DaninDC

If you're interested in historic preservation as a career, it helps to have a background in a related field. Get an undergraduate degree in architecture, engineering, or planning, and then go for a Master's in historic preservation. Heck, for what it's worth, I consider myself a preservationist, as I tend to work on mostly rehab and renovation projects. I don't have a degree in historic preservation, though--just a lousy BS in engineering, and a strong interest in preservation. You can find a job if you're looking in the right places. If you want to stay in Ohio after school, your prospects might be dimmer than if you were to move to an East Coast city. Then again, I know someone who works for the West Virginia DOT, identifying historical properties that may be impacted by roadwork. It all depends on what you want to do career-wise.

I have full confidence in the State of Ohio to piss away all the money. Call me a cynic, but as it stands now, the state government just sees a cash cow. Now, if they actually define a *need* for this money, e.g. to construct the Ohio Hub Plan, that would be different. Seeing some of idiot Blackwell's ideas for spending this money, though, I'm convinced there aren't too many fiscally bright people running around Columbus.

^^^Not to mention the stupidity of getting a one-time cash windfall while tying up a public resource in an extremely long lease. It's like taking out a home equity loan to pay for steak dinner every night.

willyboy, the key is to get to Melt at an odd hour for lunch--like 2:00. Where in DC do ya live??? You know there are a ton of Cleveland expats inside the Beltway....

Alright, so I went to Melt on December 20. Polack that I am, I opted for the "Parmageddon" sandwich: potato-and-cheese pierogi, sauteed onion, homemade green napa kraut, and American cheese on Texas toast. Damn good, especially since I could only eat half the sandwich! Not a bad deal for nine bucks. Almost as good was the beer selection. The crappy taps were Guinness, Stella Artois, and Blue Moon. Had me a Bell's Hopslam and a Dogfish 60 Min. IPA and called it a day. Wonderful neighborhood place! I highly encourage any beer-and-sandwich conoisseurs to give it a go.

You mean, like North Campus??? I'm a big fan of the U-M's architecture. The Kahn stuff is priceless!

Unfortunately. It would be easier to take the train to EWR for a Europe-bound trip, instead of a 30 minute flight!

My point is, I think Continental would be amenable to future air/rail codesharing agreements since they already have one in place with Amtrak.

Funny you mention that, since *Continental* already does code shares with Amtrak from East Coast Cities (I believe Wilmington to New Haven) for flights out of its Newark hub.

I was half-joking, of course. I know there are bus stop shelters, although they seem to be a rare commodity. I suppose this is an opportune time for me to relate my experiences on RTA in the past week. As most of you reading this know, I'm a regular (read: transit-dependent) rider of a certain larger transit system in our nation's capital. I've been in town since Wednesday, and staying with my brother who lives near W110 and Detroit. I bought my $15 weekly bus pass at the Airport rapid station. Not a bad deal. I think I got my money's worth within two days. I do like the farecard system--boarding seems to go a LOT quicker than I remember when more people were paying cash. I like that the Rapid (well, the Red Line anyway) got its act together and requires pre-payment before reaching the platform. The Lakewood Circulator is a godsend. I think the concept is good--have smaller buses circulate through neighborhoods, and connect to longer line-haul routes, making the system accessible to more people. The downside of this is that some of the Circulator routes (like the 808 and 822) are way too long, and travel down some sparsely populated corridors. All in all, a good idea, and I think it could successfully be applied in other systems to boost bus and overall transit ridership. Segueing from my thought above, it's obvious that the rail system is not extensive enough. It should not take 1.5 hours to go from Cudell to a major shopping area within the same county (Crocker Park). If the 326 Detroit-Superior were a light-rail line, it could shave lots of time off its run, improving its efficiency and boosting its ridership. Signage is largely terrible. In areas of higher transit ridership, the route number is posted on the stop sign. For the most part, though, this seems to be an exception. I've seen countless bus stops where the route number isn't even posted. And schedules??? Would it be so difficult to post a schedule and a route map at stops, especially since some of the buses have long (40 min) headways? The last thing I'll hit upon is the much-maligned lack of TOD. This should be a no-brainer for RTA, so I really don't understand it. There is a lot of new development along Detroit in Lakewood, and the Chicle apartments near the West Blvd station should be a sign that the area around the Rapid station is ripe for development. So why the parking lot??? Rather than make FREE parking accommodations for perhaps a couple hundred riders a day, wouldn't it make more sense to sell or lease the parking lot to a developer, who could build residences, offices, and retail on the site, generating ridership and improving the neighborhood? This could be an additional revenue source for RTA, but I suppose it's too easy of a concept to grasp. sigh. I've had a generally good experience on RTA this past week. The system could use a little work, but it seems to work well in densely-populated neighborhoods. I just wish the honchos downtown were a little more progressive and realized that with just a little more effort, their system could be even better, and help revitalize the city more than any stadium or big box mall ever could.

