clvlndr

Amen 327! Maron clearly understands the concept of building large development by successfully executing smaller, achievable smaller projects in coordination. E. 4th Street is their stark realization of this... Oh yeah, speaking of Stark, what has he done, in the city/downtown, with his gigantic, save-the-world projects? Answer: nothing. But back to the Lakefront, I'm encouraged by the Browns announcement. As much as I despise putting that open air-limited-use stadium on such valuable land, I think it's important that a high-profile institution like the Browns take the media lead in encouraging (in this case, jump-starting) development around the stadium. And it appears that the proposal, a la Air Maron, is in smaller, doable piecemeal projects united in their holistic vision for this small, yet valuable, portion of the lakefront. As to KJP's comments: I disagree that there shouldn't be some governmental involvement despite the vision of, say, Jimmy DiMora being led away in cuffs (to name but one example of govt corruption/mess)... to the contrary, I think our local govt needs to take the LEAD in directing and encouraging development, and I just don't mean cheerleading... Look at the Gateway stadiums, as an example. From the late 80s into the 90s, our government, for once, was unified in the vision of a sports complex on that horrible site (the decrepit Central Market, derelict buildings with a bunch of peep shows). Through some crafty luring actions (yeah, including a sweetheart tax deal to the Gunds to bring the Cavs downtown from Summit Co. which, in turn, got more City voters interested), the proposal actually succeeded -- with the centerpiece being the beutiful (Progressive) baseball stadium. And despite my many debates with, now long-gone daniDC regarding how great an impact those Gateway stadiums meant, it's undeniable that they turned, almost overnight, the decrepit, hooker-ridden Prospect/Huron corridor into downtown's 2nd most (these days, most) desirable nightlife/restaurant/residential district downtown. Cleveland's problem hasn't been government involvement in such projects, it's been the failure of government to take the lead in public-private initiatives... The good news is that this has changed, somewhat, whereby the Med Mart, casino, Flats East Bank and Univ. Circle (esp UC Uptown) are all examples of this.

You know RTA has a PR problem with it's project when Urban Ohio members are making misinformed statements like Cleveland.com posters! :) ... maybe try reading a little bit. If you did, you'd understand the term "BRT" takes many forms in the current parlance, including the "bus related enhancements" RTA was pushing for before the TRAC funding denial. I never said, nor implied, that Clifton was to get a replica of the Health Line, and once again (for emphasis) the Health Line is not the only type for BRT there is.

^Thanks for the info, KJP... not the best news in the world, given our testy politics these days, but at least our local officials seem to be trying.

After they have enough money to award bids, and they're a long way from that. That's a shame, esp given the exciting development rising at Univ. Circle's Uptown development (esp the new MOCA)... When you say RTA doesn't "... have enough money to award bids", please explain. Wouldn't they, or haven't they, gone through the Federal grant application program much as they have for the rising Puritas and E. 55 stations? I know there was talk of negotiations with Norfolk Southern RR about the site itself, but is that tied to this? Why the delay? I know the Clifton BRT project was dropped, but isn't this project less controversial -- that is, there are no dissenting voices for the E. 120 station relocation as there was re the Clifton BRT.

Hopefully Fairmount's building(s) will cover the ugly Main Ave. girders much like the Nat'l Terminal Apts. do on the other side.

John Kasich couldn't be any bigger disaster for this state. This knucklehead threatens our economy where he normally preaches "pro business" because of his personal, anti-casino agenda. And, yes, this after the voters said "yes" to casinos. Can we recall this fool tomorrow?

^^ "the photo also includes the hideous phoenix gateway totem thingy." We agree about the gateway totem... 'hideous' is the perfect adjective. ^ Great news about Dredger's Union progress.

^ I would, too.

I don't mind the Chinato sign. It's understated while informing travelers on both Prospect and E. 4th of its presence -- as opposed to merely glimpsing people dining inside a window at the corner across from uber-busy Flannery's.

Jerry, If you've noticed over time, I've tried to give Calabrese credit I believe he's deserved, esp: - planning forward on the Blue Line expansion. - being a strong, tireless advocate of increased operating funding. - the POP payment system for the Red Line. I'll even throw him another bone: staying with the historically difficult E. 120 station relocation to the point where, now, it looks like it will get done.... True, I'm not his biggest fan. But even I haven't said the guy is all bad.

