jdm00

Let's get some shovels in the ground. Or backhoes or whatever.

I heard the same thing from the ValuePark driver last time I flew.

Abigail Street will open 11/1/11, according to their window.

Looks like the Know Theatre put up some very cool signage yesterday.

I think the Enquirer is doing all these stories because it has an agenda on this issue.

Sorry--where was I asking a question?

That's the big difference...OTR Kroger is a neighborhood store. Because it's walkable and a decent scale, it's not an issue to go there every day. I choose to go every other day, but the point is that it's not designed to be a Sam's Club. If you walk to the store (like most of OTR Kroger's clientele) then you really don't want to be carrying home a grocery cart's worth of food. I think you and I are talking about different things. I was not commenting on the "neighborhood" part of it (in terms of being able to carry things) as much as the poor selection there. They have gallons of whole milk and 2%, and I have bought gallons of these and carried them to my place. They don't bother to carry gallons of skim. I don't see that the "neighborhood" aspect of it affects it; I think it's their product choice, which I find lacking. Ever try to find organic produce there? Honestly, I don't see how your comment even relates to what I was posting. If you were making the point that they only carry half gallons for all types because it's a neighborhood store where you walk to and fro, that might make some sense, I guess.

The OTR Kroger is okay for some essentials, but not necessarily all. For example, you can never find a gallon of skim milk there--only half gallons.

It may be the purpose, but the fact of the matter is that the news media receives certain protections and benefits that other for-profit companies do not. (See, e.g., the First Amendment, or legal tools such as protection of confidential sources.) That special treatment suggests that the media is viewed differently from other for-profit businesses; I think it's fair, given this special treatment, to hold them to a different standard than I would just any for-profit business.

Yeah, I got no idea what that is. The Moerlein lager house appears to be moving along pretty well.

I am all in favor of saving as many buildings as can possibly be saved. But this thing is not in good shape. I shudder to think of what's actually inside the building (I've seen enough people go into all of these Mercer Street buildings despite them being boarded up) at this point. I'm sure this will be in the minority, but history doesn't come from a building just because it is old. And old buildings are not inherently better than things that are newer. Heck, I'm sure we're starting to come upon a time where some god-awful 1950s-style ranches are going to be old--but I don't want to say they all need to be saved. It would be great to save everything and make it wonderful, but I don't think this is one that falls into the category of "must save."

I love posts that start off with absolutes and end with "just my opinion." There are many beautiful buildings in OTR. This, in my opinion, is not one of them.

^I literally walk by that building every single day. It is an absolute eyesore. I am surprised it is even still standing.

Perhaps the opposition should associate the ballot issue with Smitherman's council campaign. I have to imagine that he is extremely unpopular with many voters.

I like how the Enquirer no longer even tries to present itself as objective on this issue. Let the bias right through in the headline. Great professionalism.

Work has begun, but now they are indicating that it may not be done for the Olympics (and that it was not part of the transportation plan for the Olympics anyway). Link also has a decent video rendering of it. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14059134 We've got plenty of bridges in SW Ohio, but I would love to see a cable car across the Ohio--say, Newport to Sawyer Point or Covington to the Central Riverfront Park.

I wasn't a fan of the building, but it would have been nice to see it get built.

Will the rail portion of the eastern corridor project even be possible if the anti-streetcar amendment to the charter is passed? I would assume not. I wonder if that would make people with the county come out against the amendment.

Are they really going to vote on every contract related to the project? My understanding is that the council authorizes a project and then gives the city manager etc. the power to actually enter into things. Could be wrong, though--although it seems awfully inefficient for City Council to vote on every possible contract that comes up.

Wouldn't anything a new council passes be subject to Mallory's veto anyway?

