WalkerEvans

Ugh. He lost me at "Kunstler". :P

Jesus. This got pretty de-railed. Anyway, I plan on going to this event. Hanging out with some friends. Trying out some good authentic food. It sounds like fun to me. :D

Strange article. All I could think about why they picked a two-bedroom place for a single-income person. Is that the norm?

<b>OSU’s “Big Free Weekend” - May 13-16</b> By Walker | April 9, 2009 <img src="http://www.columbusunderground.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/coolkids.jpg"> The lineup for OSU’s “Big Free Concert” was just announced, and in 2009 it includes multiple artists over the span of four days for a “Big Free Weekend” for students. The event kicks off on Wed May 13th with The Ark Band. On Thursday night, The Cool Kids and Kid Cudi will be performing at the Newport. Friday is Head Automatica and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah back at the Newport. The events wrap up on Saturday at The LC with Dashboard Confessional and Augustana. MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/osus-big-free-weekend-may-13-16

From here: http://www.progressohio.org/page/community/post/brianrothenberg/C2Zg/ <b>Shadows On High: A Tale Of Two Histories</b> By Brian Rothenberg, Executive Director - Mar 20th, 2009 It was first noticeable during the renovation of the Statehouse. The budget for Ohio’s history made a subtle shift from towns and villages, from period recreations like Ohio Village and from the Ohio Historical Society on the state fairgrounds, downtown to Broad and High. Over $100 million dollars later and Senate titan Dick Finan had his masterpiece – one he continues to reign over in his retirement at the most exclusive Board in town – the Capital Square Review and Advisory Board (CSRAB.) As usual in Ohio, where power resides money resides, and slowly Ohio’s Statehouse history display began to dwarf all others. CSRAB’s board is required to have a retired Senate President, an ex-Speaker of the House and the Governor’s Chief of Staff – and not just in name or proxy – they actually sit on the Board itself. Sen. Finan deserves credit for restoring a building long neglected. However, there is the unintended effect of Ohio’s waning commitment to its heritage of history beyond Broad and High. A decade later, the museum we all marveled at in the 1990s is already being modernized: kickballers have nearly been kicked off the Statehouse lawn; you need a permit for just about anything CSRAB wants to hassle you about; and weddings are now allowed – with of course a State Legislator’s daughter being the first in over a century. <A href="http://www.progressohio.org/page/community/post/brianrothenberg/C2Zg/">READ MORE</a>

Ugh. They're still reducing kickball by 75%. Instead of two teams with two game per week, there will be one team and one game per week. Which means only 25% of the players and teams from last year. Weak.

If you're referring to the blog and event, no. It's being put on by fans of the taco trucks.

<b>bonoPIZZA Makes a Limited Return on Friday Nights</b> By Walker | April 9, 2009 <img src="http://www.columbusunderground.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/bill-bono.jpg"> Starting on Friday, April 17th, bonoPIZZA will be setting up their portable woodoven at the corner of Third Avenue and Northwest Blvd at Boulevard Carryout, the beer and wine cornershop. They’ll be there every Friday night from 5PM to 10PM to test out the location, see how the space works, and contemplate a more permanent setup in the old Cowtown Pizza location. So mark your calendars and get ready to satisfy that craving for bonoPIZZA once more. MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/bonopizza-makes-a-limited-return-on-friday-nights

<b>Cafe Corner Announces Extended Hours</b> By Walker | April 11, 2009 <img src="http://www.columbusunderground.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/cafecorner.png"> Cafe Corner fans rejoice! On Monday, April 13th, the popular Harrison West cafe will be launching their new extended hours schedule: 9am to 9pm, seven days a week. Delivery hours will operate from 10am to 9pm daily. As always, more details can be found on their website at CafeCornerColumbus.com. MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/cafe-corner-announces-extended-hours

