Michael L. Redmond

Anyone interested in an Urban Ohio tour of Gateway? If I can pull together 10 or 15 (or more) people then we will provide lunch and get you through some buildings and units that aren't even on the market yet. Just let me know and we can figure out a date that is good for everyone.

No, this is great news. Look at the development, all the way up Vine and now 3 buildings on Main and this connects the two. This now puts 3CDC on Race, Vine, Walnut and Main (and pleasant, republic and the cross streets). Now if we can just go north of Liberty.

None of these people do. They make a dire prediction and on the off chance they are correct then they say, see told you so! I am an expert, I am enlightened..... and if they are wrong, well then its just off to the next issue. Books have been written about these people and the damage they do. It starts as a theory, moves to a revolution and the next step resembles something close to a religion. and the heavens parted and so on and so forth...

Think simply? Well it was pretty simple to see the similarities in, not who you sympathize with, but simply sound like. They too, belittled the intelligence of their critics. They too tried to dismiss anyone who disagreed with them. They too tried to instill fear and put themeselves out their as the one beacon of truth that the people could turn to in a time of dispair. I am not here to argue about "Peak Oil" because remember it was you who was propagandizing on the Streetcar thead. I am here to say you, and plenty others out their now just like you, sound a lot like those who have promised hope, yet delivered misery. "when fascism comes to America, it will not be in brown and black shirts. It will not be with jackboots. It will be Nike sneakers and smiley shirts." George Carlin I randomly went to pages within this 50 page thread and pulled your words. "all prosperity is fleeting, and civilizations never stick around forever. If we're willing to sacrifice for the greater good and put our self-interest on the shelf, then we will overcome our unsustainable, wasteful ways. But all growth is not good if we're not doing it smartly. Remember that growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell". "try to conserve voluntarily, or one way or another, it will be done for us"..."We can reduce consumption by increasing the cost of driving, such as through windfall profits taxes, indexing the gas tax to inflation, putting tolls on all Interstate highways, eliminating "free" parking and other options". Not my argument but what I have read above does nothing but solidify my point. "They don't understand why it's happening. All of the things they've taken for granted are, to them, suddenly changing. It's a revolution to them, thought I don't think they call it that yet (see MR's comment)." "your first mistake, to think simply" feeling enlightened and superior over those that may disagree and put yourself above others intellectually.... "I realize I'm also an anomoly. Several of us at the office were taking one of those personality tests (this one was actually pretty interesting and introspective) and I scored as being a "global thinker" putting me in less than 2 percent of the population." If it wasn't peak oil, then it would just be something else with you. My point is that people like yourself throughout history, when given any power of any kind has had dire consequences. It isn't in the cause, it is in the rhetoric.

Hah, when I wrote that I actually was thinking about the Ft. Washington.

With oil as you described... Without oil, or the "revolution" as I simply reversed out of your above statement to project then.... "The world population go from 6 billion to 1 billion from 2000 to 2100, we can no longer make affordable medicines, clothes, plastics and fertilizers and we can no longer ship any of these products because of oil". You seem giddy about this prospect and project forward to a future more reminiscent of the past outlying a plan of regression as opposed to progression, or are those two things synonymous to you? Several others throughout history have made similar plans and they all sounded just as well meaning and well intentioned as above. Promises of "doing more with less" with a regretful reality, as 8th and State pointed out of doing "less with less". They fought any claim by anyone that their plans would bring about anything less than a utopia and dismissed any suggestions that it could lead to dire consequences which it inevitably almost always did. So I take back nothing, and am curious as to why you took such offense with so much fervor in my previous statement about your "revolution". I would think you would be more dismissive if it were without any merit. I drew parallels, the conclusion was your own..."You're already seeing the first part of the revolution,"

I couldn't even rent you a room for a half hour at that price. 10 minutes perhaps......

^I've got a few for sale.

