metrocity

Nice thread, seems that Buffalo could rise to the top as THE comeback rust belt city since its actually in a state that is progressive socially. It has a leg up over cities in PA, OH, MI and even IL in that realm. And a close international border with Canada. It makes sense on paper at least. Thought the exact same thing! I saw that and thought of the long lines building.

I'd have to say from visiting quite a few times for business and pleasure, it's really not. A Beautiful and great city, but people are generally not outgoing or friendly...including hotel staff, waitstaff and bartenders. It just seems conservative all around...socially, politically, and fashion-wise. That is the experience I have had and I am pretty outgoing, and I love Cincy! Kind of reminds me of Londoners...polite and courteous (never rude or mean), but don't want to be bothered.

I too love that blue plaid suit, I just wish I could see what shoes he's wearing too!

Amazing photo Mayday, it's cleaning up nicely!

From the photo above from Michelle's tweet, the building looks great! One question, does the wayfinding sign in the right lower corner identify the area as "civic center"? I've never noticed that designation before, and don't see how it fits that particular area quite honestly...if that's what it says. :wtf: Civic Center to me implies public use...like the Burnham mall area. I thought E 9th was the Financial District.

Cool post!

Thanks Mayday, this is a wonderful set of pics. I always take out of towners through this area (or send them through if they ask what to do), and it is looking much better taken care of these days. Your favorite bridge is also a fav of mine, and it looks like it has been fixed up. There was a point when is was starting to look really dilapidated. Also, when I lived in Shaker Square in the early 90's, I would drive this route to some friends house in Waterloo/ N Collinwood and they (as lifelong Clevelanders) warned me that people would roll tires down the hills onto MLK late at night to stop cars and rob them. Don't know how much of that is true but I never saw anything of the sort. Apparently, it also used to be very dark and street lights were added to be be only 10-20 feet apart to brighten it up and curb criminal activity. http://tricvoice.medianewsonline.com/?p=209 As far as being just a thoroughfare for traffic from I90 to UC, it was actually calmed in the late 80's or early 90's..it used to be much worse. The striping was changed around then to reduce it from 4 lanes to 2 (maybe this coincided with the added lighting fix up?). That's why you see the wide shoulders and the weird double, double yellow line. It might be a nice idea to just shut it down completely to autos during this fest...or even do that one Sunday a month during the Spring to Fall to get more people down there on bikes and walking.

Fountain Square and it's surroundings (from an outsider)

Best part of the article IMO Pride of Glenville Marching band will step out in March on Washington annivesary event CLEVELAND, Ohio - A drum line of community spirit will set the beat in the nation’s capital Saturday morning as the Pride of Glenville Marching Band joins activities marking the 50th anniversary of the civil rights March on Washington in 1963. “What a wonderful opportunity this is to be there and join in this historic march. All I can say is WOW!” said Pastor Andrew D. Clark Sr., of Trinity Outreach Ministries Church of God in Cleveland, who founded the band last year..... http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/08/pride_of_glenville_marching_ba.html#incart_river_default#incart_hbx#incart_best-of

The name change of an entire neighborhood is probably relevant to this thread (as a development), since the actual name of the thread would need to be changed to reflect the new neighborhood name...therefore relevant? People have opinions about the name change, but should we really make another thread to discuss it? So be it, if that is the case...but it seems to me like it fits here without another fragmented thread.

^agree...that was why I made the original comment, its a bad way of development.

Why not just shorten it to "Shoreway", (assuming they consider the "Detroit" reference undesireable) and leave Gordon Square as a sub neighborhood within. I like the reference to the lakefront shoreline as a neighborhood and makes it sound desireable. Shaker Square is a sub neighborhood, the actual neighborhood is called Buckeye/Shaker. West Park is a sub neighborhood of Kamms Corners, Nottingham of North Collinwood....etc. Wrigleyville is actually a sub neighborhood within Lakeview.

Well, you can scratch Rugby off the list, The stores have all been closed and the website redirects to Ralph Lauren site...which I never really liked. Even though they are both RL, the cut doesn't seem the same. I do like the Goodale Tailored Slim Selvedge Raw Denim available on Jack Threads...I have them in a few colors and the price is good. Other than that, my shopping habits have been curtailed due to temporary joblessness, so I don't have any other current tips :| Summer is almost over, I guess it's time to look for a job :cry: But if I think of anything else...I'll let you know

From the article: I peered in the lobby a few years ago, and the furniture looked cool...maybe even original. I hope they don't toss things that might be of value....wouldn't be surprised if the stuff was Florence Knoll or Herman Miller (or similar). It was also pretty amazing that the street lobby doors and windows looked original and custom.

