gottaplan

I think Gardner has the physical size & arm strength to be a better QB than Robinson, but he throws an ugly ball. Something weird about his release. He doesn't have good touch either - seems like he either floats it or rifles it, little in between and often at the wrong time. Shazier & John Simon need to continue having big games. They both made some big plays against Wisconsin, forcing turnovers and tackles for loss. I think Denard will definitely be throwing. He's been throwing the ball in practice.

Time for the pregame analysis & predictions. I see both teams being relatively even. OSU has shown flashes of brilliance on both sides of the ball but has been terribly inconsistent as well and we all know the Big Ten competition is down this year. Michigan has improved steadily as the season went on and I think they're playing at their highest level. If Denard Robinson is healthy enough to play, at QB or wherever they put him, it could be a game changer. I think the matchup to watch will be OSU D-line vs Michigan's O-Line. If OSU can get pressure on the passing game & effectively shut down the running game, it'll force some turnovers. I'm confident OSU will generate some points one way or another, possibly enough to win. To me it's all about OSU's defense making enough plays.

$2.5 million salary to run a company the size of Hostess is nothing. These are pennies when you consider what the impact of 18,500 hourly workers' wages impact is. Figure a $0.50 cent/hr wage increase for employees across the board... x 52 weeks x 18,500 employees... and you're over $19 million.... Anyone want to restate what the union was asking for when they went on strike and compare that to the bottom line of $2 -$3 million in executive salaries? Even better question, everyone admits the company was mismanaged for years, maybe they should've hiked the executive salary years ago to bring in some better management???

i went into the manager's office at the Giant Eagle on 117th & pointed at the lines and gave him a piece of my mind. He called two clerks over & opened two extra lanes. The last few years they've slowly been replacing the checkout lanes with self-checkout lanes... sucks when it takes longer to check out than it does to do your shopping

Doh! I think it's impossible to comprehensively keep up with all the economy news, so I'm not going to try. I like this thread when people discuss broader issues and real, verifiable trends and stuff, Let me take a stab at this to get the conversation restarted... Americans, for the most part, have made sizeable gains in personal wealth through 401k's, IRA's, and other investments in the market, and in home equity gains. Those two sources have recovered somewhat since the crash, but not enough to really put people back to where they were. Maybe the housing bubble was something that never should've happened and Wall Street fatcats created it to benefit themselves, but reality is many a common man benefitted from it, whether they were a homeowner, a general contractor, or a mortgage/real estate agent. The housing market is recovering but so many people got swept up in mortgage loans and delinquency, it will still be several years before any of those people consider owning a home again or finding a bank to approve them. So while the housing market may be recovering, I don't think you'll see much increase in the rate of home ownership. Too many young people are staying in the rental market because they don't have the income or down payment to buy, or they don't want the long term commitment of being in one location for 5+ years. Much of the posts from ragerunner focus on what's happening on Wall Street, specifically large companies, hiring, laying off, posting profits, etc. While most of us could care less, these things are a barometer for what's happening in the big picture. The market is struggling right now and that does affect people's investments. If the market were to shoot up to 14,000 in the next 2 years, you'd see more people retiring, buying second homes, taking vacations, reinvesting in businesses, etc. That's a good thing. So its worth cheering for even if it means Bain Capital types also post record profits.

Great. Keep it up. I like reading good news.

Outside the speculations about a Heinens on the corner of Clifton/117th, what's the latest status of the existing buildings to be demo'd? Was a demolition permit approved? Any time frame for when that might start?

This blog is really more about nit-picking sources of information We've been through this. Some of you dislike the negative economic data presented by ragerunner, but can't or won't produce data indicating otherwise.

^agreed. The stuff at the goal line was tremendous though. With Monte Ball lined up needing inches to get a first or a TD, FBS record on the line, then he fumbles.... it was high drama. The game against Michigan next week will be interesting. Essentially nothing on the line except bragging rights. I'm not sure who has the better team at this point. I'm inclined to say OSU, but they've scraped by against some really average opponents. Basically got shut out the 2nd half of yesterday's game.

^you might be right about developing the southern portion of that lot, but I think that sewer relocation is going to affect the entire parcel. I could be wrong, just a guess from the rendering I saw on the ODOT site.

39 apartments are planned for the building at 1200 W. 76th, the old 4-story brick building which is mentioned in this thread, but technically not part of Battery Park. That building could begin in the spring as well. The other apartments which were planned were supposed to be located on the east side of 73rd, where the vacant parking lot sits. Not sure what's going on with that.

