A few weeks ago, the issue of parking in downtown Oberlin resurfaced as an urgent talking point. Actually it has been a talking point in the business community since there has been a business community, but it rose to a level of receiving news coverage. I asked people who follow the podcast on Facebook to recommend someone to talk to about it.

Krista Long’s name was among those suggested; convenient, because I had wanted to talk with her anyway. Parking was a jumping off point.

We talked about parking, Oberlin’s downtown emergence as an entertainment destination (and what that may miss), her education and business background as well as her hope for Oberlin half a century from now. We talked only some about her father Bill Long, a prominent figure in Oberlin business and politics in the mid-20th century.

After the fact, I wished I had asked her about her father’s electric train display he put up every Christmas on the second floor of the Co-op Bookstore.

Honestly, in that regard I wish I could talk to him directly.