clvlndr

^... of course, I too, am not wishing for the demo of E. 4th Street because I LOVE 4th Street. To have a bustling, narrow, human-scale, now mixed use residential/restaurant/entertainment district adjacent to the City's core area is something most big cities would give their right-arms for. I'm just commenting how odd it is that, thankfully, such a block (actually several blocks) of buildings survived Cleveland's tremendous downtown explosion of the 1920s.

That's a great block of buildings -- for Painesville or Elyria or, in Cleveland for Tremont and Ohio City. But not on the Public Square at the heart of a major metropolis. And by the early 1920s, those buildings were in bad shape. Look at 'em. I agree. These buildings are on the scale of a smaller, growing 19th Century-era Cleveland, not the more mature city that emerged after WWI. You would much prefer to have the scale, size (high-rise) and architectural grandeur of the Terminal Group that replaced these structures. If I could have saved these buildings, picked them up and moved them the oceans of WHD surface parking, I would have (I jest, of course, because hundreds of similar structures DID populate those surface lots before they (foolishly) met the wrecking balls of the auto-oriented/post WWII era. Frankly, it’s rather surprising that many similar scale structures still survive along Euclid from Public Square east to the old Taylor’s department store now, of course, the Residences at 668. But it does represent the shifts to, then away, then back to Public Square that happened between the turn of the 20th century and the late 1920s, where the Van’s Terminal Group represented the effort to pull the center of gravity back to Public Sq and away from Playhouse Square which mushroomed in go-go years immediately after WWI.

At what stage is the proposed Market Sq. Plaza apartment project at this point?

^btw Paul, love your fisheye-lens photo of the new apartment construction with the curvy Waterfront Line and 2-car train. That’s a keeper.

I've stayed in NYC hotels and apartments that probably had more subway rumble (a highly frequent , 24/7-hour rumble at that!) than the NS/Aloft trains. I was over at the Aloft the other day (love their lounge and balcony) and witnessed the new apartment construction. Even with just the pillars and small section of a 2nd level, you realize what a really small footprint FEB has, and that once (even) Phase II is completed, there will be a rather tight fit with all the clubs, offices, Phase I and the Rapid... which will be a great thing.

^No, until Detroit Saturday... and Kyrie's been averaging 22 PPG for us for the last 2 years, and where have the Cavs' been record-wise?

^Maybe... fact is, Sims has been steadier than Tyler in the last 10 or so games. Only time will tell, but Zeller's drop off in the last week or so has been steep, and at this crucial part of the season... and he's ending his 2nd year where you thought he'd be more consistent.

Knicks had as big a win as Cavs yesterday: knocking off Golden State on the road. But 7 of their final 8 games are vs. current playoff (seed) teams. Cavs schedule is easier, with only 3 (Eastern: see easier) playoff teams (Atlanta, Charlotte and the Nets again, who just handled us)... Included in there are dogs like Orlando and Milwaukee, who we should handle... We’ve got Detroit too, who although we’ve won the last 2, they’ve been major comeback struggles (including Dion’s amazing, possibly season-saving buzzer-beater last week). Obviously the Hawks game is the best chance to help ourselves and gain a full game on them. We're playing strong now, but there are concerns. Andy could be gone again, which would really hurt because our bigs have been generally mediocre-to-bad lately. Hawes has been up and down and his 3-pt shot, until yesterday, was AWOL. Tristan Thompson likewise was horrendous until yesterday, and his offensive shortcomings become more glaring with each game... And Zeller has suddenly regressed into a nobody after a season of mostly progress... Tyler is making me seriously regret we didn't deal him instead of Henry Sims for Hawes... and in case you haven't noticed the record-tying (with Cavs) losing 76ers, ... Sims has been made a starter by Brett Brown and has had a double-double most nights including a 18/16 game since... I thought Sims was progressing nicely under Mike Brown up until we dealt him, and I totally disagreed with pundits who said we gave up "nothing" for Hawes... Clark, yes, ... Sims? definitely not. Henry's large, athletic, mobile and has an improving 15/18 footer... With his solid Georgetown pedigree, I think Sims is going to have a nice NBA career.

^Indeed, but the journey of 1,000 miles begins with 1 step. There are other avenues to work, as well, but the Top Dog sets the agenda.

^How certain are we of the office building's location? ... or are we not certain yet?

^or LRT...

^A note to Biker and KJP (without recopying everything), with the 1/3 cost covered by FTA, Baltimore is going the P3 (public-private-partnership) route. Yes, we don't have the political apparatus in place to increase statewide financing for transit a la Maryland at the moment, but a key date is coming up early this November... If you really care about transit, cities and smart development, FitzGerald in, Kasich out... I know that's not the magic/automatic formula, but it's a step in the right direction. Then we've got to work on the legislature... Strickland, a Dem, alone had us on the brink of 3-C Amtrak trains... Yes, sadly it failed, but we were closer to 3Cs, and a realistic possibility of high-speed upgrade than ever before, until we collectively let our guards down and Train-Killer John (as in Kasich), got in... ... no magic bullet to be sure, but you've got to start somewhere.

