jamiec

Columbus has got the buzz!! Definitely winning in the Ohio city PR competition, haha =) I'd much rather move to Columbus than Florida, so more power to yah! Travel magazine to focus attention on arts district By KEVIN PARKS ThisWeek Staff Writer Travel writer Beth D'Addono came to Columbus last winter to sample some sweet treats. She ended up taking a walk along what she considered to be some pretty neat streets. The result is to be a profile of the Short North in a major travel magazine later this year. The arts district will come in for the Neighborhood Watch feature treatment in National Geographic Traveler. The article by D'Addono is tentatively scheduled to run in the November/December issue of the magazine. It had been slated to run earlier but has been bumped back, according to a spokeswoman for the publication. In town to do a freelance story for The Boston Globe on Jeni's Fresh Ice Cream in the North Market, the Philadelphia-based D'Addono said she acceded to the urging of a local public relations firm owner to meet with Short North Business Association director John Angelo. Full article at http://www.thisweeknews.com/?edition=common&story=thisweeknews/072706/common/News/072706-News-197299.html

I associate it with something like that because I always read that a "professional" career was one that had some degree of accreditation or licensure and specialized education. That would be doctors, lawyers, etc. Carpenters, on the other hand, who also have specific training, would be tradesmen. And everyone else would be just a generic worker. Maybe this is an old fashion way of looking at it. This could turn into splitting hairs, so I'll cede to you whatever definition you want to use. My fundamental point is, if you go to a young professional meeting in Cincy, Columbus or Cleveland, you're not going to find 20-somethings sipping martinis after just coming off their shifts tearing up the street outside whatever fancy downtown bar the meeting is at -- unless they changed into a suit in the port-o-potty before entering. I guess if we cut away all the beating around the bush, I don't like the term "young professional" because it conjures yuppies that ask "what do you do" before they ask "what is your name?" I'll admit that I'm being overly broad and probably unduly harsh, but I just think the term "young professional" is too exclusive, so while your definition of it may include a 20-something that works for DHL, I don't think it does in reality, and I bet you that person wouldn't call themself a "young professional," either. There's nothing wrong with being a young professional -- that's not what I meant, anyway. I also couldn't care less if a city tries to attract "young professionals." You definitely need them. I lived in a small town that had no young people, let alone young professionals. It's the most depressing atmosphere you can imagine. Cities need everyone in order to feel vibrant -- young, old, rich, poor, imigrant, artist, executive, young professional. It takes all kinds to make the world go round. I just think it's stupid to aim specifically at young professionals because there is about a .001% chance a governmental body can legislate "cool," which is what most young people are looking for after a job. In Cleveland, for example, the "tech czar" wanted to get MTV to do the Real World in Cleveland. MTV comes after you've become "cool," and there's no way Cleveland is going to get a season in the next 10 years, if that show is even still around then. The Real World: Cleveland sounds like a comedy sketch. Maybe you can go back and analyze things and find a governmental action that made Portland and Denver "cool" and Michigan, Ohio and Indiana not cool, but I just feel like it's organic change that builds on itself. I don't think the mayor of Portland has anything to do with keeping people in Portland besides offering a quality of life the majority of people enjoy and can afford. That's what the government should be focused on. Instead of looking for rainbows with pots of YPs inside, they should make the cities they govern better for the people who live there NOW. Anyway, you're catching that Portland thing is interesting, though. I've never been there, and I have to admit I considered moving there for three reasons: #1. The city got rated really well as a bicycling-friendly community. #2. Sleater Kinney is from there. #3. I saw a picture of their light rail, and I thought it was cool.

