TBideon

I just spent the last 5 hours at University Circle with a friend who is somewhat anti Cleveland - talk about an amazing area! We hit up the Art Museum, had lunch at that diner (free coffee!), walked EVERYWHERE on Euclid (from Cleveland Clinic to near East Cleveland), walked by the various institutes (all the ones I could think of), hit up the medical library, enjoyed the patio at that neat coffee shop by the frats, watched some of the football game, played frisbee on Wade Lagoon, played frisbee at the front of the library, took some photos and video, marveled at the multitude of new construction, and so on! My friend definitely has a FAR better impression on the city now. Let's hope that downtown someday has that kind of in-your-face, visual, construction everywhere, momentum. I wonder how UC compares to other cities in regards to massive redevelopment within a relatively small radius. It just made me proud to be a Clevelander.

There were a surprising number of businesses open in that are. - I thought it was 100% dead. I also spent some time at the Strip Bank area but the sun killed almost every shot. And I took like another 50!!!

So I had to kill a little time in between meetings today and thought I'd take a few shots of the Flats for fun.

This cleveland.com poster made me laugh (and yeah I know they get the mileage wrong): Dear Train Supporters: Isn't 39 mph ridiculously slow? Sincerely, The Amish

Strip clubs, at least the nice ones, are fun venues where you can get lost in the illusion and have a crazy fun time

Episode 6: Basketball I like Jerry Stiller, but what the hell is this? Oh well, I had to throw this in here just because of the Cleveland references.

What a strange case.

Cavs for 40 wins, narrowly miss 8 seed. Bank on it!

klingt interessant

Some street performers are as bad as panhandlers, especially that guy who follows people around E4 and sings/raps alongside you at night, and then gets angry when you don't pay. Just because a hussler is doing actively something doesn't make him a street performer

Cliff Lee is simply not human

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=153880 Cleveland: Two arrested after fatal Flats stabbing "CLEVELAND -- Two people are in custody following the death of a man outside the Earth nightclub in the Flats early Sunday morning. Police say the victim, Kevin Ghee, 25, of Warrensville Heights, and two suspects were arguing inside the club shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday morning. According to police, after the suspects were escorted out of the club, they waited outside for Ghee to leave and a fight began. Police believe one of the suspects pulled out a knife and stabbed the victim several times in the chest and neck..."

Can't disagree with what you've said there.

I would say that interacial relationships between white males and Asian females are extremely prevalent in Cleveland, in particular the University Circle/hospitals/Case community. And so I agree with you, ETC, that interracial relationships are common, but I'm not sure what you mean by wrong element? As to the article itself, what a great read.

That reminds me of a scene from one of the Death Wish films, where there is this old couple living in mortal fear of the neighborhood gangmembers and they have a gun for protection. The police then come to harass the elderly couple and confiscate the gun, knowing full well that the weapon is the only thing keeping the couple safe. And in the next scene, we see the couple getting robbed openly by the taunting gangbangers with no police to be found. Cops know it's easier to go after the good guys rather than serious criminals - why do you thiink there are so many cops hanging by Coventry instead of the areas where they are far more needed, say the east Cleveland/Cleveland heights border. It seems like RTA is taking a chapter right out of that book. Pathetic

I hear there was a massive brawl last Saturday at Tequila Ranch (one of the douches from Jersey Shore was djing there). A couple dozen police cars and an ambulance showed up. Anyone have any specifics?

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/10/juveniles_who_jump_rta_rapid_l.html Juveniles who don't pay RTA fares could face $50 fine " Youthful riders who jump onto RTA's HealthLine and Red line without paying could face a $50 fine, under a policy the RTA board is considering. " I have to echo one of the cleveland.com posters. Wouldn't installing turnstiles at all of the stations, or at least the problem ones, and having security or staff manning the stations fix much of this problem. Sure they'd cost some money, but in the long term a lot more revenue would be coming in, not to mention the whole process of where and when to pay would be far more simple and less unnerving.

A lack of a Salary cap is undoubtedly a part of the problem, but the Indians have a lot of other problems, many of which have to do with consistent terrible decisions by the Dolans and the GMs: 1. Kerry Wood getting $10/yr for 2 years is up there with the Colavito trade. A historic mistake. 2. Haffner had a known shoulder injury and was starting to slide prior to the 4 year contract. 3. Terrible, terrible drafting year after year. 4. Not receiving top Philly prospects for Cliff was unconscionable. That was a hail Mary deal. 5. Marte consistently playing for the last 3 years is just retarded. 6. Ticket prices are too high considering the lousy economy and lousy product. Especially for bleachers. 7. No power hitters 8. Playing an injured Grady over and over 9. Trading veterans every mid season and losing fan favorites. I can understand the strategy with, but so far Laporta, Brantley, Carrasco, etc have been at best mediocre. At what point will the front office stop with these fire sales. 10. Front office not addressing crappy hitting and horrid defense, 11. Owners not really connecting with fans, not really openly addressing problems with team other than 'they're kids' and 'wahh, no salary cap' and 'small market'. Colorado, Minnesota, and Tampa are proof that these are just excuses. 12. The Victor trade. Truly a slap to the face to Victor, the fans, and the entire team. 13. Promotions to lousy management. Think Shaprio and Antonetti. 14. The Westbrook deal. His injury was unpredictable and wins were pretty good before getting hurt, but his WHIP was not all that impressive, gave up a lot of hits. Certainly not worth $11million/yr for 3 yrs for a "small market" team.

Can't really blame Choo. When you play sports, you play to win the big one, and for a variety of reasons, the Indians are simply not capable of doing that.

Very interesting conversation, guys. You all clearly know what you're talking about. From my rather lay perspective, terms like recession and depression are completely antiquated. When it comes down to it, jobs are the only thing that matter, and there simply aren't any outside of a handful and decreasing number of fields, at least well paying ones. And I am aware that jobs take a while to recover, but things are just terrible and there is really no reason to believe we'll ever get out of this rut.

if they can't, then the teacher's union or some other interest group needs to start fighting for legislation that would give them the ability to go after these kids and their parents.

That is really surprising about RJ. It really seemed to have that young professional patronage, especially with attorneys. I would certainly like to learn more about what happened.

I don't want to repeat what I've said earlier on this subject (I'm sure I've posted quite a bit), but I will say that it is unsurprising that the Cleveland schools latest plan is so far a complete embarrassment. You cannot fix something this broken with cosmetic changes like new schools, toothless initiatives like Target 11, having math teachers weave tardiness into instruction (I can only imagine the class reaction to that), and so on. The kids know they can get away anything short of violent crimes, so why change their behavior. The administration does not want to get it. For example, look at the language of this letter they sent: "excessive absences will eventually impede a student's ability to reach his or her academic potential." Why are they beating around the bush with this overly diplomatic and unnecessarily mature writing tone. Just say this (just a broad example): "Your child has missed x number of days of class. One more, and he will be expelled from this school and prosecuted for truancy. Additionally, we will press charges against you as his legal guardian. This letter serves as a final warning." Now don't take what I just wrote literally - it's just an example of the kind of need for hardlining these kids and parents. Nothing is working outside of blips of hope here and there, and we're just saying the same things over and over. The cleveland.com'ers pretty much have it right with this story.

Stay tuned for his 'Decision' video with a bunch of confused Boy Scouts in the background

Guys, it's just a coffee shop.