Happenings on the OC

This past Saturday was the 6th annual City Xpressions, which is a graffiti arts fest, hip hop MC competition, b-boys dancing (break dancing), and an open street market all in the Market Square park across from the West Side Market. The hosting MC, Q-Nice, did quite a commendable job keeping the event flowing smoothly, even when the sky opened and we all got soaked to the skivvies.

Down the block from Market Square park is McNulty's Bier Market, where they are serving the new Chimay White Trappist Monk ale. It is excellent.

City Buddha has decided to leave Ohio City after 10 years. Maybe people around here have decided they just don't want to decorate their house like a dorm room after all. I am sure the City Buddha that recently opened in Coventry will do fine with many college students in that area.

Fore Shoes also closed a month or so ago. I was always dubious about a place that sold any and every pair of shoes for $20.00. It seemed like a really large trunk of someone's car, if you know what I mean. Anyway, it has been replaced by an auto insurance place that, unless it is a front for something else, does not seem like it is the kind of business that will last, but hopefully I will be proven wrong.

Kan Zaman is moving, but just closer to the lake. It will be in the building just north of Lutheran Hospital on the west side of 25th. Not sure when that will be happening, but it is evidently in the works.

Most of the condo projects in the city (country even) have been put on hold with the mortgage market correction that is taking place (this had to happen eventually), and the OC is no different. The Jay Lofts and 3000 Bridge are stagnant right now. However, it seems as though the YMCA on Franklin is still being worked on.

Speaking of condos, a recent Grady Sizemore sighting in the neighborhood. He was pulling out of his parking garage in the Fries-Shule building and let N and I pass on the sidewalk before he zoomed off in his black Porche.

After days of rain, and a morning bike in the rain down by Edgewater park, it is sunny and beautiful outside. The heat and humidity have moved east. The Browns and Indians both won last night. Change happens, of course, but there's always a positive angle to every day if you just look for it. Today that angle is outside in the lovely late-August air.