Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[iam416]

So if it is a small populated area, the issues of people don't matter. Got it. A true corporate answer.

Well, it matters locally. And I should hope the locals manage it how they see fit. In terms of a statewide or national issue, it's a drop in the bucket. I mean, I live in Upper Arlington. There are more people in UA than TC. I wouldn't think local UA issues merit state or national discussion.

That's a true federalism answer. God bless Mr. Madison et al.

[iam416]

That's exactly the case with Detroit. Its better than it was 20 years ago, even the downtown area was mostly ghost town. That has changed for the better, but the neighborhoods are still lagging. It doesn't help how massive the city is land wise, people like to point out you could fit the land mass of San Francisco, Boston and I want to say NYC into Detroit's land mass.

Detroit has 138 sq mi (Cleveland is at 77). Good lord. That's the problem. You just can't new build everything. First you have to tear a shitload of it down. And who's gonna move there? Unless you have some sort of an anchor institution, you're fucked (Cleveland has the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western about 100 blocks East).

In a lot of ways it's like the smaller towns in Ohio that are now hollowed out -- Mansfield, Marion -- hell, Youngstown. There's nothing to be done.

[Tom W]

While I haven't stepped foot in the state for over a decade, California just seems like a place where everybody KNOWS, but won't say, that those little cracks in the earth are overdue to come undone.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Detroit has 138 sq mi (Cleveland is at 77). Good lord. That's the problem. You just can't new build everything. First you have to tear a shitload of it down. And who's gonna move there? Unless you have some sort of an anchor institution, you're fucked (Cleveland has the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western about 100 blocks East).

In a lot of ways it's like the smaller towns in Ohio that are now hollowed out -- Mansfield, Marion -- hell, Youngstown. There's nothing to be done.

If it weren't for the University Circle area (the Clinic, Case, the Museums, Severenace Hall, Little Italy, etc.) then the entire east side of Cleveland would be REALLY hollowed out.

[froot loops]

Detroit has 138 sq mi (Cleveland is at 77). Good lord. That's the problem. You just can't new build everything. First you have to tear a shitload of it down. And who's gonna move there? Unless you have some sort of an anchor institution, you're fucked (Cleveland has the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western about 100 blocks East).

In a lot of ways it's like the smaller towns in Ohio that are now hollowed out -- Mansfield, Marion -- hell, Youngstown. There's nothing to be done.

You should see the satellite pictures of some of the areas from 1960 to the present day. A lot of urban prairies.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Talked about it in the past but if you look at a map of Cleveland or Cincinnati, both cities have far more individual suburbs than Columbus has. Both cities are far more constrained by geography. Cleveland has the Lake and Cincinnati has both the River and hills that impeded building. Both cities got pinned in by suburbs as early as 1900.

Compared to the other two, Columbus stayed relatively small. It was closer to Akron's size until after WWII. The ring of suburbs around the Columbus I-270 outerbelt you see today were almost all sleepy crossroads in 1945. In 1950 Dublin had a population of 289. It's approaching 50,000 today. Grove City, Westerville, and Reynoldsburg were all around a few thousand. Each is 40,000+ today. Even inner ring burbs like Upper Arlington and Whitehall were still just starting to be developed. Bexley, the closest suburb to downtown and in some ways the Cbus version of Shaker Heights, was really the only established suburb around.

At the same time Cleveland already had very large, very built up burbs on its west (Lakewood), South (Parma & Garfield Heights)), and east (Cleveland Heights, Euclid, and Shaker Heights).

At any rate, the lack of built up burbs and lots of wide open space allowed Columbus to engage in the state's most aggressive annexation policy (which it still kinda follows today). They pushed the city limits much farther out from downtown that Cleveland really goes and incorporated lots of empty land. So when the time came that wealthier residents decided to flee downtown, in Cleveland that meant relocating to a burb. In Columbus you could easily find an empty plot of land still within city limits and new housing developments that seemed suburban all the time.

The inner belt burbs like UA and Bexley are out of luck but other like Dublin, Westerville, Grove City, Pickerington, all sort of practice the same sort of aggressive annexation measures. But even still, Columbus isn't completely surrounded and still has outlets to keep expanding.

[Dr. Strangelove]

One other little quirk is that the north and east sides of the metro area are more developed than the western/southern sides. That may be changing as Grove City on the SW side has blown up over the past 10-15 years, but it's still generally true.

If you take I-70 west out of Columbus almost as soon as you are past I-270 you will be in empty farmland. Madison County seems freaking desolate from I-70. But going east it's not until the hills really start and you're past the Newark area that you're really in rural America again. Also entering Appalachia from that point as far as I'm concerned.

[froot loops]

The problem is the expansion, to me it is not sustainable over time in any area. Eventually you get the inner ring issues.

[froot loops]

More in depth reporting on that app fiasco

[Dr. Strangelove]

Mitt Romney becomes the first Senator in US history to vote to convict and remove a President from his own Party.

EDIT: Immediately after he announced his intention to vote guilty, the White House abruptly cancelled a photo op between Trump and Guaido where the press were supposed to attend

And Fox's Chris Wallace is now running an interview Romney gave him yesterday where he told him what he was going to do. So Wallace knew yesterday how Romney would vote.

[froot loops]

Nothing is so weird is Romney making a stand on this.

[lineygoblue]

Nothing is so predictable as Romney voting guilty.

Trump and Romney hate each other. This is Romney's ultimate middle finger to Trump.

He's been waiting a long time for this, and he took advantage.

He could eventually lose his job over this. Then again, maybe not. Utah may grant lifetime Senate appointments just like Michigan does.

[Dr. Strangelove]

In all seriousness, Romney will take far more abuse for this than any Democrat will and will likely deal with harassment against his family, anonymous phone calls at night, and crap like that for years to come. Even if he's talked himself into believing there's something to gain politically down the road it couldn't have been an easy decision.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Nothing is so predictable as Romney voting guilty.

Trump and Romney hate each other. This is Romney's ultimate middle finger to Trump.

He's been waiting a long time for this, and he took advantage.

He could eventually lose his job over this. Then again, maybe not. Utah may grant lifetime Senate appointments just like Michigan does.

He might not care if he loses his job. He'll be mid-70's and is independently wealthy. Doesn't need a cushy job as a university trustee or a lobbyist somewhere.

The cost to him in social interactions will be bigger. People won't want to be seen with him for fear of angering Trump.

[lineygoblue]

He might not care if he loses his job. He'll be mid-70's and is independently wealthy. Doesn't need a cushy job as a university trustee or a lobbyist somewhere.

This is true. He didn't need the job as a senator to begin with. He's got money up the wazzoo, and will never need to work another day in his life. He could probably make his kids independently wealthy as well.

The irony to me is, how he was bashed by the Dems when he ran against Obama, as being "dangerously right wing", and "dangerous for our country".

And here today, he's with Nadler, Schiff, Pelosi, et al...

Politics is so great.