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This is home for LeBron James A return to Ohio is about much more than basketball for the Chosen One Updated: July 14, 2014, 12:40 PM ET By Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst | ESPN.com AKRON, Ohio -- The drive took about 35 minutes. Neither man in the car said a word. Everything LeBron James was feeling on that trip to the airport four years ago -- the pain, the angst, the loss, the fear -- was written on his face. For weeks he had tried to find a way to stay, to recruit players to join him in Cleveland, so he wouldn't have to leave. Ray Allen said no. So did Chris Bosh, Trevor Ariza and Dwyane Wade. Sure, they wanted to play with him. Who wouldn't? But not in Cleveland. James was the one with a connection to the place, not them. If he wanted to win, he would have to sever those ties and go somewhere where other stars would join him. The decision to leave his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat had been made that morning. LeBron walked around with it uncomfortably all day. He knew it would hurt people, that nothing would ever be the same for him after he did it. Somehow he got through the final day of his annual basketball camp in Akron without confessing. By the time Damon Jones drove him to the airport, where he would fly to Connecticut and reveal his infamous decision to the world, there was a lump in his throat. "The ride from his house to the airport is 35 minutes," said Jones, who played with LeBron from 2005 to 2008 and remained a close friend. "Neither of us said a word. It was tough. You saw it on his face, just his emotions. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/11210073/lebron-james-returns-home

A poster above mentioned it a few months ago. I think he confused Cleve Beer Cellars with ABC The Tavern when he noted he'd heard an Uptown bar had gone under... Too bad; nice (very large) space, but the 2 times I went by there, including a Friday night, the place was empty.

:-D :-D :-D :clap: :clap: :clap:

There was long ago talk of relocating E. 34 to E. 30, which always made sense because it would be a straight walk up E.30 (under I-77) to Tri-C. But the proposal somehow fizzled along the way. Another factor screwing things up is that the huge central Post Office faces completely away from the station (I know because I once tried to use E. 34 to get there ... and walked, seemingly for over a mile). At the very least they could have had a customer entrance facing E. 30th that would have made it a little closer to the RTA station. An e. 14 station would make sense if the area filled out residential-ly as KJP notes, but I think the E. 30th relocation plan should be revived... It does seem that a few more Tri-C students (or seeming Tri-C students; young adults with backpacks) are using E. 34 nowadays; perhaps as part of the general uptick in popularity of the Rapid in general; so it would be absurd to close this station altogether with no alternative ... just because RTA is too cheap to build an elevator (esp while they're in line to build a 2nd one at E 105/Quincy!).

^More fine PD journalism at work.

^ MTS, I thought we were trying to maintain/expand areas along the lake and river like Voinovich Park, FEB (the new boardwalk) and Settlers Landing into green/recreational areas downtown that are connected -- by walkways (the proposed ped bridge over the Shoreway) and transit... Also I would absolutely prefer passenger trains going into Tower City as the Vans planned and executed back in the 1920s. Ironically, the very reason why they sold officials on the move -- congestion of the freight tracks along the lake, are what still stalls passenger trains to this day... I experienced it myself when our train entering the downtown Amtrak station was delayed over 2 hours due to freight train congestion into and along the lakefront. Unfortunately because of poor planning we've made it very difficult to bring back passenger trains to Tower City as KJP has noted. The North Coast Transportation center is not as attractive to me, either, but under the circumstances, it appears to be our best bet as our main train depot in the current era.

^I think we're all pretty aware of how shallow, surface-y, and just plain lazy, the American news media is in general. The fact that some media sources choose to portray Cleveland as this downtrodden, Rust Belt burg that has been rescued by LeBron and the RNC no longer bothers me; I just roll with it. As I see it, the fact that the nationals are discussing Cleveland at all (and so much lately) is a positive.

