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March 31, 2008

Columbus Needs a Streetcar to Remove Shit Piled Up On High Street

I must be the only person in Columbus vehemently opposed to the streetcar project. It's 100 million dollars.

I think I could revitalize the corridor for about a few thousand bucks.

I was out early Sunday morning on my way to Spinelli's Deli to get a bunch of Columbus' absolutely best bagels for a Sunday get together. I drove up and down High Street in the University District. It looked like SHIT. Trash everywhere. We recently moved from the area, so I was even more sensitive to it now than I ever was.

I know the connection may be odd, but when I observed the surrounding neighborhoods of IU, UM and Purdue, the neighborhoods are beautiful. Speckled with Craftsman homes, clean, nice shops, quaint, not too many franchises. Comfy. OSU's surrounding neighborhood is dingy with trash and shit everywhere. Landlords must receive bonuses for moving to Florida while their properties decay.

Instead of taking care of the area holding the greatest density population in central Ohio, the current administration wants to replace the old Honda with a big friggin' expensive (hybrid) Hummer. And, waste a shitload of money doing it.

A shiny, clean campus, I argue, would provide a major boost to Columbus. People would want to live closer to campus, the surrounding neighborhoods would be stimulated, more would use the bus system that seems to be working just fine. Why the obsession with this streetcar thing? Hearing about it in the news is more painful than a Mariah Carey ballad.

Dispatch Updates sorted by date. Many opposed.
Editorial Thomas Sawyer's editorial (former Akron mayor, Dispatch 12-Apr-08.

10 comments:

Miss Lexiloo said...

...and that's pretty painful.

I agree with you 100%. I know I don't want to pay extra taxes/fees/gas money/wtfever they're planning; the stupid thing wouldn't benfit me at all.

Anonymous said...

Ah, the benefits of representative government.

Anonymous said...

About 10 years ago or so, when the South Campus bars came a-tumblin' down to make way for the South Campus Gateway project, students were outraged. Some nimrod in the paper told a reporter that Campus Partners was "taking away our heritage."

The sense of entitlement to trash the place is strong in that one.

Anonymous said...

Oh, oh, oh! Remember that filthy coffee shop where Bento a Gogo is now? With the floors so sticky it took 10 minutes just to walk to the counter? And the "patio" out front with the trash and the cigarette butts piled up against the wall? And the wails of anguish when the Starbucks went up down the street? And even more when the nasty place was closed down?

Best thing Campus Partners ever did, in my opinion. Yay rah go Starbucks! Yay rah go "Employees must wash hands before returning to work!"

Cindy said...

"Oh, oh, oh! Remember that filthy coffee shop where Bento a Gogo is now?"

I believe it was Insomnia.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Insomnia. I can still recall the stench.

Cindy said...

I haven't lived near the OSU campus in over 5 years but I still remember the horror. Trash everywhere.

Anonymous said...

You're not the only one who thinks the streetcar is idiotic. It has all the disadvantages of a bus, combined with all the disadvantages of a train, with none of the advantages of either. And besides, haven't we learned not to let Mayor Coleman have anything to do with *anything* electrical?

Oh, sure, we need decent transit in Columbus, but I would much rather have something that doesn't mix with traffic!

Anonymous said...

Thanks RideMan, I thought when I posted this, I'd be getting attacked from all angles.

My real fantasy is to have nice safe median-protected bike lanes. I'm afraid I won't live to see that one.

Anonymous said...

Well, the separate right-of-way bike paths are a pretty good start. Pity there aren't any over here where I live (by IR-71), and it seems that ALL of the bike paths run north and south.

Combine the N-S bias with the way the whole street grid tilts northward as you go East, and it means that while the distance isn't too great, riding my bike to work would be a real pain in the neck with lots of backtracking.

(Forgot to mention: I'm also Dave. Yet another reason to like your blog when I stopped by.)

--Dave