Pol Pot couldn't have said it better than you. Year zero doesn't sound revolutionary to me, it sounds like regression, recession, and ultimately repression. So we reverse out of all of the things you said that cheap oil has brought us and we have..........The world population go from 6 billion to 1 billion from 2000 to 2100, we can no longer make affordable medicines, clothes, plastics and fertilizers and we can no longer ship any of these products because of oil. Revolution? I have read of similar, well intentioned people speak in those terms throughout all of history and it never seems to end up the way it was hoped, but in absolute disaster and for the people, despair. Good luck in your "revolution".

Dear lord I just cringe every time I read this stuff. Mike, are ya kiddin me? To the average reader who looks at this article who does not live, work or know too terribly much about OTR, what do they take away from this? Those condos are selling so fast in the Q that it would make your head spin, trust me, I know. We do not know how to have success down here. Everything good must be bad and everything bad must have some good. 3CDC is the only organization that has made a noticeable dent in OTR from not just development, but safety and improvements in perception as well. TELL ME I AM WRONG. Ok, ok, little perterved now....for the Foundation to sit back and put into print that the "corportations" are the greedy one's here while the Foundation made a profit off of 101 and 105 Peete and 100 E. Clifton and 14 th and Race which they begged 3CDC to take when it was discovered that the Foundation was slum lords PROFITING off of 4 buildings that even Dist. 1 declared the most problematic in the area is inexcusably hypocritical! 3CDC doesn't "make" the neighborhood, Holly Redmond does, Jim Moll does, who 3CDC was smart enough to bring in to not just sell the units but to help foster a neighborhood type feel because they are the neighborhood, they walk the walk and work everyday to bring people together through social events. How has the Foundation done this? I can list for you how Holly and Jim has but I would like to hear how the Foundation has reached out to the new residents of the Q to help avoid the "social vacuum". We need to rally behind corporations that want to spend money in this community-because we sure berated them when they didn't! We need to rally behind people that make this community work, and we need to stop this constant, "it's not me that is doing this so it must be bad" mentality that has plagued this neighborhood for years. Do you realize how many other developers are beginning to inquire about urban development now because they see the success of 3CDC? I am proud of what they have done and the way they have done it and they are creating a community, because it is my wife and my friends who they have brought in to help do this (real life OTR residents themeselves) and where in the hell is the Foundation while this is happening? The Foundation needs to focus on what positives they can do as opposed to simply trying to find fault in the others because the Foundation's faults have been glaring.

I don't really agree with that. Look at the whole picture, much of the wealth is on the hillside, including Prospect Hill, Mulberry, Dorsey, and new const to come with more Vineyard homes on the corner of Sycamore and Mulberry, Doug Spitz project at the north of Hughes and of course, Vernon's corner itself all is North of Liberty. Safe, and attractive passage from the hill to Main via Vernon's corner is being built now with the new streetscaping and expanded sidewalks. I find it funny that many of the store owners historically on Main have complained that the money on the hill never seems to find its way to Main yet we are here arguing the opposite. Right now, McMicken and E. Clifton are being squeezed. Development to the south is pushing North rapidly and development from the North is pushing South rapidly. As more and more gets developed on both sides and available land and buildings become more and more finite, then E. Clifton will fall. We have a developer who has already assembled almost all of the properties on E. Clifton from Frintz to Vine leaving the only real trouble area for E. Clifton between Lang and Frintz. Peete is prime to be a Corporation Alley type street(already 75% owned by property owners on Mulberry including myself). Hughes will turn as soon as Doug Spitz breaks ground and you will already here some of the property owners mulling over ideas on Hughes now that Vernon is almost complete and the clearing that has taken place to the north that has everyone speculating.

I think it is most valuable from the historical standpoint. A historical marker at Vernon's corner could be a good first step in making, if not an official designation, at least sets it apart as a point of interest. Now I am all for doing away with City tax north of Liberty like the good ole days.

