woz

Since The New York Times has been so hot on GR lately, maybe their real estate section ought to do a story on this prime piece of undeveloped land just sitting there in the heart of this city. Donald Trump reads the Times real estate section, right?

He's tight-lipped because he probably thinks there are mainstream media-types lurking around here ...

Evidently GRDad knew about this hotel component back in September 2005, but it feels like news to me.

"Secchia has (and has had) his hands on numerous properties downtown. He used to have his office in the Federal Square Building. He also used to own the Rowe Hotel (Olds Manor). Although that does make you wonder why he doesn't currently have office space downtown." CORRECTION: Peter Secchia currently does have office space downtown in the Exhibitor's Building behind the Amway Grand Plaza on Lyon. Off-topic, I know, but this forum is where the false statement above was originally made.

I've gotten take-out from XO a couple of times now. Green Curry with Flank Steak: very good! Pad Thai with Chicken: bad. I mean, not disgustingly bad (I ate all of it), but dry and pretty tasteless. I haven't tried any of the Chinese dishes yet, but for Thai food, I think I'll keep driving to 28th Street unless I'm really crunched for time. Speaking of time -- and I HATE to add my voice to the chorus of folks usually complaining about this -- finding a parking spot at night on Monroe Center is a pain! I'll walk 10 or 15 blocks from a parking spot if I'm going to sit down and enjoy a meal downtown, but I think it's reasonable to expect some monitored free or even metered parking within a block of a restaurant that offers take-out. The city needs to start enforcing meters on Monroe Center 24 hours a day. Including some 10 minute parking only spots wouldn't be a bad idea either. If you want to get in and out of XO, Jimmy John's, Morado (the sushi place), Cafe Solace, etc., you're going to spend way too much time looking for a parking spot for take-out at any of these places to be convenient.

The Silver Cactus, 242 Carlton SE in Eastown, opens Sunday (Nov. 6).

I noticed that, too. Does anyone know if the service road they're putting in along 196 will connect to Division?

Call me an old-fashioned forum user, but I just don't get this Watering Hole concept. It is not very user friendly, at least not for the user who doesn't want to spend more than a few minutes a day on this site. When folks used to start threads about topics around here, I could easily ignore the ones that didn't interest me and read through the ones that did. Why can't 43 Pub be its own thread? Why can't favorite restaurants be its own thread? If someone has an answer, please respond in the new thread I've created called "Explain Watering Hole to Woz."