Hello from Ohio

sherry · Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 4:29 pm Post subject:

Welcome to the site!

weimdawgs · Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 5:33 pm Post subject:

Welcome, Stella is adorable.

myweimzoey · Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 7:47 pm Post subject:

Welcome from a fellow Ohioan .. Stella is cute .. I never got to see Zoey that small .. She was 4 months when we got her and wasn't such a little puppy no more ..

Sherry327 · Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 8:00 pm Post subject:

Welcome. She is a cutie pie.

stella1 · Puppy Joined: 11 Sep 2008 Posts: 6

Christina · Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 9:22 pm Post subject:

Welcome, she is very cute. I am from the Columbus area as well. If you ever want to meet up at the dog park or anything let me know. Smile

blankenship7 · Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 8:09 am Post subject:

Welcome!

luana80it · Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 2:03 am Post subject:

welcome!

wildlifecr13 · Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 7:28 am Post subject:

not to get too soap boxy, if thats a word, but it is a very interesting topic, so heres a few bits...

... in rural areas, the services provided to a single family home actually cost a township government more money than they bring in in taxes. Basic numbers (ballpark here) from most studies show that for every $1 collected in taxes, $1.30 is provided in services to single family homes. Working farms require about $0.40 in services for each dollar in taxes. This means the active farm lands that are out there in the rural areas are supporting those single family homes. If you are within city limits in a rural town, on sewer, water, etc, then its not so bad - again, we need small farm towns, its the houses on 5 acres of frontage that are the real problem when it comes to sprawl (read loss of habitat, water quality impacts, increased fuel use). Providing mail, roads, snow removal, etc. etc. really adds up, and yet no one wants to pay higher taxes.

... a thin population (non-dense) makes it impossible to have public transit... you need something like 6 units per acres to support public transit. a car based society is something relatively new to this country, and honestly, it doesnt work (at least, not long-term). a quick read on smart-growth principles will provide some basics on how communities can be more efficiently designed.

...getting back to cleveland... if we had "x" urban area, and over the last 30 years we have move to "2x" urban area, but we have the same population... then we have twice the roads, twice the sewers, twice the everything to maintain... so everyone needs to pay twice the taxes... we are not (ie ohio's gas tax has not changed in 30 years, which is why ODOT is in serious financial trouble...the national transportation fund is going broke as well... so we will be taking on debt to pay for repairs to the highways too), so our infrastructure is failing rapidly - the state of disrepair of bridges in this country is shocking.

if we have people living in a more dense communities we will have efficiencies of tax dollars, larger markets for commercial and retail, more job opportunities that require less of a commute, etc. (honestly, 6 units an acre isnt that scary - there are websites on visualizing density, they will show you 6 units an acre, it isnt all concrete)
this is all before we get into the water quality impacts and the air quality problems associated with a vehicle based community.

getting back to a "simpler time" when you had community grocery stores, locally owned businesses (that cycled money within the community), and walkable towns has a lot of benefits. wal-mart may be cheap, but most of the money you spend gets packaged up and sent elsewhere. they destroy local businesses and are all built in a way that require you to drive to get there, so they leave a giant hole in a community that could otherwise be walkable. we have to realize that we may want to live in a country setting, but there is a price to pay for it, and in a global economy, the inefficiencies we have built into our lives and our dependence on the automobile leave us in an precarious position.

these are a lot of generalities and basics, but you start to see how what we have done over the last 60 years has really created a landscape that we cant afford to maintain.

here is some good info.
http://www.smartgrowth.org/about/default.asp

wildlifecr13 · Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 7:33 am Post subject:

oh.. and for what its worth, i work 25 minutes from home, and live in town in a rural ohio community.
im not trying to point fingers and blame anyone, ohio is vastly going to be a rural state, and thats fine, but we also need to do more to protect our cities, make them attractive places to live, build up efficiencies there, and where we have people in rural settings, we need to be aware of the costs and do what we can to limit our inefficiencies. i would love to work in the town where I live... that just hasnt panned out yet. my wife carpools with a neighbor most days (she has a 10 minute commute)... it isnt perfect, and it wont ever be, but knowledge of the realities of what an automobile based society means will help us find ways to make things at least better... we cant fix it overnight, but to bury our heads and ignore it wont help either.

freespiritmom · Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 8:38 am Post subject:

Welcome from East Texas. Stella is beautiful.

wildlifecr13 · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 10:09 am Post subject:

just something to back up my crazy claims... this wont get much fanfare or press...

WASHINGTON -

Two months after the White House threatened to veto a highway trust fund rescue plan, President Bush signed the legislation on Monday.

Because the trust fund derives its revenues from the federal gas tax, and Americans have curtailed driving because of high gas prices, it was going broke much faster than anticipated. Washington would have to begin delaying payments to states for construction work as early as this month, meaning the loss of thousands of high-paying construction jobs. This produced the White House's turnaround.

The bill transfers $8 billion from the Treasury's general fund to shore up the financially teetering highway trust fund, which supports road and bridge projects around the country. In July, the White House threatened a veto, saying taking money from the general fund was "both a gimmick and a dangerous precedent that shifts costs from users to taxpayers at large."

Supporters of the transfer argued that the Treasury was merely returning $8 billion it took from the then-prospering trust fund in 1998 for deficit reduction.

Bush signed the bill with no ceremony or comment.

kamfam · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 10:20 am Post subject:

OH10Bowhunter · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 10:37 am Post subject:

Welcome to the Board. We need more Weims in OH10...We are up in Clyde Ohio,my commute is 1 1/2 hrs each way,I work in Delaware....Again Welcome Aboard........

kamfam · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 10:42 am Post subject:

crap. I missed the entire page 2 of this!!!! Great info, Chris!