Density Increases Wealth

....We’re both happier and more productive when we’re interacting with other people in person. And so high-density development patterns have the same kind of productivity-enhancing benefits that free trade does. Tall buildings, walkable neighborhoods, and a good transit system reduce the average cost of face-to-face interaction in exactly the same way that steam ships and low tariffs reduced the average costs of shipping goods to the other side of the world. In both cases, the result is greater wealth, on a per-capita basis.

....we’re just coming out of a half-century in which the benefits of density were severely underestimated. For decades, urban planners pursued policies that systematically undermined our cities. Limits on density destroy wealth in exactly the same way that limits on free trade do. There’s a lot of work to be done to allow cities to reach their full wealth-creating potential.
-in Forbes

Music Hall this Morning

I'm not posting much, but I am still here, plugging away...
 

Welcome to New Granada

Mr Rogers

I loved this anectdote, but the whole article is worth reading for sure:

...a boy, no longer little, told his friends to watch out, that he was going to do something "really big" the next day at school, and the next day at school he took his gun and his ammo and his earplugs and shot eight classmates who had clustered for a prayer meeting. Three died, and they were still children, almost. The shootings took place in West Paducah, Kentucky, and when Mister Rogers heard about them, he said, "Oh, wouldn't the world be a different place if he had said, 'I'm going to do something really little tomorrow,'" and he decided to dedicate a week of the Neighborhood to the theme "Little and Big." He wanted to tell children that what starts out little can sometimes become big, and so that could devote themselves to little dreams without feeling bad about them...

more Mr Rogers here

Street Artist Ron English

Ron English can often be found sitting on a stoop on Main Street, sketching on cardboard or writing his thoughts on a sheaf of paper. For this post, I googled his name and came up with a great post about him. If you see him, say hi, and if you like what you see, buy a drawing.

I like his art quite a bit, but this is not the best example:
 

 

The High Bridge on Cincinnati Southern RR

I had a post a few years back about Shaker Village near Lexington.

The Cincinnati Southern Railroad passes near Shaker Village, and there is this incredible bridge over the Kentucky river gorge that we have seen it often from below. This past weekend, we took a detour and went to the top of the far side and saw this:

 

high bridge 

Description front 

plaque back 

 

Fun

Sunday Walk

View Sun Walk in a larger map

A couple weeks ago, on a warm Sunday afternoon, we had nothing to do, so we explored a bit. We first headed up Vine and then turned up some steps by Smiling Sams Furniture and ended up above Mulberry Street in a quiet valley. I don't know if this area has a name, but it is a nice quiet area with lots of potential. Then we continued on through the edges of Mt Auburn and circled back down to Pendleton and OTR:

Vine and McMillan
 

Peete Street, end closest to Vine
 

steps from Peete dead-end to Mulberry
 

Rice Street forgotten home
 

Looking up Winkler with Christ Hospital parking garage on top of the hill
 

116 Winkler forgotten and overgrown
 

120 aqnd 122 Winkler Street
 

136 Gage Street
 

Looking back over quiet valley of houses tucked behind Vine Street Elementary (currently Rothenberg)
 

Dramatic Gage Street steps with tall stone retaining wall connect to Mt Auburn behind Christ Hospital
 

Along our walk we met some people and talked with some, but generally it was quiet and not many people around. Every time I take a walk like this I am also amazed at how many vacant buildings are sitting there waiting to be rehabbed.

path to Jackson Hill overlook
 

view from Jackson Hill is not kept trim like Ohio Street and Fairview and Eden Park overlooks
 

there is a sharp cliff on either side of this grassy path in this rarely travelled section of Jackson Hill park. There are remnants of a asphalt path and stone steps down the hill to Rice Street, but it is totally overgrown.
 

grassy knoll in Jackson Hill park
 

hacking through the thicket 

We hack our way through the weeds and came out in someone's backyard on Dorsey Street. I wouldn't recommend others take this route, but we were exploring and sometimes things like this happen.

Dorsey St, insular IMO
 

heading back up to Mt Auburn
 

steps from Mt Auburn to Goethe in OTR
 

this horribly ugly modern house at the end of Eleanor Place has moss on flat roof and needs maintenance all around, but has a Jaguar parked in the driveway.
 

ugly house again
 

path from Walker Street to Filson Pool
 

not a kid in sight
 

pool building Mt Auburn
 

steps down from Mt Auburn to Prospect Hill
 

resting
 

Neighbors in Liberty Hill take care of the spaces along the steps
 

down steep hills of Liberty Hill
 

stone stoops on steep hill
 

raised stone stoops
 

last set of steps down from Liberty to Pendleton
 

Krohn-Fechheimer Co
 

13th and Broadway, what a pitiful building
 

Positively no Loafing Ms Sophie says
 

No Loitering
 

Garden at Union Terminal