Great to hear planning is well underway for the Phase II residential portion. I think development will start to fall like dominoes in this area because it's so attractive as well as close to the WHD. The developing aquarium on the West Bank certainly can't help drive interest, either. Any sense of whether the handsome old buildings north of the Main Ave. Bridge will be reused for restaurant and retail, such as the Watermark Restaurant building?

It's ironic some mention the physical barrier of crossing wide, busy Lorain to get to the RTA station. Actually, they are right; crossing Lorain is a pain in the butt, esp during rush periods. Ironic, because the old CTS/50s station used to be on the north side of Lorain, right next to the Market (you only had to cross the parking lot driveway entrance). However, when RTA constructed the new station in 1992, in their infinite wisdom, they shifted the station to the south side of Lorain... moving farther away, and less convenient to the bulk of the people who use it... The old station actually had a walkway under Lorain, which allowed exiting passengers on the street's soutside (where the whole station is, today). They closed the walkway probably because of darkness/security concerns. But it seems a motivating factor in the new station's location was to allow the Kiss 'n Ride dropoff lane to be installed that didn't exist at the old on. Makes a lot of sense in an old, urbanized, close-in, pedestrian-oriented, city-neighborhood right? (cue the sarcasm) It's rather tragic/comical during rail rush periods (like Sat mornings/afternoons) to see people streaming to/from the station (often with WSM bags) across the Lorain to pass nearby where the old, more convenient CTS stop used to be... It, once again, is typical of RTA/Cleveland's suburbanized, car-oriented approach to everything....

I agree Cleveland. I think we are moving in that direction.... obviously we have a long way to go. But I really think we're bottoming out in population losses; at least, being near to bottoming out. Our close-in neighborhoods, esp downtown, are actually growing, and those areas are more dense, walkable, have excellent transit and are becoming more and more sustainable. But to continue in this direction, we must go to the polls and limit the Kasich types whose policies are often counter to creating this type of city and are more geared to suburbanization, sprawl and disconnected-ness.

Quite right. Cleveland's primary task over the next 40 years is to replace most of its housing stock, and that's a biggie. Thousands of woodframe doubles and shotguns need to come down. In their place we need townhouses and high rises and mixed use apartment blocks, as well as several good-sized new parks. I don't agree. Everyone prefers masonry, of course. But just because a house is woodframe, doesn't mean it isn't solid. If that was the case, we would gut about 85-90% of Ohio City, which has many Victorian (and even earlier) homes that have stood 150 years. Also, look at San Francisco's famed "Painted Ladies" that withstood the 1906 Earthquake. Many of those Cleveland Doubles are solid; often more solid than the newer homes wrapped in aluminum. Maybe you gut some low density shotguts... I could go along with that. But I think Cleveland needs to hold onto as many multi-unit dwellings as it can, be they frame or brick. ... btw, as you know, many of the Cleve doubles are frame with brick bases. A few innovative ones are all brick; a number exist in Larchmere, for example.

I don't know Tremont so well, but even with the loss of low income folks, the explosive growth of Literary lofts, which I think barely existed (that one block of Literary Ave), would have offset this. I do agree that a number of low income folks have been displaced in Oho City. Jay Hotel was a shelter, was it not, before it was gutted for the now long-stalled condo conversion? However, it seems like a number of apartment conversions didn't exist in 2000, like the several mixed use buildings in Market Square. Also, of course, the Fries & Schelle condo conversion/expansion didn't exist either. Of course, Riverview towers may be considerably emptier than in 2000, and it's the largest housing complex in practically the entire West Side, let alone Ohio City... Plus it appeared (the last time I was over there) that most or all of those low-rise CMHA units north and opposite of Lutheren Medical hosp were boarded up... If I'm wrong, please correct me, but that's what I recall.

