ragerunner

The growth between Dayton and Cincy is just sprawl. Sprawl that is consuming finite resources and sucking business from the core cities. If the Dayton and Cincy metros had strong population growth than it would make a little more sense that new land needs to be built on. But, if you calculate the growth rate of both metros together its almost 0. To much moving from one location to another. Focus the finances and efforts back into the core areas. The Cities of Cincy and Dayton have much more to offer to potential companies and residents than the sprawlville that is being created between to two. The Brookings report that was done about a year ago really focuses on returning the bulk of the state investments back to the urban core cities and letting the townships and sprawling suburban communities take a back seat in the future.

I think people have a lot of different taste and needs. My family and I (3 young boys) live in a townhouse development currently and find that it works great for us. I am a big supporter of living in a more dense environment were we can walk to the grocery store, Target, restaurants, a great neighborhood park and the bus stop all within 10 minutes or less. But, I do respect that some families and individuals want something different. The big problem with American cities is we built to much of the sprawl and not enough of the more sustainable type of development. Things are starting to change, but this change is happening very slowly in some parts of the country.

Some buyers bought above their means because they saw runaway home price inflation and wanted to buy before homes would be "totally" unaffordable. I think that is BS, since there are affordable homes everywhere. In some markets afforability of any kind was a real issue during the big bang and the RE PR machine was telling people in those markets buy now or be a renter forever. I lived in one of these types of markets and the way I dealt with the out of control cost of living was to apply for jobs in other locations were I could afford to buy a home for my family with a 30 year fixed mortgage. I got a job in such a location and moved my crew. While almost all of our friends, co-workers, etc... took the plunge in the twilight zone market and are now losing everything and some are even suing each other over bad housing business deals. Very sad. All for greed, and granite counter tops. Thank you RE industry, finance industry, media, and HGTV you have done America proud.

My house too. Actually, after watching some Fox, MSNBC, CNN, etc... I find Nick, and the Disney channel much more stimulating to the brain cells.

You are thinking to much. The headline is all you should think about, spending was up, the recession is winding down, all is well. Did you see Jon and Kate this week?

These are the kind of articles that put the bigger picture in place and should make us wake up and smell the dying roses. But, who needs this type of info when you have Jon and Kate, Michael Jackson, and whatever else to keep the American public well occupied. The truth is, the US is financially unsustainable and so are many European countries. The piper will come and when it does it will be interesting to see how the situation is handled, nationally and internationally. AP ENTERPRISE: Federal tax revenues plummeting By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press Writer – Mon Aug 3, 8:51 pm ET WASHINGTON – The recession is starving the government of tax revenue, just as the president and Congress are piling a major expansion of health care and other programs on the nation's plate and struggling to find money to pay the tab. The numbers could hardly be more stark: Tax receipts are on pace to drop 18 percent this year, the biggest single-year decline since the Great Depression, while the federal deficit balloons to a record $1.8 trillion. Other figures in an Associated Press analysis underscore the recession's impact: Individual income tax receipts are down 22 percent from a year ago. Corporate income taxes are down 57 percent. Social Security tax receipts could drop for only the second time since 1940, and Medicare taxes are on pace to drop for only the third time ever. ... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_plummeting_taxes

Yes, its was the old home for the Indianapolis Indians. I have not seen the redevelopment plans for a few years but, last I saw this was to be removed to make way for the expansion of the biotech park near IUPUI in the future.

You got to love it. One buys while the other offers and Goldman and a few selected others make a very nice profit on the action. I will say this, Goldman has got it going on. Taxpayer money, less competition, people in strategic position in the FEDs, and a computer program that they admitted could be used to manipulate the stock market in the 'wrong hands'. No wonder Goldman is making near or at record profits through the deepest US recession in history. Wall Street benefits from Fed and Treasury By Henny Sender in New York Published: August 2 2009 23:04 | Last updated: August 2 2009 23:04 "On a steamy July morning in New York recently, the US Federal Reserve, in accordance with announced plans, began purchasing $3bn in government bonds maturing between February 2021 and 2026. Prices rose in anticipation of the Fed move. Some two hours later, the US Treasury auctioned $39bn in five-year notes. ... http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ffa60e50-7f8c-11de-85dc-00144feabdc0.html

I am sure the debate over what this economic plunge will be defined as will be one for the history books. With that said, this is far from over. We may very well se a small positive GDP in one quarter followed by a negative GDP in the next quarter, rinse and repeat.

