Robuu

As someone who knows how to pronounce Dutch syllables, I assure you it's no easier to decipher how NYers are going to pronounce things with Dutch names. I guess the exception might be something like Schermerhorn, where I would know that the CH doesn't just merge with the S to make an English SH sound. The closest thing to an SH in Dutch is actually SJ (as in the 'hasj' you can buy at one of the Netherlands' famous coffeeshops). The CH makes a throat-clearing K sound (so like KHH?), which is the same sound a G makes ('Gouda' (the town and the cheese) is pronounced khhowda). Extra fun when they appear next to each other, like in the word 'gracht' (that's what a canal is called). All the UYs you see should be pronounced more like OW (as in the English word 'cow'). So Stuyvesant should be more like Stowfvesant than Stivesant. Also of note is that the Dutch OE is always like the OE in the English word 'shoe'. Guess what 'poep' is. Another one Americans consistently mispronounce is OO, which is a long O sound; 'boot' in Dutch means the same and is pronounced the same as the English 'boat'. Remember that one the next time you purchase some stroopwafels, which I recommend you do ASAP because they're delicious.

I suspect they want to create a desperate situation so they can ram through whatever their plans are (which will include hotel rooms, of course) as an "emergency fix" with little debate about closing off streets or whatever they want to do which might create some push-back,

I don't see how the cure to this would be expanding, unless there were a successful campaign to solicit new vendors to fill everything up. I feel like having the permanent stores flanking the market which can flex into outdoor stalls is solid, I don't think the size is an issue. On the parking lots, I'd like to see underground parking with mixed retail/residential on top. North Market in Columbus feels more spread out to me but not bigger (as in more vendors), especially when factoring in Silverglades, Maverick, etc. in the stores outside the market hall. West Side Market in Cleveland is massively bigger, although it has a ton of vendors selling the same things (if you want kielbasa and macarons, boy are you set). I'm not sure which peer city market you might be thinking of which is much more substantial, other than West Side Market. I think the best thing for the market would just be residential infill in the market's vicinity. If it could be more active and full of vendors 7 days a week, perhaps with extended hours, that would be a better scenario than having a larger market. Bringing more customers to the area would be the best way to accomplish this.

Fifth Third Field (Dayton, Ohio), a minor league baseball stadium in Dayton, Ohio Fifth Third Field (Toledo, Ohio), a minor league baseball stadium in Toledo, Ohio Fifth Third Ballpark, in Comstock Park, Michigan Fifth Third Bank Ballpark, former name of Northwestern Medicine Field, in Geneva, Illinois

? Please be a Thunderdome restaurant ?

They are pushing it as a package deal. But I don't see any reason to believe a sales tax would be off the table if 22 were to fail. They might lose some endorsements, but I think that's the worst that would happen. Maybe they'd adjust the number they ask for.

I don't share your pessimism. I don't share your pessimism.

Not with that attitude. Before Cranley was elected, no one thought it was that far-fetched. Things can change quickly, one way or the other.

The bottom line is simply that it changes the result of passing the announced 0.6% sales tax levy from [+0.6% sales tax] to [+0.6% sales tax, -0.3% earnings tax]. It makes the result worse for bus service.

Decreasing funds is literally what tax repeals do. If the sales tax passes, 22 kicks in to decrease available revenue from [0.6% sales tax + 0.3% earnings tax] to [0.6% sales tax].

I get that, but that doesn't make it not-convoluted. It's still a tax repeal, which all else being equal (meaning the county levy passes) decreases the funds available for bus service.

^ I was heavily weighting distance from downtown, and factoring in UC/OSU proximity. OTE would be more like Columbus's Newport-West End hybrid.

I can't believe people would be so irrational as to think people voting against the repeal of a transit tax is an indication that people aren't supportive of transit. Something must be in the water down there.

If it's true, they should say it out loud...I mean there's a week before the election and it would certainly be a salient fact for voters. Edit: I'm not a Cincinnati voter, but if I were I would vote against 22. If the SORTA board said it was going to withdraw the bus tax levy, I'd probably vote the other way.

Source? I haven't heard that.

Ugh, that is really frustrating. So the whole Issue 22 dog & pony show could have been skipped, with all the potential benefits of Issue 22 passing, if they'd just gone with a 1% sales tax. In my opinion, going for anything lower than 1% is a mistake, because psychologically there isn't really a line between "I support bus service enough for a 0.8% sales tax increase" and "I support bus service enough for a 1% sales tax increase". I guess they are adding in all the complications in order to get certain groups to endorse the measure. But I don't believe endorsements are going to really move the needle, especially since no matter what is arrived at the opposition will be the exact same (COAST's talking points do not shift with facts or details). So I think the winning strategy is 1) Keep It Simple, Stupid and 2) ask for enough that you can present a plan with enough signature improvements that people are excited for it (this creates free word-of-mouth/social media advertising).

This is an assumption people are making, but the only actual evidence I see for it is that the narrative could be self-fulfilling. Interesting but unanswerable questions: (1) If there never were an Issue 22, how much more or less likely would it be that the sales tax passes, versus (2) If 22 passes, how much more or less likely would it be that the sales tax passes, versus (3) If 22 fails, how much more or less likely would it be that the sales tax passes? I'm not convinced that the probability of the sales tax passing in scenario (3) would be substantially lower than the probability it passes in scenario (2). And I suspect the probability of it passing in scenario (1) would have been higher than in scenario (2), just by virtue of drawing everything out and making it more confusing.

Doesn't getting inducted into a Hall of Fame basically revoke all your rock & roll cred? I say keep the actually-cool bands out of there. So definitely Soundgarden and not Kraftwerk.

They must be getting pretty desperate for a new sponsor at this point, no? Methinks the time is right for UrbanOhio to make its pitch for naming rights.

Both coverage and frequency are important, but Metro actually has fairly decent coverage in the county, to the extent that if you prioritize living near a bus line you can live in almost any community and have that option. But having a bus go by your house that only comes by every hour or two and less on weekends is not very enticing to anyone who can afford another option. Increasing pressure for coverage means pressure for bus lines like that, at the expense of frequency on lines people actually use. There would need to be an astronomical boost in funding to provide service in areas that aren't already covered which would pique the interest of anyone who isn't currently interested in riding the bus. People from Cheviot hating the streetcar despite its existence being free for them is a good indicator that most streetcar opposition is not actually about anything the streetcar does or doesn't do.

It's not very different from what passes for an urban business district in Columbus, like Clintonville, which is basically Columbus's Northside.

This modest sales tax increase will TOTALLY cover the stadium bonds. HONEST.

Most people in that situation are commuting to Downtown or Uptown. Without Metro, the congestion in those areas would be beyond ridiculous. These people 100% benefit from funding the bus network. People who live and work outside the city would be paying into the system with the tax switch. I doubt people in that situation consider this to be more "fair". The amount of funds available wouldn't change much with the sales tax + repeal scheme, yet there would be more pressure to increase coverage throughout the county. Pressure for more coverage is the same as pressure for less frequency. In order for this plan to help, there would have to be enough of an increase in funding to offset the spreading-too-thin risk created by increased coverage. There isn't enough of an increase to do that. In the current state of Metro, increased frequency should be a higher priority than increased coverage in most cases. This would be better achieved by adding the sales tax but also keeping the earnings tax.

Sounds like you actually do get it.