Old AmrapinVA

I know I'm the minority on this one but I never saw much in P-burgh. It has a beautiful downtown but it's suprisingly dead after 6. It has dense housing on certain streets. But ALOT of streets resemble Cleveland and Detroit where housing has pulled down to nothing. Cincy has done better job of keeping it's older housing stock in better shape than P-Burgh. It many not have as much as Pitt, but there's less sense of loss in Cincy. The biggest drawback for me is that alot of areas in P-Burgh and almost all the burbs are very Amrapesque. Not in architecure obviously, but in diversity. There's no Dearborn or Lakewood in P-Burgh. No Clark Ave. No Chinatown. Hell even Amrap has a mosque. I realize the Duq and Oakland have diversity, but mainly due to the college population. Once you move away from the center of the city most areas are blue-collar white/black. Most of the burbs are almost exclusively white. It's a Northeastern city in terms of architecture, but most cities that surround the Burgh from the east and west are just more diverse. That's a big problem for Pitt. It's not something you can 'build' your way out of.

Actually, ESPN picked the Indians as the #1 team after the White Sox won the series. And we all know how well last season went. :)

Don't even joke about that, it will be like Black Tuesday, D-Day, The Day After and The Day After Tomorrow all rolled up into one. And that's just for the folks living in Y-Town. ;)

Who says that we are going to have a recession in 2007? Latest government figures show we aren't nearing anything close to even a slow-down let alone a recession. Are you talking about those same government figures that said we should not see a huge increase in foreclosures in 2006 and that the construction and residential industries should see a soft landing in 2006. Foreclosure levels in the US are skyrocketing by the day, all the big builders now are posting major loses (financial and in jobs) and the inventory of vacant unsold homes are now at record levels. Yes, we are going into a recession in 2007. If you don't believe me that fine, but I would be happy to have this conversation again in the fall to see if you still don't believe we are IN a recession by then. Well if Winwar can't talk about rollercoasters cause he hasn't ridden as many as others...what the hell makes you the expert on the national economy vs. the likes of the chairman of the Fed who ain't calling for one? If the GDP is growing in the 3rd quarter of this year...I don't wanna hear that it's a "recession" 'cause of this reason or that either. I hate that stuff. If I'm wrong and GDP shrinks, I'll admit you are right. I have a pretty good feeling you'll be wrong though. :)

Who says that we are going to have a recession in 2007? Latest government figures show we aren't nearing anything close to even a slow-down let alone a recession.

Understand. Well I'm a whitey from Parma so I really can't "understand". :)

I'M the one paranoid? Pot, majorly meet the kettle on THAT one. And regarding the SFGAd vs. CP thing, yes I've been to both, and I said that SFGAd is on it's way to taking the title away from Cedar Point. No clue how Cleveland or Northern Ohio have anything to do with Kingda Ka or Top Thrill Dragster but you keep thinking that, and I'll keep watching Markita Brown. I don't silly personal claims in this matter. :laugh: Must be the Japanese translator at Fujiyama. I didn't "get" that one... Calm down. Jesus, you get all wound up way too fast. :)

I'M the one paranoid? Pot, majorly meet the kettle on THAT one. And regarding the SFGAd vs. CP thing, yes I've been to both, and I said that SFGAd is on it's way to taking the title away from Cedar Point. No clue how Cleveland or Northern Ohio have anything to do with Kingda Ka or Top Thrill Dragster but you keep thinking that, and I'll keep watching Markita Brown. I don't take silly personal claims in this matter. :laugh:

Silly personal claims? Yet you make the same claims when you say that Great Adventure is on par or better than CP. I take it you've been there? Honestly ColDay, you are so paranoid of anything Cleveland/Northern Ohio positive it astounds me. It makes for some great mid afternoon entertainment though. ;)

Ummm..not real sure where KI has faded in recent years. Not to mention, CF has had little to no impact thus far seeing as how this is their first off-season to make an impression. The only hicup that KI has suffered in recent memory is the Son of Beast problems...other than that the park is still considered one of the best around and continually claiming the attendance record for non-year round parks. CF would be out of their mind to try to run KI into the ground..because it would run their company into the ground. With the purchase of KI...it is now their top dog (albeit CP is the flagship). KI gets higher attendance, more travelers, and more $$$. Ummm Rando...you're wrong. Using 2005 figures...which were actually pretty poopy for CP. Kings Island outdrew Cedar Point in attendance by nearly 200,000 visitors last year. But in generating income, Cedar Point had nearly twice the revenue as its counterpart in Cincinnati. The rare financial disclosure was made as Cedar Fair, L.P. made its pitch to borrow up to $1.76 billion to finance the Paramount acquisition and repay previous debt. CP...flagship/top-dog. No debate. You do realize the reason Cedar Point had "twice the revenue" than Kings Island is the fact there there are two seperate admissions to Soak City USA and the actual park itself correct? + the fact that the hotel revenue is actually included with the park's assets since, guess what, it's adjacent/arguably in the park. Thus, of course Cedar Point is going to have more revenue than Kings Island. That's like saying Cleveland 19 Action News is Cleveland's most watched news source (seeing how it has programs at 10 and 11pm). Damn ColDay...would you like cheese with that whine. How dare I say KI isn't better than CP. Again, the debate is over. Move on. :)

