Disqus - Latest Comments for rpitingolo

Re: $250 Southwest Airlines Gift Card Giveaway

rpitingolo — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 10:01:48 -0000

I've had my eye on Costa Rica since SWA started service there.

Re: Why Renters Waste More Energy Than Homeowners - Housing - The Atlantic Cities

rpitingolo — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 14:02:07 -0000

But for goodness sake, a lightbulb is just a lightbulb.

Yes and no. Flood bulbs are more expensive than the standard lamp bulbs. So if I were to upgrade all 4 bulbs in the kitchen, the cost would be considerably more than $2-3. Further, what's to keep the next tenant from switching back to the less efficient bulb when they burn out just because the bulbs he/she inherited when they moved in were CFLs?

Short of a government ban on incandescent bulbs (not unprecedented) or some other form of paternalism, it seems like simple short-term incentives will win-out, even on something that seems as trivial as this.

Re: Why Renters Waste More Energy Than Homeowners - Housing - The Atlantic Cities

rpitingolo — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 09:49:43 -0000

Last week one of the indoor flood light bulbs in my kitchen burned out. I went to the hardware store to buy a replacement and was faced with an option: 1) buy the energy efficient CFL bulb that comes with a 9-year guarantee or 2) buy the much cheaper incandescent bulb that uses more energy and will probably burn out much more quickly.

Assuming I stay in this apartment for 2-3 more years, buying the CFL bulb would save me some money on utilities, but probably not enough during that time period to offset the increased cost of the bulb. It would really just be a gift to the next tenant (unless I took the bulb with me when I moved, though I’m not sure that's allowed since the unit came with bulbs when I moved in).

I wouldn’t discount the typical short-term nature of renting in thinking about this stuff.

Re: Cities: Rather Than Patronizing Young People, Give Them What They Ask For

rpitingolo — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 08:32:02 -0000

The idea of trying to attract "boomerangers" kind of makes me laugh. It reminds me of the sales material I get from companies like Netflix and XM Radio. After I quit those companies, they've done quite a bit to win me back. The thing is, it wouldn't be an issue at all if they'd kept me satisfied as a customer the first time around. Same could be said, for cities, in this case.

People in Cleveland were predicting I'd boomerang before I was even gone. The argument went something like this "sure you want the action and excitement of the big city now, but once you settle down, get married and have kids, you'll be back in Cleveland. Where else can you get leafy suburbs, cheap houses and good public schools, plus [insert standard list of city assets]?"

The attitude always struck me as weird. It was a like a bad relationship, where instead of trying to compromise or adapt, you just let your partner go because you think they just don't "get you" and they'll come crawling back once they've realized what they're missing.

The problem is that boomeranging isn't so simple in a world that's complex. Once I've established a career someplace, and my spouse has established a career in that place, leafy suburbs and cheap houses are only going to be one factor in our decision calculus about where to go. It's easy for a young person with no established career, no attachments, and few responsibilities to up and move to some new city after college, it's quite a bit more difficult to uproot a family and do the same.

Without a doubt, there are people who boomerang. And there are people who don't. You hear all about why boomeraging was such a great decision from the first group, because they're around to talk about it. You rarely or never hear from the people who are long gone, because they don't have any business of talking about their experience.

Re: Downtrodden East Liverpool, Ohio Wins Big Contract with Starbucks

rpitingolo — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 10:52:37 -0000

Ask yourself this: is this store going to turn a profit or lose money? If it's going to lose money, does the value of the PR this generated exceed the loss? If yes, then it's success, financially speaking.

Interestingly, I was in New Philadelphia, Ohio not too long ago. It's a small town that has no Starbucks. In fact, the nearest Starbucks is over 20 miles away. But the town did have one independent coffee shop. Go figure.

Re: The Hidden Benefits of Schlepping Groceries

rpitingolo — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 13:01:08 -0000

There are typically a few arguments I hear from people who make the "it's impossible" argument:

1) The nearest grocery store is at least several miles away.
2) There are no safe walking or biking routes to the nearest grocery store.
3) My family has several children and requires too much food for a single adult to be able to reasonably carry back home without a car.

The first two points are symptoms, more or less, of suburban sprawl. Or, in some cases, of food deserts in urban centers. These can't be solved easily by suggesting bike trailers or convincing people that bicycling or walking isn't all that difficult or burdensome. These can really only be tackled by solving the underlying problem.

The third point is one that I usually concede because these debates over families and lifestyles often are messy and frequently end in hurt feelings.

