Downtown Portland, ME- great urban core for an underrated city

Downtown boundaries are a bit convoluted and debatable. I simply followed what Google Maps provided.

Downtown Portland is typical in many ways for a New England Dwtn. Great historic architecture dense, vibrant, and lots of retail remains. Streets are also a bit windy and confusing but much more legible here than Dwtn Boston. Dwtn Portland certainly experienced its own period of blight akin to most American Dwtns with the construction of the suburban Maine Mall  in the 1970s. Yet this didn’t last too long and Dwtn Portland was largely sparred from major urban renewal efforts. Revitalization really started in the adjacent Old Port district with tourist and lots of local businesses blossoming. Since Dwtn and Old Port are so intertwined, Dwtn quickly began to see spill over revitalization as well. The industrial bayside district to the north of Dwtn has also seen lots of new development including a Trader Joe’s Wholefoods, and lots of higher end housing.

While statistically a very safe place, Dwtn still feels a bit rough around the edges partially due to its large homeless population, but also because there are some dead spots and underutilized buildings, especially in the eastern half of Dwtn. Dwtn could also use a better college age presence along with more affordable housing. Its also not a huge employment hub, but this may be a difficult deficiency to overcome given the fact that the City of Portland only has 66,000 residents even if the region is over 600K. But I like Dwtn Portland, ME overall and feel its a very comfortable and walkable place tying in nicely to several great adjacent urban districts. This is a very underrated urban place, that only New Englanders seems to know. 
Click here to view my Downtown Portland, ME album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Great density for an American Dwtn and well integrated into several surrounding urban districts.
* High quality architecture, especially historic. In-fill is good as well generally with good urban form. Some of the 60s-80 buildings are pretty ugly though.
* Good transit service within Dwtn and surrounding neighborhood. Decent service to the rest of the City. Some service to inner ring suburbs.
* Good system of bike lanes Dwtn and out to Portland Neighborhoods. Some connections out to the suburbs and larger Metro. Dockless bike share system is in its pilot year.
* Great economic diversity Dwtn. Okay racial diversity.
* No larger parks or recreational spaces Dwtn but lots of nice small and medium sized plazas.
* Congress Sq Park is I would consider Dwtn’s best civic space. This is the most dynamic space with lots of events and even a “friends of Congress Sq Park”.
* Generally a pretty safe Dwtn but a fair amount of homelessness helping it to feel a bit edgy.
* Generally great urban form but a handful of surface parking lots on the eastern edge. Also good urban street form.
* Great cultural amenities include a nice array of restaurants, bars, & cafes, great array of theaters and music halls including (a cineplex, indie film theater, and several performing arts theaters), lots of art galleries, the Portland Art Museum, and several smaller museums and historic houses.
* Other Dwtn amenities include a dwtn library and post office, the Cross Arena, and plenty of courts and government buildings.
* Downtown has a safety ambassador program
* Great retail amenities Dwtn, especially if you include adjacent neighborhoods that are walkable… Trader Joe’s, Wholefoods & several smaller grocers, a drug store, good array of boutiques and unique stores, several bookstores, plenty of bank branches, and lots of home good stores.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Decent amount of rental product but generally runs expensive. 1-bedrooms lease anywhere in the $1,000s, 2-bedrooms in the 1K&2Ks, no 3-bedroom product available.
* Similar situation for for-sale product. Most are condos selling anywhere between 350-800K. Some cheaper condos selling in the 200Ks. Decent amount of affordable rentals dwtn.
* No much of a skyline but some nice historic mid-sized towers and chapels.
* Portland’s main high school is located Dwtn and several others walkable to Dwtn like Baxter Academy for Technology & Science. A couple others about a mile out.
* Only a small Art College Dwtn. University of Southern Main is about a mile away with around 5,000 students.
* No convention center and only one sporting center, the Cross Arena.
* Difficult to find any hard numbers but I don’t sense that Downtown Portland is a huge employment hub. Probably 10-20K jobs especially if you include the great Dwtn area.
* No Target or other larger retailers. 