US GDP contraction slows to 1% By Alan Rappeport in New York Published: July 31 2009 13:51 | Last updated: July 31 2009 13:51 "The US economy continued to shrink in the second quarter making this recession the longest on record, but the more moderate decline lifted hopes that government stimulus measures could be loosening the grip of the downturn. Preliminary commerce department figures showed on Friday that US gross domestic product declined by an annualised rate of 1 per cent in the second quarter after declining by a revised 6.4 per cent during the first three months of the year. While the contraction was less severe than the in the previous three quarters, it was the first time since official figures started in 1947 that the US has suffered four consecutive periods of declining output." http://www.ft.com/cms/s/34977262-7d48-11de-b8ee-00144feabdc0,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F34977262-7d48-11de-b8ee-00144feabdc0.html&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fhome%2Fus

The gap between Main Street and the Wall Street elite is only growing wider. Will Main Street finally revolt someday? I don't think so. My best friends partner works for one of the banks mentioned. As long as I've know my him, his bonus has been astronomical. It insane that his bonus is 2.5 times my annual salary. I think this time might have different varibles than other times. With Main Street income shrinking, taxpayers providing a massive amount of money to the Banks and Wall Street and the deepest recession since the great depression it will be interesting to see how long the average joe will go along with this wealth transfer.

The gap between Main Street and the Wall Street elite is only growing wider. Will Main Street finally revolt someday?

My opinion. Could we have a jobless recovery. For Wall Street yes (look at today, Wall Street is up significantly over the last month or so, yet 500,000 American's are losing their jobs every month). Could Main Street have a jobless recovery, NO. I really think we are seeing a growing divide between Main Street and its wealth (or lack of it) and Wall Street that is going to be very noticable going forward. (have and have not) GDP, They massage the data to the point that anything is possible. They are also consistantly presenting rosy numbers only to modify them at a later date lower. I think GDP will stay negative for several more quarters, but each quarter will be flat or a little higher than the previous quarter (they might even pull a positive number out of their butts here and there). This will give the cheerleaders something to point to as a great positive step forward yet, we will still be in the longest recession in US history.

Skeptic here!! I like how they actually counter their own prediction with reality. Unemployment is going to continue to rise (even the FEDs have admitted that), foreclosures are still increasing with the ARM resets beginning in 2010 (the banking industry has admitted this) and interests rates can only stay this low for so long before external market forces cause a change. This really is not brain surgery, its simply already cooked into the future and can't be avoided (delayed yes, avoided no). Ragerunner this is banking and finance, where..... So true, so sad and to bad.

Skeptic here!! I like how they actually counter their own prediction with reality. Unemployment is going to continue to rise (even the FEDs have admitted that), foreclosures are still increasing with the ARM resets beginning in 2010 (the banking industry has admitted this) and interests rates can only stay this low for so long before external market forces cause a change. This really is not brain surgery, its simply already cooked into the future and can't be avoided (delayed yes, avoided no).

Spitzer: Federal Reserve is a Ponzi Scheme and an Inside Job The former Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer and the former “Sheriff of Wall Street”, when he was Attorney-General, believes that the Federal Reserve is a “ponzi scheme” and an “inside job.” In an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Meeting, Mr. Spitzer was discussing the Federal Reserve and Texas Republican Congressman Ron Paul’s HR 1207, which is a bill to audit the Federal Reserve. This legislation has received majority of support in the House of Representatives with 276 Congressional co-sponsors and 19 Senate co-sponsors. Mr. Spitzer said in the interview, “The Federal Reserve has benefited for decades from the notion that it is quasi-autonomous, it’s supposed to be independent. Let me tell you a dirty secret: The Fed has done an absolutely disastrous job since [former Fed Chairman] Paul Volcker left. The reality is the Fed has blown it. Time and time again, they blew it. Bubble after bubble, they failed to understand what they were doing to the economy.” The former Governor resigned in March 2008 due to a prostitution scandal in which he paid $1,000 per hour with a New York City call girl. ... http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/276533

