natininja

Thanks

Where did you get the data from?

Anyone know what the local median income is? Or what "local" means in this case? (Municipality? Census tract/block?)

It does seem possible Kroger would feel like their hand is being forced, since there is so much talk of a new grocery store, and even the confirmed threat of one with the 4th & Race project. If they really were exerting influence behind the scenes to make this store not happen, it likely would have involved promising that they are planning a downtown store within X time.

I never said it was the party's fault that Feeney can't win. It is, however, the party's fault that someone who can't win became the party's nominee. Tarbell, as a write-in candidate, has no greater chance of winning than Feeney. Monzel's seat is safe.

Lower, because the race becomes 3-way, with low-info Dems bound to still vote for the Dem on the ticket, splitting the Dem vote.

Getting behind a write-in candidate is throwing away your vote. Becoming a write-in candidate is throwing away the votes for the guy you would have beaten in a primary. If Feeney had decided to step down, and Tarbell had stepped up in his place, I would have been happy. But Tarbell is sealing the deal for Monzel even more securely than it would have been sealed in a two-way race w/ Feeney. It's not Feeney's fault the HamCo Democratic Party is dysfunctional. I don't think he did anybody any favors by staying in the race, but it was his decision to make. The HamCo Dems now need to step up and support their candidate.

Dems should get behind Feeney. If Tarbell wanted to run, he should have entered the primary. (And he would have won!) I would prefer Tarbell be the commissioner over Feeney times a thousand, but Feeney is the Democratic candidate, fair and square. It's not right to jump in late and split the anti-Monzel vote. I don't even see the point.

Gun running would be one circumstance where I'd say a SWAT team is justified. Kind of like the Clive Bundy people. (Who apparently were left alone???) If you know the criminals are holding a massive arsenal, well, shields and firepower are a good idea.

Not really any worse than the typical puff from politicians, though it doesn't exactly show a strong command of the issues. Burke needs to help the guy get more polished. He's your guy now, Tim.

^ Sounds like pandering to the Quimbob[/member] vote.

^ Hipsters are descendents of the "college rocker" in your taxonomy. The difference is that, after the movement died in the underground (IMO died, period), it ballooned in the mainstream with no competition. When I was a punk kid in the '90s, I went to NYC a few times and was blown away by the idea that any fringe group was basically not fringe there, because the communities were so big. I think the Internet made that happen on a global scale. So the whole concept of underground has been revolutionized. That's one factor as to why no underground movements have replaced the hipster movement. Another reason is the music tradition which founded hipsterism: indie rock. Indie rock is not a legitimate genre (like "college rock" before it). It's a big tent, and can conceptually accommodate many different tastes, styles, and innovations in music. So as tastes change and innovations happen, there's no need for a new movement. Finally, there's the whole irony/postmodernism which defined hipster. This is another nebulous concept, much like the "genre" of indie rock. It brings the concepts of "alternative" or "underground" to their logical conclusion by rebelling in an infinite loop. When you get to that point where you can, e.g., rebel against pop culture and consumerism by buying pop albums "ironically" and pursuing a career in marketing, there's just nowhere else to go.

Kasich should be careful highlighting "refusal to release public records." (Can you say "JobsOhio audit"?)

What about San Francisco then? Exactly. The places in the US where cycling has taken off the most really destroy any of the arguments about extenuating circumstances. Wet: Seattle, Portland Hills: San Francisco Cold: Minneapolis, Madison, Chicago Hot: Tucson It's actually really weird the way that worked out. Sure, places like Davis, CA are up there in modeshare, but the major US cities that have taken to biking read like a list of cities with extreme "impediments" to cycling. (Also: Copenhagen doesn't exactly have mild winters.)

Jesus. I got mixed up and was thinking that was an alley, not Pleasant Street. That plan should be thrown off the QCS Tiara into the Mighty Ohio. Hmm, that's very interesting. I'd really prefer OTR, but given UC's questionable respect for urbanism, the Banks might be safer. (What might they do to provide parking in OTR?) In general, I don't think non-profit institutions are a good fit for prime real estate at the Banks. Not to mention OTR is significantly closer to the main campus. The upshot is UC doesn't skimp on architectural quality, and having a nice showpiece on the river would be a pleasant departure from where the Banks has been going.

