BigDipper 80

Yeah, Americans seem to think the only choices are Midtown Manhattan or Mentor, and that "urban living" exclusively means skyscrapers and traffic. But you can absolutely still be a walkable community and have a yard and even a garage.

Dayton just released a massive Downtown Streetscape Guidelines and Corridor Plan that calls for a complete re-imagining of downtown Dayton's current overdesigned street network. It looks like just about every street downtown is going to get new parking lanes, new street trees, conversions from one-way to two-way, bump-outs, and/or bike lanes. Assuming the City Commission passes the plan (and I don't see why they won't), this will lead to a complete transformation of how Downtown's ridiculously wide streets operate. More details about the plan can be read here: https://www.dayton.com/news/downtown-dayton-plan-eliminate-traffic-lanes-change-1-way-to-2-way-traffic-improve-walkability/MHX7WKK55RHE5EVMH2KFVHNHXQ/?fbclid=IwAR21WChlBNfnipv3EivamZVSG7YebXGMc4fgQYeOWuYp96jzZKNuEhnM0e0

Do people actually shop at Von Maur? I guess I could see retired lawyers picking up Dockers there but I can't imagine it's a big regional draw.

Crap, you're right. My statement on most of Cleveland's parks being weak still stands, though. Rockefeller/Wade is an obvious standout, but there really isn't anything in Cleveland to otherwise compete with Cincinnati's municipal parks.

^Just gotta throw your bike in the back of your lifted F-350. HamCo's parks don't seem to be as integrated into the urban fabric as they are in, say, Cleveland or Dayton, so that probably makes it easier to charge fees. If Cincinnati had a beach like Edgewater, it would probably fall under the City parks department instead of the Metroparks. Whereas in Cleveland, the Metroparks took over the beach because Cleveland's municipal parks are mostly terrible and the city let the beach go to crap.

Why do you have to pay a user fee for Hamilton County parks? None of the other counties I've lived in charged for county park access.

IMO, the Big Dig didn't help as much as it could have. The linear park is "fine", but it doesn't really stitch downtown back to the waterfront areas since there's still big arterials and ramps down into the tunnel.

I mean... it is light rail. Didn't we have that discussion, like, a decade ago?

Columbus is getting denser. They haven't annexed any land in decades.

Society has an incredibly short-term memory. Californians keep building homes in fire-prone areas. Houstonians didn't change their behavior after Hurricane Harvey. People will forget about coronavirus in 3 years and things will keep going on as they have been. Plus, the people who have been most vocal about "urban areas spreading COVID" are mostly people who wouldn't live in urban areas anyway and are just looking for ways to reinforce their lifestyle choice.

Does anyone have any clue what this Hierophany & Hedge place is that's opening in Covington? Their website is... really weird. https://www.hierophanyandhedge.com/#press Is this.. performance art? Some weird hipster bar? Are they serious? Has Cincinnati jumped the shark?

Can't beat the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers as far as great team names go!

I like the Cleveland Jackknives, or the Cleveland Collision. Tie it back to the river somehow. Hell, the Cleveland Fireballs could be fun and tongue-in-cheek. I've always thought the city needs to find a way to turn the fire narrative on its head.

I found most places I ate at in Italy were pretty much "normally priced", and Europe actually pays their waitstaff living wages. And there are waaaay more restaurants than even in restaurant-saturated places like OTR. I know their dining culture is different over there, but as always they've found a way to make it work while American restaurants struggle to make ends meet even with near-slave wages for their employees.

I managed to spend a couple weeks in Italy last October, before the world fell apart. Rome is one of the most incredible places I've visited. I'll put up photos from Tuscany and Venice in future threads. IMG_9975 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_9971 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_9954 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0005 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0028 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0024 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0042 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0048 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_9986 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0053 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0074 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0076 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0078 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0085 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0157 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0149 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0199 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0174 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0193 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0122 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0089 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0087 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0095 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0099 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0110 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0115 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0118 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0244 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0270 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0252 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0255 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0221 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr IMG_0223 by Ethan Kocjan, on Flickr

Another new apartment building coming to downtown by RiverScape The rapid growth of the Water Street District is expected to continue with the addition of a new apartment building that will offer sweeping views of the river and downtown Dayton. Crawford Hoying says it plans to knock down the vacant Wright State University Kettering Center at 140 E. Monument Ave. to make way for a new, five-story apartment building called The Monument. The new apartment building will have 125 apartments, as well as 8,200 square feet of space for retail and restaurant uses on the first floor, said Brent Crawford, principal and founder with Crawford Hoying, one of the developers of the thriving Water Street District. More below: https://www.daytondailynews.com/business/real-estate/another-new-apartment-building-coming-downtown-riverscape/uh29di0z257s5KMVRv8KlM/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_Dayton_Daily_News&fbclid=IwAR2enJE7B-GcWqKTt-9dQ3wsu6MqCbwAJKLyyj7z3ABrCwHHzALk2buBXM0 I'm glad that Columbus continues to take interest in doing projects here, since the other city in our *cough cough* megaregion doesn't seem too interested in Dayton.

What the heck is up with that lane configuration? Are the middle lanes express lanes?

I swear the "Ohio Twang" has become far more prevalent in the last decade. I never used to hear it in Cleveland, but it's taken over the suburbs.

Yeah, there wasn't a single article in the DDN about it, much less months of debates in neighborhood and city council and countless hit pieces from "politics columnists". It just... happened one day, with no fanfare.

Dayton just wrapped up a big road diet on the one-way streets that run through Sinclair. What was once a five-lane road with at-grade crosswalks has been redesigned as a two-lane road with a bike lane and raised crosswalks to slow drivers down. I'm impressed with how it's turned out. Before: After:

^After snatching the crown from the Pope and doing the coronation himself.

I was worried when I saw Third Perk had closed, but it turns out they're just moving to the Fire Blocks and opening up another shop at the Gem City Market! Coffee shop owner plans two new ventures in west Dayton DAYTON, Ohio (Dayton Business Journal) -- The owner of a local coffee shop is relocating in downtown Dayton, and at the same time is planning an expansion into the city’s west side. Plus, she is working on a second west Dayton venture still under wraps. More below: https://dayton247now.com/news/local/coffee-shop-owner-plans-two-new-ventures-in-west-dayton?fbclid=IwAR3V1XadnaqhzjKY5s5rCvPyNIlrk541OGc623vpjUCGb1wf5gvDcyYm_OI

Have you lived in other cities in Ohio? I'd be curious as to how your experiences differed. I didn't live directly downtown or in Lakewood or anything like that, so it's definitely possible that the lake impacted your life on a more regular basis than it did mine.

That affects the city's built form, but on a day-to-day basis, living in Cleveland wasn't vastly different from living elsewhere in the state. The presence of the lake doesn't really change what life is like in Glenville or Shaker Square compared to living in Walnut Hills or McPherson Town.

I don't think I ever insinuated that northeastern Ohio is a unique drag on the rest of the state. It's 1/3 of the state's economy after all. But when Cleveland forumers act like they're special enough to warrant creating a new state (or join another one 400 miles away), I'm more than happy to poke the bear in jest. I'd do the same to Chicago secessionists. It's fine to imagine a world in which our state borders better reflected the cultures of the people living in them, but that's not what we have, and short of a major national upheaval, it's unlikely. I just prefer to use my good ol' midwest pragmatism to look for more realistic solutions to problems.