MayDay

^His guess was close enough :-)

"I generally support Republican leadership in local politics in Cleveland." Yes, with all those Republicans so entrenched in local politics in Cleveland! :lol:

" somebody in the city is voting Republican." Usually the anti-choice, anti-gay crowd who interprets God's word as oppression and hellfire-and-brimstone, in spite of other social ills exacerbated by many Republican-led policies.

"Most urbanophiles I've met trend heavily left, but where do Republicans fit into the grand scheme of urban affairs?" If that's a sincere question - you really, really, really don't get it, do you?

"and there are slots for gunners to hide out in the steps up to the front door. you can still see them if you walk by today!" And the statues on the East 6th entrance were designed to break away to make way for some moderate-sized artillery in case they needed to repel attackers. No sh!t!

See? Those might be complex projects but do they involve pedicure stations and mud mask stations? :-D

"^a year? Are they doing the interior in gold leaf? What would take so long?" Have YOU ever tried to remake a 70s-80s tack-o-rama into a foo-foo salon along the lines of Zen? I haven't but I can only imagine what all would be included. Converting a space into a salon presents a lot of different challenges than simply reusing what's there. There are plumbing issues (aka you need more than one shampoo station), rewiring issues (in addition to lighting, each stylists' station will need heavy duty outlets and plenty of them), and that's just getting the place to function as a salon - not to mention, Zen takes it up a notch on the decor (that's what my people do). If they're replicating and/or expanding their spa services in addition to the above mentioned stuff - I can easily see how it would take a year.

"Actually, you're dead wrong on this. I have read, elsewhere (in UO and on another site, I'll find & present it) of talk of demo'ing the Towers after Sec. 8 residents are relocated from the towers." Honestly I think you may be confusing Riverview Towers with Riverview Estates, which were the low-rise buildings adjacent to the towers (now demolished and the site of a new park). The people in ESTATES were the residents who were moved into scattered Section 8 sites. Riverview Towers is NOT Section 8, it is strictly subsidized senior housing - and yes, there's a big difference. There never has and most likely won't be for some time, ANY plan to move the residents from Riverview Towers. Riverview Estates has always been part of the Hope VI plans - Riverview Towers has not. If you can find a reputable, detailed source stating to the contrary, I'll stand corrected but I don't see that happening. http://www.cmha.net/cmha_information/riverview_towers.asp Note the following: "The original Riverview construction contained ten residential buildings with 135 units and a high rise for elderly residents, containing 644 dwelling units, on 18.2 acres. In order to create a mixed-income development in Ohio City, CMHA applied for and received a Hope VI Grant in 1996 to demolish 135 family units and to construct a mixed income development containing 420 units, out of which 81 units were to be used as replacement public housing units. Upon receipt of the Hope VI Grant, the 135 family units on the Riverview site were demolished. CMHA and its development partner, Telesis Corporation, is now in the process of submitting a revised Revitalization Plan for the Riverview Development Project."

Also, if I go car free one of my main obstacles is that every Friday and Saturday night I do that show at Pickwick and don't get out until after 1:00 am. Which seems to only leave me with the option of bumming rides, which I can only do so often before my fellow castmates will start to get annoyed, or take a cab. Anyone know how much the fare would be from E. 4th to about 117th and Clifton? That's one area that can be problematic - afterhours transit. I've taken cabs from downtown to Lake and 104th - it ends up being about $8ish plus tip so it isn't cheap. As RiverViewer said, I would suggest offering your castmates gas money (or offer to buy an aftershow drink at Twist). In my experience, people appreciate the offer for gas money - but they usually decline; they definitely don't turn down an offer for a drink though! Another option - do you have enough castmates who would consider carpooling? Finally, and I definitely do not mean this to sound sexist but I've found that most people are understanding that women are leery of using transit in late-night situations. "get on the 81 at Professor and College Av." I want to say there is a stop there - it'll probably be just a RTA "circle" sign. However, the good thing about that spot is that it's across the street from Treehouse. My suggestion would be to head over to Treehouse and either wait inside or at least near the door - Professor being a straight-shot, it should be easy to see the bus arriving. There are several things I would do if you're considering going car-free: 1. Cell phone - an absolute must-have. Go to the Yellow Pages, look up the three largest taxi companies (Yellow, Westlake are two of the biggies), and PROGRAM their number into your phone. 2. In all seriousness - pepper spray. I've never had to use mine, but there have been a few times where I was glad to know I had it.

