theguv

Friday, May 7 at 8:30am the Transit Improvement Advisory Committee (TIAC; a subcommittee of the RTA Citizens Advisory Board) will host a dialogue with Joel Freilich, Director of Service Planning @ GCRTA. The dialogue will focus on scheduling and ticketing (fare media) inconsistencies that reduce system wide ease of use. Please plan to attend. Meetings last 90 minutes and take place in Mtg Room 1 inside RTA Main Office @ 1240 W. 6th St. (Warehouse District). These dialogues represent a new approach for the TIAC. Our first attempt at staging a dialogue, which went well, took place at our April 2 meeting which featured Joseph Shaffer, Director - Engineering & Project Development @ GCRTA. Minutes from that meeting can be found here> http://rtatiac.wordpress.com/2010/04/30/april-2-tiac-meeting-minutes/ For this particular mtg, We were successful in attracting attendees who had a stake in at least one of the capital projects that Mr. Shaffer spoke on (STJ Transit Center, Puritas Red Line, E.55 RedLine). Such attendance was greatly appreciated as these folks were able to provide informed perspectives and questions.

FYI - This Friday, May 7 at 8:30am the Transit Improvement Advisory Committee (a subcommittee of the RTA Citizens Advisory Board) will host a dialogue with Joel Freilich, Director of Service Planning @ GCRTA. The dialogue will focus on scheduling and ticketing (fare media) inconsistencies that reduce systemwide ease of use. Please plan to attend. Meetings last 90 minutes and take place in Mtg Room 1 inside RTA Main Office @ 1240 W. 6th St. (Warehouse District). These dialogues represent a new approach for the TIAC. Our first attempt at staging a dialogue, which went well, took place at our April 2 meeting which featured Joseph Shaffer, Director - Engineering & Project Development @ GCRTA. Minutes from that meeting can be found here> rtatiac.wordpress.com We were able to attract attendees who had a stake in at least one of the capital projects that Mr. Shaffer spoke on (STJ Transit Center, Puritas Red Line, E.55 RedLine) Such attendance was greatly appreciated as they were able to provide informed perspective and questions. IF you cannot attend this meeting, but would like to ask a question about Scheduling or Fare Media, please PM me or comment by 5pm on Thurs, May 6 and I will do my best to get your question answered.

Signage featuring some sort of renderings as well as developer and financing info ought be part of any construction site, especially in Cleveland, where there is a need for hope and transparency. The planning Commission was interested to support legislation that would mandate something like this, but I dropped the ball. I was pushing for signage at Lou Frangos' 'temporary' parking lot at E.9th & Carnegie. In order to get the demolition permit, Mr. Frangos' had floated big plans for this site.

comment removed due to a request from the author.

Here is a look at the 1st Hospital designed by Foster + Partners in Bath, England. This was mentioned in the PD Article. http://plusmood.com/2010/01/foster-partners-first-hospital-circlebath-unveiled/ Bath looks to be much more rural than any part of the Clinic campus; but as for the interior I really appreciate the bldg being designed around a central courtyard w/ each patient provided a view of an herb/perennial garden. Other than contact with other humans, I can't think of anything more inspiring for healing than a connect with the natural world. Edward O. Wilson calls it Biophilia.

Here is another article from Cin re: the development of a casino that melds into the urban fabric. http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2010/05/03/story1.html?b=1272859200^3271941#

I would recommend checking out the buildings along Superior Ave, roughly between E. 17 and E. 30. Lots of great, mostly unfinished/partially finished buildings. This area was recently dedicated as the Cleveland Arts Quarter with a goal of live/work zoning throughout. You can likely glean more info from this site: http://www.cityartistsatwork.org/

Indications for the Cleveland Casino site are evident in this article that provides details on the Cincinnati Casino. http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100415/BIZ01/4160358/1055/NEWS/Casino%20details%20emerging ---------- Local business Cincinnati.Com » Local business Last Updated: 1:56 pm | Thursday, April 15, 2010 Casino details emerging The developers of the downtown Cincinnati casino closed Thursday on the 20-acre site, paying $35 million - or more than double the market value of $14 million. Meanwhile, developer Rock Ventures also revealed other planned details for the casino, including: About four restaurants and about four to six retailers will be built along the sidewalks of Reading Road, Broadway and East Court streets. The casino itself will be behind the restaurants and shops. ---------- continued at above link.

