metrocity

Nicely put At least the PD has some insight from well informed intellectuals like Connie here...and apparently all you have to do is ask her... Deep thoughts...by Connie Frey

Come on now... "The Republican Party has been hijacked by the religious fanatics that, in my opinion, aren’t a whole lot different than Osama bin Laden and a lot of the other religious nuts around the world," I think if you correctly break the sentence down, the direct object of the comparision is the Religious fanatics. Don't make me start diagramming sentences up in here! "Religious fanatics aren’t a whole lot different than Osama bin Laden and a lot of the other religious nuts around the world,"

City - East = Black/West = White Suburban - East = Old Money/West = Nuevo Riche

If what you heard is true, that would certainly explain why Skidmore buildings in Cleveland are big yawners....I always wondered why. Penton Media and The Diamond Building are also SOM designed...and also nothing notable.

I forgot...the SOM designed National City Bank HQ is on the site of the Bond store.

I always liked this one...the Bond Dept store (1946 - 1978) on the corner of Euclid and E 9 in Cleveland. While I am sure that there are 100's more architecturally significant buildings that are gone in Cleveland, there is something very sexy and forward thinking about this one...to me it harkens back to a prosperous city going forward into the 1950's with a bold and positive attitude. And I just think it's cool.

Yeah...ok

Catch Ben Katchor on the inside back page of Metropolis Magazine each month. His stuff is great.

I guess I was thinking about what kind of corporate citizen Progressive is to the region...and I can't really think of much of anything that they have done/sponsored to improve the quality of life in the community that it resides. I am sure they have, it just doesn't seem that way. Compare that to Nationwide in Columbus...they seem to do a lot for that city. I agree with what PBL is saying about UC getting it together, there is no life around there. However UC is just a small part of an ailing city that needs investment from it's home grown corporate citizens too. It would be nice if an expansion of Progressive into the city was included as part of the mix...then I think he would be more justified in throwing stones at their glass house.

I said generally in my statement...so that would imply that I am indeed, generallizing. I have worked in both settings, and it may not be true in Cleveland, but ask anyone that has worked in both environments in larger cities and I would think they would tend to agree. In the city you generally find more single people that are more career oriented since they are not concentrating on kids and family. In this situation 'the single person' always seems to be the one that ends up working late/weekends while others need to get home to the spouse and kids. I saw an article/research on it recently somewhere...I'll try and dig it up when I have time.

That doesn't surprise me...sometimes it seems like these decisions are made solely by the whim of some old executive that does it for his own convenience. I had a friend that worked for Discover Card(once part of Sears) and said that Sears moved out of the Sears Tower for mainly that reason...all of the execs lived on the North Shore and didn't want to drive downtown anymore. On the positive side, the trend seems to be shifting and many companies are establishing both a Downtown and Suburban location in Chicago. It seems that the Suburban locations are having a hard time luring the talented go-getter's that generally tend to reside in the city. My friends and I get calls all of the time from recruiters talking up these great jobs available and 90% of the time they are in the suburbs. Thanks...but no thanks

Actually, save your money...if you pick up a few random mags....you'll notice that the bare chested trend is starting to go away. Apparently, women and gay men are suddenly finding that they like men that are a little more natural. I have never done it...but I have heard it itches like a bitch when it starts growing in....like 10 minutes after you have it done.

Oh yeah....like all that urban life and funky stuff around the Progressive HQ. Honestly, I am tired of his palaver as well. Why doesn't his company also 'collaborate' with Case and other institutions and move to Midtown from that suburban bunker in Mayfield???

Never heard of this....but it's a great quirky landmark and a great story. Keep Florence weird!

Don't get too excited...my sister in Indy says that Macy's has shopping carts in their stores there.

The Landings at Key Bank Commons

'Luxurious' or 'Deluxe' Condos....I don't think I have seen any development that is not described as one of these.

Err..the one I hate the most is "Crossings". It always seems to be used with a corresponding 'c' or 'k' word like Cranberry Crossings...or in a sentence like "The Mall at Tuttle Crossing" or "The Crossings at ...." Ugh, it makes me cross.