Beacon, NY- Hudson Valley’s best Success Story

I only included the pre WW-II portion of Beacon in this evaluation.

Beacon was named to commemorate the historic beacon fires that blazed forth from the summit of the Fishkill Mountains to alert the Continental Army of British troop movements. During the 1800s, the city  became a big manufacturing town and was known as “The Hat Making Capital of the US. Its important to note that Danbury, CT makes this claim as well!

But like most Hudson River Valley cities, Beacon experienced economic decline especially by the 60s.and 70s. By 1990 almost 80 percent of the city’s commercial business spaces and factories were vacant. Starting in the late 1990s, Beacon really focused on an art’s based revitalization strategy beginning with the opening of  Dia Beacon, one of the world’s largest contemporary art museums Dia. This spilled over into the Main Street and other historic warehouse buildings.

Main Street has become so successful that quality urban in-fill is starting to fill the gaps. Beacon’s revitalization success has also spilled over into a high standard of living for its residents, quality schools, good parks spaces, and a great array of cultural and walkable retail amenities focused on Main Street. To help make Beacon a great urban environment, I’d like to see better bike and ADA infrastructure along with a strong emphasis on providing affordable housing as this is a pretty high cost place to live. 
Click here to view my Beacon, NY album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Wonderful historic architecture along the main St. Nothing spectacular
 in the residential areas.
* Dwtn Beacon is becoming such a strong market that there is not quality urban in fill being constructed.
* Good public transit in dwtn Beacon, but it drops off in the neighborhoods esp. east of Fishkill Creek. Beacon is connected to the Hudson line providing convenient access to Poughkeepsie. One can even get to Manhattan in 2 hours.
* Over 60% of households are family households.
* Strong middle class community but still with good economic diversity. Great racial diversity as well.
* Excellent main street overall with great vibrancy, streetscaping, and lots of diverse retail and stores.
* Solid park amenities including a great waterfront park, extensive sport fields at Memorial Park, the South Ave Park, and several other smaller community parks. 
* Crime is low here and blight is limited.
* Very nice array of public, private, and parochial elementary schools within the City core. Middle and high schools are to the north more on the outskirts of town.
* Good cultural amenities including a great array of restaurants, bars, and cafes, several nice live music spots, a performing arts center, movie theater, and one of the world’s largest art museums. Also a good array of art galleries and a couple local museums.
* Not surprisingly lots of boutiques, local creative retailers, a small nature grocery store and a full service grocery store, a drug store, a couple bookstores, several bakeries, a cheese shop, and many antique stores. There is also a dwtn library and post office.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Good sidewalk infrastructure but up-to-date ADA curb cuts are rare.
* A short bike lane along the Hudson is the only one in town.
* For sale housing skews expensive but still a good diversity of product. Start homes run in the 200K, 300Ks, medium sized in the 400-500Ks. Top of the market is 600Ks-700Ks.
* Rental housing is also pretty expensive but good amount of product. 1-bedrooms lease in the $1,000s,  2 & 3 bedrooms anywhere from the high $1,000s to $3,000.

Newburgh, NY- Historic headquarters of the Continental Army

Downtown is generally bound by Washington to the south, 1st to the north, Robinson to the west, and the Hudson River to the east.

Newburgh area was first settled in the early 18th century. During the American Revolution, Newburgh served as the headquarters of the Continental Army. Newburgh became quite prosperous during the Gilded Age helped by its situation on the Hudson River midway between New York City and Albany.

