Posted June 25, 200717 yr I don't know why Van Wert gets all the attention, Celina kicks its butt. Ohio's best block? Two Shell stations...one busy: one dead: Mercer County Courthouse Everyone in Celina drives a Hummer
June 25, 200717 yr GO CELINA GO!!! "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
June 25, 200717 yr Celina is pretty nice. The lake is quite large and beautiful, and the Mercer County Courthouse is well-maintained and pretty elegant inside.
June 25, 200717 yr You must have a lot of time on your hands this summer to be doing so many county-seat tours. This is a great representation of Celina. I was there last fall, but on a day that was not so pretty, and my photos did not do it the justice that yours do.
June 26, 200717 yr Nice! It seems as if it is on the better end of the stick. Some buildings need some restorations, but on the whole, the first floors seem to be occupied with viable businesses. Streetscape is a little lacking though.
June 26, 200717 yr but on the whole, the first floors seem to be occupied with viable businesses. I might be a little biased, but I tend to disagree. There are the businesses that have been around forever, but it seems like more and more of the businesses are place that open up and end up closing within a few months. Although I don't think this problem is exclusive to Celina, I have been noticing it more and more. I'm sure a good part of it is because of the Wal-Mart effect, but city seems to be trying to take some action. They recently complated a survey of all downtown businesses and hopefully will create some viable plan from that. Streetscape is a little lacking though. Main Street is to be reconstructed by ODOT in the near future, so last I heard the city was hoping to include streetscaping as a part of that project.
June 26, 200717 yr I love every one of those buildings in the 2nd pic. Thanks for the tour ink, good stuff.
June 27, 200717 yr Author Streetscape is a little lacking though. Main Street is to be reconstructed by ODOT in the near future, so last I heard the city was hoping to include streetscaping as a part of that project. I actually like the streetscape, or at least the streetlights. So many downtowns have put up vintage streetlights, that the 60's standards actually work. Now if they had cobraheads, that would be another story.
June 27, 200717 yr Ahhh yes, inkaelin , the resident streetlight expert. :-D Here's an example of the streetlight I think they are going with for the downtown area. I think one of these is also visible in your 6th picture down.
February 5, 200916 yr I love Celina so much, having grown up there and all. Unlike alot of the residents there who I feel become jaded and don't realize its potential, I have grown to respect and fall in love with my home town. I have many thoughts about how the city can move forward in a "smart" way. I think the city should restructure its system some and possibly create a position for a true "urban planner" that would work with the city engineer and development departments. Urban planners tend to bring in the more social and political aspect into the ideas that can really move the city forward based on what is truly needed, not just "developments for the sake of development." I was disappointed a few years back when they cut down all the tree's on Main St. They claimed it was because of the roots, which is somewhat true in some cases, but not all. If you look at the pictures, the tree's were not the huge large kind that cause many problems, they all were within their grates still and not even breaking out of the concrete boundaries. I'm excited that they won the bidding process for the Ohio Block Grant to redo the street and burry many of the cluttering power lines. I feel more public spaces should also be utilized and developed to bring more attention downtown and to the lake front. The new board walk being built will help kick this process off, but I feel more should be done with time. I love that there is some interest in this town though from some on here! It is a location in Ohio with much potential in the future!
February 5, 200916 yr My hometown too! I never realized how cool our downtown actually was until I left. Damn you Wal-Mart.
February 5, 200916 yr Wal Mart has hurt some, but even then, I feel Celina has not been hit nearly as hard by Wal-Mart as other areas of Ohio. I'm not excusing it at all, but its not like Celina was just like 4,000 people and then got completely smothered by wal mart, I just feel that we're at the population point where we can support it, but it will just be a challenge
Create an account or sign in to comment