BigDipper 80

It's something like 6 stories tall already.

Maybe not the most perfect location for this, but it was a nice shutout to Rhinegeist and the Brewery District and its role in revitilization: What Should Cities Make? There probably isn’t a city out there that wouldn’t like to be the next Silicon Valley. But cities will do better focusing on their distinctive assets and helping a manufacturing scene grow organically. Take Cincinnati. In the mid-19th century, German immigrants settled in the city’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood and started brewing lager and opening beer gardens. More: https://www.citylab.com/work/2017/02/what-should-cities-make/516894/

Serious question: Is there any significant benefit to the region if the two regions become grouped together in the same MSA? Like, will Cin-Day get more federal funds if classified as the same metro area, or is it more of just a Cincinnati hubris thing?

^That's hugely disappointing. I only had two stations in Dayton that I listen to (one of them is a surprisingly diverse Oldies station that still plays a bunch of random esoteric forgotten music truer to original oldies formats, unlike the garbage stations in the mold of WGRR)... I guess I'll have to start downloading more podcasts to listen to on the way to work.

Warren County is sort of weird in how the northeastern part of the county is definitely more closely tied to the Dayton metro even though the whole county get counted as part of Cincinnati's MSA. Springboro is definitely Dayton exurban sprawl. It would be interesting to see with that census data how many are actually traversing the entire county for work, but I don't think it offers that level of fidelity.

^the main reasons I use Speedway are 1. the Speedy Freezes (when the machine is actually working) and 2. if you buy Speedway gift cards at Marc's you get 10¢ off per gallon when you pay with the gift card.

Good! About time the Miami Valley gets a Fortune company back in the area!

It appears to be an artist's rendering of the Terminal Tower complex.

For those who haven't seen this yet, the Auitor's office just unearthed 500+ photos of downtown in 1968: http://www.hamiltoncountyauditor.org/vintagephotos.asp Below are a few random shots I picked out of the huge collection:

Yeah, even UC's little shuttle buses have real-time tracking along the route that shows where each bus is. Hopefully they can figure something out.

Pittsburgh's hills are way more dramatic and brutal than all but a few streets in Cincinnati. I think the other big difference is that Cincinnati's density drops off pretty significantly on the hilltops whereas Pittsburgh's "upper" neighborhoods like Shadyside and Oakland are all still pretty tight, with a mixture of Cliftonesque brick foursquares and Philadelphia-style townhouses. Most of Cincinnati's upper neighborhoods are still fairly walkable, but because most of them developed as wealthier neighborhoods relatively early in the city's history, there's more of a prevalence of random mansions and large(er) lawns, compared to the amount of stuff crammed into the basin. Pittsburgh also has some sizeable business districts outside of downtown that are effectively laid out in a grid as "mini-downtowns" that help make the city feel a lot larger than it is (I'm looking at you, East Liberty). Cincinnati's NBDs are mostly a few blocks long along a major street and are basically linear for the most part. I've always summed it up as "Cincinnati's a 'charming' city, but Pittsburgh is a 'grand' city". Both may be river towns, but Cincinnati is more of a southern belle compared to Pittsburgh's brawny rust belt swagger.

Late night, lunch, breakfast diner set to open in Oregon District A new diner is preparing to open in the former site of 5th Street Wine and Deli, according to a notice posted on its door. http://www.dayton.com/entertainment/late-night-lunch-breakfast-diner-set-open-oregon-district/HDqlr9wcLrTs4cUkaD2EEN/

^Westwood Northern is a death trap - so many blind intersections perched on top of steep hills, and the cross streets rarely intersect at 90 degrees, and everyone goes way faster than 40 along it. I don't know how that road isn't constant carnage.

The problem I see arising is that all of the Harrison and QC Ave traffic will at some point be dumped onto an arrow side street to connect to Westwood Northern or Glenway. The west side at rush hour already annoyed the crap out of me because the weird non-grid requires you to cut through two-lane residential neighborhoods as a matter of course, and not as some Waze shortcut. Side roads would almost certainly get widened if that bridge were to be removed. And I'm not convinced it would help Fairmont because no one would have a reason to go into that valley without the Viaduct. The real damage was caused by the absulute cluster**** of one-ways curving all over the place that split up into Harrison, Beekman and QC. I think finding a smarter way to move traffic through Fairmont would do more for it than demolishing its only link to the rest of the world. All of that said, I find Fairmont weird and fascinating and in a great topographical location, and I'd love to actually see some activity happening there.

