Brutus_buckeye

Given the requirements that is being asked of expansion candidates, it appears that in order to be a qualified buyer has to be a billionaire. From a local standpoint that would leave 2 options Wexner and maybe one or two others. If they are not interested, I don't think there is a viable local owner and the whole thing unravels and he goes to Austin anyway. They don't seem interested in a group of multimillionaires, they want to have at least one billionaire backer it seems.

They cant even get the stoplights figured out 2 years into it so let's start there first.

This is incorrect. The ask was to run additional streetcar service on game days, not to buy more streetcars. We have 5 streetcars of which 2 or 3 are in service at any one time. They should run 4 or 5 to meet demand on game days. They are only building 1,750 parking spots for a 21,000 seat stadium, so they will need the streetcar to contribute getting people to the stadium. Current streetcar service levels simply arent going to cut it. Theyll find out the hard way I guess. That should take care of itself. When demand on Gameday spikes and they can justify the cost, it will be easy to add the streetcar

OTR had no business in the deal. They will tangentially benefit with no interruption into their activities. THis is a benefit to OTR with zero cost. It just screams of coming to the party and asking for a handout when you did not do anything to deserve it. While we are at it, why not make the team sign a CBA including demands from Hyde Park and Oakley. I would argue Oakley has a bigger beef than OTR in this particular case if we want to play that game.

Paris looks about as dense as LA downtown or Seattle. It is kinda like New York with the downtown financial district and mid-town areas complimenting each other.

City council will find a way to screw this up, they always do.

I think in aggregate, especially as the sport grows it will result in increased tourism. Not as many on a per night basis as a football game per se but more overall because there are more home games. For the soccer fan, there will be a few out of towners who travel for their team (not as many as other sports) and there will also be some regional people who travel from Columbus, Lexington, Indy to see them play too. I personally know a number of people who used to travel to see the Crew from Cincy a few games each year, so it would be reasonable to expect that type of travel too. However, where I see the bigger benefit is that it overlaps with the Reds season and gives additional entertainment options for those who want to take a trip here. Now you could on some occasions take in a baseball and soccer game the same weekend or you at least have a professional sporting event happening in town every weekend during the summer. With football, trips are shorter and often for one night and games don't take place during key vacation times. That is the one key difference with FCC I see that could be a benefit.

This building would be best as condos with 1-2 per floor. If the market will bear it.

This is a good discussion but should probably be devoted to its own thread.

The thing with the streetcar is that for those downtown, it is not enough of a draw to take it to attractions. It is either easier to walk or they are not located on the streetcar line. Look at the hotels, they are all downtown. Now what are (were) tourists coming to town for. 1) conventions, 2) Sporting events 3) arts. After that they stay to check out cool areas like OTR but it is not necessarily the draw in and of itself. So, If you are staying at any downtown hotel, even the 21C or Westin which are both on the streetcar line, you are not taking it to the Reds or Bengals games because of proximity. You cant take it to the convention center, and you cant take it to the Casino. You wont take it to the Aronoff or Taft because of Proximity. So if you are a tourist and you don't know your way around, it makes sense to take it to the soccer game. Now, you have something else, like Music Hall that will draw and encourage out of towners to use it as it goes to a tourist destination. The biggest flaw with the line is that it does not connect enough people who are likely to use it to key destinations in a way that people would use it (You don't need it at the downtown hotels to go to the Reds game) but could use it to go to a Soccer game. This will be very helpful to the Streetcar for that reason alone.

It may only be a few dozen dates a year but it is just another reason to use the streetcar and will drive up ridership numbers those days. Everything counts.

Reminder: center in the U.S. is far-right in nearly every other country on the planet. We don't need to be like every other country. If we wanted to be Europe people would have just stayed over there.

I was talking to a colleague who lives in the bay area. He built a 2300 sq ft house in 1987 for around $229k. This was the same year my parents built their 2600 sq ft house in Ohio for $180k. 30 years later, there is modest appreciation on the Ohio home but his Bay Area house is now worth close to 2 million. He calls this his retirement nest egg. Otherwise, his income is not significantly higher than what he would be earning if he lived in Ohio.

Bill O'Neil all the way. He may not know anything about a bridge in Cincinnati but he knows plenty about the ladies.

Cant see him wanting to sell. He bought them with the long goal to pull them out of Columbus and move to Austin. It is not just an investment for him it is a personal thing. He loves Austin and calls it his second home. It could have been Columbus, KC, Orlando, Atlanta, Minnesota, it would not matter. He wants to own a team in Austin. THis is why I don't think he is selling.

ABC was always lagging The Late Show and Tonight show and was looking for something to compete in that block. This plan was underway before the whole Ari Fleisher thing surfaced.

it was partially coincidental. ABC was already In talks to develop Kimmel around that time.

Bill Maher was cancelled because the show ran its course and got stale. Yes, his HBO show is based on the same format, but caters to more of a niche audience (HBO subscribers).

Because it engages an already energized audience. It does not change votes or opinions. The people who voted Trump would never vote Hillary and vice versa. Nobody saw an add on Facebook that said Hillary sold US Secrets and said, gee I liked her but I cant vote for her now, so I guess I will vote Trump since she is dishonest. They just go to energize the so called base, and it is debatable how effective FB ads are in doing that.

Reminder that this thread for the discussion of the Columbus/Central Ohio housing market, not the discussion of the Cincinnati housing market.

Trump did not win the election because of collusion with the Russians or Russian Facebook trolls. Trump won because of a combination of frustration from being taken for granted by many residents of the heartland coupled with an extremely weak candidate on the democratic side who really did not offer much to the people of the heartland and spoke to them as if they were second class citizens. Just because people may not be educated does not mean they cannot sense the distain from that candidate towards them. Facebook trolls is just a cute convenient excuse

Starter home development has not come back yet. Banks need a hefty guarantee from the builder to make the financing work

The middle class is getting larger and taking a larger portion of income. Where everyone talks about the middle class, it is the median part of the middle class that is shrinking. People are moving away from the median of say 55k. Some are being pushed lower on the scale while many are being pushed up. Believe it or not, 150k a year is middle class. Upper middle maybe but still middle class. In fact, that area has seen the greatest growth over the last decade.

^ He is a disciple of Buddy Gray a famous homeless advocate in Cincinnati who ran the drop in center and was a force in the city in the 70s and 80s and part of the 90s until he was gunned down. Buddy set OTR redevelopment efforts back 20 years because of his insistence to keep OTR as a haven for the poor and sought to prevent any development or opportunities to revitalize the neighborhood. He wielded considerable more power than Spring does at that time. Plus, the movers and shakers of the town did not really focus on the benefits of developing OTR at that time and the benefits of a healthy downtown. Spring came around trying to emulate him but the times had changed. Now instead of a voice of the homeless who can be part of the solution, he really has been reduced to a voice in the room with no credibility.

^ Washington Park has been turned into an urban melting pot and something that should be considered the envy of many neighborhoods nationwide. Josh Spring may have a platform, but his voice should carry zero credibility anymore. He is nothing more than a blowhard.