Foraker

Now that We-Demand-A-Park has been defeated, We-Demand-A-Lake has filed suit. Even if they have good arguments that for the same price the sewer district is spending they could keep the lake, the sewer district has said that that is not how they are willing to spend their money. And the city of Cleveland actually owns the property, and they're not objecting. So this seems like more tilting-at-windmills. https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/cuyahoga-county/horseshoe-lake-lawsuit-against-shaker-cleveland-heights/95-ff9bd372-72a3-4d2c-86fe-48e621dec9c6

I agree 100% -- but even so I don't know that a City Target would necessarily "activate" any other streets, which is what MyPhoneDead suggested. It would help the street it is on, such as Euclid, become more of a retail destination -- but probably only in a block or two at most. IMHO

Not necessarily. Even the two-story Target in University Heights did absolutely nothing for the street. It's a complete car-centered hell for anyone unlucky enough to be a pedestrian anywhere near the Cedar-Warrensville intersection.

If only there was bipartisan agreement that immigration law needed reform there could be hearings and proposed changes to the law on the best way to do it..... the House and Senate versions ultimately passed probably would be different, but probably not so different that a Conference Committee couldn't come up with SOMETHING to move the ball forward. And yet....

I was walking down Euclid Ave in Cleveland at lunchtime today, and to get around some construction blocking the sidewalk I walked in the street -- I had missed a cone-and-tape walkway that went into the street and was temporarily being blocked by some construction equipment. There wasn't any traffic in sight so I was just cautiously walking around the cones keeping an eye on the maneuvering equipment. Security guard yells at me for being in the street. "You're in the STREET, man. Get out of the street! You're going to get hit. Come back here and wait and go through this walkway." I was struck by two things. One, there were no cars in sight. So there was no way I was in any imminent danger of getting hit. And Euclid has a center median, so I had a refuge just one lane over had I needed one. Two, the implicit and all-too-common assumption that "Streets are for Cars" (ONLY), which brings the further implication that getting hit by a car would be the pedestrian's fault. No assumption of any obligation on the part of the driver to avoid hitting pedestrians. Felt like he was saying a driver would have a RIGHT to run over anyone who dares to "invade" cars' space on the street. No offense to the security guard, but he should visit a European city like Palermo that lacks crosswalks (or drivers obeying pretty much any traffic rules other than "don't hit the pedestrians").

Ignore all those college graduates from poor families. (Or if you prefer, I know this guy who grew up on a farm and as the youngest of six was the only one to go to college -- thanks to student loans -- and he's now the town doctor. Three of his brothers inherited the farm, two filed for bankruptcy before selling out to the third who was just hanging on until his wife got cancer....) I think there is a lot of variation in the quality of education. How much did the student WANT to learn? How good was the professor at TEACHING? I think a lot of "top" schools are ranked highly for the research and publications they put out, plus the test scores and grades of their students who did well early (as 14-18 year-olds in high school), not the quality of their teaching. I have a friend who went to Harvard for law school and had several outstanding professors and several complete duds. I'd argue that that isn't so different from my time at a state school. I also knew a guy who graduated from Harvard in engineering who didn't know what "CAD" was, even after I explained the acronym. Freaked me out at the time. He's done very well, nonetheless. We would expect that people who demonstrated success in high school would be more likely to succeed in the Ivy League or a community college -- the difference is in the connections made and the kind of first job you can get upon graduation. The Harvard grad has a leg up from all the wealthy, well-connected alumni that the Tri-C grad does not. And if you didn't succeed in high school you could "get it" later and really take off and have great success. The state schools do a good job of giving everyone that opportunity. Are there too many colleges? Yes, I think so. And I think we'll see a lot of colleges folding if student enrollment continues to decline, which seems likely. Small town, private colleges, without a large endowment are probably high on the list. Student loans might be the only thing keeping them afloat. Private student loans will continue, they're profitable for the banks, and Congressional campaign contributors, until people wise up and choose colleges based on affordability. State support for public education is waning as well, and student loans probably carry more of the load now than in the 1980s. And I would guess that Kent State, Akron, and Cleveland State, being in close proximity to one another, might be very nervous about their future should the state decide to pare back even further. I could see an Akron-Kent State merger, with Akron retaining business and engineering and Kent State retaining the liberal arts and aviation --- not unlike the Purdue-Indiana split.

I tend to agree with your opinion that we are expecting too high of a percentage of the student population needs a 4-year degree, and more high school students are agreeing with us -- the percentage of high school graduates going to college is actually falling. Additionally, there's an overall downward trend in the number of college-age students, as well. Perceived "lower quality" colleges are having trouble filling their freshman classes. That means fewer students, and more students that have to be enticed to attend with at least partial scholarships, both of which means lower revenue for colleges overall. Other than the expense of scholarships, how have colleges been tempting the shrinking pool of potential students -- amazing fitness centers, lovely manicured lawns and gardens, food courts and "fancier" meal options, plush student centers, high-speed internet in every spot on campus, travel abroad programs, sports, etc. -- all of which increases college expenses. Plus healthcare costs continue to rise, and colleges necessarily rely on employees to teach, clean, cook, garden, etc. It's a perfect storm of fewer potential students, lower percentage of those fewer students choosing to even attend college, and colleges offering as many scholarships and non-academic amenities to try to attract those fewer students choosing to go to college to attend THEIR college. Here's just one of many articles about the problems colleges are facing. https://hechingerreport.org/how-higher-education-lost-its-shine/ Diminished supply and higher costs of doing business make it nearly impossible for colleges to focus on "controlling their costs." And yet, to some extent they do!

