mu2010

Those seats haven't been filled for years unfortunately. I used to not mind them back when I was a high school student in the mid 00s. $7 a pop, I'd go with my buddies. It's got to be a significant impact on total seating capacity.... Or will they sell tickets specifically for that area, where you don't have a traditional seat?

Am I the only one that has never been that smitten with the Terminal Tower? I have very little technical knowledge of architecture but I find the LeVeque Tower, of a similar date, style, and place, to be more aesthetically pleasing. Something about the TT, it just seems too skinny and too brown, and the top looks too much like a castle at Disneyland. I was born in 1988 so I have no memory of Cleveland sans Key Tower and BP Tower, therefore I don't have the intense devotion/nostalgia for TT that older Clevelanders seem to have. Don't get me wrong, I know it's a time-honored symbol of our city, and very significant for its day... I just feel that planning future buildings around it is absolutely ridiculous and a surefire way to always be stuck in the past. I think the Terminal Tower would be just lovely 50 years from now as a historical treasure in a bustling city, surrounded by many taller buildings.

That's an interesting point I hadn't considered, and you may be right. Lyft seemed to be pretty popular though. Obviously that means nothing without knowing the #s, so who knows.

In case anyone would like to join me: Dear Councilman Hardin, I learned this morning that the Lyft ride sharing service will exit the Columbus market in a few weeks, due to "mounting pressure from local regulators." Lyft and similar services represent a substantial innovation in transportation. Passengers have the ability to request rides on their smartphones, the ability to track their driver real-time on a maps app as he/she drives to the pick-up location, and the ability to pay, and tip, the driver on the phone. This allows for both customers and drivers to feel safer during the ride, as no cash need be exchanged or carried by either party. All of these factors make Lyft's experience leaps and bounds ahead of anything offered by traditional taxi companies. In addition, passengers are treated to a friendly experience as Lyft drivers often provide snacks or water to riders. Finally, Lyft has been a source of income to many Columbusites during these tough economic times. I have personally taken Lyft rides from drivers from all walks of life, from Somalian immigrant to Ohio State student. Our free enterprise system sometimes requires that young, innovating business force old, stagnant ones to change or die. Often, the old, stagnant businesses will attempt to use scare tactics and lobbying muscle to convince governments and citizens to drive the innovator out of town. Please do not let that happen here. Lyft represents the future of transportation, and taxis represent the past. As we in Columbus take justifiable pride in being a forward-thinking city, I would urge you and your colleagues to take action immediately and get Lyft back into our city. While reasonable regulations are appropriate, please ensure that the regulations do not nullify the advantages that Lyft has over local taxi companies. Please allow them to continue operating, substantially as they have been. Please confirm your receipt of this message and thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely, mu2010

This type of thing really bothers me. Classic example of government stifling innovation by siding with inferior, but well-established, well-connected old guard. The taxi companies have probably given their fair share of "campaign contributions" over the years. I don't even care about the service - I prefer to walk or ride COTA - and I don't drink so if I need to I can drive myself 99% of the time - but I will be writing each member of council, on general principle.

Not to drag this off topic but I read on Wikipedia that in the old Italian neighborhood in St. Louis, "the Hill," homes are rarely sold on the open market, they instead use the local social network to buy and sell. I was wondering if this held true in Cleveland's Little Italy because I check occasionally and rarely see homes (other than new condos) listed for sale in the neighborhood. My ancestors lived in that neighborhood 100 years ago, before migrating out to South Collinwood and then the suburbs. I would love to someday buy a place there if I move back to Cleveland. I was wondering if anyone on this board knew if that was the way real estate is transacted in the neighborhood. My family are deep-rooted Cleveland Italians but I am not exactly a part of the scene enough to know who to call to buy a house, ha ha.

http://www.11points.com/Movies/11_Predictions_That_Back_to_the_Future_Part_II_Got_Right http://www.11points.com/Movies/11_Predictions_That_Back_to_the_Future_Part_II_Got_Wrong The comedy writer who does this site is LA based but he's from Beachwood, he does Cleveland sports lists and other Cleveland-related things from time to time. An interesting, less flashy thing that the movie got wrong is the internet. Among all the flying cars and hoverboards, future Marty gets fired via a fax, of which he has multiple fax machines in his house, which print the message, on paper.

I think that they are pretty comparable overall, but as a broad over generalization, South of Mayfield Rd is safer than North of Mayfield Rd, in both CH and SE. See what everyone else thinks because I don't live nearby anymore. Anecdotally, my grandma lives in SE on a quiet street between Green, Belvoir, Mayfield, and Cedar and I've never felt unsafe. I've been playing around with the idea of buying the place off of her in a few years and moving back home. At around $80k, the price is certainly right. There is some blight in those cities though, like I said mostly in the northern parts, and unfortunately their once top-notch school districts are struggling a little bit, if that's of concern.

