Right Now Downtown

Mr. Ruff shares the low down on Shine Me Up (and a tidbit about foot sweat).

Inside 43215: Shine me up from Downtown Columbus on Vimeo.

LITTLE LUXURIES

Want to be top dog?  King of the mountain?  Here’s a little status question to consider:

Does the guy who shines YOUR shoes own a pair of Ferragamos?

No?  It’s time you met Damon Ruff and his new venture: Shine Me Up (37 E. Gay Street).  For the shamefully low price of $6.50, you can afford the luxury of having your shoes shined by someone who is not your mother.  It only takes five minutes, and Ruff’s team will send you away looking and feeling like a millionaire.

Yes, Mr. Ruff owns a pair of Ferragamos.  He knows shoes; he appreciates shoes.  It comes from years in the shoe business – everywhere from Just For Feet to the upscale Nordstrom.  Shining up those shoes takes a little know-how and the right equipment.  Ruff explains, “It starts with saddle soap and horsehair brush, then the right color and more brush… it really takes polishing and moisture to bring out the gloss.”

And it takes a little magic: the proprietor is charismatic like that.  Just talking to him puts a little spring in your step.  Shine Me Up has products and does repairs too.  It’s truly a great (and affordable) luxury for yourself or someone who deserves a little royal treatment.

COTA recently introduced a bus line called the “Night Owl.”  It’s a late-night party bus that runs every 30 minutes on Fridays and Saturdays from the Arena District to northern Clintonville.  The last run from Clintonville to downtown leaves Clintonville at 2:13 am, and buses depart from downtown and the Short North until 2:40 am.

The service is a great addition to the Columbus scene.  It allows folks who want to drink and dance the night away to leave their cars at home when they flock to watering holes on Park Street, the Short North and University District.

The service is also a huge benefit for the hundreds of bar and restaurant employees who work until the wee hours of the morning.  Parking anywhere between 11th Avenue and Nationwide Boulevard is expensive.  Imagine walking several blocks to a remote location at 2:30 am to retrieve a car or paying for daily taxicab service.

The Night Owl replaces the #20, which COTA discontinued several years ago during a budget crisis.  If the Night Owl draws a similar crowd, it will feel like Toronto’s street cars late at night.  Experiencing the Night Owl will be almost as much fun as the destination.

Kimberly Esque-Marino is the owner of a really cool local indie company catering to dog owners: Potty Pocket.

“We love the opportunity to be among creative individuals who have unique products that are hand crafted with care.  As the small independent retailers are disappearing from the market place it is  nice to know that consumers who are looking for quality items have a place to go and shop.  When we support local artists and farmers, we are supporting our community, thus ourselves.”

 

“It was important to me that they be made here in Ohio.  Potty Pocket is a group effort.  Family and friends have helped to get this idea off the ground.  I designed and make the product, a friend designed the logo and web sight, my sister and husband help to sell them and everyone gives unending enthusiasm and support that has made this challenge a lot of fun.”

 

Check out her website and visit POTTY POCKETS at the market each week. Tell her the Market Maven sent ya!

FROM TO-DO TO TA-DAH

Here’s the official list of Things-We-Didn’t Do-Last-Month… that we can do now, thanks to the City’s new parking meter policies.  The City announced today a lift on the rush hour parking bans on several streets in downtown.  These few extra hours make a world of difference, so it’s high time to:

1.  Park on Third to grab some breakfast muffins for the office at Au Bon Pain.

2.  And pick up some bagels too, at Broad Street Bagels.

3.  Retrieve the alterations at Marie’s on Front Street after work.

4.  Score a hot dog at Dirty Frank’s on Fourth for the drive home.

5.  RENEW the dang driver’s license on Third Street, first thing in the morning.

6.  Park on Spring and hop into Barrio for some happy hour tapas.

7.  Grab some glorious blooms from T. Bears on Third to greet the day.

Our downtown is a destination and the city knows it.  Many of the parking-prohibited-during-these-hours signs are disappearing.  That makes 162 new places to park your car in the morning and the evenings.

Come downtown and play, come downtown and stay!

For more information, including locations, visit downtowncolumbus.com.

In yet another rebuke to Columbus’ unwillingness to invest in light rail, The Columbus Dispatch reported on Sunday that Phoenix’s first rail line is an “unexpected success”, with a headline that reads, “Weekend riders turn downtown into destination.” Projected to carry 26,000 people per day immediately after beginning operations, the line is averaging 33,000 people per day.

Phoenix is not alone.  All 13 cities that have built light rail lines since the mid-1980s have experienced higher-than-projected ridership.  They include Charlotte, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Minneapolis, Dallas, Denver and Sacramento.  These are all automobile-oriented cities that sprawl in four directions.  Each one has settled the age old argument in Columbus that light rail will not work here.

Sadly, the people of Columbus are not even permitted to vote on the issue.  Only once has the business community allowed light rail on the ballot, in 1999.  In that election, COTA was required to split its request for a half-cent sales tax into two quarter-cent ballot issues, one for permanent funding and one for ten year funding.  COTA was not allowed to use the phrase “light rail” on the ten year funding issue.  Confused voters approved permanent funding, unaware that they defeated light rail.

Would the last young professional to leave central Ohio please turn off the lights?

Highlights from Independents’ Day, September 19.

Inside 43215: Independents Day Montage from Downtown Columbus on Vimeo.

The Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District provides a wide array of services throughout the year, but the summer months do lengthen the to-do list.  In addition to the year-round clean and safe services:  safety escorts; trash collection; graffiti removal; sidewalk vacuuming/debris removal; reporting of safety and quality-of-life issues to the Columbus Police Department; providing outreach services regarding panhandling and the homeless; and assisting visitors, residents and workers with directions and downtown information, during the summer months, CCSID Ambassadors also power wash all public sidewalks and install, water, and maintain flower basket installations along High Street, and handle the increase in downtown activity brought on by the warmer months.

The flower baskets along High Street are watered and fertilized almost daily, providing a beautiful and welcoming corridor to those who work, live and play in Downtown Columbus.  Additionally, the Ambassadors committed one Saturday and planted flowers in the five new planters in the center median of Gay Street, adding beauty and life to this bustling downtown street. 

Power washing of the sidewaks throughout the SID  is conducted during the summer months, seven days a week from 6 pm – 2 am.  Ambassadors power wash the sidewalks on every street and alley within the District on  a rotating basis, removing gum, stains, dirt and gravel.  Because the work is done after hours, it is a program that often goes unnoticed, until one ventures outside the CCSID boundaries and realizes the signficant difference the efforts make over time.

The warmer weather also brings an increase in activity downtown, with special events, more visitors, and unfortunately, an upswing in car break-ins and other quality-of-life issues.  In order to accommodate these demands, Capital Crossroads has expanded their hours of service this summer.  On Monday and Tuesday, the schedule remains the same, from 6:30 am – 11:30 pm; on Wednesday – Friday, the hours have expanded to 6:30 am – 2:00 am; on Saturday, the hours have expanded to 8:00 am – 2:00 am; and on Sunday, the hours remain 9:30 am – 6 pm.

“It is our endeavor to add an additional layer of safety to the SID, with Ambassadors providing visible deterrence to those who might commit crimes, and peace of mind to our visitors,” explained David Braxton, Operations Manager, CCSID.

Braxton added that the effectiveness of the Ambassadors was brought to his attention due to an unusual circumstance.  “Recently, our Ambassadors were rewarded for their hard work with a day of play at the Columbus Zoo and Zoombezi Bay.  In their absence, we received several calls reporting issues; one property owner noted that our presence makes a difference and that the problems he called to report simply don’t happen when the Ambassadors are on duty.”

HEY BIG FELLA

Independents are supposed to be “the little guys.”  It’s the soulless conglomerates that build monolithic operations under one umbrella. 

Then again, check out the line-up on the Independents’ Day Web site.  Forget about “the little guy”, this year we’re rooting for the BIG guy, and the giant happens to be independent operators. 

How big is this year’s celebration?  In terms of duration, the event is pretty similar.  The festivities around Gay Street kick off at noon on Saturday, September 19 and continue into the wee hours of September 20. 

What they pack into that teeny time frame is downright dumbfounding.  It’s HUGE: the Downtown Resident’s Association is hosting a giant flea market; there will be live music, food from Columbus Originals restaurants, two-hundred vendors, Via Colori’s chalk artistry, live mural painting, hula hoops AND the Ohio Roller Girls. 

Adam Brouillete, who is brave enough to coordinate all these independent souls, understands the phenomena at work here.  “This city is full of a spirit in which people want to be active, contributing members of their creative community. The growth in this year’s event is merely an open invitation to those people to do what they do.” 

Whatever that is, they all want to “do what they do” right here, downtown.

Event “big guy” Adam Brouillette shares a little about what to expect this Saturday, promising rowdy, even naughty, artists and fun surprises.

Inside 43215 on Independents Day. from Downtown Columbus on Vimeo.

Louisville, where I recently spent two days, is a surprising town.  It is smaller than Columbus, but has amazing urban depth. 

Louisville’s most endearing quality is its whimsy.  Its stock of elaborate Victorian housing stretches well beyond the neighborhoods surrounding downtown. Every neighborhood I visited has an offbeat quality.  

Downtown has artist-designed bike racks, hand-carved tree guards, and an eight-story tall Louisville Slugger baseball bat, among its many charms.  It even has an ornate chandelier hanging over a sidewalk, courtesy of a restaurant called Proof on Main. 

“Old Louisville” claims to be America’s largest Victorian neighborhood and has block after block of ornate, three and four-story homes.  The Highlands, a neighborhood that is located a couple of miles from downtown, has a Victorian Village feel with several small pockets of retail.  

There, I spotted Lynn’s Paradise Café, where I felt as if I had walked through the looking glass in Alice in Wonderland.  At 1:30 pm on a Saturday, the restaurant had a 30-minute wait.   The wait presented no problem.  The neighborhood had plenty of other good choices.

I LOVE COFEE and this place makes me SWOON!

CAFE BRIOSO!

I have had it hot, cold, dark, light, bold- It is all Superb!

From their website:

Our artisan-roasted coffees are roasted in-store by owner/roastmaster Jeff Davis, providing our customers the opportunity to enjoy the process—as well as the product—and let it become a part of their lives.

(Love it- like a wee coffee love story)

The cafe on Gay St. offers breakfast and lunch, in addition to the plethora of coffee options. Try the turkey pesto sandwich or the tomato basil soup. You won’t be disappointed! 

The Brioso Market crew is wonderful and super friendly- and, you can place coffee orders for pick up later in the week!  Please go try a sample of their delicious coffee this week at the Market and tell them that the Market Maven sent ya!

But you don’t have to take my word for it – hear it from the Brioso PR team:

Pearl Market Moment Cafe Brioso’s Spokes-Twins from Downtown Columbus on Vimeo.