the urban news for the week ending Sunday, May 4, 2008
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Sometimes my brain starts swimming in all the facts and opinions that are out there about the various initiatives and issues that Columbus faces on a daily basis. It is too easy to get caught up in the details of all the individual issues and never stop to zoom out to a 10,000 foot view of all the issues, how they play together and what it all means. I see that as a problem, personally. It is the big-picture that is what has always kept me interested in following the story of downtown Columbus' efforts of revitalization. But it's that big-picture that gets lost in a sea of details. I guess it's a case of not being able to "see the city through the buildings" in a manner of speaking.
Paul Bonneville  
 Columbus Symphony Orchestra musicians said Friday they roundly rejected a new contract offer they say calls for a 40 percent across-the-board salary cut.
The Columbus Symphony board of trustees will meet Monday to determine the future of the orchestra's current season, now that the musicians have rejected a board contract offer for next season.
Columbus Symphony Orchestra musicians have unanimously voted to reject an offer for a new contract from the symphony board of trustees.
Facing what its chairman calls an "inevitable" suspension of operations, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra has bought itself some time through an anonymous donation from a board member.
...The board will meet before the end of next week to decide whether to hold the popular Picnic with the Pops summer series, Trafford said. The future of the 2008-09 season starting in October remains in doubtââ¬Â¦
As Columbus begins a $2.5 billion, multidecade effort to boost its water-treatment capacity, it must deal with an overburdened system that sent raw sewage into local waterways and basements more often last year.
Eighty people appointed by Mayor Michael B. Coleman are shaping the future of Columbus. After their meetings, almost half go home to the suburbs.
The number of Americans ages 25 to 44 has dropped 1.5% since 2000, shrinking the pool of young workers in some states despite a 7% increase in the country's overall population, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Census data to be released today.
...Now, the challenge for developer Edwards Cos. is to convince potential buyers that expectations for the rest of its Gay Street neighborhood will match the promise the first building has providedââ¬Â¦
The octagonal apartment, perched on the 43rd and 44th floors of the iconic Columbus skyscraper, is newly available after its tenant moved out.
Efforts continue to build and sell new, quality homes in Columbus' oldest neighborhood, and the Franklinton Development Association today invited Mayor Michael B. Coleman, neighborhood leaders and residents to join them in cutting the ribbon on the first of three new homes that they are building.
Columbus developer William Schottenstein wants to turn county-owned Cooper Stadium into a motorsports complex.
The home of the Columbus Clippers, called everything from The Coop to Jets Stadium since 1931, might become a small Thunder Valley.
The Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark lending rate by a quarter-point yesterday, the seventh such move since September, and made it clear that it was willing to cut rates in the future if the economy slows further or raise them if inflation sparks.
Though the national real estate market remains bleak--in some neighborhoods vacant homes outnumber those that are occupied and sellers are being forced to lower asking prices in a bid to lure bargain hunters--it's assumed that when housing dips to a point where buyers think it represents a bargain, they'll buy back in.
Thousands of people have said goodbye to Ohio in recent years but, fortunately for the state, reinforcements are arriving from afar and in surprising numbers.
It's a tough time to be planning an airport expansion when your customers are struggling. Yet that's what Port Columbus officials are doing.
...There also should be a massive investment in connecting local rail and bus transit, focusing all those jobs and development Downtown, where it's needed. The streetcar is a startââ¬Â¦
..."We have to balance the needs of our community vs. the desires of our community, particularly in tough economic times," Councilwoman Charleta B. Tavares wrote in a letter to Coleman last weekââ¬Â¦
Streetcars are the beginning of smart growth and are being funded with a smart and equitable planââ¬Â¦
Preliminary ground work has begun on a new terminal. But with the recent bankruptcy filing of Columbus-based Skybus and other airline cuts, completion of the project has been pushed back from 2015 to 2018.
City Council's first public hearing on the idea last night proved a lot of people still aren't on board, though, with his plan to spend $103 million on a 2.8-mile line from Downtown to Ohio State University.
More than 150 people showed up for a public hearing at city hall about Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman's streetcar proposal. Some people waited more than three hours to address the city council.
The statewide average for a gallon of regular-grade gas is now about $3.53, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. That's up from $3.40 last Monday.
Following Monday night's robust discussion at the Columbus City Council public hearing on the streetcar project, the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) is encouraged by the growing public recognition that central Ohio commuters need more and different transportation options than just the automobile.
The freight railway industry is enjoying its biggest building boom in nearly a century, a turnaround as abrupt as it is ambitious. It is largely fueled by growing global trade and rising fuel costs for 18-wheelers. In 2002, the major railroads laid off 4,700 workers; in 2006, they hired more than 5,000. Profit in the industry has doubled since 2003, and stock prices have soared. The value of the largest railroad, Union Pacific, has tripled since 2001.
After decades of cutbacks and business lost to trucking companies, railroads are making a comeback thanks in part to high gasoline prices. Ward said railroads can ship a ton of freight 423 miles on one gallon of fuel and one train can carry the load of more than 280 trucks.
...You basically double the efficiency, Sullivan says. "Double the shipping power. And you drastically increase the number of trucks you can take off the road. We estimate that one train can carry the equivalent of about 2080 to 300 trucks and do it at tremendous fuel savings too..."
Residents of the Short North area neighborhoods are encouraged to attend a forum on May 15 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. in the Goodale Park Shelter House to learn about the City of Columbus' plan to build streetcars along High Street.
The bulk of the construction will take place on High Street from Lane Avenue up to Arcadia Avenue, including all side streets up to the first alley, Dodridge Street to Neil Avenue and north on Neil to Glen Echo Ravine. Hudson Street work extends from Neil to East Avenue.
...Cheap oil is what made suburbia possible. But we'll run into problems with spot shortages. As we get into trouble with these supplies, our economy will sufferââ¬Â¦
Kroger Co. plans to demolish and rebuild its store south of the Ohio State University campus at North High Street and Seventh Avenue. It plans to expand the store's size and offerings but, more importantly to area planners, the company will move the store closer to the street while adding more than 10,000 square feet of space for further development.
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