The counterpoint to the above article from Citylab... http://www.citylab.com/housing/2017/01/flood-tide-not-ebb-tide-for-young-adults-in-cities/514283/ Every time I hear the claim that cities are going to atrophy again as soon as Millennials have families and move to the suburbs for school districts or space or whatever other reason, I feel like the people making that claim are forgetting the fact that these new parents are all ok with the concept of cities- it isn't the same boogeyman that it was in generations before the Millennials, and I'll bet that even when families move further out, they'll still be more in-tune with the culture of the city, expose their children to the city at younger ages, and be more open to the idea of their children moving to the city after they grow up. It'll take many cycles, but each generation there's going to be a few more families that stick around, which will eventually (hopefully) lead to that critical mass of urban families that can pull urban school districts back into health and keep families from leaving the city in the first place.

My contact at UD says that there are supposedly "big plans" for the fairgrounds but didn't go into any specifics. Hopefully more info will start coming out soon. I don't want to see this huge parcel of land squandered, but given the shape of everything else around Main and Stewart right now, I'm trying to not get my hopes up.

My great-great uncle used to sled down the abandoned remains of the Rolling Road in the wintertime way back in the 20s. I do hope somthing happens with this corner of the Flats, be it a park, or bike trails, or infill, or whatever. The Eagle Avenue bridge is my third-favorite lift bridge after the swing bridge and the jackknife bridge next to the Nautica Pavilion, and it'd make a great centerpiece even inactive.

Kind of a shame we can't really do this stateside any more, seeing as this was the m.o. for so many traction companies back in the day, most notably with Shaker Heights. And of course it's also how the US got most of its pre-1955 amusement parks built! :-D

I also really like that Hadid building. I think I saw one of its units listed at something outlandish like $85mn. NYC real estate boggles my mind.

Love, love, love Kyoto. I was there during the Obon festival a few years ago and the whole city was abuzz with people in traditional dress going about to ceremonies and whatnot. The traditional hillside streets leading up to the temples were some of the coolest things about Japan - almost Zen-like if I can be trite for a moment. It's a little sad that most of the historic sites are reconstructions but it's still neat to see. Nara is a great day trip too, like a tiny Kyoto that's a bit less polished for the tourists. Isn't it crazy that you can say "It's so much smaller than Tokyo" and still be in a city with a population that would be top 10 in the US?

Most Japanese cities really aren't all that tall, so I'm sure that helps. Does any transit in Japan even use GPS tracking? They're required by law to keep timetables and all of the rail and bus operators are so punctual/frequent that I don't think tracking would even be necessary over there.

I lost 75 pounds in college and the only reason I've kept it off is because of two primary things. 1) I walk a lot and 2) I don't drink. If I drank I'd be gigantic again. I don't eat much and what I do is (usually) healthy and low in calories but it doesn't matter. I have essentially zero leeway when it comes to caloric intake. Which sucks but it is what it is. It's amazing how something as simple as walking can have such a profound effect on weight management. I've never been much of a gym-goer so my primary exercise has usually been going for walks or bike rides for an hour or so, and when it's cold and dark in the winter I definitely feel more slugglish and "blah" just because I'm not as regular with my outdoors regiments. I honestly don't know how people feel physically or emotionally good when they sit around during their commute, at work, and at home. But these people are often the ones who move to the suburbs because they "want to be closer to nature" and then never actually go out in it - I've been outside way more since living in urban neighborhoods than I ever was living out in exurban Cleveland sprawl.

I don't think I've ever seen any photos of Union Station other than Burnham's colonnade along High... was the actual station building anything special?

All great news! St. Anne's is such a charming little area and I can't wait to see its commercial strip take off. It helps too that although 5th is still a dead zone between Wayne and High, it's at least had a bit of a road diet this past summer. Between that and Oregon East hopefully popping up soon, St. Anne's won't seem so far away any more.

I just asked here and she said it'll be about 25-30 people. Thanks for the suggestions so far, everyone!