http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070301/NEWS16/70...
Ben Konop is looking at the idea of a Door St. corridor that will spurn new businesses in the immediate vicinity of UT.
This appears to be a join venture with the university.
I have been screaming for this for years. When I was a UT student there wasn't much reason to live near the university other than the university itself. The area south of Door and East of campus were all run down homes that consisted of students and drug dealers.
To combat the problem in it's infinite wisdom City Council along with the Mayor passed legislation to make it harder for students to live there (while not realizing it's impact on untraditional families in the process). The result is students moved out, taking with them the money mommy and daddy sent from their hometown to spend here, and more drug dealers and thugs moved in.
Door St. is an explosion waiting to happen. A cash cow. I'm not talking just bars and resteraunts but other businesses as well. For instance there's not one office supply store in the vicinity of campus! Seems dumb being the numbers of pens, pencils, and paper students go through a year. But it's true.
If developers were encouraged to create a courtyard style group of businesses on the southern end of campus it would aid campus life, increase the $$$ students put into the economy, encourage more students to go to UT, and push out the thus who brings with them higher crime and urban blight.
On slide 33 of the UT Master Facilities Plan, there's a plan to turn the corner of Dorr & Secor into a retail area focusing on student-centric businesses. There's a few bars and fast food joints on Dorr from Towerview to Byrne, so putting retail and parking at the Dorr & Secor could kickstart growth in that area. It's easily walkable from the large dorms & frat houses on south main campus, making it easy for students to go barcrawling and not have to drink and drive.
Also, from the article in the Blade, it seems like UT itself isn't involved in the plan Konop is touting. A UT student called the press conference, but I don't see where any UT administration were involved. The only problem I see with his plan is that it's a bit of a hike from campus. The UT plan could incorporate a UT shuttle stop, but Konop's plan would probably require involvement with TARTA.
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"When I say your dumb name, please stand up briefly, but then quickly drop to your knees and forsake all others before me." -Ignignokt
I apologize I took the involvment of UT's student government as a sign that the university was involved. So thank you for your post HB.
UT already has a shuttle system that could be used only problem is it doesn't run outside of normal school hours and weekends.
Either TARTA or UT should try to keep the shuttles going during nontraditional hours in the campus vicinity. This would eliminate the need for a vehicle for students. By eliminating a need for a vehicle the student's discretionary income significantly increases.
MikeyA
Can be found here:
http://glasscityjungle.com/wordpress/?p=1008
You'd think he'd be all over this topic like black on a goth eyelid. Konop has played this card before, during the run-up (and inclusively) to his election campaign.
As usual, I have one primary and overriding criticism of any such plan:
Who pays for it?
The government has no business "encouraging" developers since it's always the job of private industry to both understand the market and take its own risks. By the same token, the government should not needlessly stand in the way of sensible and sustainable development of any area.
like black on a goth eyelid
lmao
:-)
For instance there's not one office supply store in the vicinity of campus! Seems dumb being the numbers of pens, pencils, and paper students go through a year. But it's true.
Not to quibble, but there's probably not much of a need for this particular venture with two student bookstores on and close to campus. Also, students and staff are permitted to order supplies for personal use through Office Max at discounted prices and have them delivered the next day. The downside of that is that Office Max doesn't take the Rocket Card, whereas the bookstores do.
like the sarcasm off, on stuff :-)
And technically - wouldn't that be Carty's Comic Crew?
Just a thought.
Hehehe
UT has a student enrollment that surpassed OSU's enrollment this year?
Also that the tuition is higher? I think UT is an unsung hero to the area.....and a great potential resource for future business and community leaders...
For the information. Had no idea how to find that information.
If you drive up High St. on campus - you'll see an SBU, office supply shop - some mini-fast food places. I know the same is true near the U of M campus as well.
The difference is that those areas encourage new businesses to open, and people feel safer trying things like that to cater to a university environment knowing that the city is behind them.
If you ask a business owner in Toledo if they think that the city is dedicated to the success of their business - what would the response be?
GZ just because there's a need doesn't mean it will be fulfilled. Other things are factors in creating a business. For instance, the help of local politicians.
Most of the politicians in Toledo are more willing to help a store as such move to a Westgate or near the Franklin Park Mall where the tax abatements run rampant. Near Door St. the attitude is a complete 180. Very few local politicians have taken a proactive approach to the UT area. Most times it's dealing with complaints from students who live in the Old Orchard area because that's where the "upper class" people in the area live.
