Ctownrocks1

Is it ok to post the whole thing since it is a blog? If not I can edit it or someone can. Advocating for Bike and Ped Access in Cleveland, With a Beat by Sarah Goodyear on February 12, 2010 A couple of months ago, we wrote about Clevelanders protesting a $450 million rebuilding of the city's Innerbelt Bridge that fails to include bike and pedestrian access. Since then, the Ohio Department of Transportation has dug in its heels, saying that there is no time to make any amendments to the environmental impact statement on the project before a March 2 deadline. But Streetsblog Network member Green City Blue Lake says that bike lane advocates aren't giving in yet, and are determined to use the time between now and March 2 to continue pushing for amendments to the bridge plan. Yesterday, they posted the video above to spread the word. Here are some of the lyrics: Those who don't have a car still do Pay public infrastructure taxes too So why can't those who don't have a car Use the bridge in their own backyard?… All kinds of traffic should be delivered Up over the Cuyahoga River If they drive a bike or just walk around Give everyone a way to get downtown. Let's keep Cleveland on the right track. Take a step forward not a step back Now is the chance if we answer the call To build a bridge that connects us all. They've got some support at the City Council level. From a GCBL post earlier this week: "When you design a bridge, you don't design it just for cars, you design it for people," Cleveland Councilman Matt Zone told ODOT Innerbelt Project Manager Craig Hebebrand at [a February 8th] Cleveland Planning Commission [meeting]. "Why should the citizens of Cleveland settle for second class? We should demand [a multi-use path on the bridge] from the design phase. We should demand something better. Let’s see what the prices come in. In Shanghai and in Portland they are designing bridges for people." Hebebrand said it's too late from ODOT's perspective to make any changes. "There’s no way to physically amend the documents to add the addendum in time." Planning Commission member Lillian Kuri, however, got Hebebrand to admit that there will be many addendums to the Environmental Impact Statement before the end. Adding an addendum to that EIS for a bike/ped multi-use path now should not be used an excuse, Kuri said. Advocates agree, and we charge that we have 25 days, or 220 hours until ODOT’s imposed March 2 deadline. We also contend that where there's a will, there's a way. The comments from Councilman Matt Zone illustrate this sentiment; and given Hebebrand's assertions, it is perhaps proof positive that the issue transcends ODOT and its usual bureaucracy, and so it's time to move up the chain of command. We'll keep following this story. http://dc.streetsblog.org/2010/02/12/advocating-for-bike-and-ped-access-in-cleveland-with-a-beat/

Bike and pedestrian access for all on new Cleveland Innerbelt bridge - Song about new Innerbelt and why it should have a bike / pedestrian lane.

Cleveland Schools consider adding Citizens' Academy as fourth charter school The Cleveland School District is close to adding a fourth charter school to its portfolio. The school board will consider sponsoring Citizens' Academy, a University Circle school with 400 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The district and Citizens' Academy are discussing a five-year contract that would take effect July 1. Citizens' Academy was rated "excellent," the equivalent of an A, on its most recent state report card. http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/02/cleveland_schools_consider_add.html

Video of McLovin trying to make it to Dallas but the whole thing is him in Cleveland. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km2V5yfhdV0

East Huron Road - September 12, 2009 Prospect - September 12, 2009 East 4th - September 12, 2009 Tremont - Forgot Street Name - Close to Professor Avenue I think - September 12, 2009 No IDEA what this thing was but here it is - Still in Tremont Euclid Avenue - From Clinic Rooftop Pavilion - May 5th 2009 East 9th - September 28, 2008 University Circle June 13, 2009 During Parade the Circle Flats / WH September 5th, 2009 East 9th street near Rock Hall - July 19th, 2008 Public Square

ODOT says no to a bicycle lane on the new Cleveland Innerbelt Bridge CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Activists hoping for a bicycle lane on the new Cleveland Innerbelt Bridge had their idea rejected Thursday by the Ohio Department of Transportation. The department said that there are available alternative bike routes; there are safety and maintenance challenges of having a bike lane on the bridge; and the bridge's estimated cost, $450 million, prevents ODOT from designing one. http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/02/post_203.html

County plans to use stimulus bonds for Medical Mart (Cleveland) - Cuyahoga County will use all of its $64.1 million Recovery Zone Facility Bond allocation to defray part of the estimated $425 million cost to be incurred on the Medical Mart/Convention Center project. The allocation permits the County to issue Recovery Zone bonds at interest rates 25-30% lower than market rates, which will help the county and its taxpayers save money. "The county's bond rating, set by independent agencies, is the second best in Ohio,” said Matthew Rubino, interim director of the County Office of Budget and Management. “A good rating translates into lower interest rates when the county needs to borrow, and the Recovery Zone bonds help us even more http://www.wtam.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=122520&article=6736823

Big mat tourney set in Cleveland USA Wrestling recently announced the 2010 and 2011 United States Senior National Wrestling Championships and the Men's FILA Junior National Championships have been awarded to Cleveland. The U.S. Senior Nationals will move to Cleveland from Las Vegas. The Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, in conjunction with USA Wrestling, will host this year's event April 21-25 at the Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University. Up to 850 athletes are expected to participate in the two competitions that weekend, with more than $850,000 expected to be infused into the local economy. http://www.auroraadvocate.com/news/article/4760773

