Are you ready to "Get Urban"?

Those of us who live in urban neighborhoods by choice do so because we enjoy the lifestyle.  We enjoy the fact that we can walk to many places as opposed to having to drive everywhere.  We enjoy the history of the buildings and architecture that surround us.  We enjoy the energy and the constant traffic (people and even cars) that goes by just outside our windows.  And we enjoy living in diverse communities where we are close friends with many of our neighbors who also share our passion for urban living.  Though I understand that urban living is not for everybody, I do think that more people would be open to the idea if they knew what it was like and knew what it was that attracts so many of us to it despite the challenges.  Or better yet, if somebody were to somehow teach them how to actually "live urban".  Hmm, if only there were somebody we could find that could speak to some of these people...

Well, we may have found that somebody - and we didn't have to go any further than Columbus!  Kyle Ezell is the founder of Get Urban, Ltd. and is so passionate about city living that he has written two books on the subject:   
Get Urban! The Complete Guide to City Living
and
Retire Downtown: The Lifestyle Destination for Active Retirees and Empty Nesters. 

Kyle is a certified city planner, instructor of downtown housing at Ohio State University, and since 2005 has been a keynote speaker on the topic of urban living in cities all over the country - including San Francisco, Chicago, Columbus and more.  He has organized "Ruppie" parties to help attract active suburban empty nesters to downtown neighborhoods (we have several Ruppies here in Downtown Dayton).  And he has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, Cool Town Studios, Columbus RetroMetro and yes - here on MostMetro.com.

So why am I telling you about Kyle and Get Urban?  It could be because he seems to understand the potential we have right here in Dayton ("... When complete, Downtown Dayton could become one of America's chicest Postindustrial Urbs.  Life here, even in the often-bypassed city of Dayton, Ohio, will be hard for any urbanite to resist." - Get Urban! The Complete Guide to City Living).  Or maybe somebody is planning a Get Urban event...

Yes, details are coming soon...

Thank you to all of our MostMetro Contributing Bloggers!

When we started Dayton MostMetro last year, we knew that we wanted to invite people from the community to help us promote our city.  Dayton is filled with very dedicated people who love this city and are working hard to make it great.  And we are lucky to have a few of them who blog for us...

Dayton Neighborhoods
Maureen Heacock is our South Park blogger, and keeps us all updated on the many fantastic developments happening in Dayton's largest historic district... and one of its most active!

Laura Woeste represents the Downtown Dayton Partnership and let's us know what is happening in the Downtown Central Business District (along with the latest news from the DDP). 

And with over 20 more Dayton neighborhoods represented on Dayton MostMetro, we are always looking for more dedicated residents to help us tell the story of their neighborhood.  If you are active in your urban community and want the world to know the great things happening there, we'd like to talk to you.  Blogging can be as easy as writing an email, and it is an effective way to tell hundreds of readers your community's story.

Dayton History
Mark Dues is our Dayton History expert, and writes absolutely fascinating blog posts about our city's history with an emphasis on Dayton's historic architecture.  His in-depth articles cover both stories of the past as well as the latest news on what is happening with some of our endangered historic landmarks.  And since Mark is also a Park Ranger for the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, we can legitimately call him an expert! 

The Dayton Scene
Ron Gable is known in Dayton as the Jazz Advocate, and he brings his knowledge and passion about jazz here in our city to Dayton MostMetro as our newest blogger on The Dayton Scene.  We welcome his updates on all of the jazz happenings at the many live music venues we have here in Dayton.

I'd like to thank all of you that have helped us as bloggers on Dayton MostMetro - we appreciate your contributions and look forward to your future posts. 

Sincerely,

Bill Pote - Dayton.MostMetro.com

If Youngstown can do it...

In a previous post we discussed the negative spin our local media seems to have when it comes to the City of Dayton.  And if you've ever heard our schpeel or read our About Us, you know that the reason we started this website was to give people an alternative view of our city that they don't necessarily get with local news.  We are not an official media source, but simply proud citizens that decided to tell the world how WE see our city.  We realize that our city continues to face huge challenges, but we believe those challenges can be overcome.  Sure, it will take a significant amount of financial resources that these days seems to be quite scarce, but by helping to instill a sense of Dayton city pride - both within the city as well as the overall region - it can be done.  With the right message, anything is possible...  Take a look at what Youngstown is doing:
 

Manhattan parking spot going for $225,000: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

Next time you hear somebody complaining about how expensive it is to park in Downtown Dayton, forward this story to them...

Link: Manhattan parking spot going for $225,000: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance.

Parking spaces in New York cost as much as $225,000 and could soon be going higher still, putting the cost for the prime spots above the price tag of the typical U.S. home price.

Mr. Gower - We couldn't have put it better ourselves!

Ok, for those of you that read all of the local blogs - we know that Esrati has already beat us to the punch on this one.  I've become so numb to the constant negativity that comes from our local news media when it comes to news about the City of Dayton, I didn't think twice when I had read the headline "Residents leaving Dayton in Droves".  I just shook my head and thought to myself - "typical!!"

It was refreshing to see that our friend John Gower (Director of Planning and Development for the City of Dayton) did not simply shake his head - he actually rebutted the story (and columnist's choice of headline words) in a way that has us saying - "way to go, John!!!"

A positive story in the midst of Dayton's school-funding crisis...

Dayton will be feeling the effects of the failed school levy and subsequent fall-out for some time to come, and the school system's budget situation has become a dark cloud over the city.  But the following story proves that there are folks in this city (and region) that believe in the future and importance of at least one school in Dayton, and what seemed like a lost cause may just turn out to be a spectacular win.

Priority Board System in Seattle

As many of you know, Dayton has a unique style of city management. Unlike a typical city whose mayor is in fact the "CEO" of the organization, Dayton's mayor position is nothing more than one of five commissioners who act as a part-time board of directors. The city manager is the CEO of the organization and is appointed by and answers to the city commission board in a "checks & balances" type system, with the commission checking the city manager, and the public checking the commission. I suppose this system was set up as a sort-of buffer between the top leader and the public - with the mayor and city commissioners acting as a filter of sorts. Perhaps it was believed that the city manager could be more effective if he/she did not have to worry about spending time campaigning for votes every election season (that seems to come sooner than later). Either way, this is our system for better or worse.