"YOU'RE WELCOME" The Other Paper

Link: YOU'RE WELCOME
Lyndsey Teter
The Other Paper
May 8, 2008

...Although “I’ve never heard the mayor say ‘I read this on a blog,’” Brown said, he himself reads Columbus Underground and arguably the second-most popular online news aggregate, Columbus RetroMetro, every day. Other popular local blogs, including columbusING and Xing Columbus, a transportation blog, are “hit or miss,” he said...

...One reason Coleman might love the energy is that bloggers have embraced his pet proposal: streetcars. The online community has been more supportive than the public at large for the mayor’s plan, which is now stalled, to run a streetcar line between Downtown and campus.

Many bloggers have put “My blog supports Columbus Streetcars” icons on their websites. RetroMetro’s Paul Bonneville has launched Columbus-streetcars.com, the “unofficial citizen support site for the Columbus Streetcars.”...

Columbus Streetcar Website: Just a little bit longer

Just dropping a quick status report on the Citizen Support Site for the Columbus Streetcars that I mentioned at the beginning of the week for those of you who may be looking for it:

I've made significant progress on the site, but haven't gotten close enough to where I want it to be when I send it out into the world. After studying a handful of other cities streetcar support sites, I've deciding to use my web developer super-powers to take things up a notch, adding a significant chunk to the development time.

The idea is not to drop another e-brochure on the web, but to create a living and growing resource that will allow us to educate ourselves not only on the system we are pursuing here in Columbus, but to also keep tabs on where things are at with other cities going forward.

In order to communicate the bigger picture and purpose of the Columbus Streetcars, we've really got to look out beyond our own neighborhoods and whether or not we'll use the streetcars ourselves. There is a bigger ongoing story that I believe we need to tap into if we want to be able to offer a prospective that skeptics may not have thought of yet.

That being said, look for the launch announcement to go out with this weekend's RetroMetro Newsletter. There will also be opportunities to contribute and lend a hand with the site going forward as I bring additional pieces on-line even after the launch, so look for my "call to action" to follow shortly after the launch.

The RetroMetro Time Machine

As I continue to labor away at the development of RetroMetro 2.0 (pardon the cheesy Web 2.0 pun) I've been digging around behind the scenes in the plumbing of the existing site. I just stumbled upon an archive page for the weekly newsletters going back to May 2006, when I started using my most current e-mail campaign software. I never got around to publishing the page.

It's interesting to read my old metrospectives from way back and then think about how things are today, but also to review the news articles that are in the old newsletters. If I'm really brave, I may go back and see how I did in predicting the future.

Reading some of my old "metrospective" editorials was actually a curious experience. It's like reading your old journal entries (if you ever kept one) back a few years to reflect on your state of mind at the time along with the events that where going on.

Poke around and even just open some of the old newsletters to see what was happening during that week in time:

Crack into the RetroMetro Newsletter Archives

Supporting Columbus Streetcars, Unofficially

On May 5th, 2008, the Columbus City Council is tentatively slated to vote on funding an initial 2 million dollars to allow the design and engineering phase of the proposed Columbus Streetcar System to move forward.

It's been more than a year since I talked about putting together a website to help promote the Columbus Streetcars. After collecting about 10 or so negative "Letters to the Editor" from the Columbus Dispatch about the system over the past several weeks, and  subsequently getting a clearer picture of some of the gaps in understanding the concept behind the system which people seem to have, I've been moved enough to make that website a reality.

Later this week I will be launching an "Unofficial Columbus Streetcar" site through which I plan on providing a venue for some expanded perspective on the streetcars in short and simple terms. No lengthy diatribes, pontifications or rants. Just facts, perspectives, and examples of what other cities are up to. That's the plan.

I've been posting nearly all of the articles and press releases I've come across that have been written about the Columbus Streetcar System since the system was proposed in 2006, which will be cataloged on this new dedicated site. I'm already doing all this research and investigation on a daily basis, but it tends to get lost in the mix here on RetroMetro, so the streetcar is getting it's own satellite site.

I'll also be starting my daily hunt for the other cities across the country that are working on streetcar systems and keeping tabs on them in real-time going forward. I personally feel that it is important that we all start to get a look at the bigger picture of streetcars and the effects they have on economic development and the initiation of rail-based transit in cities across the country. It's one thing to hear random facts stated, but it's another to have some concrete examples of what this system could mean to Columbus, and not just the neighborhoods it will immediately serve.

One closing note, most of the negative letters I mentioned above seem more to state concerns about the proposed streetcar system and the investment into it as opposed to investments into other areas of the city. I haven't posted the negative letters to RetroMetro as of yet because I'm using them to pull out questions that the writers of those letters made assumptions about or didn't think to ask before making what seemed to be their final judgment on the streetcars.

I want to be able to share some answers, not counterpoints, to the letters, which will help act as starter fuel the Q&A section of the new streetcar site.

Look for the new "Unofficial Columbus Streetcars" site to launch this Friday...

Happy Holidays

Seasons Greetings to everyone and a Happy New Year to all!

As you are sure to have noticed, I've taken a break for the holidays and will return to regular posting tomorrow.

The newsletter will also be back in circulation this coming Monday.

y

A note on article links

Since I have a chunk of articles that are linking to subscription-required articles today I thought I'd drop a note on the topic.