Re: The Geography of Craft Beer - Arts & Lifestyle - The Atlantic Cities

rpitingolo — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 16:35:32 -0000

The last paragraph of this article really starts to get at the reason why some places might (or might not) have craft breweries. For example, if state and local laws dictate that you have to have special manufacturing licenses to brew beer, and that license is expensive or hard-to-get, then you'll probably have fewer breweries. If you have local zoning laws that prohibit operating a brewpub on the site of the brewery, then you'll probably have fewer breweries. If zoning laws stipulate that you can only brew on a piece of land zoned for "industrial" then you'll probably have fewer breweries than if you allowed them to brew on land zoned for commercial.

On the flip side, a city or state that welcomes brewers and lets them set-up shop just about anywhere in town where they want is probably going to have more breweries. Portland, Oregon seems to be an example of the kind of place with those brewer-friendly local regulations.

Re: Despite Progress, Cleveland Falls Out of Top 50 in Cycling

rpitingolo — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 11:30:22 -0000

I think these ranks are mostly made-up fluff for these magazines, but it's a good point that the counter-factual of progress shouldn't be the status quo, it should be potential progress.

A few years ago I made this point but it's worth reiterating. Cleveland is in a unique position in that it generally has very little congestion compared to other major cities. In congested cities, progress is often stifled by the fact that motorists, plagued by over-crowded streets fear that bicycle facilities will take away even more of their space. Cleveland needs to capitalize on the fact that this is much less of a problem right now than it could be.

Re: Why Aren’t More People Angry About the Way Things are in Cleveland?

rpitingolo — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 11:46:15 -0000

Angie, you missed a key element to answer your question "Why Aren’t More People Angry About the Way Things are in Cleveland?". The answer is: because they left. The data alone shows the Cleveland MSA is extremely rare in that it continues to lose population every decade. These people are going someplace else.

A few years ago I was vacationing in Las Vegas. After the craps attendant at some casino checked my ID, she returned it to me and said "I'm sorry". I pointed out that I was clearly old enough to the play the game, but she said, "No, I meant that I'm sorry you live there. I used to live only a few blocks from you." She was angry about the way things are in Cleveland. You don't hear it from her though, because she's 2,000 miles away now.

Re: The Geography of Bars and Restaurants

rpitingolo — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 13:16:13 -0000

Another thought... If price data were available, I'd like to test the relationship between number of bars and drink prices. You can drink for practically nothing in some Rust Belt cities compared to what it costs on the east coast. Is it a function of supply (more bars --> lower prices) or is it more a macroeconomic question (weaker economy --> lower prices)?

Re: The Geography of Bars and Restaurants

rpitingolo — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 10:31:06 -0000

Interesting idea in theory, but more attention needs to be paid to the local context for an explanation of why the numbers look the way they do.

For example, a city that has low-priced and easily attainable liquor licences is probably going to have more bars than a city where liquor licenses are expensive and a scarce resource. Furthermore, a city that requires drinking establishments to do a certain percentage of their sales in food is probably going to have more "restaurants" relative to "bars" compared to a city where you can open a watering hole where 100% of your sales are drinks.

Re: What Cleveland’s Paid Parking Uproar Says About Cleveland

rpitingolo — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 14:23:43 -0000

Why is it counter-intuitive? If I could get "free" loaves of bread but there was a chance I'd have to drive to the store and then stand in a huge long line, I'd probably get fewer of them than if I could just walk into a store and pay whatever small price it cost for bread.

Re: What Cleveland’s Paid Parking Uproar Says About Cleveland

rpitingolo — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 11:42:11 -0000

First, the merchants don't want to charge because their customers are making threats to them that they're going to stop coming - I get that. I don't think it's right. Like I said, a pilot program would answer this question with small risk. Plus, why not agree to give a cut off the revenue back to the merchants? Seems like a fair olive branch if they're truly concerned about lost sales.

Last time I was at the WSM we had to circle that lot several times before we found a space. That alone was inefficient. Then we stayed in that space for a long time while eating at a restaurant on West 25th (after buying a few produce items at the market). This certainly could not have been good for the merchants. I took up a space that somebody else was not able to use to go into the market. And the lot was 100% full, so it's not as if this was a drop in the bucket.

Re: What Cleveland’s Paid Parking Uproar Says About Cleveland

rpitingolo — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 11:21:22 -0000

Look, this is simple - the city should run a pilot program for a month-or-so. If there's no change in the number of people parking or shopping in the area, then you keep it in place. If the new policy has actually caused people to stop going to Ohio City (not likely) then you repeal or amend it.

People will make threats like "I'm going to stop going if you charge me for parking" not because they actually intend to do so, but because they just don't want to pay. If threats are all it takes, then they'll keep making them.

