Star Trek and Number One

The rumors are swirling about the new Star Trek movie. Today's Cleveland Plain Dealer featured a short article outlining the film's casting. Trek Today reports that Captain Christopher Pike will play a major role in the upcoming film. Although there is no posted information yet, if this film does focus on the Enterprise under Pike I hope they expand on the role Majel Barrett played in the original pilot, Number One. Her role was small, but just seeing the character in action, and from the small amount of interplay between Spock, herself and Pike, I could tell that she held promise and could well have become a fan favorite.

Good Downtown Akron Development?

The Mayor and developer Martin Mehall yesterday announced Plusquellic's apparent return to sweetheart deals for fellow democrats. Mehall will get a deal on the land at Exchange and Main. Kevin Davis will make out by either selling his property or being included in the development. Mehall will build a 450 bed series of townhouse apartments and retail, with the apartments available exclusively to University of Akron students. The deal brings expensive housing downtown, but only for students with limited disposable income. Plus the kids will be closer to bars which under our current law they shouldn't be frequenting.

It's also interesting that the Mayor makes this announcement on the same day the University of Akron announces it's plans for a new, 470 bed dorm east of campus, and a hike from downtown. If I didn't know better I'd say there was a tug-of-war going on for the students' dollars between UA and the city. Wait...I don't know better.

And all of this begs the question of just how many students are available to live either on or close to campus, and whether any of this housing meets their needs. Mehall may think his project is "very, very viable", but so did Tony Troppe of his Hickory Street project. After seeing the developments in Portland and even Cleveland, I think the city needs to think very carefully about where it's pushing new development. Students can live in decent housing near the university, or at reasonable prices in areas like Highland Square or Firestone Park, and still be minutes from downtown. The city hasn't come up with plans for any decent, easy to use public transporation like the light rail of Portland, and doesn't provide bike paths or other alternatives to get around, so if you have to have a car what's the incentive to live in expensive, downtown student housing. And is it even legal to say you will only rent to students?

Max

I haven't felt the desire to write about Max since we had to put him to sleep on Sept. 17th. I know everyone always feels they have the best pet, but he was something special.

My neighbors, Pam and Jim, actually found the little guy wandering down West Exchange street and brought him home. They had three dogs at the time, and said they could not handle a fourth. My loss of my dog since college, Jiggers, was recent enough that I was still using the line that I "would never get another dog", but I could tell Molly, my other Mutt, was feeling lonely without a buddy around. Here was this shaggy dust mop (his hair was the length of a Llaso Apso) running around, tongue out, and my heart gave in. After his first haircut I never let his hair get back to that length again. My vet thought he was about a year old, so his puppy hood was about through, except Max never realized he had stopped being a puppy. He was excited about everything, or extremely bored. No gray middle for him.

I need to stop here before the tears come on. But I'm sure there is more to come about my best bud Max.

Dog days of October

What a weekend! The Browns looked decent against New England, there were no major injuries, and now the Indians move on after beating Lebron's favs to face Boston. Cleveland sports have been looking good!

Sunday we made progess with the bulletin board at the dog park. Jeremy and Mike were both instrumental in getting the plexiglass replaced. They stuggled valiently as dogs large and small came over to check out what the humans were trying to accomplish.

I would still like to know who thinks it's worthwhile to bust the glass and steal the supply box from a dog park. Even if it was just kids, I'd like to give them a piece of my mind. Of course petty crime seems to be up all over Akron, which just reflects the times in this small, rust-belt city.

Another meeting

Well, another day, another meeting. Last night was the HSNA. Lisa did a nice job running through all the topics, and there's a chance of getting some momentum going. There were several new, and potentially active, voices present, including next-door-neighbor Chuck.

As an organization, the membership really needs to decide on whether their focus is advocacy or the neighborhood. Maybe there's no way to separate the two. If the Highland goes down or the street somehow gets widened, there goes the walkable neighborhood.

I was thinking last night about how, in an area with so many elderly and singles mixed, the neighborhood becomes either a second family, or the main family. There are evenings on Jefferson where I half expect to hear "Good night, John-Boy" echoing down the street. Whether we like it or not we come to know what's going on in each other's lives, form opinions about the folks who don't come out on their porches, and judge the people exerting control over the neighborhod from downtown. More than once I've thought it would be cool to be our own little village within the city. Secession anyone?

Day at the dog park

So the water is off at the dog park and I have no idea how soon it will be on. We have a meeting tomorrow to try to move forward, and I am actually excited about the new people who may come on board, and the involvement of the city.

Last night talking to patrons at the park really reminded me of what a valuable place this has become in the last four years. A lot has been accomplished. I wonder if any marriages have come out of the park? Certainly some romance has. Certainly there are some wackos there too.

I need to remember the couple that moved to Akron with the specific requirement that their new home be within a mile of a park. Without the Akron Park they would have moved to Stow, or somewhere close to Cleveland. Examples like theirs should be enough to push us to want to keep the park goin!