Grumpy

Jerry, since hiring someone with with commodities market experience would be cost prohibitive, has RTA considered partnering with with some of the transit agencies from neighboring counties to purchase fuel? Then the cose of hiring someone could be spread around further.

Um, no. There's a new building going up between the old AAA building and Fox 8 building. The HoJo is on the other side of Fox 8. I have no idea what it is, but considering the proximity to the AAA building, I'm guessing its an addition to it. There doesn't seem to be enough room between those buildings for a separate plot of land. See this map, the blue dot is the building coming down and the red one is the new construction. http://tinyurl.com/cwvav7

Even post WWII buildings are a little sad to see come down for me, especially if they're still structurally sound. Though considering how many people have tried and talked about fixing this up, but failed, I'd rather see it come down than keep standing there the way it is. Plus there's no point in fixing it up if its just going to have a view of a port in a few years.

This was in the News Herald yesterday. Lake mayors not sure on revenue sharing Published: Tuesday, April 28, 2009 By David W. Jones

True, except that RTA probably already has contracts with someone on the equipment that would be violated by reprograming. I don't think the machines are that bad, but they could certainly be better. I agree with the above posts that change would be nice, and can't cost that much more. How many other vending machines don't give change anymore other than the one's that dispense candy or temporary tattoos for a quarter?

Mrs. Grumpy lost a second grade spelling bee because she spelled the word "wash" with an R in the middle, and she's from Akron. I know this because she was very embarressed and has been anal about making sure our kids pronounce everything correctly. Nothing like public humiliation to change behavior.

^Where on E 79th is this? I'm not familiar with the former White Motor complex.

It looks like maybe I was wrong to be optimistic. There's a crane on the property now, and it looks like the restaurant on the north side of the ground floor is gone. I think our eyesore by the lakeshore will be gone shortly. (I'm referring to the old HoJo on the marginal by E 55th.)

If you only have a couple minutes to stop at CVNP, I'd stop near the ledges pavilion on the East side of the park. There's lots of really short looping trails and the overlook is awesome. Plus then you're just a couple minutes from Route 8.

That makes sense. I guess that would lead to my next question, which would be why does the HL run past E.120? I am assuming the answer will have something to do with trying to promote growth in E. Cle. This isn't a smartass answer, but some of what you're asking was explained in the HL presentations and I'm pretty sure covered in the HL thread. Agreed. Jerry was nice enough to respond on a similar subject here.

As far as commuting goes, it depends on the direction you're coming from on 90. Coming from the East side, you'll have no trouble, just get off on Chester and there's plenty of lots and garages. Coming from the West side you'll probably have some issues with the work starting soon on the Innerbelt Bridge, but so long as you avoid rush hour it shouldn't be a serious issue. May I recommend the bus though? As a CSU student you'll get free rides on RTA and there's plenty of routes that either go to CSU or go to downtown which is just a short walk or trolley ride from campus. As a bonus, you can always take care of some homework while riding to class.

But who would you say it to?

$6 million isn't much spread between all the state transit agencies, but its a step in the right direction.

How did I miss this? It looks like I agree with the editors at the Plain Dealer on something. Pavement-heavy Ohio budget doesn't do justice to public transportation Posted by The editors April 05, 2009 04:11AM Thanks to a big infusion of federal stimulus dollars, the General Assembly last week could pass and Gov. Ted Strickland could sign a $9.2 billion transportation bill that includes record amounts of money for road and bridge construction and lays the foundation for intercity rail in Ohio. But large as it is, the bill once again short-changes hundreds of thousands of Ohioans who, either by choice or necessity, rely on public transportation. ........

Alterations to Inner Belt plan suggested at ODOT public hearing Posted by Karen Farkas

Maybe you should just do your job while at work then. :-P

ODOT open to ideas on Inner Belt Bridge design Posted by Karen Farkas

Ok, I’m tired of the whole “it’s too far away” whining. Today, at lunch, I took a little walk with a notepad and my watch to figure out how far apart these places are on foot in minutes. Keep in mind all of these times are with lunch time traffic, so at other times of day might be longer or shorter. From the front door of the current Convention Center half way up Mall B to the corner of West Mall and St. Clair (Med Mart site) took about 1 min, 30 seconds From the corner of West Mall and St. Clair (Med Mart site) to the Marriott across the road took about 30 seconds From the Marriott to the front door of Tower City took about 4 minutes If my math is correct that means the convention center is all of 6 minutes from Tower City. Is that really so disconnected? Plus if MMPI puts an entrance to the new CC on St. Clair, they could cut about a minute off that 6 minute walk. And if people are unwilling or unable to walk 5 minutes would they really be willing or able to walk 2 or 3 minutes from the middle of the Tower City to an attached convention center? And if a 5 or 6 minute stroll across downtown is too far, can’t they catch a cab or the B-line loop? All of this is of course assuming that a convention goer wants to take the Red Line from the Airport to a convention and not stay at a hotel downtown, which seems unlikely to me. If you’re talking about the distance between the convention center and the nearest hotel, there’s little doubt that it’s a similar walk (less than 2 minutes) from the current site to either the Crown Plaza or the Marriott than it is from the back end of Tower City to any hotel. (attached or not) Oh, and just to make sure I wasn’t walking too fast and skewing the numbers, I took the stairs from my cubicle on the 25th floor to the lobby on my way out to check how far a walk it is.

I'm sure it'll be in the news in the next few days, but word is DFAS Cleveland is getting a few hundred new employees over the next year or so. Most of the jobs are positions that were outsourced, and they're replacing contractors with government employees, but still new jobs is always a good thing. (God only knows where they'll find room for more people in this building.)

Doesn't Jacobs (or his father) own the parking lot under Mall A, and the Marriott? Those are a lot closer to the mall than the back end of Tower City. I would call that a reason to suspect bias.

People that use LMAO. If you actually laughed so hard that your backside actually came off, you need to be calling an ambulance or otherwise seeking medical attention rather than commenting on something on the internet. LOL is much more acceptable, and ROFL is also acceptable if you actually fall out of your chair laughing. Otherwise quit exaggerating, it's annoying!!! As a side note, my wife once laughed at something she read, so hard that she fell out of our rather cheap office chair and dislocated her hip. In that scenario ROFLMAO would not be a total exageration and would be acceptable to me. For some reason when she remembered that I had promised to replace that cheap chair and it was why she was in so much pain, she didn't say anything remotely like ROFLMAO to me.

Excellent question Foraker, but might I suggust that if you're only going to post part of the article, post a smaller portion so we don't miss your question at the end. It would be interesting to see some numbers on this. I'm pretty sure the fares are needed with the economy in the current state its in and the state unwilling to put a reasonable amount of money into transit, but it would be nice to know. I imagine if RTA had gone fare-free for the Healthline, they wouldn't have needed to increase the number of officers checking passes, plus they wouldn't have had to pay for the machines that took months to get working.

What would you consider a better reason to rebuild it?

that's funny! I must say one thing for the New York Public Library: whenever a cellphone goes off, the staff immediately puts a stop to it. It's absolutely forbidden under any circumstances. Re the other part of your post, I once sat on the bus behind a woman who was chatting with her friend while simultaneously reconciling her checkbook, holding up her bank statement and checks--with all pertinent, confidential information clearly visible--only two feet away from me. People are complete nitwits. I think is much more annoying when the conversation is loud but mundane. There's a guy that gets on the bus every afternoon at the stop after mine and then argues with his wife about what to make for dinner. Last week I yelled at him from 3 rows back "Dude, just have the fish. You've had hamburger helper 3 days in a row!".

Laketran finalizing plan before May vote By Brandon C. Baker