Things started to unravel in Newburgh starting in the early 20th century with mills and industry shutting down. By the late 1960s the city was in full economic decline and used urban renewal plan to demolish the historic waterfront area. Newburgh has struggled for several decades even as Beacon across the river has stabilized and prospered. Much of this has to due with a lack of civic vision and political continuity. Fortunately things have begun to improve in Newburgh. More and more residential properties are being renovated with many homes selling in the 200K and 300Ks. The smaller Liberty Street biz district has seen many new businesses. Broadway Ave is still pretty rough but have businesses and most of its historic urban form. 
Click here to view my Newburgh, NY album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Excellent connectivity Dwtn.
* Hispanic majority population but still good diversity.
* High percentage of family households.
* Good for sale diversity ranging from around 75K-350K depending on size and condition.
* Rentals are a bit more expensive but good amount of product. 1-bedrooms rent in the low $1,000s and 2-bedrooms in the mid $1,000s. This high end price range is pretty surprising given the blight of the neighborhood, but it is New York.
* Good park amenities with Washington Head Quarter’s historic site, a waterfront park, safe harbor’s green (a good civic space), and the expansive Delano-Hitch Park to the west of Dwtn with a swimming pool and many sport facilities.
* Decent cultural amenities including a handful ethnic restaurants, several cafes, and a good number of bars on Liberty, the Ritz Theater, a couple of art galleries.
* While rough the main street urban form is very much in tact. Streetscape still pretty rough. Liberty Ave has the most investment, Broadway has a ways to go still.
* Great density here. 

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Consistent sidewalks but lots of crumbling infrastructure and ADA
 curb cuts are rare.
* Not many jobs Dwtn but Beacon is only a 15 minute drive. Poughkeepsie is 35 minutes away.
* Public transit is very limited.
* No bike infrastructure really in Newburgh.
* Pretty high poverty Dwtn but some income diversity.
* Really no modern in-fill.
* Lots of blight remain in downtown Newburg. Crime is high but getting better.
* Retail amenities are more limited but include several nice boutiques and local stores on Liberty Ave, lots of small ethnic grocery stores, a florist, a bakery, a hardware store, and some other local retail. 
* The post office and library are located north of Dwtn. No banks dwtn, nor a pharmacy or full service supermarket.
* Only the Catholic grade school is located within New borough. A couple good school options north of Dwtn.
* Even with recent investment in dwtn Newburgh it still has a pretty bad reputation.

Poughkeepsie, NY- A historic Hudson River town with an incredible Walkway over the Hudson

As Poughkeepsie is a pretty old community with lots of development in the 1800s there are distinct neighborhoods and pockets. Figuring out exactly where the boundaries are is a bit undefined, a common problem with historic towns of this size. This review deals specifically with the Historic West End of Poughkeepsie. Its actually not an official neighborhood name but I use it to include the most historic parts of Poughkeepsie and the area west of Downtown. It includes the Union Street Historic District, which dates back to the late 1700s.

The Historic West End of Poughkeepsie is generally a walkable neighborhood with nice historic architecture, good park amenities and several small commercial nodes. It has great cultural amenities but limited neighborhood retail. Fortunately Downtown provides this and is walkable to most residents in the neighborhood. The district is also the main entrance to the Walkway over the Hudson, a spectacular pedestrian/bike bridge spanning the Hudson River. There are several places the neighborhood could improve including the need for walkable schools, more retail amenities, up to date ADA curb cuts, and better connectivity.
Click here to view my Poughkeepsie, NY album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Good density.
* Great public transit access and good access to jobs with the Historic West End being adjacent to Dwtn (where Poughkeepsie County offices are located) and Marist College is located just to the north.
* Good bike lanes in the neighborhood with a waterfront trail and the Walkway over the Hudson trail.
* Incomes are a bit on the low side but plenty of economic diversity here. Also a very racial diverse neighborhood and good generational diversity.
* Good for sale diversity ranging from around 75K-350K depending on size and condition.
* Rentals are a bit more expensive but good amount of product. 1-bedrooms rent in the low $1,000s and 2-bedrooms in the mid $1,000s. Several aff. hsg towers mixed in as well.
* Good park amenities including the Hudson walkway, Pulaski Park, Upper Landing Park and several other smaller parks.
* Cultural amenities include: a good array of restaurants, bars, and cafes clustered at several nodes, a couple community theaters, the Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum, and convenient access to Downtown’s cultural amenities
* Solid Tree canopy.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Connectivity is the not the greatest as the street grid is pretty erratic.
* Retail amenities are limited in the Historic West End. One generally needs to good Dwtn for this. The MidHudson Hospital is just north of the neighborhood.
* Some blight and crime is higher than the national average in Poughkeepsie.
* No schools in the Historic West End but a couple dwtn.
* Sidewalk infrastructure is good and consistent but up to date ADA curb cuts is rare. 