Two things. First, your definition of "urban" above included only Downtown, OTR, and uptown. That is why my response was framed as it was. And honestly, I don't want to get into the whole "how do we define it" thing. I completely disagree with the point I've quoted here, and it goes back to what I said in my previous post. People often--and sometimes repeatedly--vote against things that would otherwise benefit them. And they often vote for things from which they will receive no benefit, on the basis of the principle involved. (I'd recommend reading the book "What's the matter with Kansas?" for an in-depth discussion on this phenomenon as it relates to conservative, lower-income folks in Kansas. It's fascinating.) That is the point I was making. The population of the city proper has decreased dramatically in the past 50 years, as we are all well aware. The people who remain--whether they live in the parts of the city that you would label "urban" or "suburban"--have an understanding and, I would argue, at least some level of commitment to living IN THE CITY and promoting urban interests, even when they don't directly benefit from it. Look at it this way: if what an individual wants is a house of a certain size, with a garage, access to interstates, public schools, etc., they have many more choices outside the city of Cincinnati than in. And the local image of the city is certainly not one of prestige or buzz or coolness. But still, nearly 300,000 people do still live in the city limits, and the vast majority of them do not live in Downtown/OTR/Clifton/Uptown. They live in Pleasant Ridge and Mt. Washington and Westwood and Avondale. IMO, when 300k live in the city and 1.9M live in the suburbs, those living in the city proper are doing so by choice. They want to live in city; they want to invest in and be part of the urban as opposed to the technically suburban. And because people who are in the city have already demonstrated that level of committment to the city (in the face of many, many opportunities to flee for the suburbs), I think that getting them to vote in favor of the streetcar is nowhere near as difficult as you might like it to be. They don't need to see it directly benefit them. They just need to see that it benefits the city that they have chosen to live in. I think that will be enough.

The way you characterize any part of Cincinnati that is not downtown or OTR as "suburban" is pretty disingenuous. People who live in the other 45 or so neighborhoods of the city don't consider them to be "suburban." If it's 2011 and you truly want to live in the "suburbs," the idea that you would choose to live in Roselawn, Westwood, or Mount Washington instead of Evendale, Grosbeck, or Anderson is absurd. People in the other neighborhoods of the city have a much better appreciation for and understanding of urban issues than you are giving them credit for. After all, if the last streetcar charter amendment had depended on Downtown, OTR, and Clifton to defeat it, it would have passed about 85-15.

How big is this supposed to be? Outside of Shedd in Chicago, most of the aquariums I have been to (Newport/Cincinnati, Denver, Charleston SC, New Orleans) seem to be pretty similar in size and overall quality.

Looks like Cleveland is hit the hardest on this list, though there are quite a few C-bus and Dayton, too (and tons of rural places). Question for Clevelanders--does it seem like there are excess post offices up there?