X, right on a few counts but not all. Sorry KJP :)

Wow! Great set of pics - and a lot of memories from when I used to live in Hudson (and spend time in Akron). The Northside lofts are looking fantastic, as is the art museum. And you can't go wrong with Swensons - athletic, handsome, shorts-wearing young men bounding across the parking lot, leaning into your window and after you order your sandwich - they ask "would you like butter on your bun?" :lol:

Correct! Looks like I need a new batch of pics! Otis Terminal/Bridgeview Apartments, guessed by X. Doorway to Glass Bubble Project, Bridge Avenue at West 25th, guessed by urbanlife: St. John Church in Ohio City, guessed by GA Lancer: Skylight of the Arcade, guessed by Kevin: View from Terminal Tower observation deck, guessed by X: Yeesh - those were too easy!

"No more checks!" You're talking about those paper things that people take forever to scribble out, right? :lol:

^That's what I meant by doing homework before I moved to where I live. There may be other areas that have more frequent service to/from downtown (the usual times I'm on the bus), but they're like you describe: stops on every block, and they go through various neighborhoods to get to my 'hood. In contrast, the primary bus route that I take utilizes the Shoreway to bypass the many/slow-stop neighborhoods and thus the time from my stop to downtown is usually around 5 minutes. If I took the other routes, it could easily be 15-20 or more. Sorry, living in cities without strong downtown job markets or walkable neighborhoods (or metro populations under 2 million) has NEVER been an option for me.

"Coventry isn't the bohemian center of Cleveland anymore." It hasn't been the bohemian center for a long time - mostly because the young bohemians did what they always do - grew up and got jobs :-)

Hey now - I'm born-and-bred PWT - officially Appalachian in fact! :-D

^Yep, and when they're too cheap to take debit/credit cards, they're too cheap to get my business. Honestly though - I'm pretty sure that they hire only the most deranged-looking, crabbiest, hygienically-challenged, miserable, crankiest, brain-dead, sociopathic (or any combination of the above) people to work there. I don't buy groceries expecting to be pampered, or for the staff to be oh-so-perky, or know everything about every product, but oh my holy god - it's damaging to one's psyche to shop at Marc's! I'll gladly pay a little extra rather than be traumatized!

Aldi's carries non-food products but they're aren't typical, every day kind of stuff. Marcs is definitely trashy (I shopped there once - never again, because it's really an unpleasant experience) but a cheap store like that will be a good fit for Coventry, as wimwar said.

Yeah, this has a ways to go before it ever becomes the circle-jerk that was the "I LOVE CLEVELAND" thread :lol:

I don't think anyone's suggesting that your transportation spending is $0 - but it's still a hell of a lot cheaper than car ownership expenses. I mean - $720 gets me a monthly bus pass for a year - or it gets me maybe two/three car payments. It also helps to live in an area where you have multiple transit options (rail to the airport, buses to feed to rail lines, community circulators, etc.).

^That's good to know - do you know what companies offer that? I checked with a few back in the day and I got a lot of "uhhh, never heard of that".

"The first antihistamine - Benadryl by George Rievesche" As an allergy sufferer, I say THANK YOU, Mr. Rievesche!!!

I've been car-free in Cleveland for about 5 years now and I honestly don't see myself ever owning a car again. I bought Margo (a '94 Mazda 626 - great little car) in 1997 when I was living in the 'burbs after college. After putting waaay too many miles on her, she needed about $2500 in repairs just to be somewhat dependable so I ended up donating her to charity in 2001. At the time I was living in an outer-ring 'burb and that had to change. I had to do a little homework before I decided on where to live, so that I could have access to transit, etc. I initially worried about being stranded or unable to run errands but I've found that friends are happy to help - and especially given gas prices, they love that I always offer gas money. If they aren't available there's renting or thanks to CityWheels, I can use car-sharing. The only thing about renting from places like Hertz or Enterprise is that when you don't own a car, you don't have auto insurance - and getting it through the rental agency is usually $20 a day on top of the rental fee and that adds up. Thus, I prefer car-sharing. That said, my S.O. has a car and I haven't had to rent or anything for a while. I guess that makes us "car-lite" (extra-lite, since he drives a Mini, haha).

Correct, X! Incorrect, musky - good guess and I see the resemblance, but that isn't it! :)

"What neighborhood does Ameri-Con Homes Ashbury Towers development belong in? One of my friends was looking to buy there and was calling it Ohio City, but I thought that was Clark-Fulton or Stockyards south of 90?" That would be Stockyards, and Clark-Fulton is east of that.