Hah, that's exactly what I was thinking =) I hate the whole concept behind "young professionals." It seems like the cats been out of the bag on this one for six years, and have any cities like Cincy or Cleveland or Pittsburgh REALLY been able to get these young professionals into town? And what do you do with them when you get them? I'm a "young professional" with a creative job, but I make $28,000 and between my rent, car payment and other expenses, I have basically nothing leftover. I suppose they are aiming for someone with a little more income, but as far as I know, many creative jobs aren't that financially lucrative. My biggest pet peeve about this dumb movement is it basically ignores a giant chunk of our populations -- the people who have good, solid jobs but don't wear a suit or khakis to work, like electricians, plumbers, hair stylists, truck drivers, etc. These people also start companies and create jobs just like some theoretic computer programmer. In Michigan, I met a guy whose first "real" job was as a construction worker. He did that until it started breaking him down physically, which is about when he started his own business and had his own workers. He eventually sold that small business to someone else and then he opened a small shop where he makes and sells found-object sculptures! When I think of the term "young professional," all I see is a new generation of yes men that are basically just like previous corporate workers except they're not afraid to bolt if things become not to their liking. They act like that's empowerment. There's nothing wrong with being young and having a professional job, but I don't see why they are more valuable than any other person who has a job, pays taxes and supports a local economy. edit: I'm not sure of Portland's population, but it's similar in size to Cincy, isn't it? I know I thought of moving there. Still do, but it's not in the cards for the moment.

I personally would never want to living in a place that doesn't have sidewalks. That says something about a place. Mostly it says, "Get the hell out!" I also feel bad for the really little kids who can't even ride their bikes into town safely. It's just not safe to have them walking/riding on the shoulder of a road where people are probably speeding at 45 mph

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I used to run cross country in high school, and we always had to mix up our runs between parks/gravel bike paths and hardtop. Now I just do biking so I don't have to have any impact =) It's funny, off topic, but in the winter when it's cold, I tried to run to stay in shape and my legs hurt BAD, worse than they ever have before. I think it must have to do with the different muscles I've been using.

^^ Negativo. I went to Cuyahoga Falls. My folks moved after my gradgee-ation.

^^God forbid you fix up an area by not stealing everyone's property.

I saw this article too! My folks live in Hudson, and a lot of their favorite places on the "real" Main Street have been closing -- has them a bit worried about their house's value. I don't know if that's something to really fear at this point. I think the retail offerings will just be changing to things they don't like. I don't really understand why they opened this retail development and populated it with businesses that already existed in Hudson, though. It's a capitalist bloodbath, I guess. For example, the new flower shop the woman quoted says killed her business is owned by a local guy. It's not a chain or anything, and he has nice stuff. I don't want to see anyone have to close their business down, but it's not like Wal-Mart came into town in that circumstance. But, anyway, it's almost like the suburbanites are clashing with the small townies, rural leftovers, if that makes sense. I think that for a bagillion years, Hudson has been a pretty insular community of people that either had money or liked old houses. Sort of like the towns you see in Cape Cod. I think over the last 15-20 years, it's been turning into a place like Westlake.

Today I was sitting in work at around 4 p.m. reading the horrible updates about Floyd Landis (this troubles me 1,000X more than the Browns, Indians and Cavs combined - hopefully that describes my interests, lol), and I was thinking "Dang! I have really been falling behind in my bike riding lately." So, I headed straight home and hit the road! As I live in Lakewood, my normal route is to go down Lake and then cut up into the Rocky River Reservation Metropark, which offers good scenery and decent roads to ride on. Plus it's ginmormous, so you connect into the Cuyahoga Valley if you're ambitious (I haven't done this yet:), and it has relatively low traffic volume. Anywho, I got into the park at around 6 p.m. and for the next hour, I was yelled at four times to get off the road -- that's a record for me. This drives me insane because: #1, the park people have clearly posted "Share the Road" signs all over the place and they don't mean SUVs sharing the road with Hondas #2, the speed limit is 30 mph, but with all the kids, you probably shouldn't be going that fast, although people drive closer 40+ anyway #3, it's supposed to be a PARK not the autobahn - people treate it as if its supposed to be another West Side artery. I hate to say it, but I think drivers are worse here than in Detroit! Last summer I lived in rural Michigan and there was nothing to do, and I was putting in some good mileage for a casual road cyclist ~60 miles a week if the weather and work cooperated. I was riding on the rural country roads with similar traffic volumes and in the Detroit metroparks, and the whole summer, I averaged one heckler a week. I average at least one heckler a day here. I guess this is just a general rant. I don't know if it's like this in other Ohio cities, but for me it's a big turnoff. Some people like the beach, other people like the mountains, some people like drinking beer at Browns games. I like cycling; it's one of the top five things I look at when I chose to live somewhere!

