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^ Thanks for the run down. Wish this got some pub from the media in this burg.

Huge news, congrats. Are you staying in town?

John Schneider v The Dean, was there ever any doubt? They both look the part, John - intelligent, experienced, confident Haap - moronic, plaid, in over his head

I have no comment b/c my foot is entirely in my mouth.

The fourth definitley has a different feel to it...kind of hard to put your finger on. But yeah, it's only half the characters, and its a bit disjointed. I still enjoyed it though. I don't think GRRM is actually in bad shape, but he just looks like hell and he's not getting any younger.

A Song of Ice and Fire is probably my all time favorite series. HBO has purchased the rights to it and supposedly it's already gone through a couple of script iterations. I really hope they don't blow it if it get green lit. A Dance with Dragons was supposed to be out months ago but it's still totally up in the air as to when it'll be done (according to his own blog entry). Didn't know move versions were that far along. Sweet. HBO is a good place for it, since the themes are so... adult. The first one does start out a little slow, just because there are so many characters and relationships to introduce. I've had friends who love the genre give up on Game of Thrones about 1/3 through. DO NOT DO THIS. The payoff is there. Plus, the third book is in a class by itself. Anyone who read six WOT books owes it to themselves to at least read Martin's first three. I got through 3.5 WOT books and could not continue. The only aspect of that series I liked was "the ways." But I couldn't get over how Jordan would name people to match their initial personalities (loyal, naive, etc). Reading ASOS now, my third read through of the series. I was hoping that ADWD would be done by the time I finished AFFC, but since by GRRM's own admission he 'doesn't like writing' I'm not holding my breath.... Just hoping he finishes before he dies, he doesn't look so hot these days.

Turbotax is your friend. Took me an hour and a half to do the wife and I's taxes, both federal and state. Goes through the list of every possible deduction if you itemize, it's impossible to miss anything.

John, good luck. If The Dean brings the same blistering wit that he brought to Jeffre's council campaign then you should be good to go. Wish I could attend. Somebody PLEASE record this!

I agree with you in general. Although my experience has been that even the best cities have their share of homeless and pandhandlers. San Francisco may be an extreme example, but I've never seen so many bums before in my life, and SF is one of the greatest cities on the planet IMO. I think people need to get over the panhandlers, just ignore them.

I think the key issue you're missing here CB, is that we're talking about REPOPULATING THE URBAN CORE. What we're NOT talking about is curing all of the demographic ills that have befallen ALL US cities, not just Cincinnati. One thing that bringing more people into the city will have a direct impact on is the school system. Providing a higher quality of public education will got a long way towards helping the least of us break the cycle of poverty. The Banks will go a long ways towards all of your Critical Urban Issues, minus the ones about minority representation and segregation, which aren't the purpose of either the banks or the streetcar.

'Daytonnati' definitely offends me. They are two distinct metro's, albiet with a bunch of sprawly crap connecting them.

Is that the one with The Celestial? That building is butt ugly. Also, there's a fairly large surface lot across the street, I guess we could build it there. But if you put a COIT size tower there the top would be just a bit taller than the Monastery further up the hill.

We're getting beaten pretty badly over at StimulusWatch, only 44% approve and we're at -105. Also the most active project.

COIT Tower is amazing. It always bothered me though that the windows at the top have that cheap glass over them. Anyway, I think that would look awesome in Mt Adams. A few problems though: No place to put it, somebody would have to do what was done w/ COIT Tower and donate their estate to have it built, and I don't think there are any estates large enough in Mt Adams. It's pretty dense. Also, parking is already a nightmare up there. Of course it's a nightmare at COIT Tower too.... Immaculata is in the best place to build such a tower, but there's no way that church is going anywhere. Nice idea though.

Should I be insulted?

It's probably going to happen. How long it will take and if it will live up to the promise are a couple I can't answer. Yeah. The concrete pilings, multiple cranes, and general construction equipment by the river are probably for the Banks. Not sure though.

^ I think you hit the nail on the head. Dayton is generally in very bad shape, but I would still call it "working class" and actually mean it. There will likely be significant opposition to the new residents as Daytonites are very insular (no bad Kentucky jokes please). But there is still a lot of decent housing stock, and Dayton, like all of the river cities, is very, very, very dense. I think Dayton can definitley be gentrified as long as they end up building the large amounts of retail and restaurants that they say they're going to. If it's just condo's and apartments, then probably not. I can see Dayton reaching the point where Bellevue is at right now within ~10 years of Manhattan Harbour coming online.

I would argue decisions were botched because the past city leadership had their hands tied by the numerous special interest groups. The city leadership has only recently had the power to make the broad and sweeping changes needed to keep Cincinnati competitive with the rest of the US.

They did have to raise the ground level for the entire Manhattan Harbour project. Also, why would Ovation need to be built on a parking garage? Most of it will be behind Newport's Levee right?

Nice find. Let's get the vote out!

When the quality of your reporting can't attract readers attention you have to resort to exagerated and attention grabbing headlines. I'm glad this project is still going to happen, I just hope they don't take my house to build a new road when Fairfield becomes un-drivable.

Doubt it. It is more than likely going to help cement the view in most people's mind that Cincinnati's leadership is completely clueless. As somebody who does not hold that opinion, I get upset when they come out with something crazy like this. How much is Cincinnati paying to have this taskforce? What kind of value is it adding to the city as a whole? I'm sorry but this seems like a 'feel good' initiative and programs like this need to be redirected in this economy.

^ There's already a gym in the basement of Carew.

The fact that nobody at the utility tried to talk to the customer in person is completley unforgivable. There needs to be an investigation into their management practices. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that their policy of simply leaving notes on the door is so they can get around the state laws against turning the power off to the elderly. See no evil, hear no evil. Sickening.

a.) False, False, False, False, False. What makes you say that? UD had a great RPI last year, in fact they had the highest RPI of any team NOT to make the tournament in NCAA history. Reason? Scheduling, or lack thereof on Dayton's part. b.) Every team does have creampuffs, but when your schedule is made up almost exclusively of said puffs, then you have a problem. Marquette and Creighton are the only decent teams Dayton has played, maybe Auburn. And I think we both know you're not going to get a boost in SOS from the A10. UD has the third weakest SOS in the A10. If I were a fan of the program I would be concerned. That's all I'm trying to get at.