Make sure and get a pic of everyone standing on those weird ramps. As I recall there was no Elevator in the entire mall common areas, so they had these long winding ramps for wheelchairs. I think this pic is of the May Co Store at Randall...kind of odd round design. http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cgi-bin/pview.exe?CISOROOT=/press&CISOPTR=732&CISORESTMP=/qbuild/template1_comprehensive.html&CISOVIEWTMP=/qbuild/template2_comprehensive.html&CISOROWS=2&CISOCOLS=4

Plusquellic reminds me of Mayor Daly on a smaller scale.

This project is really exciting...thanks for all of the info! LOL, that's a great idea. There is a club in Montreal called 'Parking' that is built inside of an old parking garage. They kept the neon sign out front that said 'Parking' and pretty much walled it in and added a DJ booth....the structure still looks like a parking deck.

A couple of years ago I was in Cincy and found cab service to be very good. I stayed at a hotel in Covington on the river, and the hotel would call them and they would show up pretty fast. Also, most bouncers/door people at bars also were very accomodating when asked to call a cab. The cab drvers there all tend to be appalachian white guys, balding with pony tails driving whatever car they have with a cab light on top. One guy picked us up and we told him an address on 12th st(I think) (to a brewery we had seen in a guidebook). He told us it was a bad neighborhood and there was nothng to do there. We were perplexed and said we had seen it in a guidebook...but he insisted that it was the projects. Finally we said 'in Cincinnati' and he was like Ohhhh...I thougt you meant in Covington! We thought it was funny because we just assumed he would know we meant Downtown Cincy! The other experience was a guy that drove a wood paneled '80 Caprice Classic station wagon. We left a bar on Main and were heading back to the hotel. As we traveled down 5th st(I think) to the Freeway he told us how he had removed the 350V8 engine and replaced it with a 440V8(or something like that). He was very proud and proceeded to enter the freeway and cross the river on that double decked bridge doing about 90mph in this old rusted out wagon. The combination of beer drinking and the fumes from the car made it all seem surreal.

stats for all counties and cities in Ohio for the US census can be found here: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/39000.html I don't know if this qualifies as a core county, but Stark(Canton/Massillon) is below 10%....39,824; 20,417; 9.2% Cuyahoga - 39,168; 22,272; 13.1% Franklin - 42,734; 23,059; 11.6% Hamilton - 40,964; 24,053; 11.8% wealthiest in Ohio and both in the top 100 in the US.... Delaware - 67,258; 31,600; 3.8% Geauga - 60,200; 27,944; 4.6%

I could only find the 2000 census numbers by county: median per capita % living below poverty Summit - 42,304 22,842 9.9 Lucas - 38,004 20,518 13.9 Montgomery- 40,156 21,473 11.3 Mahoning - 35,248 18,818 12.5 And By city: Akron - 31,835 17,596 17.5 Toledo- 32,546 17,388 17.9 Dayton- 27,423 15,547 23.0 Youngstown- 24,201 13,293 24.8

Perception-wise...I would have to say Akron because it just doesn't seem to have the amount of bad news that seems to plague Toledo and Dayton lately. Sometimes it seems like T-Town is becoming a little Detroit with empty buildings downtown. As far as Akron being a suburb of Cleveland....talk to most people from Cleveland, Akron is on the other side of the world, not 28 miles away. Positive attributes include... fast growing Airport, polymer sciences, Kent and UofA, decent public schools, stable neighborhoods, new library and art musuem Downtown, Inventure Place, a strong Mayor, Soap Box Derby, PGA tour @ Firestone Country Club, Tangier's...etc. Successful re-use of high profile downtown historical buildings also contributes to that perception... O'Neils Dept Store = law firm HQ Polsky's Dept Store= UofA classrooms BF Goodrich World HQ = GO-JO HQ BFG Factory Buildings = Canal Place incubator space for small business Quaker Square = Hotel, Offices, Retail I think that is the new Summa Health Systems HQ.