This is just a small acknowledgment that I do realize when I link to articles on some publications, such as Business First of Columbus, some of them require an account to read the full article. While to a number of visitors to RetroMetro this can be frustrating, the main objective of RetroMetro has always been to aggregate news to let you know what stories are out there.

In other words, I'd rather torture you and let you know the story is out there as opposed to not letting you know at all. Sometimes some of the best stories are buried and you may even miss them even if you thumb through an actual print copy...at least I have missed some doing as such in the past, hence my tracking them down and keeping tabs on them here.

In the case of Business First of Columbus, it is well worth the subscription price if you want to stay in-the-know around Columbus.

Why'd I Post This?

I can only imagine what some folks think when they see me post some of my off-the-beaten-path stories that seem to make no sense whatsoever in the bigger urban-ambiguous picture of RetroMetro. I've mentioned this in the past (some time ago now) but what you see in my postings are the rag-tag fugitive force of items that I collect that are really nothing more then the result of my own daily research in urban development and revitalization and all the interrelated issues that are weaved into it.

Imagine someone writing down on a napkin all the newspaper and magazine articles they read while they guzzle their morning java juice in a cozy corner cafe. Imagine that, when they are done, they leave that napkin on the table and you are the next one to sit down at that very same table.

That's right. RetroMetro is my own personal coffee-ringed, semi-crumpled reading list napkin which I leave just for you, every day. When you are lucky, you get some extra cinnamon crumble-top muffin crumbs on it too (i.e. like the photos of the day.)

I mentioned last week that I was going to open my own peanut gallery back up by returning to writing my thoughts and editorials again. Where appropriate, I'm going to start adding in my reasonings for selecting various articles which I post.

I'm calling it my "Why'd I Post This?" feature.

Some postings are obvious and don't need much explanation so you won't be seeing this new feature on those painfully obvious posts. Other posting that fall into the "one of these things is not like the others" category...not so much in the obvious area, look for the "Why'd I post this" right under the pull quotes from the articles if you're curious as to why I posted it.

Honestly, I've been dying to write again for sometime. I have just finally begin to pull the pieces of my entrepreneurial-inspired, swing-and-a-miss, year-long-life-experience life back together to a point where I have enough time to write again.

Over time, I will also sporadically share with you parts of my story from over the last year, where it has gotten me, and where things are going for me and my urban crusade for those of you who are interested.

Good times ahead :)

RetroMetro on holiday...

It's not too often I stop to smell the roses...or take a vacation for that matter. Today through Friday of this week I'll be on a little hiatus from posting/sharing my daily research with you as I round out the rest of my vacation week with absolutely NO work of any sort which involves touching a computer.

Mind you, my vacation started on Saturday and I've still sent out the weekly newsletter and had two days of postings, so I haven't been on a full vacation.

So here's the deal. I won't post again until this coming Sunday as I get caught back up on things when I get back to Columbus. As I return, I'll also be starting up my editorials again.

Believe it or not, the most enjoyable part of RetroMetro has been the writing part of things and I've actually missed it dearly. I'm fairly eager to share an update with those of you who may have been wondering what has been going on with RetroMetro and some of my other activities over the past few months.

Well rested, pumped to get back into the swing of things AND eager share some stories of what has been going on behind the scenes... I'll be back (Sunday that is).

You take care of yourself until then.

News drought

I know I dropped a note about slow news a couple weeks back but it's here yet again...and not just locally.

Mind you I'm overly busy and over-committed these days (should probably be committed) but I do keep up on going through my sources on a daily basis to at least keep somewhat of a pulse on RetroMetro while my attention is fixed on other things temporarily. I've probably got about 20-30 sources I check pretty much daily and collectively the buzz has dulled down quite a bit.

The housing market is still sluggish and sputtering but the urban excitement seems to be on hiatus in the media world. Whether or not the two are related is not clear yet, nonetheless it's sleepy time on the urban topic.

I'm waiting for a big enough break in my schedule to sit down and really grind out a good editorial or two. Lots of stuff to write about and I haven't had the time to do a brain dump like I used to. I'm getting all mentally backed up...not to mention the new thoughts I have in my head after attending the Attract and Retain Talent presentation tonight.

Soon enough...

Urban News Drought

It almost feels like I am breaking the weekly silence by adding in a post that is hand written during the week outside of the norm of news aggregation but I thought my observation was worth sharing since it just cropped up this week...

My reading and research, which is what you see the results of in the form of the posts I make to RetroMetro on a daily basis, have seen a little dip in the diversity and plenitude of stories that revolve around downtown revitalization, urbanism and topics along that vein. This is the first week in some time that I've had to dig a little harder for news that has typically been very plentiful both locally and nationally.

With the sub-prime mortgage market debacle and excessive foreclosures we're seeing these days, and potentially much more on the way, all writers seemed to have taken up that topic...more so than any other topic that I have witnessed the media their focus shift to in the past few years.

It's just an observation, but curious nonetheless. Being that I've been doing this for a few years now, it's not too often that I notice things like this.

I don't really have a deep analysis to offer at this point, just some lingering thoughts which I may share in this week's newsletter.

Help Support Columbus RetroMetro

If you are a loyal reader and visitor to RetroMetro and have found it useful as a resource over the past few years, then I have reached my first main objective: I've provided a tool to help you stay in the loop with downtown revitalization and the happenings in our urban communities and neighborhoods.