Commercial real estate is taking a beating. There are reports of several large hotels/resort going into foreclosure, like the St. Regis (yes, the st. regis) Monarch beach. This is far from over. Agreed, I can tell you from my field of work that the conversations about commercial real estate heading for a big fall is not a joke. It is going to be very ugly. Be prepared to see a lot more unfinished projects and businesses go under.

I agree that another leg down is coming. Corporate earnings don't support the dow at this time, unemployment will continue to grow, and the next big wave of resets are going to drive housing down even more and drive foreclosures even higher. This is not over and when it is over the bottom is were we will sit for some time. I think it pays to look at all the underlining economics that are taking place and will take place (resets, etc...) to get a good picture of the next several months. None of them point to a recover except happy talk, and pump and dump on wall street so Goldman and others can make a quick profit off of others pain and foolish loses. I also agree with C-Dawg Njaim, if oil an other commodities shot up in the near future it will crush the US economy and quickly revert any recover efforts.

The good part is there are still several old parking lots around this area were they can create more density (residential and office) over time. But, they have a nice start on things.

Englewood is located south of Downtown Denver and has a current population of 32,000. The community was founded in 1903 and is located along the C and D light rail lines. The historic downtown area has some really nice signage going on. The pics were taken during a work day morning. As I was leaving things were starting to pick up.

I would much prefer to see a downtown historic building receive funding, than continue to put stimulus funds towards suburban freeways.

Commercial real estate falling fast Post a commentPosted by: Agnes Crane "Moody’s Investors Service, which keeps tabs on the commercial real estate sector by way of a traffic light color scheme, has very little in the way of good news about the market that many view as the second shoe of the credit crisis. The rating agency reports that for the first time in six years, none of the seven property types tracked in its quarterly survey scored a green rating, or the strongest category, with full service and limited service hotel sectors still at rock bottom of its scoring system. The overall commercial real estate market scored 34 (out of 100), putting it at the weakest shade of yellow. New York and Los Angeles, the two largest markets supporting commercial real mortgage-backed securities, saw double digit drops in their scores to just 36." http://blogs.reuters.com/commentaries/2009/07/21/commercial-real-estate-falling-fast/

I am not sure when you saw that information but here is the ethnic diversity for universities in the US. The University of Colorado has a rating of .27 out of 1.0. For comparison University of Cincinnati is .28 and Ohio State has a .29. There are dozens of universities throughout the US with lower diversity levels. http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college/national-campus-ethnic-diversity

The amount of different languages I heard while walking around was impressive. There were more local restaurants than chains and I wouldn't consider a cheesecake factory a reason not to call a place urban. They are in downtown Chicago, NYC, Boston, etc... There is one in NYC? WHERE? :wtf: Show me!! yes, there is one on Michigan avenue. However, Michigan avenue is a true mixed goods retail street. Also, chains like that are less represented in Chicago, so the brand extension is needed for exposure, not necessity. You are correct, their are no Cheesecake Factory's in downtown NYC. But, they are in downtown Seattle, downtown San Francisco, etc... I just don't get the concept that having a chain makes a place not urban. NYC has places like Planet Hollywood, ESPN Zone, Hard Rock, etc.... I guess my point was to say that downtown Boulder has figured out how to create a vibrant, urban pedestrian space that is used across the planning and downtown development fields as a model of high quality placemaking (above and beyond most communities). Are their different or better urban spaces, sure, but this one usually gets a lot of high marks.

The amount of different languages I heard while walking around was impressive. There were more local restaurants than chains and I wouldn't consider a cheesecake factory a reason not to call a place urban. They are in downtown Chicago, NYC, Boston, etc...