ck

He also said Columbus, Indiana is probably better known than Columbus, Ohio: At least he acknowledged people disagreed. But I still can't get past him saying that. It's ridiculous. You could point out so many world class things in Columbus, but he really thinks that if you go to Europe you will run into more people who know of Columbus, Indiana (population 44k) than Columbus, Ohio... lol I didn't even know there was a Columbus, Indiana until 4 years ago when I told someone from Indiana I was from Columbus and they thought I meant the Indiana one. I guess that's my bad though. He also says Louisville is famous because of the Kentucky Derby. Which, I'm ashamed to say, I had no idea was in Louisville. I knew it was in Kentucky and that's about it. Louisville, to me, is known for the Louisville Slugger. I think he has some ok ideas about certain things, but he's also a bit delusional.

Sand Dunes - Southern California just outside Yuma, AZ ~110 F

http://www.geekwire.com/2014/amazons-bezos-suburban-hq-wrong-decision/ Is it better for Seattle and the environment? Yes. Is the argument about attracting employees factual? Maybe... Microsoft does have a suburban campus in Redmond, just outside of Seattle, and there are plenty of Amazonians who are jealous because msft has loads of parking for them. Amazon's campus charges employees for parking and has huge wait lists to secure a spot.

I'm in Phoenix. There's a commuter train that goes straight down the middle of the city and to the university district. My gf rides it every day to work, but it's too limited for me and most (although it's being expanded because it definitely does work for the population it can serve). I work on the west side and live in the middle. It takes me 15 minutes to get to work driving. I have no options to get to work in under an hour except to drive. There are buses but they're sparse, cost as much or more than driving (would take rail to bus to work) and waiting at a bus stop or walking 10 blocks from a stop in 120 degree temps is not fun. The worst part of phoenix transportation (outside of the insanely sprawling area it covers and lack of options) is that you are pretty much forced to drive with a bunch of people who don't seem to care about living or don't understand how dangerous they're being. Every single day you hear about 5-6 accidents on the freeway and the side streets are all 40-45mph speed limits which means people are driving 50-55mph right next to sidewalks. They also seem to believe the light turning red means only 1 or 2 more people are allowed through. Not a fan When I lived in Seattle I took the bus for the first 5-6 years. Took about 45 minutes for a normal 15 minute drive. Worst part was standing on the bus due to crowding and buses coming early (why oh why!?!). They have a commuter train from downtown to the airport that's great, and that's being expanded too, so that's nice. When I lived in Columbus I took the bus. Which meant the shift job I worked downtown on Sundays would leave me stranded at night and force me to walk home (near 5th). The winters were rough. I will say as someone who pretty much rode the city bus my whole life until 4-5 years ago, getting a car opened up my world tremendously. I'm all for public transportation, but man once I got a car I could decide at a moment's notice that I wanted to go drive out to the country and hike around some mountains or eat at a random secluded diner or go anywhere I wanted without having to ensure a bus could get me there and back. Quality of life shot through the roof.

Cool that it's adding something, but for such a good location it underwhelms.

Little bit of Kitt Peak going on

Cool, ya I haven't done much except for going on the main arterials. I'll make it a point to check it out (if it ever snows on that mountain again... man, I want to ski!)

Haven't been to Santa Fe yet, it's on my list. Now Flagstaff AZ should be on this list. It's really appealing to outdoorsy and artist types as well. A very cool, scenic and well-kept downtown...it could very well be the next Asheville NC. Where is this flagstaff you speak of? I've been there about 7 times over the last year and outside of a chipotle that's delicious after hiking or skiing on their 1 - 1 1/2 mountain(s) I haven't seen much there. Maybe I'm not giving it a fair shake, but have not been impressed. I wish Bisbee, AZ was at the bottom of a mountain you could ski on... much cooler in my opinion. But again, maybe I'm just not giving it a chance.

The renovation might be nice inside, but ugh that facade is ugly:

Ciao - Venice for a few days. The mickey mouse park of Italy. Cool buildings, mediocre experience.

In Orleans, France for a few days: Cathédrale Sainte-Croix d'Orléans

Wow that looks like some great hiking right about there - nice shot

pretty cool Robert... and on such a nice looking day otherwise!

Seattle from the University District:

Not so much for me - Maybe around 9,000' and higher is when I start feeling it. Then you just need to ensure you're basically hyperventilating when you feel like you can't catch your breath. It's worth it though, as the scenery from that high is, excuse the pun, breathtaking.

Went hiking yesterday and got a pano from 7200' -- click for large version

Yes absolutely - thanks Columbo! re: jeremeyck01 I was in columbus for a weekend in mid july and absolutely loved the short north. It was definitely world class feeling. The problem, still, is that outside of the central city there's not much appeal (at least for me). And I also don't think the short north has the overall density to keep the vibrancy throughout the work week and the day time. The short north on Friday and Saturday nights is much different than the short north on tuesday at 1pm. Density would help that tremendously - and it's coming, just slowly.

Got to shoot some this weekend :) And a panoramic that is a bit too wide so I'll just link it:

Yes, you are implying if people knew more about Cedar Point then more people would move to Ohio. Or I guess Michigan or Indiana since you have to drive a bit from any population center in Ohio to get to Cedar Point. I think it's a bit laughable. Sure it's fun, but it's an amusement park (albeit a great one) and there are amusement parks all over the place. So a revised statement is advertise what we have - Like what? What differentiates us from all the other places people can go? Not much when it comes down to it. I love Ohio as much or more than most people, but it's absolutely true that if you weren't born and raised in Ohio, you don't view it with the fondness we do. We tend to see what we love, not what everyone else sees - which is just run of the mill places. Sure, a lot of work has been done in the cities and there's great revitalization, but don't kid yourself thinking that if people just knew more then they would want to be here. Maybe you don't know what all these other places have to offer if you think that. And if replies to this come in and point out things you like, think about if that can be found in a number of other places as well... more than likely it can.

