Foraker

That's their other push (in addition to "who wouldn't want a park?") -- "who wouldn't want to have a say on this development?" -- ignoring the ton of opportunities for "say" already. 🤦‍♂️

That seems to be what Fran Mentch is counting on; and it's why you should make sure everyone you know in Cleveland Heights votes No. If it passes, why would any developer ever want to do business in Cleveland Heights? They can't let it pass.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/467973778290650

The census undercounted minority populations, which is not unusual. There may be adjustments. More detailed reviews are ongoing. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022/2020-census-estimates-of-undercount-and-overcount.html This is a good roundup of some of the issues that led to the undercount -- antiquated system of counting, COVID, shortened counting period, etc. https://www.npr.org/2022/03/10/1083732104/2020-census-accuracy-undercount-overcount-data-quality

Did anyone attend the forum on Issue 9 (opposition to the Cedar-Lee-Meadowbrook development) last night?

No doubt there will be people suddenly paying attention to this issue who will argue that a new jail isn't even needed.

If the Cleveland Port Authority is legally permitted to extend its reach to CAK.... but I agree that it would benefit all the airports to work together. I expect there could be advantages to having the big alliance airlines operating out of Hopkins and the smaller-jets-only regional airlines operating out of CAK.

I'm not sold on closing Burke being some kind of game-changer for Cleveland. But I do see value in better coordination between the airports in the region and their role -- whether it's freight, commercial aviation, private aviation, instruction, etc. CAK and Hopkins would operate much better if connected by rail. CAK is 45 minutes from downtown Cleveland on a Saturday, but up to an hour (or more) during rush hour (and it's unpredictable). And really, who wants to drive for approximately an hour after a long flight anyway? If we had a train between the two you could leverage some big parking garages for a more consistent and easy transfer/park-n-fly that would vastly increase the population willing to use each airport. If given the choice and limited funds, I'd build that rail line before closing Burke.

But we can dream -- SHW isn't going to even exit until 2024, and I'd bet that there will be environmental cleanup issues on the site. It's not going to be ready for a decade, at least. But the Stark property could be developed immediately, Bedrock could even buy existing plans and employ the architects to polish them up in short order. That would be ideal.

Closing W28th to cars and building a stadium over it does not necessarily mean closing pedestrian/cyclist access, which could easily be accommodated underneath the stands. This would be a great opportunity to demonstrate a creative approach for car-free access. For example, imagine a brick-arched colonnade a little wider than the current sidewalk, with one side open to the existing buildings for outdoor patio space -- it could be not just really cool, but a huge improvement over existing conditions.

On Google maps W. 29th between Carroll Ct. and Lorain looks like it's already shut down -- it would run right through the campus. Do you mean W. 28th?

I was visiting a friend in the Keith Building, and over her shoulder saw a guy in the Lumen getting dressed -- not everyone cares or knows that you can see through their windows!

And removing the minimal training means more guns in the "wrong" hands. There should be no question that guns are dangerous. There should be no question that you should be required to learn to use and store them safely. Why is it so controversial that we shouldn't make owning a gun easier than driving a car? None of our constitutional "rights" are unlimited, why should this one be?

Are we talking about RTA? There may or may not be or have been corrupt officials in Detroit government, but certainly Michigan has a lot (too many) concrete roadways, and lower quality concrete jobs can degrade quicker. I suspect that concrete fails in ways that asphalt does not, which is better at sealing out water. Concrete pavement requires expansion joints -- intentional cracks -- which lets water in. When it freezes, pop goes the concrete. I for one am happy to be riding on asphalt most of the time here in Ohio, despite the spring pothole-bloom. Not sure how vague claims of corruption in local government or crumbling roadways gets us to limited safety on Detroit's streets or safety on Detroit's People Mover or what that has to do with RTA. But here we are.

And the gun industry's drive to make guns readily available to everyone, without any qualifications or restrictions.

My perception of Ohio State this year was that they were very young and inexperienced. Preseason predictions had them in the middle of the Big Ten, but early-season success got my hopes up for more. Down the stretch injuries really hurt them. And if you look at the box score from the Villanova game this team looked really thin after Liddell and Branham. The lack of a third scorer and production from the bench look like the difference. After the end-of-the-season losses and performance in the Big tournament, I was very pleased with their performance in the first round and not surprised at all about how the second round played out. I have Villanova in the Final Four, and losing to a FF team isn't terrible. I really like Holtmann, and I'm hopeful that some of the young guys really step up (and that Branham sticks around) and Ohio State can finish in the upper quarter of the Big Ten next year and make it to the Sweet 16.

