NEOBuckeye

For a small innurb, GH is really leveraging the available land that it has to grow itself as of late. It's still seems bizarre to me how Columbus's growth and annexation patterns bypassed this area, leaving it as a separate municipality literally just minutes from downtown. I can't think of many other cities with this type of setup.

I forgot that this tower one was going to be substantially taller than the original one opposite it. It’s a nice addition to the Columbus skyline. Will be interesting to see the North Market tower and it’s contribution as well.

I think Bibb is going to be a breath of fresh air for Cleveland in many ways. This is one of them. West Side Market for certain needs a level of service and care that the City of Cleveland itself isn't able to and competent enough to provide, and really should never have been in the business of providing in the first place.

There's something unsettling about seeing gas stations and car vending as the highlights of new development in Polaris.

I always felt like the Arsenal would be prime for economic redevelopment, and there were a few proposals floated 10+ years ago to convert it into a commercial airfield surrounded by warehouses, not unlike Rickenbacker in Columbus. Unfortunately the state and military nixed it. Would have been a real shot in the arm for the Ravenna area.

A net gain, or just breaking even? Feels more like the latter, since it's a relocation rather than an actual new addition to the Downtown scene. Good for the Bowery development, but a loss for the Main-Market district.

If hyperloop tech were commercially viable, I'd be all in for it. And the fact is, it isn't. Even if it might be so someday, someday is not today. Meanwhile, we have a similar proven technology in HSR that does the job in Japan and Europe. Why not also here in the United States? Why do we let ourselves become so easily distracted by techno-fantasies when practical solutions already exist?

Just building basic passenger rail in this state would be a technological and socioeconomic breakthrough at this point. At least it's a proven technology. Who needs the hyperloop for that?

For all the focus on Merriman Valley, I'm a little surprised that no developer as of yet has eyeballed the Ellet-Springfield area for more substantial investment and re-development. Granted, there isn't near as much pristine land still around there as in the valley, but the whole Canton Road/Rt. 224 corridor seems vastly underused and is kinda sprawly compared to the rest of the city. It certainly has the potential to be so much more of a point of interest on the SW side of Akron than it currently is. In particular, I could see tons of mixed use development taking shape along the stretch of Canton Road from Wedgewood in Ellet to Rt. 224 in Springfield Township, and even down East Market between Canton Road and the I-76 overpass. Ellet itself falls within the Akron city limits (it was annexed in 1928) but seems almost an afterthought to city leadership, although APS just finished dumping a bunch of money on rebuilding its schools. FWIW, the Ellet cluster schools seem to have gotten more TLC in the school reconstruction plan save for NW Akron and the Firestone High cluster. I always wondered what Ellet might have looked like today had it incorporated under its own govt. Feels like it might have become something akin to a "budget" Fairlawn. Maybe it could still be. Akron doesn't currently have too many additional places on the fringes it can really develop, short of tearing up Plusquellic's JEDDs and pursuing annexation in its outlying townships.

Cannot speak on Detroit or Baltimore, but I'm very curious to see how Cleveland's next mayor will influence economic development and growth in the city and region. Jackson during his four terms has been notoriously insular, obstinate, and low-key, often to the detriment of both. Cleveland needs leadership more like its previous mayors (e.g. White, Voinovich, Campbell) that really champions the city and sees it as the essential driving force for Cuyahoga County and all of NE Ohio, rather than an island unto itself. There's zero reason at this point why Cleveland and NE Ohio can't be bigger magnets for businesses and people. A higher energy mayor with real passion for maximizing the value of the city and its assets would go a long way.

The future for Phoenix looks grim, as well as for much of the southwest due to mounting water shortages and regular waves of temperatures well above the 120s that will threaten infrastructure and human capacity to survive. I can't help but believe that Rust Belt metros are going to see substantial population growth in the coming decades due to climate crisis refugees from that part of the country heading back this way. Maybe not quite enough for cities like Cleveland and Detroit to return to their all time high population peaks in short order, but population growth throughout the broader region will be trending positive again by the 2030 Census. Even without refugees, however, Buffalo and Cincy posting gains offers some reason to be hopeful that population loss throughout the broader region is slowing down as deindustrialization winds down, the reconstruction of urban centers advances, and remote working takes off. Nonetheless, the Rust Belt/Great Lakes region may be the greatest beneficiary of the climate crisis. Cities should anticipate this and start preparing now to manage a new wave of significant growth and expansion.

Cranley is Gen X? He sure acts and sounds like an aged 60+ Boomer to me. In any case, with he and Whaley wasting time and money on a primary, DeWine is virtually guaranteed re-election. The Dems in this state can't afford such divisive shenanigans. They need to get behind a single candidate and run a virtually flawless campaign from the middle. Even then, DeWine would be extremely tough to beat. FWIW, Whaley seems to be the better bet. She received some regional and national attention after the Oregon District Shooting, which elevated her profile. Cranley is virtually unknown outside of the Cincy city limits. People in NE Ohio still think Jerry Springer is Mayor down there.

