His work is being exhibited at the OSU Urban Arts Space in the former Lazarus Building through October 9.  The exhibition includes more than 85 computer works dating from 1963 to 2010.

One of my favorite pieces is “Scribbles and Smears in Space,” an animation projected in a “black box.”  The area, which has a seat in the middle, is cordoned off with blackout curtains.  Walking into the space will make you forget all your troubles and will measurably lower your blood pressure.

Charles Csuri became a well-known neighborhood name after I first moved to the Short North in 1980.  In 1981, he formed a company called Cranston/Csuri Productions at Neil and 8th Avenues to find commercial applications for computer-generated art.  The result of his work can be found in movie theatres each time a feature-length animation hits the big screen.

If public subsidies paid only for social services for Walmart employees, we would be lucky, but public funding goes far beyond social services.  Taxpayer funding of roadway improvements, utilities, tax abatements and other subsidies make the behemoth’s low prices a mirage.

Those costs are merely the direct ones.  The indirect costs of Walmart create another set of economic and social expenses.  Walmart has almost single-handedly destroyed most walkable communities, gutting the downtown retail districts of virtually every small and medium city in the state and eliminating entire communities of retail entrepreneurs.

I sometimes wonder about the lesser of two evils:  selling drugs to supplement one’s income or shopping at Walmart to stretch one’s income.

I began to think about the layout of this development one day as I waited at a traffic signal and saw a man walking south on Olentangy to get access to Time Warner.  Daimler had blocked access to an asphalt trail that serves as a sidewalk, forcing the pedestrian to walk on Olentangy and compete with 45-mile-an-hour traffic.

Pedestrians, transit riders and bicyclists are clearly an afterthought at Gowdy Field.  Buildings are surrounded by acres of surface parking.  The buildings do not open onto the streets they face, but appear to provide only rear entry (no double entendre intended).  The development stands in stark contrast to a much more urban-looking development to the south, Nationwide’s Grandview Yard.

Measured against a fallow, former landfill, the new buildings at Gowdy Field are an improvement.  But alas, our standards are so low.

The Columbus Health Department has long been one of the most progressive in the United States.  We also have a mayor who is “finding his stride” and becoming one of the country’s truly great mayors.

On the biking issue alone, Mayor Coleman has made a huge difference.  He became personally involved in securing Federal Energy Stimulus fund so Capital Crossroads SID can develop bicycle parking facilities in downtown.  He has championed “Share the Road,” bike lanes and trails, and biking to work.

Ultimately, he may have as a big of an impact on Columbus as Manny Sensenbrenner did in the 1950s and 1960s.  His impact, however, will be to grow the city inward, not outward.

He has had his impact on me.  Thanks in large part to his prodding, I bought my bicycle on May 17 and have been riding to work virtually every day since.

Ohio will soon spend $1.7 billion rebuilding a few miles of interstate highway in downtown.  The result will be a wider trench and monster freeway roaring through half a dozen urban neighborhoods.

One reason for reconstructing this stretch of highway makes sense, to make it safe.  The other reason, to increase capacity, is ludicrous.  Additional lanes for through traffic will not fix anything.  According to ODOT, the wider highway will quickly fill to capacity, leaving us with no more than a bigger traffic jam.  Why?  Bigger highways merely enable the same people to drive longer distances to do tasks previously done closer to home.

In the meantime, Ohio legislators cannot seem to agree on spending $17 million per year to operate a 260-mile passenger rail line.  Isn’t it interesting that our State legislators don’t debate the cost of maintaining highway “improvements?”  How much do taxpayers spend on highway patrols, snow removal, roadway and bridge repairs, landscaping, lighting repairs, storm-water run-off, litter collection, signage, emergency medical services and other ongoing costs?

There is a solution for the highway “split” in downtown.  Fix the safety problems.  Don’t increase road capacity.

From 1975 to the mid-1990s, I biked almost daily to work, grocery stores and visits with friends, first in Manhattan, then in Columbus.  I always used city streets.  Then, for 14 years, I did not own or use a bicycle.

Resolved to begin biking again, I took a bus to Clintonville on Saturday to purchase one.  I took a bus because I wanted to be able to bike home to the Short North.  And that’s when it happened.  I discovered the Olentangy Trail.

Wow!  Riding the Trail for the first time is one of those “firsts” that ranks with coming-of-age experiences like discovering your you-know-what at puberty and traveling internationally.  It is an exquisite experience, particularly on a clear sunny day.

I kept thinking about how lucky I am to live in a city with bike trails as I followed the Trail’s sign system toward downtown.

I assumed the visitor was U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder because I regularly see Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray walk through downtown, and he does not travel with a security detail.

I walked back to my office for a meeting and forgot about the fuss.  Later that afternoon, I attended a meeting in our conference room, which faces Lynn Alley at ground level.  An hour into the meeting, a motorcade passed our window.  Police motorcycles passed first, followed by several SUVs with tinted windows.  I could see only the profiles of people sitting in each of the SUVs.  As the last SUV passed the window, I saw it, the nose.

How many people in central Ohio can see Eric Holder’s nose pass by their window?  I love this place!

We had drinks and dinner on East Fourth Street at Fourth Street Bar & Grill, a bowling alley at the corner of Euclid Avenue with upscale food and an outdoor patio.

Breakfast on Saturday was at the Westside Market.  This century-old Market has vaulted ceilings, a 137-foot clock tower and more than 100 vendors.  It’s more impressive than either Seattle’s Pike Street or Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Markets.  We also visited the Cleveland Museum of Art, one of the world’s great museums, and saw the movie Kick Ass at Tower City.

Cleveland has a lot of poverty, but we saw many beautiful and well-maintained city neighborhoods:  Ohio City, Shaker Square, Little Italy and University Circle to name four.  The most breathtaking is Edgewater.  Edgewater looks like Bexley but sits directly on Lake Erie.

The trip reminded me how much I enjoy living in a state with so many great cities.

The store is stunning.  Imagine walking down a sidewalk and seeing a 100-foot wall of produce.  The wall of produce is the exterior of the store.  Inside is an amazing assortment of high-quality food, stacked floor to ceiling and beautifully displayed.

The City offers so many exquisite pedestrian experiences.  Sidewalk cafes are everywhere.  There is a flower district in Manhattan where stores put so many plants on the sidewalk they create a jungle-like experience.

New York is a reminder of the potential that all cities have, including Columbus.  It shows that density is good and has rewards.  People love mixed-use living above or next to stores, jobs and institutions.  Walking, biking and transit are preferred forms of transportation.  The public realm is as important as the private realm.

Columbus will never be Manhattan.  As more central Ohioans move into downtown and adjacent neighborhoods, however, they will see more and more rewards.

Yellow Brick is a first retail venture for the three partners.  Lili and Josh have worked together in restaurants, but have never owned one.  Brother Orin has no restaurant experience and is a graduate student at The Ohio State University.

The article caught my eye because Orin and company decided to open a restaurant rather than wait for someone else to do it for them.  Orin lives in Olde Towne East near a number of abandoned storefronts and in a neighborhood that lacks retail services.  Rather than complain or leave Olde Towne East, the trio decided to help fix the problem.  They have an attitude that can make Columbus a great city.

Yellow Brick is a fabulous place to eat and drink, an attractive storefront and a community gathering place in Olde Towne.  It is one of a number of great new businesses in the area, including Urban Spirit Coffee Shop and Zanzibar.