clvlndr

Is there some kind of rail-hating disease in Cincinnati, so bad that even Democrats, like the current mayor, oppose and bash projects like the streetcar? I realize it's really an Ohio disease whereby we in Cleveland have it pretty bad, too, even where we have a legacy rapid transit system. But Cincy seems the worst especially since it is the most ideally suited Ohio city for rapid transit but yet, going all the way back to the 1920s subway project, local pols always burnish their reps by trashing and usually killing rail transit projects.

^Yeah, the zoning process is antiquated and needs to be streamlined. Yes property uses need to conform to neighborhood needs and desires, but when a neighborhood so totally changes and is attempting to upgrade, especially bringing in new residents ... ... Cudell is one of Cleveland's neighborhoods waiting to happen. Lots of potential and solid old housing, much of it multi-unit with lakefront access and quality transit connections. This location, in particular is just a block from the Red Line Rapid Station on Detroit. Cudell could/should be the next Detroit-Shoreway.

It seems like it's time that the State's big cities, esp the Big 3, unite to put pressure on the State to increase subsidy for transit operating expenses. I don't know what the situation in Cincy is, but in Cleveland RTA's brass uses the excuse that, because it's in the red, it can't expend time or funds to plan for potential future expansion ... and by expansion, I mean rail expansion -- Cleveland RTA has shown success and a proclivity to expand BRT, especially when it comes at the expense of rail expansion proposals.

^Well look at it this way, if a Chicago Trib writer wrote this piece (picked up by the LA Times) raving about the CLE foodie scene a decade ago, consider Cleveland's perception in food circles today.

^ yeah, don't often see seriously struggling clubs expanding.

... they didn't even mention Symon is co-host of "The Chew." This maybe a recycled article. Apologies.

^Oftentimes it takes the rest of the country time to catch up.

Hot new dining city: Cleveland?! by Monica Eng Chicago Tribune Reporter Michael Ruhlman can come off as such a snob. In his latest book, the world-famous food writer insists that everybody should be using veal stock in their home kitchen. He advises all meat eaters to slaughter and eat their kill once in their lives. And earlier this year, on his influential Web site ruhlman.com, he launched a withering attack on the unsuspecting chicken Caesar salad. http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-trw-trvmain3-wk3-story.html

I would say the jury's still out. All the current issues we are still experiencing with the streetcar would be easily fixable with suppportive leadership. But the needs of the bus system are taking center stage now. The ball is in the court of Cincy progressive rail and transit advocates, because you know the powers that be are feeling: "We gave them their little trolley, what more do they want?"

Did the streetcar advance the cause for true Cincinnati rapid transit or hamper it?

Good points. In Cleveland this has historically been the case. But even when the voters overwhelmingly voted for a subway in the 1950s and for RTA with the promise of rail expansion in the 1970s, local public officials like Tim Hagan and Joe Calabrese have scuttled rail expansion plans. The idea is that rail is always somehow an uneeded expense based on questionable (to officials) positive impact whereas freeways and similar highways, like the Opportunity Corridor, are presumed positive....so they shove freeways down the publics' throat and bill them.

I wouldn't say Cincinnati would necessarily be Boston exactly with the subway, but it would be a lot closer to it. We all know Cincy already has a ton going for it with the dense, Victorian housing in OTR and its tight, narrow-street-ed downtown. But Cincinnati as a walkable, dense city would be even greater; Central Parkway, where the subway tubes are/would have been developed, is empty in many parts, especially around Music Hall... Quite obviously this area, and others near subway stops, would be dense with housing and development ... like, say, Boston. The streetcar is nice and a nice start, but its impact pales to what the subway would have had/could still have on the city.

It works both ways. When that poor 69-year-old woman from the Shaker Rapid was struck and killed by a bus a few months ago, some pro bus-through-the-center advocates pointed to this as an example of too many buses forced to round-about the Square when it was really just about an irresponsible bus driver who was fired by RTA and, IIRC, could still face charges. If someone gets struck by a bus (hopefully never a child) in the through Superior roadway, the keep-it-closed crowd will point to that... It's all a matter of personal politics.

