I'll Miss You--OHIO

Scoot: thank you for eloquently explaining my aversion to suburbs! Dublin is an abomination.

I haven't heard that Mall rumor but I really hope it isn't true. I don't know if I could continue living here. I've read someplace that Columbus already has the most retail square footage per capita than any other city in the nation. I can't imagine another mall filled with overpriced crap.

I had a bit of traffic snarl this morning though. A couple of dogs ran in front of me on the bike path. *** Edited 8/16/2006 7:34:05 PM UTC by millrace***

As a first time and recent Ohio resident, I have to say we don't mind what we've seen so far - and that comes after months of "Ugh!" and "Eww!" reactions from people concerning the area.

Then again I live in a McMansion right across a 4 lane deathtrap from a Wal-Mart, so maybe it's just poor taste on my part. ;)

....we gotta get out while we're young....

:)

Aside from the deathtraps (no offense Lord), I got the same reactions when I moved to Ohio. A lot of people I knew on the east coast had the mindset that there was virtually nothing of value between the east and California. Many of them have been pleasantly surprised when they visited.

After living in Dallas for three years (between stints in Columbus), I swore I would never complain about Ohio traffic again...and I haven't.

Currently I live in German Village and work in the Arena District...it's a short commute and I spend pretty much the entire work week within a two mile radius of downtown. It's a pretty nice situation.

(And, if Mayor Coleman gets to build his street car line like he wants, the commute to and from work will get even better...)

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millrace said:
Dad: How often have you been to Columbus?

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Just last weekend actually. I have always been struck by the nothingness and then BAM! Columbus, and then nothing again.

I recently returned to Ohio (Cincinnati) from the Tampa, FL area. Florida is nothing but one giant suburb. Even the so called city is really just a suburb. There is no real sense of community in the neighborhood. Cincinnati, for all of its faults, has vibrant neighborhoods, as I am sure Columbus and Cleveland do too. But if you move past I-275, suburban hell abounds.

I grew up in rural/suburban Cleveland. Far enough out to have farms nearby, and close enough that I could drive 10 minutes to the mall and 20 minutes to the city (Akron). For a few years I lived less than one mile from Geauga Lake in a little town called Remindersville.

While I have never lived in NJ, I will agree that my exposure to it seemed like an endless suburb as well. There must be some rural to NJ, otherwise where would the "Gardens" be? *** Edited 8/16/2006 8:11:16 PM UTC by CoasterDad64***

There are some "gardens" in the southern half. Still a few up north but most seem to sprout half million dollar condos these days (no, they are not extra nice, that's just the going rate for average NJ housing). :(

Just moved to Toledo, and Im definatly enjoying the 1.5 hr trip to Sandusky.

Millrace: There's a few burbs near cleveland that have those half-million jokes. Love the signs: Modest Living Starting at Just 500,000!
If i'm spending half a mil on a house, it better be so good I have no reason to leave.

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CoasterDad64 said:
I recently returned to Ohio (Cincinnati) from the Tampa, FL area...

For a few years I lived less than one mile from Geauga Lake in a little town called Remindersville...

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Wait... you're joking right? What a small world. I myself grew up in Remindersville. We never refered to it though, we just said we were from Aurora; people actually know where that is.

After spending my college years in Cincinnati, I moved to Los Angeles for a few years. And now, moving back to Cincinnati.

What a strange kawinki-dink.

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FLYINGSCOOTER said:
You could always take an orange traffic cone as a for-me-not.

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You mean the state flower? Oh how I miss those. ;)

my house is worth half a mil, and it's not one I am so attached to that I would never leave it. Hell, I dont even have a garage!
lata, jeremy
--who wonders if his house would qualify as a McMansion (whatever that means...)

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RideMan said:
Traffic jams? I live in Columbus. I drive 9 miles one way to and from work, almost all of it on IR-71 and IR-70. That drive goes right through downtown.

Typical drive time is twelve minutes, fifteen at rush hour if it's really bad.

I really can't complain about that.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

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Thats the thing, "goes right through downtown". I frequently go to Columbus for various work related meetings. I never know when I will come across a backup somewhere on the highway. I have had problems on 270, 71, 70, 315, 670, did I miss anything? Of course the Ohio flower is the orange barrel! Then you have all those crazy drivers who flunked their driving test 4 times before finally not crashing. I have definately had my share of close calls in Columbus. Glad to see them re-working some of the major highway intersections, especially on the North side, and looking forward to that trolley system.

