gottaplan

^and they have basically written the book on regionalism and shared services (which keeps overall tax rate lower), and same level taxes across the MSA which allows both businesses & governing bodies to focus on the best overall location, rather than shop door to door for the best tax incentive....thus minimizing sprawl

jobs jobs jobs, it's all about jobs. Minneapolis/St Paul has a much worse climate but kicks Ohio's ass in terms of economic development. Ditto for Toronto & so many other cities. Ann Arbor is becoming a huge draw for its eds & meds, has same weather as Cleveland, worse weather than rest of Ohio. Attracting major (and minor) employers is really a simple formula: tax rate, infrastructure, proximity to customers/markets, and available skilled labor. Every state & city in America knows this though and it's a constant battle as businesses are constantly looking for the lowest overall cost to locate.

City of Cleveland should've gotten tough with the owners of the building much sooner. Located right in the center of the proposed casino welcome center and the location has been known since 2009? For that matter, Cleveland should've gotten tough with the owners of dozens of buildings around the city much sooner. Too many owners sit on properties, with no maintenance, as if they were simply a vacant lot. Waiting for something to trigger an increase in value. While I'm glad Cleveland is finally taking firm action to get the building maintained or sold to new owners, they action is long overdue. Being a "cash-strapped" owner of a building should not be an excuse to let it deteriorate so badly that it's essentially demolition by neglect.

definitely some missed calls that could've changed the direction/momentum of the game, but Miami came out focused & intense, OKC seemed loose & cold. Plenty of missed wide open shots from OKC. Battier was on fire last night and nobody saw that coming.

Just ignore the remarks if you are so easily offended. I was answering the question above about cost savings by using ODOT workers vs private contractors & how the savings is generated. And there is substantial savings by privatizing these services. That's why ODOT subcontracts mowing already and looking at doing more. It's almost always cheaper to bid these services out than to perform internally. You don't like my analysis, fine. Come to your own conclusions about why the savings exist, the result is the same. By the way, I've done all the things you've mentioned, planning, designing, estimating, managing jobs as well as working in the field running grading/paving/pipeline crews on an ODOT crew & working along side them as a private contractor. We can chat more offline

i don't agree with her stance, but she's representing the interests of her district, which is what they elected her to do

What efficiencies are gained by privatizing? A private company will need to turn a profit rather than break even. I find it hard to believe that a private company can get asphalt patch or fuel for mowers cheaper than the state. So where are the savings? From workers only being seasonal? I expect that it means minimum-wage, no-benefit, temporary workers, right? WRONG! ODOT worker typical day (PM me to find out how I know) 7:30: punch in, sit around & drink coffee & read the paper till 8:15. 8:15: head to the truck, load up tools, 8:30 leave garage to work site 8:50: unload tools, assess situation. 9:00 start work 10:15 coffee break 10:45 resume work 12:00 lunch break 12:30 resume work 2:45 stop work, start packing up tools 3:00 head back to garage 3:15 stop at convenience store for drinks/snacks 3:30 arrive at garage, unload tools 4:00 punch out. Often times the private contractors will pay higher hourly wage than what the ODOT worker gets, but much more is delivered in quantity of work. Private worker drives his own vehicle to the jobsite usually, starts working at 7am he goes home at the end of the day. The incentive is to work, make money, and keep working. There is no incentive at ODOT because they all have a job for life and they know it, so the only incentive is to barely do enough to not get caught sleeping on the job.

Big plus for City life is not just night life & dining/drinking, but also pro-sports, museums, major attractions like the aquarium, Rock & Roll HOF, etc. I love taking advantage of these things and would really miss not being a 5-10 min ride from them. Get outside the inner ring suburbs and it's amazing how "far" these things become...

Suburbs: Police response. I've heard some suburbs can respond to calls in less than 5 mins. Cleveland: Police resonse. "Is anyone in danger? No? We'll have a car there in the next 2 - 4 hrs"

In Cleveland, there is virtually no traffic in the places I'm trying to get around to. Detroit Shoreway, Ohio City, Tremont, etc. I find parking easily and get where I need to go quickly. Try navigating Strongsville or Aurora or Mentor around 5:30 to get a drink after work. Gag.