Downtown New Haven, CT- one of my favorite American Downtowns

Downtown New Haven was originally laid out as nine squares in 1638. This includes modern day New Haven Green, the immediate surrounding central business district, as well as a significant portion of the Yale University campus.

Dwtn New Haven has become one of the  most residential mid-size city downtown helping to support downtown businesses and retail extending even to secondary streets. Its vibrancy, mixed-use development, cultural amenities, and strong walkability make it one of the best Dwtns in the United States.

But as always there are still areas that could be improved from an urban perspective including more rental product and affordable housing, a larger office population and several key retail amenities (i.e. supermarket and a department store).
Click here to view my full Downtown New Haven album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Excellent public transit access Dwtn and throughout the full New Haven City. Good transit access to surrounding inner ring suburbs.
* Pretty good bike infrastructure within Dwtn including several dedicated bike lanes and a bike sharing system within Dtwn and inner ring neighborhoods. Limited bike lanes out to the suburbs other than a lengthy lane going to the north.
* Excellent racial and economic diversity helped certainly by Yale.
* Pretty nice mix of for-sale options with condos selling between 100K-500K, and larger townhouse and rowhouses selling between 500K-800K.
* Good vibrancy Dwtn.
* Great historic architecture especially with Yale University buildings. Solid urban infill as well.
* Wonderful urban form and streetscape in Dwtn as well. Some surface parking lots on the eastern edge of Dwtn.
* Nothing spectacular with the skyline but some nine consistently with the midrise building and some very nice Yale University towers.
* Great imageability with numerous historic landmarks, New Haven Green, and well laid out streets.
* New Haven Green is a wonderful civic space located in the middle of Dwtn and Yale. Lots of programming here. Other greenspace include plenty of gorgeous quads in Yale University but this is still public space. Some nice rec spaces just outside dwtn as well.
* Generally very walkable infrastructure but good amount of ADA current curbs missing.
* Good array of public and private schools generally forming a ring about 1/2 mile outside of dwtn. Rankings are ok but very walkable schools.
* Large student population in Dwtn including over 12,000 at Yale, 7,000 at Gateway Community College.
* Lots of cultural amenities including a movie theater, several community theaters and live music venues, tons of restaurants, bars, & cafes, several art galleries, and a great array of museums. Many of these amenities are run by Yale.
* New Haven has a dwtn improvement district and safety ambassador program.
* Good array of retail amenities including several small grocerias, great array of clothing stores, many banks, several books stores, several pharmacies, and a dwtn post office and library

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* 25% of households are family. Pretty decent for a Dwtn, but limited age diversity as most residents are students.
* Rental product is a bit limited and expensive.
* No large convention center dwtn, although there are plenty of small ones. No major sporting arenas.
* Not a ton of office jobs in Dwtn by Yale University itself brings 15,000 jobs. Probably 25,000 total jobs in Dwtn New Haven, an okay number for a metro of  862K.
* Very low vacancy rates though, speaking to the demand of office space dwtn.
* Large supermarket is about 1 mile outside of dwtn.

