Grumpy

What is there to say? The Defense looked good once they woke up, but they apparently slept through the first quarter. The Offense was probably a little better than last week, but that's not saying much.

Oh, I missed that.

Try this. The search on here never finds what I'm looking for anyway.

They've been working on structural steel since mid September. They are making good progress though.

Very true, but from the indications I've seen, the "No on 2" crowd is more motivated than the Yes crowd. That might help them turn out more people.

I have a hard time believing that the leases signed in Nashville would prevent a company from bailing and heading north if financing hasn't panned out and the construction schedule will be missed. If so, either they paid very little for the lease in Nashville to begin with (so it's a small loss to them if they bail now), they're a small company from the Nashville area and wouldn't consider coming to Cleveland anyway, or the company needs better legal counsel. If you're signing a long term lease for a significant amount of your marketing budget with a project this speculative and don't have any escape clause; I believe that is called a failure. It might cost them a few bucks to bail now, but compared to having a competitor displaying in Cleveland and them not having a display anywhere, I would think those companies will consider it, and will continue to think about it while Cleveland does construction and Nashville doesn't. If Nashville can get their financing in place by the time Cleveland opens, they'll probably prevent any/many companies from coming to Cleveland, if not, then we might get a few. As a second thought though, if Nashville can't get financing, it's possible that some of the companies might decide that the whole medical mart concept is a failure and decide to continue marketing their products as they always have.

^I'd have to guess that the 25 minute wait is why it's standing room only.

From my experience the bunching up of buses on the Healthline has gotten a bit better over time, but it's still a problem at the end of rush hour. I suppose that's just the nature of a Bus-(not so)-Rapid-Transit system. Unfortunately I keep finding myself waiting for the Healthline around 7pm when it's near its worst.

Agreed. Cribbs was great a couple years ago, but he's becoming less of an asset each season. I'm not sure if he's slowing down with age, or if he's not getting the blocking he did in previous seasons. (I suspect both.) For that matter I tend to think Hillis is a bit overrated as well. I'm too lazy to look at stats, but Hardesty seemed to do about as well yesterday as Hillis has been doing this season (and the end of last season). He was a good player last year when no one knew who he was or that they should be concerned about him, now that he's not a surprise he's been worth about 3 yards a play. Not exactly a game changer. In his defense though, he's not getting the blocks he did last year. I thought the Offensive line looked mediocre. Most of the hits on McCoy came around the edges, which is a failure to adapt the play at the line rather than a failure by the linemen to block. Much of that probably comes from McCoy's own lack of experience, so it doesn't concern me too much. That said, there were a few plays (like the blocked kicks) that showed that these guys aren't as good as they should be. Though in their defense, Seattle does have a particularly good defensive line.

Yes, a route out to Lakewood would be nice, but it has its own thread here and it didn't just get money from the FTA. (Whether we should have submitted for funds to do so seems like a topic for that thread.) The problem with this is where do you put the line out that direction? If you run between the train tracks where they currently sit and the shoreway you're running through an area with relatively low density (some warehouses, factories and homes, but a lot of empty buildings too.) If you run down St. Clair as a streetcar, you add significantly to the cost, plus St Clair wouldn't be wide enough for a dedicated lane in some places. (And would it really provide any significant benefit that just using the larger articulated busses on route 1 wouldn't?) Also, right or wrong, there is a perceived lack of safety due to the crime in Glenville which may negatively affect the perception of an extended Waterfront Line through the neighborhood. I'd love to continue discussing the WFL, but we'll probably get yelled at if we don't move that discussion over to its proper thread. Don't ask me which thread, but we've discussed commuter routes to/through Lake county several times on here. I (and several others on here) are generally in favor of running through University Circle, rather than straight down the lake front because; the freight line that runs beside the Red Line has much lower traffic, that route provides access for a greater number of commuters (because you're including employers in both Downtown and UC), and because you would only add a couple of minutes by going the couple miles south through University Circle.

Agreed. It may have been a mistake, but it was a minor one and I won't hold it against him. There's plenty of more significant things to hold against him.

