OHSnap

The wife and I take Chipotle or Jimmy John's into Reds games every time we go. Beats paying $5 for a warmed-over slice of LaRosa's or $7 for a cheeseburger, and yes, the stadium security is cool with bringing food in. This is great if JJ's is open until 7 or 8p on game nights. They should do well. The 4th Street location closed at I think 6p weekdays, and I'm pretty sure was closed altogether on weekends.

I'm not entirely certain of this, I'll admit, but I have to believe that a highway or bridge financed by federal money can't discriminate among vehicle classes on a permanent basis. If there's a safety issue, such as hazardous cargo rules or width restrictions or temporary bridge weight limits, then they obviously can. But just to say you truckers can't drive here because we don't like congestion, well I would think that would be on legally shaky ground. Truckers pay a heck of a lot in federal and state fuel taxes and would be up in arms over being prohibited from one highway and forced to use a 20-mile-longer "bypass" route. I also think the current administrations in KY and OH would be loathe to legislate such a change, since both the trucking lobby groups and the many large companies (read: UPS in Louisville) that ship along 71/75 would probably protest loudly.

Ah, Gold Coast. God I love Chicago.

I guess this is something of an occasion - the first vertical structure of Oakley Station is up. There are cement block walls under construction on the site of the Cinemark Theater adjacent to Sam's Club. I saw it from a distance so I don't know details of what's been built. Site prep, and what I assume to be environmental remediation, continue at other parts of the site. A rebuilt Ibsen between Ridge and Marburg is mostly finished, though last I checked I don't think it was striped. It's seeing occasional open periods, probably to do with the church and weekend shopping. My guess is that it will be open through the holidays if it's not officially complete by the end of Wednesday. Earthwork continues on the Kennedy Connector. What appears to be storm sewers are installed at the Madison end. Work to move the floodwall and bridge Duck Creek at the Kennedy/Duck Creek end continue.

MSP is a city where I can get behind the skywalk idea. I was there in December a couple of years ago, and between the bitter winds knifing through the streets and the snow piled up on curbs and sidewalks, it was not a pleasant time to be outside. Then we found the skywalks and I nodded to myself in approval. It's the same with Duluth - I found out the campus of UMD is almost entirely connected by tunnels. Seems so intuitive. Those are both also cities where the other three seasons are so agreeable I doubt people use the skywalks/tunnels except in the winter. Few worries about people avoiding the street-level businesses to take the quick way across the street.

I haven't read the whole thread, admittedly, but what is St. Ursula's objection here?

^ Politics makes for strange bedfellows here, too. MLB, the NFL, the Reds, and the Bengals combine for just as much as those three. One would contend that the Reds and Bengals stand to gain from the "stupid" streetcar. P&G is in the mix, too - it's easy to think the world HQ would stand to gain as well. In other news, MLB and the NFL give to political campaigns? [/derail]

That's an interesting thought, though I suspect it's not Hyde Park-adjacent enough for them. Yeah, that Hyde Park (Oakley) Kroger does crazy business at just about every hour of the week. It'd be less than a mile to move to Oakley Station, but they'd be giving up a lot of ground to Hyde Parkers who can't be bothered to drive farther. Of course, a true Hyde Parker would probably not be caught dead in something as low-end as something called "Remke" or "Meijer," either. It always amazed me that there is/was a singles scene at the Hyde Park Kroger.

I very much liked Duluth. The hills leading up from the lakefront reminded me of Seattle or San Francisco, shrunk and plopped down in the Upper Midwest. Now if only the winters weren't so bone chilling. You just don't go outside. The summers are amazing. Hardly need A/C.

The wife an I were stopped at the light at Gilbert and Reedy looking at the back side of the casino. She was driving, watching for the light and other traffic, slightly distracted. I said, "The design of that casino is so disappointing." She said, "It looks like a prison." I replied "I think the casino looks worse. At least the jail there has windows, it's not a featureless beige box." She paused and said, "Oh. I was looking at the jail. You're right, the casino is much worse than the jail."

