327

I don't think specifics are the issue right now, and as far as types it would be the same types of amenities present in other downtowns, or other mainstay commercial areas. We aren't reinventing the wheel here.

I don't mind a parking structure if it's behind other uses that face the street. Sounds like that's what they're talking about here.

I'm with you in spirit but that's kinda what this building is. It has retail, but mostly facing inward not outward. Even if the rotunda becomes a club, that corner isn't ideal for nightlife.

So the actual wage rates are pretty close. This is the part of the article that jumped out at me: "One big advantage for Toyota is that it hasn't been around long enough in the United States to generate a large population of retirees, who consume medical services in greater quantity than younger, healthier workers. Toyota's U.S. manufacturing operations have fewer than 100 retirees. GM, by contrast, has 422,000 retirees and surviving spouses, compared with 170,000 active employees." The foreign makes came into this market with foreign-made vehicles, for which health and retiree costs were subsidized by their entire nations. While GM was forced to pass on those costs to US consumers, Toyota wasn't. Nothing there describes any actual strategy of Toyota's in dealing with health care, other than simply not paying it because their government does. My storyline there would be socialized medicine proving itself, rather than an indictment of unions. Edit: Same story in the second article, a vast majority of Toyota's cost advantage results from their having operated under a different governmental system over the past few decades. Meanwhile, GM's additional costs have little to do with its existing employees. I still say we're blaming the wrong people for all this.

No they aren't all in the same building, and they don't necessarily need to be going forward. I remember they wanted to consolidate offices under the old Ameritrust site plan, but I'm not sure it ever was to be 100%. It would be impracticable to run the board of elections from a downtown location, at least on election nights. I agree that social service and mental health agencies probably shouldn't be with the rest, or in a mixed-use building. But overall I love the idea of the county moving into the lower floors of Huntington. It would be a good repurposing of that awesome lobby.

I'm not certain they're making twice as much. I don't know the methodology involved in producing that graph, and I'm fairly sure that even if that was once true it hasn't been for years, with regard to new hires. At the time those old contracts were made, the money was there to cover them-- and then some. But things went downhill. Unions have since made major concessions. During that same period, executive pay has skyrocketed. The unions seem a lot more in tune with market realities than the people sitting across the table from them.

We need 4-5 new people on defense. This is what happens when every single linebacker drafted doesn't work out. Bell and Hall could be more of that, or the beginning of something better.

You must not have read the article or any statements to that effect. It's not a "paycheck", but once you include in the equivalency of benefits that include retirement and health, you are essentially tacking on many fringe goodies that simply are not necessary. Health care and retirement are clearly necessary. It probably isn't wise to have employers pay for them, as illustrated by our auto industry v. all the others. As for wages, yes you could get by in Toledo on $12/hour but all you're doing is getting by, i.e. failing to die from exposure or starvation. You're not saving for retirement, you're not buying health insurance, you're not sending anyone to school. You're probably not buying a house either, since you're grossing under 25k. There needs to be upward pressure on low end wages, and not just through minimum wage laws. Twelve is almost double the minimum wage and it's still peasantry at best, in Ohio. Free market isn't going to solve it either. Left to its own devices, a free market for labor would result in one giant castle surrounded people living in dresser drawers.

That could be said of both sides... unions no longer have much political power, and the period when they did was not that long in the grand scheme of history. If union contracts don't mix well with boom-bust cycles, neither do mortgages or student loans.

So that's how it is, eh? In a victory for rail over bus, for a pedestrian to get hit by a train in most circumstances would require the pedestrian to trespass on the tracks. In the same pedestrian-busy streets, people are mixing with BRTs that are heavier and thus harder to stop than conventional buses. Good call, 327. I was afraid my post might come off that way. I'm not pro-BRT but since we have it now I do look for silver linings (ha ha pun). I guess I shouldn't make light of the situation. People do encounter trains too, and they aren't the only things that can block a rail line. I still would have preferred rail for the corridor, but BRT offers the ability to go around things. That can be useful in a shared right of way. The braking deficiencies don't seem that pronounced, and it couldn't be that much of a factor at public square speed anyway. I could be wrong. Still, BRT is now a showpiece feature for Cleveland, so we might as well have some good talking points.

