clvlndr

Keith Dailey, spokesman for Gov. Ted Strickland, said the governor tried to increase direct state subsidies this year and next, only to have the measures stall in the legislature. I think Strickland is pro transit, as to how much, it's yet not clear. But we need to target the state legislators who block transit fund increases for letter-writing campaigns and even supporting opposition candidates. This is beyond absurd in the teeth of an oil crisis. The Bush/Taft mentality needs to be swept from office. :whip: :whip: :whip: :whip:

Hardly; it's a very good trade. We get an upper echelon point guard who's a great shooter who can dish (over 6 assists per game). He scores over 17 ppg and is an 85% FT shooter on a poor FT shooting team... He's another outside/3 pt scorer, like Gibson, but one who can create his own shot, which takes tremendous pressure off LeBron and makes him that much more dangersous. It also reduces Delonte West's bargaining power; negotiations with Ferry were/are at an impasse. West's a good PG, but not as dangerous as Mo. West will now probably sign the $2.8M, 1 year qualifying offer which makes him a free agent next summer. If he helps us win a title this year, let him walk. We really aren't that far off. I hate losing Joe Smith, a talented Big, but you have to get something to get something, and we still need a PG and an open court scorer. Plus, JJ Hickson is apparently turning lots of heads despite beeing a rook; word is he can play w/ his back to the basket but can also score down in the blocks ... ... I like this deal a lot. Ironically, LeBron's halfway around the world. I'm sure he likes it, too.

^And this man is the head of the only transit system that runs the only rapid rail system in the State!? :drunk:

Any new design schemes for FEB overall? ... specfically re Eaton's campus? (or has Eaton's failure to sign yet put a campus in question?)

Really? The line costs about $625,000 a year to operate and maintain ... RTA says it expects to save $314,243 by cutting service hours on the Waterfront Line. -- PD ... or $861/day. Doesn't seem to make much of a dent in a $20M shortfall, esp when the service derives as many dividends as WFL, even with its current low ridership (which appears to be growing of late).

Now that's something I'd get excited about.

Peter this was an awesome spread. Great photos. … A wittier, more sardonic narrative UO will never find.

Litt obviously preferred the Mall site to, perhaps, satisfy the historical vision of the Mall as a functioning civic place. Nothing wrong with that. Daniel Burnham was a visionary as was Mayor Tom L. Johnson for carrying through Dan's plan – unlike no civic cluster in America outside of Washington, D.C.... But guys like Litt get ensnared by history too. He often doesn't factor in the organic process of change that happens in every person (and a city is really a collective person)... It's like his argument for saving the Breuer Tower -- not because it is a potentially valuable skyscraper, but simply because it was Cleveland's only building Breuer built.... Likewise, Litt has tacitly bemoaned the Mall was never "finished" by not crowning it with the never-built passenger rail terminal... but did he consider a Cleveland with now Terminal Tower/Terminal Group (now TC), and probably no rapid transit, or Shaker Heights, or Shaker Square, etc. Would Cleveland be better off without those things just to say we “completed” the Mall and, in so doing, blocked lakefront views and created the freight/passenger rail bottleneck that planners of the time warned of? .. The scale and uses of convention centers are a lot different than when Public Hall was built in the 1920s as is the transportation system – now, mostly jet airplanes rather than steam trains – to transport conventioneers into the town. At the very least, Litt has the intellectual flexibility recognize the scaled back MM/TC plan has more potential for a positive visual statement than the top-heavy old plan he despised. He's a very bright guy; one of the PD's better writers imho, and Lord knows, as much as we get mad with his sometimes negative barbs, we need a smart, non-native POV like his. It's just sometimes his high intellect gets the best of him; paints him into a corner.

Maybe somebody could school our Transit Chief in the idea that rail transit is designed as much to create density as it is to serve it. ... btw, this Toledo Blade article is more comprehensive and superior to anything you'll see about trains and transit in the PD.

It sure would be nice if this happened w/r to the Health Line, w/ a downtown connecting (to the existing Rapid) subway too.

It IS 100% bus... I've gone on record as not being a fan of this service as being sold as an adequate substitute for the subway that should have been built in this corridor. Maybe it's spurring development in the corridor or maybe the development's being spurred by other factors... ... that being said, it political showmanship of the lowest order for Congressman Kucinich and Councilman Michael Polansek to bash the ECP/Health Line, which was mainly funded by the feds, anyway, when the discussion should have been on the RTA gas/service cut crisis... I'll give Health Line a fair shot, and even a ride... But pullleeeze, Mr. Calabrese, don't try and sell us that this is a cheaper, equally effective alternative to rail... It most certainly is not.

Nice shots... We should be having more of these kinds of festivals; esp on non-weekend nights along the West Bank.

