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Parking Meter Rate Increase Halted For Study

Dec 15th, 2009
by Walker.
No comments yet

Originally posted HERE on ColumbusUnderground.com:

The previously approved 50% parking rate increase throughout Downtown and The Short North has been halted for six months pending further study and additional recommendations by the parking meter working group assigned to oversee rate adjustments. The resetting of the meters will begin as early as tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone who helped to support the online petition and who voiced their concerns with this issue. Please take a moment to contact The Mayor’s Office and the Public Service Department and thank them for addressing this issue.

Posted in: Urban Life.
Tagged: · ·

Online Petition for Parking Meter Rate Increase

Dec 14th, 2009
by Walker.
1 comment

This was originally posted HERE on CU by John Angelo of the SNBA:

In November, Columbus’ Director of Public Service imposed a unilateral 50% parking meter rate increase throughout Columbus. The policy was approved by the mayor. Due to the way Columbus’ policies are written, neither city council nor the general populace were invited to weigh in on the final plan, muchless question its validity. Every parking meter in Columbus is now slated to be reprogrammed to be 50% more expensive before the end of the year.

Many voters have expressed great opposition to the initiative, and moreso to the manner in which it was implemented. In response to the move, the Short North Business Association has drafted an open letter to the mayor outlining a variety of requests from the community.

If you would like to read the letter and add your name to the growing petition endorsing the letter, please do so by following this link: Citizens for a Collaborative Columbus Government

Please feel free to pass this link along to other concerned citizens!

Posted in: Contribute, Urban Life.
Tagged: · · ·

OSU Students Showcase Innovative Ideas for Columbus

Dec 11th, 2009
by Walker.
3 comments

Yesterday afternoon, students in OSU’s City and Regional Planning Program presented their “Planning Innovations” class project to a community panel of judges consisting of Mike Brown, Elizabeth Lessner and myself. We were tasked with reviewing video presentations created by 20 students, quizzing them with a bit of Q&A about their project concepts, and then selecting three winners. Their instructor, Kyle Ezell, tasked them with seeking inspiration from around the globe, yet adding their own innovative twist to make their project something unique for the city of Columbus.

The level of quality put into some of these presentations made selecting the winners a difficult decision. The three winners were chosen based on their video presentations, their verbal presentations, how realistically their ideas could be implemented, and how well they handled their Q&A sessions. Below are the three video presentations of the projects that stood out the most to the three judges. All of the videos can be viewed online at youtube.com/user/knowltonosu.

First Place – James Ramey – “Eco-Hood”

Second Place – Christin Doyle – “Bicycle Blue Lights”

Third Place – Matt Martin – “Learning to be Urban Again”

Honorable Mention – Benjamin Kent – “Oh Art”

Posted in: Videos.
Tagged: · ·

Dispatch Letter to the Editor on Parking Meters

Dec 8th, 2009
by Walker.
No comments yet

It just ran today, and is a slightly modified version of what I sent to multiple offices within City Hall and the Public Service Department last week. You can read it here:

Hike in meter rates Downtown will hurt

Posted in: In The News, Media.
Tagged: · ·

Local Business Shoutout: R Design & Printing

Dec 6th, 2009
by Walker.
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r-design-logoJust wanted to give a quick nod of appreciation to R Design in the Short North. I’ve been using them for the past few years whenever I need any print materials created for smaller-run jobs (posters, flyers, etc). They’re fast, they’re flexible, and they’re cheaper than Kinko’s.

Anne & I decided to make postcards for our Christmas Cards this year, and we had them printed through R Design. Worked out really really well.

So yeah, check em out next time you need any design or print work done. They’re located at 30 E. 4th Avenue, across the street from the Post Office.

More info at www.rdesignandprinting.com.

Posted in: Personal, Reviews.
Tagged: · · ·

Salvation Army Bell Ringing 2009

Dec 4th, 2009
by Walker.
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redkettleweb

I’m returning for more bell ringing duties with the Salvation Army this season, and this year I’ve gotten a better time and location!  I’ll be at the North Market on Saturday, December 12th from 9:30 am to 11:30 am to help raise funds for Salvation Army Columbus. The money raised from this campaign go toward social service programs that last year-round.

So stop by the North Market on the 12th if you’re free that morning, and say hi and drop off a donation! If I’ve got to stand out in the cold for two hours, the least you can do is drop by and keep me company for a minute or two, right? ;)

Posted in: Events, North Market, Personal.