Downtown Lexington, KY- A charming compact CBD with a bright future

Lexington’s street grid was platted beginning in 1780, and the Downtown Commercial District is contained within the oldest part of the city. Some of the historic brick buildings still stand especially around Church and Short Streets. Unlike Louisville, Lexington was able to avoid the worse of urban renewal and thus retain a lot of its urban fabric. Even with a good amount of urban infill along Market and High, surface parking lots are limited.

The other positive things Dwtn Lexington has going for it include: a clean Dwtn, good vibrancy and activity helped by its compact size, good connectivity to historic early 19th century neighborhoods to the east and west as an inner belt was never built, and good enough cultural and park amenities. There is also a good offering of for sale condos and townhouses, although more rental options would be nice. Downtown could also use more retail amenities (especially a supermarket & pharmacy) along with a dedicated bike sharing system.

Click here to view the Downtown Lexington Album on my Flickr Page

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Pretty good density for a Dwtn.
* Pretty solid architecture all around, both historic and in-fill.
* Most sidewalks have up to date ADA curb ramps.
* Nice array of dedicated bike lanes Dwtn .
* Good racially and economic diversity represented by Dwtn’s population.
* For Sale product seems much more diverse than rentals as price points typically range anywhere from 100K-600K. Nice mix of condos and townhomes. Fair amount of affordable hsg options Dwtn as well.
* Several nice Dwtn green spaces including Thoroughbred Park, Northeastern Park, Triangle Park, and the multi-block Phoenix Park, Dwtn’s civic plaza.
* Dwtn created an ambassador’s program in 2017 including a clean & safe component. Generally this is a very safe and clean dwtn.
* Pretty good mix of public/private elementary schools within Dwtn or nearby.
* No Colleges within Dwtn but UK is only 1-2 miles away with 30K students. Several thousands students also attend Transylvania University and Blue Grass Community College on the other side of Dwtn.
* For the size of the Lexington Metro (just over 500K) Dwtn Lexington’s 27K jobs is pretty good. Vacancy rate is around 12%, also not bad. And price per square foot is generally pretty inexpensive around $17-$18. Dwtn office growth is generally on a positive trend.
* Dwtn cultural amenities include a good array of restaurants, bars, and cafes, lots of clubs & some live music venues, several art galleries, a movie theater, a Lexington Opera House/performing arts center, Children’s Theater, a handful of smaller museums and historic houses, A convention Center/Arena Complex where UK basketball games are held.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Public transit is only good within Dwtn and extending to inner city neighborhood. Decent within the 421 loop.
* No citywide bike sharing system. Some dedicated bike lanes connect to Dwtn from the North and East.
* Few family households Dwtn and cluster of Young Adults and empty nesters. But this is pretty typical of American Dwtns.
* Rental product is a bit limited buy pretty affordable compared to most Dwtns: 1-bedroom lease at or below $1,000, 2-bedrooms in anywhere from $1,000-$2,000, 3-bedrooms in the low $2,000s.
* Skyline is rather bland. Not enough tall buildings to create an impressive skyline.
* No Dwtn supermarket or pharmacy. Overall retail amenities are a bit limited in Dwtn to a several clothing stores/boutiques, a couple bookstores, and several antique stores. There is a dwtn library and post office.

Yellow Spring, OH- A liberal oasis in the middle of red Southwest Ohio

I roughly used the following boundaries in my evaluation to capture the pre-WWII portion of Yellow Springs: Allen St. to the south, High to the west, Yellow spring-Fairfield road to the North, and the Little Miami Scenic Trail to the east.

In 1825, Yellow Spring’s Village was founded by approximately 100 families hoping to establish the utopian community at New Harmony, Indiana. The community disbanded and it took the completion of the Little Miami Railroad in 1846 to increase development to the town.  The village was named after a nearby natural springs with waters high in iron content.  Antioch College was founded in 1850 with the distinguished scholar Horace Mann as its first president. The town always had a strong progressive bend, even being targeted by the government in the 1950s for its leftist communist leanings and not surprisingly was a major center for the Civil Rights and Anti-War movement of the 60s&70s. This cultural bent has created a liberal oasis set in the middle of a very conservative rural area in SW Ohio. Yet the  village’s population has remained small hovering around 4,000 residents since WWII.

