In-Fill Opportunity

Strangely, it’s not highly publicized, but a few local banks have special mortgage offers for residences within a quarter mile of a COTA bus line. A $200/$250 (single/dual income) monthly allowance is granted for mortgage calculations when putting together the loan. As an added bonus, the buyer receives an annual COTA pass. In the absence [...]

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Local Design

The 40th anniversary Spring Exhibition for the OSU College of the Arts takes place this year, showcasing the best and brightest in this design competition. Design professionals from around the nation arrive at this event looking for talent, and since it’s right here in Columbus, why not drop in and have a look. June 5-7. [...]

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The Long Emergency

Published in 2005, The Long Emergency takes a look at the western world, primarily the United States, as we leave the days of “cheap energy” behind us. From the jacket cover: The industrialized world is built on cheap energy. Over the past century, we have used the stored energy of millions of years of sunlight—in [...]

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24/7

The twenty-four hour grocery store. Kinko’s is open all night. Most every service company has call centers open around the clock. I delighted in knowing that I could pick up fish sticks at one o’clock in the morning on those sleepless nights. As a former transatlantic flight attendant who lived in Salt Lake and worked [...]

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Mauricio Fernandez

A student of Industrial Design in his hometown of Mendoza, Argentina, Mauricio Fernandez now calls Columbus his permanent home. A current artist/photographer, he settled here in 2005, after spending time in various US cities following his arrival to the States in 2001. His work was on display at the Columbus Museum of Art during the [...]

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Target considers downtown Indianapolis

Downtown Indianapolis appears to have the interest of Target, the Minneapolis based retailer. An upcoming project on the former site of the Market Square Arena, calls for a mixed-use project, including condos, apartments, office and retail spaces. Target is considering becoming one of the tenants. Two bids are currently on the table, one of which [...]

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Mr. Goodbar(graph)

I thought it would be a good idea, considering my statements about Columbus public schools, to do some side-by-side comparisons. I used the State’s web site to compare districts. Both charts represent high-school graduation rates. First, Columbus compared to the other major Ohio cities. Here’s Columbus compared to the immediate sub-urbs:

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Sustainable Crop

Take a drive through the country in virtually any part of the Mid-West and you’ll encounter cornfields. Stalks of corn planted and grown in such a way that the acreage will yield the most profitable crop possible. Considered in the yield is the amount of time it takes to prepare, plant, fertilize and harvest, as [...]

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Columbus in your pocket

You’re flying out west, full flight and you’re stuck in a middle seat in coach. You trade sections of the newspaper with the person sitting next to you, and sooner or later, it comes out that you’re from Columbus. They mention having heard of it, having been there once, or perhaps that their aunt Lucy [...]

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American Idle

Summer is here and as the weeks progress, we’ll be sure to encounter smog alerts, as we now see more of those, each year, in our metropolitan area. In the winter, snow emergencies dictate some public policies, and perhaps we should take a similar approach during our smog alerts. Imagine if you will, that when [...]

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