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Logically, it is an expense for an out-of-towner. However, a lot of residents also happen to eat at those restaurants. At least they are not trying to tax RTA tickets or new inner city apartments. MGD, When you were hanging around the Levin College last month, what were the opinions of the convention center? I thought I remember you saying that it was a topic of discussion.

Exactly.

MDG, There was an article in Crains this week about how a developer backed out of buying the Reserve Square apartment building because it had just been released that Cleveland was the poorest big city. There are many reasons why national chains will drag their feet before jumping on the downtown band wagon. Reputation is definitely one of them. I think that eventually we could handle two large book stores, but not now. Sometimes, I wish we could fast forward a decade and see what developments actually take place.

X, Those are great points. I would like to see a casino in Cleveland the dovetails with the new convention center. Cleveland needs to provide an incentive for conventions to come to the city and casinos are still rare enough to provide that incentive. While this would never happen, I would want the casino to be run by some quasi-governmental agency that collects all the profits and sends them to the city schools, economic development programs and arts programs.

So, are you saying that we ought to strip out higher educational institutions of money because it is a waste? And, c'mon, you know why places such as Florida are able to attract good workers. They can do so because of the weather and the coolness factor. It is the same reason why Boston and New York can attract great workers and still have some of the highest tax burdens in the country. Its not all about taxes. It if were, then places such as Sweden wouldn't have a better per capita income than we do. Its obvious that you have a fear of taxes. If you are going to develop a good policy, you can't start out with the presumption that taxes are bad per se. Its like taking vitamins--too much or too little will kill you.

Hey Locutus, Let's not revert to any childish debate tactics. That's immature and not the correct way to find the solution to a problem. I don't see what teachers' unions have to do with this topic. Also, if you are going to paint the world in black and white terms (left wingers), I seriously doubt that you will have the ability to clearly consider the different sides of arguments. Anyways, I don't think that you understand this topic. We need more money in the cutting-edge academic fields. Cleveland finally got a software engineer program this year. Did you know that Progressive just opened a 1,000 worker tech center in Colorado because they could not find workers with the right training in Cleveland? At any time, Progressive has about 300 open tech jobs in Cleveland. Our academic institutions need to better address today's business needs. I am glad that some schools are beginning to realize that, but the state could do a lot more good if it put money into such programs instead of into an overbuilt highway system that will only bleed future budgets. Do you realize how schools in other states spin off new companies because there is adequate support from the state to their research institutions. I don't think that building more highways is the answer to these problems.

Locutus, There are much better ways to spend our money than on additional highways. Our future as a state would be much brighter if we put more more into higher education.

So, would 73's path go through Toledo, Columbus and then exit through south east Ohio? Great, lets pave over more farmland. I am glad that Ohio is showing little interest.

I have a feeling that a lot of those surface lots on the East Bank will stay that way unless controlled by non-Jacobs entities. Jacobs' goal is to get a casino down there and he would need a lot of space to do that. I assume he would like to put it next to the Powerhouse.

I am not a fan of the new design. Looks very 60s-ish to me. But, if it brings more residential then I am all for it. Is anything happening at the site? Or will they wait till the present project is done until they begin the next phase?

Ewoops, I agree with you. I fear that this project has too much retail and commercial located in an area that is too far from Public Square. The giant parking lot would be a much better location. It would draw the office crowd and the residential crowd. I don't see folks wanting to walk down into and out of the Flats just to patronize the grocer and bookstore. We'll see. I'll take the project anyday, but I think that it is not optimally located. If there was more residential going into the Flats, I would feel better. But, I don't think that 300+ is enough for that area.

I think that Mayday said that the large chain bookstores thought that the Cleveland market is saturated. There are so many people in that area, it is ridiculous that there is not better retail nearby. It would do so well. My mother lives nearby and has to drive out to Crocker to find a Borders. Someone could do very well in that location.

I agree with you, KJP. It is imposing to look up and see a highway bridge blocking the view of the port and the lake from Wests 6th and 9th. I hope they lower it. As I am engineerically-challenged, I don't understand how it would be done.