Why not a two-pronged approach? Build out I-73 AND commuter rail. An interstate-grade limited-access highway will support inter-city traffic between Columbus, Toledo, and beyond, while commuter rail between the city of Delaware and Downtown Columbus with several key stops in between (e.g. Polaris, Worthington) can dramatically reduce commuter traffic congestion. We're the wealthiest country on earth. Why is this sort of thing so difficult for us?

Thanks for the correction. I did overlook Detroit.

As a few others have chimed in, and as someone who has lived all over Ohio including in Columbus, I also don't see Columbus as having an identity "crisis" so much as a general lack of a strong, static identity. I also agree that could actually be a sign of good health, in a sense. Bear in mind that despite its age (founded in 1812), Columbus remains somewhat fluid in terms of population influx, social and economic growth, municipal boundaries, etc. compared to cities like Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati, places that have maintained static borders for decades due to suburb incorporation and state annexation laws making it nearly impossible for these cities to grow through direct annexation, and which have also bled out hundreds of thousands more people since the collapse of industry in this region than they have taken in. Columbus for its part has more than doubled in size since the 1950s, when Cleveland was near its all-time economic and population zeniths. Today, Cleveland is less than half its high-water population mark of 915,000, while Columbus is set to eclipse that stat within the next few years and will likely soon after become the first city in Ohio--and second in the midwest after Chicago--to achieve a within city limits municipal population of 1 million. Columbus has taken on a lot of new people during the past several decades, and with it, new ideas, cultures, and investment, resulting in the creation of new businesses, groups, and the rise of new individuals, all of whom are adding their own pages and chapters to a story of Columbus and its accompanying network that still remains largely accessible and undefined, compared to the story and networks in other, "older" cities. Maybe Columbus starts to settle into "something" approaching a static culture and identity in another few decades when it is finally built out and walled-in on all sides by future built-out suburbs like Sunbury and Jeffersonville, and once the influx of new people and investment has slowed and shifted to other places? For now, it seems there is benefit to the churning and growth that is happening. I say take advantage of it.

Definitely a loss for Canton, and a questionable move for the Cavs/NBA. I somehow don't see Clevelanders going to the Wolstein Center in the shadow of Rocket Loans Arena to catch a budget, minor league version of an already struggling post-LeBron era NBA franchise. At least in Canton, there was some appeal for D-league games at the Civic Center. It was both super accessible and affordable, and made for a decent family night out. Guess it was fun while it lasted.

Renacci is totally going after the Trump voters. IMHO, DeWine will hold the middle (center-right/never Trumpers), plus the Dems in this state who have no qualms about switching parties to vote for a moderate Republican they like (e.g. Kasich in the 2016 Ohio POTUS Primary). DeWine probably wins re-election easily. Barring some disastrous scandal that erupts and badly tarnishes him, the same Dems who vote for him in the primary election likely won't be that motivated to GOTV for Whaley or Cranley in November.

Cranley needs to stay in Cincy. Whaley seems to have more of a finger on the pulse of what this state needs in leadership.

That general area of Main, East Market, and South High Street is gradually shaping up to become a rather nice entertainment district in its own right, and a viable alternative to the South Main-Canal Park entertainment district on the other end of Downtown. Now what would really be cool is if they could connect it with Northside. Maybe they could create a tunnel/passageway under MLK/Perkins?

Just say thank you to former Gov. John "we need to make Ohio cool" Kasich who couldn't have connected these dots if doing so would have punched his otherwise ever-elusive ticket to the Oval Office. Because of him, we are more than a decade behind where we could be at this point. How much more socially and economically and vibrant might all of Ohio's metropolitan areas be if car ownership and all of its associated costs and challenges wasn't such a fundamental component of living in them? Who can blame people for passing on this state and its cities for others where car ownership isn't essential? We really should be in a place where we are taking about upgrading and expanding rail that we've already got at this point, rather than facing down the political hurdle of re-establishing it. And, at least re-establishing it is on the table in this moment.

Firestone Heights?

Twinsburg and Northfield are as much Cleveland suburbs as Kent and Wadsworth are Akron suburbs. Agreed that county lines are the dumbest way to define metro areas.

Seems like some additional annexation north along I-71 & Rt. 23 past Polaris and further into Delaware County is inevitable, at the very least. It's one of the least obstructed avenues that the city has for additional growth, barring Powell or Sunbury going on a major annexation binge first.

Anything over 915,000 would itself be historic--surpassing Cleveland's all-time high water mark in 1950 to become the largest city ever in Ohio. Columbus is also on track to be the first city in Ohio to ever amass 1 million residents within its city limits, likely within this decade.

Probably the best thing that could have happened for that property, short of redeveloping it into a distribution center. For a while, I thought a developer might buy it and convert it into residential or senior housing. I like the idea of CH remaining some kind of business center though, even with a lot less retail. I always felt like there should have been more of a mix of commercial corporate, retail and industrial use there, as well as residential. Instead, it's been almost exclusively a retail zone, and that proved to be its biggest liability as a district.