I regret that I wasn't able to meet up with you folks on Saturday. My family decided to have Christmas dinner on the 23rd instead of Christmas day. If anyone is available Thursday or Friday, I'd be open to grabbing lunch or a beer, as long as it's transit-accessible!

^^^Bus stop structures? Most RTA bus stops seem to be a sign on a post that says simply "RTA". Where are these structure things of which you speak?

I'll be at Kindler's tomorrow, then. Who's with me? I know that most of the buildings slated for demolition are not fantastic. Some of them probably need to go. Cleveland doesn't have the most illustrious history with preservation, though, and often times, things have a habit of getting demolished with the only new construction being a parking lot. Frankly, I fear the homogenization of downtown, which is not an unrealistic possibility.

Well, ideally, it would have been much better to utilize the track through the Dequindre Cut east of I-375 that led directly the the Renaissance Center (GM World Headquarters). But, someone decided it was okay to let GM demolish the track stub to build more parking lots.

Are the brick structures going to be demo'd? If so, that's just sad. Do you have any shots of the Old River Road buildings from the street? I can't say I remember what the fronts look like.

Fair 'nuff, MayDay. In my own defense, I couldn't find the East Bank thread....

I don't think you can isolate the Wolstein project from the Stark project. I know most of those buildings aren't the greatest, but it seems like demolition is always a foregone conclusion, unless the City holds up a hoop through which to jump. Blinker's characterization of the structures as "sleazy vacant bars" uses three terms that refer to USES of the structure, and not the buildings themselves. If they were to be renovated and reused, all three of those terms could change, but the structure, and the character they lend to the neighborhood, would remain the same. Think about it this way--what if someone went through the WHD in the early 1980s and said, "Tear this all down. These are just sleazy vacant warehouses."? If downtown (and the rest of the city) are going to progress, preservation needs to become the norm, not the exception. Not that every building is worth saving, but not every building is justified in being demolished, either.

IMO, it's about damned time that someone in city leadership has a vision! Commuter rail to the collar counties (and beyond), followed by a more extensive light rail network (one can hope, right?) would enable the city to build on some of those parking lots downtown.

Thanks for all the Ann Arbor photos. Makes me miss the old stomping grounds! I have to ask, though--what is all that white shit on the ground???

"Shopping Center District"??? That doesn't sound too promising!

Of course, what Joe C seems to overlook is that RTA collects tax dollars only from Cuyahoga County, whereas for this project, Lorain County would be expected to contribute. The "woe is us" attitude at RTA is really getting old. How do they expect to improve anything if they spend all their time feeling sorry for themselves?

My eyes nearly exploded reading this. If this woman thinks urban environments are usually all about cars, she hasn't been in a true urban environment. How far our cities have fallen to the glories of the automobile!

I'm under that impression as well. When I try to hail a cab on the street, I tend to get nothing but confused looks from the drivers.

Uncle Rando, you took the vomit, er words, right out of my mouth! Damn, I miss Xochimilco's. Especially the chips hot out of the oven! Back when the a USD was good for 1.5CDN, we would head there on Tuesdays, when Xochi's took Canadian money at par. Fridays, they had took Canadian money at par on booze. Or was it the other way around? Many a good night has started there, even if we couldn't remember it!

This is pretty much how France pays for SNCF, including all those wonderful TGV lines. No, but E-Z Pass does a TON for congestion at toll plazas. Other states that have adopted E-Z Pass are Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and now Virginia. It's nice to be able to sail through the toll plaza while everyone else has to wait in an interminable line--especially trying to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on a summer weekend! If Virginia proceeds with their plan of making I-95 and a portion of the Capital Beltway into High Occupancy Toll roads, E-Z Pass is going to be the sole collection technology used.