ragerunner

It would be nice to see the midwest cities higher up in the rankings for job creation and retention.

Region's cities drop in Milken's job creation rankingBusiness Courier of Cincinnati "Greater Cincinnati, like its regional counterparts, slipped in the Milken Institute's ranking of 200 large U.S. cities according to their ability to create and maintain jobs. The Cincinnati-Middletown metro area dropped to 167 this year from 149 in 2005. Job growth from March 2006-07 was 0.35 percent, and the area ranked 117th for five-year job growth (2000-05), 172nd for one-year job growth (2004-05), 126th for five-year relative high-tech GDP growth, and 129th for one-year relative high-tech GDP growth. Most other nearby cities either slid in the ranking or remained stable: Dayton fell to 190 from 187; Toledo stayed the same at 196; Cleveland inched up to 193 from 194; Columbus dropped to 154 from 135; Indianapolis, the highest-ranking regional city, fell to 120 from 104; Lexington declined to 129 from 97; and Louisville fell to 169 from 151. Only Akron gained ground, to 155 in 2007, from 160 in 2005. The best performing city was Ocala, Fla., which moved up from 13th in 2005. The Lansing-East Lansing, Mich., area was at the bottom of the pile, falling to 200 from 197." http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2007/09/24/daily46.html?f=et57&ana=e_du http://www.milkeninstitute.org/

Except its growing.

I wonder if the town of Aurora will look back on this and think, maybe we should have let Sea World build rides and larger attractions like they wanted to?

September 17, 2007 Goldman Sachs Major Oil Changes (Up To $135 Per Barrel Super-Spike) This morning Goldman Sachs has made some major changes to its integrated oil and refining universe to reflect new commodity price assumptions, as well as changes in many cost structures ahead. The overall rating is still listed as "Attractive" for both integrated oil and for refining. Goldman Sachs is calling it as now being in Phase 2 of a multi-year "Super-Spike" era. It says the lower ends of the $50 to $105 per barrel oil and $8 to $15 per barrel USGC refining margin range has not caused demand to fall. Its base case forecasts now reflect the upper portion of that band with $80 per barrel oil in 2008 and $90 per barrel in 2009. It also sees refining margins at $14 per barrel in 2008 and $16 per barrel in 2009. http://www.247wallst.com/2007/09/goldman-sachs-m.html Its coming. America better starting building mass transit NOW!!

Hamilton actually has a 'real' downtown and several 'real' walkable historic neighborhoods linked to that downtown. Florence is a suburban town built mostly on suburban principles, Hamilton is very much an urban environment and one of the most ethnically diverse in the metro region.

Drivers test paying by mile instead of gas tax By Larry Copeland, USA TODAY "Beginning early next year, drivers in six states will begin testing a new way to pay for roads and transit: Commuters will be charged for the miles they drive rather than paying taxes on gasoline purchased. Researchers from the University of Iowa Public Policy Center will install computers and satellite equipment in the vehicles of 2,700 volunteers — 450 each from Austin, Baltimore, Boise, San Diego, eastern Iowa and the Research Triangle region of North Carolina. Over the next two years, the drivers will get sample monthly bills for the number of miles they've driven. They can compare what they now pay in gasoline taxes with what they would have paid in per-mile fees. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-20-roads_N.htm?csp=34 MORE AT THE LINK ABOVE

Would that be so bad? It seems a downtown department store in a small city is a BIG economic piece.

Unfortunately, I think you are right in a very big way. Where is Busch when you need them?

Cedar Fair to Close historic Geauga Lake Closing could add rides to Kings Island "AURORA, Ohio – The Geauga Lake amusement park will close, leaving only a water park at the lakeside location, the park’s owner Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. said Friday... http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070922/NEWS01/309220015 That a lot of history being destroyed. It just a shame that an Ohio company would do this to an Ohio institution. Cedar Fair is starting to really hurt financially, let hope it doesn't show up in their operation of Kings Island.