Oh, wow, that bottom one is pretty!

That NYC/salsa ad is a totally different thing. If you switched NYC to Cleveland in that circumstance, it would still be humorous because Cleveland, obviously, is not the place a bunch of cowboys would want to get their salsa because it wouldn't be authentic. In the water ad, they are basically implying that Cleveland's water is dirty and undesirable. I think there would have been a backlash not matter what city they picked. And if they picked Detroit, I would have written a note, too. This is what you get when you have a CEO writing ad copy. Leave that to the professionals.

Dear Mr. XXX, We sincerely apologize for any offense that our advertising caused you. It was never our intent to cause any distress. In fact, the advertising was designed to be humorous but since it clearly didn’t meet its goal, we have decided not to use it in the future. We are glad to have the opportunity to be able to do something about this situation so that we will not offend anyone else who might share your opinion. We care deeply about how our company is perceived and we care deeply about our water and we thank you for taking the time to let us know how you feel. We are proud that FIJI Water comes from a tiny island in the South Pacific and that we are able to help support the economy of this small nation. At the same time, we also take pride in making some of the healthiest water available to people outside of Fiji. We have been selling FIJI water for over 6 years and we have every reason to believe that the test results quoted in the press are inaccurate and alarmist. For each of the past 6 years, FIJI Water has been independently tested by third-party, highly renowned water testing laboratories as part of our rigorous quality control protocols and these results cast significant doubt over the quoted findings. These independent lab results validate that FIJI Water meets all of the bottled water standards as established by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA). We test the water regularly in order to ensure that the high standards are maintained. We believe that there is every reason to doubt the accuracy of the test results that were quoted in the press and there is absolutely no cause for concern when it comes to water safety and FIJI Water. Sincerely, Consumer Affairs FIJI Water Company, LLC 1.888.426.FIJI

I'm not mad that Cincy and Columbus ranked well and Cleveland ranked at the bottom. I'm irritated, as I always am, by this Forbes list that isn't even coherent. How can they say Cincy is the worst in 2002 and in 2006 all the sudden it's #1 for nightlife? Don't they see how illogical that is? I'm complaining about the magazine's dopey ranking methods. In the end, I couldn't care less which Ohio city ranks the best. Just rank them using some sort of method that makes sense.

Wow... I thought Forbes was an esteemed publication. You couldn't have turned a report this shakey in a high school English class. Why don't they just ask 10 random people on the street in Times Square for the best cities for singles and run with that? And how can they justify ranking Cincy #1 (no insult to Cincy here) when they wrote in 2002: "Say what you will about the place (and there are a lot of bad things you can say, like the paltry nocturnal and cultural offerings, the lack of cool and, of course, the sweatpants" http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/3/2002/LIR.jhtml?passListId=3&passYear=2002&passListType=Misc&uniqueId=2506&datatype=Misc

I'm not playing whichoo, KJP! This is the 55X through Edgewater, mind you. Here's how it went down. I got out of my apartment near the corner of Edgewater and Cove and walked to the bus stop. I must have missed one bus by mere seconds. As you know, they come through Edgewater every 15-20 minutes on a weekday morning. I waited 5 minutes thinking it was maybe late because that has happened before, but I soon realized I missed the bus and in my head I decided it wouldn't be worth walking to the Clifton stop because another one would be coming soon enough. So, I sat there for full the 15 minutes waiting for the next bus. This is when the other passengers came to the bus stop. Then they ended up standing there for 15 minutes with me as the NEXT bus after the one I missed never showed up. Eventually it did show up and he picked us up and then dropped us off at 117 and Clifton because that bus was broke. For me, that was about 40 minutes. If I knew all of this was going to happen, I would have walked straight to the Clifton stop to save time, as you suggest. But when I leave my apartment, I'm just not inclined to walk two blocks when there's a 55X stop two inches from my door that usually works. Plus, I'm more likely to get a seat on the Edgewater 55X. But like I said, I wasn't shocked or angered by all this. It's not like a bus driver blew by the stop without picking us up. Stuff happens, and I guess that bus was broken. I'd much prefer a rail line in this part of town, of course. I haven't taken the bus during the winter around here, but I bet it sucks. I think winter is one of the big perks for rail transit. No traffic to contend with or crash into.