I went to Great Adventure with my kid last year. What in the hell are you talking about? He could give a crap about our turf wars and he even said CP was better. Great Adventure still has a ways to go. There's that park I drove by near the footprint of Mt. Fuji outside of Tokyo...I forget the name...that was on par with CP. :) There's been people that have went to Cedar Point who still say Magic Mountain is better. Personal stories mean nothing. Great Adventure used to be "nothing" until it started becoming (what Six Flags in the early 2000's branded) a "ThrillPark" when Medusa, the Chiller thing, El Toro, Kingda Ka, etc were added. Now that Six Flags management knows that two freakin' 6+ million metros can have their own "Cedar Point," Great Adventure will only get better with time (what's this about a hyper tall coming there next year?). And no, Fujiyama Highlands is NOT on par with Cedar Point. It may have Steel Force 2000 or whatever but besides that, it's utter crap. Do you feel better now? You don't have to believe me. My kid said it, I never brought up CP and he lives in VA. In 5-10 years...Great Adventure could be up there with CP...we'll see. I can guarantee you, it's not there now. As for Fujiyama....damn there was more stuff in that park in '06 than what I saw at GA in '05. But again, personal stories only matter when crapping on Six Flags St. Louis. :)

Ummm..not real sure where KI has faded in recent years. Not to mention, CF has had little to no impact thus far seeing as how this is their first off-season to make an impression. The only hicup that KI has suffered in recent memory is the Son of Beast problems...other than that the park is still considered one of the best around and continually claiming the attendance record for non-year round parks. CF would be out of their mind to try to run KI into the ground..because it would run their company into the ground. With the purchase of KI...it is now their top dog (albeit CP is the flagship). KI gets higher attendance, more travelers, and more $$$. Ummm Rando...you're wrong. Using 2005 figures...which were actually pretty poopy for CP. Kings Island outdrew Cedar Point in attendance by nearly 200,000 visitors last year. But in generating income, Cedar Point had nearly twice the revenue as its counterpart in Cincinnati. The rare financial disclosure was made as Cedar Fair, L.P. made its pitch to borrow up to $1.76 billion to finance the Paramount acquisition and repay previous debt. CP...flagship/top-dog. No debate.

I went to Great Adventure with my kid last year. What in the hell are you talking about? He could give a crap about our turf wars and he even said CP was better. Great Adventure still has a ways to go. There's that park I drove by near the footprint of Mt. Fuji outside of Tokyo...I forget the name...that was on par with CP. :)

http://news.cheapflights.com/airlines/2007/01/cleveland_hopki.html A nice little blurb about using the RTA Red Line from Hopkins on cheapflights.com The only beef I have is that, again, another piece of Cleveland history is supposedly put in doubt. Cleveland was the first city to have airport-to-rail service. Why is it so hard to believe? If San Fran or Chicago made the same statement it probably would be accepted with no questions asked. Why is there such a pull from alot of places to take away the city's history? We should re-name Cleveland to Camelot.

too bad, best buy is not shy about architecture. there was a 70's version of a best buy store with a bite out of the corner, does anyone know that one? i cant recall the architect or find a pic, but it was rather famous. oh well. here is an interesting fairly new urban one i found -- its in seattle on a slim parcel of land: I'm not a big fan of Best Buy after what they did at Tysons Corner, VA. Best Buy moved into the area buy putting their store in a newly constructed office building adjacent to a Borders. It was the first retail center that was truly "urban" in a strip mall hell. Then about 9 months after it's opening, a strip mall Toys-R-Us closed about a mile down the road. Best Buy promptly moved out of the building and into the old Toys-R-Us space. Meanwhile, the original space has now been vacant for close to 4 months. Not too thrilled with that move.

KJP, Speaking of the no car access issue. How is RTA re-routing it's existing bus service to serve Steelyard Commons? Are there any new lines being created for Steelyard?