As has been noted, bridging the tracks and Shoreway connecting the Convention Center area with the Lakefront would provide convenient access to the proposed North Coast Transportation Center as well as the lakefront itself. But including a new RTA Waterfront Line stop would make the planned high-density lakefront residential/retail/office area accessible to the Rapid which would circulate riders through important parts of downtown, such as FEB and Tower City. Tower City is within a block or 2 of the bulk of downtown's retail, office, restaurant and entertainment venues. TC of course, also connects with the Red Line for 2.5 minute hop over-the-river to Cleveland's bustling "sub-downtown": Market Sq/Ohio City.

Nice looking building and any office/condo tower is a plus. It's a very promising proposal... I'm just wondering: why there and not on the surface lot at E. 4 and Prospect a block away? Yes I realize that the City may own this particular "sliver" of land with a legal obligation to sell to Rock Caesars, but what about a similar ownership/sales potential of the aforementioned surface lot? Not only would the city get rid of an ugly surface lot near the core entertainment/retail district of downtown, it would also be a more accessible parcel than the proposed tight parcel at the busy Ontario/Broadway/Huron intersection. And wouldn't a car dealership make more sense on a larger footprint than on the proposed 'sliver' of land?

We have Brendan Haywood as a big for this season at least. Next year I'm sure we'll want to use his big contract to trade for cap space.

I generally like Windhorst. He's a self-made highly knowledgeable guy on all things NBA and he took the opportunity of working in the small market of the best player in the world to gain notice on the national stage. Notably he's a nuts 'n bolts expert re the arcane aspects of NBA team financing and the salary cap like nobody else I've seen at ESPN ... Good for him... Windhorst nearly lost his life 5 years ago because of illness and exhaustion, perhaps in part due to his long hours dedicated to his craft and poor eating habits -- Not to crack on the guy but let's face it, Brian's no one's idea of an Adonis/physical specimen by any stretch... I never blamed him for leaving for Florida (and now Bristol, CT) when LeBron left because, as much as I love Cleveland, I would have done the exact same thing had THAT kind of opportunity presented itself to me -- I suspect many UOers would have done so, too... That said, I thought his commentary yesterday, especially the declining Rustbelt crap, was opportunistic and obsequious ... playing to the national audience at the expense of his hometown... Methinks Brian may be experience a tad bit of jealousy -- LeBron, the phenomenon he followed down to glam South Beach has returned back to a rising (in stature) Cleveland while, though a national celebrity/reporter, Windhorst is stuck in awful Bristol, CT... Break out the violins!

Pulleeeze... don't talk it up!

Wow... and wow!!... also, Vegas has Cavs winning the championship at 3-1... Miami? 100-1... Hahahahahaha!

Speaking of plants, I notice plantings at the foot of the WFL across from Ken Stewart's restaurant, right where the tracks begin to elevate... I also note a concerted effort at W. 25/Ohio City to keep the ROW clean and plant various gardens... The latter, I think, is the result of the Cleveland Rotary club... In both cases, they look nice.

Guys, while I love all your input, I hate those quotes within quotes within quotes within quotes... It's difficult to figure who's saying what without scrolling back, sometimes more than one page... Maybe try going with the most recent quote... :wink:

I understand that, but nevertheless the process is painfully slow. I've never seen such a piecemeal car rehab process like this ... and the fact that the Red Line cars aren't even getting LED next-station messaging with the rehab, which is pretty standard for cars (for the last decade+), makes RTA's process even worse.

^^Great news. Now for the groundbreaking date.

I mean as you've stated I believe this analysis had a slant toward the BRT alternative, and worded the analysis to believe the BRT was the better option. I felt like the breakdown of the BRT option was more extensive as well. McLovin that was meant as a shot at RTA (and their analysis) not you. Hope you didn't take it the wrong way; I agree with your statement.

