what do you hate about columbus (Cincinnati, Upper Arlington: allergies, malls, bars)
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There's a lot of irony in that statement considering how many people from other cities come on here just in an attempt to spread as much negativity as possible about Columbus. The Ohio forum is not exactly welcoming of Columbus fans by any stretch of the imagination, and being one of the main ones here, it's no surprise I see the brunt of that.
Go to the Cincinnati forum and check out the topic started by someone from Baltimore about their disappointment with Cincinnati and how it wasn't everything they expected (Cincinnati - is this really it?). Very defensive posts from the Cincinnati posters and I'd expect that from them - people get defensive about the city they live in - thus, I have no issue with you providing counterpoints to what is said here.
Landonparks makes some valid points and he's entitled to his views. Every city has its pros and cons - in my adult life I've lived in Philadelphia, Dayton and Columbus and I could make a long list of pros and cons for all of them.
Go to the Cincinnati forum and check out the topic started by someone from Baltimore about their disappointment with Cincinnati and how it wasn't everything they expected (Cincinnati - is this really it?). Very defensive posts from the Cincinnati posters and I'd expect that from them - people get defensive about the city they live in - thus, I have no issue with you providing counterpoints to what is said here.
Landonparks makes some valid points and he's entitled to his views. Every city has its pros and cons - in my adult life I've lived in Philadelphia, Dayton and Columbus and I could make a long list of pros and cons for all of them.
Can't argue with anything you're saying here. I could make the same lists as well, though I'd rather focus on the positive in the places I've lived/live.
I think it's funny that the one poster talks about his/her experiences at McDonald's. I don't think you're really experiencing the city at all if you cite anecdotes about all the times you were at McDonald's.
lol. I did say "my opinion". Of course, no reasonable person would believe everything closes at 5. That is clearly an opinion - no need for me to state that. Also, the bad drivers thing is also an opinion - again, trying to prove such a thing is beyond most people - therefore it should be taken as an opinion.
Yes, my 30 minute wait has happened several times. I quoted my McDonalds experience once because it happened once. This morning I waited 20 minutes for White Castle to fry a slider. The day before yesterday I went to Fridays. Despite it not being busy, it took 10 minutes to get seated and then the waitress never showed up. Had to get a manager and 5 minutes later she shows up - walking very slowly and in no apparent hurry.
It does not just apply to restaurants either. I was waiting to see Dark Shadows on Monday at AMC 30 @ Easton. I arrived 45 minutes prior to the movie. I waited in a loooong line because they had only 1 ticket counter working. Then I had to wait in another line to pay for my popcorn because the girl was to busy yacking to her friends.
Walmart just a few hours ago. 9pm, store is busy as hell and they have 2 registers open. Again, cashiers are clearly in NO hurry. CSM's standing around looking like idiots.
Are all of these opinions? yes. Could this happen anywhere? yes. But with this frequency? highly doubtful - at least in my personal experience.
On my way home tonight, I took the drag from 270 down 161 to I-71. The only place to get anything to eat that was open at 10:00 was White Castle and Steak and Shake. Everything else was dark and abandoned. Where I come from Bloomington, Indiana - you could find at least a McDonalds open 24/7. 24/7 McDonalds don't exist here I guess. Yes, I'm refering to McDonalds because they are usually one of the select few places open 24/7 anyway, and most towns - even tiny towns, have a 24/7 McDonalds. Yet to find one in Columbus.
Now it's true. I don't get all over columbus. I'm sure they may be a 24/7 McDonalds somewhere. Should I have to drive 45 min across town to one? Not by most peoples standards. Again, I'm using McDonalds simply as a example. You can dub it with KFC, Wendy's - whatever tootes your boat.
It just is amazing to me that everything seems to close early unless it around the university or short north. The Wendy's right downtown (or near it anyway - the one on main) locked their doors at 9. That was the only fast food join I could find downtown - and I drove around.
Frankly, I'm not saying that any of this is a "fact". It's my experience. However, I have never personally experienced anything like this any other place I have lived - so I am going to, im my OPINION, place this as negatives on Columbus.
