Right Now Downtown

FRESH IDEAS

Brainstorming ideas and seeing new places is a great way to open minds to all the possibilities that surround us.  What works?  What needs improvement?  Where do we go from here?

Last week a group from Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District hit the road to check out some business improvement districts in Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin.  Columbus is a great place, but we have plenty of room for improvement and we wanted to see what these cities had to offer – maybe even steal an idea or two.

It was reaffirming to see some of the cool things our cheese-head friends do that we also embrace in our very own downtown, and we also came back with tons of fresh perspectives.  Take a look and tell us what you would like to see as Columbus moves forward, and what you can do to make sure C-bus stays on the right track.

Enjoy our cheese-head influenced video and then post your thoughts!

Sharing Ideas in Wisconsin from Downtown Columbus on Vimeo.

The first chapter of the book $20 Gasoline, reveals nothing unexpected.  Its title is “Chapter $6.”

Americans got a brief taste of things to come in 2008, when gasoline prices topped $4.  The experience at $6 will be a more intense version of 2008.  According to author Christopher Steiner, SUVs will be worth nothing.  Diesel engines will be fully embraced by Americans.  Highway deaths will be reduced dramatically.  Obesity rates will drop as more and more people walk to transit stops and bicycle.

As in 2008, Americans will use mass transit in record numbers as $500 monthly gasoline expenses jump to $1,200.  A drop in gasoline consumption will result in a drop in gasoline tax revenues, and the government will not be able to keep pace with roadway maintenance.  In an effort to generate maintenance revenue, highways will become toll roads, further reducing their use.

Although denial runs deep with Americans, people will accept that rising gasoline prices are not temporary, but permanent.  Adjusted for inflation, crude oil prices hit their historic low prices in 1998.  Rising demand for gasoline among 1.8 billion newly middle class people in places like China and India will change energy use forever.

I love that my three-year-old son now wakes up on Tuesdays and screams, “Market!  We do to market today!”  At the beginning of the summer, it was a bit harder to entice him to want to go.  But now he has learned the beauty of samples, fresh tomatoes, live music we can dance to, and friendly Market staff who are always up for playtime.  Andy played his guitar and sang for us at the Market last week and it was lovely!  He had all sorts of people singing along with him and dancing down the street, which got me just a bit closer to my dream of living in a musical.

As we near the end of the summer Market, I’ve noticed some vendors having clearance sales.  One of them is Salon D’Art.  Her prices are already extremely reasonable and her jewelry is gorgeous!  Her things are more like pieces of art than jewelry.  This is definitely the place to find one-of-a-kind pieces.

My favorite vendor from last summer was definitely Sugardaddy’s, probably owing to my serious brownie addiction.  They have since moved into a store right around the corner from the Market.  Last week, in another sign of the changing seasons, Tom stood out in the Market with pumpkin brownie samples for Sugardaddy’s.  They were cooked perfectly and utterly delicious!

See you at the Market!

It’s fall in Columbus and that means one thing:  Buckeye football.  Even if you live under the proverbial rock, you can’t help but hear the cries of “O-H-I-O” and “Go Bucks!”  You see people wearing nuts around their necks and football jerseys on men far too old to play a down.  You may even have an officemate who dons a frizzy scarlet and gray wig now and then.  Even if you aren’t a football fan (perish the thought), you have to admire the verve!

Downtown Columbus sits just a few short minutes from the venerated Horseshoe (a trip that will be even quicker and easier once we’ve got light rail, but we digress).  And the fans down here are as fanatical as anywhere.  We had heard rumor of one building in particular that really gets its scarlet and gray on.  It turns out, if you are a Buckeye nut, One Columbus is the place to be.

Each October, One Columbus provides an OSU Tailgate Lunch exclusively for tenants of the building.  Said tenants don their OSU gear and enjoy a luscious spread of chicken, burgers, hot dogs and sides, all to the uproarious sounds of an OSU Marching Band CD.  They don’t have a dern for the whole state of Michigan, you know.  Each tenant is given a raffle ticket and 20 tickets are drawn for OSU merchandise such as golf shirts and flags.

If the Buckeye hysteria is high in October, you should check things out the third week of November.  Michigan Week is in a class of its own and the One Columbus folks host an American Red Cross Blood Drive to help the Buckeyes prevail in the annual Ohio State-Michigan Blood Battle.  Last year more than 30 donors participated; more are needed this year to bring Blood Battle bragging rights back to Columbus.  Then on the Friday before the big game, One Columbus tenants gather in the lobby while the Buckeye Brass plays rousing fight music for about 45 minutes.  Think of it as a mini-Skull Session in the heart of the city.

Yep, those folks at One Columbus really put the fan in fanatic.  But we’re sure they’re not the only ones.  What do you do downtown to show your Buckeye love?  Let us know!

LAUNCH INTO DOWNTOWN

Have you seen all the big heavy duty trucks and bulldozers moving dirt around the site where the new Bishop’s Walk condos will soon be?  It’s enough to put five-year-old boys with their Tonka trucks into a deep trance, but soon it will be dreamy for those who want to make downtown a lifestyle.

Phase Two of Neighborhood Launch is officially underway and 14 additional residential units will be available before long.  In case you were teetering on that beautiful wrought iron fence out front of the first phase, we wanted to give you the Top Ten Reasons to Consider Making the Plunge with Bishop’s Walk.

10.  You can grab your witches brew and head to the Neighborhood’s very own Halloween Party and solve the Clue Mystery Murder.

