lafont

I've not really thought of Public Square itself as part of the "the project," except for the stretch on the south side up to Ontario. My 11/2000 "Streetscape Urban Design: Phase III" oversize planbook, for example, does not show the Square with the same detail as Euclid Avenue itself. Indeed, I've thought of the new walks and curbing around PS as the City's efforts to harmonize that site with the EC, in the same way, in a sense, East Cleveland did with the section of Euclid that goes past Windemere Station. Sort of a "nice gesture" but one other funding pays for (and, at least in East Cleveland, one that was really called for. Do you have verification all work done around PS was part of the EC ca. $200 MM funds? Sure, I'd like to see new lighting and the Square, too, and some thing decorative (or perhaps a more decorative version of the EC lights - something with a pronounced distinction though the same material, etc.). :type:

What is the status of the plans for Public Square? About the time paved areas there were being rebuilt to at least partially match the Euclid Corridor streetscape, it was announced the four quadrants were being redesigned as a separate project? What happened? Incidentally, the three Euclid Corridor-style lights in front of the Park Building and May Company Building seem to be oddly out of place. They really are on the Square though they match the Corridor's lighting. No, I don't think it would have looked inappropriate for the lighting to change within a block.

Isn't the University Circle segment asphalt, while the EC up to around e. 107th is concrete? Why???

Okay, I understand the basic taxonomy. It's just so fragmented. One has to keep skipping around and following many threads if one is interested in anything of substance, such as Cleveland neighborhoods, the CBD, area architecture, etc. It was someone on Steve Litt's blog who originally suggested UrbanOhio to me but I had no idea it is so complex. I know, I know, Take It or Leave it.... If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen. Well, Majority Rules! 8-)

I meant, of course, "HealthLine."

That's okay, MayDay. It's just as a professional librarian I'm always thinking in terms of overall classification, and it would seem to me a blog devoted to the Euclid Corridor (or is it really the RedLine? I note much on that blog is about buildings, not the transit line itself) would be the appropriate place to ask a question about something along the street. A blog devoted to "Northeast Ohio Projects and Construction" seems way, way too broad when inquiring about a project along Euclid Avenue. That's what the "Search" function is for, as well, if one blog diversifies into various topics.

Thanks BelievelandD! Yes, I'm finding more and more separate blog topics here - too many, actually. There are lots and lots of overlaps. And I do use the "Search" function. I know a lot of the same people try to keep up with lots of topics, so I'd assume someone could answer several questions at once. Ah, efficiency, efficiency....

It would be one of the very few tasteful shops out on the street dealing with menswear - a situation for years now and a shame. And oops - I meant "Cadillac!" Like the touristy site near Amarillo and the famous Route 66! Any idea when the restaurant at E. 4th and Euclid is set to open? The one that's almost open in the middle of E. 4th (by Lola's and World Bar)? They're set to hire staff now. I see another one's planned on the east side but I haven't noticed construction yet.

Is there actually a Gap planned for next to Cadillac Ranch? I fear for the safety of that '59 Caddy. It's rather cool (and I notice they didn't go in for one with a "hot" color - the powder blue is one of my favorites but understated yet still "period") but not in A-1 condition - note missing grate, for example). Do you think it's temporarily related the the opening hype or would it be out 24/7 indefinitely, in all weather and subject to any vandalism? It calls to mind the old fraternity-type stunts, with someone removing the car at 2 a.m. Wonder what kind of alarm system the place has. I'd love to see the car stay, but....

Too bad there are so many concrete interruptions to the general flow of the Euclid Avenue brick walks. I suppose some are some sort of entries to the underground lockers that must be there but it seems many places where there are brick walks (such as the very most flavorful, such as Beacon Hill, Boston) such concrete interruptions are not seen. In the case of a street, such as E. 6th, there are large concrete portions on both sides of the intersection. Is the asbestos removal still going on with the Breuer Tower? Haven't gotten a concrete answer as to what's going up behind the McDonalds at Euclid and E. 83rd. Cleve. Planning Dept., Councilwoman's office, etc. haven't come through. Someone at the Play House believes it is to be "food store" (i.e. supermarket??). Still no sign up. I looked in the County Admin. Bldg. and they just say the parcels are owned by an entity called "Euclid-E. 83" - or something like that. Hope they get going with restoring the original (or at least elegant) facades of those three buildings between the Huntington and the Statler Arms. Does anyone know what progress there is?