^there's more brick facade on this townhome building. I agree, it looks better than anything else thus far, but the cost per square foot will be higher too, probably $175/sf or more. The other buildings with the first floor block were designed by City Architecture. I wouldn't say the developer loved the look which is why the switch was made to go with Dimit on the latest phases. Dimit really has a great touch in higher end residential. I think this latest building is going to be a huge hit. Edit: on a side note, it's going to be very interesting to see how the rest of Battery Park plays out. With this latest townhome already generating presales, it could start construction as early as next spring. Once this lot gets built out, there are only a handful of lots left to build on. One is directly south of the Powerhouse, and has always been shown as a large loft style building. I don't see market forces aligning for that though, but I wonder how long it'll sit vacant before the developer decides more townhomes is the answer. The other lots are all north of Frascati near the rail road tracks, between 73rd & 74th. These lots can't be developed until the sewer line is relocated and the infamous Shoreway/73rd interchange project gets significantly completed which could be 3 years out or more.

From the quote above by Jennifer Bruner, some very valid points. One of which I'll never get over: "Prohibit someone with no ID from having their ballot counted." I'll never be convinced that someone should be allowed to vote without a form of govt issued photo ID. In this day & age, there's simply no reason for it. If you are a legal citizen, you should have it. If you don't, go get it.

that green sheathing is called Zip System, much better than standard plywood & Tyvek. Very nice upgrade for improved R-Value

Choice matters, whether it's choosing where to shop, where to live, or where to send your kids to school. no voucher, no choice, no incentive for schools to offer more. While some students at the bottom might be hurt by the voucher system, what about all the kids it would help? How many bright aspiring students are being held back by lack of choice for a better option than Cleveland public schools?

Here you go, taken Feb 12 209 by Zack Blackerby's Detroit, on Flickr 210 by Zack Blackerby's Detroit, on Flickr Jeezus, look how wide that road is. And not a car on it. That's what pi$$es me off when Cleveland gets lumped in with Detroit. Its been years since I lived in the D, but the two are really not comparable. The size and magnitude of Detroit when it was full, and the size and magnitude of the empty city are nowhere near Cleveland.

So much more to this than just face value. When GM was making profits in 2006 because it was selling large trucks and SUV's, even though they had roughly 100,000 too many employees, should they have started laying people off? What about when competitors launch new products, when current products become obsolete, when the market changes, even due to seasonal changes? What about when new technology changes the way a current product is made? Is it reasonable to think the company would be better off focusing resources on new emerging lines than old soon-to-be outdated lines, even if it's still profitable? Do you know how short current product lifecycles are for everything from televisions to cars?

For what it's worth, the real estate climate for developers and lenders is much improved over where it's been the last few years. That is such a high traffic corner, I have to remain optimistic that something of merit goes back there. Having said that, I'd love to see the Planning/Landmarks commission deny the demo permit until firm plans are in place for something else.

If you're doing plumbing or electrical work, you might need a permit. Each city building department clarifies what does & doesn't require a permit

Pieces of building material was blowing off the Flats East Bank project and landing all over the Shoreway

OMG you are high out of your mind. Oregon would beat up OSU by 50 at half. They score so fast our defense wouldn't know what happened. No way could our offense keep up. I think ND would smoke OSU as well. I haven't watched K-state yet. As for the comment about Urban Meyer having a full month to game plan, that may be true, but this isn't his team yet. He didn't draft any of these guys and for the most part it shows. Very few explosive playmakers on either side of the ball.

I'll say this much, I'm glad OSU isn't eligible for a bowl this year. The way the season is unfolding, they could very well finish undefeated and end up ranked in the top 6 or 8 teams in the nation which would guarantee a major bowl or BCS bowl. Either way, they'd be shredded by a PAC or SEC opponent in such a game and it would ruin my holiday season and have the pundits commenting in droves about how sad the Big Ten is.

^it's the smart move. Having 50,000 rowdy fans and hooligans that just come out to be part of the posse after a big late game win or loss can easily overwhelm the local police. Anyone remember the riots in the late 90's after the home Notre Dame game and a few others? I do... they were late games too.

I know for a fact OSU schedules noon games due to safety concerns. The amount of drunk driving, fighting, disorderly conduct, etc skyrockets when OSU has games past 4pm and fans have had a full 6-8 hours to pregame...

I smell an upset for OSU tonight. Night games in the Big Ten are brutal for visitors. OSU has barely scraped by the last two weeks against marginal opponents and Penn State has been improving every week