gottaplan

There ya go, proof from Keith that Tea Partiers don't hate mass transit

^nice history lesson... you get that straight from Obama himself? Let me try: Tea Party factions sprang up as a result of the bank bailouts, stimulus & healthcare mandate.

exactly. And that goes back to my original comment in reply #7 about the unsustainability of crushing pension/benefit obligations to public employee unions

Union construction workers pay for their own pension & benefits through dues, they aren't subsidized by the government. Public employee unions, like transit workers, police, firemen, etc have their pension & benefits paid in part or in full by the local/state government. Run the numbers sometime when you have a moment: local AFSCME worker pays 10% toward pension, govt contributes at least 14%. Worker puts in 25-30 yrs & gets benefits & pension payments, adjusted for inflation, for another 25-30 yrs. The difference in real dollar value between this scenario and a union construction laborer/equipment operator pension is enormous.

What's your point? Are you arguing that these would somehow go away or be reduced if Ohio & others created new state jobs for transit?

But, all Heavy-Highway projects are constructed by unionized contractors.... I don't think the actual union construction is the target so much as the union transit workers who's long term salary & benefits crush the budgets of state & local municipalities

I think you're reaching. Please explain this glaring residential deficiency. Even though current occupancy rates are pegged at 95+, the overall rental rate/sf for downtown has stayed steady. It hasn't climbed enough to even come close to justifying new construction of residential. With or without subsidy. You keep ignoring this fact. As much as people who study the lakefront want to say "Yes! We need residential here!" There are no market studies or analysis that justify that. No current or recent projects which support it. "If you build it, they will come" doesn't hold true here. And it won't be anytime soon. And the multiplier effect has always been in play for Cleveland or anyone evaluating public subsidy. Look hard enough and you can find the analysis of each of the projects I mentioned and the projected multiplier effect for the public subsidy contribution.

it's elementary my friend. Study Economic Development 101. Residential construction has zero multiplier effect. There is income from construction work but that's it. Where's the long term job creation?

^agreed. Except subsidizing NEW CONSTRUCTION residential in downtown is a whole new animal. Subsidizing some renovation/conversions is another thing

That's why government money is needed to subsidize the gap between market rate rents and rents needed for construction to make sense. "But there's no government money..." $450 million from a county sales tax increase to fund the medical mart/convention center, $100 million in the county's economic development fund, millions in new tax dollars from the casino. The money is there, it's just a question of how our leaders are choosing to allocate it. what's the multiplier effect for using that subsidy to build residential? As compared to the multiplier effect for medmart or casino, in terms of job creation or tax revenue, there's no comparison....

Pet peeves: Rachel Maddow, Bill O'Reilly, Ed Schultz, Sean Hannity, etc. Having said that, I guess I'm some kind of psychopath because I regularly watch them all then end up arguing with the television. My wife is always telling me "I don't know why you watch those shows, all it does is make you mad"

"ba-doomp-tish!!!"

I know, it's beautiful out. My phone takes lousy pictures and I didn't have my camera.

I drove past both the Medmart & FEB projects today at lunch. Up close, the progress of both is very impressive.

Last night I got on 90 West at Carnegie and followed it past the I-71 split. The path of the new bridge is getting more clear by the day. The earthwork in addition to the driven piles... I expect this summer to bring a significant amount of change to the landscape of the area. I hope it all gets documented.

You're missing the fact that even with downtown's occupancy rate at 96% or whatever, the average rent/sf is still stuck at a pretty low rate and isn't really climbing. The only residential projects which are being financed & built right now are conversions. And those undoubtedly have some public subsidy to get them off the starting line. The rental rates per square foot are not high enough yet to justify new construction, regardless of subsidy. On the lake or wherever.

Sorry but it's so much more complicated than your simplistic suggestion. I was living in Detroit when they tried to implement such a program - it was modestly successful, but the officers were constantly getting pulled away for larger issues. Being in a patrol car gives them access to laptops with much more info available than the radio provides. Also allows them to respond quickly to a variety of calls and cover much more ground. Having 1 or 2 officers "walking the beat" sounds great for getting to know residents and preventing issues from becoming problems, but we don't have the density or the staff on hand to justify officers walking around an area

I've driven by here several times in the past few weeks, nothing's going on. No equipment on site, no grading or foundations being done. Permits hung up on this project?

Looks like all but 1 of the 8 units in the latest building have sold now - several slated to close this weekend or in the next 30 days. Starting the next building along 73rd in a few weeks.

^agreed! I hate the way that sign frame looks!

Is it possible that the quality of cars has been going up over the past few decades, allowing cars to stay on the road longer, explaining the higher average age of vehicles? I have a hard time believing that there is a "pent up" demand for new cars. When people want/need a new car, they will buy one. Saying that there's a "pent up" demand implies that we're all waiting to buy new cars and then there will be a car-buying boom. Maybe not a "boom" but facts clearly indicate people are hanging on to their cars longer. Normal replacement rate was about 30% of the cars were replaced per year. Now it's down in the teens. Normal vehicle age on the road is about 7 yrs, now it's 11. Quality of new cars is a factor, but it's the same with building & construction - there is a significant amount of "deferred maintenance". Owners have put off getting a tune-up, new tires, new muffler, etc. When the economy finally gets better for the average joe, he will see that a new car is just as affordable as making all these repairs.

Another article highlighting much of what's already been discussed in this thread http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/03/why-dont-young-americans-buy-cars/255001/

I disagree completely. I have a lot of friends in the automotive industry back in Detroit as well as Honda & Toyota. They are all extremely optimistic about where the industry is headed. The auto industry is definitely going through a shift which began during gas price spikes in 2007, but everyone has hybrids and high efficiency 40+mpg cars in the showroom or in development. New product lines have new profit margins and the race to be first to market with a new car which will be desired by consumers. There is a ton of pent up demand for new cars - average age of vehicles on the road is higher than it's been in decades. It doesn't take long before maintaining and putting gas in an older car becomes more expensive than a payment on a new or clean used vehicle, especially with interest rates as low as they are now.

I thought they were having some issues with their basement operation, "underdog". Anyone know more about what's going on there?

^was waiting for someone to post that article. The comments after the article pretty much shred the woman for her comments about the train being packed & rowdy.