9.  Plan your own grand celebration next to the fountain in the courtyard… or toss your significant other in if he/she is getting on your nerves.

8.  Rumor has it that you might even find Sugardaddy’s connections close by, and who couldn’t manage with a little more of those scrumptious pieces of heaven?

7.  Live and play and maybe even work downtown.  You’ll be one of the cool kids now.

6.  You are a mere 53 seconds away from the best cup of coffee in the Midwest, maybe the world.  Repeat after us… Café Brioso.

5.  When you want to unwind Monday after work, Due Amici fills Gay Street with live jazz music and the wine is nothing to sneeze at either.

4.  Ditch your keys – everything is in walking (or biking) distance.  Think of the money you can save on car insurance, which leaves more change jingling in your pockets for drinks at Tip Top Kitchen & Cocktails.

3.  Impress your partner when you arrange for a horse-drawn carriage to pick you both up for a night on the town.

2.  Save tons of time and support local businesses when you buy farm-fresh produce from area farmers in Pearl Market.

And the number one reason you should consider the cool digs at Neighborhood Launch – you can roll out of bed a half hour before you need to be at work downtown, throw some gel in your hair and still get to your desk with time to spare.

A friend and colleague of mine, Jeffrey Wolf, gave me a book last week called $20 Per Gallon.  The book describes the impact that increasing gasoline prices will have on our lives.

The premise of the book is that gasoline prices will become increasingly expensive once the world recovers from its current recession.  Imports account for 67% of U.S. oil consumption at a time when the world is experiencing an explosion in demand.  By 2021, the world will add 1.8 billion middle class people, including 600 million Chinese, all of whom will consume more energy.

China currently has four personal vehicles per 1,000 people, and that number is growing exponentially.  By contrast, the U.S. has 750 personal vehicles for every 1,000 people.  The growing middle class worldwide not only requires fuel for personal vehicles, but for many other consumer goods that are made from oil.  To make matters worse, greater demand for oil-based energy comes at a time when the cost of extracting oil is increasing and infrastructure for refining and transporting oil is aging.

I plan to blog about this book.  Chapter one is entitled $6.

Gorgeous weather at the Market!  Fall is what Ohio does best, in my opinion.  In case you missed it, Tuesday was Squash Day.  The Market Sample Booth had all sorts of goodies out, including lemon and yellow squash cupcakes, chilled squash soup and little acorn squash cakes.  It was fabulous and you can find the recipes here!  The next special day at the Market is September 28 when Barrio’s chef cooks for shoppers in the Ohio Proud Mobile Kitchen.  If you haven’t been to one yet, you should definitely come out to this one.

Tuesday we were also treated to the musical styling of The Willie Phoenix Band.  I’ve seen his name around town and finally got the chance to listen.  They are fantastic!  They play all over town and are worth the night out to go see them play somewhere.  You can also find them on iTunes.

I ended up spending more money than I had budgeted out for this week because a new vendor arrived.  Aboxa Fudge claims to be the best fudge you will ever eat, and I think they are right about that.  This Dublin-based company doesn’t use preservatives, artificial colors or sweeteners in their fudge.  Your fudge comes in this cute little box that you can bring back for a discount on your next box.  And if you try it once, there will be another box.

Come down to the Market every Tuesday and Friday!  Support your local economy!

We knew it!  Cupcakes can be healthy!!!  Don’t believe us?  Susan Quinn, the genius behind Let Us Eat Cupcakes explains why you can find her cupcakes at a farmer’s market.

BOOM, IT’S ALMOST HERE

Come out this Saturday for an explosion of creative energy in the center of Cbus when Independents’ Day kicks off in Lynn and Pearl alleys and along Gay Street for its third annual celebration.

This completely volunteer driven hoopla celebrates the entrepreneurial and independent spirit of Columbus and will feature more than 100 artists, crafters and vendors, 40 local bands, the Dine Originals, local non-profits, the Small Business Beanstalk, Urban Scrawl(ers) and a zillion others.

“It’s going to be an amazing celebration of everything independent,” said Wolf Starr, logistics coordinator for the event and founder of Small Business Beanstalk.  “I’m involved because downtown matters to me and keeping this neighborhood alive is the most important thing as citizens we can do – it’s fun and safe place to hang out with friends and get to know your neighbors.”

This all-for-one-and-one-for-all festival will keep the creative juices flowin’ well into the night so don’t miss out.  Check out their website for a recap of the event last year and to see what’s in store.

Join us, and if you don’t see what you’re looking for this year, get your plan together and grab a tent and table to share your ideas and wears at next year’s event, because the blast is sure to be even bigger.

I took my 12-year-old daughter to Cedar Point on Sunday for her birthday and had the rare experience of driving on Rt. 23 between Columbus and Delaware.  Delaware County is a mess!

With the exception of Highbanks Metro Park, this entire stretch of road is an unbroken string of strip malls, car dealerships and big box stores.  Development is strewn along the roadside without any apparent attempt to minimize vehicular congestion or encourage trips by foot, bicycle or transit.  Every destination seems to require a separate trip along Rt. 23.  Traffic is terrible.

Delaware County development officials are now asking for another interchange on I-71 between Polaris and Rt. 36.  According to a September 6 Columbus Dispatch article, “Delaware County officials hope that a new interchange on I-71 will help both traffic and economic development flow more freely into the area.”  The cost of the interchange will be $114 million.  We all know that subsequent costs to taxpayers will be far higher.

Yikes!  Do we really want to give Delaware County the ability to spew more Applebee’s?  Shouldn’t Delaware County fix the problem?