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How is CSU so much more poor than U of Akron? Has anyone seen what they've been building there? Ain't no siding involved, vinyl or otherwise. Somebody needs to inform Akron about the brick shortage pronto! They're gonna go bankrupt putting up so many elegant and tasteful structures in an economy like this. Lord only knows what they're thinking.

I think Tri-C East is heavy into the "Corporate College" aspect too, which might have a wider draw. Regarding transit-supportive land uses, I don't think we're likely to see those prior to transit existence. Besides, Greater Cleveland just doesn't do that sort of thing. We're so anti-density that we build suburbs right in the city core. But the Chagrin Highlands area needs rail service regardless of its design philosophy. And the city needs Chagrin Highlands to be on its rail system, which must extend into growth areas to remain relevant.

Both sides have good points here and I think both interests can be accommodated. Many schools are transitioning from commuter to residential these days. Shouldn't be too hard to strike a proper balance going forward.

League Park already sees a lot of use for vintage games. The Cleveland Blues use League Park as their home field. I play (very badly) on the Whiskey Island Shamrocks. Vintage base ball draws a decent crowd that brings their own lawn chairs. Having actual grandstands would be fantastic.

Gordon Square was developing rapidly long before the streetscape project began. As for the 73rd interchange, I agree it's needed. I also agree that well lit streets, nice sidewalks, and nearby parking are all helpful. But including this one, I have yet to see a streetscape project so focused. I find it comical that the sidewalks and crosswalks exhibit such elaborate pizazz where so many buildings are in shambles within a few blocks. It's like visitors are only expected to walk on the yellow brick road. Horse first, then cart. Last year I saw an apartment on Detroit, right by the streetscape area, where the entire ceiling had collapsed into the bedroom and was strewn about the floor. They're like, yeah we'll clean that up. I'm like, why would you even show this? D-S needs to get its apartment stock up to first world conditions, then worry about what sort of abstract meaning is conveyed by the bus stops.

Me too. I guess that's a matter to take up with the Fairfax people, since it's on their side of 79th.

Sticking with the metaphor, I guess I see a lot of available land in Cleveland as crop-ready, and I question the extent to which crosswalk decorations provide much in the way of fertilizer. Similarly it seems to me that this proposal invests quite a lot into creating access for a massive body of water that isn't exactly walled off to begin with, while adding a relatively small amount of developable land to an already substantial pool of it. Using terms familiar to the commuting angle, how many minutes is this going to shave off the trip from Battery Park to Edgewater Park? At a rate of how many dollars per minute?

Not certain I'm reading you correctly... are you saying the MMUD material in the document does have meaning, but the plot-by-plot zoning does not? The MMUD material seems to paint in broad strokes and is worded in aspirational terms. I'm not sure why they would go to the bother of producing all those meticulous zoning diagrams if the four MMUD's alone were sufficient to comprise "underlying zoning districts." Either Midtown Inc had the authority to override the previous zoning there or they didn't, I'm not sure either way, but in any event I doubt they would have "zoned" E40th to E79th as one giant chunk.

Yes, I'm referring to the zoning given in that same midtown.org doc. My understanding is that as an "overlay" it was meant to supersede the previous actual code. Recent developments suggest that it has, whether directly or through a pattern of variances. It specifies mostly industrial/commercial from 55th to 71st. With a couple of odd and tiny exceptions, residential and mixed-use are limited to the area bordering CCF. We went through this in detail a few months ago... I guess it's worth figuring out which zoning plan actually applies there now, since they seem pretty radically different from each other.

Yes and no. Mostly no. The bus shelters are downright embarrassing. The lighting is nice though, and was sorely needed. Generally I prefer more direct investments in the built environment, rather than continually "enhancing" public goods to the Nth degree.

No, it does not. The page in the plan that lists actual zones (I gave page cites somewhere upthread) calls for straight industrial/commercial along most of Euclid, with mixed-use down toward E71st-E79th st (only). This zoning conflicts a bit with the "MMUD" stuff. The Geis structure pretty much fits the zoning plan.

Anyone who says a successful housing development is suddenly threatened by road conditions that have existed all along should not be leading bus trips to ODOT. They shouldn't even be talking to ODOT, because it does not make us sound particularly thoughtful. I still maintain that the best way to use 50 million in furtherance of residential is to spend it on residential. And that transportation funds should be used to increase transportation, not to reduce it. So adding a rail line, or at least talking about it, might make this idea more palatable. West Shore Commuter Rail should be an integral part of the plan. That way, neighbors who need to get to work aren't made out to be enemies of Battery Park. That way the project adds value for everyone, rather than transferring benefit from Peter to Paul.

Apparently they feel that buildings close to the street on Carnegie create a "forbidding" canyon, so they want everything to have a bigger setback.

