BigDipper 80

Dayton gets shafted by not having Clark County or northern Warren County included in our MSA, but we don't complain about it too much.

I don't feel like the Oakley Connection is going to be doing much for the connectivity of Oakley.

^They should replace Planet Snoopy with Emoji Land.

Oktoberfest should just be considered a part of International Street at this point, instead of its own "land". The pirate ship makes a little bit of sense if you stretch it, but Adventure Express doesn't really fit in Germany as it is.

KI's sister park Kings Dominion has generally done a better job at keeping its themed areas intact over the years. There's still a few non-sequiturs (their Backlot Stunt Coaster and Flight of Fear are in Safari Village next to the park's giant fake volcano), but they recently went so far as to bring back the Candy Apple Grove area a few years back for the park's 40th anniversary, goofy 70s animatronics and all. Why this happened at KD and not KI, seeing as they've always been owned by the same company since Taft built them, is beyond me.

I rented a house on Whitfield from Al for about a year. The house originally had a porch that he ripped off after a previous tenant drunkenly fell off of it, and it was causing all sorts of issues with the front facade of the house as a result. He ultimately ended up selling it to Gaslight without telling us, who then tore it down to build that apartment complex behind Good Sam. So we just got a knock on our door one day being told our house was about to come down without even so much as a peep from our landlord.

I'm still stunned at how quickly home values appreciated in Northside. The average selling price seemed to double or even triple between 2016 and 2017.

Yeah I own a house in Dayton and the appeal process was painless. Granted, my property value wasn't raised all that much during the reappraisal, but all I did was submit the appeal online and they left my home value alone.

When rides age, they get more expensive to maintain. Firehawk is norotiously unreliable, and it has very low capacity to boot. Although it’s only been at KI since like 2006, it was at Geauga Lake since 2001, which seems young but it’s probably the upper lifespan for this ride. Vekoma only ever built 3 of them before B&M (the company who built Banshee and Diamondback) designed their version of a flying coaster, which is much more reliable and holds more people. Supposedly whatever ends up getting removed will be replaced with a B&M giga Coaster (300+ feet) which is a win in my book.

Probably my favorite Lake Erie city (sorry Cleveland ;)). Downtown is so much more active than it was even a few years ago - let's hope that it can keep building steam and continue reinventing itself into a proper resort town with things to do beyond Cedar Point and the waterparks.

Downtown’s sleeping giant is almost ready to wake up One of the region’s most anticipated projects -- the Dayton Arcade, downtown’s sleeping giant -- is getting closer to reality, developers say. The latest move came Wednesday, when the Ohio Housing Finance Agency approved about $22.5 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credits for the Dayton Arcade, as well as a $4 million low-interest housing development loan. This is expected to be the last major milestone before financing is finalized and work begins to resuscitate the long-slumbering complex, developers said. Read more: https://www.dayton.com/news/more-tax-credits-approved-for-the-dayton-arcade-could-the-last-funding-needed/pSA4hxkB8W6PNgaDsSkXyM/

This headline does not match the photo the Enquirer decided to provide for the article...

Only a portion of Batesville is in Franklin County. Most of it is in Ripley. Franklin is pretty empty; the largest town is Brookville, which is only 2600 people.

His Neil Armstrong mural in Cincinnati is fantastic. I don't mind this one either, it adds a nice splash of color even if its subject matter is a bit of a non sequitur.

That Gravity project is so freakin' good. It's interesting and modern without being too overly-garish. Much more interesting than some of the bland, poorly-clad yuppie boxes I've seen elsewhere.

A very quick back-of-the-napkin estimate on my part would be an increase of about $100 million, based on ODOT's construction cost indices (with the caveat that the data only goes back to 2012 and I'm not sure if ODOT has any predictive indices and calculated their values based on completing the project in year 202X). Structural steel prices have just started passing where they were in 2013, with the lowest prices back in 2016. Of course, it doesn't show any signs right now of getting any cheaper in the near future, based on current trends. By the time they break ground, I could see the estimated cost being at least $3b if not higher.

I've been obsessed with the house on lower Ohio at the base of the Bellevue steps ever since I discovered it. I've posted about it a few times on here but I don't think we've ever conclusively figured out why it's so mysterious. State Avenue gives off kind of the same vibe, although it's not really all that "hidden" like the others on this list.

