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Second that. And cell phone and internet are almost necessary these days to job search competitively.

OK I'm not doing a good job here... the article brought a broader issue to my mind, one with which my experience is admittedly anecdotal. But I am drawing conclusions from more than just the article. I've been trying to make two separate points and mixed them all up. Point one, about dispatch's courtesy and responsiveness-- unrelated to the article, story told, not everyone's experience, OK. Point two, regarding strategy... I do question the amount of time the officers spend in their cars. Not a donut issue, per se, but I think officers out walking around is a stronger deterrent than those same officers at that same place, sitting in a car. Of course there need to be some cruisers driving around for rapid react purposes. Let those officers run plates, although I'd prefer they do so only with cause [separate issue]. My point is that I think the majority of the force should be too busy actively keeping the sidewalks safe to have any opportunity to run plates. Most plates they run are innocent people, ergo time lost. Every moment spent foot patrolling, say, St. Clair & Addison, vastly improves safety there. My unscientific observation is that outside of downtown during business hours and special events, I almost never see a CPD officer on foot. I would like to see more. Rant concluded, sorry if I upset anybody.

My position is not that traffic enforcement and plate scanning don't do any good at all. I'm saying that the need for feet on the streets is so overwhelming that we may lack the manpower. If we don't lack the manpower for traffic sweeps, then do we have enough patrolmen to guard all of our neighborhood commercial areas so the city can function at night. We don't have enough for that? Then we absolutely lack the manpower for traffic sweeps. People are afraid to go out at night and DUIs are not the reason. I'm not saying crimes are never committed from cars, I'm saying the proportion and average seriousness of crimes committed from cars in Cleveland, when compared with those not committed from cars, does not match the emphasis currently placed on their enforcement/prevention. First Priority--triage--guard current and potential victims from crimes that are occurring or about to occur... deter crime through constant visible personal presence. Not First Priority--passive, effort-efficient methods intended to deter traffic infractions and to round up principles from crimes already committed. If that many people are running around with warrants, we need bounty hunters, we don't need to sacrifce preventative law enforcement. Every place has problems with erratic drivers, DUI, etc. I'm not saying those aren't serious. Cleveland has a particular (though not unique) problem with violent crime and it is a different kind of serious.

Vitriol not entirely in response to the article. I did edit it to note overall approval of the portrayal and of Simone. Did not think the article painted a good picture of department strategy with the scanning of plates all night. It's not utterly useless but it's a misallocation of resources. Waiting for wanted people or stolen cars to randomly drive by does not seem like a sound approach to the level of crime we face. It's passive at best, and there are 4th amendment implications. My neighbors and I had nothing but bad experiences dealing with CPD. Coworkers as well. Endemic proportions. It's not just their (in)actions, it's the "why did you move here, why are you bothering me" attitude. Nobody wants to fight the cops and the criminals. It is a serious problem, perhaps the most serious one we have as far as turning things around residentially. Crime is a huge barrier to redevelopment and what we've been doing to stop it has not been working. Something must change if we want these windows unbricked, if we want the Lorax to come back. We do not have the manpower for traffic enforcement if we're telling citizens we don't have the manpower to deal with higher priority crimes when they call. It's not just cleveland.com people in far flung exurbs who think Cleveland has public safety problems. A lot of people with that opinion are huge boosters of the core city. They need the support of CPD and instead they too often get disaffection and derision. Not all of the city's problems are perceptual. Some of them need to be solved, forthwith, using new strategies-- and crime is #1.