<b>Clintonville landmark closing June 1</b> Friday, April 10, 2009 4:36 PM By GARY SEMAN JR. ThisWeek Staff Writer Nancy's Restaurant, a staple of the Clintonville neighborhood, will close June 1. Faced with mounting debt and medical problems, owner Cindy King said she has no other choice. "It's done now and it was a hard decision to come to," she said. "All good things have to come to an end." For four decades, Nancy's was known as a comfort-food haven, a refuge for those who liked the camaraderie as much as the meatloaf and chicken and noodles. King bought the business 38 years ago from Nancy Kemmerling, who founded the restaurant about two years before that. MORE: http://www.thisweeknews.com/live/content/clintonville/stories/2009/04/08/restaurant_closing.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=104

<b>A new spin on an old favorite: Confluence Park</b> Posted April 13, 2009 By Kelly Brooks, Events/Marketing Coordinator <img src="http://www.experiencecolumbus.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/confluence.jpg"> After closing for winter on Dec. 26, Confluence Park did an overhaul of the facility, the menu and the events calendar. Their new upscale look and feel will be revealed on Friday, April 17 at a Grand Reopening. Confluence Park will host a free open house from 7-9 p.m. to showcase the new menu and the facility’s vendors. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres, DJ music, ice sculptures, cake displays and a cash bar will round out the night. MORE: http://www.experiencecolumbus.com/blog/index.php/2009/04/13/a-new-spin-on-an-old-favorite-confluence-park

<b>Cook Shack BBQ opens Downtown location today</b> <img src="http://www.columbusunderground.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/cookshack.jpg"> According to some recently-added window markings, Cook Shack BBQ is opening their downtown location today in the Atlas Building at the corner of Long Street and Pearl Alley. Their website notes that they serve a variety of Salads, Sandwiches, Brisket, Pulled Pork, Po Boys, Rib Racks, Smoked Chicken, Sweet Potatoes, Collard Greens, Mac and Cheese, House-made Chips and Pork Rinds, and quite a bit more. MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/cook-shack-bbq-opens-today-downtown

I'm 29 and my wife and I have a little boy who is one-and-a-half. We'll probably have two more in the next few years and stop with three. While you will end up spending some money and some time on kids, I really don't think it's quite as bad as some want to make it out to be. Diapers and formula costs can add up fairly quickly, but those costs are still fairly minimal in the big picture. $60/mo on diapers is still less than what some people pay for cable tv. ;) Also, while your schedule will change, you don't have to become the shut-in that many parents become. Our child comes with us to restaurants, gatherings with friends, and everything in between. Sure, you might be tired on some days, but it's not a total physical drain 24/7. And lastly, I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but the last thing we wanted to do when having a child was uproot and move to the suburbs "for the schools". Raising a child in an urban neighborhood is not only doable, but can be just as rewarding and fulfilling as any other neighborhood. I have some friends who have recently bought houses and had kids in Columbus suburbs like Dublin, Powell, and Worthington while we stayed Downtown. They all paid over twice as much as we did for their homes, and their property taxes are over three times as much as ours. We found a beautiful large historic brick home walking distance from downtown, and while we're aiming for lottery/alternative schools, we're willing to pay for private schools if we need to. What we're saving on living affordably downtown pales in comparison to what we'd be paying for a higher mortgage and higher taxes in the burbs. Those are fine public schools out there, but they're certainly not "free". To top it all off, we've got plenty of supplemental extracurricular activities all around us... COSI is a weekly visit instead of a once-a-year class field-trip. The downtown library and museum of art are both within a 10 minute walk. Art and music classes are available at CCAD and The Lincoln Theater. There's so much for kids to do and learn and experience downtown. These institutions are invaluable and can help shape a child's life for the better. They're great neighbors to have. ;) So I'd highly encourage anyone contemplating children, to consider being a trendsetter and take a look at your options in and around downtown before high-tailing it to the burbs. :D

