Columbus, a Nice Place to Live & Visit!!!

In a twist on the phrase "a nice place to visit but you wouldn't want to live there..." Columbus has occasionally been written of as a nice place to live but you would not want to visit here...

In September the New York Times wrote about Columbus in the Travel section as "a midwestern style capital"

"Most travelers don’t give much thought to Ohio. But in the last few years, Columbus has undergone a transformation. By luring young professionals to its homegrown empires like the Limited and Abercrombie & Fitch, the city has seen a flurry of downtown development — and gained an unexpected new profile as a Midwestern style capital."

Style capital?

Columbus Ohio is a nice place to live. Studies (survey's, opinion's, statistics) continue to show Columbus and it's suburbs have a lot going for it.

Columbus is the 36th Best City

Columbus Makes National Top Ten List!

Westerville and Gahanna - Top 100 US Cities (Small Cities) Central Ohio suburbs rate high too.

Columbus 19th Best Columbus is a good place for singles to live although it is not on the high end of the cool meter accorrding to Forbes.com

This weekend is Experience Columbus Days in Columbus Ohio, I wrote about it on my other blog, Columbus Best Blog with links to the flyers for special discounts this weekend. The biggest city in the US named after Christopher Columbus is celebrating the biggest city named after Christopher Columbus.

There is lots to do in our own backyard despite how clever it is to say there is nothing to do in Columbus. This weekend.. for Experience Columbus Days and despite it... there's the Gallery Hop in the Short North, there's the Columbus Italian Festival in Italian Village, there's the North Market Harvest Festival in downtown Columbus, there's Herb Harvest Day in Gahanna on Saturday and more. Experience Columbus Days offers special discounts at museums, theaters, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, The Wilds out in the boondocks and more.

Also to celebrate Columbus Days - 25% off food at some of Central Ohio’s premier restaurants, members of Columbus Originals... maybe some Columbus restaurants mentioned in the New York Times Travel section article that is titled "Columbus Cool"

Posted Tuesday Oct 02

(10/02/07 02:17PM) — Monika McGillicuddy~REALTOR®~ N.H. Real Estate Broker & Trainer

I've never thought to visit either but it really sounds like it might be pretty nice to visit.

(10/02/07 06:37PM) — Maureen McCabe - Central Ohio real estate

Monika: Columbus doesn't have any mountains or an ocean obviously. We don't even have the Rocik and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland does. People visiting Columbus last year for the NCAA basketball tournament were quoted in our local paper about "there's nothing to do." It was St. Patrick's Day weekend in a town with two St. Patricks Day parades and two big festivals in addition to our regular stuff. It reminded me of whiny kids. The Zoo? Too cold. You can spend hours inside the Aquarium and all the inside stuff...

We have always had a lot of good restaurants but it is nice that they featured some of the new trendy ones.

We are a great central location for much of the country for conventions. I know the Santa Clauses were considering us for their 2008 convention.

To see the NYT say "Columbus Cool" was cooooooooooooooool. Thanks for the comment.

(10/02/07 07:24PM) — Monika McGillicuddy~REALTOR®~ N.H. Real Estate Broker & Trainer

Okay...so it's a fat city??? lots of good places to eat but nothing to do (only kidding) I can't imagine not having an ocean or the mountains near by. But that picture you posted sure makes it look nice.

BTW my wordpress is still down...can ya believe it?

(10/02/07 07:25PM) — Scot Thrapp

Maureen,

Hello, I often tell people of all the things to do in Ohio, and they are often surprised at all the attractions we do have. Its good to see some positive news out of OHIO! Go Bucks!

(10/02/07 07:44PM) — Maureen McCabe - Central Ohio real estate

Monika.. I am terrified to update my WP. Jay Thompson had trouble... I think that is whom I read had 45 minutes of terror or torture? Jay is a Mr. WordPress.org

Yes we are a fat city. Men's Health said we were the fattest city ... a decade ago? We are not very far down the list most years.

We do have pound for pound more golf courses than any other city in the country, that is a quote from someone but I can't remember who... and he was not talking about us being plump. We do have lots of golf courses. We have lots of parks.

Scot (no second t?) are you in Ohio? I just was looking at your profile and thought S. Carolina? Are you from Ohio?

Are you a Buckeye? I am not. I am a Badger....

(10/02/07 07:56PM) — Monika McGillicuddy~REALTOR®~ N.H. Real Estate Broker & Trainer

I don't know Jay T...but I wonder if he could help my Jay. I've been down 4 days now. Did Jay T post about it?

(10/02/07 08:00PM) — Maureen McCabe - Central Ohio real estate

Jay Thompson has a side business selling help with WordPress.org blogs. Jay is The Pheonix Real Estate Guy., I believe he was the one I read had trouble. He has an account here but is not involved on AR much.. but I am sure you will know him when you see him. He was the one who started the Meme on ActiveRain last December?

(10/02/07 08:06PM) — Carole Cohen Realtor®, ePRO

Didi you say the Santa Clauses were considering you? I didn't even know there was such a thing LOL. And you guys have all the cool stores: Container Store, IKEA; not us! :-)

(10/02/07 08:18PM) — Maureen McCabe - Central Ohio real estate

We don't have IKEA... Carole, Cinci does. We do have great retailing in Columbus which is bizarre because we did not in 1990. Dayton Ohio had a better suburban mall than the three in Columbus. We had City Center in 1990. The city took over City Center last week... a week or so earlier downtown Macy's announced they are closing ... we had three regional malls from the 1960's or 1970's which had never had updating to speak of. Now we have Easton, Polaris and Tuttle and a bunch of big box (a bad thing for many) and strip mallls.. but many are bright shiny new updated, latest greatet strip malls.

City Center will be redeveloped for mixed use. The announcements of what it will be are about six months off from what I have heard. It will be a quiet Christmas in downtown Columbus this year, they had announced no ice skating rink first... of course when Macy's announced they are closing in November that made sense.

It's not just any Santa Clauses, this group is the guys with the real white hair and beards, not sure if real "bowl full of jelly tummies" are required to be a member. I also don't know if we landed them or not in Columbus, we were competing with other cities. I think their convention is in July.

Thanks for the comment.

(10/02/07 08:25PM) — Carole Cohen Realtor®, ePRO

It's interesting Maureen (and yes I was off on IKEA, I did a V8 slap on my forehead lol). Cleveland is trying to come to grips with too much housing stock for residents, including future predictions. I know someone who worked for the Container store peeps when they were planning the next phase of build outs and Columbus was considered but not Cleveland. You do have great shopping!

(10/02/07 08:54PM) — Maureen McCabe - Central Ohio real estate

Mionika: Your husband Jay visted Jay Thompson's blog about 6:30 today. I went looking for the link for you. Yep it was Jay Thompson WP.org guru who had trouble. I am not updating for a bit.

(10/02/07 09:00PM) — Maureen McCabe - Central Ohio real estate

this will be our little secret Carol...I have never been inside the Container Store... I think I would love it, I have some stuff from the store, stuff donated to a silent auction...that I bought just after the store opened. I think I would like the store but I am not a big shopper.

I know there are people very disappointed that we did not get an Ikea. I have never been in an Ikea store either...

(10/02/07 09:05PM) — Monika McGillicuddy~REALTOR®~ N.H. Real Estate Broker & Trainer

Thanks Maureen. I sent him over there after you posted that comment. Maybe he has some words of wisdom. Mark Flanders has spent hours with Jay trying to help us. Don't upgrade ...yet.