BigDipper 80

I might have to bike over there later to check it out. That whole area still needs a drastic redesign whenever 35 gets rebuilt, but having bike lanes in that area will make it a lot more hospitable to pass through.

Somewhat unrelated, but that Aladdin's sign is comically small and hard to read.

Golf up in the corner makes a lot of sense, since old wealthier white guys make up probably the most consistent voting bloc in the country.

Dayton just repaved a couple more roads downtown and added new bike infrastructure. They did a good job overall, although I wish there wasn't just a sharrow on the northbound side of Wayne Avenue.

How are two-way streets more dangerous for senior citizens? Traffic tends to be slower on two-way streets. I guess NIMBYs will just say whatever they want to keep things the way they are.

^Yeah, at least Ohio doesn’t have a tacky Pigeon Forge or Wisconsin Dells. I’ve always thought it was weird that Sandusky never went full tourist-trap but it’s probably for the best.

There was a bit of a scandal back in the 90s where Voinovich secretly helped Jacobs develop the City-owned Chagrin Highlands plot of land out in Beachwood. Of course, the biggest thing to come out of it was Eaton taking its headquarters out of downtown and into the suburbs.

^^ That rendering confused the crap out of me because of the way they oriented the Carew Tower.

Again, this is really more of a "convenience crisis" than an actual issue with a lack of parking. There's plenty of parking, just not where people want it to be and not to the level of what people coming in from the suburbs are used to. It's unlikely that downtown can build its way out of it and would probably be better served trying to change the on-demand culture of parking, but that could take a generation or more and isn't palatable to a lot of people for various reasons.

I'm sure electric companies appreciate anything that will help take some of the strain off of the nation's already-overtaxed electric grids. A brown- or blackout is probably worse to their bottom line than losing a few cents from people using more efficient lightbulbs.

I'm not saying this as an excuse, but it's interesting that businesses are willing to overlook the rampant homelessness in places like San Francisco, but cite it as a reason to not even look at a downtown office in Cincinnati. I'd guess that it's easier to look the other way when you have the ridiculous economic resources of the Bay Area to power your business.

I just hope they don't discover Prospect Hill - I can usually find at least one spot up there whenever I need to go downtown for something, and I'd prefer not to lose that!

Give OTR residents an option to buy a special Banks Garage pass that comes with a monthly streetcar pass. Heck, this should already exist anyway.

Not totally unexpected given the way Ohio's wealthier suburbs have been trying to densify themselves recently. Much better than Oakley Station or even some of that newer Rookwood stuff.

I-75 New Ramp Meters to be Activated at Hopple St. and Mitchell Ave. Interchanges Lebanon, OH (July 11, 2018) - Ohio Department of Transportation District 8 Deputy Director Tammy Campbell announced today that new ramp meters will be permanently activated along Interstate 75 during the morning rush hour on July 16. “These traffic calming devices will help to improve the flow of traffic on mainline I-75,” said Campbell. “While the ramp meters help control congestion they more importantly help improve safety for motorists.” More below: https://content.govdelivery.com/bulletins/gd/OHDOT-1fa10d2

I just noticed that the Enquirer headline about the relaxing of minimum parking is "Is parking going to get more difficult in OTR?", because of course that's what they would headline it as.

This is the most absurd thing I've heard out of Cranley in a while; it's almost as if he doesn't understand how urbanism works... ::)

What land would Cleveland annex? They're completely hemmed in by other municipalities, and I doubt any of them are willing to merge with Cleveland any time soon.

I love yuppiefied ramen as much as the next person, but I still think a late night sub-$10 gyudon shop would make a killing... well, anywhere.

This could just be me blowing smoke, but as a Clevelander who went to UC for his undergrad and currently is finishing up his masters at UD, my hypothesis has always just been that Cincy's deeply-entrenched drinking culture plays a significant role in why there isn't the same party atmosphere. When you've grown up around all these people drinking all the time, there isn't the same allure as someone who's off to UD or OU and away from mommy and daddy for the first time and prepared to binge drink every single weekend for the next four years. The fractured nature of UC's student ghettos probably plays a bit of a role, as well as the fact that everyone was constantly being warned at how unsafe Uptown is, which probably scared off at least a handful of people from getting totally wasted in public. Some of those CCM and DAAP kids sure knew how to party, though.

Gordon Park also used to have a great bathhouse... And one more forgotten fun-in-the sun summer spot, Luna Park:

^^^I guess my question would just go back to, and you sort of hinted at it, is how much do the people living up there care? If they think it would be an asset to have more convenient places to eat and shop then I'd agree it's unfortunate (and honestly there should be at least *something* for the museum and Playhouse crowd), but if they don't want it then it's no skin off my back. Although it wouldn't be surprising to me if there are residents complaining about rowdy crowds and traffic and assume that anything new that opens up is going to bring with it the same 90s-00s bro crowd that has mostly moved down to Treehouse. None of the bars, at least in their current state, ever wow'd me. Lots of weird 80s relics that instead of feeling quirky were mostly just past their prime. Kinda like the Flats in Cleveland right before its previous incarnation (mercifully) went belly-up around 2001.

I'm honestly fine with it turning into Cincinnati's Telegraph Hill. Not every neighborhood needs to be a destination, and while it would be nice to see some more vitality up there, it really is an awkward location and I'd rather see any sort of "nightlife" shifted back to McMillan or wherever. If whatever goes on up there is suiting the needs of the yuppies, it's fine with me. Maybe we'll start seeing some sporadic little upscale craft cocktail bars like you see in Columbia-Tusculum.

Livingston is currently essentially just a pockmarked feeder road for I 70/71 and the children's hospital. This hotel, which presumably will be clad in reasonably high-quality brick, will be at least as good (actually, significantly better) as the suburban Chase Bank and parking lots that currently line much of that street.

^^TimTracker and his wife are more "weird Disney Nerds" than hipsters, but I assume there's some overlap in those subcultures.