turnedNOTburned
Grandview/Columbus, Ohio
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Worst: Casino's, Death @ Comfest, Light Rail "on the skids"...
Best: Huntington Parks opening/success, OSU's response to recession (pay concessions by leadership), Corporations stepping up to support Red, White and Boom, Wild Success of Wild Goose
Whats yours?
catnfiddle
Giant Corncob District
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Best: Continuation and expansion of the local arts. Yay, Independents Day and new Madlab space!
Worst: Resistance to public transportation. Boo, COTA board member referring to highways as "mass transit"!
lifeontwowheels
Highland West
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Best: Seeing the explosion of new businesses on Gay Street, another good year for B2WW; new cycling instructors in Columbus
Worst: I'd have to agree on the amount of resistance to all things not car
Coreroc
Egoville USA
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Best:
*Wild Goose Sucess and the local folks taking notice of a start up of this nature.
*John Angelo resigning although some may disagree with my thought here if someone with his energy can find better follow through the SNBA is just fine
*Dirty Franks opening and X2 on the new menu
*More Murals were painted and public art increased it's visibility
*Juan Carrera and the Folks that are heading the German Village Art League and all of the new venues and art shows they created.
*Continued sucess of Urban Scrawl and FAD
*Arts in the Alley and the increased art district in the South Campus Gateway.
*
Worst:
* Death @ Comfest not due to the loss, but more the public perception of one persons demise at a public event
*Melissa Starker leaving the Alive. I wish much success and know the Gateway will be in a better place, but I fear for the art's in Columbus from a press perspective.
*The economy and it's overall side effects
*Ibiza as a harsh eye sore in an arts district. At least throw a Chris Mohler sculpture or two on the lot and make it look acceptable
*People bitching about Jim Tressel, Trains, Casino's, and similar items of public interest. Actions speak louder than words and way louder than whining and bitching so go and do something about it.
* the absolute worst thing in Columbus this year is my spelling and public typing and I'm sure most around here will agree! !)
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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The ParkingMeter/Casino/7071SplitFix has been a trifecta of suck over the past two months, but there's been a lot of other good things this year.
Opening of Huntington Park, Lincoln Theatre, and Audubon Center.
Lots of work Downtown on City Center, Riversouth, and Scioto Mile.
Tons of awesome events... everything from big festivals to lots of great smaller happy hours and gatherings. It was a year well spent. :D
NEOBuckeye
Ohio At-Large
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Worst: No light rail; COTA rate increase; High speed rail is ironically moving at a snail's pace. A very poorly written Issue 3/Ohio Constitutional Amendment that passed anyway thanks to everywhere else but Central Ohio, yet imposed a casino on this region anyway and essentially enshrined a corporation (based out of state on top of that) into state law. The shakiness of the Blue Jackets (on the ice and financially) and the uncertainty of the franchise's future at Nationwide Arena. The general lack of vitality in the rest of the state that continues to weigh Columbus down...
Best: The continued growth of Columbus' thriving arts scene, shops, restaurants, businesses and attractions along High Street and in Central Columbus' neighborhoods and districts. End of construction and the erecting of two arches in "Old(e) North Columbus."
General Predictions for 2010: Higher Gas prices -- back above $3.00 for good, maybe $4.00 and maybe even above $5.00 per gallon by summer. The global economy continues to unravel and many more governments (local, state and national) will flirt with insolvency, while some big ones (California?) actually go bust. Unrest spreads around the globe and many nations could be dealing with major riots and crises this summer, as well as some unusually wicked weather conditions that might be the start of a trend. MAJOR technological breakthroughs in alternative energy, computing, medicine (a cure for a major disease... Cancer?), and the emergence of some form of unusual new technology or revelation that changes the way we think or go about conducting some significant aspect of our daily lives. Discovery of "Earth's Twin" -- an extra-solar Earth-like planet (maybe several of them) with a high probability of carbon-based life living upon it. Growing interest (not entirely casual, some "survival" concerns will be involved) in local-regional organic food production and a movement away from petro-chemical/massed-produced food and products. People finally begin to realize that state and national governments and politics as constructed are mostly ineffectual and respond accordingly. Cities go "regional" as concerns shift to surviving and thriving at a local/regional level. Mass migrations of people will begin; in the US, people will begin to head back to the Midwest and Northeast, away from the Sunbelt due to drought (South, Southwest) and political instability in Mexico affecting the states along the US/Mexico border. Another revered celebrity/athlete or icon will do something very stupid and fall from grace, but this time, no one will give a damn. Reality TV will finally run out of steam as life itself becomes all the reality one could ever desire and then some.