The takeoff run and required length of a runway is calculated from a bunch of parameters, including weight as you mention, but also max temperature/humidity and elevation. And it's not just the distance needed to takeoff, but to also safely come to a stop from takeoff velocity if the no-go decision is made during roll-out. Oh, and runways are uniformly thick along their length and width. Air traffic is less of a consideration for cargo carriers as the bulk of their operations are at night when passenger and GA activity is at its lowest. Rickenbacker does in fact have two 12,000-foot runways. Dayton has a 10,900 foot runway, Airborne Airpark has 10,700, and Toledo Express has 10,600. All of these would be fine for the 767s DHL runs these days. As for why DHL moved back to CVG, it's complicated, but as I recall (and I might be forgetting details), first there was the freight carrier Airborne Express (ABX). ABX became the wholly-owned contract US freight airline for DHL, because as a foreign carrier DHL is not allowed to fly point-to-point within the US, only from the US to international destinations. DHL/ABX built out Wilmington as a hub for this domestic service, and as such built it quite large because of the volume it was carrying domestically (I think at one time Wilmington was in the top two or three US airports for cargo tonnage). DHL, meanwhile, initially ran its international gateway at CVG, but later consolidated this to Wilmington. When DHL later decided to pull out of the US domestic shipping market, it had no need to own and operate the airport and large hub at Wilmington. Thus ABX moved its operations to CVG for its international shipping, where there was already a mothballed DHL hub facility that was closer to the correct size. DHL continues to use ABX for its international lift, while ABX also has other contracts. From what I can tell, DHL's remaining international routes from CVG are limited to Leicester, England, Guadalajara, Mexico and Hamilton, Ontario. You don't need a huge hub at Wilmington for that.

Let's just forget everything Drunk Cyclist said and go to a reputable source. Here's an article written by a professional cycling coach published today in a reputable newspaper: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/what-drivers-should-know-about-sharing-the-road-with-bicyclists-and-vice-versa/2012/09/15/4b8c9426-fe72-11e1-8adc-499661afe377_story.html

Since it hasn't been mentioned directly this one is overly simplistic. The width of the lane; number of lanes; visibility of oncoming traffic (hills, curves, buildings etc.); the type of roadway you're on; and you being courteous enough to let traffic through when the condition improves are all additional reasons enough to be variables on when you should and shouldn't double up, or for that matter ride the center of the lane. In Cincinnati, at least, it's not only perfectly legal to ride two abreast, at times it is actually prudent. Taking up a larger part of the roadway makes you more visible to drivers, and a larger group will encourage safer passing by motorists. It's also clear here that he doesn't know what a paceline is. A paceline is, by definition, single file (though you can do two-abreast pacelines, but if you're doing that in high-traffic areas you're looking for trouble).

Enquirer up to it again, just had to throw in some info about bike paths: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120911/NEWS/309110040/Bicyclist-killed-Metro-bus-accident Someone calls the authors out in the comments, and she's right - there's no need to mention whether or not there are bike paths or bike lanes or sharrows or anything. To present it offhand like this adds fuel to the "no bike path = cycling is dangerous" fire. The subliminal take-away from that throwaway sentence is that streets are for cars, bike paths are for cyclists.

Another one: http://www.local12.com/news/local/story/Metro-Bus-Hit-and-Kills-Bicyclist-in-Bond-Hill/JBPvP5L-00SakyNgIym7LA.cspx?rss=30 Second in two weeks. So far, this one sounds like the cyclist may have been at fault, but this summer has not been a good one. I learned of this after finishing my own commute to work.

^My quick take on the subject is that it seems by creating an entertainment district the city would be picking favorites. Right now bars and restaurants in Oakley, Hyde Park, and Mount Lookout draw a good crowd and have built good businesses. Here comes the city and says "Oh yeah, just plop down 12-15 new competitors for these businesses, waive the expense of a liquor license, and give them plenty of free parking." It's essentially the city putting established businesses at a competitive disadvantage. I can imagine a scenario where I organize a group to go to Habits on a weeknight. Doubtless someone would say "Let's go to that new place at Oakley Station instead. It's right off the highway, it's easy to find parking, and the drinks are cheaper." If you were Habits' owner, you'd be peeved that the city made that happen, too. It's sort of like a small town doing all it can to lure a Wal-Mart because of the promise of jobs. It's short-sighted because even though the old family businesses might not compete directly with Wal-Mart, shoppers stop going into town altogether because they can get almost everything they want at one place, without fighting traffic or searching for parking. Is this entertainment district a better fit than big box stores? Maybe so, especially since upthread we talked about how there aren't too many big box stores that don't already have a location within five miles. It could also turn out to be "The Banks Lite," with entertainment, food, and drink below high-density residential - and that sort of mixed use would be better than big boxes, I think we'd agree. But the day Habit's, Arthur's, or MLT closes in favor of a Claddagh or Generic Sports Bar would be a sad day, especially if the city helps it happen.

