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This works out well for everybody.

Agree with shs96.

Agreed. Why play second fiddle to a beer-fest at your grand opening? Also, the potential exists for things to go horribly awry, considering how wasted everyone gets. There were fights right in front of that place last year.

I definitely prefer the new rendering, with the round part. That would fit nicely with the rounded building across the intersection.

Full disclosure, I work in this industry so I'm all for it. I research title history at the courthouse in Lisbon, which is packed with researchers every day. Most of the downtown parking lots are "commercial mineral parking only" which I have to admit is a nice perk. It's a boom of historic proportions. Tiny county seats are getting swamped with people. The Vindicator just did a story about rising sales tax revenues and it hasn't even really started yet. The lawyers are just the beginning, next comes the actual work. They aren't building those mills in Youngstown for nothing. Someone has to put together all the pipe that comes out, and build the rigs, and drive the trucks. YSU and Stark State have training programs but a lot of these workers will be coming in from elsewhere, by necessity.

Great story. Sounds like they have all the right ideas. I'm glad they're talking about drawing people from outside the area too. Many would be surprised at how big it is. The skyline is retro with some iconic features, luxurious for a city this size. There's your branding.

And now those warm cities are buying them more bus tickets. Windfall for Greyhound. I couldn't agree more about foot patrols. Won't solve the underlying problem but it should help with all the open harassment. That'll make the underlying problem easier to solve.

Words cannot describe how awesome Jennifer Coleman is.

Agreed. Considering the big picture, it's hard for me to view Gilbert as a bad guy.

I used to disapprove, but I like everything he's done since the whole UC-apartment debacle. He's the only elected official in the city who consistently stands up for historical preservation.

OK. My opinion of the news item is well summarized by the post that just says "vomit."

^ Agreed.

Awesome. But I'm not sure it's possible to ride RTA buses for 14 consecutive hours on a Saturday.

I don't know if it's the PD turning a corner, but it's a welcome sign that everything else is.

If the old Giant Eagle at Bunts & Detroit is becoming a Giant Eagle again, what happens to the current Giant Eagle on Bunts that used to be a Tops?

Parks typically aren't open to further development and I'm not interested in making other lots attractive by putting a permanent gap there. We just spent millions trying to spur non-grassy development on this stretch. Let's not throw in the towel quite yet.

Those people exist everywhere. They've done a lot more damage in Cleveland than in Lakewood. I think that demonstrates the community's overall attitude... urban interests typically prevail, such as when the west end project was voted down. Lakewood remains dense and urban in 2012 when what's technically the big city next door is suburbanizing itself as fast as possible. Lakewood is practically a museum piece of what Cleveland used to look like. The vast majority prefer that, and are glad that the anti-urban generation hasn't left much of a mark here. Not that they haven't tried, of course.

biker 16, I really do not see what you see in the attitudes here. I wouldn't be surprised if, like most places, we have some of the wrong people in power. Things are far from perfect, 117th being the prime example. But people oppose BRT because it's BRT. The branding on that concept is hopeless around here, perhaps permanently. The Euclid project tarnished it more than anyone seems to want to admit. And generally no, people in Lakewood do not want to mess with Clifton or the Shoreway. But to say that makes them anti-urban is not fair and not accurate. If the West Shoreway plan involved putting rail down Clifton it would probably be met with open arms. Talk to them about improving the 55 and all they want is more buses, more capacity with more consistent service. They don't care about the landscaping or the nature of the bus stops. That's irrelevant to how well you can get around. Again, the theme is connectivity. It's important in any city but especially in one like ours where so much of the functional urban neighborhood stock is so far from downtown. That's why there's little interest in cosmetic enhancements that would effectively move Lakewood further away. Lakewood thrives off its connection to downtown, and given the crippling apartment shortage in our central city, downtown also thrives off its connection to Lakewood. In so many ways, Gordon Square is trying to be a smaller version of Lakewood. It's important that Gordon Square gets where it's going, development wise, but that's no reason to start treating Lakewood like it's Westlake. It's not, and nobody wants it to be. Your negative characterization of this very emphatically urban community seems off base to me. I really wish the Shoreway conversion had not become the wedge issue that it has.

