ragerunner

Crime stats usually spike when the economy goes bad. You will also see a spike in murder every X amount of years when new gang wars breakout for turf. Once the turf battle is over the murder rate will usually drop for X amount of years, rinse and repeat.

How true. Putting individual opinions on height, design, site plan, etc... aside, this is truly an amazing structure built by human hands and makes a statement about human ingenuity.

So true, not only will casino jobs not pay as much as the DHL jobs, its only about 1/4 of the jobs being lost.

You must never have rode a standard Vekoma SLC (Inverted Coaster) Been there done that several times. My ears have the war marks to prove it.

I like Batman The Ride in the front seat. While I like just about every kind of coaster out there, I prefer the feeling of speed over loops, etc...

Awwwh!!! The smell of suburban 'big box' crap in the morning, or afternoon, or evening. It doesn't matter when or where, it just stinks all the time.

I just hope they treat KI as a theme park and not an amusement park. Its always been a theme park and the attractions should reflect that concept. Luckily this ride has a western/frontier theme which is the one concept Cedar Fair seems to do OK at.

Nice charts and great info. Clearly these places have not escaped the housing downturn. To pick up on the Hamilton County chart. 2005 - 2,101 2006 - 1,823 2007 - 1,273 Permits were cut almost in half. Cincy: 2005 - 616 2006 - 892 2007 - 458 Basically following the metro trend (50% reduction). The good news is the number of RE units for sale in the metro is lower than this time last year (still very high, but better). If the metro can avoid major job loses through this recession the RE industry should comeback quicker than a lot of the US. Of course with the economy and the financial markets doing what they are doing there are a lot of 'IF' in that assumption.

I think the days of KI getting the biggest or longest coasters are over for now. Cedar Fair reserves those items for Cedar Point their flagship park (KI use to be treated as a flagship park by most of its former owners). Most major theme parks of KI size in the US already have a hypercoaster, but better late than never.

Kings Island announces Diamondback for 2009. Looks good. KI needed a good steel coaster (B&M). Nothing ground breaking, but a very good addition. http://www.kidiamondback.com/

If this goes through it will have a significant impact on the Southwest Ohio region. All 6,000 people that work there don't leave there.

Miami Beach is an incredible urban space and very unique. Great pics.

Miami's skyline is one of the best in the US. But, the street level experience downtown is really bad. It a shame, great weather, great location and plenty of downtown condo residents.

I think you might be onto something. If you do a Starbucks location search with a 20 mile radius of Columbus you get 85 starbucks. If you do the same search for Cincy you get 61. Sounds like somebody overbuilt the market.

Actually it was 12 words and 94 miles of transit. :lol:

Actually, I missed your response? :cry: lets try this. Both places have a huge advantage in mass transit compared to Cincy? :lol:

First my apologizes, I misread that quote. I've taken the tri-rail 4 times, last time was in January of this year. Also, I was not trying to down play Cleveland's system at all. Any city with mass transit along the lines of South Florida or Cleveland is way ahead of the game and should be commended. Here is hoping more America and midwest cities get on the transit wagon.

I've been on the tri-rail and what that is, a COMMUTTER RAIL ROAD, inner city mass transit like the Rapids (i.e. subways/light rail). These are two different things that cannot be compared. Miami's bus system is a mess and the people mover is as UR said, a joke. Cleveland overall transit system is much better designed and run than Miami's in my opinion. Also, you're comparing the "water front line" which a five stations out of the entire rail system. First, I didn't compare it to the waterfront line. UncleRando made that comment, I was just responding. Second, I said you can remove the metromover (downtown) out of discussion. That wasn't even part of the calculation of 94 miles and 40 transit stops. Third, Metrorail (22.4 miles) is a real light rail/subway type transit system. As far as the bus system, I know the system in Broward County does a very good job feeding into Tri-Rail. What makes this system good is how all these work together. I have used this system many times (family, tourism, work, etc...) and have found nothing in the midwest as good (except Chicago). It even gives you connection to all 3 international airports. Tri-rail is a commuter system (it runs every 1/2 during main times) but it runs through only urban areas from W.P.B. to Miami. When was the last time you road Tri-Rail? Has it been since they finished the duel tracks that doubled it running time? I agree the system could be even better and should be. But, its still 94 miles and 40 stops more than most cities.

Is that how you traveled around Florida? I didn't know it went there. :-) Next time you go, buy a Tri-rail transit ticket, park the car and enjoy some of the urban areas I listed.

Florida's Mass transit? By that do you mean toll road galore? Have to agree with MTS here. There is no mass transit to speak of on the west coast of south Florida...and the east coast has a light rail line of sorts that looks comparable to Cleveland's Waterfront line, and don't get me started on Miami's PeopleMover on rubber tires. What a freakin' joke. The best thing that could happen is to have some sort of rail transit connection Miami proper to Miami Beach/South Beach area. The residents there could then get over into Miami for the more chain shopping that is often needed, but still not need more than their motorbike. Sorry, I should have been more clear. South Florida to the locals is the West Palm to Miami area not the west coast area (Ft. Myers/Naples). As far as mass transit: Tri-Rail (72 miles with 18 stations) is the regional transit line that runs from North of West Palm Beach to just south of the Miami (metrorail) station area. Metrorail (22.4 miles with 22 stations) runs from the Palmetto area through downtown and south to University/Dadeland area. The metromover (4.4 miles and 21 stations) which is connected into Metrorail. Even if you don't like the metromover, I think 94 miles of mass transit that is completely integrated into the metropolitan bus system is a lot more then Cleveland's Waterfront line or anything else in the midwest (except Chicago). Side note: UncleRando did you enjoy the Miami Beach area (great architecture and pedestrian environment)? Also did you get a chance to go to the other places I noted, if not, next time you are there you should. Those areas are much better urban settings then most of the places you got to visit.

While Florida has it areas that are poorly designed and sprawling (just as most states do) it also has some outstanding urban areas like Miami Beach, Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, the Dadeland Area, Stuart, etc... and I would take south Florida's mass transit over any in the midwest except Chicago.

St. Pete is really moving their downtown in the right direction. I also found the St. Pete surrounding neighborhoods to be more urban than most of the surrounding neighborhoods in Tampa.

The downtown Tampa area needs to figure out how to integrate the University more into the urban core. They are building three large new museums downtown that should help spark more people visiting downtown and add some street life. The Aquarium is top notch.

It gives the business section of the paper something to write about.

In America, a long time. Discard the 'old' and build something new. Rinse and repeat.