Brewmaster

This guy should be embarassed of this award, but strangely, he seems to be proud of it. Spending $185/week on gas and 7 hours in a car is pure stupidity. Let's break it down...$185/week is equivalent to $800/month or $9,620/year. That could either rent an apartment, or allow you to sell your home for something much nicer (and closer to work). This is completely ignoring the wear and tear costs of your car. The article also ignored the health impacts of sitting at a desk for 8 hours, in a car for 7 hours, and sleeping for 8 hours. If you're doing the math at home, that's 23 hours of the day. Then he's got 1 hour to eat, shower, and get ready for work.

^ It's really more like 2-2.5 hours to get to the sandusky area. And don't forget about Buckeye Lake (just south of Newark).

Here are some highlights from the meeting last night... - The Metro Parks development is well underway. Much of the old north warehouse is demolished and fill work is continuing. The Parks representative said that they were told from thier director and board to have something to open up to the public THIS YEAR! It will likely be the northern portion of the park and possibly be the southern boat launch/fishing platform. - The Audobon Center is targeting a 2008 opening date. I think a good amount of the schedule depends on when the city impound lots get moved. - The most important thing at the meeting was the fact that a good amount of funding is in place for the Metro Parks and Audobon Center. There is also a fair amount of enthusiasm for the project by those two parties that I believe is rubbing off on the city. - The Pizzutti team has submitted thier plan to city hall, however, details are not available at this time. Something could come out in the next few weeks if everything goes well. The city is still reviewing the plan. - A big hangup right now is the relocation of the city impound lots. Once those get moved (hopefully to the site off of 104), then the central park development, audobon center, and housing portion can be greenlighted. - The plan is to have very limited parking on the site and encourage people to bike, walk, run, rollerblade into the park as possible. After all, this will be the equivalent of a nature preserve, and they don't want to have it turn into a parking lot. There are ideas about a COTA transit stop, and I raised the suggestion that the proposed streetcar loop can come down Whittier St. and back on Sycamore as it makes it's turnaround. This would also make the new Kroger store accessible to downtown residents who want to run out for some groceries. - Green development will be a key focus of the site. The Audobon center is intended to be built as a LEED building. The highest LEED certification was recently given to Audobon centers in Milwakee and California. I personally think it would be neat to include a few small windmills on the site as one design team suggested in the competition. Those are the highlights that I can think of right now, if anything else pops into my mind, I'll post it.

Good point. I forgot all about that. I read somewhere that Columbus ranks #2 behind NYC for Solmolian immigrants.

^ Good points, but this is how the ball keeps rolling. You end up with good public transit when you start small and other areas realize how much it would help thier economy. Then you end up with a great development environment full of people fighting to put it in thier backyard (and gladly accepting the tax increase to pay for it).

I don't think it's rapidly growing, as much as it's staying afloat. Government, Healthcare, and Insurance jobs (all white collar), always seem to do the best in times of recession. Other cities in Ohio are more manufacturing based and have really felt the hit in recent years.

200,000 sqft. = 4.6 acres. That just made me throw up in my mouth.

Black-owned companies experience growth spurt Wednesday, April 19, 2006 Tracy Turner THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Black-owned firms represent the fastest-growing business segment in the nation, with Columbus leading the trend in Ohio, the U.S. Census Bureau said yesterday. The number of black-owned businesses grew to 1.2 million in 2002, up 45 percent from 1997, the bureau said. Revenue generated by those businesses rose to $89 billion, a 25 percent increase. "It’s encouraging to see not just the number but the sales and receipts of black-owned businesses are growing at such a robust rate," said Louis Kincannon, Census Bureau director. [email protected] http://www.dispatch.com/business-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/04/19/20060419-D1-05.html

Has anybody heard anything about this public meeting?!?!? http://www.heritagetrolley.org/planColumbus01.htm

That logic is soft at best. Like KJP said, build fences and funnel people up the stairs and over the tracks. I'm also not too familiar with ADA complaince, but would you really need to build an elevator when there are other ways to get around the tracks (front st.)?

Damnit! Got me too!

I agree about Worthington over Dublin. The town center area is great and it's a very walkable town. Were you looking at Dublin or Marysville because of your work location?

Information courtesy of Paul at columbusretrometro.com

That parking garage is great! Disguised nicely with retail (albeit vacant) on the ground floor.

Wait! A story buried on their website... http://www.nbc4i.com/station/8508642/detail.html

^ I'm with you! I'd venture to guess that 90% of the televised news in Columbus is the police blotter type of stuff, rather than actual news stories. For instance, the top stories on their website are: - Ex teacher acquitted in classroom sex case - Bond set at $25 million for man accused of murder - Tire shredding facility burns - Driverless pickup rolls backward killing woman - Man shot and killed in home near school - Woman claims she was kidnapped, taken to ATM I wish I were making this up.

^ Yep. Not having Z out there really hurt us inside.

I view this as good news... http://www.dispatch.com/business/business.php?story=177581 Maybe with the development folks out of the way, the business folks at Mills will see this as an opportunity to unload a stranded investment. They've got a lot of pressure being put on them right now.

^ I'd like to know that too. As a resident that lives two blocks away...I even dislike the Grand Boulevard option (and the city is proposing this for me!). I'd like to send a letter to the people advocating this flawed plan on my behalf.

^ I'd think that most bird migrations happen in the shoulder months for electricity demand (fall and spring). Couldn't they just pitch the blades so the mills don't turn for two months out of the year? Don't these wind turbines only run 30% of the year anyway?

^ Somewhere around 10-12.

^ Once the 23 lanes get backed up, they'll publish another study that shows the need for 31 lanes. Unreal.

Yeah...the lantern never really impresses me with thier ability to research stories. I do agree with the professor quoted in the article though. I'd rather see rail create dense development pockets around it's stops, instead of park and ride areas. Both probably have thier places though.

Talk about someone who needed something to write about. I'm not from Cincy, so I could care less about personal attacks, but what does he mean by "enemies"? I didn't know any cities in the US were "enemies" to each other. Being from Cleveland, I'd say that Pittsburgh is our rival on the football field, but I have nothing against the city or it's people. I would never consider them an "enemy". :roll:

^ 72% isn't too shabby.