Andrew Bogut breaks his leg just 58 seconds into his debut as Cavs' D once again waves the red cape defensively in losing to the (currently) Lottery Heat for the 2nd straight time. To add salt in the wound, the previously slumping Dion Waiters torches us in the 1st half then banks in a 3-point dagger to close out the game... Too many guys are having career nights against the Cavs. We have no defensive ball pressure, aren't covering the 3-point line and are getting pick 'n rolled as if its going out of style. Now just 20 games left and our D is as bad as its been all year.

RTA and the City are about to turn what was a beautiful, celebrated, people-centered public (front-door) park redo into a mess.

Because the passenger is not really a consideration. Budgets, "efficiency", and all too often egalitarianism are considered more important. Monopolies do that. I agree that financial considerations (and prejudices about Those-Who-Use-Transit) issues dominate, but I disagree that it's a monopoly issue. Competition does not guarantee a better experience. As an example, consider US Airline Travel (trending negative passenger experience despite (because of?) intense competition within the industry). I can think of at least one instance where the lack of direct competition has not prevented a great travel experience -- the Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train). I expect that the excellent service allows them to charge a higher fare and maintain sufficient ridership, but there are no other bullet train operators in Japan. On the other hand, the Shinkansen does have "competition," but it is in alternative travel modes -- airlines, "local" trains, and cars -- each of which has different pros/cons and the markets for each mode partially overlap but are not identical. Similarly, RTA's competition is primarily personal cars, which provide more mobility, but also higher costs. A better rider experience might convince more people to ride RTA's buses and trains, but there would still be people who want/need a personal car and the flexibility that provides -- the market for personal car drivers and RTA's services only partially overlap. So despite RTA's "monopoly" of transit in Cleveland, there is some competition and some reasons to improve the customer experience. I tend to agree. Regarding monopolies, I think e.rocc is focusing on the days when suburban services like the Maple Hts Transit (bus) service existed along with the old CTS and Shaker Rapid Transit, among other local services, before RTA was created and absorbed all of those services. The days of these smaller services is long gone; very few cities, especially major cities even as large as New York, have multiple municipally-owned transit services (note the only exceptions in New York are transit services from other states, like New Jersey Transit and PATH, which is owned by the NY/NJ Port Authority). As you note, the main competition we should be focusing on is between the automobile and transit. While I agree, there is obviously a necessary and important place for cars in the Greater Cleveland transportation complex, transit, RTA that is, is losing out in areas where it should, if not dominate, be more important factor such as transportation in/out of downtown and dense neighborhoods like University Circle, Shaker Square and Ohio City... ... Quite obviously the inability to convince local pols to even get seriously interested in issues like RTA's operational funding or TOD is extremely disheartening. The fact that, as KJP has repeatedly pointed out, that the transit GM and his top managers mistakenly believe that declining operational dollars means the agency cannot plan for the future or extend service, is absurd. And the fact that only a few people even seem to know, or care about this, ... well, what can you say? I was on an outbound Blue Line train a few weeks ago that broke down at E. 79th, where all passengers had to wait for: 1) another train could be dispatched from the E. 55th street yard to push it away, and 2) for the next (extremely delayed) Green Line train to come and ferry us to Shaker Square. It's well known that these near 40-year-old trains are falling apart with no source of repair components, other than cannibalizing parts from deactivated cars, and that it may force the system to shut down in a few years. And yet RTA has no firm plans to replace these cars, apparently with the mentality that it can't make such plans because its collective finger is in the dike plugging the operational funding hole. This is inexcusable.

^^Heinen's is such a stunning, amazing and useful facility, I fall in love with Cleveland all over again every time I experience the place -- either in person, in print or through photographs.

East Jefferson has always been my favorite Detroit main street. It has a lot of potential as well as (already) significant commercial and high-end apt/condo development because of its location along the Detroit River (along with the Belle Isle access). I sure wish RTA would bend the Q-Line LRT east out Jefferson as well as narrow Jefferson by a lane on both sides, along with widening the sidewalks, to make it more walkable. This would make Jefferson more urban and less suburban in feel... This LRT should be extended into Grosse Pointe and would serve the Villages (formerly Indian Village), which is one of the more desirable in-city neighborhoods, with old apartment mid-rises along Agnes Street and mini-mansions (as well as a couple outright mansions) no crossing streets.

