this have their own state-level indicators, and these show no uptick. So fasten your seatbelts we're in for a bumpy night. And, after the recession, who knows? 2000's stagnation, or a return to employment growth of the 1980s and 1990s? We will be entering into the demographic shifts of the baby boom retirement era.

Yeah, dear old Sacratomato. 20th Street used to be called Lavender Heights (nickname, its not on a hill), it was the gay ghetto. I lived nearby, across the street from Capital Park. The Old City was already getting hip in the 1980s, but theres's been a lot more development. A lot of the older things (like Sams Hofbrau) have went away or been yuppified. Sacto, when I live there, reminded me of a Southern city, like maybe a real big Lexington or Macon. Now that I'm in Ohio Columbus has a sort of Sacto feel to it. Sacamento's oldest neighborhood, its German Village or Oregon, is Alkalai Flat, which is right next door to this development. When I was living in Sac Alkalai was old but stable, just poor (old Chicano neighhborhood). Gentrification action was elsewhere in the Old City.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009, 4:24 P.M. ET Recession Takes Heavy Toll on U.S. Poverty Rate Jumps, as Income Falls and More Lack Health Insurance By CONOR DOUGHERTY The recession has slashed families' earnings, increased poverty and left more people without health insurance, according to the Census Bureau's annual snapshot of living standards, offering sharp evidence of how much the falling economy has touched Americans of every income and race. The report released Thursday showed median household income, adjusted for inflation, fell 3.6% last year to $50,303, the steepest year-over-year drop since at least 1967. The poverty rate, at 13.2%, was the highest since 1997.... ...."There's a lot of pain for the average family," said Bruce Meyer, an economist at the University of Chicago. "It's pretty striking how fast and how far the incomes of the typical family have fallen. The decline is bigger than anything we've seen in the past, and things are almost certainly going to get worse. >SNIP< Source: WSJ...more detail at link

Hits the nail right square on the head. ....though I say they "could have had a great little city" since it's probably beyond the point of no return (urban theorist David Rusk listed it as such). Or at best a Charlotte situation were all the old stuff gets torn down and they start from scratch. But don't bet on it. For a place where the population, or enough of it, realized they could have a great little city, and made it so, there is Louisville. Could have ended up like Dayton, but then there was some sort of cultural revolution or change of heart and re=thinking, for enough people, and things started to happen.... On edit: Downtown Dayton is hardly intact. For an intact and attractive downtown see the pix of Grand Rapids in one of those pix subforums. And now the city plans on continuning what urban renewal started. I guess a sign of the times is that demolition contractors are major contributors to the city commission and mayors race this year.

I ran some BLS employment numbers for the Dayton MSA and I dont see a recovery yet. It looks like a bottom, but I am interested in how the 4th quater will look, particularly for the services producing sector (private sector, not govt). I might post the graphs tomorrow. Would you all be interested in seeing statewide numbers?

There's another warehouse art thing going on...this time in a failed loft conversion. The Excelsior, which used to be a big commercial laundry, is being leased out as artist lofts and they are starting to have large scale "installation art" things there. Think of it as a second Front Street, though not quite as snaggletooth as Front Street. Its sort of ironic in that the usual pattern (a la Rent) is that the creative types are pushed out of the lofts via gentrification, while in this case it was gentrification that failed, leaving the space for creative types. So the underground is coming above ground Wow, thanks! I have to say that doing this in-depth research, I know too much...so what's happened to the city is particulary painful since I know what was lost, or can discern the outlines of the old city through the scrim of history. As well as how things like commonplace old houses are just a bit different there. Sort of a five year exploration of what made up the genus loci. And Dayton reminds me so much of an older Chicago I knew. That's what so sad, as I can see what a fascinating place this was, how alive it might have been. Too much living in the past. I have to say, regarding this art and music stuff, I wish I was younger to be able to this scene more and post and document it more. I'm too old for all that. One interesting thing about this thread...it talks about economics and it talks about culture. A place in a weak economic postiion can still have a lively street culture. I think an example of this would be Liverpool in the late 1950s into the 1960s, and Manchester in the late 1970s through the 1980s. Both places had active (and influential) music scenes. At the same time they were in economic decline. I guess the US example would be house/techno in Detroit.

Something Akron doesn't have. And Akron doesn't have a warehouse district, either, from what I could see. Oh, sure, Im sure there was one at one time, but it may have been removed by that urban renewal that wiped out most of the area surrounding downtown.

I think this happens more with the local music scene. There is something happening every weekend and on the weekdays. And I know that there is a subculture here were bands (and individual performers) go to listen to other bands, as well as the personnel shifts and such. Plus there is usually one or two local labels. Bands also have their followers. So this is a subculture of sorts. This isn't a geographically concentrated scene since these people live all over town (probably with some concentrations in the Oregon and East Dayton), but it is a form of community without propinquity. Again this is all somewhat underground as there are certain blogs and myspace pages that clue one into events and venues that dont make the papers.

^ I think they have just started (this year) a first friday gallery hop in the Oregon.

I modified what i thought would offend, but I see I was already doing the summarize and link thing, with occasional extended posts.