Those pieces of shiny public art CANNOT, by definition, be called a shelter. Even in Arizona.

Sherman, in your quest of the eccentric local flavor (w/ protein) in Cleveland, with local beer, here's my recs: Beer Engine in Lakewood; 25+ continuously rotating taps + 2 cask beers which include 3-5 selections from Buckeye Brewing just down the road in Cleveland. Sampling is encouraged. 20 burgers to choose from; each of which can be substituted w/ portobello cap, homemade black bean burger, or grilled free range chicken breast + really good homemade chips! Parkview Nite Club in Detroit Shoreway: 8 taps including 2 rotating selections from Great Lakes. House smoked salmon and pork brisket. Well worn interior w/ live blues every Wed nite and most weekends. West Side Market in Ohio City: an institution. lots of great tastes to be had; enjoy the stroll and the conversations w/ over 100 vendors. no beer, yet.... Happy Dog in Detroit Shoreway: 24 taps including 3 rotating selections from Great Lakes + many great regional (NY, MI, PA) selections. old school circular bar with a menu twist - hot dogs/veg dogs/falafel w/ 50 housemade toppings includ. kimchi, creole remoulade, escarole, vodka slaw, etc Nate's in Ohio City; no beers but incredible hummus, fatoush, babaganoush, tabbouleh, shishtawook, etc. good sized portions & good prices. Dim & den sum: mobile restaurant serving soul food w/ asian flair utilizing mostly local ingredients Sokolowski's in Tremont: eastern european & polish delicacies; pierogies, bratwurst, kielbasa, fried lake erie perch. you will not walk out hungry, but you may not walk out.... interesting selection of European beers as well. Rincon Criollo in Detroit Shoreway: no beer, but good puerto rican fare including Jibarito (pork sandwich w/ fried plantains in place of bread, pigeon peas, etc fyi - most dishes are fried. Superior Pho in Asia Town: Vietnamese specialties including the best pho in town & the only place in Cleveland I've had a Banh mi sandwich Koko Bakery: sweet & savory bakery items to-go. the ham and soft cooked egg sandwich on sweet bun is highly recommended and it's only $1.50 so hard to go wrong http://buckeyebeerengine.com [lunch & dinner everyday, sunday brunch] http://www.parkviewniteclub.com [lunch & dinner everday, sunday brunch] http://www.westsidemarket.org [open M, W, F, Sa] http://happydogcleveland.com [dinner everyday; lunch on fridays] Nate's [lunch M-F] http://www.dimanddensum.com (FB page has menu details) http://www.sokolowskis.com [lunch & dinner everyday] Rincon Criollo [lunch & dinner M-Sa] http://www.asiatowncleveland.com/dining.asp for Superior Pho & Koko

I like this idea a lot and as the article point out, orchards have a place in Shaker's history. Further, I appreciate how an orchard can become a seasonal gathering place for activities focused around the harvest; i.e. cider pressing.

maybe it could be something like mr. smalls in PGH, which is a combination of music venue, recording studio, and outdoor skate park. http://www.mrsmalls.com/ the major difference is that the mr. smalls bldg used to be a church.

^I've always like Gorillaz; has there been a line-up change since the first album? Don't know the other three; what's the 411? I just saw the Black Lips in concert; purchased their middle album, Let it Bloom, and fell in love love with gritty DIY punk posturing all over again. IMO, these guys have a well deserved reputation for putting on a very energetic live performance!

re: the chase ATM, it is open 24-7 with entry through a door that requires a swipe from an ATM card to open it