Not.....rain doesn't collect up on the roads and cause problems well after it's over. You've never seen a puddle? :-P

So it really becomes a matter of which type of funds are more limited. If capital funds are the limiting factor, we'll get either nothing or a Healthline extension. If the capital funds can be found to extend the Red Line, it would be in RTA's interest because it would reduce operating costs and I think we all know that operating funds are always limited (though maintenance on the extended line does significantly eat into the savings of a single train operator vs. a bunch of bus drivers.)

1 minute, 1 minute, 25 minutes, 1 minute, 1 minute, 25 minutes... :wink:

Yeah, because none of us on the left don't do that too: Starving children of the unemployed vs. tax breaks for private jets

Winter? After all this rain I'm excited about winter. I'd rather have snow than more damn rain.

From the look of it on Google maps parts of it are already converted to bike path. Or at least it appears that way. (I wish it had been a bike path when I used to commute down 261.) My suggestion (to you or anyone else that's listening) if you do drive up and take the Blue line, drive all the way up to the Drexmore station. If you get there a few minutes before the blue line catch it there, if you end up just missing it, you can walk the 1/4 mile over to the Shaker Square station and catch the green line there. (Shaker Square doesn't have parking.) It'll save you waiting however long it it between the blue line trains, and there's no way to predict exactly how much time it'll take you to get there because of traffic. (Though afternoon traffic is worse at 271/480 than morning)

^Be careful of copyright rules.

^Wait, Metro owns the tracks through Tallmadge to Kent?

I get birds in my attic every summer, and somehow at least one gets stuck and dies each year. Fortunately sparrows are small enough that they don't smell too bad if I don't find them for a while.

Well, personally, I know a lot more people in Euclid and western Lake County that are commuting down 271 than coming into downtown, but that doesn't really concern the corridor in question unless someone wants to propose having Red Line trains or Healthline busses running down 271. (Put the trains in the grass medians between the local lanes and express lanes?) Neither of which really sounds like a good idea to me.

For purely selfish reasons, if the Red line can't be extended this would be my vote. Sure it'll probably get less ridership than the other options, but then I could walk to the Healthline. :-D

The Cleveland Centric-ness of the previous plans was both a strength and a weakness. By going all the way to Cleveland, you add significantly to the ridership, but you also add to the cost and more importantly you add to the number of people that have to cooperate to make it happen and that can scream "Not in my back yard!" With CAK, if this line ever goes there, the tracks are about 3/4 of a mile across 77 from the building. You could really easily put up a platform and have a van or bus waiting to take passengers over to the terminal. It sounds perfect. Why not put a station by the Football Hall of Fame too? A station at Fulton road would be within easy walking distance.

I haven't been shy about my preference of extending the Red Line, but if the Healthline gets extended instead I'd be ok with it. I'd like to be able to get between Euclid to University Circle without going through downtown or having a long layover at Windermere. There is already a fair amount of density along this corridor, both from employers and residents. It's not ideal for TOD, but at the moment TOD isn't happening even in the places where it would be ideal, so why not build where you already have ridership? Plus if the stations are built right, some TOD would be possible. I'd love to live in condo across the street from a train station in Euclid, if it happens to be at the site of an old mall, that sounds like good reuse of the space to me. This probably won't happen for 10 to 15 years at a minimum, but 15 - 20 years from now my kids will be out of the house and I would consider it. The wife has said she's not going to live in the city again, but would be ok with Euclid. Sounds like a nice place to move to once we're empty nesters. I can't say that a healthline station would be enough to entice me to consider moving though.

It's about an 8 mile corridor from the Merriman Valley to the south side of the city. It may not go all the way to Canton or Cleveland, but if it ends up getting passenger rail that isn't primarily for seeing a park (CVSR), than that's an important first step toward eventual commuter rail. If this happens (which is far from guaranteed of course) it'll be a lot easier to add a 9th or 10th (or 25th for that matter) mile to the route than to get it started to begin with.