As for drivers. Getting off from work today. I hit 315 to 71 where I nearly got sideswiped by a teenager texting on her phone. At the 70/71 death-junction just a mile up the road this old lady driving this big a** farm truck attempted to run me off the road when she was trying to merge. A little ways up 71 I have slam on my brakes and nearly get rear-ended because the lady in the FAST LANE decided to slam on her breaks for no real reason (there was no cars close in front of her). Then almost the entire way up 71 I got stuck behind 2 cars who clearly A) Do not now what a speed limit is and B) have no concept of the fast lane/slow lane usage. They where in the left and second to left lanes both going the same speed, about 40 in a 65. So I go into the 3rd lane to pass them (which is stupid to have to do) and then the jacka** beside decides he wants to go around. I signal and with the coast clear begin to merge into the lane and the a88hole speeds up and attempts to pass ME and the other cars - after he clearly was aware of my intentions.
THEN - at the Morse Road/71 Intersection I have the green light to go. I start to go and the lady in the cross lane decides she wants to violate the red light and proceed at the same time as me. She gave ME the finger.
This all happened in one day on my way home - not 8 miles total. It's a similar scene every day - and I'm not exaggerating. Orlando Traffic was just a bad (the I-4 parking lot, etc) - but there they had an excuses (abundant amount of senile old people). NOW - when I lived in NJ, this crap was an everyday occurrence as well. The Turnpike should be renamed the deathpike. HOWEVER, NJ is much more dense and populated than central Ohio and people are generally in a major hurry and have the "I don't give a crap about you" mentality. Here, it just appears they don't know HOW to drive any better.
So those are my opinions. OPINIONS. They are not fact, as I cannot prove them. I think, however, one day I'll record my entire trip home from work and post it here. Then it can become fact. Until then, Opinion.
I'll say it once more. Columbus is a great city. Most people cannot drive - but that is most cities in America. I blame it on the young age at which you can obtain a license in the States. I understand that if I want to live here I'll have to get use to the slower lifestyle. Maybe it's not a slow as I really perceive it be - seeing as I'm use to REALLY fast and really RUDE service on the east coast.
I will warn anyway thinking of moving from somewhere like NY or Philly to understand that it will be a big change. That's all.
As Forrest Gump said, "That's all I got to say about that".
other than chicago or la..every city in america would be a huge change from nyc..my god even la seems slow compared to manhattan.i think columbus has lucked lucked into something..there are neighborhoods adjacent to downtown that are thriving and safe areas.i dont know why this happened but its so different than other similar sized midwest metros areas.you can literally walk safely from broad and high all the way to delaware and have lots of interesting places along the way.there is something special about columbus.i have lived in larger metros like phoenix and denver tampa etc but i would rate columbus#1,denver#2,cincy#3 of all the places ive lived.phoenix is a city of nearly 4 million but for that many ppl has little to offer.denver is amazing of course im biased its my home town.
It's just a figure of speech not meant to be taken literally. Dude is trying to underscore that most places close early.
I know that's what he's saying, I'm just saying the reality on the ground doesn't support that. I just checked out McDonald's locations around Columbus, particularly on the North Side considering that's where the focus was. I couldn't find any that closed at 9pm or earlier. Some of the lobbies closed by 10pm, but the drive-thrus typically stayed open, usually 24 hours in most cases. In fact, on the entire North Side, I only found one that closed fully, one on Wilson Road where both lobby and drive-thru closed at 11pm. This is definitely an exception and seems to be driven by franchisee decisions. In any case, of all the claims made about Columbus, this is not a significant one, but I think the principle is that negative or positive, the facts should rule when making statements about ANY city, let alone Columbus. I know that might require people to actually support some of the things they say(and again I'm referring to verifiable statements, not opinions) but that's part of the responsibility that comes with saying them. If I lived in Cleveland or Cincinnati, I would be advocating the same thing.
lol. I did say "my opinion". Of course, no reasonable person would believe everything closes at 5. That is clearly an opinion - no need for me to state that. Also, the bad drivers thing is also an opinion - again, trying to prove such a thing is beyond most people - therefore it should be taken as an opinion.
Yes, my 30 minute wait has happened several times. I quoted my McDonalds experience once because it happened once. This morning I waited 20 minutes for White Castle to fry a slider. The day before yesterday I went to Fridays. Despite it not being busy, it took 10 minutes to get seated and then the waitress never showed up. Had to get a manager and 5 minutes later she shows up - walking very slowly and in no apparent hurry.
It does not just apply to restaurants either. I was waiting to see Dark Shadows on Monday at AMC 30 @ Easton. I arrived 45 minutes prior to the movie. I waited in a loooong line because they had only 1 ticket counter working. Then I had to wait in another line to pay for my popcorn because the girl was to busy yacking to her friends.