Behind the scenes, I've also been working with various urban community organizations to help them use the web to communicate more effectively in an effort to boost the promotion of our urban neighborhoods and communities.

The good news is, I've only really just gotten started.

Now, I presenting an opportunity by which you can help me evolve RetroMetro and develop even more tools and resources which will allow me to expand my services both on the site and by consulting with various urban neighborhoods in an effort to communicate, educate and engage more people on the benefits of urban living in Columbus.

Here's what you can do today:

Make a Small Donation

$5, $10, $100...anything helps. Your contributions help to defer the costs of paying for the web server, software and other related costs for items I use to build and maintain RetroMetro. I do sell ads on the site, but being that I don't have a salesperson, those are few and far between. Your contributions will be put to good use and allow me the resources I need to make headway.

Talk to Me

If you can't make room in your budget, you can still help by dropping me a line an letting me know that you find the site useful. I consider those to be the "spiritual dollars" that have helped get RetroMetro this far. Share your thoughts about RetroMetro and any ideas you may have to make the site greater still.

Buy a Banner Ad

If you are a Realtor, a developer, a mortgage broker, an architect or any other urban stakeholder or business owner that has a business, and if you find any benefit from the use of RetroMetro, you can help by simply buying a BANNER ADVERTISEMENT. Starting at $50 a month, you not only support the RetroMetro mission and ensure that I am able to continue my efforts, you also get some advertisement for your business.

Your support, thanks and words of encouragement continue to keep me going, and anything you can do to continue in that vein is much appreciated.

As always, thanks for reading and the continued support.

Paul Bonneville
Founder
Columbus RetroMetro

Newsletter Delivery Change

Loyal RetroMetro readers,

To those of you who are accustomed to receiving the weekly newsletter on Monday morning...don't fret. Starting this week I'm moving the newsletter to a Friday morning delivery to recap the week's news.

It's also part of my "work more efficiently" mantra and helps me consolidate my efforts during the regular work week so I can progress with some of my other initiatives on the weekends.

I've also made progress on a new cleaner design for the new RetroMetro site and will also be adding (and removing) some sections to the site to make it easier to keep track of news and information on various projects and initiatives across the city.

"Anytown, Online" New York Times

Link: Anytown, Online
Bob Tedeschi
January 14th, 2006
The New York Times

...Across the United States, citizen bloggers and deep-pocketed entrepreneurs are creating town-specific, and even neighborhood-specific, Web sites where the public can read and contribute items too small or too fleeting for weekly newspapers. Suburban towns across the greater New York area are joining in, giving residents a new way to avoid traffic snags, find a lost dog or just vent about a local hot-button issue...

Pontificating

Still shuffling things around and cleaning up some things behind the scenes here are RetroMetro...have no fear though, my pontificating is soon to return. As I mentioned recently, there are some changes on the way throughout the site in the coming weeks, some small, some large, so I have been working on the systems that will be necessary to support them.

Being that I am one man, have a full-time job, taking classes at OSU...I'm doing my best to not let these trivial things get in the way of my true life's work here with RetroMetro ;)

The really goods news is that, post holidays and in starting the new year, my passion, drive and enthusiasm is at a new high and my focus grows clearer by the day with regards to where RetroMetro is going in 2007.

Stay strong. Think urban. Get involved.

Changes to RetroMetro Format

I'm starting a new posting process of separating the news I gather up and deliver, from my comments, observations and opinions. I'll still be highlighting the excerpts from the articles that I post which strike me as the most important or interesting and will let you link to the full article as always have.

Instead of commenting before the article, I'll be adding my thoughts in the comments section that follows each post when I've got some observations to share. The idea is that by not necessarily commenting on every article, I can actually bring you more material and share my thoughts on articles on a more selective basis.

Hopefully this can stimulate the conversation a little too.

I'll also be posting completely separate pieces that are completely original, starting with my weekly editorial piece that goes out in the newsletter every Monday.

As always, thanks for your continued support and if you have any thoughts, comments or ideas for the site and how to make it better, please send them my way.

Lotta catching up to do...

We're back online for the new year and have a lot of catching up to do on the news front. I've also got a lot of things in the works for 2007 which include a primary goal of ENGAGING the public, which is the third part of my "COMMUNICATE, EDUCATE and ENGAGE" mantra for 2006.

There is also a LOT to write about coming into the new year but I have a lot of technical behind-the-scenes work to knock out to make RetroMetro a better facilitator of discussions on various topics...which will keep me spread a little thin over the coming months

As I mentioned a couple weeks back, the newsletter will return next weekend and I'll be sharing my viewpoint and thoughts on the streetcar situation in Columbus.

Hang on...this is going to be a busy year for RetroMetro and you will have more opportunities to get involved if things go according to my plans.

As always, thanks for your continued support and e-mails....

"Land-use planning for the masses" St. Paul Pioneer Press

One of the potential futures for RetroMetro as part of my empowerment and educational initiatives:

Link: Land-use planning for the masses
BY LAURA YUEN
St. Paul Pioneer Press
December 6th, 2006

A do-it-yourself urban design center offering equipment, software and technical expertise to the public will open today at 1956 W. University Ave.

The storefront office, called U-Plan Community Planning Studio, is a land-use wonk's dream, but it is already generating some grass-roots interest.

With big-box retailers sniffing around and a light-rail line on the horizon for University Avenue, supporters say it gives the little guy a new weapon in the ongoing battle to reshape the Central Corridor...