I did like the artcle and its portrayal of a guy who has been deserving some better PR. I have friends on the CPD and I know there are many fine individuals on the force... but... many Clevelanders either distrust the CPD or consider it a joke. Crime is a problem here and it's not just a perception. The good guys are not winning to the extent we need them to, and I think its a issue of strategy. "Jim runs plates all night." Wow. That's a whole lotta focus on traffic violations. How dare these people scoff at the BMV, not having their papers in order. We'll get our top man on it! It comes off like the actual crimes are interrupting CPD's top priority of scanning everyone's license plates and reading their files. Nothing builds community relations quite like that does... We need more officers on the streets but they should be spending their time: 1) Guarding neighborhoods and commercial areas-- on foot, focused less on cars and more on people. Nobody robs anyone or anything from a car. Most importantly, nobody says I'm afraid to go downtown because of all those people driving on a suspended license. Absurdly, disgustingly misplaced priorities. Too much actual crime going on here for CPD to ever be idly running license plates. 2) Investigating and following up-- a coworker's car was stolen less than a block from CPD HQ. It eventually turned up at an Aldi. There was an Aldi receipt in the car, time stamped with excactly what moment the theives were standing in front of Aldi's security cameras. CPD had no interest in pursuing this. When I lived in midtown last year, the 3rd dist was flippant about ignoring several neighbors' complaints. Even after one had a Friday the 13th style encounter out front. No manpower, no manpower. They even asked another neighbor why she was living there, if she was so concerned about crime. We never ever saw an officer patrolling our area. We saw the occasional cruiser gratuitously blowing through red lights and that was about it. If they have the manpower to drive around breaking traffic laws and exercising their authori-tah on other people for breaking traffic laws... then they have the manpower to walk the beat and respond to citizens. I don't want to hear another word about Jane Campbell. Get out of the cruisers, fight crime, and show some respect toward citizens when they call on you for help.

^^Where exactly is that E-L right of way? What bridge? The line that goes SE through Warren and crosses Mahoning Ave, Elm Rd, and everything else before merging into another line S of 169... goes through some cool neighborhoods, plus right by Harding High and right by the hospital. I followed it N on the map and it goes to Middlefieild, Chardon, and Fairport. Not ideal for commuting, but great for stations in Warren and a worthy extension for the eventual completed waterfront line to Painesville. Nice country in between.

That's what I'm inclined to do, when the time comes. Great thing about Cleveland is there are some deals like that. But I don't think there are enough such deals for every $40k individual out there, particularly outside our market. Not yet anyway... I'm anticipating a lot more downward correction.

I too agree with Jimmy James, to a point. But a hypothetical person making 40k, even if they're otherwise debt free, should not own even a low-end house. Not at today's prices. Their debt service to income ratio would just not be favorable. This is before any wasteful spending comes into the picture. Assuming 70% take home pay, 40k gives you $2333 per month. The monthly payment on a $100k loan at 8.25 fixed, including insurance and 1% annual property tax, is $868. That's more than 1/3, which is a red line, and which leaves $1465 for everything else that month-- student loan(?), transportation, heating(!), communication expenses, food, etc. And $100k is modest even by Cleveland standards. We're assuming our hypothetical buyer doesn't have cash laying around for immediate renovations. Are we willing to say a person making 40k should struggle to afford a 100k house? Regardless of PS3's; $600 doesn't even account for one monthly payment in this hypo. Plus, how many options does one have in Cuyahoga County if limited to 100k? I've seen some pretty modest, tiny homes for quite a bit more. We'd all be better off if we budgeted tighter, but for most people there just isn't enough to scrape out of that "misc" category to cover the ongoing explosion in costs of living.

Didn't get to see the video and it doesn't sound like I missed much. The housing crisis is a symptom rather than a cause. Housing is most people's largest and most critical monthly bill. So when housing payments start getting missed, en masse, we're really at the end of our rope economically. A crisis in housing is actually a crisis of paychecks because the latter backs the former. If the graph of housing values (i.e. expenses) is going up faster than graph of wages, the margin between them is a GIGANTIC FLASHING RED PROBLEM that will nuke the economy if ignored. What caused our economic crisis is a gradual erosion of both wages and job security. All of those troubled financial instruments were ultimately (losing) bets on the average American's ability to pay their bills. Not talking about rich or poor, but average. Median wages can no longer pay for the things we're all expected to buy for growth to continue or resume. We have far too many houses and not enough apartments. When jobs are no longer dependable, neither are investments, because the return is expected to come from masses spending money. There have been too many interruptions in too many household revenue streams. With 30-year jobs we can pay 30-year loans-- take away one and the other must go too. Perhaps the flexibility of the modern economy is more expensive than advertised.

Not the first time I've heard some variation on "cities are bad for children." That seems to be the cornerstone of the anti-urban argument. Do NYC, SF, Boston, etc produce no children at all? Maybe it was my growing up on Sesame St and Mr. Rogers that made me think cities were kid friendly. These days there are a lot of otherwise progressive people who firmly believe a child needs a fenced in 1/2 acre and nothing less.

