Categories
News Politics Transportation

Actual cost of commuting

It is easy to overlook the actual costs of commuting to work every day. But the fact of the matter is that it can be quite costly…especially if you commute a long distance to work add in a large vehicle and you’re really expending a lot of money. Not to mention the fact that congestion in Cincinnati is continuing to get worse.

Metro has this handy-dandy Cost of Driving Calculator where you plug in some information and it will give you how much it costs monthly and yearly. Plug in your numbers and see where you stand…I would also ask that you send this link around to as many commuters as possible. It is time that people realize exactly how much money they are spending (in addition to time) just so they can have the “freedom” of their automobile and live in a perceived safer environment.

Let the numbers be known…it may not be comforting to many, but it is what it is. It is not unusual that a typical suburban commuter spends in excess of $7,000 a year on commuting costs. If you were to move into the city and still drive everyday (that way you can still avoid the bus if you so choose)…you will still cut your costs substantially and be closer to the $1,500 range.

Categories
News

2007 Bold Fusion

Today is the day of Bold Fusion, and it will be the main draw for new members to the Mayor’s Young Professionals Kitchen Cabinet (YPKC). If you’re a YP and want to be involved you should apply to be a part of the YPKC. There are a variety of committees and depending on your interests/knowledge you can try to get on the one of your choice.

If you would like to apply for the YPKC, you can get an online application, fill it out and then send it back in to the city as directed on the application form. Just make sure you get your application in by the October 1st deadline. You also must include a resume with the application…so act quickly!

Categories
News Politics

700 WLW continues to embarrass Cincinnati

If it isn’t enough to have the Cincinnati Enquirer running the show in print media…Cincinnati has to deal with these clowns dominating the air waves at 700 WLW. Now if it were a one time thing I would be upset, but most likely move on without really getting steamed. But it almost seems as though 700 WLW and Clear Channel Radio advocate this kind of shock radio that 700 has become.

The on-air “talents” seem to do nothing more than spew outrageous comments that are meant to aggravate/irritate. Much of the time their on-air hosts are uninformed on the topics they discuss and merely insult anyone who questions them or calls them out on this.

More recently the station has gone from being just uninformed shenanigans to just pure trash. If you remember back Andy Furman seemed to start the disturbing trend when he called Bengals WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh a “racist” for not appearing on his talk show. I don’t have the time or patience to go into all of his nonsense, so I’ll leave it at that.

Not too long ago 700 I guess thought they needed an encore presentation when they plastered billboards all over Cincinnati depicting what was meant to be a Mexican. The billboards did a great job at perpetuating a stereotype that is not only a broad generalization, but not even correct for many Hispanic immigrants. The Hispanic community blasted 700 WLW for inappropriate behavior and demanded that the station right its wrongs. They promised improved relations and that they would work towards improving Hispanic relations.

Fast forward a couple of months…and 700 comes out with a new line of promotions. This time the promotions offered “helpful phrases” to communicate with illegal aliens. Once again the station was doing a great job a perpetuating stereotypes of a particular segment of society…a segment of society that they had just made a promise to work with. Truly amazing!

I guess they’ve had enough of the Hispanic community for now, and have directed their attention back to the professional athletes in Cincinnati. The news now is that Bill Cunningham made bold assertions that Adam Dunn was playing drunk for the Reds. Adam Dunn felt the comment was out of line regardless of whether Cunningham was joking or not (which he said he was).

Personally I don’t go for this shock radio junk. Give me some good programing with people who actually know what they’re talking about and don’t have to rely on outrageous statements and colorful remarks. What I want to know now is why Clear Channel Radio hasn’t done anything to counter this behavior? They had no problem cracking down on censorship stuff, but when it comes to shock radio there appears to be little or no accountability.

If you would like some accountability from 700 WLW please contact Clear Channel Radio and let them know how you feel. You can reach Sanda Coyle regarding you concerns with the trash that 700 feels they can get away with. Once again,

CONTACT SANDA COYLE: sandacoyle@clearchannel.com

Categories
News

Monthly Throwdown

Well today is the last day of the month…and similarly the last day you can vote on what you think about downtown’s progress (or lack thereof). So what I (and I’m sure others) want to know is…why did you vote the way you did? Is it anything specific, pure emotional response, what?

Hopefully this can stir some good discussion, about different opinions, regarding downtown. A new poll will be coming for the month of September, and this discussion will most likely become a regular monthly event (I like the name “Monthly Throwdown” for some reason). Lets hear it and please…don’t hold back, just make sure it is constructive dialog. I don’t like to moderate comments (only deleted 1 comment ever) and I would like to keep it that way…so keep it civil.

Categories
News

Three wishes

Well it seems as though my last post brought up some people’s wishes for downtown, and what they want to happen. So, I thought I would throw it all out there and ask everyone to comment on what their Top 3 wishes for downtown are. They could be anything, from development projects, to culture changes, to new/different laws, etc. Go wild…I want to hear from you.

I’ll start with my Top 3 in no particular order:

1. The creation of a transportation hub along 2nd St (as has been proposed). This could be a hub for light rail, streetcar, bus, bike and have tie-ins to the potential high-speed rail system in Ohio and the Midwest. Why is this in my top three…well great urban centers are the center of cultural, economical, political and transportation services (to name a few). Cincinnati fairs quite well in most of these…and is quite honestly the center of transportation services for the region…but it is a sad system of services to say the least. So my wish for downtown is kind of a cop out wish for the entire region (but it’s my blog and I can do it).

2. How about an open-container policy for downtown. Now I understand that you need to restrict it someway…so create some sort of open-container district based on the location of the popular bars/clubs downtown. You could even have more than one district…and in those districts vehicular traffic could be closed off. This would give downtown a huge advantage over all of the other bar/club districts in the region and really make it a hot spot for activity after the sun goes down.

3. ZERO parking requirement…yes, you heard me right. No parking requirements. This is obviously a controversial proposal, but it has the potential to pay off big time with massive downtown development. This is one of those rare occasions where I think government is out of its element by mandating parking.

If a business or developer thinks that their project can succeed with less parking, no parking, or more parking then let them make that call. My bet is that people will error on the side of less parking, but if you want to sell condos and market them with 2 spaces then you’ll build your two spaces per units…but if you think you can do it with only one space per unit, then go for it. This could potentially lower the upfront costs of many developments that eventually are killed by the costs of parking.

So have at it and let me know what your wishes are, and what you think of my brilliant ideas.