Jeff

I guess you all are talking about a parcel adjacent or near to that shopping center where Joseph-Beth is at? If so thats interesting as I think the market there would be the affluent Hyde Park area. Norwood proper is further to the west, isn't it, along Montogomery Road. Seems like Norwood is pretty agressive at redevelopement. It looks like they rebuilt their downtown (the intersection of Montgomery Road & the Norwood Lateral), or maybe that was an abandoned industrial site as I read there used to be a GM plant in Norwood.

Referring upthread to Daytons airport. Theres' supposed to be some excess gate capacity due to the days of Piedmont running a hub operation out of Cox Field. I think the Piedmont hub gates are closed off now, but I guess could be reopened if demand warrants. Funny about people driving to Dayton from Cincy to fly. I've driven to Port Columbus due to cheap fairs.

Why do they call it the Gem City? Because its such a gem. (said sarcastically). I've also heard it called "Dirton" or "Dirttown" Or, "the northermost city in Kentucky". There actually are suburban neighborhoods called "Dogpatch" (in Moraine) and "Little Kentucky" (a part of Fairborn).

I have a documenation booklet prepared by the Miami U. school of architecture, I think, on Portsmouth, as a class project. Measured drawings and photos of representative buildings in the town (some old houses in Boneyfiddle district, the Oddfellows Hall, a shoe factory, etc.) Actually a suprisingly "urban" place that I discovered by accident on a road trip down the Scioto Valley ("Portsmouth, hmm, lets see whats that about..."). Its a bit far, but I did spend a bit longer there on an overnight trip to Huntington/Ashland. Some pretty impressive vintage architecture, inlcluding a huge old church. Then theres the old mill-town "suburb" of New Boston, with its rows of doubles wedged between the bluffs and an shuttered steel mill. And definetely check out the murals!

I was in Cincy last weekend and took a trip up to that fantastic outdoor observation deck on the Carew Tower, and, looking down, noticed the riverfront seemed to be on its way to becoming a big parking lot for the new stadiums. Now, after seeing the renderings, I see there are bigger plans afoot, including a sort of "Grant Park"/"Urban Front Yard" solution for the space between the two stadiums, on either side of the suspension bridge. A quibble with the design concept is what looks like a weak or nonexistent link with Yeatmans Cove/Sawyer Point.

Yeah, I do see parallels with Wrigley Field in that Broadway Commons concept, or even the old Crosely Field. Or, for smaller fields, the new minor league parks in Louisville and Dayton. The thing, though, with Wrigley is that you can take the L to the ballpark. Parking around Broadway Commons would be pretty tough..the riverfront site solves that problem.

A tourist light rail line is being proposed as part of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historic Site on the west side of Dayton (the Wright-Dunbar neighborhood). The line is actually a cut-back version of a much more extensive original proposal that would have linked the Wright-Dunbar area with the Air Force Museum and the Huffman Praire Flying Field on Wright-Patterson AFB. This scheme was, early on, deemed too costly, and this cut-back version is whats now being proposed, linking Wright-Dunbar with downtown Dayton and the Oregon District (5th Street, in the Oregon, is Daytons version of an in-town restaurant/nightlife quarter).

Hello! I thought I'd start an introductions thread for new members (or current ones) to introduce themselves, or just to introduce myself. My name is Jeff, Im 45, and I live in Washington Township, which is in the southern suburbs of Dayton, Ohio...meaning Cincinnati is about 45 minutes or so away. I'm a native of Chicago. I grew up in a "two-flat" in an older ethnic neighborhood (mostly Polish and Italian, now primarily Mexican) on the northwest side. Heres' a link to a pretty good article about the place: Cragin...it even mentions my old parish, St Stanislaus. I was pretty much was a city kid, getting around town on the L and busses as there was only one car in the family. My parents relocated to Louisville (the southwest suburb of Valley Station), and I spent my teenage years in Louisville, and then college in Lexington at the University of Kentucky, earning a degree in architecture, with a sort of undeclared minor in urban and regional geography (although I don't work in those fields). I got to know Louisville and Lexington pretty well during those years, both great little cities (Louisville isn't that little, though) that seem to keep on getting better. I ended up working for the military, and relocated to California, living in the northern Bay Area/wine country, the Vallejo/Napa/Fairfield area (Travis AFB), and then Sacramento (McLellan AFB), before transferring to Dayton to be closer to family (Louisville is only about 2.5 to 3 hours from Dayton, if the traffic is moving). Just a word on "Sacto": Sacramento is one of the best kept secrets of California, with a pleasant tree-shaded, camillia-scented "Old City", plenty of parks, old victorian & bungalow architecture, and has only just recently gone high-rise in a big way (devloping sort of European "scattered skyscraper" skyline). I guess I am quite the urbanophile (is that a word?) and take road trips/weekends to various citys in the area..actually quite a few daytrips to Cincinnati as its so close. My military work allowed me to also do some exploring of places further afield, like El Paso, Albuquerque, San Antonio, and Oklahoma City, and Los Angeles, among others. I've also been overseas, and am familiar with Frankfurt am Main--the "Rhine-Main Region"-- and Nurnberg. (I will stop now or this will sound like a bad version of that old Hank Snow song "I've Been Everywhere"). Other hobbys (besided being a city afficianado) are history and historic tourism (like to do road trips following old WPA guidebooks), food (restaurants and markets like Jungle Jims or Charllies here in Dayton), beer (imported and some of those great new domestic beers), music (pop & folk, not so much classical or rap), and have been getting into cinema a bit, too. I am also somewhat of a railfan, being interested mostly in passenger rail and traction. I'd like to close by saying this is one great site, and I really like your alls forums here, too! I dont have a digital camera, but I will try to contribute at least some links and narrative to the threads.[/code]