Just drove by it a bit ago - today they've encased much of the new sheet piling in concrete to match the existing wall. One assumes the existing two-year-old wall behind the new wall will come down next? Sorry to drone on about this minor detail, but it just screams of waste and poor planning to pay tear down a chunk of brand new flood wall and replace it with new relocated one, when a little coordination would have allowed the Army Corps to build it just once in the proper place for the Kennedy Connector. It angers me that our federal taxes paid for the first wall to last only two years, then the TIF property taxes are paying to tear it down and move it thirty feet.

^Jeffrey and OU02 have it right. If I remember correctly, the Army Corps contractor that built the Duck Creek floodwall drove sheet piling and encased it in concrete for the entire length of the floodwall. I'm working under the assumption that this is what's going on now - it looks like they're moving the (brand-new) wall a good 20-30 feet closer to Duck Creek Road. Though if it's common to use those for simple excavation, perhaps they're using it only temporarily as they work on something else - perhaps footings for an overpass over the wall and creek to the hillside beyond.

Sheet piling? Yeah, that's probably the word. I'm not an engineer...

I was part of the memorial ride with CCC on Tuesday night. We left from Oakley Cycles, rode to the scene of the accident, then in along Riverside, up Main to just above Liberty, then back to Oakley via Gilbert, Eden Park, and Madison. The ride organizer (Frank Henson of Queen City Bike) said he believed Andrew lived on Main just above Liberty, where E. McMicken branches off. We paused for a few moments outside the building thought to be Andrew's. At the time, I didn't know he was married. A bit morbid feeling now, but if anyone was home I think it would have been a nice tribute to see outside the building. The guy was 27 and married - probably less than five years. Just starting out, living like most of us aspire to. Hits close to home.

Nice old building, but it's been empty for the better part of a decade. I feel like I've seen a couple different for sale/lease signs on it as it's passed through different hands, but no one came up with the money and interest to rehab it, I guess. Yeah, a look at the auditor's site shows it was owned by the school board until 2006, when the school closed after a failed charter experiment. It then passed to DCI with plans to turn it into condos. (DCI is behind much of the condo development in that area, it seems.) Then something called River Park Properties in Newark, OH took it over earlier this year, and applied in May for a permit to demolish. It is a shame, but I guess a business case couldn't be made to fix it up in those six years.

Hey NorthAndre-- I'm interested in your (and other Chicagoans') impressions of the new Ronald McDonald House. I saw a few pictures of it a page back but wonder how it fits with the neighborhood now that it's open. I know that chunk of Grand was a little gritty and run down, sandwiched between the Navy Pier stuff and Michigan Ave, so I wonder if the development of this House has helped bridge that. I've heard an insider report that the new House is beautiful, but looking for a citizen's view of it.

It's only a tiny slice, though. Driving that section of the Skyway is post-apocalyptic, but Merrillville, Valparaiso, Chesterton - from what I've seen these towns seem to get some investment and more or less thrive as far-flung suburbs of Chicago. I haven't been to Michigan City, though. I think the bigger issue is the city that ties itself so thoroughly to one industry. When the industry is booming, good times. But cheap foreign competition pulled the rug out from under Gary, and with it went the population and the tax base. A city of industry, like your 401k, benefits greatly from diversification.

It's pretty good, though my impression is that it's a fair amount of crafty girly stuff. But I've only been once. I understand there will be a whole passel of food trucks on site, so that could be a draw on its own. Last time they had a pair of DJs spinning actual vinyl records (remember those?), and they were amazing.

It's not the Enquirer, so maybe it doesn't fit here, but WKRC front-paged a story about the casino hiring that's no more than a press release: http://www.local12.com/news/local/story/Horseshoe-Casino-Cincinnati-Wants-to-Hire-You/ElVZVceZdUGyvWKM9GTivA.cspx So now pretty much all of Cincinnati's news sources are bloggers or PRNewswire.