Thanks. I hadn't run into these two blogs yet.

This one's fine but it's too bad there are so many concrete interruptions to the general flow of the brick walks. I suppose some are some sort of entries to the underground lockers that must be there but it seems many places where there are brick walks (such as the very most flavorful, such as Beacon Hill, Boston) such concrete interruptions are not seen. In the case of a street, such as E. 6th, there are large concrete portions on both sides of the intersection. Is the asbestos removal still going on with the Breuer Tower? I know it was stopped for a while but I believe it was started again. For how long??? Is there still a plan for housing at 1010 Euclid or is it to be demolished or just "on hold" or what? Still haven't gotten a concrete answer as to what's going up behind the McDonalds at Euclid and E. 83rd. Cleve. Planning Dept., Councilwoman's office, etc. haven't come through. Someone at the Play House believes it is to be "food store" (i.e. supermarket??). Still no sign up. I looked in the County Admin. Bldg. and they just say the parcels are owned by an entity called "Euclid-E. 83" - or something like that. Hope they get going with restoring the original (or at least elegant) facades of those three buildings between the Huntington and the Statler Arms. Does anyone know what progress there is?

Now that the streetsigns on the more minor streets off Euclid have finally been installed (it was awful with some streets having no identification for many months), has anyone noticed how small the new signs (e.g. E. 75th) are? The new signs are not the very large type that have been being installed around the City of Cleveland the past few years; rather they are unusally small. In fact, not seeing one at this moment, I wonder if they're the old signs brought back? I don't think so, though, but I seem to recall they have the combination upper- and lower-case lettering. Is their small size (and thus not as easy to read for some as the current user-friendly trend calls for) as a cost-savings thing or did someone decide the usual new Cleveland signs would be so large they'd really distract from the overall visual design of the Corridor? The latter seems unlikely. So why do the new signs not match the others recently installed around Cleveland? Of course the ones over the street are huge, as elsewhere.

Another inquiry re those bloomin' EC streetlights: I realize the new trees lining Euclid are not consistent; they are in batches in sort of a willy-nilly fashion, with some stretches having no trees but perhaps in the vicinity "heavy" landscaping in the corresponding median, etc. However, I'd expect the lighting to be darned consistent. Why then, are there stretches - as recently as today - from about E. 86th to E. 105th, with still no tall streetlights on the sidewalks ? I know the E. 105th-E. 107th vicinity is still under considerable construction, so I can understand that. Ditto the Univ. Circle stretch, which is still missing the lights along an entire side. But around E. 86th to E. 105th should be quite complete at this juncture. So I'm wondering if possibly more lighting there is not even going the be installed? Strange! I also notice how the stretch downtown with the tall double lights in the median, and balanced by the short lights on the walks, is not matched in the Clinic vacinity; all lights there are tall except those low Clinic area vertical cylinder lights. Wonder how that decision was made. As for all those tilted lights, besides aesthetics and possibly basic safety, large light poles that are askew look simply dumb and they give the image of poor workmanship or lack of skills on the part of the crew who installed them. Again, they convey a dumb image that doesn't gel at all with all the high-tech construction and - in the case of the Cleveland Clinic - world-class distinction they hope to convey.

Who's Jerry and is he directly connected with GCRTA and/or the Corridor?

Sure hope so.... I imagine it CAN be done.... Embarrasing to the Clinic, alone!

Tall light pole outside Union Club example of bad, bad tilt. Here this venerable Florentine-style institution with colorful windowboxes finally has the equipment and barrels removed around it and it has to have a wayward silvery pole hovering by it....

Are the 120 new planters to be installed from "Playhouse Square" to East 18th or "Public Square" to East 18th??? The original articles says "Playhouse Square" and that don't make no sense.... Is that artist the same who designed those sculptural things on Mall 2 or the planters at Eaton Chagrin Boulevard?

What do you mean "w28th?" I always wished Ohio City did have historic-looking streetlights but it has the usual buried wires. They did it on w. 25th but mixed with modern.