I see cutting the Waterfront Line to barebones like this as foolish... more symbolism than really saving money, because RTA wouldn't be; not really. $314,000 in savings for a year is pocket change (as is $625,000/year to operate the WFL) for an agency RTA’s size, when you get down to it, esp for an electrified rail line. It only highlights what I've noted before: you're not saving much because the WFL is an extended rail service, not a stand-alone rapid rail line; Blue/Green motormen are on-shift anyway; electric is already being used, and the 2.2 mile extension isn't long enough to drain the coffers that much. It's funny how folks here always bitch about the empty trains of which, admittedly, there are some. But what about the 247-loop (or is it now a trolley?); whatever it is ... the one that goes from Public Sq. and, more or less duplicate the WFL route even ending in the Muny Lot. Many times during the course of the day, I've seen as many of those buses, if not more, running empty as I do WFL trains, yet nobody says anything EVEN THOUGH the buses are running on the thing fuel that got us into this mess initially (or so we're told): GAS... is there something wrong with this picture. ... Cleveland people just don't get it: the Waterfront Line is probably the most visible transit line to out-of-towners; including people who shape national public opinion about our town -- oh yeah, they DO matter folks; esp when we're trying to lure commerce and industry here. It serves our most visible attraction: the Rock Hall. And right at a time when we're trying to encourage transit; right when we're finally building SOME TOD along the line to try and get folks more in the habit of utilizing transit to get there, we pull the plug on the Waterfront Line (well, just about) ... So while I see cutting out the Community Circulators as even MORE hideous because of the many transit-needy who rely on them, these Waterfront Line cuts are foolish, too imho… (oh yeah, there are plenty of blue-collar employees (of the Rock Hall, Stadium, Federal Building and others) who rely on the WFL, ... during NON rush hour; what about them?

Exactly the point! Most cities would have sprouted development even before the Waterfront Line was finished... but here, 12 years later, and we're just starting development in a small footprint in a portion of torn-down Flats. Most cities wouldn't have zero TOD development where their line ends -- next to a weed-covered hill in a large, surface parking lot like Muny... It's called TOD!... Then again, MOST cities would NOT of allowed their nationally-recognized entertainment district slide into the crapper so quickly, either.

Yeah, that's right. To hell with all those tourist and out-of-towners. Lets close all the hotels; maybe the airport. Make 'em show ID when they board RTA vehicles and, well, if they're not from Cleveland... 'You're outta here!'... Cleveland for Clevelanders!

Hmmm, TOD on the CVSR? ... Maybe planners really should get moving on the 8-mile, Cleveland/Tower City leg in earnest.

... so it was really Big Bad Mike White who "killed" the Flats? ... and poor, underappreciated Jane Campbell saved them?... so much of this is rumor and hearsay. This guy's obviously got an agenda.

Agreed.

Myself and other TC advocates have been saying this from the beginning and is possibly THE best reason for TC.

ah...yeah, you might start with Tower City, itself which is more of an attraction than Public Hall... Then, you might consider our (indoor-connected) Gateway sports complex; I'm sure the Q will serve many MM/CC-related functions. Then, there's Public Square, hub and front door of the City. You might have also opened your eyes and seen E. 4th Street 2 blocks to the East, and the Warehouse District, 2 blocks to the West, our 2 major hubs of downtown living, eating and nightlife. And across the street from E.4th's entrance, is the historic and beautiful, must-see Arcade... And as for that leading Rock Hall you mentioned, Tower City has the Waterfront Line Rapid running from its basement connecting to the Rock Hall/N.Coast Harbor -- as well as stopping at the rising, potential packed Flats East Bank... (and for that matter, short Rapid hops to Ohio City/WSM, Shaker Square and Univ. Circle... Hope that answers your Q. Cleburger.

I agree and that would be a big loss; esp given the great success of the Cleveland Film Festival there, one of the nation's best... FCE could care to sh!ts about the theatres, anxious even to turn them into parking... It really bugs me; Miller/Ratner really bugs me and are the selfish, self-centered louts most everyone here believes they are (feel better MTS; I actually mean this)... ... the good news is, though, movie theatres are apparently a major component of the new Flats East Bank -- so maybe all the film activity can move down there in a few years. We went too long w/o downtown screens until TC opened there's. To lose all movies downtown would be a giant step backwards...

I can't disagree with you more... That's that type of thinking that's gotten Cleveland stuck in the morass it's in for so long.

^^ Very excellent analysis rockandroller -- you rock, baby! :clap: -- sorry I missed all the "fun"... ---Sounds like ol' Mike Polansek's been enrolled in Dennis 101 classes :drunk:

^Now, now, MTS, you're talking about... perhaps the future President of these United States. ... I'll be interested to know how exactly he plans to pull this off... ... and his exact criticism of ECP.

MTS, one hotel would be great -- either (preferred) all new, or expanding an old one. But we need one that has AT LEAST 600 rooms, preferrably 700+. For years we've been told that until we build a downtown convention center, somewhere, we'll never get one. That's why I can at all agree w/ jamiec, and others', idea that somehow building the MM at/near University Circle is a good thing. It would represent the death of a viable downtown.