Cleveland Marriott Downtown at Key Center Wins Top Trip Advisor Award and Offers Guests Three Chances to Check Them Out CLEVELAND, Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cleveland Marriott Downtown at Key Center was recently named number 18 on Trip Advisor's Traveler's Choice award list as part of their "Top 25 Hotels in the United States" for the fifth year in a row. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cleveland-marriott-downtown-at-key-center-wins-top-trip-advisor-award-and-offers-guests-three-chances-to-check-them-out-83475562.html

Great Lakes Brewing Company Opens the Tap at the AIRMALL® at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport CLEVELAND, Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The AIRMALL® at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) is pleased to announce the opening of Great Lakes Brewing Company, a Cleveland original and brewer of award-winning lagers, ales and porters. Operated by Cleveland Partners, LLC, the Great Lakes Brewing Company (approximately 3,000 sq. ft.) is located on Concourse C and includes a full-service restaurant and bar. In addition to a great selection of locally-brewed ales and lagers, travelers are able to choose from the restaurant's full menu of appetizers, pub favorites, sandwiches and dinner selections. "We are excited to be a part of the ongoing concessions development at the AIRMALL® at CLE by providing travelers from all over the world with an authentic taste of Cleveland," added George Walker, operator of Great Lakes Brewing Company at the AIRMALL®. "Our award-winning, flavorful beers and mouth-watering food selections will surely be a big hit among passengers, all while providing uncompromising, superior customer service." http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/great-lakes-brewing-company-opens-the-tap-at-the-airmallr-at-cleveland-hopkins-international-airport-83287467.html

Indoor Sports Complex Planned For Cleveland "We are currently planning a 150,000 square foot air supported dome. Inside that dome we plan to have a 250 meter Velodrome. In addition to the cycling we also have 75,000 feet of turf field," said Davis. He said the mixed use sports complex will also have hard court space for basketball and volleyball. The Fast Track Cycling group said that the combination of sports, under one roof, will make the facility a destination location. There is also a video about the Velodrome if you visit the link. "The Velodrome that we are planning to build, will be built to Olympic specifications," said Davis. "Our longer term plans are to hold regional, national, and then at some point international caliber events." http://www.newsnet5.com/sports/22395409/detail.html#

Continental Airlines brings back nonstops to Green Bay and Norfolk CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Continental Airlines is restoring daily nonstop service from Cleveland to Green Bay, Wis., and Norfolk, Va., two destinations it cut after fuel prices soared in the summer of 2008. The flights begin May 2. Departures to each city will be once or twice a day, in the afternoon and evening. Return flights will leave Green Bay and Norfolk both in the morning and afternoon. http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2010/01/continental_airlines_brings_ba.html

Drool All You Want, Miami. LeBron Hearts Cleveland. You held those signs -- "Come to Miami, LeBron. Work on your tan!" -- and you wore your #23 jerseys. You even cheered occasionally when he scored. But you're not from Cleveland, so you just don't understand. Ever been to wig night at the Q, to celebrate Anderson Varejao's unruly mop? Or sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Euclid Avenue, surrounded by so many honking, cheering, and absurdly jubilant fans that the cops gave up directing traffic and joined the party? ..... They don't realize that James already is a savior of Cleveland. The Jesus-style Nike poster of him that hangs from a prominent building downtown is only a slight exaggeration of his status in the Paris of the Rust Belt. http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/2010/01/lebron_james_dwayne_wade_miami.php

Cleveland Hopkins International Airport could become a magnet for development CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Urban planners are taking a fresh look at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport as a magnet for development much like the region's highways or the banks of the Cuyahoga River. The airport, surrounding land and transit routes could be stitched into an "aerotropolis" -- with the airport itself functioning as a central business zone, and commercial and manufacturing companies, typically aviation-related, strung along corridors radiating out as far as 20 miles. http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2010/01/cleveland_hopkins_internationa.html

Cleveland Design Competition will unleash new ideas for the downtown Mall and lakefront For the third year in a row, Bradley Fink and Michael Christoff, who work at Westlake Reed Leskosky and Forum Architects, respectively, have organized the Cleveland Design Competition. The idea is simple: using the Internet to invite architects around the world to come up with solutions to design challenges in Cleveland. The competition this year focused on a hypothetical new lakefront rail station to replace the puny, outdated Amtrak station along the railroad tracks just north of the downtown Mall, which also functions as the roof of the city's convention center. http://blog.cleveland.com/architecture/2010/01/cleveland_design_competition_w.html

Did the title of this change cause I thought it said Grand Ohio High Schools - whoops. Would Saint Ignatius in Cleveland count? I can't find a good photo though.