I agree, and hopefully with the announcement that Cleveland landed the 2016 Republican Convention, a fire will be lit under RTA to get this station done... I visited the UC/Little Italy station site a few days ago for the 1st time in months. The progress was impressive. Frankly, with the progress made to date coupled with the (extended) Red Line east shutdown, this station looks like it could/should be finished by late this year... early 2015 at the latest. Also I hope the RNC 2016 news can speed up the molasses-like Red Line car refurbishment program. Since the 1st few refurbished cars went on line several months ago, I've seen no real expansion of the refurbished cars... and weirdly, in the few newbies that are out on the rails, RTA has been running them in mismatched pairs with the old/rundown cars. It looks kind of ridiculous and is causing some passengers -- me among them-- to go out of their/my way to ride in the newer car vs the oft-ratty unrehabbed one.... At the rate RTA is rehab-ing Red Line cars, the entire fleet will be at the retirement stage and ready for junking by the time the rehab is complete.

KJP, a couple Qs: 1. What's your take on the Urban Fabric Analysis? 2. Is this particular analysis just one aspect of the Locally Preferred Alternative, or the last word? 3. Even though I agree with McLovin that there's a bit of a slant towards Rapid+/BRT, the study did allow that a Red Line rail station has far more impact on land use than BRT, but that the latter would interact better with the existing streetscape.. The question is: will it make the street/walking environment better or simply make it look better, a la the Health Line? --- or perhaps the better question is: which is the more transformative technology or which is the cheapest? -- what is the priority? What should it be?

^Shocking!

Tell me about it. The Red Line East will finally open just in time for 2 (total) weekend shutdowns (I noted above) on the Red Line West for ... "track work" (as in no clarification as to what work is actually being done). Not to mention whatever total East Side shutdowns are coming up re the Inner Belt bridge... RTA will get back to us about these a week or so ahead of time... so we can plan, right? Obviously certain heavy work is understandable, like the S curve and Airport tunnel a couple years ago. The Little Italy station is, too, but it really seems like RTA is dragging this out; 2 extensions? Overall though RTA is losing total credibility with this seeming game of musical shutdowns. Cleveland has 34 total rail miles, and yet has more total service shutdowns than any system I know, including much larger, older systems, like Chicago, Boston, Philly and New York... I think much of this is politics -- unlike transit agencies in these other places, RTA realizes it can do pretty much whatever it wants, because the Cleveland transit riders are very low on totem pole here vs. say, drivers (let Chicago's CTA or Boston's T try this stuff in those cities; there would be hell to pay... not here) ... Look at last summer's outrage when just the dinky Shoreway West and E. 9th were closed a few days to film Capt America... (and we won't even get into other aspects like the way such projects as the OC are ram-rodded through with scant documentation/justification and little chance for public comment or dissent...)... Sometimes it seems like our rail system is here for only special big events or to showcase for tourist and other out-of-towners, like the airport Rapid is being trumpeted to impress the RNC for its 2016 convention... but for regular, everyday Cleveland transit riders? It just stinks to high heaven, ... but RTA continues to get away with it and nobody but a few of us here on UO kicks up much sand...

The RTA website, as of this pm, is now stating East Side Red Line work has been extended another 8 days: through July 13, service resuming July 14!! http://www.riderta.com/

I don’t really see anything new or unique in here. One point that seems to be stressed is the idea of repairing/replacing existing roads rather than building this new one. The problem there is that it’s already difficult to drive to the Circle. To tear apart a major route there would make it much moreso, for a significant period of time. Yeah, I guess that 10-minute, light-traffic, timed-light UC drive up Carnegie from downtown is really "difficult".

Ugh! Another week, another RTA total rail shutdown... Worse yet, RTA isn't even telling the public exactly what work they will be doing... West Side track work set for two weekends in July In July, RTA has tentatively set aside two weekends to upgrade Red Line tracks on the West Side. On July 12-13 and July 26-27, buses will replace trains for all Red Line service west of Tower City. Look for buses and bus stop signs marked 66R. At Tower City, the 66R buses stop at the Public Square entrance of the Horseshoe Casino (link is external). The 66R buses will serve all Red Line stations, and operate during the same hours as a Red Line train. However, the buses may take longer than the train, so please allow extra time for your commute. http://www.riderta.com//publications/ridersdigest/2014/july