Robuu

CVG is a nice-feeling midsize airport. Having the train makes it feel bigger than it is, although I think they could emphasize its usefulness better (if you're just following signs, you end up walking for what could have been a train ride). The retail seems to be hanging on ok, from what I can tell. Doesn't feel abandoned.

This is the weekend I was in town for the Yayoi Kusama show. Making two transfers just to get to Tower City was super unappealing.

I was in Cleveland in July. Stayed at an airbnb near Shaker Square, because I thought I could use the blue/green lines to get into Downtown. Womp-womp. The 33rd(?) Street station was closed for Opportunity Corridor (I think?) construction, so I just ended up driving basically everywhere. Wouldn't have stayed at Shaker Square had I known that was going on. I guess that wasn't a deferred maintenance issue, though. Unless it was, and they were disguising it as an Opportunity Corridor thing.

I just completed the third (and most recent) season of The Man in the High Castle. It's an alt-history/scifi show based on Philip K. Dick's novel of the same name. The Axis won WW2 and split America so that the Japanese control the western US (capital in SF), the Nazis control the eastern US (capital in NYC; DC was blown to bits), and the Mountain West is the "Neutral Zone," acting as an anarchic buffer between the two. So far, I'm digging it. It's an Amazon Prime exclusive.

New Orleans uses 'CBD' for their CBD as well, though there is far more going on in Cincinnati's. New York has the Financial District, which is becoming more of a legitimate live-work-play neighborhood. CBD is a generic name, but it exists in the same ecosystem as 'Over-the-Rhine' and 'the Basin' which are flavorful enough to make the 'CBD' moniker nbd, imo.

^ Mmmm, sour beer. Gonna have to check this one out!

Truly an indictment when (white) hipsters flock to Nashville of all places, given country music's low status on the hipster scale.

The Bearcats are quietly Doing Business this season. Anyone going to Orlando this weekend? If they can win there, they will most likely be AAC champs and hopefully start next season ranked.

Stunning

That's kind of like saying transit is doomed because electric cars. My counter-prediction is that scooters will have to become more like bikes if they're going to have staying power. Jake even says no one is using the scooters to actually go places. If that's the case, people are either going to drop them as soon as the novelty wears off or they'll find an actual use for them as a travel mode. Assuming the latter, people will start to realize the benefits of bigger wheels and a seat. Then the cost of construction will approach that of the bicycles.

I think the more worrisome things would be policy-related. Like laws requiring the use of a bike lane if it's available (regardless of potentially large inconveniences of circumstance), or requirements to carry some kind of beacon to alert CAVs to the presence of people walking, biking, or scooting. I don't see how the geometry or signal phasing for a scooter would be very different than that of a bicycle. Which is a separate issue than issues arising from scooters and bikes merely operating in the same lane --- how would that be affected by auto manufacturers advocating for "scooter lanes" specifically? What is the difference between the outcomes from top-down versus grassroots advocacy, in terms of the resulting infrastructure?

^ Guessing this is in Cleveland? Might be helpful to state which city it's in.

Bike shares would have had the same trending effect if bicycles were a new invention, but they're over a century old and everyone has experienced riding them. Being that they're over a hundred years old, I don't think they're going anywhere, and bike lanes will continue to be relevant despite John Cranley's insistence otherwise. What would a scooter lane look like which isn't hospitable to bicycles?

I don't really get your point. You're stating the way things are: bike riders must go well beyond what's legally required of them in the name of self-preservation. But it's hard to see how that makes much sense in terms of what is desirable. It sounds like you're excusing drivers for behaving dangerously and breaking the law. Frankly, it sounds like you get a thrill out of cycling being dangerous and want to use that element of danger as a form of gatekeeping to prevent others from enjoying the benefits of a greener, healthier, cheaper, often more convenient way of getting around. Like it's some kind of threat to your identity for cycling to lose its status as a niche mode of transport.

It's not about drivers erratically swerving, it's about drivers 1) simply not looking for things with the size of a person on a bike on the road, 2) misjudging the speeds at which a bicycle can go (or is going), 3) forgetting what hand signals mean since they rarely see people using them, and 4) not looking before opening their car door. I've used a bike as my primary mode of transportation for more than a decade. I ride every day, in all weather. Many people driving cars are really oblivious to the presence of bikes and how a rational cyclist will behave (speed, signals, etc.). It's bad enough with the way some people are frequently oblivious to other cars, but what would be a minor fender-bender with another motor vehicle could be a major injury or fatality for a cyclist or scooter rider, so of course it's dangerous when you pair that with the factors listed above. All of those listed factors are mitigated when bikes (or scooters) are ubiquitous and the driver expects to have to watch for them, and knows how to judge their potential speed and interpret their hand signals. Even better is if most drivers have the experience of riding bikes or scooters in the road, thereby being able to put themselves into the shoes of the people they're dealing with out there on the road. Data backs all this up. Cycling is safer per mile in places where cycling is commonplace.

If people are taking frivolous trips on micromobiles, they'll be more inclined to consider those modes for normal trips, too. And it should greatly improve the safety of roads for cyclists and utilitarian scooter-riders when cars are used to so many smaller vehicles on the road.

We know techbros are good at reinvention, so... I wouldn't bet against it.

^ Like this: https://timesofsandiego.com/business/2018/10/21/razor-introduces-dockless-scooter-with-seat-and-basket-to-san-diego/

Not so sure about scooter dominance in their current form. The wheels are too small to handle imperfect pavement, and people aren't going to want to stand if given the option. An ebike with "throttle mode," or without pedal-assist altogether, would be a superior vehicle that would still not require physical exertion. I don't know how much foot-positioning matters to people, but if pedal-assist is out, the foot rest could go anywhere.

Ohio's Republicans seem particularly anti-urban.

I'm excited to try the ebikes in Cincy. Anyone done it yet?

^ I went to see the movie at the Neon in Dayton, and it was decent. I've never watched a movie where I recognized so many locations, let alone had an intimate familiarity with some of them. I could see my office window in a scene shot a block away. And the Blue Jay diner in Northside is a place I've eaten countless Saturday mornings; the diner is an important location in the film.

I've heard Dumas has a history of being anti-LGBT. I don't know details, but it could leave her vulnerable to a primary or a Republican like Seth Maney or Jeff Pastor.

^ Yvette should've rerun it

It looks like Hamilton County has taken the jump to become solidly blue. Montgomery County has gone the opposite way, becoming pink. I guess the big question is how permanent the Trumpist realignment of party coalitions is. One thing is certain, Hamilton has lost its use as a bellwether for the state. Dumas is a good example of this. She won because she had a D next to her name.