mjb

URL?

That URL is dead already and I can't find it in their archives. *grumble* Here are some others: http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2010/03/29/daily37.html http://www.udayton.edu/news/articles/2010/04/GE_Aviation_research_development_center.php http://genewscenter.com/Press-Releases/GE-Aviation-to-Create-Electric-Power-Research-Development-Center-in-Ohio-270a.aspx

As a resident of Denver metro, I don't know how much can really be learned from this. If FasTracks were floated today, I doubt it would pass, at least not via a sales tax hike. The timing of the initiative was crucial. Despite the bursting of the tech bubble, we were still in the midst of a lengthy 'boom' period, whereas Ohio cities are not so fortunate. Our population growth in & near downtown has mirrored that of the suburbs, and as the article points out, our roads haven't kept up with that growth; if you're not right near one of the main arteries, you're probably not doing a lot of commuting, or if you are, you're probably spending a lot of time in traffic. Rail service is an easier sell in that kind of environment. The Ohio cities I've lived in or been to have meek downtowns, and are in regions still enduring decades of decline. Those regions are neither prosperous enough that the average resident is going to be amenable to a tax hike, nor so poorly planned that a fair amount of their transportation woes can't be solved with more lanes & better interchanges on existing roads. Rail, as a worthwhile part of a multipronged solution, just doesn't seem like quite the no-brainer in such areas. (That said, I could see Columbus maybe doing it, but not out of necessity so much as sheer civic penis envy.) Anyway, there's now another New Republic blog post by the same guy, discussing funding options in more detail: http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-avenue/75191/helping-those-who-help-themselves

A few more excellent photos turned up on Shorpy recently: Bellevue Incline (maybe), 1905 view from Mount Adams, c. 1909 (left) and (right)

A couple of Cincinnati photos were featured on the Shorpy vintage photo blog yesterday: Along the Levee: 1904 and So Inclined: 1904

A second photo was posted today: The Arcade in 1966! (and the original TIFF at the LOC, along with a ground-level shot)

Featured on vintage photo blog Shorpy today: The Arcade in Cleveland, in 1901. Be sure to click on the photo for a hi-res view. Or get the original 150 MB TIFF from the Library of Congress.

Please don't delete thread that are idle for long periods. The "Ferry to Canada" thread has gone without a new post for months. However, I would hate for it to disappear, because the original content buy UO'ers is priceless. I'm new here, but have lurked anonymously for a while. I want to second this plea to preserve as much as you can, if it's not too late. I found this forum when I was looking for various Ohio related things, and wound up reading threads that were posted eons ago. I'm overwhelmed and excited by the volume of historical material here as well as the great old photo threads. I have the site earmarked for future visits so I can do some catching up. I also arrived here from deep links in places like Jeffrey's Daytonology blog, which he coincidentally and inexplicably has also announced an intention to delete all the posts from. I don't understand this point of view that old postings, be they on a blog or in a forum, are pure ephemera, worthless and deserving to return to the ether once consumed by the immediate, intended audience. I'm routinely researching topics which lead me to Usenet and mailing list postings from the early '90s, preserved by packrats like me. You never know what content here is going to be valuable to someone someday, so just keep it all and make it accessible as long as you can for us latecomers, researchers, and deep-link followers. Sure, most of the visits will be from bots, but I'm a real person with a real interest in the things people were talking about, even if it's no longer relevant to them. Plus, it would be rather ironic if in the course of appeasing the newspapers, who routinely yank their online content after a short time and hold it for ransom, you yanked your content (not just the copyright infringing archival stuff) and outright deleted it forever. Lastly, AccessMyLibrary is an option for folks who want to link to articles that have gone missing from the newspaper sites. One of the scary letter's signatories has 28,000 articles available there. Access is free and much of the content doesn't require registration to view. Some things do require registration, though, so if you try to view it they ask you to log in so they charge it to your local library. It's rather painless and weird; I don't see how they do it, but it's legit. I guess it's similar to services that are offered to college students and is paid for with tuition (e.g. ProQuest, LexisNexis Academic) but it's a little more basic and for the general public.

Just for nostaligia, I'm wondering if someone out there has any photos of the lobby of the Creative Arts Center at Wright State University as it originally looked, before it was "renovated". The building opened around 1974 and was very "modern" seeming to me (I was a child then), although in hindsight its design was probably more '60s than '70s. IIRC the interior was pretty much unchanged through the 1980s. The only photo I could find online is this one (click) which is from 2007. It shows they've still got the original walls, ducts and hanging orbs, but the skylights and carpet have been "modernized". I don't recall the big banners jutting out from the walls either. The tackiness of the renovations and the inconsistent aesthetic, plus the fact that it's just not how I remember it, is all rather jarring to see now. I want to see the way it was before they updated it. Likewise, the Sinclair Community College library had a similar look in the early '80s, and that's long gone now, too. Any photos of those good old days would be great to see.