metrocity

Hey DAVEINCINTI...you are right! You would not personally benefit from it. Question for you though, do you ever fly into O'Hare and use the blue line to get Downtown? Yeah? Awesome, could let the feds and the FTA know that you would personally benefit if they sent us the millions of dollars here in Chicago that Cincy will give back to do upgrades on the Blue Line..it could sure use it!! We are already enjoying the millions that Kasich gave back for 3C..the high speed upgrade to Amtrak CHI to STL is becoming a reality now! We love it when Ohio forfeits money so we can upgrade our infrastructure instead!!!!

If I see one more post on FB about something that "will melt your heart", my heart is going freeze

I like Peter B, and I think that he loved Cleveland and only wanted the best for the region and the city. He understood the value and impact of a higher degree of standards, design, art, architecture, urban planning and pushing boundries. Traits that define a lot of people on UrbanOhio. He was the Archetype of the Cleveland Heights (Shaker..etc) old school liberal east side. He and the people like him are why we love the region and why the region is different from the rest of Ohio (and most of the country). Now that he is gone, we must remember that he kept the business (and grew it) in the CLE metro area. I'd be less surpised to see Progressive getting "poached away" now by another city than it being announced that now they are going to finally build in downtown Cleveland since he is gone. As long as he was alive, I don't think the company would have moved away..now not so much. I think the likelihood of a new Downtown Cleveland HQ would be more plausible in the future if he was still around to have a say in in the matter, than if he was not.

I went to Mauerpark (Prenzlauer berg) in Berlin for the Sunday Flea Market and Karaoke show and it was hipster, but didn't seem like rich kids. The flea market was a lot of junk mostly and some good ethnic food, and the Karaoke show was cool...there must have been close to a thousand people there watching, and people selling cheap beer and drugs. The outdoor Karaoke show seemed like a good idea, I'm surprised more places don't try it(or maybe they do and I don't know). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauerpark

Great pics of an interesting city! St Louis is such a cool city...but it always feels like it is a Cincinnati or Pittsburgh, but somehow got a ton of urban renewal money in the 60's that no other city got, and tried to make itself into a Corbusier "future city". With Pruitt Igoe, and all of the crazy double decker freeways and weird green space downtown..was any other peer city ruined by urban renewal as much as STL? Chicago doesn't even have that kind of overzealous urban renewal. It always just seems strange to me for a city of that size to have urban renewal projects that are more the scope of a big city like NYC or Chicago. That said, I do love some STL.

^^That looks great, and seems to just fit in like it was always there in Cincinnati

Great pics, but are those people in the first pic supposed to be protesting for or against it??

^I was thinking the same thing, 800sqft is a decent size one bedroom apartment. Micro would be more like 300-400sqft studio.

When will they have a GPS based arrival system that can be accessed from a smart phone to see when the next bus is coming? It's a game changer when relying on bus travel. Tight Urban bus routes suck..they get stuck by a wheelchair getting on, or a bike rider that doesn't know how to secure the bike, or a tourist asking questions, or a rider disputing payment, or a car wreck, or an RTA employee not showing up at shift change, or an ambulance/fire truck, or an old person that needs to sit down..or all of the above for one driver/route...etc. The delays are not usually the fault of the RTA or the driver...its the nature of the beast. I have sat on buses that miss 2 or 3 light changes due to the things mentioned above. An RTA manager is not delaying things at the beginning of the route and then sending out 3 back to back buses..and laughing.

^Probably a good idea, since a lot of the banter in the thread actually sounds like the old people that are wanting the streetcar killed in Cincy.."I don't like it, it needs to stop". The thread is trending very anti-urban actually IMO.

^Here is a link to the story: http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20131107/lakeview/owner-of-spin-wants-raise-buildings-across-from-chateau-six-stories This is very good news. The owner of these properties did a nice job seamlessly integrating the building next door to Spin(belmont and Halsted) into part of the nightclub expansion. I have no doubt he'd do a nice job here. The Hotel Chateau SRO (across the street) has been a blight for a long time, and since I own in Buena Park, this is the bridge that fills in the gap between North Lakeview and South Uptown (Buena Park) along Broadway. The Hotel Chateau rehab is what is driving this investment. Now if only we could get Thorek crap-ass Hospital to stop buying up property and tearing down everything around the Sheridan Red Line at Irving Park and Sheridan/Broadway!! Hate that hospital..they recently bought this: http://www.uptownupdate.com/2013/09/nicks-uptown-to-close-its-doors-bought.html They have bought and torn down most of the properties on the block and left them as weed filled empty lots or turned them into parking, including an historic 3 story walk up condo that was gut rehabbed only a few years ago. The Alderman is trying to Landmark Nicks Uptown building from the link to keep them from turning it into another empty lot.

