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Further exploits of Cleveland's most filthy public official. Note that the mayor's office isn't sure what sort of nepotism restrictions we might have or not have. "Cleveland Councilman Ken Johnson disavows being father of two rec center employees he earlier claimed were his kids" https://www.cleveland.com/naymik/index.ssf/2018/09/cleveland_councilman_ken_johns_3.html

Sigh.

All the Wendys are getting redone, just like all the McDonalds.

It might be worth noting that this particular Wallyworld was replaced by a larger one a couple blocks away. Literally right next door. There's like 30 yards between the back wall of old one and the side wall of the new one. Not sure what the story was there. Standard practice for them.

Interesting. I doubt students are getting priced out of Lakewood rentals, which are still a lot cheaper than downtown. Although that gap may be closing. Was talking with a colleague today about house shopping and she said "Are you dead set on Lakewood? Try Parma. My mortgage there is $400." Last week another friend theorized that a lot of these newcomers to Lakewood might move further west when their kids are nearing high-school age. We shall see.

I don't think this guy was deciding how many buildings to demo, he just got his beak wet in the process. City and county leadership are the ones who insist on destroying everything as quickly as possible. Now is as good a time as any to reconsider that mission.

I'm not mourning the loss of that tower design. It was a poor fit with what's already here.

They'll never capture the excitement of waiting two hours for a judge to show up.

I blame LeBron.

We're talking about revitalizing a commercial district. Why would LAND be leading the way on that? It's not their area, it makes no sense. You listed three different greenspace issues the article brings up. No other topic gets that kind of coverage. No tenant incentives, no promotions, no improvements to the actual buildings. Security issues are dealt with somewhat indirectly. The only mention of the transit lines running through the center is negative. Why? Because the tracks interfere with the greenspace. Programming and events are discussed as a negative too, because they're the only reason anyone ever uses the greenspace. It's a commercial district! Who cares how many people are sitting on the lawn for no reason. We need people coming there to shop. Our community has spent a ridiculous amount of money on greenspace in recent years. Two Cleveland councilmen have gotten in trouble for it. Joe Cimperman had to step down for funneling money directly to LAND Studios, and Ken Johnson was barred from this very process because he's been funneling money to his own family's mowing business-- federal money that was supposed to be used to fix up this distressed neighborhood. I'm triggered by corruption. Wanna help Buckeye? Then quit screwing around and help Buckeye. Start with windows and paint.

The best point made in the article is that dumpsters shouldn't be located near pedestrian tunnels. Otherwise it is oddly focused on "activating the greenspace" and what LAND Studios can bring to the table. I feel like we've been down that road too many times. As for Buckeye being cut off, the tenants facing that direction are a grocery store and a movie theater. Those never have rear entrances. The approach from Larchmere is similar and nobody is claiming bias against Larchmere. Approach via Moreland and it's fine. Cut through the parking lots and you're cutting through parking lots. The best way to help Buckeye would be to fix up the buildings on Buckeye. It isn't Shaker Square's fault that Buckeye is a mess.

Agreed, RTA is the problem. I've been calling RTA corrupt for years and had no idea just how bad it was.

That thing looked ridiculously out of place. As for the proposed chicken place, I can understand the drive thru concerns after passing Dunkin Donuts this morning and seeing its traffic backed up onto Detroit Ave.

My parents' house sat and sat while they grudgingly replaced dark colors and busy patterns with white paint. At first people weren't getting past the foyer, they would catch one glimpse of wallpaper and run off. As soon as there was enough white paint, it sold.

Interesting but off-topic, these maps show some changes in neighborhood names. Corlett is no more, Slavic Village is undivided, Collinwood is now North Shore and Nottingham as opposed to north and south.

This is why we need more high rises-- professionals love them, especially professionals from other countries. And we may have a better shot of building them in Fairfax due to less NIMBY opposition. NIMBYs have vanquished a lot of height in the immediate University area.

When you only have one cow, you don't trade it for magic beans. That Kennedy fella robbed us blind and the officials who helped him do it are in federal prison. Our tax dollars should not be wasted like that when we've got an entire city to rebuild and thousands of residents suffering while they wait. We keep blowing fortunes on silver bullet fantasies instead. If we focus on making this city a better place to live and work, employers and educated workers will start to consider it a more viable location. That's the only sure way to do it. But no, we'd rather bribe people to ignore what they see when they make a wrong turn. "We'll give you our most iconic building for free, Amazon-- I mean blockchain, I mean whoever just please take it." I'm not against development subsidies, not at all, but they need to make sense. And you're asking that we refuse to question the bets we're already made. You say it's too early to evaluate when it's too late. But it's not too late to evaluate future bets. Now is the time, before we put the chips down.

I was responding to the post immediately above mine. If all we need is office space for coding, there is vacancy in Erieview Tower and 55 Public Square. If we need massive co-working spaces instead, Cleveland offers a stylish and authentic array of old factories. Or... we still have 20% of the Medical Mart to give away. Synergy!

Are they proposing to manufacture the servers here? That might move the needle a bit. I struggle to find much public benefit in simply hosting server farms, especially if we're going to offer tax credits to get them here. This is one of those times I'd love to be wrong, I just haven't been sold on the idea.

You speak as if Cuyahoga County were trying to land people on Mars. Not many business investments can fail for multiple consecutive years and demand a generation worth of patience.

This area needs lunch options badly. The juvenile court across the street draws thousands every day and can barely manage to serve coffee.

And some of the occupancy has been given away to juice that very stat. Occupancy was never the goal of the project-- that aspect was taken for granted and it was supposed to generate jobs. Much like this is but, like before, we aren't being told quite how. If we're going to support private businesses with public funds, especially our scarce local funds, I would lean toward proven business models and try to maximize the impact on neighborhoods.

Tax credits do not cost anything to the public up front, though. Neither does a bank loan but so what. I wouldn't commit too many local dollars to speculation. Some of this sounds an awful lot like the Medical Mart.

How many WWI-era factories, anywhere, have been successfully repurposed? There are all kinds of obstacles and no outcomes that make much sense. These structures are rarely located in desirable areas and it's their own fault-- nobody wanted to live near them in the first place.

I'm told that Cincinnati had a frontage tax, which led to those distinctive tall and narrow houses.