Public policy should be tested and based on evidence. You can't say this will work in Cleveland because it worked in San Francisco or wherever else; but you can get some data that it works in Cleveland then go from there..

Re: Things That Make Me Want to Move Away from Cleveland

rpitingolo — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 11:11:15 -0000

Hambley really believes blogs are silly and unimportant
Websites too. I built better websites back in '95 on Geocities than what NOACA has up on the web today. What an embarrassment to them.

Re: Map of the Day: Where Seniors Are Moving

rpitingolo — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 20:22:45 -0000

Migration may contribute to this phenomenon, but the map doesn't filter out changes not due to moves. In other words, the population 65+ could be changing because some people aged 55-64 during the 2000 Census now moved into that age cohort without moving geographically, or because some people 65+ during the 2000 Census are no longer with us. I would be very curious to look only at migration data to see if the map looks the same as it does above.

Re: The Shitshow that is Northeast Ohio Housing Patterns

rpitingolo — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 11:53:00 -0000

-”Movement goes toward where the new (housing) is.”
Including downtown, it would seem. When people say they want to live downtown, it's clearly not all due to location. People, especially in Cleveland, seem to love new construction. Build brand new units and people seem to flock to them.

Re: Rust Belt Conditions Flip Gentrification Patterns

rpitingolo — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 14:24:08 -0000

One question that leaves me scratching my head is this...

The median price for new construction in a neighborhood like Ohio City is significantly higher than the median price of existing structures. Even when you account for purchase price + renovations, there seems to be a disconnect here. I get that some people value not having to do any work, and that there are limits on credit, etc. But t'm still not entirely sure what the deal is.

Why is a 2 bedroom condo listed for 235k and a 3 bedroom house a few blocks away listed for 89k?

Re: Rust Belt Conditions Flip Gentrification Patterns

rpitingolo — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 12:45:09 -0000

Yep - I think you've got it right here. Back in college I took a look at the relationship between home prices and distance from downtown Cleveland. Up to 20 miles, there's a pretty strong positive correlation. In other words, the closer you get to downtown, the lower the typical home price.

Re: The Street Art Test: Separating Cool Cities from the Rest

rpitingolo — Thu, 31 May 2012 11:31:34 -0000

I'm confused, so the city should erase the street art in marginal places? But it should encourage it in the places where elites go? Where would that be exactly? Don't most of Cleveland's elites live in the suburbs?

The difference between NYC and Cleveland is that there are no half-million dollar condos anywhere in the city.

Re: The Street Art Test: Separating Cool Cities from the Rest

rpitingolo — Tue, 29 May 2012 13:46:19 -0000

Not sure I'm buying this. What about the stuff all along the Red Line corridor?

I don't know where they keep archives of the Free Times, given that it doesn't exist anymore, but you should dig up a copy from maybe 2005 or 2006? The one with the long-form cover story about the graffiti along the Red Line.

Re: Thoughts on Cleveland’s New Casino

rpitingolo — Wed, 23 May 2012 11:09:38 -0000

Nobody should have expected anything remotely like Vegas. At best, you knew the atmosphere of the casino would be more on-par with what they've got in Detroit.

Re: How Baton Rouge Brought Its Transit System Back From the Brink

rpitingolo — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:11:40 -0000

FWIW, I don't think that's the hypothesis in my taxi cab post at all. The post is a look at what happens when cabs operate in a de facto deregulated environment (spoiler: it's a mess).

Re: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/05/clevelands-downtown-rebound/1917/

rpitingolo — Fri, 04 May 2012 11:06:34 -0000

When you click through to the full report you see that the inner-city tracts gained people in the 25-34 age cohort, but lost population in all other age cohorts, for an overall net-loss in population. The downtown tract grew hugely in percentage terms, but it was always a standard CBD that's only recently become mixed residential / commercial. The other inner-city neighborhoods were always more residential, and the data shows they lost people.

So it's a mixed bag. Young people want to live close-in and near downtown - that's consistent with theories of the "urban renaissance". But people are also fleeing Cleveland and the Cleveland MSA - that's also consistent with the story that the metro area is not in especially good shape.

Re: Cities With the Most Highway Miles: a “Who’s Who” of Decay

rpitingolo — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:56:34 -0000

I think if you put these numbers through a more vigorous statistical test you'd find a very weak correlation between these variables, if one even exists at all.

The bigger issue is that this a "per capita" statistic, which means that the denominator (population) matters a lot. If Cleveland had the same number of people it did in its glory days, it probably wouldn't be on this list. But the reasons for Cleveland's decline, in many ways, are exogenous from the number of highway miles that exist around the city.