This article confuses me. Is Intel giving something away for free to Cleveland?

Shifting the bridge would make the projection extremely expensive, am I wrong? Where will Route 2 begin to change its path through downtown? Will it stil be elevated through the WHD?

MGD, Corna, one of the two partners on Stonebridge project, is the dad of a kid who went to wildcat high during my years. It sounds great that there is such open dialogue amongst the west siders. Hopefully, they will continue building residential on that side of the river.

I saw an interesting blurb in the news today about the new sewer project. It says that we will be digging new tunnels and that we will have enough dirt to fill dump trucks that would form a chain from Cleveland to Seattle. Ronayne says that he hopes to use the dirt to fill in parts of the lake for the park extensions that were proposed by the new lakefront plan. The article didn't say that a deal was completed to use the dirt in such a fashion. Anyways, I am glad that there is hope for those plans.

I would assume that once some anchor tenants have signed on that we would hear some names. The fact that we haven't heard anything must mean that negotiations are ongoing. Of course the city and state money must be contingent on it happening. In order to show the potential tenants that it will happen, I am sure that the goverment must demonstrate first that they will put up the cash. All the articles seem optimistic, or, as if its a foregone conclusion that the project will happen. I'll believe it when I see it. That said, I do have my hopes up.

The tone has always seemed to be that it will get down. The city has agreed to fund it and the state has already given money. I wouldn't think that they would give cash to something that they doubted would happen. I wish that we would hear a timeframe for this project.

Here's another article on the house. Apparently, a lot of people are excited about the project. Fans abuzz over plan for 'Christmas Story' house Tuesday, April 05, 2005 Amanda Garrett Plain Dealer Reporter Brian Jones - who plans to turn the Tremont house used as a backdrop in "A Christmas Story" into a museum - says he has been overwhelmed by the response to his idea. Since The Plain Dealer revealed his dream a week ago, nearly 150 newspapers and television stations across the country have picked up the story.

Here's another article on the project. Kind of a long read that is short on details.. A Second Chance Learning from past mistakes, developers and the city of Cleveland are working to revive the Flats. Sara Lepro [email protected] Rustom Khouri bought his first piece of property in the Flats in 1986. He was one of many developers at the forefront of revitalizing the historically industrial site into an entertainment district. "We believed it would have a national draw," says Khouri, president and CEO of Carnegie Management Group, a Westlake-based commercial real estate development company that owns property on the East Bank. "For a long time, that was the case." During its heyday of the 1980s and 1990s, the Flats pulsated with bars, nightclubs and restaurants dotting both banks of the Cuyahoga River. More at www.inside-business.com

Is it just me or is this an ugly design?

i love it.

I am not sure if the developer wants to do anything. The article, I feel, is a bit misleading. Yes, he is a developer with completed and active projects in the city. But, I don't think that the garage was part of a project. He was renting it from the city and simply wanted to continue doing so. The fact that he is a developer may lead us to think that he was going to develop the site, but I don't think that is the case. Otherwise, I would be as friendly to developers as possible in this town. I am fearful for the political decisions that will be made this year taking into account the fact that the city council president is challenging the mayor for that job. Things could get ugly. I just hope these people care more about Cleveland than they do about being mayor of Cleveland.

I hate the "we can't do it in here in Cleveland" mindset, but we can't dream as if we have all the money in the world. Could we have afforded to pay for rail instead of brt? There is a large chunk of state and city money that has to go into the project. Seattle is in a different economic situation than we are and can tackle projects that Cleveland can't. That said, I wonder what it takes to get transit done in a town like Cleveland. We have all these nice threads about what we would do. I would like to think more about what we can do, and how we can do it. What does it take? I have no experience in government and planning. What needs to happen for improved transit in Cleveland? We are not in the situation of "build it and they will come." We would need other efforts to help make the transit project a success. I am curious as to what is being done along Euclid to help spur development after the Silver line opens. I am not against BRT if it works and drives development.