clvlndr

^You're entitled to your opinion.

Cleburger, how could you say Dennis turned his back on Cleveland? He fought to keep St. Michael's hospital open for constituents when St. Lukes and others were closing. He fought to get the union workers a fair deal with the Tops supermarkets corp. was bought out by Giant Eagle. He pushed for Cleveland to get it's fair share of Obama's stimulus funding and pushed through TIGER and other FTA grants for RTA and other transportation projects (including the recent critical grant to relocate the E.120 Rapid station). The latest was his lending his weight to get funding to stop the ridiculous 10+ year delay in getting the 2nd Innerbelt bridge built. It's a myth/stereotype that, just because Dennis fought for and maintained a national/international agenda of civil/human rights that he somehow forgot about Cleveland. The man is a bundle of energy and lives and breathes Cleveland; he has all his life. Yes, I've questioned some of his tactics and at times thought he was heavy handed, but you could NEVER deny the man's passion. So now we in Cleveland expect to get the same attention by a representative who is based in, and has, for 30 years, represented constituients 100 miles away. Thanks Voinovich... thanks Plain Dealer for endorsing her just purely out of spite for Dennis. With this endorsement, you have shown how much you truly care about the citizens of Cleveland ... Not! (you heard about cutting off your nose to spite your face?)....

Not surprising private interests would trump the public good in this state. Ohio is very conservative. Sometimes I wish Cleveland, NEO could secede and form a separate, more progressive state.

Please expand on this. Sorry, I meant Cedar Center.

In a word: nervous. You know the saying about too many chefs and the quality of the stew... I'm also nervous about Coral, whose past cut'n run behavior with past projects, notably Shaker Square, has me nervous... That said, I'm nervous but not worried (splitting hairs, eh?). This is in part for my infinite confidence and respect for Chris Ronayne, who has both amazing creative urban sensibilities as well as the drive and diplomacy to get difficult projects both started (ie Flats East Bank, when Jane was mayor) and done (ie, Uptown a few blocks away). I also like Michelle Jarboe-McFee's article's reference regarding the "bullish" posture developer Tony Panzica is taking towards this project; hopefully Panzica's drive will help this project survive any shakiness of Coral -- remember, Ronayne/UCI carefully sifted through several proposals and selected what they believed was the most solid... I'm also encouraged by the implementation of tax-increment financing, which has long been proposed as a smarter, more reliable means of financing large scale projects of this kind... Again, this bespeaks creativity with an eye toward results.... And even though I've been tough of Jackson for being aggressive on certain long term urban programs, like TOD (which this most certainly is), he's shown, with the Medical Mart and Flats East Bank to quietly Shepard difficult, vexing large scale projects to fruition... I'll give him that.

Bottom line: high destination traffic = high destination success. And it's about doggone time developers in this region FINALLY maximize a transit-oriented site to create (enhance, really) an attractive, high-density living/shopping/touring/eating envirnment. I mean, how many Steelyards, Legacy's, Golden Gates, or Crocker Parks are we going to build all because they are convenient (READ: easy to drive to and park)???? And as to potentially harming traffic patterns: I've been up & down Mayfield thru Li'l Italy during peak rush hour and have NEVER encountered half hour trips up the hill to Coventry. Absent an accident, I seriously question the veracity of such a claim. And of course I (like I'm sure, a lot of UOers) love Little Italy for its narrow, crowded/busy, mixed-use streets. If you want sprawl and convenience, there's always Houston... (that's a joke folks)... People have a right to criticize, certainly. Uniformity and group-think is detestable imho... I just think referring to this great potential project as a potential disaster (or whatever term that poster used) is absurd, esp when bloated hyperbole is used to bolster the point.

^Amen! ... Just because this cleve.com poster wraps himself/herself in the "authority" of being a Case alum who lived in the area, doesn't magically qualify he/she as an urban or transportation expert. This person is just one more example of how deeply rooted the 'car first' mentality exists in this region, and how grateful I am that movers & shakers behind projects like E. 4th St, Uptown and "Intesa" (among others) are finally bringing quality, high-density, transity-frinedly urban projects to fruition despite such widespread regressive thinking expressed by people like july61957.

LMAO! :wave:

^Also, there was much speculation as to why the FTA grant to RTA for the Mayfield Rapid station was so high -- initially listed at $17.5M but later reported as around $12M... still high for a new Rapid Station. Could not some of that money be for improving those rundown RR trestles, including those carrying the Rapid? After all, a critical component to the overall uptown project, aside from the obvious transit access, is facilitate connection between Little Italy and U. Circle. Right now those bridges are a serious barrier to this and must be radically altered to reach that goal. Also, the Rapid itself, and hence the new station, is on the east /Little Italy side of the massive ROW and so commuters to "Intesa" would have to traverse under these bridges to get to the Rapid station. And, really, looking at the space (as I did the other day), it'll be an engineering feat to build that station. It's a small area and Mayfield dips down to go under the tracks... btw, I agree that the idea of the south/UH surface lot converted into a huge parking garage stinks to high heaven... but it's only speculative at this point. Overall, I'm lovin' this so far... We haven't had TOD on this scale in Cleveland since Termnal Tower/Union Terminal Group ... and that was 1930!

^... and thanks, again, for responding. Much appreciated.

Nice to see some cities can build subways. In others (Cleveland), subway is a curse word.