Also things like taxes and zoning come into play as well.
Also I have heard the statistic that Kate quoted. Now I don't know if it's true but it may be just to what extent I don't know. It's important to note that OSU has many campuses. UT has about 4 and only 2 are major ones. The OSU campus Lima has students that go into the thousands. If they're included in the 59,000 it may be true that the statistic that Kate quoted is true. If it is or isn't I am unaware.
However one statistic I do know is that UT is now one of only 17 universities that offers all of the major professional degrees available.
Plus West Virginia Univ. only outnumbers UT in student population by only a mere 3,000. Also the city of Toledo is twice the size of Morgantown, WV. Yet WVU recieves more community support than does UT. Support in many different areas. I think the city could do a better job at promoting one of the states premiere universities that operates within it's own borders.
Also I'm not surprised by Case Western. They compete for the local students with CSU, Akron, Kent, Youngstown St. and Ohio St. directly. UT's biggest competition comes from BG, Owens (for 2 yr students, Eastern Mich., and OSU. A considerablely larger spread of land between universities.
MikeyA
It's economic blasphemy of the highest order to ever say "there's enough retail in this area". That's not for YOU to decide! -- it's for the POLITICIANS to decide! That's why we have a public treasury, and politicians to dole it out in lavish dollops for business ventures that the private sector isn't good at seeing. Apparently in Toledo, there's a LOT of stuff that the private sector isn't seeing, so we have the Carty's 'Conomic Crew (CCC) to spring into action once an unexploited retail opportunity arises.
Val I mention it because I was a Engineering student way back when and I did run into a problem of not being able to find the supplies I needed for a project and ended up driving way out of my way.
Plus both bookstores compete very little for the business of the students who live on campus and don't have a vehicle. The result is a higher markup on regular items besides the already overpriced books.
Also a Staples or Office Max would be a nearby location for not just normal supplies but equipment and office furniture. If you're a student in a dorm without a car how would you get a new desk or chair if your's broke? Pretty much you'd have to wait until your parents came up or bum a ride to a local store.
I just choose these as an example because I recognized a need for it when I was a student and 6 years later it is still unfulfilled.
Also GZ the area on the southern side of Door runs into many zoning issues thanks to our politicians. It will take a politician to step forward and try to get this moving. While I do agree it should be private $$ to fund it.
MikeyA
In this link, we see enrollments for Ohio's top 10 educational institutions (barring municipal school systems):
These numbers might be corroborated here, but I don't have time to do that.
By these numbers, UT is 1/3rd of the enrollment size of OSU. Even if some number of students was not taken into account (like distance-learning students), or were taken into account asymetrically, UT is still a markedly smaller school. I find it difficult to believe that 40000 students of any kind have been missed in forming UT's enrollment statistic ... even without the MUO update, which given the size of the MUO campus can't be any larger than 2000 students.
What is surprising to me is how small Case Western Reserve University is (note: the first university I considered going to (and yes, I never considered UT)). It has 9,095 enrolled -- half the size of BGSU.
Of further interest, this link shows that OSU leads the "list of largest United States higher education institutions by enrollment [... which] includes only individual four-year campuses, not four-year universities". OSU is now the largest single campus in America. It's been in the top 2-3 for years. I can imagine from the definition that only multi-campus universities are larger than OSU.
(For some strange reason, both links differ on OSU's enrollment by about 8000 students. Odd.)
I don't know what I was thinking, GZ. I temporarily forgot my place. And on the Internet, no less. I am so screwed...
Mikey, what particular barrier exists to keep Staples, OfficeMax, etc. from opening a relatively small storefront on Dorr St to service specific student needs? There are enough existing storefronts to demonstrate that it's possible, and they're more than large enough to accomodate a small selection of student furniture.
Putting in smaller, more focused stores is hardly new. Several retailers manage this. Could it be that the office-supply folks just don't see a sufficient profit margin in doing so?
I'm surprised that by now, if such a need existed, that the copy shops haven't undertaken to expand in that fashion as another revenue generator.
Well, who really needs the corporations, anyway? UT has almost 20000 students. There are enough business majors graduating for ONE of them in ONE year to have figured out the need to open a store as you desired near UT, and then try to do so. Yet, it's not been done. Hmm. Ahm thinkin' somethin's missin' heah, pard.