MayDay

"MayDay - I didn't even know you were snapping that pic of me!" Give a guy a 12x optical zoom, and he becomes paparazzi! :D

I believe it may be some kind of courtyard area but I'm sure that any of the Avenue District folks can clarify :)

Arriving at the festivities: Quite a nice turnout: Mayor Frank Jackson working the room: Thomas Mulready of CoolCleveland.com Urbanohio.com's media correspondent extraordinaire, KJP! Speakers are seated, waiting for the show to begin (KeyBank rep, National City rep, former Mayor Jane Campbell, Nathan Zaremba, Mayor Frank Jackson and Joe Roman of the Greater Cleveland Partnership at the podium: Joe Roman: Jane Campbell (according to Strangebrew, she was invited by Jackson since it began during her tenure - very classy on Jackson's part) Frank Jackson: Nathan Zaremba: The crowd heads over to the ceremonial dirtpile: Shiny shovels! And it's officially a groundbreaking! The pros and their cameras: I spy two forumers! (blinker12 and 8shadesofgray - nice to finally meet you guys!) This is the approximate view for the southwestern units - I'd love to see it from 10 stories up! Over to the Galleria to check out the model: The model looking southwest from the northeast: Now we wait until metal starts sticking out of the ground :-D

A pic of Corner Alley - as the pope pointed out, this is likely the bar area. Looks like they're really coming along! And Lola - pardon the "zoom" blur - I was holding the lens up the window and STILL managed to catch a reflection! :(

Latest random shots as of October 27th: Crown of Key Tower - how I managed this without a tripod is beyond me: And BP: Landmark Office Towers detail: Stupid fence! And would you believe my S.O. wouldn't pull over just so I could snap a shot! :lol: Steeples, antenna farms, a little bit of everything! East 4th is shaping up to be quite the little entertainment strip: A skyline with cranes and construction! Okay, so I had to get JUST the right angle - oh well! Tiffany glass mosaics in the Wade Chapel in Lakeview Cemetery: THE Tiffany window in Wade Chapel: Posted before, but what the heck. View from the Garfield Monument - you can see St. Colman's on West 65th, the West Side Market tower and more! Turning Point at Case: Original batch from September 29: Key Tower at sunset from Cliff Drive: St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Tremont: Two of the Blue Angels flying over downtown during practice runs for the air show: Cranes and icons of University Circle: Zooming in on downtown from the Clinic: The Pinnacle catches the sunset: Downtown at dusk from the Shoreway: The sun peeks through and lights up the Arcade: Lame attempt at being artsy:

Ho.Lee. Sh!t. That looks great!!!

Other than correcting "minutes of youR time", I think it's great and will hopefully do the job!

Just an update on the Park Building (on Public Square) - they're already working on a condo unit on the 2nd floor. This is according to one of the merchants on the ground floor who use the 2nd floor for storage/operations. I say this with the pope as my witness! :)

"I hate people that live in Crocker Park by the way, they are the dregs of society." I understand your sentiment, and of course I'd love it if those people were buying (or renting) within the city limits. However, I don't think comments or mentalities like that are going to lead to anything productive. They've made choices and have a mindset that we don't agree with, but calling them "dregs of society" is only going to alienate them even further. With a stagnant regional population - we can't afford to do that. You might have once thought I was a dreg of society. I used to be one of those evil outer suburbanites. For the first six months that I worked in downtown Cleveland, I lived in Hudson (I previously had a job in Stow, thus the choice to live in Hudson). At first I figured oh well - the hour-plus commute time is just something I'll have to get used to. Then one time I stayed over a friend's place on Lakewood's Gold Coast and with that first 5-minute commute (and extra sleep since I didn't have to get up at 6) I had an epiphany - that spending all that time in the car going to/from Hudson was giving me nothing but stress, wear and tear on my car, and less personal time to do things I enjoy. Maybe those people in Crocker Park are just one epiphany away from choosing to live in the city - I really think we should try to welcome them, and more importantly - educate them. They have enough reasons to choose to live in Crocker Park - let's not add Clevelanders' nastiness to that list. :)

^Just to clarify - I sheepishly said I was with urbanohio.com and she exclaims "Oh yeah! We all check urbanohio.com - it helps us keep tabs on all the stuff going on!" :-) I thought that was kind of cool! I'll have the photos later today - I stupidly forgot my USB cord, but I got quite a few shots (plus some from Lola and Corner Alley) :-D

Just like the postal service - rain ain't gonna stop me! :)

"I was heartened a little by the white couple who talked about wanting to live in Hough and break those patterns down." Just to clarify - they DO live in Hough, and I thought that kicked @ss :)