^true. True. & true. ESPN experts seem evenly split in choosing the overall winner but most predict the series to go 7 games. Bosh could be a major deciding factor. Getting him back was huge against the Celtics. I don't think Lebron will be enough to do it all himself. Wade seemed like he was hardly a factor in game 6 & 7.

Predictions on tonight's game & the NBA Finals, Miami vs OKC. After watching OKC pour it on and look like they were just toying with the Spurs, my money would be on OKC. But I can't rule out Lebron & his ability to single handedly take a game over.

Neighborhood update with Councilman Zone offered the following - 76th pedestrian tunnel: remaining work was rebid, bids accepted last week. Hoping to get contract & work resume by end of July/early August. Assuming no more unforeseen conditions or major delays, work should be substantially complete this year with touch up done next year - 73rd interchange: design & development work done in 2013, hoping to bid & start the construction in 2014 and be complete in 2016. Councilman Zone was very shaky on this timeline. He alluded to some politics at work and how this project could quickly be shifted to the back-burner again if NOACA decides some other projects are higher priority. I personally don't see this one going forward anytime soon. Last estimate was $30+ million and by next year it will be over $40 million. - Old warehouse at 1200 W. 76th: not part of the Shoreway, but plans unveiled to convert this as 39 loft style apartments with first floor parking & retail. Name of the building: "The Shoreway". Renderings had lit signage atop the building that would be visible to drivers on shoreway below. Clever. Developers pursuing historic tax credit financing so it's a ways off yet, but first look seems very viable. Overall neighborhood response was enthusiastic.

Similar deals but much different format. Wings are normally priced $9 for 13 I believe, includes celery & ranch/blue cheese on the side. Wing night is still Tuesday which is half off. Thurs is taco special night but it's a much larger taco, more ingredients, fresh toppings etc. I can barely eat 3 of the new style, where I could hammer down 6-8 of the old style

Reddstone on W. 76th has goat cheese pizza. Their patio bar is now officially open also.

^that's not good news. Estimate for this development was $100 million. The "other financing sources" will all be higher interest than bank debt and will undoubtedly reduce the scope of this project dramatically

Nothing is getting built until we find out what the developer can actually get financing for. The whole project could easily go back to square 1 if Coral/Panzica/Bialowski fails to get their financing by the 1 yr deadline.

They show it here as 2021, just for the W. 73rd connection. At a cost of $32 million. By then it will be $132 million. http://www.dot.state.oh.us/trac/TRAC%20List/2013-2016%20Major%20New%20Construction%20Program.pdf

Updated TRAC schedule shows EB existing I-90 bridge getting demo'd next year in 2013 after the new bridge opens. Looks like new EB bridge to begin in 2014 and finish in 2016. http://www.dot.state.oh.us/trac/TRAC%20List/2013-2016%20Major%20New%20Construction%20Program.pdf

^apartment building is still in the planning phases, trying to line up financing. It's probably a year off, hoping to start when they finish the hotel/office complex next spring. Toby Keith's bar & grille is somewhere around the same time frame

may have something to do with flood plains & insurance requirements? flood plains and insurance requirements. The Cuyahoga really isn't all that attractive up close by the way... might be a wise move to keep a little distance between that water & people dining outdoors...

The "GOOD JOB! GOOD EFFORT!" soundclips on the Rome show are hilarious today. The Celtics just outhustled the Heat last night, to every loose ball, every rebound, better on defense... Doc Rivers is clearly the better coach in the series right now as well... Garnett is coming up so huge in these playoffs, watching him get up & down the court, play stifling defense for a majority of the game, pull down rebounds, sink clutch free throws... he is a true pro.

Elevator core is done. It was done a few weeks ago when they removed the orange sliding forms.

renovation of the old "mau sherwood" building at 1200 W. 76th will be discussed briefly at the Edgewater Hill block club next week. Also updates on the 76th tunnel progress (bid date for bidders to complete the project is this Thurs June 7th). Possibly some discussion on public art at the tunnel but not sure how relevant any of that is to Battery Park.

Um, these stories have all been reported in the Plain Dealer in the past few weeks/months. http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/05/us_senate_candidate_josh_mande.html http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2012/05/post_37.html See, I knew it wouldn't be hard