Dayton Ohio: Does it still suck there? (Green, Troy: military, shop)

[SWOH]

Originally Posted by RDriesenUD

Well said

Thanks!

[weatherphotographer]

Any new suckage to add, Dayton Sux?

[Dayton Sux]

Well, that this place is so conservative and GOP is one thing I find sucky. The relentless GOP dominance here is just dreary and sad.

That's one thing I miss about the Louisville area....there are actually white people who vote Democratic, and they don't all live in some liberal ghetto like Yellow Springs. In the Dayton area the only places that the Dems are competitive are areas with signifigant black population, since the blacks vote Dem en bloc. It isn't like that in the Louisville metro area.

[hensleya1]

Originally Posted by Dayton Sux

Well, that this place is so conservative and GOP is one thing I find sucky. The relentless GOP dominance here is just dreary and sad.

That's one thing I miss about the Louisville area....there are actually white people who vote Democratic, and they don't all live in some liberal ghetto like Yellow Springs. In the Dayton area the only places that the Dems are competitive are areas with signifigant black population, since the blacks vote Dem en bloc. It isn't like that in the Louisville metro area.

I'm not sure how you drew that conclusion.

Montgomery County has been, and remains dominated by, the Democratic Party and it looks like there's no signs of changing.

All three county commissioners - Foley, Lieberman, Dodge - are Democrats. So is the county auditor, the prosecutor, clerk of courts, engineer, and treasurer.

The county hasn't voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1988. I forget when the last time the city proper voted for a Republican - I think it was like 1920, or something like that. The Democrats always carry the city by a three to one margin or greater. The entire west side votes as a bloc for Democrats, as does half the east side, where a white population is more divided.

And on the common pleas bench? Of 11 judges, only 3 to my knowledge are Republicans - Adkins, Huffman, and Singer. Four if you count the incoming judge-elect Skelton, but he only ran as a Republican because the county Democrat party would not allow anyone to run against McGee in a primary.

***


Well, that this place is so liberal and democrat is one thing I find sucky. The relentless Democrat dominance here is just dreary and sad.

[SWOH]

Id say complete political dominance by one group or another is dreary. Because I know we've discussed it before but I have the exact same issue just to the north. Not one of the politicians representing me even comes close to matching my political beliefs, and if I vote it won't matter because the system is rigged so my candidates will never be voted in.

So there could be two options. Right now, with the current political regimes on both sides of the aisle, there's only one - move to a place with like minded people.

Or we could get smart and have a system like this
Elections In America Have A Big Problem I Didn't Even Know Existed. But His Solution Is Genius.

Either way I'm still hoping the Liberatarians split soon. Then at least there will be more choice.

[IDtheftV]

Originally Posted by OHKID

Either way I'm still hoping the Liberatarians split soon. Then at least there will be more choice.

What does "split" mean there?

[SWOH]

Originally Posted by IDtheftV

What does "split" mean there?

I'm haven't been much into politics recently, but I'm getting a sense that the Tea Party / Liberty movement isn't too far off from an "Idealized Libertarianism". And the rift continues to grow larger and larger between traditional business-minded Conservatives and small-government minded Tea Partiers. The new Congress in particular will be interesting to see function since Tea Partiers will be able to create strong factions to oppose legislation which they don't like that is handed down from the true conservative side of the party.

Personally, I think there would be a lot of benefit to three staunch parties - one Progressive, one Conservative, and one Libertarian. Consider government subsidies for businesses, for example.

Progressives would favor subsidies only for certain entities that align with their broad societal goals.
Conservatives would favor subsidies for all businesses
Libertarians would favor subsidies for no businesses.

Three parties would at lead to better discussions and analysis of issues than two, where everything can be boiled down to yes/no. Like with the above, for instance, the progressive viewpoint is the moderate view between the conservative and libertarian extremes. And other examples would work where the conservative view is the moderate viewpoint between the libertarian and progressive extremes, etc.

[ohio_peasant]

The Dayton region follows the classical political pattern: left/liberal/Democratic core, surrounded by vast acres of right/conservative/Republican areas. Montgomery county is mostly urban, and mostly Democratic. Greene County is solidly Republican. I don't know about Preble, Miami or Warren counties, but I'd suspect that they're also overwhelmingly Republican. Such patterns, I think, are ubiquitous in the American landscape, and perhaps worldwide. Urban centers tend to be more pluralistic, more progressive, and more left-leaning economically; and precisely the reverse for the more rural regions. What's unusual about the Dayton region is the comparative smallness of the anchor-city in relation to the overall metro area, and thus the political consequences.

[Dayton Sux]

Tip o the hat to Ohiokid for the latest reason Dayton sux....the ongoing urban lobotomy continues:

Originally Posted by OHKID

^On this point I'll have to respectfully disagree.

Take a look around the city via streetview. There's a lot of vacant land out there! Both in city limits and outside of it, with good highway visibility and without. All kinds of space to develop.

My worry is that we're tearing down too fast. A lot of stuff being plowed down is fine structurally - like look at Student Suites and the honeymoon deal Rauch received to plow down the old DDN and Schwind buildings. Student Suites could have rehabbed the Schwind and DDN, both of which together were probably about the same size as what will be built (if it ever happens). And the cost of rehab most likely would have been less than demo + new build, if the demo hadn't been subsidized by the city, because the Schwind had previously been apartments! The stupidity sometimes....

And it's continuing again with demolitions in Old North Dayton for..... a new unnecessary roadway? Which is especially stupid considering a better path for the road could be ran over the space where a couple of beautiful, solidly-built historic buildings had already been freshly demolished.

Every single one of these buildings is in the "line of blighted buildings" to be demolished:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dayton,+OH+45404/@39.7698576,-84.1758475,3a,75y,330.09h,81.51t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sPiDIZHjnYDekg-z5bG5oWg!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x884083e66e77548b:0x7eed09 a601d67722
Here's what's already been demolished:
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7703551,-84.1751565,3a,75y,292.4h,95.58t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sa-UjziSGXqC_RTRDWtAyfQ!2e0


And here's where they could, very easily, run the road instead (suggestion in green, current proposal in red) I apologize for my dismal Paint skills:

[Dayton Sux]