Casino Spurs Hope For Neglected Neighborhood COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Residents near the site of a proposed casino in the city say they hope the plan will boost the struggling neighborhood. Penn National Gaming Inc., which is developing the casino, wants to build it on the city's west side on property occupied by a former Delphi auto parts factory. It's across the street from a neighborhood dubbed the emptiest in the U.S. An analysis last year by The Associated Press showed that about 70 percent of the neighborhood's housing is empty. It's a stretch that features a mostly vacant apartment complex, a strip club and abandoned retail stores. http://www.newsnet5.com/news/22323309/detail.html

Cleveland's Jewish community wants to welcome the world The Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland, the chief planning and fundraising agency for the region's 80,000 Jews, is committing resources to a center designed to attract international talent and investment. It's offering expertise, start-up funding and the prospect of an enticing location -- its headquarters building on Playhouse Square. When federation leaders decided in fall 2008 to move their staff and operations to Beachwood, they vowed to make a visible re-commitment to the city. That may be by saying "Welcome" to the world. http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/01/clevelands_jewish_community_wa.html

Yea I wish it had more of the core of the simcity 4 with the graphics and some of the online concepts of this game. I'm just hoping that since they are continually adding content that they might fix it, the game even launched without any buses at all then added that like a month later. If they fix the mass transit I think it would still be a great game. The online trading has been working better lately and I have never really had any problems with my city and pollution even with my industrial sites. Maybe that was a problem and they fixed it. Also Johio - If you wanted just to try it they have an option where you can play online without purchasing the solo version of the game. You just have to pay the monthly rate - which is about $10. I first thought that you had to purchase the game then do the online but you do not have to and this is a cheap way to try out the game.

I was just wondering if anyone is actually playing this game and how they feel about it if they do. In addition since this has an online element to it in which you can visit other peoples cities, trade with them, etc., I figured it would be nice to share information to add any urban Ohio people as friends in the game. For me personally I love the graphics of this game but I miss some aspects of Simcity 4 because you can't micromanage as much in Cities Xl at least not yet. They are constantly updating the game though and are always adding content so some of that might change and the trading aspect for commodities might overcome that aspect. Another thing I like about citiesxl is that you can build mega structures - you win a certain blueprint every week or so - and you have to allocate resources to build the buildings and it can take a minimum of 2 days sometimes weeks for these structures to actually get built. These are actual days not game days and is interesting seeing the building actually grow over time instead of simply putting up space and seeing something grow in matters of seconds or minutes. There is a lot more to the game and just wanted to start a thread about this game and any discussion about it. Also like I said earlier if you have an account feel free to add me my name on there is Cleveland. http://www.citiesxl.com/component/option,com_community/task,home/Itemid,131/?lang=en/ Anyway here are some pics (which look better in game then the screen shots)- This is my first city and only a few weeks in so don't judge me! lol

I just wanted to say that over the weekend I took some visitors coming for all the free museums on MLK and after going to the Orchestra on Saturday I suggested we try the Chocolate Bar and they absolutely loved it including myself. The food was actually better then I thought and the Pasta with the white chocolate sauce was delicious. The presentation of the food was also great and unexpected and well you could only imagine how the dessert and martinis were. Also on a side note the people that were here were mostly from Cincy / Dayton but there were also a couple from the Solon/Twinsburg area that had not been to downtown in over 5 years and were simply AMAZED at east 4th and Euclid and were planning on coming back down already. It is really sad to see how many people from the area have no idea what is going on 15 minutes past there own home. I do see potential however because the people who do come after not being downtown in years are usually shocked and amazed to see the new things being done and immediately tell their friends and so on and so on.

On a different note it doesn't seem like the people of Nashville want this to go on without a vote. http://www.nashvillespriorities.org/

<a href="http://blog.cleveland.com/architecture/2010/01/hearing_speech_center_designed.html"> Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center designed by Bostwick Design Partnership is a plus for University Circle </a> Buildings rarely tell stories in a literal sense, but the new Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center in University Circle comes close. Shaped like a four-story cube with horizontal ribbon windows and bands of precast concrete that wrap the upper stories, the center at first glance is little more than an innocuous box, albeit one richly endowed with expansive areas of glass. Look closer, however, and you see that the facades of the $11.3 million building, completed in October, are sculpted to resemble sound spectrograms, the basic analytical tools used to diagnose speech defects.

Here is a link to a study - yes it was done a while ago - but it predicted downtown Cleveland to have the second highest percentage point growth in Downtown in the nation at 228.1% change from the time the study was made. Only Houston had a higher percentage growth prediction. http://www.brookings.edu/es/urban/top21fin.pdf There are also numerous other studies which showed Downtown Cleveland's growth in the residential sector as being among the best in the nation. Once I find them I'll post them as well.

<a href="http://blogs.nashvillescene.com/bites/2010/01/minneapolis_edges_out_nashvill.php">Nashville in Top Six Most Coupon-y Metropolises</a> Midwestern cities include three in Ohio -- Cincinnati (No. 3), Cleveland (No. 8 ) and Columbus (No. 20) -- making it the country's most frugal state. St. Louis (No. 4) and Minneapolis (No. 5), Kansas City (No. 10), Indianapolis (No. 16) and Wichita, Kansas (No. 19), also add to the Midwest contingent.