Also, feel free to PM me with any questions, I have been living here for a while, and travel around the city a lot. I wish I had known someone more familiar with the city before I moved here because it helps. I lived in Shaker Square, Ohio City and N Collinwood when I was at CSU before I moved to Chicago, and had a car then but used GCRTA a lot as well.

The area right along Bryn Mawr Ave is not interesting looking at all right near the freeway...but just south of that is tidy 1950's neighborhoods and there are sidewalks everywhere, even though it's not "cute" walkable like a real city neighborhood since the streets are wide, but it's walkable infrastructure is there. I used to work in Triangle Plaza office buildings you see right by the freeway. A girl I worked with liked to walk at lunch, and we would go to the Jewel-Osco at Lawrence and Cumberland often and pick up lunch walking down side streets. Took about 10 minutes to walk down there. The area is borderline city/suburb 1950's bungalows so it was all still built to be walkable. It's also italian/polish/russian...so there are some good local restuarants and groceries. Like I said, you can even go to that mall which has sidewalks all around it. The mall, Harlem/Irving Plaza (HIP as its called locally) was built as one of several planned malls on the border of Chicago in the 60's to try and curtail sprawl and stop the city losing out to retail in the suburbs. It is one of the last ones still viable (Ford City is ghetto and Brickyard was torn down and made into a strip mall). The parking is mostly on the roof...it's not a typical style suburban mall but has the typical stores. It's not super cool or anything, but as an alternative to Arlington Heights or Palatine...I'd much rather live in the city even if it's fringe 1950's. You still have access to the 24 hr blue line into the city or O'Hare..which is the key. Living near Metra is good...but you are stuck to the less frequent schedules and limited stops in the city before the west loop. There are probably no cool bars or anything...but you might find a friendly neighborhood hangout, and you could be at the Damen (Bucktown/Wicker park) stop in about 20 minutes off the blue line. Also on the blue line, get off at Addison, and you are about a 20 minute ride on the bus to Wrigley Field and Wrigleyville/Boystown. Get off at Belmont..same thing except Belmont is an all night bus and Addison is not if you stay out late. There is also the Logan Square stop, which is the new spillover cool neighborhood of people priced out of Bucktown. Also, if you get off and take the bus at Jefferson Park, the Lawrence Bus (which I think still runs all night) goes to the Uptown entertainment district where the Riveria and Aragon theatres are that have a lot of big name DJ and indie band performances. All that said, if the job you got is at Sears...or one of the other corp HQ's out in Hoffman/Schaumburg...hang in there. They are opening office space in the city, and maybe you can get transferred (Sears has people on State St above the store). I did it when I first moved to Chicago (the office I mentioned above) and it sucks. I worked for MCI for a year at that Triangle Plaza crap, and then transferred to 205 N Michigan Ave :-). Then you can move to a better place and ditch the car!

You might also check around the Cumberland Blue Line station. There's a row of shiny office buildings along the south side of I90 there, but behind them there are some large apartment complexes. They have "crash pads" in those complexes for airline employees(so there is some younger party types from all over the world). This area is in the city of Chicago, but on the border of Norridge which is a suburb. It doesn't look like it, but its actually pretty walkable, although its not cool. But there are grocery stores, restaurants and even a shopping mall (Harlem Irving Plaza) within walking distance/bike ride (3 miles) that has Kohl's, Target and Carson Pirie Scott. Being on the blue line you can easily get to Wicker Park or Downtown for fun without driving. It's actually less than 20 miles to Hoffman Estates from there. With no traffic it would be 20 minutes, but if you are commuting at peak times it will vary and could be an hour. The secret here is you don't need to use I90. Higgins road goes all the way and runs along the back lots of O'Hare and through a forest preserve so there is no traffic for most of it. There's probably even a way to use Pace bus to Hoffman...but I'm not sure. When traffic sucks here, it sucks. That said, when it doesn't it's fast. I live on the lakefront on the North side, and I have gotten to Ikea in Schaumburg in 30 minutes leaving my house around 10:30 AM on a weekday, or gotten to O'Hare for a 6:30 AM flight in a cab in 20 minutes. But that is off peak, but along that same Kennedy Expwy/I90 corridor. If your job in Hoffman is flexible, you could probably leave your house at 9am and be at your desk at 9:30...or at 6:30 AM and be at work by 7 AM.