A week without RetroMetro

Yes friends, it has been almost a full week that RetroMetro has been slacking, but fear not...I'll have the postings back up an running tonight. My trip to Chicago went well and upon my return I was greeted by a nasty head-cold that still has me in its grasp. If that breaks today I'll be good to go once again. I've got a lot to catch up on.

The hard-drive crash I had before I left didn't help any either with keeping things flowing smoothly aside from being sick. I lost all of my usual RSS feeds that I scan daily to bring you all the news from various sources so I've had to work on recreating that too. Hard lessons learned...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Have a good one, drive safe and...don't eat too much.

"History as written by a "SimCity" freak" Salon Books

A bit of an interview and a book review of "The Ghost Map", from this author I feel like there is an entire breed of thinkers out there evolving their approaches to community problem solving by applying new concepts regarding how we communicate that have evolved out of our more recent Internet technologies such as blogs and RSS.

The efforts I've been putting forward are right in line with some of the ideas discussed in the interview and reading about them in this context makes me feel not-so-crazy in regards to some of the motivations that lie behind RetroMetro.

This is just more encouragement for me to sit down and gather all my plans and ideas into one document to share with everyone so I stop monopolizing "urban" conversations when I'm out trying to explain to everyone what I'm up to. This article hits on about 3 or 4 concepts that I thought we my own but it is awesome that I am not the only one that is thinking, writing and acting on them:

Link: History as written by a "SimCity" freak
By Scott Rosenberg
Salon Books
Ocotber 30th, 2006

...I talked with Johnson in San Francisco recently, on the eve of the launch of a new Web project he has conceived in tandem with "The Ghost Map": outside.in, a site that pulls together blog postings, news, reviews and events from across the Internet and organizes them by zip code. It's a venture that, in the spirit of "The Ghost Map," aims to harvest the local knowledge of amateurs in densely populated areas and harness it for wider use...

...One of the lessons of the book is the importance of moving across scales -- being able to think, OK, I have all this local activity in my life, I make these decisions as a native of the city or suburb or wherever I am, but I'm part of a larger system and pattern and that system has a life of its own, and it has huge consequences, and if you help contribute to or build the wrong kind of system it's a 100-year mistake, or a 200-year mistake. Like the Big Dig. And that's a difficult way to think. People aren't naturally land-use planners or urban planners. But being able to think that way as a citizen, I think, is increasingly important....

...Every age has these blind spots. Normally they have multiple ones. So you have to assume that your age does too. Part of what you're supposed to do as an educated intelligent person is try and figure out the giant weird invisible elephant in the room that nobody's talking about -- the thing that everybody's missing. But it's hard. They're blind spots for a reason....

...It's a really fun thing for me, which has happened a couple of times in the past, where the ideas I've been working on intellectually in a book have trickled over into a software or Web project. The idea animating it is, there's this amazing, beautiful wave of local amateurs -- Henry Whiteheads, John Snows -- out there today. They're writing about their neighborhoods, sharing all this information, writing about all that passionately important stuff that makes up the day-to-day existence of people's lives right outside the zone of the family: the school down the street they're worried about, the park that maybe's going to open or not, the new restaurant that may be there...

Mini vacation for me

Ahhh...a blogger's work is never done.

Pardon my mini vacation from this week's newsletter as I catch a breather, move my office, start a new full-time job and revisit my time management strategy for making my RetroMetro efforts most effective...all in the name of sanity and sleep.

Regular postings will pick up again Tuesday with renewed vigor and plenty more urban pontificating...

That's it...I'm getting involved in local government

...by registering to vote for the first time. I just filled out my registration form, which I got off of the Franklin County Board of Election's website. You have until October 10th to get your registration form postmarked and in the mail:

Link: Franklin County Board of Elections.

Below you will find a link that will open up a voter registration form that you can fill out on-line. Please read all instructions very carefully. After you have filled out the form you should print the form...

Yes folks it is true, I'm a 33 year-old veteran of the US Army and I have never voted. Don't run away in disgust yet. I don't say that with pride, nor shame really. Up until recent years I was very disengaged from a seemingly complicated and convoluted process of understanding the procedures, politicians and issues involved in voting and in politics in general. Things are changing though.

It has been my keen passion for urban related issues that has pulled me into a process of understanding the political system at the local government level. Now that I've got some groundwork laid through my urban/civic related research over the past few years, I'm ready to engage more than I have in the past. Now I actually WANT to vote as my interests work their way to the next level of government and beyond.

Better late than never and I hope to be able to get more folks involved in voting, especially when local issues are on the ballot, as I get up to speed on the issues and the politicians myself. While you're not likely to see me push politics on RetroMetro, you will see me discuss some of the issues pertaining to our local government as they come up.

Event Calendar

Just a quick note, if you hadn't noticed I just started adding events to the EVENTS CALENDAR and hope to keep it up with at least a few events that are going on around various urban neighborhoods each week. But, if you know of any of your favorite events or have an organization that has an event please post it to the site yourself. You also get an account to which you'll be able to log in and add and manage all of your upcoming events to the site. I also just added all of the weeks upcoming events to my weekly newsletter which goes out to over 1200 people...so think of it as free publicly for your organization.

My main purpose for originally adding the calender to the site was to keep track of the neighborhood association meetings in all the neighborhoods I follow. While I haven't done the greatest job of keeping on top of those, since I am starting to work more on the RetroMetro ONE (organized neighborhood engagement) Network I'm going to be stepping up my efforts.