Walmart just a few hours ago. 9pm, store is busy as hell and they have 2 registers open. Again, cashiers are clearly in NO hurry. CSM's standing around looking like idiots.
Are all of these opinions? yes. Could this happen anywhere? yes. But with this frequency? highly doubtful - at least in my personal experience.
On my way home tonight, I took the drag from 270 down 161 to I-71. The only place to get anything to eat that was open at 10:00 was White Castle and Steak and Shake. Everything else was dark and abandoned. Where I come from Bloomington, Indiana - you could find at least a McDonalds open 24/7. 24/7 McDonalds don't exist here I guess. Yes, I'm refering to McDonalds because they are usually one of the select few places open 24/7 anyway, and most towns - even tiny towns, have a 24/7 McDonalds. Yet to find one in Columbus.
Now it's true. I don't get all over columbus. I'm sure they may be a 24/7 McDonalds somewhere. Should I have to drive 45 min across town to one? Not by most peoples standards. Again, I'm using McDonalds simply as a example. You can dub it with KFC, Wendy's - whatever tootes your boat.
It just is amazing to me that everything seems to close early unless it around the university or short north. The Wendy's right downtown (or near it anyway - the one on main) locked their doors at 9. That was the only fast food join I could find downtown - and I drove around.
Frankly, I'm not saying that any of this is a "fact". It's my experience. However, I have never personally experienced anything like this any other place I have lived - so I am going to, im my OPINION, place this as negatives on Columbus.
As for drivers. Getting off from work today. I hit 315 to 71 where I nearly got sideswiped by a teenager texting on her phone. At the 70/71 death-junction just a mile up the road this old lady driving this big a** farm truck attempted to run me off the road when she was trying to merge. A little ways up 71 I have slam on my brakes and nearly get rear-ended because the lady in the FAST LANE decided to slam on her breaks for no real reason (there was no cars close in front of her). Then almost the entire way up 71 I got stuck behind 2 cars who clearly A) Do not now what a speed limit is and B) have no concept of the fast lane/slow lane usage. They where in the left and second to left lanes both going the same speed, about 40 in a 65. So I go into the 3rd lane to pass them (which is stupid to have to do) and then the jacka** beside decides he wants to go around. I signal and with the coast clear begin to merge into the lane and the a88hole speeds up and attempts to pass ME and the other cars - after he clearly was aware of my intentions.
THEN - at the Morse Road/71 Intersection I have the green light to go. I start to go and the lady in the cross lane decides she wants to violate the red light and proceed at the same time as me. She gave ME the finger.
This all happened in one day on my way home - not 8 miles total. It's a similar scene every day - and I'm not exaggerating. Orlando Traffic was just a bad (the I-4 parking lot, etc) - but there they had an excuses (abundant amount of senile old people). NOW - when I lived in NJ, this crap was an everyday occurrence as well. The Turnpike should be renamed the deathpike. HOWEVER, NJ is much more dense and populated than central Ohio and people are generally in a major hurry and have the "I don't give a crap about you" mentality. Here, it just appears they don't know HOW to drive any better.
So those are my opinions. OPINIONS. They are not fact, as I cannot prove them. I think, however, one day I'll record my entire trip home from work and post it here. Then it can become fact. Until then, Opinion.
I'll say it once more. Columbus is a great city. Most people cannot drive - but that is most cities in America. I blame it on the young age at which you can obtain a license in the States. I understand that if I want to live here I'll have to get use to the slower lifestyle. Maybe it's not a slow as I really perceive it be - seeing as I'm use to REALLY fast and really RUDE service on the east coast.
I will warn anyway thinking of moving from somewhere like NY or Philly to understand that it will be a big change. That's all.
As Forrest Gump said, "That's all I got to say about that".
You did not mention my favorite - the drivers who feel the need to slam on the brakes and come to a near complete stop on the freeway when they see a cop.
@jbcmh81 - I believe we are very different in how we think. I'm not big on stats and tend to be more figurative than literal and am better at keeping the larger picture. My wife, who is an English major and an editor, tends to be very precise but sometimes loses the big picture. Somewhere in the middle we find a balance.
I think that is similar to what we are doing here. I've been to Columbus on and off for over a decade now. I've been all over downtown and German Village, Short North, etc. Been to Easton more times than I can count. Overall, I would say C-Bus closes up shop early. I have the same opinion of Cincinnati. Point is, Columbus is not a bustling metropolis but does have some night life if you know where to go.
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