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TVs in America right now aren't an accurate measure of wealth. The digital conversion has almost zeroed out the value of non-compliant units. I know, converter boxes... but those aren't free and it doesn't cost that much more to just get a new TV.

How am I supposed to know? It's plausible.

Do these signs accurately reflect the respective dogmas?

I'd like to see this promoted downtown no less than Christmas is. And NO jazz hands!

People in this mindset associate sidewalks with everything (everyone) they don't like about the city. Sidewalks represent several key disagreements between the typical UO person and the typical "this is the rural part of Solon" person.

Great reference. But MMPI must have been kinda perturbed at having to dance around this decision for so long. They don't appear to have liked the TC site at any point. They put a lot of resources into debunking GCP's report. If average PD readers can pick up the scent of FCE machinations, these real estate pros from Chicago must have seen it a mile away. They knew what to do about it. They've got a Kennedy on board, they know what the score is.

So very appropriate for post #666: Solon residents against Bainbridge Road sidewalk plan Posted by John Horton/Plain Dealer Reporter January 26, 2009 04:00AM http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/01/solon_residents_against_bainbr.html SOLON — One hundred acres of meadows and woods and water flow off of Bainbridge Road. This land's a personal park for Dr. Stephen Luczek and one of the last pastoral properties left in the city. It's also on the list to get a sidewalk. An upcoming reconstruction of the road could extend walkways from the city's center at Ohio 91 to its somewhat rural edge 2½ miles east at the border with Geauga County. Solon officials requested that sidewalks be included the full length of the project.

I really expected him to come down in favor of the city-owned site. What does he know that we don't?

I think that's why a matrix doesn't really help much. Through the selection of weights, you end up solidifying your existing preferences. You wanted transit access and the matrix gave it to you. I wanted cheap and I got it. Maybe the real benefit was not in deciding #1 but seeing how close the other options were. In my case Lakewood initially had the most points, but I really wanted to move closer, so I went through and boosted the importance of proximity. That's where I screwed up. Downtown also did well despite getting zeros in several categories. Near west options were in the next tier. All the east side options rated poorly. The advantages they offer weren't germain to my situation.

Well, mine sucked. Did yours go any better?

Yeah, if I were in charge of promoting a "family" agenda, I would go about it an entirely different way. They use it as code for a batch of unrelated issues. I would focus on what makes a family unit functional, and what families can do that is positive.

When I was looking for my last apartment I considered every noteworthy neighborhood around town. Like they taught me in college, I made a decision matrix to help balance the issues. Each neighborhood got point values in various categories. Each category carried a certain weight, multiply through, total up, and you get a final value per neighborhood. The winner was Midtown, due to its high scores in cheapness and proximity to CSU. These were the two most heavily weighted factors. It also got some boost from the Agora, as music venues were another criteria. Midtown scored very poorly in crime/safety, but I believed that deficiency was seriously outweiged. I was wrong. The crime/safety situation was pretty bad around there and I moved out largely for that reason. It became clear that I had not given that category a strong enough multiplier. One of my neighbors was sliced up, others confronted guns, cars were frequently robbed in the lot, and this one crackhead refused to stop living in the foyer. My next moving decision involved a roommate, with a preference for Lakewood, so the choice was simpler this time. Moral: It isn't wise to blow off crime concerns. I can't tell you exactly what crime is like around Shaker Square, but if you're interested you can find out. On my matrix that area got a moderate rating for crime. Cost was my biggest factor and that knocked it out of contention.

I thought republicans were in favor of personal responsibility. Apparently that only applies to political opponents. Parents are the number one reason some kids and districts do better than others. New buildings and computers don't have nearly as much to do with it.

They have no business complaining about paranoia when they actually engaged that GCP process, which was all kinds of wrong. The needless secrecy at every stage gave rise to legitimate concerns about undue influence. If they want people to trust them, they know how to make that happen. They chose otherwise and now they have to live with people second guessing, and people wondering about their motivations.

Are you counting UO in this? :-D Aside from UO, of course.