Virtually every person I know from out of state has moved here either because of their job, or because they had familial support here. I know very few, if met anyone really, who moved here out of the blue. I will try, but I cannot recall anyone ever telling me they moved here because of public transit, the music scene, the four seasons, beaches, etc. As far as I know the state is not luring people based solely on the adventure of living here (as in NYC). \ On a bright note, everyone I know from out of state likes it here. :| Of course that's why they moved here. Don't you get it?!?! If we're not growing that fast, and the only reason some people are moving is because their job brought them, then don't you think we need to do a little something different to get people to WANT to move here regardless of the job?? Then if you get an educated base, you will get those jobs following. When companies are looking to move or expand somewhere, they're not looking to bring all their employees with them - they need a pool of people they can choose from. -edit maybe I should revise this. If the only people we're trying to attract are people looking for a low cost of living, then I guess we can just let the area rot and we can attract a bunch of low cost of living people! Or if we're looking for absolute high growth, then we can be like texas and arizona and let a lot of immigrants move in, documented or not (which I'm actually completely for). Or we can get a bunch of low wage jobs by giving super tax breaks to big boxes and build a bunch of low income housing sprawled out everywhere and have unskilled jobs and workers beaucoup. Or we can make our cities gems of medium growth, medium sized, interconnected hubs of education, arts, research and wellness. That only comes with doing things differently than we have thus far and making people actually want to come here. And it would snowball. Get the people coming, get the jobs following and reap the rewards. That might be a bit simplistic, but all this other stuff I've seen on here is just short sighted. I'm going to stop talking now - I'm not really trying to argue, and apologies if I offended. I'm not educated in this, so I could well be talking out of other places of my body... But it seems logical, and I'm going to stick with what makes sense.

:-o We shouldn't be trying to draw people in with amusement parks :| And a good place to raise a family can be found in or nearby every city in the states. Those are the types of sentiments that keep us from differentiating. And no, u don't need CEOs wanting to live there, u need their employees to want to live there.

I do have to say that when I've been in Atlanta, and Georgia overall, I thought it was absolutely terrible and wondered why so many people lived there. I'm sure there are bright spots, but not impressed. Everyone keeps talking about jobs. It was mentioned earlier in the thread that jobs aren't really the main issue. Keep thinking they are - This isn't the middle of the 20th century or earlier though. People have easy options to move where they want and we've got air conditioning now. You can go to ANY region of the country and find a job somewhere around there. I'm sure there are exceptions to that, but for the most part it holds true. You need to make people want to live somewhere and then jobs will certainly follow - especially in the day and age where people can work remotely (and that's not going backwards - it'll just get more and more so). Keep kidding yourselves - Of course jobs are necessary, but they are not what's bringing people to Ohio and making them want to stay and tell others to come too. Maybe if a huge fortune 100 were to move to a city and really develop their area it could be a nice injection and raise the quality of the area, but that doesn't happen often. If you focus on tax breaks and roads then you're going to get people paying less taxes and you're going to spend more on roads. Focus on differentiating our cities from anywhere else. Focus on giving the residents something you can't find many other places. It's really not rocket science - there needs to be a defining characteristic that attracts people and that's NOT, "it's a great place to raise a family" vagueness... You can quite literally say that about areas of pretty much any state. I'm currently travelling in San Antonio. This place is not spectacular by any means, but what do a lot of people think of when they hear it? The Alamo and the little riverwalk thing. It's really not too impressive and would be easy to do the same type of thing anywhere, in a much more impressive way. Columbus has a river that runs through the heart of the city, and really what's done with it?? There's a little stage on it that gets some play sometimes, but if you built a neighborhood that incorporated the river and connected to german village and the short north and had sculptures and local restaurants and bars and shows and cool architecture and... the list goes on. It's not rocket science. We spend how many millions on various other projects that don't do much... why not start building uniqueness? I think Columbus has a pretty good start and a really high potential, but it needs to be realized. Same with cleveland and cincinnati. And the better any one of those do, the better they all do - IF they are connected by more than a freeway. Trains would have been a big help. Ohio just does the same old thing as everywhere else - it isn't working. It's common sense really. And as far as the `creative class`... All it means is that people are talking. They want to go somewhere where innovation is happening. They don't want to just go to the grocery store, watch movies and go to work. They want to DO. You have to foster that and make them feel like where they live is unique and inspiring. I want to walk out of my apartment every day and feel alive, not a drone just killing time until I pass away. </rant>

You can do all the nice things like painting buildings and not having orange barrels everywhere and helping tuition... That'll never put mountains in the state or really nice beaches or a mega-city (5+ million) or nice weather. The population trends the last 20-30 years seem to point to people going to those places. West coast for the mountains and water and beaches. East coast for the mega cities. South for the weather and beaches/water. The only way Ohio comes back, imo, is when we do something to stand out in a way, obviously, that makes people want to be a part of it. We don't have anything mentioned above (lake erie could be an incentive), so what do we do?? There are several ideas, but few would get by the mentality that has kept us where we are... that killed the trains... that keep cars #1, that would rather see more suburbs etc... Maybe encouraging immigration and trying to build a large population base off of diversity could help - other than that, it seems hard to think Ohio's current population would, en masse, go for something that would really be a game changer.