In a victory for BRT over rail, the next Healthline bus was able to reroute through the square and incurred virtually no delay from the accident. RTA had people there coordinating everything. I'm glad the lady involved turned out to be OK.

I for one would like to see some bulk, even if it is generic. Bottom line is we need people, and now more than ever people don't necessarily have money. This philosophy may not fit well with the cost of historical rehab... so be it. There should be more subsidy for that work anyway. It's not like we don't already have a few "soviet" style high rises in Cleveland. Would we be willing to look at one if it opened the door for thousands of new feet on downtown streets? If we want a jump in population downtown, we need a jump in options there for average people. Many average people aren't going to pay "house with a yard and a workshop" money to live downtown, so the price on the typical downtown unit has got to come down at some point. Adding bulk to the market should accomplish this.

Yes, I added the word young. I did so because of all the demographics downtown living appeals to, it currently has the least to offer young people in terms of living options. Regardless of unit size, it's too weighted toward condos and toward the high end of the market. Alas, the Huntington building is most appropriate for additional hi-price/hi-commitment units. But once those are done the imbalance will be even more stark. Apparently it isn't economical for any given (re)developer to create 1br apartments for people who haven't yet "made it." But these are the very people who are most interested in downtown residential, and the people from whom downtown has the most to gain long term. This may be one of those cases where pure market forces come up with results that don't make any sense when viewed from above.

I s'pose you're right, everything about the Huntington bldg screams high end. I'm impatient about adding more at the lower price points for personal reasons.

Gambling doesn't create wealth but it can help focus wealth on public priorities like education and infrastructure in an anti-tax environment.

There's plenty of condo development already. Young trendy people aren't always well off. In many cases, their careers aren't yet solid enough to sign any long-term deals. Downtown needs breeders, as you call them, in the mating stage. It needs 1br apartments that are reasonably priced, so these people can cyccle through. Given that the huntington building has paid for itself many times over, this would be a perfect place for them. If more young people meet and fall in love downtown, more will stay in the city to raise kids.

So Taylors was always just tiny? I don't want to get fixated on this space, I just want downtown department stores. Everybody's talking about ways to reuse these spaces and they never mention actual department stores.

That's too bad. Are the operating department store spaces in NY, Chicago and Cincy that much bigger?

I'm really happy an office is moving in there. At the same time, it's a relocation from elsewhere downtown and I'd still prefer to see a department store in that space. Wishful thinking.

This is what I don't get. If Euclid ave retail spaces are so hard to fill, why aren't the prices going down? Where are these market forces I hear so much about?

Hmm...... No! It's so hard to find a Wendys around here anymore. E79 gone, W 117 rebuilding. Remember when there was one downtown? I understand the preference for unique local restaurants, and for cuisine that isn't fast food. But sometimes you don't want to deal with a server. Sometimes you want to pump your own ketchup.

I actually think we're a little quick to suspend people's licenses already. In a world unfortunately built around driving, no it isn't a privilege. It's an exclusive means of survival. If it is a privilege then so is eating. Between sprawl and poor transit, many residents of Ohio would be doomed economically if unable to drive. I'm all for undoing sprawl and rebuilding transit networks right away. But until that's done, it is not feasible to survive without driving in most of Ohio.

Last year, 2007. You could hardly see during the first half.

I guess that's not unexpected. At this point, one single office building down there would be awkward and isolated. I'd demand all or nothing if I were E&Y.

Some expansion within the freeway to the south might raise population and foot traffic downtown to the point that we get more rehab of old buildings, not less. Right now downtown comes to an unceremonious end a couple blocks below its main corridor. That's always bothered me a great deal, and the innerbelt is what seems to be causing it. On the other hand, the southern alignment might not open up enough to justify doing it. The KJP alignment would for sure. We've been screwed for years by the state. Columbus owes us a KJP alignment.