It was the 55X. I could see the woman's point to some degree. I got up extra early so I could be at work at 7:30 before everyone else came in, but I ended up arriving at 8:30, the same time as everyone else. That was a pain in the butt. Of course, that sort of stuff seems to me to be the nature of the beast. There are a million different things that could happen to a bus that would screw up a route schedule, ie. mechanical problems, accidents, traffic, someone on board gets sick, etc.

I was waiting for a bus on Monday to get to work, and after waiting for 40 minutes for a downtown bus that never arrived a woman yelled out angrily, "They're always complaining, 'Why don't people take the bus to work?' Because you won't get to work on time! I normally get a ride to work. I never take the bus." Turns out she worked at RTA! She flashed her badge or whatever it was and then called the office to complain.

I'm not an expert, but I think the Tower City idea is the most attractive from a convention POV because it's on the Rapid and just a zip away from Hopkins. My pops is a corporate type (I'm sorta corporate, but I don't leave my cubicle, haha), and he's been to a million different, cool cities. I ask him, what was Seattle like? "It was sunny the day we were there." What was Denver like? "I don't remember. Jamie, I don't have a chance to explore." At the same time, I have a hard time imagining a bunch of bigwigs in some association sitting together at their annual meeting in Washington D.C. or San Francisco, etc., and saying "Next year, let's do this in Cleveland!" You can put the convention on the Red Line or in Stow, and I just don't see the demand. Can't we work on making the city better for the people who live here and then focus on that sort of stuff? If the kitchen isn't finished, why are we inviting people to lunch?

At first, that smelled like advertorial to me, but then I looked up Pace Communications and saw that it is a PR/advertising firm that does Delta's magazine, so I guess the whole magazine is advertorial? All I know is, 13 pages is a lot of space to feature one place unless someone is paying for it. Anyone know if this is a PR-driven feature or an advertorial where the Columbus travel group would have paid to create this insert?

Indy and Detroit are the only choices?! I'm going to Denver.

I've been on the Red Line quite often during the past month, and I haven't ever been on it when it was more dirty than any other mass-transit train. Maybe all the stuff going on downtown (Ingenuity/Tall Ships) meant more people riding, thus more trash?

Is the city paying attention to what's going on in Public Square now with all the construction? Traffic is down to fewer lanes, and for pedestrians (like me) it feels a safer and more enjoyable walking from PSquare transit (buses/Rapid) to my job. Seems like they should be studying drivers are reacting to fewer lanes/restrictions near the Square.

Mentor makes list of top cities 6:05 p.m. Mentor ranked 68th on a CNN and Money Magazine list of America’s best small cities. The Lake County city was the only Ohio community on the list of 90 cities with a population exceeding 50,000. But Columbus was ranked 8th among the 10 best big cities. “Mentor truly shines in what it has to offer visitors and residents in service, housing and recreational activities,” said Ronald Traub, community development director for Mentor. The rankings were based on 38 quality-of-life indicators and six economic opportunity measures covering ease of living, health, education, crime, park space and arts and leisure, CNN and Money Magazine reported. Fort Collins, Colo. received the top ranking for small cities. Colorado Springs, Colo. Received the No. 1 ranking among big cities.

Try this on for irony: I recently got into a fender bender with an RTA bus -- unfortunately it was my fault. No one was hurt and the bus had no damages. Apparently my airbags are set to go off at low speeds. Long story short, now I am getting to work on the bus.

Oh wait a second..