Here's a list of the post office locations that are facing potential closure in Ohio: http://about.usps.com/news/electronic-press-kits/expandedaccess/states/ohio.htm Office City Zip Code COLLEGE HL CINCINNATI 45224 PEARLBROOK CLEVELAND 44109 PURITAS PARK CLEVELAND 44135 COLLINWOOD CLEVELAND 44110 CRANWOOD CLEVELAND 44128 EAST CLEVELAND CLEVELAND 44112 ERIEVIEW CLEVELAND 44199 EUCLID EUCLID 44117 GLENVILLE BRATENAHL CLEVELAND 44108 NEWBURG CLEVELAND 44105 PUBLIC SQUARE CLEVELAND 44114 TOWER CITY RETAIL CLEVELAND 44113 UNIVERSITY CENTER CLEVELAND 44106 LIVINGSTON COLUMBUS 43227 KENMORE AKRON 44314 NORTON NORTON 44203 SOUTH ARLINGTON AKRON 44306 CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS COLUMBUS 43215 IRWIN IRWIN 43029 MAGNETIC SPRINGS MAGNETIC SPRINGS 43036 SOUTH COLUMBUS COLUMBUS 43207 SOUTH SOLON SOUTH SOLON 43153 UNIONVILLE CENTER UNIONVILLE CENTER 43077 UNIVERSITY FINANCE COLUMBUS 43210 NE WATERWORKS CANTON 44705 NORTH HILL AKRON 44310 NORTH SIDE YOUNGSTOWN 44504 WAYLAND WAYLAND 44285 AUGUSTA AUGUSTA 44607 BANNOCK BANNOCK 43972 BRINKHAVEN BRINKHAVEN 43006 CARBON HILL CARBON HILL 43111 DEERSVILLE DEERSVILLE 44693 FAIRPOINT FAIRPOINT 43927 GLENCOE GLENCOE 43928 HAYDENVILLE HAYDENVILLE 43127 JACKSONVILLE JACKSONVILLE 45740 LEESVILLE LEESVILLE 44639 MURRAY CITY MURRAY CITY 43144 NEW ATHENS NEW ATHENS 43981 PIEDMONT PIEDMONT 43983 SOMERDALE SOMERDALE 44678 TRINWAY TRINWAY 43842 ZALESKI ZALESKI 45698 CHILO CHILO 45112 DECATUR DECATUR 45115 LYNX LYNX 45650 NEVILLE NEVILLE 45156 RARDEN RARDEN 45671 STOUT STOUT 45684 LEES CREEK LEES CREEK 45138 PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR DAYTON 45417 REESVILLE REESVILLE 45166 TROTWOOD DAYTON 45426 VETERANS ADMIN FINANCE DAYTON 45428 BENTON RIDGE BENTON RIDGE 45816 CABLE CABLE 43009 DOLA DOLA 45835 LEWISTOWN LEWISTOWN 43333 MC GUFFEY MC GUFFEY 45859 MOUNT CORY MOUNT CORY 45868 NEW BLOOMINGTON NEW BLOOMINGTON 43341 NEW HAMPSHIRE NEW HAMPSHIRE 45870 PEMBERTON PEMBERTON 45353 SAINT JOHNS SAINT JOHNS 45884 BURGOON BURGOON 43407 CHATFIELD CHATFIELD 44825 COLTON COLTON 43510 ELGIN ELGIN 45838 FARMER FARMER 43520 FLAT ROCK FLAT ROCK 44828 HARPSTER HARPSTER 43323 HAVILAND HAVILAND 45851 HOYTVILLE HOYTVILLE 43529 KUNKLE KUNKLE 43531 LATTY LATTY 45855 MARK CENTER MARK CENTER 43536 SCOTT SCOTT 45886 SULPHUR SPRINGS SULPHUR SPRINGS 44881 WEST MILLGROVE WEST MILLGROVE 43467 WREN WREN 45899 ALLEDONIA ALLEDONIA 43902 AVA AVA 43711 BARTON BARTON 43905 BLAINE BLAINE 43909 CALCUTTA EAST LIVERPOOL 43920 CAMERON CAMERON 43914 CUTLER CUTLER 45724 EMPIRE EMPIRE 43926 HAVERHILL HAVERHILL 45636 LAFFERTY LAFFERTY 43951 LONG BOTTOM LONG BOTTOM 45743 PORTLAND PORTLAND 45770 ROCK CAMP ROCK CAMP 45675 SCIOTO FURNACE SCIOTO FURNACE 45677 SCOTTOWN SCOTTOWN 45678 STEWART STEWART 45778 SUMMITVILLE SUMMITVILLE 43962 WARNOCK WARNOCK 43967 WATERLOO WATERLOO 45688 WILLOW WOOD WILLOW WOOD 45696 WOLF RUN WOLF RUN 43970 BOWERSVILLE BOWERSVILLE 45307 MILLEDGEVILLE MILLEDGEVILLE 43142 THURSTON THURSTON 43157 WHITEHALL COLUMBUS 43213 WHITEHALL FINANCE UNIT COLUMBUS 43213 WPAFB UNIT 3 DAYTON 45433 WRIGHT PATTERSON DAYTON 45433 NORTH DAYTON DAYTON 45404 PALESTINE PALESTINE 45352 POTSDAM POTSDAM 45361 CLAY CENTER CLAY CENTER 43408 ISLE SAINT GEORGE ISLE SAINT GEORGE 43436 MANHATTAN TOLEDO 43608 MIDTOWN TOLEDO TOLEDO 43607 OLD WEST END STATION TOLEDO 43620 POINT PLACE STATION TOLEDO 43611 ROCKY RIDGE ROCKY RIDGE 43458 STA A TOLEDO 43605