Sweet win. Happy for Waiters. While he isn't/haven't always been perfect, I think he's suffered a ton of unfair grief at the hands of many pundits and fans, who would have dealt the kid at the trade deadline, if they had their way, because (allegedly) he and Kyrie couldn't get along. I think Kyrie's often the recipient of unjustified deference while Dion's is similarly criticized in similar proportions. Not saying Kyrie's not an extremely talented young player, but sometimes he plays as though he's been reading his press clippings ... and watching Uncle Drew commercials.

^Answer: too much surface traffic. This will be especially true if Cleveland gets it right w/r to Public Square and Superior was well as Ontario... All that bus and auto traffic is going to have to go somewhere. And then there's the God-awful traffic light at the west end of the bridge (at W. 25)... So even with a tram system, why create more traffic with a system we're building to lure people from their cars? And why does the ramp have to be "ugly". So using your/Biker's logic, we're going to spend millions to reconfigure/widen the bridge and create more traffic jams on and around it, when there's an unused deck below that used to carry streetcars ... for the very same reasons I'm talking about. And btw, the ramps need not be the 4-track ramps of the old system. Doesn't make sense to me, ... but OK... Also, Boston, Toronto, LA and others have narrower, 2-track LRT subway-to-street-level ramps that are not that intrusive while, in some cases, enclosed by ornamental/decorative balustrades.

Surface routing would perform better and cost FAR less than going into CUT. my plane would to distribute the Streetcar through downtown eliminating the need for a Circulator in downtown Not that any of this is going to happen in the near future, but ignoring an extant, unused transit lower deck on the Det-Superior bridge doesn't make sense, esp. since the Campbell adnim wisely narrowed the bridge roadway to widen sidewalks and increase bike traffic. Also, routing the streetcars off the bridge into the old, open-ended TC/Shaker station makes the most sense... At some point, Biker, this town is going to have to stop planning and building transit on the cheap for, like the HL, we're not going urban impact and development we desire -- forget that phony $5 billion figure of alleged HL-inspired development.

Running a streetcar into Shaker Sq., an area served by the frequent high speed Blue/Green lines doesn't seem palatable to me... But it is weird that this densely populated significant apartment area has no 24-hour transit service. Once the Rapid and the 11 shut down, at around 12:30p, that's it until around 5a. Doesn't make a lot of sense.

^Interesting and certainly worhtwhile... I would really look at the Euclid and Detroit routes, with the Detroit (and W. 25th combined) routes using the Detroit-Superior bridge subway deck... I think Tower City's old Shaker station should be looked at as the central downtown terminal.

Can you say: hypocrisy?

Feb. 2015 doesn't seem unreasonable. They're saying the 194 apartments will be open by August 2014 ... Frankly, I'm stupefied that such a massive project is being completed so quickly.

My heart goes out to this kid (thankfully it appears he'll be OK), and thank goodness for the Good Samaritan, but it's irresponsible to report this area "downtown" because it's not.

^This caught my eye: Unlike other American rail lines, the CTA does not have an automated system in place to stop trains as they approach a station or other points along the track. DePaepe, however, said he did not fault the city for failing to have the upgraded service. “Transits are strapped,” he said. “There are systems that do stop trains, but usually it’s about money. The transit agencies do the best they can with what they have.”

^Buckeye B, as frustrated as I get with RTA's not extending the Rapid, I sometimes need to remember the Cleveland could have easily been one of THOSE cities. In fact, I believe the Shaker lines were once threatened with closure in the 1930s or 40s after the Van’s died. That we built the rapid transit that we did, rescued and expanded on it, is a tribute to Cleveland’s foresight…This country's obviously had an ugly history w/r to transit that we've fortunately fought to overcome in recent history, with all the new LRT built/being built.

Red Line project passes a key federal hurdle The proposed federal share of the light-rail project has dropped to 34%, requiring some creative financial planning for the $2.6 billion project Mark Reutter March 17, 2014 at 2:17 pm The price is trending upward and proposed federal funding is down, but the biggest public works project in Baltimore’s history, the 14-mile Red Line, is still on track to start construction in 2015, the project’s chief planner tells The Brew. Henry M. Kay, deputy administrator for planning and engineering at the Maryland Transit Administration, expressed optimism that the financial pieces of the $2.64 billion light-rail project are coming together. This comes in the face of skepticism by critics that the Red Line has become prohibitively expensive as a result of a 3.4-mile tunnel proposed through downtown Baltimore and Fells Point. The five underground stations proposed at Poppleton, Howard Street, Inner Harbor, Harbor East and Fells Point have added tens of millions of dollars to the line’s costs. http://www.baltimorebrew.com/2014/03/17/red-line-project-passes-a-key-federal-hurdle/

I agree something should be done to lower the cost of transit for families. I 2nd this idea. I'm pretty sure some other cities already have this.

^^Nice.