As cities accommodate bicycles more and more, the mode will grow in popularity, not shrink. Thinking otherwise is merely a symptom of the "it won't work here" mentality. There's so much room for growth, we're nowhere near saturation.

^^ Yeah, the curb pictured is probably the best one in the US (though I still find it lacking). I think it's in DC. The second picture is in Holland. Another alternative would be to use attractive bollards, rather than plastic ones. But that's another thing that is simply not in the American vocabulary. (It would also have the same street-sweeper problem as Sherman Cahal[/member] identifies with the curb. But hopefully that will be ironed out eventually and a permanent, attractive solution is considered.) Using tiered pavement levels like in the second picture would also take care of your complaint about the 5'-wide canyon effect produced by the bus stop.

Maybe we could put the Government Square bus shelters in the garage, too.

^ AWESOME!!!! (Funny, I posted the exact same time as thomasbw[/member] -- 10:31:10)

Lol. I was thinking "Cincycles" or "Cincicycles" or "Cincy Cycles"... so much opportunity to play off the alliteration in Cincin(nati).

vs. Yes, utilitarian curbs with no eye to the way they contribute to the aesthetic environment are ugly. They're not as big offenders as phone/power wires strung up all over, but they're another example of tone-deaf American placemaking.

The bollards are ugly (very ugly), but hopefully eventually something attractive (more attractive than an ugly curb, too) will be implemented. For now it's a big step in the right direction. Minus the accompanying thing about every new bike lane requiring council approval.

^ That is the way the Hudson River crossings work. They only toll going into Manhattan. (Definitely true of the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels, and I believe also true of the others.) With the camera tolling method, though, it shouldn't really matter -- might as well toll both ways.

Seems to me that was around a pretty long time. Like after the mall had pretty much died (aside from the theater and arcade). Can't say for sure, though. But I do remember what you're talking about, vividly. I went there many times. Probably saw Home Alone there, haha.

Maybe so, but desirability doesn't usually cross such distances. Someone who wants to be within walking distance of downtown or the streetcar aren't interested in Queensgate, Mt. Auburn, Newport, Lower Price Hill, Camp Washington, etc., no matter how nice they may become in the future. In much the same way, as difficult as the housing situation in San Francisco and New York may be, there's still relatively cheap housing in Oakland and many of the outer boroughs of NYC (Queens especially). Why? Because they're too far away, not convenient, have poor transit, crime, or any number of other reasons. So it wouldn't take much for OTR to go "the sky's the limit" price-wise while nearby neighborhoods continue to fester with low desirability. Mt. Adams and Hyde Park are already effectively closed out and excessively expensive since their zoning has been massaged to exclude any more dense development. Even so, the proximity of Mt. Adams to Walnut Hills hasn't really helped it out, nor has Hyde Park's proximity to Evanston and Norwood caused much spill-over development. Oakley could be cited as an example, though I think there's a somewhat different dynamic there. Even if Oakley's strength is its proximity to Hyde Park (I could see a similar relationship between the West End and OTR developing) it seems to be more an exception rather than the rule. I think your use of the NYC/outer-borough analogy exactly supports my assertions. What is the CBD analog, in this case? Midtown? The Financial District? The island of Manhattan? Take any one of those, and you have to concede that massive spillover development is what created the gap between desirable location and affordable residences. Covington, Newport, the West End, and Queensgate are very much within walking distance in a city that has adopted walking as a mainstream mode of transportation. So is much of Mount Auburn. Walnut Hills, Corryville, Camp Washington are bike/transit distance (even with the lacking Metro system we have, they're decently covered). By the time saturated development is a legitimate problem in CBD/OTR, there will have been ample opportunity to expand the streetcar network (and the transit network in general, including BRT, bike share, potentially LRT), and people will be willing to walk greater distances (as they are in cities that actually have such problems). I'm more concerned with providing affordable housing opportunities than most people on this board, but my concern does not extend to fear of lacking actual space to provide housing due to height restrictions in OTR. We are so very, very far from that being an issue that it's not worth worrying about right now. If and when it becomes an issue, decades from now, we can reopen the possibility of easing height restrictions. I am confident there will be enough crappy construction from the current era to tear down and construct large towers.