San Fransisco is beautiful, diverse, dense, electric, compact, walkable ... and clean! Downtown is OK, but I agree, it's the neighborhoods and, of course, the hilly, waterside setting that truly sets it apart. It's physically/architecturally one of the most beautiful cities I've seen ... even with the post 1906 architecture (except the Haight, of course, whose primarily wood-frame Victorian houses largely survived the 1906 quake in tact)... I'm surprised to hear the criticism of Muni, because we ditched our car and rode buses (mostly trolley), subway-surface streetcars and BART... or just walked. This City, along with NYC, is every bit a world class cities imho, despite it's relatively small size (by world-class city standards).

This is an excellent, thoughtful article and shows why, imho, Steve Litt's a major journalistic asset in this town. It is critical that we watch the powers-that-be very closely so they won't, as usual, sell out to the ODOT-friendly auto/driving/parking interests and potentially ruin the fabric of our increasingly livable/walkable downtown.

^Agreed. I despise these selfish, foolish riders. About the only good thing about them is at least they were on the trains and not driving into town, endangering far more people.

This is more Amtrak/railroad than light rail... still, it's kinda funny, actually. Acela is flawed compared to other high-speed rail systems in Europe and Japan, but if FAR outshines anything we have in this car-crazy country of ours. It's a fitting honor that Wilmington's station is being renamed for Biden. He's one of the few pols at his level (or prior level, U.S. Senator) who actually used Amtrak to get to/from home to work. He's a tireless advocate of Amtrak. I have to believe he's influenced Obama on pushing for more high-speed rail. A shame the politics of the Right are hampering that effort.

I agree, Bookman, as big a transit advocate as I am, the Rapid on St. Paddy's day is no place for small children. Most people were fine, but it's always those few knuckleheads that make things unruly and potentially unsafe...Unfortunately, it appeared that almost all RTA security was employed at Tower City. They appeared to be stretched thin.

As Kasich's ideological brother in Wisconsin (Scott Walker) proved in attempting to kill off collective bargaining by state workers (which as of yesterday was stayed by regional judge as potentially, illegally violating that State's Open Meetings laws), Kasich isn't cutting transit funds to save money; he's doing because of the GOP's nationwide social agenda against transit (or any other program designed to level the playing field for poor or middle class people). To him, "his people" wealthy whites in places like Medina, have little use for public transit... Why should they need it if Kasich's de-urbanization, sprawl agenda can place jobs and retail away from cities and out near the Medina's and Burton's of the state, where the locals can drive and not have to deal with those pesky minorities and/or liberals anyway? As as been noted before, Kasich's history of killing 3-C and being generally an Amtrak opponent in the past, makes this latest move higly predictable.

... btw, RTA showed (me at least) for the 1st time they've obviously rewired their Light rail (Blue/Green Line) cars for 1-man operation. We rode in on car 2 of a triple and neither our car nor the one behind had a driver, but all doors were controlled. Of course, this allowed a number of non-downtown, non-front car riders to get freebies. I guess RTA did the math and decided they'd sacrifice losing a minimal amount on the short-hoppers while, instead, focusing on the mammoth downtown audience. Besides, many short-hoppers probably had weekly/monthly passes anyway, while some had transferred from buses, where their fares were paid... in this case, it was smart math on RTA's part. ... now, if RTA would do the logical things like expanding the RED LINE's excellent almost total POP system to the BLUE/GREEN lines (while, like the Red Line, still keeping the automatic, fare-card sensitive enter/exit turnstiles at busy Tower City) and dump that archaic, train delaying Pay Enter-Eastbound/ Pay Leave, Westbound system. And as noted above, RTA (even on the Red Line) needs to start trusting the convenience POP is, in part, supposed to give: more seats in more cars driven by 1-man/woman. Otherwise, POP seems largely like a waste ... although, I do admit that non-rush hour trains are much faster now that all doors open all the time, now...