I've always been very sorry Cleveland didn't go in for buried wires many decades ago. Rochester for example, where I'm from, and Syracuse, where I went to school, have the decorative street lights in commercial and residential neighborhoods which really add to the ambiance. Even Akron and Canton do. We do now, of course, have more than two kinds of local streetlights, but most have become cliche's. For example, we have the ones in some newer suburban developments - black and very simplified from the 18th century gaslights. We have those turn-of-the century ones, found in such places as Cleveland Heights public spaces. We have some a little different, such as in Coventry Village or around University Hospitals. And we have the so-called "Cleveland" ones, if that's what you mean, such as around Tower City and the Warehouse District and Prospect Avenue (mixed with new high poles is definitely a compromise in overall effect but does have some safety credibility). But these were installed by various companies over the years, or one style was no longer available or whatever, so they don't match (i.e. different proportions) and again - many are crooked.

Boston is one city with great, great streetlights! Just look at the ambiance the gaslights provide to Beacon Hill; when one enters that district one realizes he or she is in a truly special place.... Back Bay and various other districts there have great lights, too. In Toronto in July I noticed new lights being installed along parts of Yonge Street. They were black, different, and very attractive. The garbage recepticles you show for Boston are somewhat classic and decent design but I do appreciate the "computeresque" nature of our new ones.

??? What do you mean: the "post are up?" ??? You mean "poles?" They're already in place, so what you mean we should concentrate on their being "installed properly?" You mean "made to work properly?" I don't think this issue is water over the dam; I believe the poles might yet be anchored better - and this is for safety purposes besides aesthetics. And yes, I read the HealthLine site regularly, as well as the entire GCRTA website, and I see no reference to the installation of these poles - if that's what you're referring to.

Yes, "plumb" is an excellent word. Now, I've got all sorts of plans related to the Corridor, but still always have questions.... At one time a canopy of some sort was proposed for Playhouse Square - perhaps coming out of the theater buildings and hovering over the marquees? I note this is one stretch with no trees and I think it looks a bit bare. Also, we see these elegant marquees and all and yet the same stark lightpoles and other amenities. I'd have thought this would have been a place for some sort of traditional and more decorative lighting, for example. Many cities did, after all, bring back (or even keep) their old and dignified and graceful light standards for their "Main Streets" - or order replicas. University Circle, of course, would also be an excellent choice. Yes, I know it all costs a lot of dough but this could take higher priority to some of the other "public art" forms.... Also, and rather important, does anyone know what became of the plans for the bus substation that was to be located at the n.w. corner of Prospect and E. 21st? I assume the parking garage currently being constructed between E. 21st and E. 22nd, between Prospect and Carnegie, is the property of CSU, but is GCRTA part of the mix for buses to be stationed in the piece between the garage and Prospect? I've seen no announcement or publicity (even Steve Litt relates he is not aware of it) nor is there any sign up, even though construction has been going on several months. Finally, does anyone know know what is going on along E. 83rd - across the street from the Play House parking lot? Again, no sign! The apt. houses that had stood there were to be used for individuals temporarily connected with the Play House but they got demolished.... McDonald's on Euclid end. New townhouses? Thanks!

No, and I don't have the equipment to quickly take a shot and post it. This stretch looks good in the photo but just walk or drive around. This includes both the tall poles and short ones west of the Theater District. I don't mean every one, but many, and they stand out when one is looking at a progression. And MANY of those "tube" poles are crooked in the Cleveland Clinic area - if not the entire vertical pole the lighting part. Just look at them and see how many may be okay in the bottom part but then noticeably tilted above. Just enough to detract greatly from the overall efect, IMHO.

Why on earth has the stretch from E. 105th or E. 107th to the E. 115th bridge been done differently than elsewhere, whereby in this UC stretch the sidewalks and curbing were done first and then traffic lanes cut off for months and months? And is it true the final paving on this UC stretch is blacktop while for E. 107th to Public Square it's the concrete? Any ideas about the "soft-concrete-type" beds in the sidewalk streetscaping in the vicinity around Bonfoey? Right away footprints could be seen and little pebbles loose all over. Perhaps this is considered some sort of artistic landscaping but it is strange and will always be losing pebbles or dirt unless the beds are regularly refurbished.