Amber has started a great thread on the group site "What does it matter we do this? Why are you involved?". http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=15235182091&topic=9071#/topic.php?uid=15235182091&topic=9071 It will be interesting to see the different reasons that each person feels that this is important, especially the non residence. The Facebook Group is now at 30 and there are some big names on there plus our volunteer totals are right at 50. Take a look at the Group "WALL" daily for the OTR question of the day (some are tough ones) and you too can post questions and play "Stump Vitality" and if you can stump us, you win an OTR related prize. http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=15235182091&topic=9071#/wall.php?id=15235182091 Tonight if anyone wants to bring anyone else, a friend, another potential volunteer, your mom, I don't care, just show up and lets kick around some ideas and get to know one another. See you all tonight, June 5th, 6:30 at MR. PITIFULS.

kinda screwed that up. It is Thursday, June 5 at 6:30.

Amber thinks of everything. I spoke to Dan at Park & Vine today and he will be putting up 3 mannequins with Vitality Shirts on each in the window just north of the store(another Amber idea). I would like to get a store front on Main and anywhere else dotted around OTR with something similar. We will also try and use these locations to distribute the shirts for us as well giving multiple locations a volunteer will be able to go to join and get outfitted. 26 members so far on the facebook group site for the ambassadors and our numbers of total volunteers are now approaching 50. We are doing the OTR question of the day which will be posted on the wall (todays question is for the die hard OTR fan) and whoever answers first, gets various OTR prizes. You can post a question yourself. This will hopefully make for a fun way to learn various facts about OTR and we will also be doing an OTR scavenger hunt in the upcoming month to help volunteers both identify sites and people.

Next meet and greet for the ambassadors will be Thurs. June 6th 6:30 at Mr. Pitifuls on Main. If anyone would like to join up, get a free shirt and support the community, just walk through the door. Ambassador shirts were spotted today at the OTR 5K and at Findlay Market. Also, new Facebook page for the program http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15235182091

$50 says that plate reads Kentucky

This weekend we should see the first volunteer amb. shirts on the streets of OTR at both Final Friday and the OTR 5K. Our volunteer numbers right now are approx. 40 and we still have shirts available for anyone interested.

PNC is doing their cleanup day today and has provided mulch to tree wells throughout OTR. OTR 5K is this weekend as well as Final Friday tonight, look for the volunteer ambassadors out this weekend at both events. More good news coming to Mulberry, word on the street is that Jerry Hunderlaw will be breaking ground sometime in the next 6 months on new homes at Mulberry and Sycamore which is good timing considering the city has just cleaned out the top of Hughes St and will provide a great view for those homes.

There is the gentrification definition of improving community and there is the gentrification implication of rich people kicking out the poor. It is an easy argument that is debated on here, protested in various parts of OTR and brought up time and time again primarily by suburbanites who feel we are simply relocating our problems to their neighborhoods now. Any community would want to gentrify if using only the definition where property values rise due to increased demand and therefor spurring addition investment into supply. But when people put the spin of "kicking people out" then it takes a whole other meaning. I have been accused of being a gentrifier in the latter sense more than most and it came from both sides. I have been told that when I rehabbed my then vacant house on Mulberry that I must have done it at the expense of some poor person (drunk lady from Peete had that very loud discussion with me over the past weekend) and on the other hand when I have any issues with nuisance level crimes I am told by the other side "why would you move down there at all? Because people like you do not belong here." So I ask, where do I belong, and what people are you going to choose who should not be there? No poor? No black? We fight this argument in communities on one hand and then argue basically the same segregationalist point on the other. My community needs no modifier in front of it. I, and most others moved here not because we thought this was some sort of gold mine (risk negates just about any reward) we moved here because we saw what it could be. No longer does OTR have to be a place that people have to live, but a place that rich, poor--black, white or anyone would want to live. If the market were allowed to work on its own, but it is not. Model, who purchased the bulk of Denhart's buildings keeps many of them Section 8 for up to 15 more years (regardless of market forces) because they accepted low income tax credits to remodel many of them in order to entice those who I spoke of earlier who want something better. Other, in the gateway quarter are being built out for lower income families by Karen Blatt and Mary Burke on Pleasant. Even City West is 60% subsidized and are those property values on places like Elizabeth going up and up because of this? So acceptance is an issue, acceptance of new people who are buying here everyday and are told by others that someone had to loose their home in order for you to have yours. That is the lie, and Section 8 housing does and will exist in the quarter and throughout OTR for a long time to come and I will be more than happy to walk through my neighborhood. Am I lying? Brian Tiffany, Capt. Ken Jones, and I have all said that Dist. 1 crimes, as seperated by Part I and Part II crimes have for specific time periods that were stated by each of us, the lowest in the city. Crime rate is one of the top reasons that a person decides to buy or rent in a given area. We are quick to put out positive information like this as it comes up because we have to combat 50 years of perception as well that does not ring true today. The difference is that we qualify our statements with specific facts including type of crime and time period. Are you comfortable, seeing the stats, that this is always true? Bottom line is that when you read back through the various post two seperate meanings are being employed. When I here words like "kicked out" or "displaced" are used it is generally not reflective of the positive things that are happening in OTR today and fail to mention any of the efforts to supply safe and affordable housing to everyone.