The town’s main attraction is its vibrant color downtown setting at the crossroads of Dayton and Xenia Avenue. Great concentrations of art galleries, local craft stores, boutiques, great restaurants, bars, and cafes attract tourists from the entire Southwestern Ohio region. Yellow spring’s major downsides from an urban perspective  are its very low density, lack of any public transit, and few rental properties. But I guess in Yellow Springs this dynamic seems to work. 
Click here to view my Yellow Springs album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* The Little Miami Scenic Trail is an excellent north to south bike path traveling throughout town.
* Solid racial and economic diversity.
* Over 50% are family households but a high median age likely due to a lot of retirees living here.
* Good mix of for sale housing options ranging from 50K all the way to 400K depending on size and condition.
* Excellent tree canopy.
* Great natural parks with the Little Miami Scenic Trail, and expansive Glen Helen Nature Preserve just east of Dwtn. Gaunt Park hosts a public pool and several ballfields.
* Dwtn is really a regional destination hosting a great array of local creative shops, boutiques, art galleries, a toy store, bookstores,. this helps creative a colorful, liberal vibe and lots of people in the summer months.  More typical neighborhood amenities located in Yellow Spring include a wine cellar a pharmacy, hardware store, public library, post office, a local grocery store, and a couple banks.
* Other cultural amenities include a great array of restaurants, bars, & cafes, a couple breweries, some live music venues, a local movie theater, the Antioch Foundry Theater, and the trailside nature center.
* The Public elementary school is located close to Dwtn. The middle and high school are located on the western edge but still walkable to most students.
* ADA curbs and sidewalks are good Dwtn but hit or miss in the residential areas. 

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Very low density . 
* Virtually no public transit here. Making car travel the only commuting option to Dwtn Dayton. Not a terrible option as its only about a 30 minute drive.
* Rental product is very limited. Surprising for a college town, but the college is tiny (about 150 students). 

Grafton Hill- Home to Dayton’s Art Institute and many gorgeous Historic Homes

Grafton Hill was mostly developed in 1875 when John Stoddard, a wealthy and prominent farm implement manufacturer, opened the exclusive Belmonte Park residential area. Other upper middle class homes followed suit and the construction of the Dayton Art Institute (1919) and the Dayton Masonic Temple added to the affluent aura of the community.

Today the grand homes remain in tact and Grafton Hill is still a relatively sought after neighborhood for those who appreciate its historic charm and convenient access to Downtown. But its commercial corridor along Salem Ave is decimated greatly diminishing the neighborhood’s walkability. There is a fair amount of blight on the fringes as some pretty rough areas surround Grafton Hill. Rebuilding the neighborhood’s urban commercial corridor would be my first priority here. 
Click here to view my Grafton Hill album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Good sidewalk and ADA infrastructure throughout the neighborhood.
* Quality public transit throughout the neighborhood and Downtown is very convenient… literally just across the river. Its a 15-20 minute walk to the heart of Dwtn from Grafton Hill.
* Good street grid and connectivity.
* Decent bike infrastructure with a dedicated bike lane running along the Great Miami River and one bike share station. Would like to see more bike lanes crossing thru the neighborhood.
* Wonderful array of historic single family homes.
* Park amenities include the Miami river trail, a tennis court and McKinney Park a nice medium size park.
* Great tree canopy.
* A couple elementary school options in the neighborhood and several high schools options in adjacent districts including Dwtn.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Okay diversity. Neighborhood is 75% Black. While 40% of residents are living in poverty still decent economic diversity with a sizable middle class.
* Only 30% of households are family but good adult diversity.
* Decent for sale housing stock. Maintained SF homes sell in the 100KS & 200Ks. Fixer uppers sell below 100K. So cheap condo product as well.
* Rental product is generally limited and cheap.
* Cultural amenities are pretty limited but Grafton Hill does host the Dayton Art Museum and the Dayton Masonic Center and is walkable to the many cultural amenities Dwtn.
* Retail amenities are limited to a dollar general, a couple salons and the post office. The neighborhood’s main commercial district, Salem Ave, is run down and mostly auto centric now.
* Generally pretty safe district, but on the edge with some other pretty high crime areas in Dayton and blight is prevalent along Salem Ave. 

