On 1/17/2020 4:29 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Friday, January 17, 2020 at 7:38:45 AM UTC-8, sms wrote:
On 1/16/2020 11:17 AM, Duane wrote:

snip

Do you have hipsters in PDX?Â* They're all over the mountain here.Â* Doing
wheelies down the mountain on fixies while texting their buddies and
grooving to their ear buds.Â* I started handing out cards telling them
the cheap wine is free in Ohio.

Not going to work. Trader Joe's lowered the price of "Two Buck Chuck"
back to $2.

Free is better than $2, and Ohio has other inducements. They're basically giving houses away. Go to Redfin and look at Youngstown. https://www.redfin.com/OH/Youngstown.../home/71983689 Ay chihuahua! A hipster could buy a house there and fill it with wine.

We once had a young couple in our bike club, tandem riders, smart and
pleasant people. He was an architect employed by a large local corporation.

They bought one of the mansions on what was once nicknamed Millionaire's
Row, probably built by a steel company executive back in the area's most
prosperous days. The architect believed there was no other place in the
country where a person could buy such an amazing house for such a low
price.

And we have other friends - the guy's a former cyclist, used to tour the
Alps - who recently moved out of our village into another big old house
inside the city. They're optimistic about the city's future, and are
betting on gentrification. We also have very good cycling friends (the
most dedicated touring and utility cyclists I know) who live very nearby
their place, and have for at least 45 years. But of course, there's risk
in buying any inner-city house. Houses and neighborhoods very nearby are
in bad shape and declining.

I've led club rides right past the house in Jay's link, specifically to
gaze at some of the architecture in that neighborhood. Some of the
houses there are sort of second tier mansions, not quite as luxurious as
some other areas of town; but many are still quite impressive. (There's
also a mix of more normal homes.)

There is a non-profit organization in town that works very hard to
preserve inner city neighborhoods like that. They do good work, buying
and rehabilitating houses worth saving.

Tom should move here!

--
- Frank Krygowski