Foraker

Not a huge update -- they will ask for some zoning changes sometime in 2025, and they will continue to do some community engagement. Unclear what kind of community engagement they have in mind.

I maintain that they are weighing constituent anger against Trump's threats to primary them using Musk's millions. That "loud rebuke they'll get" from constituents is going to have to be a lot louder than the threat of a well-funded primary opponent. While Trump clearly likes to take credit for anything good that happens, he doesn't like someone telling him that he made a mistake, and Republicans know that. It's going to be a while before anyone has enough of their constituent complaints to actually take action. Meanwhile, Trump/Musk are going to break a lot more of the government.

Congress has already funded the national parks. The Republican in Congress are letting Musk destroy the government so that they can escape blame for canceling popular programs. Republican legislators will continue on their hands while waiting for further instructions from their god; until they fear the Republican base more than that Musk's millions will fund a primary challenger.

Maybe they did. Pure speculation -- maybe CSU was really happy to have him rebuild and strengthen the law school, but were leary of promoting him to lead the university -- maybe someone in state government warned them about hiring a strong Democrat as the leader of a state institution in a strongly partisan Republican state. A private school like BW wouldn't have that same issue.

So you're saying we need to run a streetcar to Scranton Peninsula -- sounds good to me!

I'm probably missing some pieces, but I am ok with the County continuing to contribute whatever they are now contributing from the sin taxes, etc. But no new money, no new county-owned-debt if the Browns want to move out of downtown. If Haslam can build Haslam-world and keep the parking fees, more power to him. But we cannot add to the County debt. (And certainly not on the City of Cleveland's dime!)

Ah, so if Cuyahoga County doesn't play ball, Brook Park can provide the bonds. 😁 I'm in favor! Good luck BP!

You missed KJP's analysis above that rail would actually save the state money. Plus, we already have more roads and bridges than we can afford to maintain. So if population growth is the standard, we should be downgrading rural roads to gravel to make them easier to maintain and put a moratorium on any new construction. I don't expect any of that to happen. Just more potholes and whinging about potholes.

Traffic actually slows (the throughput increases but the speed decreases not as many cars have to come to a complete stop and those that do usually can go again quickly) -- this is a huge benefit for pedestrians. Roundabouts do not inherently increase pedestrian pathways. If done well, pedestrian pathways are not longer and are much more visible and safer. Roundabouts are not appropriate everywhere, however, something that bears repeating.

Namecalling isn't warranted here. Just because he wants a new challenge doesn't mean CSU didn't value him. Nor is the insinuation that he wasn't impactful at CSU. As Dean of the law school Lee Fischer has been a successful fundraiser while also raising the school's profile from 127th to 103rd in US News rankings, and increasing enrollment from 381 in 2017-2018 to 532 in 2024-2025. Consider the competition for law students and dollars in this region, with Case having a far higher reputation (around 80th in US News rankings) and Akron just down the road. Whatever his politics before he became Dean, he appears to have been a positive for CSU and their law school.

I did, but I do not have permission from the author to share them. Dogbone roundabout, with the long axis generally aligned with Coventry.

A similar design was proposed for Coventry-Fairmount in Cleveland Heights but the city shot it down. Glad to hear it works well!

Absolutely -- and that opportunity has nothing to do with instability at CSU.

Does anyone have a citation to how much it cost to build the Cedar-Lee garage? And what is the annual maintenance cost? (And for the garage at Coventry)

I suppose you might have a point. But the law school has been a success -- growing its ranks and pulling in significant donations. One of the bright spots for our urban university.

Wait for it...

The lack of any design standards also can allow developers to build to the lowest-cost-to-construct, without any requirements about how the buildings look. Why force developers to spend money on ornamentation or make them consider the design choices other people made in the neighborhood?

Big loss for CSU -- law school dean leaving for Presidency of Baldwin Wallace: https://www.cleveland.com/business/2025/02/baldwin-wallace-university-appoints-former-lieutenant-governor-as-president.html

@KJP -- What is the timeline for complete closing of the old library building (and what is your estimate for when demolition begins)?

DeWine proposed doubling the tax on gambling companies, which theoretically increases the available dollars, so maybe nothing that gets money now will be shortchanged. But this is DeWine's proposal, and the legislature doesn't often follow DeWine's budget proposals that closely. There already seems to be a lot of skepticism about increasing any taxes.

By the time they are ready to start service (in 2031-2033?) I'm sure Musk's Hyperloop will be just over the horizon.... But seriously, the voters approved bonds for this project in 2008 and service might not happen until 2033. 25 years. 461 miles -- Ohio's 3C's is around 270 miles, so it should take us about 60% of the time? Maybe 50% because we have more existing track? So high speed rail in Ohio 12-15 years after the project is approved by the Ohio legislature/voters. And we're what, ten years from that happening? Depressing.

That suggests it needs reform, not necessarily elimination. What was the original reason for the consent decree? What conditions have changed such that the consent degree is not longer needed in any way? We've abandoned reason, just eliminating things that "the other party" did, "because."

"Let the police beat the black people again!" ??

I don't see it. The monopoly already in existence in rural areas will continue without change. And in urban areas we'll probably see some competition as school districts compare notes. And private companies will continue to offer different/better services to those with the means. IF fewer people are getting their driver's license without ever taking a driver's ed course, that's a good thing. (In fact, I think at least a half-day refresher course every 10 years would be a reasonable and valuable requirement as well.)

Odd, so have I -- without my car. But it's been a few years, maybe they've changed the rules.