Strongly agree with your points biker16. I would like to see urbanists get more politically active in Ohio because even the cities rarely elect representation with an urbanist viewpoint. It just isn't mainstream and it needs to be. Urbanists need to show up at ward meetings en masse, get to know people, start running for precinct committee seats. A gradual and foundational approach. We're all busy with school and career and family but time needs to be made. Guess how long it's been since Ohio held a constitutional convention? 100 years exactly. Prior to 1912 they were somewhat more frequent. In 1912 the leading issue of the day was the progressive charge toward prohibition, and much of our current constitution resulted from attempts to placate this movement, which was decidedly anti-urban. The cities opposed prohibition and were painted as havens of filth. They won the compromise of home rule, which ironically doomed them as it encouraged the incorporation of all the petty suburban fiefdoms we're struggling with today. I think after 100 years it's definitely time to re-engineer the system.

I haven't encountered anything like this through years of living in Lakewood. Various parts. It's the most progressive and urbanist populace I've ever had the pleasure of joining. Residents are against the McDonalds on Detroit not because they hate change, but because replacing a mixed-use twin cinema building with a McDonalds drive thru is anti-urban and stupid. Similarly, many are against the West Shoreway conversion because they think it's just a bad idea. Too much connectivity lost for too little gained, at too great a cost. People were against RTA cutting the circulator buses, not because they hate change but because they prefer a transit-oriented lifestyle. The common theme is that being able to get around is a good thing. Lakewood by definition is a dense center of population and entertainment that's 5 miles outside downtown. Transportation will always be forefront issue. I think most people in Lakewood would welcome a rail expansion of any kind.

Cleveland does not need another park, at all, anywhere. Too much of the city has been reduced to pasture already. Coals to Newcastle as they say. What Cleveland needs is density. Recognizable urbanity. I might be OK with a truly massive park for the east side, something on the scale of Central Park or at least Mill Creek in Youngstown, which would be mostly forest and not open grass. But even then, that shouldn't be along Euclid. Euclid Avenue must be the city's primary showpiece thoroughfare. It must be and it can be. Any move away from that goal is a move in the wrong direction. Redeveloping this building would be a great idea. Tearing it down for appropriate redevelopment would also be a great idea. Tearing it down for nothing would be moving in the wrong direction. Lack of city is the last thing we should want to showcase on our main street.

I love what you're doing. Great work!

Lakewood would probably be the greatest beneficiary of a rail expansion, and the loudest opponent, too. Lakewood opposes having rail service? Can you elaborate on this? Never heard of such a thing. Most people I know are passionate about wanting it. Even those who don't care, who would never use it, agree that it should have happened years ago.

StrapHanger is absolutely right about TIF's. Given what's happened with land values I don't expect them to be as popular as they once were. And even ideally, TIF's just add some sugar on top, they don't serve as primary financing. I think the blue line extension should be a relatively high priority, and I believe it will be far more useful to city residents seeking work than to suburban commuters. So why isn't rail getting more support? Terrible, terrible, terrible leadership. RTA's last two big projects, the WFL and the BRT, are widely viewed as flops. My issues with the BRT are detailed in other threads, but regardless of its merits, it should never have been pursued with the WFL seeming so pointless, wasteful and incomplete only a few years after construction. The big picture has been missed on every level. RTA should never have shifted its focus away so quickly... the city should never have allowed what happened to the flats after such a large public investment there... and the county right now should be insisting that our new tax-funded convention center connect to the tax-funded rail line right in front of it. Leadership got us into this mess, and only leadership can get us out.

I've seen several campuses in the past year and encountered nothing that even remotely resembled siding. Brick, stone, that sort of thing. And I'm talking about new construction during the same challenging economy CSU faces. As a proud graduate, I'd prefer less excuses and more improvement regarding CSU's design standards. I'd also prefer that they reconsider the $100,000 they're spending on ONE LIGHT POLE, if decent building materials have become unattainable to such a unique extent.