gottaplan

I think it's interesting that no democratic cronies from City of Cleveland got rounded up in this - Dimora had ties to everyone in the county, the judges, the local schoolboards & mayors... but didn't do favors for anyone in City Hall?

I'm a sucker for political commentary, but I'd rather hear a cat hack up hairballs than listen to Trivisonno spout theories... Edit - at the end of the day, I don't think they really have much besides alot of favors on Dimora. He'll still be convicted and spend some time. Calling in favors for friends with judges is piddly compared to the millions Russo was wasting and pocketing through no-bid contracts in the Auditor's office....

I dont' think declining incomes has been underreported at all. Quite the contrary, there are plenty of news stories of people who are underemployed, working part time, or who have taken pay cuts, or at the least are paying much more for benefits, than they were prior to 2008.

Seems to be on a pretty straight path - clearing out the corrupt political cronies, restoring trust, setting up the economic development fund, getting the county's finances in order and improving the bond rating

Fitzgerald has cut almost $20 million from the county payroll. That is phenomenal. This thread needs renamed. I'm just hoping he sticks around and continues his work at the county for a while before launching his career to another level.

I guess you like to screen out the negative posts. Understandable.

Great point. I wonder if Jackson & his administration are more afraid of publicizing the violence & murders and feel a better approach is to keep it low key? Or maybe if they publicize it and vow to end it, they will be open to criticism for failing to make any progress in rounding up any suspects or stopping the violence?

I thought they had dye packs which went off in cases like that...

I know what you mean. Shortly after the new Detroit Avenue streetscape was installed, I saw some crackhead had pulled up a bunch of the plantings and was trying to sell them to people walking by....

I live on the west side of Cleveland and I think crime is on the increase. Many of these areas are seing a bit of reinvestment like Tremont, Ohio City, Detroit Shoreway, etc and are becoming targets now. Unfortunately looking at the map of the 2nd District for Cleveland Police, http://www.city.cleveland.oh.us/clnd_images/Police/district2.pdf you see how large the area is and how few officers are usually patrolling at night. That's not going to change anytime soon. People and neighborhoods are going to have to find more ways to fight crime themselves, with either private patrols, added cameras, neighborhood watches, ccw permits, whatever it takes.

it's my been my experience that people who never lived outside the area are the most miserable. They are the ones who feel "stuck" for whatever reason (job, house, family) and are bitter about their place in life and therefore don't take advantage of Ohio's cultural institutions, appreciate it's architecture, or any other city's amenities. Those who lived elsewhere but came back or decided to stay, have done so because they made a choice and are generally satisfied. Educating people who choose to be miserable probably won't get too far. I've found that long time residents of Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston or San Diego or any other city pretty much love to complain about the faults of their home city. Complaining about the city leadership, high taxes, lack of jobs, weather, lousy traffic, poor city services, etc. People just love to complain.

Content. My wife & I both lived in other cities before coming to Cleveland. Only knock is the weather. I really hate snow anymore

Understood, but the railroad tracks are a bigger obstacle than the Shoreway, at least for the majority of the park from Clifton/Lake all the way to Westinghouse curve... On second thought, the Gordon Park bridge is a poor analogy. There's nothing to connect to. What's on the north side, some parking lots? A handful of boat docks? No beach, no playground, no concessions stands, no ball fields, no walking path... all that bridge really does is connect some overflow parking

I was interviewed for that article but my quotes didn't make it into print. I know several others who were interviewed who's comments weren't included. It's a shame too, I had high expectations when the author told me what she had planned for the article. Instead it's not much of anything except restating what's been written in the PD. In terms of tunnels or bridges, I didn't think the pedestrian bridge over the active railroad tracks was a good idea, but a quick google search shows alot of instances where it seems to. Much less maintenance and probably safer than a tunnel too, except I hate the idea of having an elevator involved... I don't see a need for any new intersections so long as the one at 73rd gets installed as planned. That's 5 access points to Edgewater along 1.5 miles: West Blvd, Clifton/Lake tunnel, 76th tunnel, 73rd tunnel, & 65th tunnel.

^agree with that also. I can't believe Gene Smith has kept his job this far. I assumed he'd be canned after they got a new coach hired on.

I agree mostly with this^ but I don't see a one year bowl ban as the end of the world. Sure doesn't seem to be hurting USC's pride... I think a bowl ban this year would have been lights out on a pretty bad season. At least now they have something to salvage still after a crap season and a close loss to Michigan. I'm not convinced next year is going to be a great year. I think the entire Big Ten is going to be much improved. Except maybe Penn State. They'll probably have a rough season.