Have a great Labor Day!

I'll be back at it on Tuesday. Enjoy the hoilday!

Deep thoughts behind RetroMetro

Day by day with what limited time I have I am building up my knowledge base about many urban issues, but with the expanded understanding comes more questions. It is these questions to which I am seeking definitive answers, not necessarily speculation or opinion which seems to be in great abundance.

Mind you, when I ask the questions, they are somewhat rhetorical in that I am only stating that there is a hole in my own understanding. These holes are what I strive to fill in for myself which is why RetroMetro is continually evolving in terms of the types of topics I cover. That is also one of the benefits that I hope RetroMetro readers get out of the site. If I do nothing else, I hope to provoke thoughts and discussions as I take you along the journey of my own personal education.

If you take my own learning model, which has been going on for 2 years now, and imagine finding a way to replicate and expand it on a larger scale in a more readily digestible format, you'll start to understand what I am really up to with the objectives of RetroMetro. Communicate, educate, and seek involvement. I personally see the understanding of city and revitalization issues as imperative to heathly growth of not only our city but of the country.

The biggest danger I currently see has nothing to do with a potential housing slowdown that could but the brakes on progress downtown. It's the lack of involvement or conversation in the media and other various public platforms about urban issues beyond a superficial level. Where there are not differing opinions and battles being fought over funding and the like there is a clear sign of complacency on a large scale. In otherwords, everyone sitting is around waiting to see what happens.

If various people and commmunity groups are active at all, it is usually a neighborhood throwing up a stink at the last minute about decisions being made as they go up for a vote in the city council. With that stink the most common cry is "we didn't know anything about it!"

I'll be the first to tell you if you are not already aware, if you read the Council Agendas on a weekly basis, which are on their website, you'll start to find yourself in the know about issues that are either being discussed or are on the way. It is not the city's responsibility to knock on every door to tell everyone what they are doing. The information is there you just need to go out and get it. But that does require effort. An effort few of us have time to make.

So how do we get to a point where we can hear about these topics, fast-food style, but with a heath-nut twist that doesn't just deliver a fat and juicy headline that doesn't go much deeper than grabbing our attention for 5 seconds?

That is what is driving my passion these days...working on the solution. What you see on RetroMetro these days is the first version. It's the next evolution that consumes me you might say, but I am working on nonetheless. Meanwhile, I hope you've been enjoying the show :)

In case you hadn't noticed

In case you haven't been poking around the site over the past month or two because you are mainly just a RetroMetro news junkie, I've made some other adjustments to the site to move it more towards it's goal of growing as a resource for all things urban.

FOR RENT and FOR SALE listings are FREE
My arch-nemesis, Craigslist, won the battle and over the past 3 months I've watched the usage of Craigslist for listing homes for sale and apartments for rent more than triple in daily usage. So, in an effort to increase the resource I've created in RetroMetro, all the list are now and forever FREE.

As an added bonus, when you list your units on the site, either FOR SALE or FOR RENT, we automatically post them to Craigslst for you...so you get two free listings for the price of...uh, um, nothing...we're both free.

Why in the world would I do that? Since I don't have a big old marketing budget, I can put in a little sweat equity (OK so it is mostly automated) so that folks looking for urban apartments find RetroMetro via a convenient little banner ad that goes into each ad I place. Anyone who comes to RetroMetro also gets to check out more news and information about the neighborhood they are thinking about moving into. Everybody wins!

Events Calendar
If you hadn't noticed, I've also added an events calendar to the site that is designed to help all the urban neighborhoods communicate their events. I'm using it personally for events that I am interested in so you at least are seeing events that catch my eye, so if you see anything urban you think people might want to attend, either create your own RetroMetro account and start adding your own events of send them my way.

Downtown Housing Roundtable Series
Yes, yes, I know, I keep promising a RetroMetro sponsored event and one...uh, many...are in the works if I can pull it off. I won't go into detail but bringing RetroMetro topics to a larger forum with more interactivity is what I am aiming to do. At the same time I want to pull in other larger organizations into the downtown conversation and events on an ongoing basis. So imagine a Downtown Housing Roundtable series (monthly? quarterly?) that ties together downtown issues, OSU, Greater Columbus Arts Council and more.

There are so many social organizations out there doing their own networking and social events but what I'm hoping to do is create one with a bit more focused purpose that taps into all of the various players, and the general public, that are involved and interested in the revitalization of downtown Columbus. The focus will be on all things urban with a bend towards COMMUNICATING, EDUCATING and SEEKING INVOLVEMENT on the various urban issues or city faces as we march into the 21st century. There will be overlap with MANY existing organizations, but that is where I will be seeking collaboration with them. Think of it as a virtual buffet of all the good stuff Columbus has to offer in relation to development of our urban core.

And to think, I'm just getting started :)

Thanks for the continued support

Just another THANK YOU to all my readers and well-wishers out there...and there are a lot of you out there. I continue to receive the thank-yous and kudos on a weekly basis and the feedback that I'm starting to see on some of my posts has become a little more active on the site as of late. Its these little things that are very encouraging to me and to me they are signs of what I hope is still to come...

I'll also throw out an apology to folks that have tried to e-mail or contact me without getting a timely response in recent eeks. While I get back to almost everyone, it's been a little tougher lately due to an increased workload and some other day-time initiatives that I've had to start working on recently to keep things afloat for myself and RetroMetro.