That's true -- but I was trying to separate out the taxes paid by users from the taxes paid by the general public. Sales taxes are not based on our use of RTA (neither are our state income taxes, some of which do come back to RTA).

Of course the innerbelt is part of the interstate highway system -- but it's within the urban core, and as such "speed and throughput" while certainly factors that should be considered, should not be the only factors. I would say that with all the exits and I-77 interchange in the downtown area there is a reason to slow the traffic down -- for safety and to keep traffic moving. As the city planning commissioners said, historical discrimination also justifies more consideration of a cap at E22 and improving pedestrian and surface street connectivity through and across the innerbelt and I-77.

I agree, there are other ways to deal with those issues, and is increased demand, "joyriders and squatters" really a problem? Only a fraction of the fares is revenue for most transit agencies -- you have to deduct the cost to buy and maintain ticket dispensers, handle cash and coins, and pay for enforcement. And enforcement slows down boarding and creates friction with your customers, many of whom are poor and from minority communities. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/03/14/boston-free-public-transit/ Boston's new mayor says transit is a public good and should be treated as such -- advocating for fare free transit. I really like this idea. What do we pay for roads? $25 for a 4-year license ($6.25/year) and $30/year for registration -- call it $40 per year. Plus gas taxes (average of 13,500 miles per year, 25mpg, $.385/gallon gas tax is $207.90 per year) -- we can round up to $210. With gas taxes, registration, and licensing, Ohioans are paying about $250 per year in "use taxes" to use all the roads. (Actually, a lot more because the highway trust fund has been refilled several times with income tax revenue. ODOT highway budget in 2021 was $3.6B. https://www.lsc.ohio.gov/documents/budget/133/transportation/IN/budgetinbrief-hb62-in.pdf) What kind of revenue does RTA get from its "use taxes" -- fares? About $22m. (and $10m from the state; the state's largest transit authority receives about 0.3% of what the state spends on roads) http://www.riderta.com/sites/default/files/pdf/budget/2022/4-FundBudgets.pdf If everyone in the RTA region paid a transit tax alongside their water and sewer bills, say $20 per month per HOUSEHOLD ($240 per year, roughly the same as we pay for roads) -- RTA would double its revenue to $40m (assuming approximately 175,000 households in greater Cleveland) and could eliminate fares. $20 per month for everyone in your house to hop on RTA any time they wanted is a steal compared to the current $95 monthly pass per person.

Agree wholeheartedly -- why is "speed" and "throughput" so important for this project? And I know, everyone wants an exit/onramp where it's most convenient for them, but all this complex spaghetti carries a high construction and maintenance cost. Real improvements would consider a lot more factors than speed and throughput and ODOT needs to recognize that. Kudos for the city to at least slow this project down -- now, can they force ODOT to go back to the drawing board? KJP mentioned that ODOT was open to building a cap, with a condition:

Certainly we do not know as much as Berry right now. But from what you've told us so far, it looks like he was overruled by Haslam.

Congrats to Watson for getting that kind of money. Happy to hear that Haslam is willing to open his checkbook to that extent, even if I don't agree with his choice of where to spend. But those picks -- ouch -- what are the long-term consequences of giving up so much to Houston?!? Well, we will get to find out.

I don't have any studies at hand to show you, but any time we add highway lanes and make it faster to get from A to B, it makes travel from further out places less time consuming to both A and B and we get sprawl. So if you are reducing travel times between Delhi and the airport, I would expect new development to crop up to take advantage of that improvement in travel times. Maybe that means more density along the corridor in this case (more workers, more traffic, suddenly the "bridge isn't wide enough"). But it seems highly unlikely that we will ever find out whether this proposed bridge would induce sprawl. Look at the struggles with finding funding for the BSB. Where is the funding going to come from for a new bridge? The workers in Delhi might want a new bridge, and the businesses in Kentucky might want better access to Delhi's workers, but does Kentucky want a new bridge? Is Kentucky interested in improving access for workers in Ohio? Or would Kentucky prefer to encourage workers to move to their state? There's only so much transportation money; I don't see this as ever becoming a priority for Kentucky.

I like Baker -- despite his obvious deficiencies I think he's good enough to stick with, but I really shake my head at the idea that Watson is an acceptable improvement but Kaepernick is not.