I think you're oversimplifying what is going on here. I'm not proposing that either Dublin or Columbus be completely in control of this land... I'm saying that a joint-development effort would work out best for both parties and the citizens involved. Benefitting one city a the expense of another is detrimental to the REGION as a whole. If you take a look at the problems that plague many major cities in the US... shrinking populations, faltering schools, empty neighborhoods, abandoned downtowns, crime, etc... the problem is that all of the money has been shifted to the suburbs. What you're left with is a nice shiny ring of sprawl around a suffering core. People want to cry out in agony when Columbus Rec Centers are closing or the Columbus Symphony Orchestra is forced to make major budget cutbacks to stay afloat. But when an opportunity arises to share some new tax income with the center city, we're back to the status quo of building outward? If you think it's a good idea to continue to push that money further and further away from the city, well then... so long "Urban" Ohio. And if you're really worried about Dublin "not getting their piece of the pie" then I think you need some sort of reality check. 50 years ago Dublin was a village of 500 people. Today they've grown to nearly 100 times that. ONE HUNDRED. If Columbus had experienced that level of growth, we'd be a city of 47 million people. Dublin doesn't need to be greedy about this. Share the wealth with the city that made the suburb possible. Otherwise, we're all going to suffer because of it.

Oh yes. It's definitely something to think about for the SN. I think it will get there over time too. If you look back just 10 years ago to what didn't exist yet, the neighborhood is still continue to grow at a pretty fast clip.

I figured that the Tip Top Drive Thru was probably enough to give away the fact that it was an April Fools Day joke. ;)

Yes, yes! It was an April Fools Day joke from last week. ;) Sorry for the trickery, but I had to share. :D

I'm not sure why the Columbus team is called the "Ohio Roller Girls"? Were they the first to set up in the state? I guess I never thought much about it, although I'm aware of the other teams in the state. Hrm.

I couldn't agree more, and I fully support the local and independent establishments that we do have downtown right now. There are a lot of great local restaurants, but sadly only a handful of places to shop at the moment. I think that will change, all in good time. That being said though... Target is still Target, and people are still going to want to buy things there. I think if one can be integrated well into our downtown urban fabric it would not only be a draw for its own customers, but could also serve as a magnet for smaller/independent shops to set up around it who otherwise couldn't thrive without the foottraffic. When stores like WalMart started opening on the outskirts of towns across America, they killed a lot of Main Streets. What I'd like to see happen is a reversal of that. Bring the chains into the downtown area and help bring life back to Main Street. Let's have a retail mix. Little bit of something for everyone. Chains, boutiques, independents, big, small, expensive, thrifty, etc.

Anyone follow the roller girls? I recorded a <a href="http://blip.tv/file/get/ColumbusUnderground-ColumbusUndergroundcomPodcastEpisode12305.mp3">podcast</a> with several of them last week. Sounds like a really fun sport. Their website: http://www.ohiorollergirls.com <img src="http://www.columbusunderground.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/rollergirls.jpg">

<b>Wasted Space in Downtown: Motorist Parking Lot</b> By Walker | March 30, 2009 1:54pm <img src="http://www.columbusunderground.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/motoristparking.jpg"> All it takes is a quick walk around Goodale Park, Schiller Park, or Franklin Park to find some of the nicest, largest, and most valuable homes in our urban neighborhoods. A stroll through the Topiary Park downtown is just as pleasant, but the residential aspect surrounding the park is drastically different. The south side of the park still boasts several beautiful old brick homes, but the north and east sides of the park are surrounded mostly with parking lots. The largest of these parking lots runs almost completely along the north side of the park and is owned by the Motorists Mutual Insurance Company located on East Broad Street. They’ve also got a multi-story garage next door and several other small buildings in the area. MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/wasted-space-in-downtown-motorist-parking-lot

