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Dang it.

That is a problem, but maybe we can get most of the way there. They could do a TIF to help with the road and get everything set up. Then a public private partnership to put some of those ugly buildings up and offer them at a reduced rate. They look cheap and they're mostly hollow anyway. There's an industrial park that someone just put in out on 422 past Rt 44. That's in the middle of nowhere, how did they get people in? Encourage some of those places on Detroit to come over and redevelop that shoreway overlook with residential. Even before any development happens, the road would be helping to connect UC directly to the near west side. It will also help the far west side and beyond, but the places it connects will be the main beneficiaies. That way instead of having linear growth we can have a triangle of downtown, the near west side, and university circle. It includes all the hot spots and it brings the area south of Euclid into the mix.

Everybody needed this after the past few months. What a weird day though. Monrning-- Wolstien busts out surprise new plan. By Lunch-- New plan goes from zero to totally legitimate. Afternoon-- PD is confused but posts articles wildly. PD is being played, or maybe there's mutiny, or both. Evening-- Rejoicing. I'm glad it all worked out, but I really want to know what went on in those meetings. I would like to know what people's positions were. We deserve an explanation. Despite all that, super cool. My favorite part of it is we get rid of that county building. We get rid of all that crap on the mall and remake the whole thing. Tower City will definitely get more business. Everything's good for everyone.

:clap:

Good.

Charging people 120% interest is not a service, any more than washing cars for $1000 apiece would be. If anybody is buying that car wash, something is wrong and it ain't just them.

The water main thing IS what's tying up the shoreway. Right now we're down one lane (inbound) on it, one on Detroit, and one on the innerbelt. That has been enough to make Clifton a parking lot. The innerbelt handles more traffic than either of the others, so closing all of those lanes could back up Lorain, Detroit, and 25th in addition to Clifton. Diverting 90/71 traffic over 490 to 77 will force the entire west and south commutes to merge in a way they never have before. Even if the shoreway were at full capacity, I would not recommend closing the innerbelt.

Nobody with 10k in the bank is taking out payday loans, so it makes no difference that they would hypothetically be charged the same interest on one. That is precisely what I mean.

The current lane closures are a big deal for west siders, especially since the same thing has taken place on Detroit and the Shoreway simultaneously. Anyone who wants the innerbelt closed, please come visit the Edgewater neighborhood around 8:30 some morning. There's a reason Jackson keeps insisting on this. If all 3 primary routes into downtown are torn up at the same time, he will be in Trouble.

We could have built a Starship Enterprise in the time it's taken to explain to FCE that bribes aren't legal and convention centers aren't vertical. C'mon Hagan, light these people up.

I wonder how much we had to pay, per capita, for the time Nance spent contradicting Hagan.

You're absolutely right. But that's why God invented lawyers other than Fred Nance, so that Nance's clients' positions can be opposed from time to time.

I'll try again with the sunshine law, beacuse this all stinks to high heaven. Channel 3 says: "MMPI showed the commissioners the latest cost figures but refused to share those figures with the media or the public." Ohio code 149.43 requires that all Public Records be available for inspection and copying upon request. Public Record under 149.43 "means records kept by any public office." Section 149.011 includes in the definition of Record "any document... created or received by or coming under the jurisdiction of any public office of the state or its political subdivisions, which serves to document the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the office." There are of course a gazillion exceptions to the definition of Public Record, but notably none for real estate transactions. Thus, it seems to me that MMPI's figures must be released to the media upon request once they have been "received by" the county commissioners. It's hastily thrown together, but it's an argument worth making if this all takes a turn for the worse. It might be worth making right now, if I'm Channel 3.

http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/news_article.aspx?storyid=105639&catid=45 CLEVELAND -- Channel 3 Senior Political Correspondent Tom Beres says a three-hour, closed-door meeting this afternoon between county officials and Medical Mart officials failed to produce a definite site selection for the proposed Medical Mart and convention center. The county commissioners met with Medical Mart Properties Inc. officials, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, the county's Medical Mart negotiator Fred Nance and other key players, Beres said. MMPI showed the commissioners the latest cost figures but refused to share those figures with the media or the public. Nance said there are three sites under consideration -- behind Tower City, the current convention center and the land set aside for developer Scott Wolstein's stalled East Bank of the Flats project. Wolstein's offer of his Flats property was today's new wrinkle in the Medical Mart drama. Beres will have a complete report for Channel 3 News at 6 p.m. and updates at wkyc.com as they become available.

Look at all the names up top reading this thread! It's like when Geraldo opened up Al Capone's vault.