You might check out Arlington Heights, I've heard they have a nice Downtown and Metra Station Closer to the city there is Park Ridge, or in the city there is Edison Park and Jefferson Park along 90 on the far NW side...and are all along the cta blue line which runs 24 hours to the airport and downtown.

^For sure! Even if I had an all day pass to begin with...turnstyles at E 9th had gates open, no staff. Ok so I guess we just walk on? Driver on WFL stops us to dip the card on the train. Swipe the card again to exit TC WFL, swipe again to enter Red. Exit OC station, no turnstyles at all. Board again at OC, no way to pay. Douple swipes again at TC. Then driver makes you dip it again aboard WFL to exit the train at E 9th. My companion was thouroughly perplexed...just told him to do whatever they ask, the system is weird. I'm familiar with the system somewhat (and have ridden systems all over the world), I feel sorry for out-of-towners that try to use it. It's a shame, because the actual ride was quick and easy...no long waits at any point at all, and trains were clean.

I agree it should be one line with a terminating signage on the car "tower City" or "North Harbor/Muni Lot" or whatever its called. Was in town last weekend staying at the Doubletree on Lakeside. Took the waterfront line to TC to switch to Red to WSM. Payment is confusing as hell...sorry RTA. No way to buy an all day pass at E 9th station. Paid $5 for 2 people on board..no change (I thought you paid when exiting at TC??). Was told no transfers. Got to TC, exited with whatever card the guy gave us. THEN had to buy an all day pass to get on the Red for another $10 total. Pay when you get on, pay when you get off, pay to get out of TC platform...its a mess. $15 total for a ride to and from the WSM from Doubletree Hotel Downtown for 2 people. We could have taken a cab and saved the hassle really. Not to mention, I got up to exit WFL on the way back at Browns Stadium...as we pulled up I said, no wait...sorry we need E 9th station. The driver was pissed and barked at me to sit back down. Then getting off at E 9th he told us we needed to cross over to the other platform for some reason (maybe he thought we were going back to TC even though I said nothing of the sort??). We were the only 2 people on the train btw, so its not like he had a million things going on. Honestly, if I knew someone going to Cleveland...I'd be embarrassed to tell them to try and use the rail system. It's confusing as hell to pay..expensive with no transfer, and the workers act as if you are a stupid tourist if you ask. The $5 all day pass is a good deal and easier...at least you can swipe it for all the weird times you are stopped for payment exiting and entering stations and trains. But useless if you board where one cannot be bought as we did.

Nice set of pics! One of the great urban neighborhoods of the US...how is that suburban McDonalds and Taco Bell still around there on such prime land??? I have a Mexican immigrant friend that grew up a block from there in the 70's and 80's when the area was crappy...his Mom still kicks herself for selling that 3 flat in the early 80's and moving to Old Irving to get the kids out of the ghetto. Probably a million dollar or more building now.

I think its an awesome idea! Many national retailers will do pop-up-shops to test a market as well. I think that is part of the strategy of Topman/Topshop in Nordstrom stores in smaller markets (like Beachwood Place). Here is a shipping container pop up retail mall in London where you can see Lacoste, Vans and North Face as tenants: http://inhabitat.com/boxpark-londons-first-pop-up-shipping-container-mall-opens-in-shoreditch/

^FYI..Bond Court was a hotel...the building where the new Westin is going in was originally opened as the Bond Court Hotel. Bond Clothiers is a different company

CTA Redline..Michael Jackson straphanger express

The headboards on the beds in what looks like the hotel rooms is copied from, or at least inspired by the window wall that was wrecked by the county. Nice touch!

How about a mega-stripper-church...awesome! Seriously though, is Cleveland even in that market of mega churches...i think not really (unlike some of the other cities nearby). Unless maybe it was a franchise of Farrakhan's Chicago church...I guess I could see it. Ugh!

I lived on Arcade and 161st for a period in college in the early 90's, and Fanny's was great! The landlord wanted to unload that house really bad, and eventually did. Wonder if he regrets it now. Back then the city was really on top of inspections, and he got multiple fix up notices even though it was actually a pretty clean house. New wiring/breaker box, furnace and outside painting were some of the fixes I remember the city insisted on. It had that ubiquitous sagging upper front porch the Cleveland doubles are notoriuos for though and the city wanted it fixed too.

MCMC (Market Center Management Company) was the operator that wanted to do the defunct Nashville Med Mart and are based in Dallas? http://marketcentermanagement.com/