Port Columbus passenger numbers climb to record The Columbus Dispatch Wednesday, January 31, 2007 A record number of passengers traveled through Port Columbus during the last three months of 2006. Full Story: http://www.columbusdispatch.com/business/business.php?story=243458

Tired of airport traffic? Would you pay for valet parking? Saturday, January 27, 2007 Susan Vinella and Patrick O'Donnell, Plain Dealer Reporter Never before has money made life so easy. Many big airports now offer valet parking to spare you that long walk -- or perhaps mad dash -- from parking garage to ticket counter. Could this advancement be coming to an airport near you? Cleveland Hopkins International Airport officials say the idea is under consideration. Midwest airports already offering valet service: Cincinnati, Chicago O'Hare, Columbus, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Pittsburgh. How it works: You drive up to a designated area outside the terminal. An attendant takes your keys and parks your car in a lot or garage. When you return, you go back to the designated area, where an attendant gets your car. What it can cost: Cincinnati and Columbus charge $18 per day for valet parking. All-day self-parking at Cincinnati -- within walking distance of the terminal -- is $12; at Columbus, it's $15 a day. Cleveland charges $7, $10 and $14 a day to park in its lots and garages. To reach these Plain Dealer reporters: [email protected], 216-999-5010 [email protected], 216-999-4818 http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1169891168197260.xml&coll=2

As long as urbanites understand that some "urban" policies (or lack thereof) make people look elsewhere. Anyway, I don't want this thread to be DC centric. I just hope people understand that we can't "box" away homeless like we can smokers. These people need help...not "zones" where they can reside.

I'm sure the District will be more than happy to accept cash donations. I've tried that angle too. They're quick to point out that this is VA. As I was told once....pols would be more willing to transfer homeless folks from Richmond or Norfolk that from DC. Nice regional attitude on that one. :)

^^^ Hell. let's build an airport out there and call it Cleveron....Akland. I still blame that damn MLS for all of this. Gotta love Summit County planners though...if they can't build junk on one side of the valley (Richfield)...they just switch their plans to the other.

Dan I agree with you 1000%. I've actually tried to talk to local folks here about putting something in Tysons or Arlington or 'God forbid' Great Falls. There argument is always the same....we don't have enough in this area to start a new one. What a load of crap. I think I could build the Giza Pyramid by myself before these bozos will help.

Peyton will get his ring. The monkey is off their back, the Colts beat New England.

Where AmrapinVA lives, they don't worry about things like the homeless. They make sure that to get anywhere, you have to drive a car, and that the public transportation that does exist isn't very practical. They let us city folk contend with annoyances like the regional homeless problem, and then look down on the city for not being smart enough to deliberately exclude them as the suburban folk do. Right Dan, My wife and I work with a pantry/shelter downtown and I live in Falls Church. You live in Capitol Hill and do what? This has nothing to do with "suburbs" and "city". This has to do with the fact that ALL people should be treated with some sort of respect. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings on this one. I have no patience for this stuff.

You think I don't. You think I haven't worked at homeless shelters in DC? You think I haven't had countless conversations with all sorts of people on how to solve this problem? The problem you pose is discussed everyday, in every US city. In finding a quick fix there are two big problems: The first is location. In every city in the US, we need 10-20X the homeless shelters/programs we have today. Where do you put a new homeless shelter? Areas that are up and coming or are already nice places to live don't want 'em. Most of these neighboorhods have NIMBY's that bring up all these "noble" reasons as to why theres should be one there, but in the end it has to do with property values. So now we have to put the shelters in "bad" areas. Now homeless people are people...and most of them aren't stupid people. They know to stay out of the crappy neighborhoods unless they need something from those places. They are 10-20X times more likely than you or me to get harrassed and possibly killed in there. They are very reluctant to visit these places. So they bounce from place to place with limited amouts of beds in mostly church basements...and hope that tommorrow will be better than today. This isn't some game...these people are getting f'ed around every day. The second reason is money. Most cities don't give a crap. Sure they'll help the homeless, but not on the scale of say redoing an art museum...or even dropping cash on red-light cameras. There's no short term revenue gain in setting up a homeless shelter. In fact, if people move away because of it, it drains the tax base of the city. Now, mind you, getting these people houses and jobs in the long-term will do nothing but help a city. But most city governments don't care...because a politican probably won't be in office when this happens, and that credit may go to someone else. And God forbid he or she does something out of kindness instead of how this pol will look in six months down the road. Seriously, what really has me wound up is that this thread is like some smoking thread. Instead of "Ewww, the smoke stinks in a bar"...it's "Ewww, the homeless people smell on the subway." Well unlike smokers, alot of these folks have no choice in the matter. And like it or not, they are residents of your city, even if they don't have a permanent address. BTW, you paid the fare. You get to ride. They paid the fare. They get to ride. Welcome to the city. If I'm the minority in having this view, so be it.