May. 10, 2006 - A Scary Columbus Neighborhood

A question asked in C-BUS  Magazine*

"Why are some people scared to visit the Short North?"

.... the magazine poses that question in "Neighborhoods"  in the Premiere Edition Spring 2006.

John Angelo, Executive Director of the Short North Business Association answered the question... or maybe his answer is more to my question....

"Are some people scared to visit the Short North?"  Really?  Why....?

"I think that people are afraid of the Short North. "  Angelo says. "They think that perhaps it's dangerous.  They think that perhaps it [has a problem with] drugs."

From Dictionary.com
scar·y    Pronunciation Key  (skâr)
adj. scar·i·er, scar·i·est

   1. Causing fright or alarm.
   2. Easily scared; very timid.

Really?  In 2006? 

Angelo goes onto say old concerns with drugs and prostitution have been replaced with concerns with parking.  Phew... I am relieved  I have been going to the Gallery Hop since I was young and cool and I was not sure what I was  supposed to be scared of. 

Timid Columbusites are alarmed they will not find parking in the Short North?

Angelo went on to say something that reminded me of the "genericification"  of Boston's Fanueil Hall....  Boston real estate blogger The Real Estate Bloggers wrote about "genericification" last week... Think how scary if Boston's Faneuil Hall becomes just another shopping center.... with the same shops as the rest of the malls across the US?

"  From a real estate point of view, at what stage does the generic replacing the authentic make the location a must miss instead of a must visit?"

Of  Columbus' Short North  C-BUS Magazine quoted Angelo:

"The core of what's here is right. I think the focus on the arts, on entertainment, the Bohemian element, that it is not mass-marketing chains.  It's really about the self-expression and the unique."  

Bohemian, self expression  and unique should be treasured ...not good parking and genericness..... tough parking shouldn't scare any Columbusites away from the Short North.

*Don't worry I never heard of C-BUS Magazine until I found one lying around the office today... probably because I am old....C-BUS is for young, cool Columbusites.. C-BUS  has nothing to do with public transportation!

Copyright 2006 Columbus Best Blog and Maureen McCabe