Hola Chicagoist! I concur with all the warm love for DS. We moved in three years ago to the small neighborhood sandwiched between Battery Park, Detroit Ave, W76 & W73. Someone has coined it as EdgeWater Hill and there are definitely some fixer-upper bargains to be had! PM me for more info. Community spirit is alive, and as such we had a fun neighborhood scale public art project installed last fall. There are also folks working on a food cooperative. I mainly get around via bicycle and foot (bus in winter/rain) though I have the benefit of doing most of my work/meetings in OC or dwntwn. The #26 serves DS very well with service avg. every 20 minutes. The lack of a grocery store is a minor inconvenience with the WSM and Dave's less than 2 miles away and a pretty good Asian grocer on Detroit 'round W.53rd and a slowly growing farmer's market from june-oct + a Save-A-Lot for desperate times.... And the lake.....ahh the lake... a short five minute walk from our 'hood via well maintained ped/bike access @ W. 65 and much improved bike/ped access to come at W.76 this summer. In the summer months Edgewater is home to many multicultural celebrations and the park is alive from dawn till dusk....w/ sand volleyball at Whiskey Island only a few minutes east. In the winter, the sledding is good!

Any idea who the manufacturer is of the hybrid buses/ powertrain&transmission? In Cleveland the Euclid Corridor Buses are hybrids made by Allison, though they function in a very non-hybrid like way where the electric motor is primarily used in speeds ABOVE 25mph. PDF>http://www.allisontransmission.com/servlet/DownloadFile?Dir=publications/pubs&FileToGet=SA3576EN.pdf

Great idea, but all of the NEORSD sewer treatment plants utilize aerobic digestion (tanks are open) instead of closed (anaerobic) digestion where the latter is ideal for methane capture. Euclid's waster water treatment plant is anaerobic. IMO, if we could figure this out; our humanure would be best used to power an RTA cng fleet. I believe fuel expenditures are about 12% of RTA's budget.

The goal of the Access for All Campaign is to get a spec for bike/ped access included in the bridge construction specifications. Thereby placing design and cost in the court of the experts, the architecture and engineering firms who will be responding to the RFP. The $20M number being tossed around by ODOT is at best a back of the envelope calculation based on creating a 15' wide lane using the same amount of concrete that would be necessary to support motorized vehicle traffic. The comment regarding the transition from the bridge to city streets is an important one and would be best answered by the firms who will bid on the project. Unfortunately, ODoT has made it impossible for them to do so; as thus far they have not included the specification in the RFP.

Yes, a definite disconnect. IMO, we need to demand the city work with RTA on this one; especially if the ECTP is the benchmark for future BRT projects in greater Cleveland. I will keep folks updated on future tactics. Interestingly, the importance of RTA seems lost on the Downtown Cleveland Alliance as there is no RTA representation on their Board of Directors. http://www.downtownclevelandalliance.com/page/DCA-Board-of-Directors.aspx?parent=6 Contrast that to Capital Crossroads (the Columbus equivalent to the DCA) http://www.downtowncolumbus.com/about/capital-crossroads-sid

re: indie movies at the capitol. The distributors of movies decide where their movies will be screened; not the theater owners. Therefore, the Capitol must prove to distributors that it can turn-out big crowds for indie films. Thus far, the only exclusive (to Greater Cleveland) that the Capitol has screened was an brit flick called Fish Tank. in short: if you want more indie flicks at the Capitol then you need to get yourself and all your friends to see any and all indie movies on opening weekend (this is how crowds are measured)

FYI: A couple of months ago, Cleve Ricksecker, Head of the downtown Columbus SID (Capitol Crossroads) did a presentation at the city Club w/ Joe Marinucci (Head of DCA) and Ned Hill (Head of Levin College at CSU). Cleve said that downtown Columbus eradicated all zoning laws and replaced them with a Design Review Committee to influence the design form of the resultant building as a means of welcoming businesses and increasing the quality of urban design.

Re: light timing and signal extension on Euclid. As I understand it; the ball is in the City of Cleveland's court. Precisely, the Division of Traffic Engineering within the Department of Public Service. I have learned of this situation through serving on the STAT2019 committee that resulted from the City's Sustainability Summit in August 2009. http://www.city.cleveland.oh.us/CityofCleveland/Home/Government/CityAgencies/PublicService/Public%20Service%20Sections

the seats in the upper theaters are being looked at to see if there is a cost effective way of creating additional legroom for what would amount to approx. 20-25% of the seats in each theater.

an RFQ was recently released to design the bike/ped bridge over the rail road that will connect the Willow Street Bridge to Whiskey Island http://planning.co.cuyahoga.oh.us/about/pdf/lakefrontconnectorrfq.pdf responses are due March 31

Ray LaHood for President!