Until -- Lazarus, are you talking about student loan forgiveness? Government student loans should have the same rate as the government loans to banks -- near zero. And forgiveness should still be part of the equation for high-need, low-pay jobs, like teachers. "eat more, travel more" activities can actually increase jobs in the restaurant and travel sectors. Purely anecdotally, I find that Millennials and Gen Z'ers don't want to work more than 40 hours or take only 2 weeks of vacation -- they're asking for more time off and happier making less and working less. It's not universal, there are still "kids" who want to work as much and make as much as they possibly can, but I have yet to see the same kind of job offer counteroffers from Gen Xers.

I don't know, but they should. The London Underground now allows you to tap a credit card when you enter and exit the underground and it's really convenient.

Are you talking to RTA/K&D/City/County officials (and are they reading this site?) who can actually act on these ideas? (Please!)

Yes.

I'm not surprised. The underground stations in central London are really close to one another. I find that I can usually walk anywhere in central London in about half an hour -- or take the underground and "save" five minutes.

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2023/05/ohio-senate-oks-sweeping-higher-education-reform-bill-that-targets-woke-bias-capitol-letter.html Who thinks Republicans "forgot" that Central State exists?

I, too, would be happy to see Public Square pedestrianized, cars banned, and only permit buses to travel around rather than through the square. But I recently heard a story from a friend in England about how they had introduced articulated buses (like the Healthline buses) and saw a surge in accidents involving cyclists caught on the inside as the buses turned corners. Consequently, the articulated buses didn't last long and were removed over safety concerns. This was the first I'd heard of it, and I couldn't find an article online to verify, so may be apocryphal, but yet another reason for protected/segregated bike lanes.

The case for working above-board for legal US residents has already been made. Employers can get themselves into a lot of legal trouble if they are paying too many or too much under the table. One or two employees probably would be tough to catch -- shame on the employer, but this is probably never going away. Undocumented immigrants are putting the possibility of permanent residency in jeopardy by working under the table. Otherwise, sure -- what incentive do they have to pay taxes when they are already at risk of deportation? This is another reason why the penalties for employers should be extremely, extremely harsh. Maybe prison time should be part of that equation if you can't prove you checked for a SSN and took steps to verify it was legit. A pathway to legal residency should be available to people who come here on work visas (which also should be more readily available) and keep their noses clean for a certain number of years. Get caught working "under the table" and that option should evaporate.

The Baby Boomers are now 59-77. The average life expectancy in the US is around 79. And if you look at a graph of the US population by age, there is a very steady decline in the number of people at each age after age 62. What is the impact on the stock market of the Boomers entering retirement (and presumably drawing down their retirement savings -- a large number of sellers) and dying (presumably transferring remaining assets to heirs, who probably would keep the remainder in the market)? I suspect the effects have already occurred as the first Boomers hit 65, because the population is more stable (and probably healthier earlier in life) in the following generations.

Yes, that is the trend, particularly as the wealth gap continues to widen and we transition to more electric vehicles.

Great news! Top of the Hill had its ceremonial groundbreaking on June 24, 2020 and is now nearly complete -- three years, despite COVID and supply chain disruptions. Construction at CLM is projected to be complete by early 2025 (just over two years) assuming no similar disruptions. Great to see this moving forward.

I don't think it's a matter of Arab culture either. When the number of refugees is that large any country will resist their integration. The U.S. has 0.84 refugees per 1,000 inhabitants, and we are freaking out about allowing "those" people into the country (despite the law allowing it -- very annoying for politicians to whine about the "border crisis" without reaching out to colleagues with compromises to acheive legislative consensus on how to change the law).

You could pair that with a picture of actual traffic with "ghost" car graphics inserted to show how much worse traffic would be without the current transit riders -- "If even more drivers chose transit, driving would be less stressful."

There is no basis in fact for these assertions. It doesn't matter where your grandparents came from, after a generation or two you're more influenced by American culture than wherever you came from.

@KJP -- we are all eagerly awaiting your scoop on the development proposals for this site. Please don't disappoint. 😄

Speculating that it's because the corporate overlords demand a higher profit margin than can be obtained. Locally, Barons bus lines have been expanding, but they seem more like special-occasion and excursion bus lines rather than a general transport service. My guess is that national or even broader regional service requires so much capital investment that anyone with that much capital has better investment opportunities elsewhere.

I might agree that it should be. But the Ohio Constitution is more comparable to the World Book Encyclopedia than the pamphlet that is the U.S. Constitution. The Ohio "Constitution" is already just a multi-volume set of laws. The idea that the Ohio legislature has any sense of responsibility "for the impracticality of implementation" is laughable. There are already strong safeguards to amendment by referendum in Ohio in the signature-gathering requirements. There were no hearings or studies suggesting that Ohio's amendment by referendum practice was broken and needed this fix, which is what you would expect from a serious legislature. In fact, the legislature did conclude that August elections were an expense we could and should do without, and a law to that effect went into force in March. But just two months later the legislature has already voted to ignore their own findings for political reasons rather than serious study or analysis. If it was just about fixing a broken referendum system, this vote would be taking place in November.

There are parallels in Ohio as well, as Republicans have dominated our state government for over a decade and have charted a path toward less and less home rule. The Ohio GOP is forbidding local communities from coming up with creative ways to solve local problems.