Columbus Underground Ranked #7 in Unique Local Google Searches in 2009

Dec 3rd, 2009
by Walker.
3 comments

zeitgeist2009_logoA couple of different friends pointed me towards Google’s 2009 “City by City” list of top search terms broken down by city and ranked by “uniqueness” to that city. I was both surprised and excited to see Columbus Underground crack their top 10 list and come in at #7. Pretty cool. Here’s full the Columbus Top Ten list:

Columbus, OH

  1. pelotonia
  2. pickerington local schools
  3. buckeyelink
  4. carmen osu
  5. cota bus
  6. dublin scioto
  7. columbus underground
  8. osu library
  9. canal winchester schools
  10. columbus dispatch obituaries

Posted in: Personal.

Time Out For Fun: New Super Mario Bros Wii

Dec 2nd, 2009
by Walker.
4 comments

new-super-mario-bros-wiiI tend to mostly cover more serious topics on my blog, but occasionally you have to take a break and have some fun too. Which brings us back to the topic of video games.

My wife and I picked up New Super Mario Bros Wii the week it was released and have been playing it off and on since then. It’s a great update on the 2D side-scrolling classic. The simple controls make it easy to pick up and play for 10 minutes here or there, but there are plenty of challenges sprinkled throughout as well. It’s really a perfect game for someone like me who falls into the hybrid category of former-hardcore-gamer / semi-casual-gamer. Oh, and the four-player cooperative mode is a blast. I had my cousins’ kids playing it over Thanksgiving week and had a blast just watching them go nuts.

Anyway, if you’d like to hear more about the game, you can listen in to last week’s GameOn podcast that I co-hosted with Dispatch gaming guru Shawn Sines. Tune in HERE.

If you’re thinking about picking this game up for the holidays, you should probably get a move on. It’s probably going to be somewhat difficult to find this season.

Posted in: Reviews, Video Games.
Tagged:

ColumbusUnderground.com Holiday Meetup 2009

Dec 1st, 2009
by Walker.
1 comment

Saturday, December 19th
10am-Noon at The North Market, upstairs in the Dispatch Kitchen

Complimentary Waffles, Crepes, and Espresso from Taste of Belgium

Entry Fee: Bring an unwrapped childrens toy for the annual toy drive for Franklin County Children Services

Complimentary Mimosas Provided by Your Friends at the St. James Tavern!

http://www.northmarket.com
http://www.tastefrombelgium.com
http://www.stjamestavern.com

http://www.co.franklin.oh.us/Children_Services

Posted in: Events.
Tagged: · ·

More Bad News About the Columbus Casino

Nov 30th, 2009
by Walker.
No comments yet

I admit that when the call was first made that Issue 3 had passed and that Ohio would be getting casinos, I was ready to give up and let it happen. What’s done is done, right?

Wrong.

While folks in Cleveland and Cincinnati and Toledo might feel differently, the voters in Central Ohio said that they did not want a casino in their area. Laws can be unwritten just as easily as they can be written. The ongoing opportunity for modification to our political system is the beauty of the democratic process. Nothing is ever written in stone. Casinos are not written in stone.

There’s a massive movement quickly brewing, both at the grassroots level as well as the leadership level.

I interviewed Jon Myers and Chuck Hootman who are heading up “Casino-Free Columbus”, and posted a podcast of that interview here. It’s a great listen for anyone who might not be fully aware of the negative impact that the casino will have on our region.

Local leaders are speaking out too, which includes Governor Strickland, Mayor Coleman and City Council President Mentel, Ohio House Rep Ted Celeste, and most notably (to me)… long-time City Auditor Hugh Dorrian. All of those articles are worth a read.

The most important thing that anyone opposed to the Casino can do right now is call, email, and write their local civil leaders. Contact Mayor Coleman. Contact Governor Strickland. Contact Columbus City Council. Explain to them in a rational and emotion-free manner why you think the Columbus Casino is a bad idea. Encourage them to fight it. Make it known that this is not something our community will support. Go do that right now.

And if you need one last bit of encouragement… remember when I said that a vote for the casino was a vote against downtown residential development on the Jaeger Machine Company site? Well, it sounds like I was right. Check out the following quote from a Dispatch article yesterday:

Standing firm
Sunday,  November 29, 2009
The Dispatch

Penn National obtained an option to buy the Jaeger site from Plaza Properties, which only last year obtained a $750,000 state grant to demolish the factory and clean up the property, on a promise to build condominiums and retail outlets on the site. The Ohio Department of Development, on a recommendation from the city, awarded the Clean Ohio Assistance Fund grant to allow Plaza Properties to clean up pollution from more than 70 years of manufacturing.

Plaza Properties pledged to develop 243 condominiums, 15,000 square feet of retail space and a small park. After Penn National announced its plan to build a casino there instead, state and city officials said they could do nothing about the bait-and-switch.

This type of dishonesty from Penn National should not be welcomed in our community. This developer has no interest in working with locals. Their only interest is to syphon money out of Columbus and give absolutely nothing back. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that this is the type of development that Columbus needs.

Posted in: Development, politics.
Tagged: · · ·

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