^I thought the same thing...and what a great name for a bar! I know, Detroit seems to overshadow Lorain...but Detroit runs near the lakefront neighborhoods, so it makes sense. The I90 break on Lorain also does a ton of damage on making it a true contiguous great urban street, which sucks since it is mostly intact otherwise. Is the Lorain antiques store the one that used to be "Suite Lorain"?? Also, I was looking if you had a pic of "antiques in the bank" at Fulton and Lorain...googled it and see that its actually a 5/3 Bank now!

That seems to be happening a lot all over around where I live...perfectly decent looking old (stamped) concrete curb cuts/ramps getting ripped up and replaced. The new ones have those bumpy blue or pink inserts that deteriorate really fast...within a couple of years and become loose. I just figured it was the feds guidelines and they were paying for it...seems wasteful. Especially since those inserts just seem to rot away fast.

I have seen this a lot out west in newer areas in places like CA and NV...wide arterial roads lined with tricked up sound walls and landscaping that hide the subdivisions along the route.

Awesome set once again Mayday, nice job! Agreed, the tree cover is astounding...in so many of those shots, if it weren't for the occasional tall building landmark, like MetroHealth (etc), you wouldn't even know there were blocks and blocks of city neighborhoods under that dense canopy of trees! Forest City indeed! The one of the Lakewood Gold coast is probably the best example...it looks like an oasis of tall buildings on a lake with a forest behind them. The population of people that actually lives within that photo is easily a million and a half or more considering how far off the horizon is.

I was thinking the same thing...maybe it shows that there are still people in these forgotten Cleveland neighborhoods that care, and get involved. In larger US coastal metros and border states, there are probably a lot more cases of missing persons and undocumented people in dire circumstances such as the situations uncovered in Cleveland...that go unreported or are swept under the rug. Another positive is maybe the Cleveland Police Dept has learned to take reports of suspicious activity more seriously as a result of these recent crimes.

Looks like something that would have happened on an episode of WKRP...a PR stunt gone awry.

The future look of Cleveland's OC? Courtesy of Opportunity Parkway, just south of Downtown Akron. This is kinda what I picture Cleveland will end up with. Take a walk down it on google maps:

I agree with MTS, I consider a cross town high speed traffic arterial a highway. I consider a limited access road a freeway or expressway. They are rarely ped/bike friendly unless done really well. Even when lined with residential and retail it is a hostile environment meant to just move cars. Clifton sucks and even with medians (which will help) I still don't think it will be a great street for peds or bikes (or elderly/handicapped folks to cross). I consider Carnegie a cross-town highway. I think of Ashland Ave or Western Ave here in Chicago...pretty much 50 mph traffic speeding up to the next stop light. Don't dare cross where there is no traffic signal, and both have medians that were put in to calm them. They both serve as cross-town highways because there is no freeway. I can think of examples of highways in Ohio that have medians and cross streets/lights...Rt21 That splits from I77 in Fairlawn into Stark County, Parts of Rt30 across the state, Rt8 from Northfield to Cuyahoga falls, Rt 2 along the lake between Sandusky/Toledo. Even though those are more rural, I don't think there is much of difference if its rural or urban, the design is a highway. One of the few examples I can think of where this type of street in an urban setting was actually planned well and works is Paseo De Reforma in Mexico City, and the Champs-Elysees in Paris. That's pretty much it off the top of my head.

Interesting, I didn't know it was that big. Thanks for the tour. I went to Aurora recently for my friends art gallery opening and was surprised how big that was too. Some of these far flung suburbs used to be actual self sustaining small cities at one point in history before they became part of Chicagoland suburban sprawl. I had no idea.

Visualizing How Poorly Amtrak's Route Network Serves Most of the U.S. http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/02/visualizing-how-poorly-amtraks-route-network-serves-most-us/4620/ Other states suffer from a similar routing problem. Ohio, though crossed by regional routes on its northern and southern borders, has no train at all connecting the state's major cities. It has one-fifth the passenger train traffic of neighboring Michigan Looking at this positively, the juxtaposition indicates some areas (Ohio, Texas) ripe for additional rail travel. It also makes it clear why the Obama administration has tried to garner support for a high-speed rail proposal in Florida, whose population density ought to make it the East Coast mirror of the Seattle-Portland line. In the future, the Atlanta-Raleigh corridor could be another potential target. And then there are cities like Houston or Cincinnati that have train stations, but are stuck with second-rate service and third-rate connections.

^Bought it