FerrariEnzo

So what explains suburbs like Westlake, which have on average very stable households and >75th percentile household incomes, not cracking the list (and in some cases not having a single NMSF)? Here is the answer viewed through tainted lense of an urban snob: Why do you find more NMSFs in Shaker Heights as compared to Westlake: Truly smart people appreciate good architecture. Snobbish but true, when I worked in Westlake in 2008 and people found out I lived in Shaker they told me to drive down Hilliard Blvd to see some "Shaker houses"... needless to say I almost threw up when I saw portico after portico that looked like they were stolen from Saddam Hussein palaces. Wish I had a picture of this one in particular on the South side of the blvd with all these crazy animal statues... I thought to myself... NBA or NFL?

I re-ranked the list according to StrapHanger's conjecture. The correlation is undeniable. NMSF/Enrollment Hawken 15% University Schools 6.7% Hathaway Brown 4.95% Shaker Heights 4.47% Beachwood 4.44% Solon 3.95% St. Ignatius 3.89% Orange 3% Archbishop Hoban 2.67% Hudson 1.27% So clearly the near east side privates are in their own tier and it seems that Shaker, Beachwood, Solon and Orange are all within a few students give or take every year of being neck and neck.

^You NEED to, it is free on Mondays most of the time. Great shots! I am so happy the elephants are getting upgraded digs. I always felt bad for them since I was little, they had such a miserable and tiny enclosure for such large majestic animals. p.s. the plumage on that Bald Eagle is superb

Ditto, I was sure your inbox would have been flooded given such a declaration... alas *finance*

That is a really good point. My buddy is at NYU film school and I was asking him about sound stage use as opposed to outside filming at a legit location awhile back. He said the same thing. Why have millions of dollars of equipment where you can calibrate it to get what you want, both lighting, cameras, sound...

By westside-eastside I was primarily directing that remark towards public schools. I agree to a certain extent but the numbers don't correlate 100%. Certainly East Cleveland isn't going to be churning out Ivy Leaguers anytime soon but then what is the excuse for Westlake, Bay Village, Rocky River, Lakewood, Avon, Brecksville and all the other exurbs I hear about all day? I would wager that many of those cities have equal if not higher average incomes than Shaker and no where near the types of urban issues and yet they are no where to be found...

I think LMN is boring and not very creative at all.

As a former Shaker Hts. national merit recipient it makes me proud to know we still stick it to the private schools... all that tuition... http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2010/03/shaker_heights_solon_lead_grea.html Shaker Heights, Solon lead Greater Cleveland with most National Merit Scholar semifinalists By Rich Exner, The Plain Dealer March 06, 2010, 6:45PM Statistical Snapshot Ken Marshall, PD Shaker Heights and Solon have the most National Merit Scholarship semifinalists in Greater Cleveland. Nearly 200 Northeast Ohio high school seniors are among about 16,000 semifinalists announced last year by National Merit Scholarship Corp. They represent less than 1 percent of high school seniors nationwide. Here are the area schools with the most semifinalists: Shaker Heights, 17 Solon, 17 Hawken, 15 St. Ignatius, 14 Hathaway Brown, 11 Beachwood, 8 University School, 8 Archbishop Hoban, 6 Hudson, 6 Orange, 6 EDIT: no west-side schools.

Gladiator has not been mentioned. Metropolis Jet li- fearless* *watching now* Charlie Chaplin “Modern Times” (1936) All India Jones Star Wars Silence of the Lambs-Hanibal Top Gun Independence Day Lola Rennt (german) Pi Hud, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid-Paul Newman Ghostbusters Wall Street (Greed is Good!) Jurassic Park Event Horizon

Is this the Boeing 787 thread of MTS-MD88Pilot PM thread? Just kidding guys! haha

Dunbar is good, I did a project on him in 3rd grade. @diaspora I am working to get a petition together to get something about Mr. Newman in Shaker either at the High School or somewhere relevant.

^Good idea, but he is still alive.

^The land on the South side of Van Aken would be much cheaper to acquire, a good place to start. The housing stock on the north side has some nice homes that in my opinion should stay. I think you would find with the right PR campaign that residents of that area of Shaker would welcome development that would add a more vibrant mix of urbanism as opposed to the "thug" branded urbanism that has been creeping in for the last 50 years.

MANY more chicken dinners.

Jesse Owens.

^Your points about young professionals and taking time to start careers etc. are right on the money. I think many would love to live right near the rapid so they could work downtown. I mean if given the option of moving to Willoughby (nothing wrong with willoughby) or living on a well intergrated and smartly developed TOD on Van Aken where you could go to work on the rapid, go to a Cavs game/browns game/indians game AND go to the airport ALL with no vehicle... not to mention Dave's supermarket on Shaker Square... it would be a nice alternative. Not much need for an auto in that situation.

^All of those properties with the exception of F are owned by FCE if I am not mistaken. Site F might be as well... The land highlighted looks like, Tower City Complex, land behind said complex, Tower City Amphitheatre, Scranton Peninsula and a few small parcels.

I checked the "pasty" box.

^I guess what I am saying is that at least on the cities Southern border, i.e. van aken, the city needs to give up on stemming the tide of urbanism. Instead of being reactive, be proactive and develop the city in that area along the lines of Boston's Brookline which is its own municipality but has the MTA Green Line run through it that goes to B.C. (chestnut hill stops...)

Oh trust me I know, if anyone knows Shaker history its me, I have just about every book on the subject. As for what you said about the strip of land between Warrensville and Green, damn straight we want it left like that. The entire allure of Shaker is a garden city and yes we do not have office parks like Beachwood but they can keep Chagrin Highlands et. all and I will stick with the Shaker Lakes and the $3k per $100k taxes/anum all day. I live between Shaker Blvd. and South Woodland right next to Courtland Blvd and I think the Green Line is fine. I do wish they would concede Van Aken has lost its appeal as the bordering neighborhood went south post 1950s, and develop it with town homes and other creative uses, all the way from Shaker Square all the way to Van Aken/Warrensville/Chagrin. As for Avalon Station, many factors terminated it, A. nobody can get condo loans without a 720 and five years of $50k plus income. (single) In addition, most young people who would buy a condo are going downtown if at all and thus the target group is empty nesters, do they want to pay the aforementioned $3k/100k taxes to subsidize a school district where 10% of the enrollees are not legal residents? I would not. I will say this and drop it, shaker has a lot going for it but it has some looking in the mirror to do as far as what it wants to do. Mayor Leiken is a smart fellow who is going about this the right way, his primary focus is developing the Van Aken/chargin area to raise the tax base. He is also trimming back certain city services, some of which are REDUNKULOUS and should have been clipped long ago.

Larchmere, Academy Tavern: Fried Chicken Dinner. $9.75 with two sides and a salad... mmmm Great pictures, these must be from a few days ago, the past 2 days have been nice!

Did you draw that picture on the blackboard from your site? Those are some straight lines! haha... Welcome Craig!

Marcus Aurelius, 21 months, pics from today: All my neighbors here in Shaker that own labs/shi tzus are terrified of him. :-D

Thought so. haha

^clvndr might be referring to the new development at Van Aken and Lee Road... Avalon Station is the name of it and it coincides with some sprucing up of Shaker Towne Center (lee and chagrin). http://www.avalonlofts.com/