Dayton Ohio: Does it still suck there? (Columbus, Cincinnati: 2013, headhunter)

[Ohioan58]

I checked out that site. For example, little old stable Belmont's crime rate is pretty surprising (*lots* of incidents.)

[Ohioan58]

Originally Posted by Dayton Sux

"...featuring Christopher Cross, Orleans, Gary Wright, Firefall, John Ford Coley, Robbie Dupree and Player"....oh boy...but if they are brining John Ford Coley, where is England Dan??? Back then it was England Dan AND John Ford Coley! I'm verklempt!

Indeed!

Those acts need to be rounded out with "The Starland Vocal Band", Exile, and I'll think of a few more one hit wonders from the summer of 1976 which seems to be the theme they're going for.

Hey, it was the Bicentennial and the peak of the US power in modern times. It seemed awful then in some ways but it was a sweet time. And that lineup is SO typically Dayton: pining away for the glory days of the 1970s.

[neilworms2]

Nor should it be. Just like Cincinnati is not Chicago. There's nothing wrong with that; Dayton is its own distinct place and not a mini-clone of Cincinnati or Columbus. How boring would that be ...

Dayton is a mini-clone of Columbus and Indianapolis but more economically depressed and in the case of Columbus less socially open and with only 1 neighborhood that has brick buildings as opposed to a handful.

Cincinnati is not Chicago. I do feel that Cincy is of a class of city that can learn a few things from other charming historic places that are more successful at leveraging their assets like Savannah, Charleston, Boston and San Fran but definitely is not those either.

I still don't have a very high opinion of Dayton as a whole. I mean a city of mostly ugly old frame houses does not make a place that is charming nor are any of the things listed besides the Trolleybuses and the air force museum anything that really makes the place unique. (I like Marion's but its just a pizza place, not the progenitor of a Dayton Style pizza that people talk about in other places). Oakwood and the Oregon District have equivalents in Cincinnati that are larger and better.

I grew up south of Dayton I have a familiarity of it and never had a very good opinion of the place.

[Dayton Sux]

If you are living in Dayton, why would you spend $120-150k on a loft when there
are hundreds of houses in the $20-50k range in decent neighborhoods?

As
for researching which neighborhoods have crime, it is not as easy as you want to
believe. The Realtors won't tell you. The urban pioneers will deny it until
they are a victim. When I hear the term "up and coming" neighborhood, it almost
always has a pretty high crime rate.

Yeah, I used to believe the hype too...about the "up and coming neighborhood"....shocker was doing a presentation for the St Annes Hill association and listening to the DPD give a talk about neighborhood crime stats..ruh roh!

As for the downtown living, the prices for these places, I always asked "why?" "what IS the value proposition?". To live downtown? Yes, I can see pricey downtown digs, I really can....in CINCINNATI and CLEVELAND, where there is a halfway decent downtown with that big-city vibe (actually more of in Cincy, tho its the smaller city).....then, yes, it's worth it. In Dayton? There's no there there...so why pay $$$ to live in nowheresville....???

@@@@

I mean a city of mostly ugly old frame houses does not make a place that is
charming nor are any of the things listed besides the Trolleybuses and the air
force museum anything that really makes the place unique. (I like Marion's but
its just a pizza place, not the progenitor of a Dayton Style pizza that people
talk about in other places). Oakwood and the Oregon District have equivalents in
Cincinnati that are larger and better.

Being a sort of amatuer student of vernacular archicture I can sort of appreciate the "wood city" thing going on here and elsewhere in the Midwest...but what IS here is going fast.

I could say a few words about the Oregon, which should be cherished and treasured as a rare save from the urban renewal era (other cities have lost their respective "Oregon" areas)....but what I notice is how things dont go beyond the Oregon...the things on 5th Street. What seems to be going on is a continual struggle...things struggle to stay afloat, and, beyond a few long-time venues things sort of come and go. Not in itself a problem, but maybe more indicative on how marginal that market is, that its tough to stay alfoat.

...and that this scene isn't expanding. This is key. A key indicator. One thing I notice in Cincy and Louisville is that things get BETTER, things expand and new neighborhoods and business districts become locations for food/drink/retail, become vital again, or never really bottom out.


In Dayton it seems like things never really take-off. Things always stay half finished, or half-vacant...or fail utterly like that "Santa Clara" district attempt from back in the 1990s....

[Dayton Sux]

Those acts need to be rounded out with "The Starland Vocal Band", Exile, and
I'll think of a few more one hit wonders from the summer of 1976 which seems to
be the theme they're going for.

Hey, it was the Bicentennial and the peak
of the US power in modern times. It seemed awful then in some ways but it was a
sweet time. And that lineup is SO typically Dayton: pining away for the glory
days of the 1970s

lol..Starland Vocal Band! Man its been years since Ive heard of them...yep, the 70s....but was that glory years here? I think the 70s in Dayton kicked off with NCR shutting down most of the operations here and tearing down their factory complex. From 15,000 to, what, 2,000 or 3,000 in just a few years? So the maybe not so glory? Dunno...wasnt living here then.....

[Dayton Sux]

And the city, slowly but surely, is capitalizing on this. Charlie Simms (one
of those guys who built the "McMansions") realizes this. That's why he is
building downtown.

Don't go there...

[Dayton Sux]

I really wish "The Real Dayton, Ohio" guy (Drexel Dave) had continued that blog
to the present day. He could cover pressing local news like bike thieving dwarfs
and crazy Kettering bike ladies. (Just Google the latter... pretty amazing.)

Drexel Dave answers your wish....he is covering local stuff via Youtube as "The Dayton Informer".

[SWOH]

Originally Posted by neilworms2

I still don't have a very high opinion of Dayton as a whole.

Originally Posted by neilworms2

city of mostly ugly old frame houses

Originally Posted by neilworms2

Oakwood and the Oregon District have equivalents in Cincinnati that are larger and better.

Originally Posted by neilworms2

I grew up south of Dayton I have a familiarity of it and never had a very good opinion of the place.

All you're doing is trolling. Really, what are you planning to accomplish?

[SWOH]

Originally Posted by Dayton Sux

Don't go there...

Why not? The Simms development isn't bad. More density would be nice, yes, but we can't have everything. I'm just glad someone is doing something.

[SWOH]

Originally Posted by Dayton Sux

In Dayton it seems like things never really take-off. Things always stay half finished, or half-vacant...or fail utterly like that "Santa Clara" district attempt from back in the 1990s....

Then why don't you leave? You don't need to stay here. Live somewhere else.