While my writing time has been crunched, my resolve has probably more than doubled so continue to keep your eye out for what's developing at RetroMetro.

Again, thanks for reading, thanks for participating and thank you for the continued support for my efforts and the urban revitalization of downtown Columbus.

We're back up and running

The technical issues have been resolved and RetroMetro is back up and running.

Columbus RetroMetro is experiencing techincal difficulties

Columbus RetroMetro is currently experiencing technical difficulties with a database server at our dedicated hosting provider. Their network engineers are currently working to resolve the problem as quickly as possible. In the meantime the only accessbile area is the NEWS section.

I apologize for the inconvenience.

We're experiencing...

We're experiencing...a day off and will resume with our regularly scheduled programming (and e-mail newsletter) Tuesday. Please stand by. [cheesy elevator music playing in background]

"Newspaper Web sites up, print circulation down" CNN.com

Interesting trend in the print arena when it comes to finding news. Some industry experts have stated that 2006 is slated to be the year that web-based advertising overtakes print advertising in terms of overall revenue. It still may be a bit early for that to happen but the process has clearly begun if what is happening in the newspaper industry is any indicator:

Link: Newspaper Web sites up, print circulation down
CNN.com
May 8, 2006.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Newspaper circulation fell 2.6 percent in the six-month period ending in March, according to data released Monday, as more people turned to the Internet and other media outlets for news and information...

URBAN BUSINESSES Listing Service

The 3rd of 4 core services that Columbus RetroMetro has been working on was completed last week and a snuck into the main navigation to give it a trial run. The new URBAN BUSINESSES listing service gives you a quick summary of local businesses that are in the various urban neighborhoods throughout Columbus. Of course, that is what you will get as we start to fill it out.

There are many business listing services and tools online that you can use to look up businesses or restaurants but RetroMetro's listing service is a little different.

For one, as part of the fee for the listing service, we periodically verify the data in the listings to ensure it is current. There is an abundance of bad data out there on the web and we aim to be a reliable and local source. Business owners will additionally have the ability to log into RetroMetro and update their own information and upload pictures.

Secondly, one of the primary inspirations for creating a business listing by neighborhood is to provide a way for urban home buyers and renters to truly explore their potential neighborhoods. Not only are there photo albums and virtual tour panoramas listed under the various neighborhoods we cover, but as businesses are added to the site, you'll be able to see what businesses are within 1/4, 1/2 and 1 mile of any specific home or apartment as you view the detail of a particular unit. The businesses help sell the urban lifestyle by letting potential residents see what they can walk to.

This unique approach not only allows businesses a new channel to reach a targeted urban market, but by showing that their business is located within walking distance of a particular home, they help "sell" the unit. The more businesses within walking distance, the greater the convenience of the home's location can be displayed.

It's a whole new way to advertise your business AND promote urban living in Columbus.

We've got our first business listing and an example of home the business listing is additionally displayed on an Apartment Detail page. Have a LOOK.

Be sure to click on the Urban Gardener's ad in the right-hand column to get a look at what the business listing pages looks like.

To view pricing, submit a business listing or for more information, please visit our ADVERTISE YOUR BUSINESS page.

"Discovering benefits of urban living a click away" The Columbus Dispatch

Man...what a great site this article points out. Awesome urban resource. I need to meet this guy [grin]:

Link: Discovering benefits of urban living a click away
Friday, March 24, 2006
ANN FISHER
The Columbus Dispatch

Paul Bonneville has an even more detailed map at Columbusretrometro.com. A transplant from Springfield, Mass., the 33-year-old Bonneville builds Web sites and has pictured himself in real-estate development, especially Downtown.

In July 2004, he started collecting his notes and links, creating a blog to manage the load and interspersing it with commentary about Columbus. The Internet generation noticed, responded and approved...

RetroMetro FOR SALE Beta Home Listing Service

So I snuck in another new service last week in case you hadn't noticed in the main menu bar. Say hello to the RetroMetro FOR SALE listing service. Now not only are you able to search for urban rentals and apartments but now you can find homes and condos that are for sale in all of Columbus' urban and historic neighborhoods. You can interactivly change your search criteria and limit your search results by neighborhood or type of home.

HOME BUYERS

The main difference between RetroMetro's service and one such as an MLS listing is that we show you definitively where the boundaries are for each of the neighborhoods. No more Italian Village-ish or German Village-esque homes...you can actually see the neighborhood boundaries. Keep an eye on the serive as we add more listings each week. Give it a whirl...

HOME SELLERS

This is a great service for FSBO's selling their own homes and realtors alike. RetroMetro's high search engine placement and continually growing visitor base gives you another advertising avenue for marketing your urban home.

DEVELOPERS

Whether or not you are selling your properties directly or through a realtor, you urban homes and condominiums can gain exposure to a very targeted audience. RetroMetro quite often serves as a relocation tool for people moving into Columbus from out of state.

So what are you waiting for? It's free to list your properties for a limited until all the kinks are worked out. We also provide direct metrics of home many indiviudals viewed your listing and whether or not that clicked on a link to visit your website. Let RetroMetro prove what we can do for you. Add a listing today!