Dayton’s Inner East- A neighborhood with great urban fabric and potential

The Inner East is comprised of two small city designated historic districts.. St. Ann’s Hill and Huffman. Both have wonderfully preserved architecture from the late 1800s, some of the best architecture in Dayton. The rest of Inner East is pretty blighted and underinvested especially 5th Ave, the eastern half of 3rd Ave, and the Southern quadrant of the district.

St. Ann’s is adjacent to the Oregon District and was platted in 1802 by German immigrants. Homes were erected in the neighborhood starting after the Civil War. William Huffman who was a local banker, real estate developer, and a producer of Huffman bicycles spurred development by building railway on Third Street northeast of St. Ann’s Hill creating the Huffman district. The neighborhood was built up between 1870 and 1890. St. Ann’s and Huffman were designated historic districts in 1974 and 1982, respectively.

Restoration of the historic homes has been occurring since then but redevelopment hasn’t spilled over into adjacent parts of the Inner East. A couple food & beverage businesses and some general retail is just popping up on 3rd Ave in St. Ann’s. Sadly, Dayton’s economy and limited urban culture prevents this urban area with great bones from getting the investment and retail amenities it needs to become a thriving urban area. Hopefully city leaders will realize the great potential of this neighborhood and put appropriate investment into it. 
Click here to view my St. Ann’s album on Flickr

URBAN STRENTHS:

* Good sidewalk and ADA infrastructure throughout the neighborhood.
* While public transit access is only okay, the Inner East is still very convenient to Dwtn. 10 minute drive and 15 minute bike and bus ride.
* Excellent street grid and connectivity.
* Decent bike infrastructure including a dedicated east to west bike lane and a couple bike share stations.
* Lots of family households (around 60%) and good age diversity.
* Good diverse of price points with for sale housing. Housing in the Southeastern quadrant of Inner East is under 50K. Fair amount of homes selling between 50K-100. Most homes in the historic districts sell in the 100Ks and 200Ks. Higher prices in St. Ann’s than Huffman.
* Good tree canopy overall.
* Well ranked Strivers high school for the arts is located within Inner East several other decent schools located within walking distance in adjacent districts. 

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Lots of blight along 3rd Ave and the eastern half of 5th along with the Southeastern quarter of the Inner East. Quite the difference between this and the Historic District of St. Ann and Huffman.
* Transit access is okay. Underwhelming for being 2 miles from dwtn.
* While racial diversity it okay good economic diversity mixing middle and upper middle class households with those below the poverty line.
* Rental housing is a bit limited and generally inexpensive.
* Bomberger Park is the neighborhood’s only park amenity. Nice park but not located on the district’s western edge.
* Pretty low density for an urban district so close to Dwtn.
* Some cultural amenities but not a ton… a handful of restaurants, a couple nice cafes, a couple dive bars, and a couple art galleries. Cultural amenities of the Oregon District and Webster Station only a 10-20 minute walk.
* Retail amenities are also pretty limited and include a couple Hispanic grocerias, a bakery, several thrift stores, and an antique shop.

Downtown Dayton, OH

Downtown Dayton is probably one of the better mid-sized American Downtowns thanks to its extensive remaining historic fabric, good transit network, great bike infrastructure, and quality parks. Downtown also holds a large college population attending school at Sinclair Community College (18,000 students) and is a major employment hub for the Dayton Region, even with the departures of several major fortunate 500 companies to the south.