First of all, the Browns are never moving to Columbus. Second of all, here's an interesting and relevant article from 13 years ago: http://bengals.enquirer.com/2002/11/17/wwwbenaohio17.html I know this article is 13 years old, but still rings true in my experience. The Bengals have never been able to capture a fan base like the Browns or Steelers. There's probably a bigger minority of Steeler fans than Bengals fans around here (Cbus). Buckeyes obviously run the show though, the natives don't get as crazy about the NFL. There are of course, a ton of CLE expats here, such as myself. The Browns are right to amp up the marketing here and lock in the city as a Browns-town, and I fully support the training camp move.

This was probably the hardest to swallow loss of the entire history of the post-1999 Browns. The game actually meant something, not only due to the fact that the Bengals and Ravens also lost but due to the Colts blowout of the Bengals earlier in the year, it would have helped us in the tiebreaker against them. Avoid either the end-zone interception or the missed field goal and we win the game. And the defense played so damn good against the #1 offense, it was tough to see them lose like that. It seems fan support for Hoyer is pretty much over and the era of Johnny Cleveland will begin, be it next year or next week. Cundiff has to go.

Well, maybe it could be shuttle busses to Burke? Of course the whole thing depends on if any airline would want to do the flights.

I first became aware of the phenomenon in the late 90s, when I was informed that certain people in my department were jealous that I was going to Texas on spring break. The only reason I was going to Texas is because my friend's uncle was selling him his car and I was simply going to drive him to Houston then he was going to drive his uncle's car back. That's all. But on the way to Houston I was informed that there was a group of people who had turned Texas into a hobby and had been steadily trying to out-Texas one another, and were concerned that our trip was some effort to steal Texas from them. This is when I was living in Tennessee, and Tennessee was still exporting hipsters. Sometime in the mid-2000s that all changed when Nashville suddenly became a hipster magnet. Jack White seems to have accelerated the trend when he moved there around 2005. Then just recently Nashville turned into a ridiculously expensive city. Like between 2012 and now housing prices in many areas have more than doubled and all manner of hipster and yuppie businesses have sprouted up along formerly drab suburban avenues. So people apparently strive to move to circa-2007 Nashville, but that place is now a memory, and it wasn't all that great to begin with. How do the old-time conservative residents feel about these developments? Is there major tension?

Thanks for the write-up, lots of interesting info. Funny AAF/Amtrak are coming to a 'realization' that was around 100+ years ago when places like Atlantic City were developed. Buy up the beachfront real estate, build a railroad to get people there, profit. Hopefully they can set examples for their more shortsighted peers.

With this financial success, do you think that private, profitable passenger rail is on the horizon in the next few decades? I know a lot of rail advocates are probably against or at least skeptical of privatization, but that's because privatization as it's come to be known in recent years is little more than a government handout to jail companies, parking meter companies, the turnpike etc. But if passenger rail becomes truly profitable, without subsidy, the BS political opposition starts to go away as rail stops being thought of as some kind of "liberal big government program" and big money steps in to invest in profitable rail projects. And hopefully then rail infrastructure then would start to actually grow instead of always fighting just to survive. Why shouldn't rail be profitable? It's far more efficient than cars or planes, and, absent of those subsidies to cars and planes, efficiency should equal profitability. I am watching the All Aboard Florida project with excitement and anticipation.

In Columbus both the Board of Elections HQ/Early Voting and the Job and Family Service are located on the car-oriented, not centrally located Morse Rd. Elections moved for the 2012 election, they are in a former Kohl's store. I think the JFS is relatively new too, I believe it is on the site of the former Northland Mall. Whenever I drive by I scratch my head about it.

Some guy on the Browns reddit page just found this: If you scroll down, you'll see a poster named Chris Gonos talking smack about Manziel on facebook back in June... Makes his "I love you can I get a hug" story highly suspect. EDIT: More dirt being dug up on this guy - http://www.sanduskyregister.com/article/dollars-diannas-deli/4780616

Apparently it's all on tape: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/24/cleveland-shot-boy/19471925/ I think this officer can clearly make the case that he felt his life was in danger and avoid any charges. It's all about the court of public opinion on this one... the kid is 12... and that might not go as smoothly. I am just trying to imagine if a kid brought an airsoft gun without the tip to my hometown city park in Mayfield Heights. I grew up with plenty of idiots who took the orange tips off their airsoft guns and thought they were sweet because of it. Hell, it probably happens a lot... it just never makes the news because nobody dies.

It's definitely very plausible that the kid was trying to toss the airsoft gun. We will never know for sure but why else would he reach for it? To shoot the officers with plastic pellets? Also, what is up with Cleveland 911 dispatchers? They didn't look so good during the Amanda Berry thing and now they failed to notify the police that the caller said the gun was probably fake. That is two national stories in two years where they have messed up or at least looked bad.