A few changes on RetroMetro

I've made a few changes to RetroMetro to give a better "picture" of the development that is going on in Columbus:

First off, I renamed the URBAN PROJECTS page to CONDO PROJECTS because I was experiencing a lot of people searching for "condos" with the search tool so it wasn't as obvious a section as I had hoped it would be. Along with the recent renaming, I also added a map to the top of the page that shows all of the condo projects we currently have in the RetroMetro system. Even for me, to see all the markers on the map, paints a very different picture than just looking at a long list or a number. Be sure to check it out if you haven't been in that section for a while: CONDO PROJECTS

I've also renamed the  PANORAMA section of RetroMetro to VIRTUAL TOURS. I take some of the terms I use in the web & interactive world for granted and VIRTUAL TOUR is something in the real estate industry that is a bit more familiar. At the same time, I've also added a city-wide map that shows all of the VIRTUAL TOUR STOP locations that we've visited. With the weather getting nicer, uh...soon, the tour stops will be expanding across all of the urban neighborhoods in the coming months. Have a look: VIRTUAL TOURS

Much much, more to come in the next few weeks...(code, code, code, all night long, code, code, code while I sing my song...)

RetroMetro GET INVOVLED Event

So I promised you some more information this week on how to GET INVOLVED in the urban revitalization here in Columbus. Whether it be as simple as having a networking event with like minded people or a well-planned presentation with guest speakers, as RetroMetro moves forward with planning our first GET INVOLVED event, we need your input.

For an initial event, a majority of the presentation will cover RetroMetro's history, where we are today and where we are headed. We'll also talk about the ways you can help promote your own urban neighborhood and the tools and technologies built into RetroMetro that can help you.

I have personally had the chance to meet so many current and future urbanites and the first and foremost thought that occurred to me when thinking about an event is: What happens if we are all in the same room? If I do nothing more than that, I've done good...

So give me your thoughts and feedback. Take a moment of your time to fill out a quick survey on what you think would make a worth while event that would be worth your while:

Click here to take the RetroMetro GET INVOLVED survey

RetroMetro FOR RENT Beta Apartment Listing Service

So I promised that I would have some new toys on RetroMetro and now we are delivering. We launched the rental listing service a few months back just to test it out from a technology and a usefulness perspective. After a few comments, extensive tweaking and some serious feature enhancements I am happy to release the official beta version of the RetroMetro FOR RENT service.

I'll be working with a few property managers to get some more apartment listings in the system to slowly test it as more listings are added. If you own, manage or know someone with property, we are still looking for some more listings at no cost to you (that would mean free) as we go through our final round of testing before officially launching the service.

PROPERTY MANAGERS

You can ad a listing by going HERE or by e-mailing me directly at paul@columbusretrometro.com for more information. The web-based administration system is nearly complete too...which means you get to manage your own ads once they are in the system and activated. Once I receive an e-mail or listing from you, I will send you explicit directions on how to manage your ad online and how to upload your photos.

FAITHFUL RETROMETRO SUPPORTERS

Start messing around with the FOR RENT search tools and maps. Bust it up, find the bugs, and if you really love RetroMetro, you'll let me know (paul@columbusretrometro.com). I also want to hear your feedback, thoughts or ideas regarding the service. A lot of what you see on RetroMetro has come from just that type of feedback.

Since this is just the beta, there are still many more unique features on the way. I'd love to tell you but I'm sure you wouldn't want me to ruin the surprise...

What's in a name?

Although I tend to take it for granted, a few people have asked me how I came up with the name Columbus RetroMetro. I've named another company in the past, and with my creative juices flowing I have a habit of hitting the dictionary with a concept and just start looking up words that relate to what I want the company to represent. Usually, one word's definition puts me on to another word and then I just start blending:

1. Retro: relating to, reviving, or being the styles and especially the fashions of the past

2. Metro: a city regarded as a center of a specified activity

In the case of RetroMetro, I did some dictionary diving and then started searching for available domain names. Sad to say but the available domains influenced the ultimate decision for the name.

The toughest part is remembering which came first, the Retro or the Metro :)

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain..

So, if any of you out there have ever wondered what really drives me to spend countless hours tap-tap-typing away to fuel this meager website with all the urban informational tidbits that I can, I thought I'd share a mere glimpse behind my intentions with you AND share the latest information source on the web that I came across that inspired tonight's posting:

Link: Trends to Watch in 2006.
CEOs for Cities Exchange
ceosforcities.com
January 22nd, 2006

...Technological connectivity will transform the way people live and interact. The technology revolution has been just that. Yet we are at the early, not mature, stage of this revolution. More transformational than technology itself is the shift in behavior it enables. We work not just globally but also instantaneously. We are forming communities and relationships in new ways...

WARNING: I'M IN MY URBAN MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER MODE. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK OF LISTENING TO UNREQUESTED JIBBER-JABBER ON TECHNOLOGY AS A CATALYST FOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT. IF DIZZINESS, FEELINGS OF FAINTNESS OR EXTREME NAUSEA OCCUR DISCONTINUE USE AND SEEK OUT IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION. OR YOU COULD JUST CHANGE YOUR WEB CHANNEL:

It's by putting the urban informational tidbits together that I find in various places and sources that I am piecing together a larger puzzle that gives me a picture of problems in our urban evolution that I feel need to be solved. More often than not they are communication problems. By being able to identify those problems and then in turn communicate them to a larger audience, there is a chance that I can help make a connection between the right people that may have the solution or an idea of how to fix it. More or less, I aim to create an efficient communication channel for urban development in Columbus.