Hopes for 2010: Major Movement on Light Rail, High Speed Rail within the state and the Midwest; The Penn National Casino site is moved out of the Arena District to Westland, Obetz or Wilmington; Akron-Canton, Toledo, Dayton and Cleveland finally experience a social/economic revival of sorts which also helps to enhance Columbus' prospects; Greater emphasis upon local food production. The end of suburbanization/sprawl and talk (at the very least) of some sort of representative regional government for Central Ohio, and in other regions. World peace and prosperity, and a long overdue shift/evolution in mass consciousness emerging amidst all of the chaos and craziness for which 2010 will be long remembered.
Bear
The woods
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Bad: A constitutional amendment system that lends itself to flagrant abuse rears its ugly head again.
Good: Grassroots voices are heard on issues like parking meters and may be heard on casinos.
Bad: Grassroots voices have to be raised in the first place.
Good: The continuing salutary influence of many motivated people who get up and do things to make the city a better place.
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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NEOBuckeye wrote >>
Worst: COTA rate increase
Really? It jumped up a quarter per ride from $1.50 to $1.75.
And they've added significant service improvements in January, May, September, and again next week.
I mean... I don't like paying more for stuff either, but I think it's acceptable for the types of improved service we're getting in exchange.
Anyway, I agree with a lot of the rest of your best/worst lists, but the COTA rate increase stuck out to me as an odd thing to put on there.
Jergarr27
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BEST: FINALLY DOING SOMETHING WITH THE CITY CENTER.... EVEN IF ITS FUTURE IS UNCERTAIN...
WORST: NOT JUMPING ON OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH.. I.E.. LIGHT RAIL!! TAKING WAAAAAAAAAAAAY TOO LONG ON CERTAIN PROJECTS... I.E. IBIZA, CITY CENTER, SCIOTO MILE, THE MAIN STREET BRIDGE... SEEMS LIKE ONCE THEY STARTED BUILDING HUNTINGTON PARK, IT WAS UP AND RUNING IN A "JIFFY"..
NEOBuckeye
Ohio At-Large
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Walker, it's a somewhat minor concern of mine, although I'll give you that $0.25 is not a major increase. I just think we should be looking into ways to reduce/subsidize general bus fare -- like we do with Interstate Highways, Airliners, etc. -- and increase ridership, rather than see it become more expensive and deter people from considering COTA as an option.
You did make another good point that the rate increase accompanied improved service, so perhaps it is indeed a fair tradeoff.
rustbelt
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Yay! for casinos. Some of us in central Ohio did vote for the thing.
Yay! that we didn't devote tens of millions of dollars we don't have for yet another way to travel a few miles between campus & Broad St.
Boo! for the fire at Whole World.
Boo! for the passage of Issue 2.
MikeE7
Reynoldsburg (birthplace of a tomato)
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catnfiddle
Giant Corncob District
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Best: We watched Aaron Hibbs break the world hula hoop marathon record!
Worst: We lost Stephanie Spielman.
brothermarcus
West Siiiide
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best: City Center being demolished
worst: seeing that voodoo finance means higher taxes, and that many of those people mandated to pay more don't get a vote or adequate representation regarding their taxation.
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