^Most times if you cut & paste the articles URL in GOOGLE, you can do an end run about Crain's subscription requirement. (I just did so viz the Ohio City Ambassador's article).

Very nice. I'm pulling for this project as well as Slavic Vilage in general. It has a still-intact business district, many nice homes (esp. on E. 55) and lots of potential. It also has excellent transit access (hey, bring your bikes on RTA bike racks or on Rapid trains, at the nearby, newly rebuilt E. 55th station).

Jerry, thanks for responding... Q: I appreciate the ban on shuttle service. But would routing the regular #86 bus through the I-X lot during daytime hours be considered a shuttle? That bus connects with the Brookpark Rapid station. Seems like forcing convention goers to cross busy Berea freeway would be untenable under transit regs as well; but that's only pure speculation on my part.

OK, thanks for the insight re the I-X Center... Too bad, for whatever reason, b/c whether private property or not, the I-X Center hosts a number of conventions that have very wide public interest, not the least of which is the now concluded Auto Show. However it happened, it seems rather inexcusable and bush league that there can't be some connection between our main heavy rail rapid transit and this convention center, which sits a mere 1/2 mile (if that much) from the Red Line terminus at Hopkins.... Yeah, I've seen some bizarre Red Line transit destinations before. I think one said Coventry or Mentor or Westlake... one of those hopeful extensions that never materialized...

Just curious. I've never been to the IX center, but am considering attending the last days (today or tomorrow) of the Auto Show... I could be wrong but it doesn't appear that RTA serves the IX center... Why? It's next door the the airport and therefore, obviously, is close to the Red Line. Couldn't/shouldn't RTA either run shuttles from the airport Red Line terminal or divert some (or all) Berea Rd buses (#86?) from the nearby airport station? -- from my understanding Berea Rd goes past/in front of the IX, but i's a pretty strong hump from the street to the Center IIRC? -- if I'm wrong, correct me. It would be preferrable for buses to take riders to the door .... or does Hopkins run free shuttles (which would make this discussion moot)?... If there's no such service, there should be; it would serve many people downtown, near West Side or even U.Circle and the East Side, who would rather not drive... I can't imagine why not. No doubt, if we go to the Auto Show, we would be driving -- it's just a 25-30 min jaunt on I-480 from the East Side... Still, I think RTA should serve the I-X Center ... if it already doesn't.

Grab it! Great location. Magnificent structure.

Sam McNulty absolutely has a right to speak/speculate. He has, literally, single-handedly pushed/turned Ohio City's main strip from merely a Saturday morning/afternoon WSM-centered area to more of a 24-hour place. Others have contributed, but McNulty, with Bier-Markt/Cento and Market Gardens led the charge... And even though McNulty's spots are bar/sports oriented and are often jam packed, esp on weekend nights, they have a peaceful, friendly adult vibe. Probably the 'rowdiest' place on the strip is the Garage, and it's tame by Flats/W. 6th standards... So I'm glad Sam is speaking his mind. It's damn refreshing to see an owner who has a personal and emotional stake in the area and is not just some money grubber disinterested in quality control. That's why the Flats failed and why W. 6th is on the precipice of implosion and decline...

I'm very hopeful of the East Cleveland-UCI partnership which has spawned the Euclid/Lakeside (Circle East) townhouses. As we've seen, with the Circle 118 and Coltman 27 townhomes, developers were daring enough to invest in high-end residential properties right at E. Cleve's doorstep. And it's paying off. The neighboring Uptown development needs some kind of cushion for growth and furhter development, not the 'scary' reputation E. Cleve has just east of the elevated Rapid tracks... But the leadership of Chris Ronayne (UCI) and Gary Norton (E. Cleve mayor) is key to getting in-fil between CircleEast and Uptown ... that is, so long as the idiot culture in E. Cleve's city council doesn't run a (finally) good man like Norton out of City Hall, like they tried to when they stupidly cut his salary to around $37K out of pure jealousy and spite... but I digress.

I'm surprised, too... at one time, the #32s were frequent up/down Cedar. Now daytime service is 1/2 to an hour, which is surprising givnen the density of this corridor (density that probably could support rapid transit). Just goes to show how badly RTA has had to cut service to the barebones with the subsidy reduction.

Ditto... too much smoke to keep this agonizing rumor mill going (... talk about mixing metaphors)...

St. Patrick's Day is on a Saturday this year. RTA will operate regular Saturday service, so there will be trips to the Waterfront Line. It will be interesting to see what effect that has on ridership and crowd control. Very good... RTA may want to consider extending the Waterfront Service into the evening as, you can bet, people will linger b/c there'll be no work the next day for most... But I'm glad RTA will monitor the situation and will be flexible with service as much as possible... Thanks Jerry.

^Well, I guess this completely puts to rest any fears that Gilbert was planning to stand pat after the Horseshoe-Higbee's rennovation and not move forward with Phase II. Knowing Gilbert as we do, that fear was not based in reality.

^Amen.

Downtown Cleveland is stronger than Buffalo's downtown. But Buffalo, like many cities, has the advantage over Cleveland in that there are no barriers (poverty/blight, East, physical (Flats/River), West) to strong neighborhoods to the north. Allentown and Elmwood are among the most pleasant, walkable in-city neighborhoods in America. The tend to be woven into the fabric of the city whereas, unfortunately, Cleveland's strong neighborhoods seem more like islands.