Thanks for the info! Places I've lived include Tremont, Coventry, Shaker Square and Lakewood. I prefer older apartment buildings. I'm a long way from college at this point but I still enjoy living like a student. I like old-school urbanity, I like bars and concerts, I like walking to the grocery. I will be checking out Highland Square for sure. Where exactly is this Merriman Valley? That sounds pretty cool too. Over the past decade I've really prioritized transit-oriented living, but that's no longer possible with this job. Office is in North Canton and the work itself involves a lot of driving. I'm attracted to Akron mainly because it's centrally located in the region.

A new job has me interested in moving to Akron. I have very little familiarity with the area... I've driven through it a million times on the way to other places but I've rarely been in the city itself. What sort of apartment options are downtown, or nearby? Apart from Highland Square, what other walkable neighborhoods are in or around Akron?

Most of the north is decent but moving in the wrong direction. Increased gang activity forced the end of the neighborhood street fair in recent years. Retail on Lakeshore and 185th has seen much better days. Waterloo/Beachland area is rough but moving in a positive direction. The CDC and affiliated groups are very active in Collinwood. Waterloo is primed to be a major success story.

I loved Roscoe Village as a kid. It stoked my interest in all this stuff we talk about here. Roscoe Village and COSI's old "Street of Yesteryear."

The Bd of Elections needs to accomodate a lot of vehicle traffic on election nights. The current location is barely sufficient for that as it is. I doubt that a consolidated downtown site would work for them. VB and JEH should definitely be part of any office merger. Both sit on land that would be better for other uses, and getting those offices out of their respective neighborhoods would help the neighborhoods too.

Belicheck was a defensive coach and his defenses here didn't suck. Local hated of Belicheck was based on his personality and his treatment of Bernie... and yeah, his treatment of Bernie stemmed from Bernie's refusal to accept Metcalf up the Middle, so in a way, unimaginative offense did have a lot to do with it. The defense was still good though. And any coach who jettisons a local hero for Phil Toddcox isn't weak. I was at that Oilers game, having bought the tickets months earlier with my dishwashing money thinking I'd get to see Bernie play. Read an interesting article in ESPN magazine a couple years ago, where Bernie said the term "West Coast Offense" originally referred to Al Davis' bomb-it-down-the-field approach. Bernie wasn't sure how or why it had come to mean dinking and dunking. Whatever it means, it has nothing to do with making Greg Little stand next to the opposing MLB and wait for a 3-yard pass.

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That's just silly. My whole point is that when this much public money is involved, immediate profitability ceases to be the only issue. That's one of the reasons the public invests in otherwise private development, to steer things toward a better long term plan that accounts for interests beyond those of each individual developer. You consistently claim that developers not only answer to no one but somehow have a right to use public funds and assets, keep all the profits, and cede not an ounce of planning control to the public. I would characterize that position as somewhere between "crony capitalism" and anarchy... which I didn't think was conceptually possible until I read it here.

But by not building said storefront, all future possibility of it on that site is eliminated. During the life of the Geis building anyway. Again, the only expenditures I'm concerned about here are those of the public. It seems that this CDC is actively pursuing, with public funds, a "vision" quite different than the "vision" the public was being sold when it funded the adjacent BRT project.

We all agree that the public has little control over what private developers do. My suggestions are targeted at public entities. As to how much control CDC's have over city planning and development funds spent in their areas, who really knows. But I believe it to be considerable. And I steadfastly believe that pursuing a mixed use neighborhood would create one faster than would pursuing a different goal would. Does it mean nothing that the current strategy is not what we were sold in conjunction with the BRT plan? Are we really going to equate everything with everything else? Are we really working toward a lively mixed-use neighborhood by building private single-use workplaces? Compatible? Perhaps, in some ways. Equivalent? Interchangable? Not at all.

Fandom wasn't expected of him, but professional competence was. Shurmur was a terrible hire even if Bill Walsh floats down on a cloud to call plays for him. Maybe he develops into something awesome. Right now he seems weak and unimaginative. Belichick wasn't popular here, but he never seemed weak or unimaginative.

I would have gone with ELO, but that's just me. Strap, I've already said what I'd do differently. It's simple-- develop a plan that's better suited for Euclid Avenue's future, rather than its unfortunate present. Would that change anything? Perhaps nothing at all. But at least at that point we're trying. Makes no sense to spend so much on the Corridor project then say "Awww, screw it. Can't build nothin good here. Let's just throw up low rent floorspace in bulk." I haven't said that any of the rehabs shouldn't proceed. The biggest one's not even on Euclid and has little to do with my Main Street argument. I did say that the Victory Building rehab should not be strictly office space. I even said that the subsidies it's receiving should be premised on the project including residential, since that would better leverage the massive public investment adjacent to it. That way the state wouldn't be spending quite so much on a development that contributes nothing to street life after 5pm. Also if we're going to promote some road as a tech center, might I suggest Chester as opposed to Euclid. It's a block away, it's auto-oriented... it's not Main Street and it didn't just receive a huge transit investment that promised density and mixed use. All I'm really suggesting is a unified plan. To me that makes 9x more sense than what's being done. If that makes me crazy, then go ahead and lock me away in a mental hospital right on Main Street. Wait... on second thought, don't build it there.