I am with Jimmy James. I too am sick and tired of the same old rich vs poor, white vs black gentrification argument that has no basis in fact whatsoever but is thrown out there by the uniformed, disingenous few who simply want to pretend for a moment that they know, let alone care about the people of OTR. I moved to OTR because I believed in the community and what it could be, a vibrant, safe and clean place for anyone and everyone to live work and play. Am I rich or poor? Am I white? Am I black? that is not what should define OTR anymore. This is not a "poor" neighborhood, it is not a "white" or "black" neighborhood, and I do not want bigots, racist, and xenophobes to define "OUR" neighborhood as such anymore. Why don't you write your thesis on INCLUSION and ACCEPTANCE, instead of who should and shouldn't be here, or do they no longer teach that? Was that statement true 40, 30, 20, 10 years ago? Why are people like the Robinini's unable to fill their buildings, why are so many section 8 apt in OTR and the West End sitting empty? Because that is what the landlord wants? Was that Denhart's goal was to sit on one empty building after another in OTR and go bankrupt? Your cause and affect equation is a bit off. Do you really believe that voucher recipients are moving to better parts of the city because they have to? They chose to, just like you or I they want something better than a delapidated, neglected building that has seen no improvements in 40 plus years smack in the middle of a crime and drug infested neighborhood. These aren't animals, they are human beings making logical decisions to better their, and their families lives. And that leaves an empty building behind and an owner who faces a decision of improvements to the property (cost) or sell. Now should we just herd them back? Should we take the choice away? Should we say this will stay a community of containment and hopelesness and trap yet another generation in a poverty cycle? I say NO!

oh I should have know this was coming....here is what I meant by rhetoric (which is not a bad word by the way) and it is even in the quoted lines you mentioned. "I know this flies in the face of the rhetoric that was coming out of the anti-Citylink group, this will absorb some, not all, social services in OTR" The rhetoric that I was referring to was when it was said that this will not affect any of the current social services in OTR, hence the "flies in the face of" comment and it does not spell the end for the West End. I personally testified to city council about fighting City Link, I sent in the emails, I fought the good fight but the real problem that I have with the way that the anti-Citylink group went about fighting it was to say that if this goes in then there is basically no hope for the West End and North West OTR and investment will pull out. What now if City Link is built? Do you stand by this? Do we say don't invest, don't move to, don't even visit down here because this homeless shelter is here? No, so I ask, how do we back out of the "RHETORIC"? If you would like I could post for you many of the excerpts from emails that were sent to me and I am sure many, many others that says this very thing. So reread what you quoted from me and tell me I am wrong. So do we give up on the West End and walk away if and when this is built :? Is Conroy now worthless? Does Dayton St just need to be forgotten? You will have a hard time going back to people and saying buy and save this building now after painting a wasteland scenerio post CityLink.

That is Trideca, not Duveneck, also Urban Sites but different building.

I just heard that Smitty's is consolidating down to one store front on Vine.