That's pretty much the overlap I was talking about. Yes, the kid was waving what appeared to be gun in the air, which makes the situation a little different than the Ferguson situation. I'm not taking a side over whether or not the officer was justified... I can see both sides. However, the kid was 12, which is extremely jarring, and it ended up being a fake gun. Considering those two facts, I certainly think that there are plenty of people that are going to think the shooting was unjustified, and with Trayvon Martin and now Michael Brown, tension about these police shootings is at a boiling point, I don't think that protests and unrest in Cleveland is outside of the realm of possibility. Which would be terrible and I hope it doesn't happen, although the real damage is already done because a 12 year old kid is dead. I am guilty of a sort of NIMBYism here because I think the uproar about these shootings is good in that it is bringing this issue to the national discussion. I just would hate to see it happen in Cleveland and undo or endanger some of the great progress that is happening right now not too far from where that shooting took place.

I really, really hope Cleveland doesn't turn into Ferguson now.... even though I guess I wouldn't blame people if it did. I just saw on WKYC that the orange tip of the airsoft gun had been removed... that's a very tough situation.

I am working in Canton this week and we just got lunch at Deli Ohio. What an awesome place! There actually was what appeared to be a high school class on a field trip eating while I was, and the owner of the place was speaking to them, so I got to learn all about their history and future plans. Nearly everything is local, and they are very focused on being involved with revitalization of downtown Canton. He also said that next summer, they are going to jackhammer a huge parking lot behind their building and create a urban garden/farm/park with public spaces to try to add some green space to the overly-concrete area. Just wanted to give them a shout out/recommendation. The pic I've attached is just from google streetview, but it shows the lot that will be converted, including cool "rust belt" mural.

And it's relatively low maintenance. It will require less servicing than an elevator to be ADA compliant -- even though I don't think it has to be since no federal funds were involved. I think the ADA somehow applies to state and local governments even if no federal money is involved. I am just thinking of a few examples, ie, ramps on sidewalks down to the curb, that aren't typically funded with federal money. Also, the feds don't give any money for school construction, but new schools are still ADA compliant. I have no actual experience with this, that's just anecdotal.

You're right. I have a friend whose employer in Columbus is thinking of moving from out east by the airport to downtown and paying for parking is his main concern. And he lives in the city and his commute would be shorter going downtown.

^ I completely agree, however, hopefully one day, it's sheer desirability and a need to compete that brings companies downtown, as opposed to civic responsibility or obligation.

I'll bite. I am 26 and "started out" about 4 years ago. I graduated from Miami U with an accounting degree in '10 and it was rough getting a job when I graduated. The year my classmates and I were all supposed to be getting internships was 2008-2009. That made it tough when it was time to look for full-time work. The big firms which usually hire these grads in droves barely hired that year. Eventually I found a job auditing at a smaller, far less glamourous accounting firm in the Columbus suburbs and got my CPA. Interestingly, and probably due to what happened in 2008-2010, there is now a huge shortage of auditors with around 3-5 years experience, at least in the CBus area, because I get hounded by recruiters once a week who all tell me the market is once-in-a-lifetime hot. I borrowed $50k to go to Miami when it was all said and done and another $10k on a car loan. I have been agressivelly paying it off and am down to about $14k and should be done in 10 more months. Including the extra principal payments as savings, my savings rate is somewhere around 30-40%. (I am making around $55k). I have a roommate and pay about $600/month for rent in the Short North... so yes you can live in a trendy area and still save money. I've gone on modest vacations and had fun, I just don't buy a bunch of useless crap, I guess. Obviously I am a bit of an outlier case as I have a financial education and a loathing for debt (loathing really is not strong enough a word for how I feel about debt), that has driven this debt payoff. However I am not sure things are as bleak as this msn article would suggest. I imagine they are including all student loan borrowing in their calculation to get to the -2%? I do feel that my student loan debt has been a blessing, as much as I hate it. It has made me really aware of my finances and motivated to overcome this hurdle. The budgeting and saving skills I have learned through paying off the debt, will benefit me for the rest of my life. My friends are all over the map. I grew up in a economically diverse suburb (Mayfield) on the east side of CLE. Some kids had Doctors and Lawyers for parents while were very blue collar. I have some friends who read like the articles... they haven't moved out of Mom and Dad's houses and I'm not sure what they are going to do. I have one friend who struggled to start out at first... he got a job selling gym memberships... but he was so good at it he got promoted up the ranks and now runs a gym for $90k a year. I have another friend who, the one I worry about most, did some really stupid things. He borrowed probably around $80k-$100k for a bachelors and is working for Progressive Insurance for probably something in the $30k area... I have no idea what he is going to do. I try to counsel him but there's only so much you can do. Then of course my friends from Miami are doing a bit better on average. Some went to Chicago, NY, Seattle, Colorado, etc. I would say most of my friends, 4 years out of college, are doing pretty well, even if it took some of them a little bit longer to get there. Some just got on their feet while others have been on their feet and are now having kids, buying houses, etc, but everyone is doing pretty well.