I feel as though it will ''act" as a highway. It's been a very Monty Python couple of days in Cleveland. All you keep saying is "no it isn't." That's not an argument. I would like to know what you actually think this project would hurt, and how it would manage to do so. Open question. Granting you your highway point, and your bypass point because I think people already do, would you rather a road through these brownfields be the highway, or would you prefer that highway be Chester Avenue? Because right now it is, and that volume of traffic isn't great for hi-density residential. It isn't awful but it isn't great. I think Chester has a lot more potential than, say, Quincy for new residential development because a) we've already seen renderings of a bunch, and b) Quincy & friends run through a largely industrial area while Chester doesn't. The more industrial area seems like the place you'd want to route your thru traffic thru. That will stimulate commercial development there, which will be good for the neighborhoods nearby. It might not be perfect for those immediately adjacent, but the area has always been industrial. Think about all the freight trains that used to go through there. Historically the attraction of these neighborhoods was being able to walk to factory jobs, and this project could get it back to that in a hurry. I'm presenting an either-or choice because neither the red line nor the health line is ideal for every travel situation. There needs to be one reletively unobstructed path for cars & trucks between downtown and UC, or synergy between the two will remain limited. Think about Clifton in Cincinnati, Oakland in Pittsburgh, and OSU in Columbus. Each of them has A LOT more activity than UC does, and each of them feels more connected with its respective downtown. Why is this? University Circle is about twice as far from its downtown as the other three are from theirs. That is a gigantic factor. We have to do a better job of bridging that gap. The health line was a major step but we need a lot more. That is a big stretch of major city to have between two points if you want them to feed each other. One day we'll have twice as much development between our two main hubs as those other nearby cities. But when it's all broken up and empty like now, the distance becomes more of a problem than a benefit.

Gosh, thanks insurance. We really needed less events in our large venues. Keep contributing to society the best way you know how. As to your other point, I think the internet has been much more harmful to cities than any other technological development. TV did some damage, but that really only hit enternainment venues like neighborhood theaters. But now people don't need to meet at all, ever, and they don't need to shop in person. Another problem is people can more easily indulge intense shyness, a problem that in years past they would eventually have to confront.

So you're telling me this new road would somehow chase away all the downtown-UC traffic that currently goes through this neighborhood? There isn't any! It's like you're envisioning some bustling paradise this road will rip apart. What are you talking about? Nobody goes to or through this area now. There's no reason to, and too many roads there are dead-end. The layout is hostile. We even have a "Central" avenue that ends abruptly before it gets to anything. I think this road would substantially de-isolate Central/Kinsman/Fairfax. It would also supply a reason for redeveloping the industry there, so that it becomes a destination in itself. None of that is happening now. The only thing happening there now is people bypass it, throwing all that crosstown traffic onto Chester. Right now, this area has no good road going through it-- and nobody goes there. They don't pass through to get somewhere else, and they don't stop there to do business. They avoid it entirely. You think giving it a clear, inviting roadway with quality destinations on both ends will put less people there than there are now? Once again, I must protest your reasoning.

If they would do concerts there in the summer like they used to, the stadium siting wouldn't seem so bad. Why the rock hall and stadium aren't tied together more is beyond me, considering all the major bands that played at the old one.

They look huge. Units on the front of this thing should go for a lot of $. I still can't picture exactly what the facade will look like when restored. They obviously have many steps remaining on the section they've cleaned.

For as nice as the civic buildings around the mall are, some of the other structures in that general area are pretty blah. St Clair between E6th and E9th is no picnic. I wouldn't mind seeing that whole stretch redone from the ground up. Taller this time, if we could please.

How in the hell is getting to your destination a bad thing? Roads aren't built to stop on-- roads are for going! Go park if you wanna park. Why are so many people against the very concept of going? The desire to go is the sole reason for the existence of roads, bicycles, trains, airplanes, all of it. These things aren't evil! They have nothing to do with suburbs! Cities have roads too, and that doesn't uncity-fy them! Ancient Rome had big, clear roads, it was kind of a calling card for them... does that make Ancient Rome anti-urban somehow? I don't get that at all. That logic completely escapes me. The concept that obstacles are to be avoided isn't "spin," it's common sense.

Isn't that exactly what they did for the court tower? Isn't that exactly what they did for this, through the GCP?

I take it you don't like the statue. I dig it. It has a superman vibe, a sense that people can be bigger than they think. I never picked up any stripper overtones... I guess if that's what you see, that's what you see. Thinking like that is what got the nipples shaved off the Cleveland Venus, right? Anyway, I believe the Peace statue's surrounding carvings represent the four macro ethnic groups of mankind. This article has some good post-game wrapup and grousing by the unchosen: http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/01/mall_location_picked_for_medic.html CLEVELAND -- Cuyahoga County commissioners abruptly announced late Thursday that Cleveland's downtown mall will be the site for a new convention center and a medical mart -- a $425 million project billed as vital to the region's economy. The announcement came after hours of secretive talks about the mall and a competing spot behind Tower City, and one day after Merchandise Mart Properties Inc., the county's private sector partner, told The Plain Dealer it would reconsider a third site in the Flats...

Fountains