The Sunshine Laws have many exceptions that apply, most notably an exception to the open meetings act that protects the County's ability to bargain behind closed doors for the acquisition and/or sale of property. It wouldn't do much good for the County if FCE was able to be present during negotiations with other prospective vendors of real estate for a CC site. Thank you for the clarification. "ANY" was way too strong a term. But there's more going on here than just a land acquisition. Also, the second sentence of the rule you mentioned is interesting: "No member of a public body shall use [this rule allowing secret real estate negotiations] as a subterfuge for providing covert information to prospective buyers or sellers. A purchase or sale of public property is void if the seller or buyer of the public property has received covert information from a member of a public body that has not been disclosed to the general public in sufficient time for other prospective buyers and sellers to prepare and submit offers." I don't know how that could be enforced... but it does indicate that FC should not be any more "in on" the decision process than the city or anyone else is.

Sounds like we got a rail person, so I'm tentatively overjoyed.

Seems like things are moving along pretty well. I still wonder what contract benefits are accruing to RTA from the software vendor, since I assume they were supposed to have the fare system working by opening day. It is kind of disheartening to see Windows error messages on the screens in 2009. A government agency I once worked for had standard "fees" set up to encourage a lack of failure by contractors. RTA probably does too (?).

This is a more general comment on the decision process, but I do not believe ANY of the discussions that have been held on this, by anyone, can legally be kept secret under Ohio's Open Meetings Act. When I get a chance, I will look into it further.

The last part of this makes me doubt there will be a true site selection today. Cuyahoga commissioners get briefed on convention center sites; is an agreement near? Posted by Joe Guillen January 22, 2009 12:30PM http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/01/cuyahoga_commissioners_get_bri.html CLEVELAND - The closed-door meeting between Cuyahoga County officials and their private-partner in the medical mart/convention project began shortly after noon today amid speculation that some kind of concrete agreement will be reached between the two today. Commissioner Tim Hagan said, through an aide, that he was hopeful a site for the project will be selected and a development agreement signed...

There's no escaping lo-rise warehouse crud if you want modern industry. Modern industry seems like a good option for this stretch, and unfortunately for some of the east shoreway corridor as well (the proposed new port area). Because both areas have been so heavily industrial for so long, I don't see them as the best bets for significant new residential development. Few cities have this much area available to develop (hideously sprawling) modern industry. Ugly windowless boxes filled with employed people would be a big improvement for this part of Cleveland. Those work best on a fairly fluid truck artery, so I would lean toward making this thing more of a highway and less of a Van Aken. I (really really) want a new transit corridor like KJP's, but I'd rather see it go up a street that already has semi-viable mixed use development, one that just needs the transit line to light a fire. Somewhere like St. Clair, Superior, E105, Broadway, or W25th/Pearl, to say nothing of the west shore corridor proposal. I would put all other infrastructure projects aside to get that one done. With money so short, several areas deserve rail investment priority over the existing red line trench, and over a route that also sorta parallels the brand new healthline.

This is retread but it's also reiteration. To his credit, Frank Jackson is being most adamant about this. Hopefully he gets what he wants. This project fits 100% into Obama's stated plans. http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/news_article.aspx?storyid=105596&catid=45 Mayor Jackson: Shutting down Innerbelt Bridge not acceptable CLEVELAND -- Shutting down the Innerbelt Bridge does not work for Cleveland's mayor. Mayor Frank Jackson told state officials Wednesday a one-year shutdown of the bridge is not acceptable...

I believe capitalism as we know it is flawed, and this situation shines a light on the main reason. The cost of capital varies wildly among different classes of people. The more you already have, the less it costs you to get more. If you are in the market for a small loan at 120%, you are not founding microsoft today. Or tomorrow. The fruits of your labor get diverted to that interest payment instead. Those same fruits go into the bank account of someone who got their loan at 10% (because they only barely needed the loan in the first place). This regressive force is what prevents our version of capitalism from becoming the pure meritocracy Alexander Hamilton had in mind.

It's like a giant filing cabinet. They should have given it some kind of crown.

No offense to anyone who lives there, but we cannot possibly lay waste to that neighborhood. It's been done already. Some of it goes back to when the place was built. A new road would be hard pressed to tear it asunder any more than the freight railroads already have. Forget the OCB entirely and it still needs several pedestrian bridges before it will really be functional. I believe the mayor's neighborhood-specific plan addresses that issue. This is where I'd like to see some of the "research park" development they're talking about for Euclid Avenue. OCB seems like the shortest distance to that goal.