Could the tracks in Lakewood be elevated? No more quiet zone, no super safety crossings, less trouble all around. Just like the line that curves SE through the near east side. That train can't hit anybody and they never blow the horn. I'm assuming the cost of doing it has prevented it or it would be there already. If the cost of securing crossings is increasing, would elevated tracks now be for cheaper for Lakewood? To the county line? If it's even close, would that remove a barrier for commuter rail?

Apples & oranges. Something does need to happen with the innerbelt soon, but only because we're not set up to function without it. West Shore Corridor and rail in general are far more important in the long term. I really would like to see the KJP concept implemented though. ODOT should be bombarded with that diagram.

Clifton was backed up this morning. People are probably diverting there after an epic cluster happened on the innerbelt yesterday. I bet we can forget about any modifications to Rt 2 until the 90 situation is resolved.

^^^I like that.

It's starting to sound like this bridge won't be around all that long. And that does suggest we'll need a larger, more iconic single span for both directions. Preferably not the styrofoam-wishbone design like Toledo got. As much as I'd love to see the trench disappear, I doubt anyone wants to creep up Broadway from 490, and Central Cadillac et al would absolutely flip out. That said, maybe this is the chance to get ODOT to reconsider the entire innerbelt concept. It would be nice if downtown could grow to the south. Clearing that cloverleaf would also help the Broadway/55th area ALOT, as would replacing its direct-to-Tremont bridge. Regarding Tremont bridges, there was talk of including pedestrian access on the new innerbelt. I think it was nixed as too costly...? Seems like all possibilities should be open if we need to start fresh anyway.

I think some of my friends were at this event. They signed up for a historical baseball league that wants to use League Park regularly. Old uniforms, old rules, etc. They've talked to the League Park people and the idea was well recieved. Apparently, in old days, you could catch the ball on first bounce and still get an out.

You could make your own beer at the Bedford spot. You'd pick out the recipe, they'd do the dirty work. They'd even print labels with your design. Do they do that at Beer Engine too?

Ayn Rand said that civilization is the separation of the individual from the mass, the movement of everyone from each other. She saw value in that. This article makes it sound like we're getting closer to her ideal-- and I'd rather we didn't. Civilization to me is people coming together to do things greater than themselves. Each generation leaves something more for the next one to build on. And cities are the bastions of civilization, where all that effort accumulates. However fleeting our associations become 10 or 100 years from now, Terminal Tower will still be there. There will always be a place, and a need, for permanence.

Right. The maps on them aren't really there to be functional, they're more illustrative. Euclid and the square are highlighted. And they're whopperjawed. Catywompus. Higgledy-piggledy.

Reposting this here from the 668 thread: There is an error on the maps of the "Downtown District." Public square is lined up with Ontario and Superior; Euclid comes off at an angle. Instead the signs show Euclid being flush with the square, with the square set almost randomly in the surrounding grid. Maybe I'm nitpicking... but I'm map-obsessive and those signs drive me nuts.

No left turns, no right on red to or from Euclid, and very long lights on the cross streets. I think the idea is for car traffic not to use it as a thru street anymore.

Wow, great piece.

This could go into several different threads, hope I have the most appropriate one... There has been a lot of talk about developing CC/UH-related health and tech all up and down Euclid, particularly in the Midtown area. We've got a 24-hr transit line there and a setup that encourages pedestrians over cars. Sounds ideal for mass residential, and for entertainment. Also sounds underutilized if surrounded by secured 9-5 offices. Meanwhile residential projects great and small are lining up for the 8 lane sub-freeway that is Chester. I suggest a switcheroo. The Agora theater could anchor a killer new neighborhood for young people. It consistently draws people who are seeing the inner city for the first time and seem to like it. With another venue or two (smaller ones) and some apartment construction, this could be a showpiece neighborhood. Have a musicians' village all living together and sharing ideas. It capitalizes on the city's musical heritage and replants it for another generation. Chester and Carnegie are car-oriented and better suited for what amounts to modern light industry. Euclid should be inviting and alive with people. The core attraction is already there. Any thoughts?

I could be wrong, but I think I heard one of the health line buses "ding" like a trolley today.

^^ "pasta with bio slime" Don't even want to know what that is.