It's interesting (sad really) in the Cleveland Heights development thread to see how many UOers still believe that urban freeways are vital an necessary and that, somehow, an old, character-rich, walkable suburb like Cleveland Heights is lacking without them and that, somehow, the Opportunity Corridor or a full fledged freeway would somehow help CH. Those folks should consider America's Big 5 transit cities: New York, Chicago, Boston, Philly and D.C. Each of these cities have large, well-developed transit networks while also having underdeveloped limited-access road systems (freeways/toll roads) and, yet, each has the most desirable urban, inner circle suburban areas in the nation in terms of character, density and walkability; rental properties in these cities are among the most expensive in the nation... Look at Chicago's North Side, especially the suburb of Evanston (among several examples within and outside Chicago's borders) which is dense, walkable, rail transit friendly and has an established and growing downtown area with some mid-rise office buildings. And yet Evanston has no freeways anywhere near it. It sure seems, therefore, that freeways are not hurting this fine old university town in the least... in fact, the reverse is the case... ... build a bunch of freeway ramps into Evanston (to compete with and hurt rail transit; something Cleveland seems fond of doing, including the transit chief himself), cut up neighborhoods, build big boxes, strip shopping and cul-de-sacs, and you'll turn it into Evanston into Cleveland's version of ... Westlake. Is this desirable?? ... I guess to some (too many) UOers, the answer is: yes.

Whatever happened to Sam McNulty's plan to build townhouses near/around Abby Ave & Columbus Rd?

Photos: Detroit's new Riverfront Plan -- more parks, fewer pricey condos Detroit's east riverfront will not, after all, become the near-exclusive domain of high-end condominium and apartment dwellers. In a bold, new, and more democratic vision unveiled Wednesday evening, city planners showed off a blueprint to create three zones of public parkland on the riverfront where once private development had been scheduled to rise. http://www.freep.com/story/money/business/john-gallagher/2017/03/01/detroit-riverfront-greenways-development-riverwalk/98544290/

I seriously doubt the OC will have any positive influence on the development of any multi-unit residential project in a walkable community like Cedar-Lee (Lee and Silsby).

I find Cleveland Heights to be pretty well served by transit. Even though the city doesn't have rail transit within its borders, it is flanked by rail to the west and south... I've known of many people in the southern part of CH who walk to Green Line rail stations just south of CH's southern border in Shaker. Also some people in the Cedar-Fairmount and Coventry neighborhoods walk down the hill (and sometimes up it) to Red Line stations at Cedar Glen and, now, Little Italy, respectively... In addition, (relatively) frequent feeder bus lines also serve these stations. And for those who'd rather drive, CH residents can, and do, drive and park along South Park Blvd in Shaker adjacent to the Green Line station there (where there are no, no-parking signs). It's usually 5 (no more than 10) minute drive. To those who choose to move out of Cleveland Heights due to a lack of freeways? It's a free country. These people, ultimately, are probably not the kind of folks who CH wants anyway as they are less likely to appreciate the unique charms that makes this old suburb attractive and special.

I frequent Ohio City quite a bit, but usually use the Rapid...buses from PS occasionally (to Hingetown infrequently)... I tend to drive to Tremont but did use the 81 and the old Community Circulator a couple times (I used to always get lost in Tremont when driving -- GPS is a Godsend)... But I never use the freeway to get there. Always use the Lorain-Carnegie bridge or hop over from Ohio City. Btw, some of the biggest high-end apartment building in greater Cleveland has been in University Circle and yet there is no freeway access there (and no, I don't count the inbuilt Opportunity Corridor).

^I'll take Cleveland Heights with its class and character, with its lack of direct freeway access (but with good public transit) over cookie-cutter, soulless Westlake, with it's I-90 freeway ramps, 10 out of 10 times.