Jim Gagnet

The dilemma of the friends and family plan comes to light

Karen Wick Gagnet and Jim Gagnet are like family to me. I’ve known them for over 20 years. I’ve watched in amazement as Jim has set his sights on redevelopment and done things that others wouldn’t even dream of. The list of his successes is formidable. At one point, he was teamed up with Tom Read More

Place Stravinsky wall art by French artist, Jef Aerosol

Progress: Dayton finally OK’s large-scale billboards

One of the things I was taking pictures of in Paris were large-scale wall murals, because for a long time, I’ve been planning to push for large-scale art on Dayton buildings. However, I was thinking ad space as well as mural space. Apparently, we’ve had a turnaround on this in City Hall- but more on Read More

Dayton’s next leaders; part of “The Esrati Plan”

The Dayton Daily News says everyone who is qualified, has left for the suburbs. How wrong they are. As part of the Esrati plan, and if elected, it’s my primary job to find, recruit, mentor and help the next leaders of Dayton. No more unopposed candidates, or incumbents (that’s right, I want a primary even Read More

From Vacant to Vibrant- only if you squint real hard.

I spent the morning at another community group-think fest. 200 people there- including a boat load of city staff. I tweeted the whole she-bang to keep others informed (reverse chronological order- read from bottom up): Closing with mayor McLin brief speech. Future events thru September. They want to use electronic comms.(bout time)about 2 hours ago Read More

Historic South Park gets a new mural

When Jim Gagnet wants to get things done, things get done. Those of you who don’t know Jim- know some of his work: he was one of the partners in Midtown Development that made a real difference in the Oregon District about 15 years ago. He brought what is now Pearl, but opened as the Read More