Inside 43215: Downtown Lifestyles
Yes, the holidays were lovely. Yes, there were New Year’s resolutions…these are the 8 we’d like to see in ‘08:
1. KINETIC BILLBOARDS
The XXL billboards have been interesting, but it’s going to take more to hold our attention in 2008. Pimp out those big signs with some old-school whirligigs. They’d look cool, and the whirligigs are powered by trendy alternative energy.
2. DOWNTOWN PUBLIC WIRELESS ACCESS
If po-dunk towns can have it, we can too.
3. TURN THE CITY CENTER INTO A PARK
An indoor park, free from UV rays in the summer and freezing rain in the winter; Mother Nature is overrated.
4. MORE WASTE
Install more public recycling bins alongside more public trashcans.
5. ART WINDOWS
Vacant windows are depressing. Let local artists fill the empty spaces with their wares. Everybody wins: artists get exposure, passers-by get eye candy and property owners get snazzy windows.
6. MORE PERPENDICULAR PARKING
Some of us still cannot parallel park.
7. PEDAL PUSHERS
Additional bike racks would make eco-friendly bike riding much easier.
8. BE A TEAM PLAYER
Resolution #8 is all yours. Submit non-City Center-related ideas in the comment section, and you’re eligible for Broadway tickets on us!
January 1st, 2008 at 9:24 am
More street festivals that actually close the streets. A giant stage to rock out in the right-of-way at Broad and High, while CJO jams at Nationwide & High. Food and family fun all in between. Do it right, take some lessons from Chicago’s neighborhood festivals… Market Days, Andersonville Street Fair, etc.
January 2nd, 2008 at 7:07 am
Trader Joe’s!
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:04 am
#8 Cha-Ching. Saving on everything from gas and mileage from traveling to outside casinos to local taxes and funding for schools lets see the City Center become the newest Cardinal Casino & Resort.
January 2nd, 2008 at 10:04 am
How about some organized location-based gaming? Sort of like a high-tech scavenger hunt. Or a downtown game of cellphone tag?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Location-based_game
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:30 pm
#8: PLAY UP THE RIVER
Take the “Waterfire on the Mile” idea to the next level: add live music and art making, romantic nighttime boat rides (have *you* ever actually been *on* the river in *your* downtown?!), gourmet eats, walking tours of the riverfront, children’s activities, etc. And schedule them once each month during the warmer months, so everyone knows when they’re going on. I can smell the smoke already!
January 2nd, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Bring the Red, White & Boom parade back to High St. Why have all the sparkle of Broad and High and not highlight it at the event that brings the most people downtown?
January 2nd, 2008 at 4:36 pm
A true market in the urban core – so that I don’t have to listen to suburbanites ask “where do you shop?”. (I shop at the North Market, CVS and the BD Kroger).
Also, agressive plans to implement streetcars, and to redevelop city center (sorry – had to say it) – thats all.
January 2nd, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Light rail.
January 3rd, 2008 at 1:36 pm
How about a bike-friendly urban center, with a bikestation. http://www.bikestation.org/
combined with secure bike parking on every block. and bike lanes and complete streets in all directions.
Note: Aritha Peaks stole my idea on the city center casino conversion. (Make it completely run by the state and use the money to fix other intractable ills such as the unconstitutional and unequal schools.) Seriuosly– fixing Columbus city schools for real, will bring back other residents like me with school age kid(s), downtown to live and not just to work.
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:21 pm
How about a discount for those of us who live, work, and play downtown. The chances of us getting one of those $95 red light camera tickets are astronomically increased over the rest of Columbus that never set foot downtown. It’s just not fair.
January 5th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Fill-in the downtown’s heavy volume of surface parking lots with continued residential and commercial spaces. Put another way – aggressively promote downtown density. The new billboards and message arrays give us the “impression” of solidly packed city blocks (at least along the High St. corridor). But we can do better than to have surface parking lots abutting parking garages (think the surface lot + parking garage on Long, across from Chick’s Camera; or the “sinking” surface lot + City Center parking garage on High Street). Less parking availability = more use of public transit (in theory). Or perhaps even increased demand for light rail.
January 7th, 2008 at 10:56 am
First place winner – winning two Broadway tickets to The Wedding singer is Paul Feeney. He wrote,
“More street festivals that actually close the streets. A giant stage to rock out in the right-of-way at Broad and High, while CJO jams at Nationwide & High. Food and family fun all in between. Do it right, take some lessons from Chicago’s neighborhood festivals… Market Days, Andersonville Street Fair, etc.”
A close second place is Walker Evans with the location-based gaming or cell phone tag idea.
And an honorary mention goes to Jeff Harris who suggested making better use of surface parking lots.
We’ll keep posting other ideas if you have them. And Happy New Year everyone.
January 9th, 2008 at 9:53 am
PS: Mother Nature is not over-rated. If anything, she’s under-appreciated. Instead of repressing our connection to the natural environment in our city, we should be orienting towards it and celebrating it. In columbus, that means our rivers and in particular, the Scioto downtown. Free the river from the stagnant dams and walls, revegetate the shoreline with trees and shade, and recognize that nature is a partner in sustainable living rather than a force to be conquered and subverted. Clean air and water are what we and all life depends on, our choices and actions individually and collectively should reflect this priority.
January 15th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Make downtown intersections more pedestrian friendly such as raised intersections to calm traffic. Smaller intersections could become four way stops which will slow traffic but actually increase traffic flow. Once the Town Street bridge closes make Town street pedestrian only from the river front to High street.
January 15th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Glad to see that the vacant windows will have something in them other than newspaper and crud. Hope I wasn’t the only one to suggest it
March 5th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
A shuttle service that runs late enough (2 am) for people to use it for dinner before the theatre, hockey or whatever and then a drink after. (What’s wrong with ruber tires, that can change routes, why set it in steel!) Now if you stop for dinner it’s one parking fee, then another for the show or event, then another for the after dinner drink.. Stops need to be well lit, safe and clean (COTA’s are dark at night, safe ?) suburban folks are very safety conscious.
And its embarrassing if a patron asks where to get something to eat on a Sunday, downtown Sunday is a wasteland !!
no place to eat = no one stays downtown
(I know there’s a chicken and the egg problem)