gottaplan

This Cavs/Bulls series has been really fun to watch - as a Cavs fan, I hope they wrap it up tonight but the skeptic in me says there's no way the NBA allows the series to finish short of 7 games. It's been the most highly watched series so far of the playoffs, by far. There's been plenty of questionable calls & non calls too. Coach Blatt calling a Time Out that he didn't have the other night would have lost that game. The ref looked right at him & didn't blow the whistle

Agreed. But the way Cleveland Council works, or rather the way some of them work the system, they are basically "mayors" for their own wards - in charge of policing, code enforcement, new construction, housing, school projects, streets, etc. Some people are proactive and it shows. Others are not and it shows. Of course there's much more to this - Cleveland and the Mayor's office have decided many years ago to put more focus and money into certain neighborhoods to strengthen and promote them. Regardless, for those who take the job seriously, it's a lot of work. Those who sit back and let the City manage their wards don't have much to show for it. I think having Martin Sweeney out as head of Council was a good move. Of course he wasn't' going to go until he had his next job lined up in government. He's now State Representative.

interesting tidbit buried within that article: " Columbus is one of the largest U.S. cities in which no council members represent wards or other geographic districts? (Austin is the largest city with all council members serving at-large.) Would wards lead to more community-based candidates and competitive races? Would they lead to more voter engagement?"

I heard they were over 50% leased back in January. I work in FEB and see the leasing team giving tours all the time

The problem with the May Company building is that the floor plates are so big, they were built for a department store and offices, it doesn't lay out well at all for residential. I can't imagine building units without a window access so pushing the hallway in to maximize space makes the units really long & awkward.

Good correction, I should know the difference! EYC is rocky river

cool picture. So they still haven't torn down any of those old shipping/receiving buildings where 73rd meets Caruso? Anyone know if the ambulance place is still for sale for like $1 million or whatever they were asking? The new Edgewater Yacht Club docks sure look nice from that angle... Looks like a lot of clearing at the NRP site for Breakwater Bluffs already

I think the cost of new construction is a lot to overcome in Cleveland, rents would really have to keep climbing (increased demand). I can't see it climbing enough to justify tearing down relatively new construction to rebuild again. There will be a new office building built to the north of the E&Y tower hopefully this year finishing in 2016 but it will be lower, only about 6 stories, with parking underneath. I don't see a whole lot more office at FEB after that. And at that point I see Fairmount probably packaging those fully leased office buildings and selling them on the market and taking their profits to go do another deal elsewhere

Because they'd need to build more parking structures then. Hell, they need to build more now already. The lots are full every day

the single story free standing buildings are wood framed, not concrete & steel. Much lower cost of construction and lower rents. You can't have it all. It's Cleveland. I think the roundabout is perfect. An intersection there would be a waste

I ran into Foo Fighters today south of Cleveland at a Get Go. Could not have been nicer

No but it's so counter-intuitive to have a main on/off ramp from the Shoreway that cuts through an established dense/growing neighborhood. It just doesn't work

We recognized that as a problem years ago. Councilman Zone promised some improvements to 73rd to try & calm the traffic but short of traffic cameras I don't think it will help much.

how's the mud on the roads been this season from all the trucking? Last year it was a mess...

I had a friend that lived on 3rd floor above east 4th. Like anything, living next to trains or whatever, you get used to it. I think the parking situation was a hassle. Having guests over, they had to pay to park all the time. Parking in those old underground downtown garages can be a drag if you're much of a car fanatic

I agree but keep in mind, Cleveland's waterfront has a history of heavy industry. Going away from that is much more difficult than in places like you mentioned

I think it's a stretch to compare violent youths in Cleveland to poor violent kids in Brazil. The kids in Cleveland appear to be doing it for a thrill, evidenced by recording it on their cell phones. The kids in Brazil are probably stealing just to get a meal. They can't imagine having a phone to record the violence on...

something really wrong with a group of people that assault a random person for the hell of it

Look in west park, some solid neighborhoods where you can rent a house and garage for your tools for that price

The requirement to build outside of Dayton was probably driven by space requirements, plain & simple. If it was huge, it's probably not even practical to be close to the city center. Warehouses don't typically employ that many people anyhow. More & more going to automated racking systems with a handful of forklift operators

No, you have more access to highways. Draw concentric circles 2-5 miles around any site in Cleveland and odds are you'll hit a highway with your circle. BTW, you sound like Greyhound. They want to put their terminals close to highways so they can get on/off the roads more quickly and save fuel. But their ridership doesn't live out by the highway. If you want to build a factory far from labor and you aren't paying $15+ per hour, how do you expect prospective workers to afford driving to your workplace unless you or the government subsidizes their driving? 2 to 5 miles from a highway is an eternity

The thing is, industrial sprawl and residential sprawl have very different causes. The latter has, at most, a minor impact on the former, as does crime, traffic, etc. The overwhelming driving force for industrial sprawl is CERCLA. Few are inclined to risk inheriting liability for a defunct company’s buried mess. Is easier to build on a greenfield. Of course, cheaper & easier to build on greenfield. Faster too. Going through the steps of a full blown EPA cleanup can take years. Assuming Cleveland tackled this themselves and had clean ready-to-build sites, they still wouldn't have the highway access that suburban locations do

That really is the million dollar question. In my line of work, dealing with real estate & construction, I see people constantly looking for properties for large scale distribution/manufacturing/research. Those spaces don't exist anywhere but out in the suburbs, close to highway interchanges. Building some in the city, assuming you used tax dollars to acquire the land, clean up the property, and develop it with necessary infrastructure, you still wouldn't have a very marketable property, because you'd be in the middle of the city, not near the highway connections for transportation. There's a reason why big parts of the east side of Cleveland are so dead. There's no highway access.

Not all of them are educated. I don't think Ken Johnson even graduated high school, maybe just has a GED... If you look at how many coucilmembers Cleveland has compared to the city population, it's a real stretch. Most other cities of similar size have about half as many representatives....

It's really sad that we have that sort of leadership representing our city. Reed made himself famous for getting three DUIs but continues keeping himself in the news with constant race baiting. How is commenting on the lack of diversity at a ribbon cutting helping any of the city's problems? Ditto for his dumb rant about lack of diversity on "60 Minutes". His ward has a million problems for him to focus on