I St. Paddy'd out a few years ago, but the nice weather and buddy's sucked me into going... Here's my view of RTA's job... They were both good and bad, great and, well, almost horrible. The GOOD: the crowd was both gigantic -- biggest Cleveland crowd I've ever seen since Cleveland Bicentennial weekend. Most were fun loving, enjoying the fun. But many were drunk, unruly and even violent. It appeared that every RTA salaried cop was somewhere in or around Tower City. They had to be, because folks were rude, impatient, annoying and even violent. They climbed fences and even the escalator wall just to get around cops who, logically at points, had to shut all entrances to the platfrom because of the post-parade crush. It was great seeing 3-car trains. I've seen them in service on the Red Line long ago, when they were new and RTA still regularly had high (by Cleveland standards) ridership. I've NEVER seen them before on the Blue/Green lines and was quite pleasantly shocked to see them. (I did once ride a 4-car Green/Blue train -- but that was only because the 2-car train in front of us stalled at Shaker Sq. and had to be combined and pushed downtown) The BAD RTA had serious problems moving trains in and out of Tower City, at least on the East Side. They were backed up like a parking lot and, clearly, Tower City was total gridlock. Part was the crowds that were slow to disembark given their size... part had to be RTA; they just didn't seem ready for it. Our 3-car Green Line train got stuck behind a Van Aken train at Shaker Sq., and had to sit 10 mins for the train to clear before we left the square and entered the Rapid's high-speed segment into town. The BAD BAD. I think RTA made errors that, had they not, could have eased congestion somewhat, maybe considerably. One, I suggested above -- to me it was idiotic not to use the Waterfront Line. The W. 3rd stop is closer to Warehouse Dist Bars than Tower City. Plus, I believe more cars could have been pulled off the Shoreway to trains at the Muni Lot terminal. Also, as noted, there was just too much Tower City congestion, esp given the fact that most Blue-Green trains had to reverse/turn on that single center track because Red Line West cars were extremely backed up. The other mistake was/is in not unsealing the old Shaker terminal. The old 3 ex-Shaker platforms (I understand) are sealed up still sitting there collecting dust. Even if RTA only opened that station 1 day per year (that being St. Paddy's of course) it would be worth it for separating Blue/Green from Red Line traffic (both riders and trains) to lessen the bottleneck. THE UGLY-- Once again, RTA was up to its old (very stupid) tricks again of only using 2 of 3 trains-- packing the 1st 2 and leaving the 3rd an empty trailer. Why? RTA's the only rapid rail system that does this. What is the point of 1-man/woman train operation if RTA somehow believes that they're somehow wasting electricity (which I refuse to believe) by merely putting bodies in an empty car and allowing crush crowds to breathe a little. it's just another in the many annals of RTA's penny-wise/pound foolishness that perpetually leaves me scratching my head. All in all, though, somehow it worked and even though I'm focused on the March Madness games, and haven't heard the local news, I assume nobody was seriously injured or killed riding trains (although there were plenty of hair raising moments when serously bad stuff could have broken out, but thankfully didn't), which is paramount. And even though many had gripes with the services, RTA got tens of thousands of butts in their seats and out of autos -- I'd be stunned if RTA didn't have at least 100,000 rides today -- and probably significantly more than that. For Cleveland, that's simply astronomical for a single day.

^^Nice job ragerunner --- very informative. ^Yeah, I know 327. It's frustrating ...But we also know Denver is planning a (as in one single) BRT route in its FasTracks network. RTA is, under Joe Calabrese no less, moving ahead with expansion plans (very preliminary now, but progressing nonetheless) for the Blue Line south/southeast. So there is some hope. I just think we must keep the pressure up, because, as I noted, our dependence on foreign oil must be curbed, Cleveland could benefit on the high density rebirth rail can spawn and, as the recent Census shows, the suburban growth in this region is right along the proposed West Shore commuter line (esp Avon & Avon Lake in Lorain County) as well as the SE line into Portage county. And I can't stress enough how we must stick it in the public's face how Kasich lied about/distorted the facts about the 3-C line, which statewide would have had a similar (extremely positive) economic impact as a regional rapid/commuter rail network (preferably largely electrified) in our metropolitan region. Again its mindboggling (I'm shaking my head as I type) that Denver is investing $billions to build the platform we already have in place... 327, we MUST keep asking the questions.

Jerry, just wondering whether RTA decided to run the Waterfront Line during St. Patrick's Day? Seems it would make sense given the severe crowding and the WFL's ability to distribute revelers around the periphery of downtown away from the crush that we know Tower City is going to be. Also, of course, the WFL can pick up many drivers/parkers from the Muni-lot at the NE edge of downtown.