I've not stopped in, but I know there's a place on West 9th - Suite Life? Seems like they carry trendy-ish stuff, but I have no clue if they're reasonable. I'm also a fan of vintage and I've found some great stuff at Flower Child - just stay away from the small/medium shirts and we'll be fine! :-D Actually - if you're ever asked your zip code during a purchase, that information is used to determine future store locations. Of course, it doesn't hurt to write the executives of said store and tell them you want a store that more conveniently located to you. As much as I would love to shop strictly in the city limits, there are certain things I have to have that are only sold at places like Nordstrom (fragrances, Mavi jeans, etc.), Trader Joes (prepared foods - I can't cook to save my life), etc. About the documentary, I agree that it was beautifully shot and well done. There was one thing I was thinking when they were talking about Crocker Park. People kept saying "it's like how it used to be, when people were out and about", '"it's like being in a city but we feel safe", "recreating the urban environment, but without the undesirable things like crime". If ever there was a case of dancing around the issue, it was during that section. Honestly, I wish that the people they interviewed just had the b@lls enough to admit that some affluent suburban whites simply aren't comfortable being around poorer minorities in the inner city.

"I don't understand this question. You could be out with or without your wife in any place in the country and something could happen." I think it's a perfectly legitimate question. It's one thing for me to say that I feel safe in certain areas, but I'm saying that as a young, in-shape male. I know that my galpal who is 5'7" and a size 1 may not feel the same way. "Shaker Square? Why do you suggest I check that out?" There's a phrase called "boosterism". I mean, I love my neighborhood (Edgewater) but I can go without suggesting it as a place for everyone to live.

"He was also talking a lot about how Jane Campbell was a closeted lesbian." That added absolutely nothing to your post or this thread and is completely unnecessary.

I'd say a 7 for the same reasons sky stated. However, even if it's just the first phase "superblock", that alone will have an amazing affect on downtown.

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on your upcoming wedding :-) Although I'd normally recommend the "Relocation" forum for posts like yours, I guess this is the appropriate place for questions about new construction in Ohio City such as Vine Industrials. Plus, it puts this thread back on topic :-) I think that area is a good spot in Ohio City. You have the Jay Lofts just south, and the Townhomes of Ohio City in the immediate area which are going to boost property values. You're also in walking distance to the hotspots on West 25th, and the soon-to-be-developed park near Riverview. I think when people say "you don't want to live in Ohio City" - they're usually referencing the rougher areas toward the west (i.e. West 50s-70s). As you said, Ohio City may not be a bubble that's completely insulated from crime but I haven't heard of too many problems over by Vine Industrials. I personally love the design of the Vine Industrials, and if they do everything right, they look like they'll have a quality product (image from Progressive Urban):

"most important is places lilke these that are more likely to proudly carry any obscure book anyone on this board would likely author while the mass market shops that are too busy hocking what windbags like Ann Coulter barf out." I have to agree first and foremost that Ann Coulter is a windbag - a vile, wretched one at that. However, I've honestly found the mass market places just as willing to accomodate me for book signings as the locals. I dare say that places like Borders been more receptive than some of the local joints - I've gone into a few indie places, asked them about book signings and was more or less scoffed at because quite honestly, I don't look like a typical historical author. Honestly, I don't think they believed me until I literally produced ID - I guess I should have worn a tweed blazer and been smoking a pipe. :? The reception at Borders, etc.? "Oh, let me get your number, and here's the number of our events planner for the region." The chain people acted more "hungry" than the locals - and in my background, that's simply unacceptable. I think one area where "indie" places need to go above and beyond is finding their growth markets and competing as best they can with the mass marketers. The chains are starting to improve on their customer service (though they're still light years behind), I think many indies need to improve on their presentation and their image. One locally owned place that I think has it nailed is Loganberry Books near Shaker Square - a beautiful store with nicely organized areas, you name it. Oh, and the people working there can be bothered to at least say "hello" :)

"I ran across them at Half Priced Books and they were only a couple of bucks, so I picked them up." Gah!!! :-o :cry: Won't someone think of the authors?!?

"These books have a good number of photos." Thanks :)

Watching it as we speak - very interesting. It's kind of cool to see the people who work for him who helped me get info about the Progressive Center in Cleveland.

^^Gee with sales techniques like that, I can't imagine why they almost went belly up :roll: Sorry - if the people can't step out of their asocial/quirky bubble long enough to at least greet a customer, should they really be in a retail environment? I go way out of my way to support local places, but one thing I will never tolerate out of any business, chain or otherwise is inattentive or apathetic service. As a published author, I'd be horrified to know if my book was sold somewhere where the only greeting customers received was a fiddle serenade.

"This studio seeks to inculcate the integration of the architectural projects within the ensemble and planning conceit. The architectures which will evolve throughout the design process will not reside as autonomous objects, but rather will further engender the informed pursuit of the speculation." :sleep: :sleep: :sleep: "Inculcate"? "INCULCATE"?? Someone took themselves a liiitle too seriously when they wrote this. :roll:

I think using gates as signage is an excellent idea. I would suggest something that incorporates "welcome" (in this example, the squares) in several different languages to reflect the fact that well, it's more "Asia Town" than "Chinatown". Thus, you'd have "Welcome" in Chinese, Japanese, Thai, etc. I imagine the gate itself would have to be designed to include different stylistic elements as well:

That's the one! :)