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The Walker Evans Effect wrote The Rumor Mill: City Center to become Courthouse?
November 15th, 2007
I got an anonymous tip this morning about the Franklin County Courthouse project delays having to do with the fact that the project may be moving into the City Center. I hope this rumor isn’t coming true because while it might save some construction dollars, the City Center is perfectly poised to bring a breath of fresh air downtown in the form of a mixed-use urban center. A courthouse would make it a 9-to-5 office block that’s unwelcoming to anyone who doesn’t belong there.
Anyway, here’s the rumor:
Related Stories:
- New Courthouse Design Getting Revamped
- City will buy ailing City Center mall for $2.88 million
- New courthouse may offer more
The multiple shootings in and around City Center would disagree.
The multiple shootings in and around City Center would disagree.
When was the last shooting?
Oh, it’s been a while I think, but City Center’s been a graveyard for a while too. It was definitely a factor in traffic dying and the mall following though (particularly the murder in the mall, which was like 10 years ago). I know there was also a rash of mugging style robberies on the surrounding streets and parking facilities sometime in the last 5 years or so as well.
Make no mistake, City Center inside and out had become a serious hotspot for thuggery.
The last one i remember was actually a murder that occured between city center and the wendys, some 14 year old shot and killed another 14 year old for his sneakers.
There was a shooting at city center in the mid 1990s. It was never a shooting gallery; there is only one that I know of.
Think of how many people visited city center… Do many realize there was a shooting at the Gateway just this summer? Busy areas do have people who engage in fights and sometimes, this being America where we have free access to guns, a shooting may occur. I still don’t avoid the gateway, and many I know of don’t as well.
Destination areas of Columbus have had shootings and mugging crime, I have had friends mugged in the Short North, but many people visit these areas/destinations a year. Because a few muggings occur in the the SN, does that mean one does not visit the Short North?
This is why we, most of us on this site, are urbanites. We can see through the cloud of smoke and make sense of these instances. Now many people in Columbus may have taken hold of the City Center shooting incident and became paranoid (mainly the media feeding this frenzy) and thus avoiding an overall safe place.
I do think that a place like City Center was a regional draw, and being a shopping center, it had the visitation of many kinds of folks (rich, middle class, and poor.) I do feel the area around city center is actually less full of the kind of folks, that many were afraid of, when the area was a popular shopping destination.
Face it places like Due Amici, the downtown area offices, Hyatt hotel, and little mom and pop shops draw more from the business/visitor, well off pool than City Center did, which had a larger draw. Most people do not visit the center of downtown now unless they are doing business or theater entertainment . Now that a lot of that retail left downtown, there’s less reason for everyday people to come just to shop, including the kind of people likely to cause a crime.
Just drove by the new courthouse site and it looks like they are in full blown construction mode with tons of digging, surveying, heavy machinery, construction trailers, etc. Hopefully this means that the new building is a definite “go,” and any rumors about locating the courthouse in the old city center shell are false.
Sorry, I just have to clear the name of one of the eateries at CityCenter that got slammed a few posts ago as gross— the “Angus and Smoothies” place….the guy who runs this is a super nice guy and he’s always so grateful for business. I’ve found the food to be pretty good- and better value than a lot of the Philly steak joints. Don’t be deterred because it isn’t “Steak Escape” or a known brand.
Who knows what will happen with CC….All I know is that with Nationwide/MSI at the helm, I don’t expect anything too visionary or memorable. Bland brick + plate glass architecture, a Cheesecake Factory, something of that order….All I hope is that it will be FUNCTIONAL in some way for the general public, even if it’s just as some are arguing for here—- having access through the building as a cut-through during cold/inclement weather.
More people hating on Nationwide’s architects. Good grief.
Burnham Square sold out, and were selling so hotly for a while that they actually jacked prices across the board to slow them down (and, of course, to get more profit). The Condos at North Bank Park are almost all the way gone and they didn’t even start with those until the market was already beginning to cool. They charge inordinate lease rates for their Arena District commercial space, too, and have still managed to produce a product that people with money are willing to splurge on.
Hate on them all you want, but the market verdict is giving them a thumbs-up.
A long time ago, I used to work for the management of City Center and I can say that the parkinggarage “belongs” to the building, but it’s managed by the parking company. Either way, I’m sure they’re not going to do away with any kind of downtown parking.
Also, seandude, while I appreciate the liberal take on the folks waiting for teh bus at CC, I DO hae to wonder at why I see the police parked in the middle of the road there 4 out of 5 days that I drive past there to go home. I’m just saying…
Because they sit there and nail pedestrians for jaywalking as well as drivers for using the bus-only lanes.
:!:
Because they sit there and nail pedestrians for jaywalking as well as drivers for using the bus-only lanes.
Also people turning right on high from broad.
i like how they tore down the old franklin county court house, once called the most beautiful courthouse in ohio, to build the one they have now.
Although the old courthouse was very beautiful and grand, I like the new courthouse(the tall black building with the pointed top).
but will it win most beautiful courthouse in ohio? :wink:
Probably not, at least in the traditional sense. But, at least its the tallest in Ohio and one of the tallest in the country! :D
Doesn’t anyone find it the least bit ironic that the tallest building in Columbus would be the Ministry of Justice, er, I mean the courthouse?
:roll:
But, then again, in these perilous times, maybe we do need to extra space to try all of these thoughtbreakers, er, I mean lawbreakers… :roll: :roll:
Huh? The courthouse is 7th tallest…
http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/ci/bu/?id=101043
Huh? The courthouse is 7th tallest…
http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/ci/bu/?id=101043
My apologies, read the quote wrong. :oops:
Still, this competitive spirit arising from measuring ones courthouse strikes me a bit askew. :?
If it were the only thing cities measured, I might agree … but come on, we compare *everything.* Let’s keep things in perspective here.
Hmmm. Compared to what?