jonoh81

Can’t agree more. People think cars are so great, but you really don’t get the stress of driving until you no longer drive.

Wait.. one house?

Then those people need to be writing the city every day about transit, or specifically, the lack of transit options in the city. But they don't because most people believe they should be able to park 10 feet from their destination every time or otherwise there must be a parking shortage.

The Ohio Exterminating building has been there since at least 1925, most likely before, and OE has been in the building since 1951. The Hippie Hut building may be a lot older than it looks. There are records with that address going back to at least 1890. Then there are the Clark Place rowhomes that also date back to the early 1900s as well.

That would worry me. The existing older buildings appear to be in good shape and I don't want to see more of the old streetscape bulldozed for another project that looks exactly like so many others of late. I hope whatever goes in incorporates them instead.

Can I also just say that someone that is truly comfortable in their masculinity is not going to care whatsoever what anyone else, let alone an ad, thinks about them. The people this ad targets and offends are those that have those kinds of doubts. Which is why they probably act out so much on it.

An opinionated, strong woman is often faced with a lot of ridicule and criticism. The word "shrill" comes to mind.

No, what I'm saying is that 63 million people didn't give a sh** that he was a jerk to women and were willing to give him a pass for far more than just being a jerk to them. That is a problem in and of itself. I think Trump is a prime example of toxic masculinity. Not that Trump is especially masculine, but he is perceived by many of his supporters as a "tough guy who says it like it is", regardless of who that might hurt or what damage it might cause. You are free to continue being a jerk to people. The ad doesn't tell anyone how to act. It's just saying that those actions are wrong. And they are. Anyone angry at this has some soul searching to do.

63 million people voted for a guy bragging about sexual assault by excusing it as normal "locker room talk". But somehow we don't have a cultural problem and the real issue is a shaving cream ad telling guys they shouldn't be dicks.

This is literally what a lot of us liberals wonder when people spend hours complaining about "out of control PC culture!!!!".

But Aaron Renn said nobody has ever been critical of Columbus' problems!

As far as I know, that was the only local vote that has ever received serious national attention like that. Columbus tends to be very supportive of its cultural institutions and parks. The issue was made out to be about an out of control zoo spending like a drunken sailor at the expense of poor taxpayers, which was ridiculous. Politically, everything has been a total cluster.... the last 5 years everywhere. It makes things unpredictable.

Unless it's mostly privately funded, I seriously doubt the zoo expansion will ever happen. Or the zoo needs to be clearer as to how the funding for it will work and exactly what it will pay for. The public vote really didn't go well last time, though admittedly that outcome was heavily influenced by outside conservative money for some reason.

Last one is 1022 Oak Street, in Olde Towne East. Built in 1895, this home was a wreck by the time the 1985 photo was taken. Homes in such condition are often just torn down without giving it another thought, but this one not only survived, but was reborn through a major renovation. It goes to show that there is really no such thing as a house too far gone to save. It just takes someone who cares enough to do it right.

400 Chittenden Avenue, built in the early 1900s, was all boarded up and its roof was collapsing in in the mid-1980s when the older photo was taken. Today it is, while perhaps not the finest example of restoration, at least livable.

The Elizabeth Steel house at 185 E. Beck Street in German Village. Built in 1870, you could tell that German Village had once been in rough shape as a neighborhood. The old photo is from 1978. Although the neighborhood had been revitalizing since the 1960s, it hadn't yet reached every building. Today it's a fine example of restoration.

The Hughes house at 53 W. 2nd Avenue, built in 1890. The old photo is from 1892.

Anyway, enough of the bad... how about some good, both in preservation and restoration. The John Sater house, built in 1895 at 114 Buttles Avenue in Victorian Village. The old photo is from 1897.

The Hosters were a fairly prominent family in Columbus around the turn of the 20th Century. Louis Hoster's house at 555 E. Rich Street was built around 1885. The photo is from 1901, at a time when much of the eastern half of Downtown was a residential neighborhood. Once again, the 1960s were unkind. It was demolished in 1966 to build a fairly standard, ugly '60s office building, but I guess that's better than a parking lot.

Cleveland Avenue is not known for its fine houses, but it once had many graceful mansions dating back as early as the mid-19th Century. This example, at 54 Cleveland Avenue, was the home of William Thompson and was built between 1890-1898. It was demolished in 1958 for... what else... surface parking, just a year after the photo was taken. It wasn't until the early 1990s that it became part of the CCAD campus.

Clinton Firestone's mansion was built in 1887 at 580 E. Broad Street. After Clinton died in 1914, it was used as the offices of Columbus Mutual Life Insurance until 1942, and then Buckeye Union Casualty until 1960. For whatever reason, it was demolished in February 1962. The site has been used as a parking lot ever since, which was probably the reason it was demolished in the first place.

The Frank Powell mansion, at 969 E. Broad Street, was built in 1889. The photo shows it in 1892. It survived until December, 1965. With this one, it wasn't so much development interests, but rather dumb last wishes. After Frank's son William died in October 1965, the bank took possession. William had no heirs, and apparently there must've been some financial issues related to the house itself. Rumor has it that it was in William's will for the house to be demolished after his death, but I've never been able to confirm that. The fact that it was torn down less than 2 months after his death suggests there is something to it, though. The lot remains vacant to the present day.

I feel like all I do is then and now photos for housing in Columbus. Some of the worst... The Frisbie Mansion was built in 1888 and was once located at 750 E. Broad Street. The photo is how it looked in 1892. In April 1961, it was torn down, most likely for a planned shopping center that never came to fruition. The lot stayed vacant until the current office building was constructed in 1987. East Broad used to be full of mansions, some as elaborate as this one, but most much less so. The 1960s were such terrible times for historic buildings. If only we had a time machine...

I prefer rates to totals when it comes to crime, because population change means a place can be getting safer or more dangerous even if totals aren’t changing. Murder in Columbus is one of the few crimes in the city not near historic lows for rate. It’s been hovering in the 10-13 per 100k range for several years. 2018 was about 11.6. BTW, 2017 was not the highest rate. 1991 still easily beats it.

I think part of that is because a lot of the local development companies tend to be on the small side. Maximizing profit is always going to be something a business wants, but I think squeezing every dollar out of every project is going to be much more important for the local, small-scale developer than a national or regional one that might focus more on big returns from bigger projects. I've also heard a lot of complaining about the approvals process, which I think is both a mix of NIMBYism and unrealistically strict zoning codes that require variances for any type of urban characteristic (like height or reduced parking). Those zoning codes need to be updated, especially along commercial corridors. But there need to also be minimum height restrictions in some places like Downtown. There should be no reason we are still seeing 5-6 stories on main corridors like High or Broad. The city has codes that merely "encourage" higher densities, but that's just not enough.