I find that its easiest to divide Downtown Dayton into two halves. West and East of Ludlow Street. West of  Ludlow is  where the majority of Downtown’s urban renewal efforts occurred. It includes Sinclair Community College, the Montgomery jail and court complexes, some bland modern office towers, and a lot of surface parking lots. Not a lot of life and vitality on this side of Downtown. East of Ludlow  holds the bulk of Dayton’s historic fabric and architecture along with its better modern high raises, theaters, bus hub, public library, Riverscape Park, and the Courthouse Square. It is the more interesting and vibrant half of Downtown, seeing the bulk of new housing and development. Main Street forms the main spine of Downtown Dayton where the convention center, historic arcade, Courthouse Square, several theaters, and Dwtn’s best skyscrapers  are all locate.

My hope for Downtown Dayton is continued civic focus and investment as this could be a very special urban environment. Blight and dead space is what is holding Downtown back the most. It will be interesting to see if the opening of the renovated Dayton Arcade is the spark needed to set this all in motion. 
Click here to view my Downtown Dayton album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Dwtn has a good public transit itself. But transit service is a bit disappointing across the City of Dayton. Decent  service to many of the Dayton  suburbs depending on their age.
* Great bike infrastructure including a bike share system dwtn and to surrounding inner city neighborhoods and wonderful bike lane coverage within Dwtn and connecting to Dwtn throughout the City and region.
* Generally good racial and economic diversity dwtn both represented in its residential and daytime population.
* For sale product is a bit  limited and concentrated along the eastern edge of Dwtn near Webster Station. Good diversity of price points. 1-bedrooms range from 100K-350K. More 2-bedrooms available ranging from 125K-400K. 3-bedroom condos go between 400K-650K.
* Great of array of quality historic architecture.
* Over quality parks in Dwtn Dayton including the new Riverscape Metro Park, Courthouse Square (a decent well programmed civic plaza), and several other decent plazas spread throughout.
* Excellent ADA infrastructure throughout Dwtn.
* Good array of public & private elementary and high schools in and around Dwtn.
* Great college population dwtn with 18K students enrolled at Sinclair. 
* Pretty good streetscaping especially along the more investment parts of Dwtn. Helps that the City has streetscape guides for Dwtn.
* Pretty impressive employment hub with around 50K jobs. Generally positive outlook for Downtown with recent job growth but still low rents and high office vacancy rates.
* Cultural amenities include: a modern &  historic theater, two specialty movie theaters, several local museums (and the art museum across the river), a couple live music venues and nightclubs, and cultural amenities of Sinclair College.
* Other important amenities dwtn include the Dayton Convention Center, concentration of courthouses, City hall, Dwtn post office & library. 

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Dwtn rentals are a bit limited but modest price point. 1-bedrooms lease in the low $1,000s and 2-bedrooms anywhere in the $1,000s.
* Decent skyline but certainly nothing spectacular.
 * The majority of infill is ugly 60s-80s bldgs on Sinclair College. Some decent modern skyscrapers and newer apartment in-fill.
* The western half of Dwtn where Sinclair College is located was part of a pretty extensive urban renewal campaign. This part of Dwtn is pretty lifeless, uninspiring, and filled with lots of surface parking lots.
* Tree canopy is ok. Dwtn could use more street trees.
* Dwtn residential density is pretty low. Plenty of room for an expanded Dwtn population.
* Downtown Dayton still seems to have an image problem even with its quality form and decent amenities. This should continue to get better especially with the opening of the renovated Dayton Arcade.
* Some bars, restaurants and cafes dwtn but pretty limited for a Downtown. Only a handful of art galleries. The only major sports arena is the minor league ballpark in adjacent Webster Square district.
* While dwtn hosts a small discount grocery store and CVS pharmacy retail is pretty limited to a handful of boutiques, a couple bookstores, and neighborhood retail.