<b>Bob Weiler Publicly Derides 3C Corridor Project</b> By Walker | March 31, 2009 11:51am <img src="http://www.columbusunderground.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/bobweiler.jpg"> We’ve recently been getting daily news updates that the 3C Corridor passenger rail project is slowly moving closer to reality. Not everyone is on board though, and its expected that there’s going to be a few naysayers popping up to make complaints. Some citizens don’t think it’s a smart move to use less than a fraction of a percent of ODOT’s budget on passenger rail because only a fraction of a percent of Ohio’s population will ride it. A very similar complaint made an appearance in the Sunday Dispatch’s Letters to the Editor section (thanks to Juana for emailing me the <a href="http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/editorials/stories/2009/03/29/Weiler_ART_03-29-09_G4_ARDC5J7.html?sid=101">link</a>). The name attached to it was a Mr. Bob Weiler. Is this the same Bob Weiler who is a fairly well known local developer? Is this the same Bob Weiler who serves on the Board of Trustees at COTA? Is this the same Bob Weiler who last summer publically derided inner-city rail transit in Columbus, which COTA would actually be in charge of operating? Who knows. There’s no title or credentials listed with the Dispatch LTE. So it could be someone other than the guy in the photo above. Who knows. MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/robert-weiler-publicly-derides-3c-corridor-project

In case you missed it last week... ;) <b>Gay Street to be Converted Back to One-Way</b> By Walker | <b>April 1</b>, 2009 <img src="http://www.columbusunderground.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/gaystreet.jpg"> City officials announced this morning that the Gay Street two-way “experiment” would be coming to an end this summer and that the traffic pattern will be converted back into a one-way avenue. “We gave it a shot,” said Urban Ventures coordinator Mike Brown. “We thought that Gay was capable of going both ways, but you just can’t force something like this.” “I told you so!” said Geoff Binkley, who was opposed to the the original two-way conversion plans and the insurmountable hardships that it has caused. “If we can provide more lanes for car traffic, it should help to increase business with our new drive-thru,” said Tim Lessner, co-owner of Tip Top Kitchen & Cocktails. “We’re hoping to get that opened in conjunction with our new 99-cent value menu that includes Pot Roast Sliders, Vegan Chicken Nuggets, and 6oz mini-PBR-drafts to go.” No word yet on how this will affect the popular new Neighborhood Launch residential development but anonymous sources say that Jeff Edwards was heard softly weeping behind closed doors this morning. MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/gay-street-to-be-converted-back-to-one-way

Just in case you missed it last week... ;) <b>RJ Snappers to Become Cracker Barrel</b> By Walker | <b>April 1</b>, 2009 3:00pm <img src="http://www.columbusunderground.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/crackerbarrel.jpg"> After RJ Snappers closed in the Short North six months ago, the redevelopment has been shrouded in mystery. Rumors have been flying left and right about what type of new establishment is taking over the space, but the veil of mystery is finally being lifted today. Cracker Barrel has just issued a press release detailing their new flagship urban location in the Short North that is expected to be open sometime in the next two months. The press release states that the proximity to Bollinger Tower is one of the main reasons for selecting this site, as well as recent studies indicating that The Short North is one of the best places for baby boomers and retirement in the entire US. This new flagship location will be the first to offer the new Cracker Barrel Bistro Menu, and the gift shop is expected to sell works from local indie crafters as well as a fine assortment of hard candies and Dolly Parton CDs. MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/rj-snappers-space-to-become-cracker-barrel

<b>CU Podcast Episode #13: Coffee with Jeff Johnson</b> By Walker | April 2, 2009 In this week’s podcast we sit down for coffee with Jeff Johnson of Urban In-Fill and The Merion Village Blog to discuss a variety of topics including his “COTA Challenge” experiences, a recent trip to our economic-rival of Indianapolis, rail transportation in the Midwest, urban vegetable gardening, and the ever-changing landscape of our south side neighborhoods. Listen/download here: http://blip.tv/file/get/ColumbusUnderground-CUPodcastEpisode13CoffeeWithJeffJohnson603.mp3