That's the idealist in me.

Technology and the way we use it to communicate is changing, as the article points out. It seems silly to say that but with this changing, we are changing.

I've been working with the Internet as a way to earn my living since 1996. Sometimes it's been a full-time job, others just a part-time income supplement. As someone who lives eats and breathes it, I am just in this last year truly began noticing the change in the way people are thinking as a result of these communication changes that the Internet has brought into existence...and I've been looking for it for a long time. Build a few dozen websites with the technologies that help make the changes I'm talking about and over the years and you'll start thinking Internet-efficiently too. It's actually kind of scary and doesn't work well on dates, "My name is Paul, nice to meet you, let's get married."

I won't go into the deeper thoughts on the topic of our societal behavioral changes, but my thinking is that there is a new model for information dissemination and advertising that we are becoming more receptive to that can be capitalized on which brings with it certain inherent efficiencies. It is these efficiencies that will allow a given market to grow exponentially faster than we could ever imagine. Can you say "Google?" My given market of choice on which to try and apply these efficiencies is urban revitalization.

What it gets down to is that you must find the leaders, the businesses and the consumers, establish the most direct communication connections possible between them and exploit it to the fullest extent. Given the two definitions of exploit, "make productive use" or "make use of unjustly," I chose the former. It's a "good thing" that I'm talking about (OK, OK...there is of course a capitalistic bend in there cleverly disguised as altruistic ingenuity.)

So that's my theory. My motivation. My philosophy if you will. That me, the man behind the curtain. I've chosen urban revitalization to put my theory to the test. Can I support my theory? Preliminary research says yes. Can I effect a change in the urban revitalization market through these efficiencies? I'm confident I can.

So as is my usual tradition, I must answer: What's my point?

For every nay-sayer that I run into that says Columbus will never have a true urban community I say this: If you believe that, then you are already decided. Pack it up, head home...the games over. If all you have are complaints and issues and you do nothing aside from simply voicing them then you, my wayward compadre, are deathly in-the-wrong. I am a firm believer in the old saying, "Lead, follow, or get the H-E double hockey sticks out of the way."

I, through my given beliefs and abilities, chose to effect change upon the things that I would see become something better. I believe that Columbus will have again have a thriving urban community as I look to the future. It is on the way. I want to be a part of the machine that makes it happen. I think I can help the cause in my own way.

I'll leave it at this: If you want to see Columbus's urban community grow, how can you help and are you doing it?

Rental Listing Service now in BETA

It's been a long time coming but I've finally launched the BETA version of RetroMetro's Rental Listing Service. There are many features in development but I'm starting out with a simple interface and text based listing system. I will be adding more features over the coming weeks. Look for the capability to view pictures and QTVR panoramas in the very near future, just for starters.

This service will remain free for an indeterminate amount of time while I get all the bugs worked out and finish developing all the features I plan on offering. That will hopefully be within the next few weeks...

If you know any property managers or landlords, be sure to let them know about the service, especially while it's free for a limited time. With 300 to 400 unique visitors a day (and growing), they will defiantly get some great exposure :)

Happy Holidays!

Best wishes to you and yours over the hoildays. 

I'll be on hiatus over the next few days so enjoy your Christmas weekend and take it easy on the eggnog...

Bug in the Blog

I'm not sure how many people experienced this issue but none of my postings seem to have published for yesterday and today. I get into such a routine that I don't always actually go to the site to check if the posting went live. So much for trusting the little men in the machine that make all the magic happen. Needless to say, I've discovered and fixed the issue.

I pride myself on posting Monday through Friday so needless to say that stumbling onto this was a disappointment...to myself at least :)

So while we are on the topic: If you have, are, did, would like to, have thought about any bugs on RetroMetro, please let me know about them. I've recently modified the non-blog portion of the site (all sections with the exception of "News") to notify me when something goes awry, but your feedback would be very beneficial. Please feel free to e-mail me directly if you've noticed anything "buggy".

The next addition to the RetroMetro toolbox...

One of the major motivations behind RetroMetro is to let people explore the urban neighborhoods of Columbus from a variety of perspectives. To that end, I've wanted to provide a way for people to actually see the neighborhoods. The Photo Albums I reintroduced a few weeks back is one such tool. In taking it to the next level, I'm introducing the use of fully interactive panoramas that allow you to "look around" as if you were standing in the picture.

I've been planning this addition for some time now and have finally gained the means to create these high-quality panoramas. While the flattened version you see above doesn't display the technology's full powers, the following QuickTime VR (QTVR) samples do. To view these panoramas you will have to have the QuickTime Player installed on your system which you can get by clicking HERE. Once the file loads, place your cursor over the image and move to the left and right to look around in the scene.

As I go forward I will be creating additional versions that do not require Quicktime (it's a fairly large download...depending on your connection) but for the moment:

Download MEDIUM RES QuickTime version (5MB)
Download HIGH RES QuickTime version (11MB)
PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE FILES MAY TAKE A WHILE TO DOWNLOAD. YOU MAY HAVE TO WAIT A MINUTE OR TWO TO VIEW THE QTVR

In the coming weeks, look for new panoramas from various locations around urban Columbus and within some local businesses and restaurants. I will be adding the panorama locations to their respective District & Neighborhoods page allowing you to see where they were taken via icons on the neighborhood maps.