Article through a link on Marketwatch. With Oil At Record Highs, Talk Of $200 A Barrel 24/7 Wall St. has run three or four pieces recently that suggested there are strong cases for $100 a barrel oil. With the $80 mark reached last week, some oil industry experts do not discount the possibility that crude make get close to $100 this year. Jeff Currie, head of commodity research at Goldman Sachs, describes it as "a cyclical bull market for oil". "There is a risk that the oil price will spike to $95 per barrel by the end of this year if the market remains in significant deficit," he told The Telegraph. Now part of the debate has begun to move to whether oil prices could hit $200. CNN Money recently ran a piece looks at a growing school of thought driven by analysts "who generally believe oil production has either topped out or will do so in the next couple of years." Douglas A. McIntyre http://www.247wallst.com/2007/09/with-oil-at-rec.html While I don't know if Oil will go to $200, the $95 to $100 doesn't seem out of the question right now. I have also seen a lot of articles that say at $100 it will cause major damage to our economy. Its a shame the public continues to demand more roads, etc... and not mass transit. Once again, our society is going to wait until they are forced to change our habits, before we make the needed modifications.

I think we will see Cedar Fair unload at least one or two of the paramount parks before the start of the 2008 season. To much debt and falling revenue. Not a good combination.

Very nice pics. Great job.

Nothing like seeing Ohio's first lady at a groundbreaking for a big box and sprawl development were Wal-Mart, Kohl's and Target will be building. Has our Country and its political system truly become this sad.

Sent the email. I have emailed the enquirer once or twice and not really got much of a response to anything but, thanks for your email. If I hear anything I will post it.

"The developer also will contribute $4 million to the first phase of the project and another $6 million later, said Eric Stuckey, Hamilton County's assistant county administrator for administrative services." Questions: So who is paying for the private sectors part of phase one? Because $4 million is not even close to what they need. Are they still looking for a financial backer?

30-story Banks protested 'Wall of buildings' violates public trust, other owners contend BY JESSICA BROWN | [email protected] "Some influential downtown property owners are trying to block plans that would allow 30-story buildings to be constructed in the Banks riverfront development. Allowing such tall buildings "changes the entire character" of the development, "violating the public trust that went into approving the development at taxpayer expense," the property owners claim. Full story text is available at http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070831/NEWS01/708310377

I would agree, as long as they hold the block structure, make it a pedestrian friendly space and try and ensure that the scale works with the street grid, lets just get started. If the project does end up taking 15 years or more I am sure the architecture will change over time any way.

Even though phase one has gotten smaller by removing the hotel, condos and office space, it will be a huge step forward just to get phase one with the retail and apartments going. This should help give the project some good momentum for the future phases and show people things are starting to happen in that part of downtown.

"The first phase, the part closest to the Great American Ball Park, would be finished in late summer 2009 and would include 70,000 square feet of retail and a minimum of 300 residential units. The development would start with apartments in its first phase, rather than condominiums as was originally planned, officials said." Does anyone know if this will now be phase one? The other day they said phase one would include at least 100,000 of office, potentially a hotel and condos (which it appears they have cut out of phase one and are just going with the apartments). Or is the article wrong or just missing the other info?

I won't comment on this type of conversation.

Look, this conversation is not going to go anywhere, I was just making a comment that this guy apparently has some notable knowledge in the field he was commenting on. Weather I or you or anyone agrees or disagrees with what he had to say is a personal opinion and is not worth arguing about.

Actually I not sure what you point was, you discredit the guy because he made comments you didn't agree with or like? My response was to LinclonKennedy that it appears this guy and his company is not some no name organization. Weather or not he has a person agenda I don't know.

I never said he was great person, I said he appears to have a lot of knowledge when it comes to development and retail. Google his name and you will see he seems to still be 'current' in today's market.

Hopeful they will put some ground floor retail space in, that is accessible from the outside. These types of projects don't come along very often, so hopefully they will get it right.