I took a quick weekend trip out to Vegas a few weeks ago and managed to snag a couple of shots worth sharing. IMG_8052 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_7958 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_7947 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_7939 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_7932 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_7938 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_7930 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_7921 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_7887 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_7884 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr Probably one of my favorite large-scale developments anywhere, but Hudson Yards might surpass it. IMG_7916 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_7912 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_7898 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr Snuck onto one of the angled elevators... shame they don't have windows. IMG_7890 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_7879 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_7950 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr 20180824_134214000_iOS by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_7957 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_7923 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_8049 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr Pretty good for "new" Art Deco. 20180825_035538112_iOS by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr 20180825_010048927_iOS by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr 20180825_035622253_iOS by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr 20180825_043620588_iOS by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr 20180825_041328952_iOS by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr 20180826_061023290_iOS by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr A couple from the Peppermill, which might be my new most favorite place on earth. 20180826_053851380_iOS by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr Every city needs a Peppermill! IMG_8088 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr A few from Los Angeles... unfortunately I didn't get to stay long. 20180830_123757000_iOS by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr 20180830_130956570_iOS by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr Los_Angeles (1) by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr Goodbye from Baldwin Hills!

Frankly, they're the very definition of "catalytic". Downtown has already made huge strides in the past two years, and these projects have the potential to push the momentum over the edge. I know a lot of suburban folk, especially empty-nesters, who love downtown and would jump at the chance to move down if there were more apartments available. Frankly everyone in the Miami Valley is watching the Arcade project closely, since folks remember how it used to be and want to see it return to glory. The fact that there are condos selling for $400-700k in Dayton goes to show that there is a lot of pent-up demand. These two projects will go a long way toward making downtown a more extensive, livable neighborhood.

Wow! It looks like The Greene 2.0! Still a little surprised Dayton could support two lifestyle centers but I guess with the Dayton Mall still slowly dying the south side needs a newer, nicer anchor district.

^ and ^^ Just for the sake of non-Cincinnatians, when I say "detached rowhouse", I mean buildings like these, which are ostensibly rowhouses in every sense of the word except for the fact that they don't share walls: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1107802,-84.5187709,3a,75y,84.92h,106.76t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1shu0UAHnhBAEZ7is5wt_9yg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1150034,-84.5045864,3a,75y,13.89h,91.77t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sJTSa1jj8v1ptmDvjmNuUxg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DJTSa1jj8v1ptmDvjmNuUxg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D38.382183%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1079865,-84.4969265,3a,60y,55.02h,96.08t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s9KAfWohXsxv68ntJTW3ozw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 And of course this bizarre one on Clifton, set way at the back of the property: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1192921,-84.5184222,3a,75y,22.27h,93.17t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sdt283dtGf9ZnOGi2b3EUPQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Ddt283dtGf9ZnOGi2b3EUPQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D331.60193%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656 It's worth noting how much variety there are in Cincinnati's rowhouses, even when they are the "traditional" shared-wall style. They rarely share the same style or even the same lot lines as their neighbors, unlike in Philadelphia or Baltimore where you can walk for 10 blocks and every house is exactly the same except for maybe the cladding. Some "attached" rowhouses in Cincinnati, which are just as eclectic: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1131522,-84.5051175,3a,75y,203.25h,86.58t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1scpKyoOWQB5Y-mt2pM3971w!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DcpKyoOWQB5Y-mt2pM3971w%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D231.05283%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100 https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1102205,-84.4983723,3a,75y,221.66h,97.73t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sEkQICG5Zi9gR32MqPHa-Dg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1050398,-84.5164138,3a,75y,184.69h,104.73t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1swwlG8vGcLUKmLTGgd9-nSg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DwwlG8vGcLUKmLTGgd9-nSg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D239.2383%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1136391,-84.5056047,3a,90y,205.31h,85.77t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sL0YlHb0DJN2iacuzjmTwDA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1162521,-84.5094961,3a,60y,207.5h,90.9t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sr8mVyWG5vzQtoeTAaQkcfA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Are Cincinnati's "detached rowhouses" still rowhouses despite the fire-breaks between most of them? Cincinnati of course has bona-fide rowhouses but relatively few of the 19th-century housing stock seem to actually share walls, and OTR is mostly a tenement neighborhood, with the exception of a few streets here and there. And then you can also wade into the discussion of whether "Columbus-style rowhouses" are true rowhouses since they're more of a walk-up apartment style than individual houses that share walls.

Kenton's Cove Keelboat Canal was a little bit taller at 50 feet and was technically an "Arrow Dynamics Hydroflume", which is a subtle difference from a regular log flume that most people wouldn't recognize unless they're mega theme park nerds. The other log flume was moved to Kings Island from Coney, I believe. A lot of parks used to have more than one log flume because they were very popular rides. Cedar Point also had two flumes.

^Yeah, the Zodiac was one of those huge "double Ferris wheels", I don't think there are all that many left any more.

^ I went over to check out the Jefferson bike lanes, and WOW that area is so much friendlier now. It's kinda cool that there's a traffic light just for bikes on the contraflow bike lane now, although I guess you need one to handle the transition from 1-way to 2-way traffic. I didn't realize they also redid the lanes near the 35 exit, that area always seemed like a bit of a disaster before. I also noticed a whole bunch of new bumpouts around downtown, especially on Monument.