Without SB5, all the existing collective bargaining agreements are still in place with minimum staffing levels and other protections... how can local municipalities accomplish shared services without getting past this first? Edit: I'm not saying that SB5 was the only way those changes can be made, but it sure isn't likely without.

I have mixed feelings on Kasich but to be fair, I think his budget slashing and balancing on the backs of municipalities might've been more effective had SB5 been upheld. It would have forced more shared services and regionalism which is long overdue in my opinion. That evolution is still taking place, but at a snails pace. it will be painful to some no matter how slowly or quickly it occurs, but I prefer the "ripping off a band-aid" approach.

I watched it - Rokakis came off well but an outsider would have to say "why are people stealing siding & stuff off homes in broad daylight? where are the cops?" Otherwise, I think any inner city has similar areas devastated by the foreclosure crisis. Certainly the rust belt and sunbelt areas, I know Chicago does, not sure about other east coast metro's like Philadelphia or Boston. I don't think anyone is being as aggressive with the demolition as Cleveland is, but I think it's the best approach and they're going about it quickly and efficiently.

^agreed. Cleveland is handling the foreclosure crisis about as well as they can. All you can do is try to help people who are behind on their payments to keep working with the banks and the homes that aren't worth saving need torn down. Eventually the private sector will come back and these areas will be attractive for reinvestment but that may be a ways off. Detroit is tearing down homes but selling the vacant parcels at auction for quick cash. Insanity. They now have about a dozen land owners which own scattered sections of the city & literally hundreds of parcels. Good luck ever reassembling that mess into something ready for development.

Classic example of the difference between reporting the news and creating the news

You tell me - where would you locate the pedestrian bridges? Over the norfolk southern railroad tracks too? or under the tracks, then over the shoreway? The RR tracks are a bigger obstacle than the Shoreway... I think the current design is perfectly adequate, with the following improvements 1. Reconfigured intersection at Lake & West Blvd - current setup is a beotch to get across on foot or bike 2. Upgraded tunnel at Lake/Clifton - in progress but not complete 3. Upgraded tunnel at 76th - in progress but not complete 4. New access point at 73rd for cars & pedestrians - will not interfere with Shoreway traffic but will tie into Edgewater on/off ramps 5. Refigured intersection at 25th/28th is a main priority from a safety standpoint but has nothing to do with park access. Slowing the Shoreway down is essential to adding the bike path. I think this point is getting lost in the discussion. If the traffic isn't slowed, you'd need a retaining wall or something to protect pedestrians on the nearby path or move it significantly far off the route which adds cost. Slowing the Shoreway down to 35 allows the path to be located closer by the roadway and saves money. See the cross sections on the ODOT plan for how this would work. If the Shoreway isn't slowed down, the bike path is a non-issue. Access points which I mentioned above are unrelated to traffic speed.

Montrose Harbor, Belmont Harbor, North Avenue Beach -- I don't see any functional difference between those areas and Edgewater. Montrose area has 6 pedestrian connections to an area that is significantly smaller than Edgewater which has 4: West Blvd, Clifton/Lake (closed), 76th (closed) and 65th. Belmont & North Ave Beach combined aren't even a sliver of Edgewater's area. And they both have several access points for pedestrians. Also worth noting that Lake Shore Drive is 4 lanes both directions and fronts some of the most expensive real estate in America. A tunnel project would be nearly impossible here. Cleveland's Shoreway is 3 lanes in each direction, carries a fraction of the traffic and fronts vacant obsolete warehouses... but hey you said they're essentially the same so whatever Edit: it's over 1.5 miles between the two entrances to Edgewater Park right now: West Blvd & 65th. Keep the comparisons to Chicago coming, it only justifies the need for this project even more...

Even if the Shoreway was not touched, I-90 is likely to become the better commute pattern into downtown with the new innerbelt bridge since it should alleviate alot of the backup occurring at the 71 merge/490 split. I'd venture the traffic counts on the Shoreway will drop even more.

All the comparisons to Lake Shore Drive in Chicago are great except the lake shore along Chicago doesn't have the equivalent of a huge park akin to Edgewater. Much of the lakeshore in the heart of Chicago is a narrow strip of beach with a bike/hike walking path. Not the extent of ball fields, picnic areas or massive beach that we have at Edgewater. In warmer months there is some type of large gathering almost every weekend at Edgewater with tents, etc. If all we were trying to access was a little strip of beach and some bike/hike path like Chicago has, I think pedestrian bridges over the Shoreway would suffice, but that's just not the case...