Tag: ohio

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Ohio and Greece

A special thanks goes out to Strange Maps for putting this particularly interesting map together. It’s pretty simple, it overlays a flag of another country over a US state with a comparable population. In this case our beloved Ohio (11,485,910) compares to Greece (11,216,708).

Some other Greek connections include Cincinnati’s strong Greek community that will celebrate the 35th Annual Panegyri Greek Festival the weekend of June 26. The Cincinnati Greek community also brought us Cincinnati’s famous Skyline Chili.

It’s also worth noting a couple of my favorite Gyro places around town – Chicago Gyro and Sebastian’s Gyros. They are both fantastic, but Chicago Gyro is more centrally located and has slightly better tzatziki sauce. Sebastian’s will lure you over to the westside and treat you with its cozy feel.

Courtesy of Strange Maps – click image for larger version
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News

This Week In Soapbox 5/19

This Week In Soapbox (TWIS) you can read about Rookwood Pottery’s new OTR digs, new restaurants in College Hill and Newport, downtown Cincinnati residential trends, new life for the historic Crosley Building in Camp Washington, a new water sports complex on Cincinnati’s upper westside and my feature article on Ohio’s 3-C Corridor that would introduce high-speed rail to Ohio’s primary metropolitan areas.

If you’re interested in staying in touch with some of the latest development news in Cincinnati please check out this week’s stories and sign up for the weekly E-Zine sent out by Soapbox Cincinnati.

TWIS 5/19:

  • Linking Ohio through the power of rail – full article
  • College Hill business district welcomes Shhhhh Restaurant – full article
  • Historic Crosley Building may see new life – full article
  • Rookwood Pottery completes first phase of $18M rehabilitation project in OTR – full article
  • Newport Pizza Co. adds locally owned pizzeria to Monmouth – full article
  • Wake Nation brings water sports thrill to Midwest with new Cincinnati park – full article
  • Downtown Cincinnati experiencing steady population growth and stable selling prices – full article
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News

‘Rock’ the vote for Ohio’s Music Video Challenge

A month ago the Ohio Film Office was accepting entries into their music video challenge. The music videos have been submitted and are now awaiting your votes.

There are 23 original music videos that have been submitted promoting Ohio and its attractions. From now until Wednesday, March 18th (sorry for the short notice) you can select your Top 10 contest finalists on the official YouTube page.

From there the ultimate winner will be decided by a panel of celebrity judges (listed below). The winners will receive a prize package that includes a trip to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Cleveland on Saturday, April 4th.

  • Chad Lowe: “Unfaithful” (actor); “Beautiful Ohio” (producer)
  • Joe Russo and Anthony Russo: “You, Me, & Dupree” (directors); “Welcome to Collinwood” (directors, producers and writers)
  • Brad Petrigala: Brillstein Entertainment Partners (manager)
  • Bob Hoch: Sony Music (senior director of digital marketing)
  • Don Scott: “Barbershop” (writer); “Barbershop 2: Back in Business” (writer)
  • Mark Johnson: “The Chronicles of Narnia” (writer)
  • Michael Peyser: “U2 3D” (producer)
  • Todd Longwell: The Hollywood Reporter (writer)
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News

Ohio Film – Music Video Challenge

The Ohio Film Office is sponsoring a music video challenge that is geared to, “support filmmakers throughout the state while partnering with Ohio educational institutions and musical acts.”

Each production team has three weeks to partner with a musical act, create a concept, shoot the video, edit the video and post it to be judged (rated) on the official YouTube contest page. Winners will receive a prize package that includes a pair of tickets to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony; an array of services from Ante Up Audio, Greg Wilson Photo, KP Photo, Marengo Luxury Spa; meals at Hard Rock Café and House of Blues; and much more.

You can register online and fill out all the necessary release forms on the contest’s website. You can also stay up-to-date through the contest’s Facebook Group. The inquiry deadline is February 25th, with all videos completed and posted by March 11th – so the time to act is now.

Submission Requirements:

  1. Make your video
  2. Upload it to YouTube group
  3. Fill out the entry form
  4. View the entries and vote for your favorites

Each video must include one of the following criteria:

  • A location identified by a historical marker
  • A sign that displays the word Ohio in a positive manner
  • Apparel containing team logos that are Ohio based (Cleveland CAVS, Cincinnati Bengals, Columbus Crew, etc.)
  • Items featuring college and university logos. (Akron University, Bowling Green State University, Marietta College, Wright State University, Youngstown State University, etc.)
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Development News Politics Transportation

Ohio’s high-speed rail plans

Thanks to the Obama Administration, $8 billion was worked into the stimulus plan for high-speed rail projects. President Obama also plans to request $1 billion annually over the next five years for high-speed rail.

This is great for the United States and especially great for the Midwest and Ohio. Ohio has been working on right-of-way acquisitions, track upgrades and other items over the past several years to set up for a high-speed rail system operating at 120+mph.

Have you ever wondered how much it would change the face of Ohio? Maybe a Cincinnatian would attend a World Cup Qualifier in Columbus with only a short 1 hour 30 minute train ride. Maybe Cincinnatians would travel north, on a 2.5 hour train ride, to visit Lake Erie during the Summer months instead of taking the 12 hour car ride to Florida.

It makes a lot of sense given Ohio’s population density, distribution and layout. It is one of the most densely populated regions/states in the entire nation and is set up extremely well for this kind of a rail system (Ohio Hub Maps/Plans/Details).

3-C Corridor in green

If you would like to see such a system become reality write to your state senator and representatives in Columbus and also drop your D.C. senator and representatives a line while you’re at it. Let them know that this is Ohio’s future and that you want them to take the political lead in bringing high-speed rail to Ohio.

Ohio is poised to get $8.2 billion from the stimulus plan approved today by President Obama. Of this only a portion will go to high-speed rail. Let your representatives know that a significant allocation, of these resources, should go to high-speed rail and that your vote depends on it.

Please share your thoughts on the system, and how you might use it once it’s in place, in the comment section.

Watch a 1:21 long video about the Ohio Hub system

UPDATE: The FRA has designated ten high-speed corridors under section 1010 of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Act of 1991 (ISTEA) and Section 1103(c) of the Transportation Efficiency Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). Designation allows a corridor to receive specially targeted funding for highway-rail grade crossing safety improvements, and recognizes the corridor as a potential center of HSR activity.