Personally, I'm hoping that Coleman's trolley DOES NOT get built.

At-grade rail running with street traffic in the most congested part of the city. What kind of a genius comes up with something like that? It's a recipe for taking a bad situation and making it significantly worse.

What we need in this city is a REAL transit system, meaning grade separation (or at least protected ROW).

Also, Columbus is NOT a gigantic suburb. That's both Cleveland and Cincinnati, but in Columbus, virtually everything in the metro area is, in fact, Columbus. Columbus has surrounded a few of its suburbs (Bexley, Upper Arlington, Grandview) but is not itself surrounded...it's a growth pattern that has allowed Columbus to avoid some of the problems many other cities face, where all the money gets sucked out of the core city by parasitic suburbs...

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

^Maybe I need to catch up on the project, the last time I looked, they were planning on doing both at grade and above grade, depending on where you were. I would be happy with something just to get you to the city from the suburbs.

Ohio doesn't have THAT bad of an economy, but we have been losing more jobs than we have gained in recent years. Even though Honda is building their new assembly plant in Indiana, they will still put several thousand Ohioans to work by building parts.

Upper Arlington Schools (UA is the Municipality where I live) are in the top in the country.

Plus, back on schools, even if you don't ever plan on having kids, sometimes it's best to buy in a great school district (Dublin, Bexley) or high-demand area (Clintonville, West Geauga) because they generally appreciate better.

I'm glad I'm not alone! I just moved away from Ohio last Friday and after once a week visits to CP, I'm already missing it. I have moved to Orlando, so it's not *that* much of a disappointment. I will definitely miss Ohio, though. It's such a great state, and that's coming from someone who lived in Akron. Go Zips! Good luck with your move to OK!

I'm a lifeLong Ohioan, (I've lived in the Dayton-area all my 36 years.), and when people make fun of Dayton's lack of things to do, I like to joke that we can always drive to Cincy or Columbus!

But to be totally serious...I can't think of a better place I'd rather live and raise my family than in Ohio. I don't know why people complain about the economy here, it's not the best, but it's far from worst too. As far as schools, I won't speak for everyone in the state, but in Southwestern-Ohio we just got our state "report card" and we either were ranking among the top statewide, or were schools that were continually improving.

As far as thing to do! Were not frickin' Vegas, but as someone said earlier, there is a lot of natural beauty to be had here, and an Urban area is never really further than 10-15 minutes away. This state has culture, it has entertainment options to cover the entire spectrum from concerts to museums to sporting events. I just don't see peoples complaints!

The biggest problem I can state about Ohio has already been mentioned...and that is that Ohio is the land of eternal construction and orange barrels. But really, it's never as bad as it could be in a state the scale of California, (as an example).

But really, this all about Theme/Amusement parks so let me end saying we have three incredible parks in this state that are NEVER more than 3-4 hours away from any Ohioans doorstep. And we are so centrally located to so may others in PA, IN, IL, TN.

Maybe Ohio should change it's motto to "OHIO...were not that bad!" because we seem to be getting a pretty underserved rep.

I agree, Ohio is not that bad. There are certainly ups and downs. There aren't a whole lot of jobs unless you go near a major city (Columbus, Cincy, Cleveland, Toledo..). Even then, I think Columbus was the only major city in Ohio with a growing population, the rest are being abandoned for suburbia.

Also of note, all the major amusement parks in Ohio are not in Columbus. They all probably benefit however, since Columbus is about the same distance from each (about 2+ hours).

In other words, If you're moving to Ohio and want the best location for the most coasters, you should live in Columbus. Hmm, maybe that's why RideMan works at Capital...

*** Edited 8/17/2006 12:51:54 AM UTC by Pagoda Gift Shop***

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FLYINGSCOOTER said:
Any truth to the rumor that Columbus is building a mall to rival Mall Of America?

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God, I hope not. I would think that Easton would be enough.

I thought it was bad enough that we're getting an IKEA in Cincinnati. That's unusual.

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Danimales said:

Wait... you're joking right? What a small world. I myself grew up in Remindersville. We never refered to it though, we just said we were from Aurora; people actually know where that is.

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Yup, I lived in Aurora Shores from