clvlndr

Excuse me? The logo "T" is less confusing the "Rapid Transit!!??" In case you haven't noticed, rapid transit is the universal term most cities use for their systems, even Boston. I even see it in NYC's subway. Remember, IRT, which still appears in a few places, stands for "Interborogh Rapid Transit". And although Chicago's is popularly known as the el (or, really, the "L" most times), all entrances to the system, as well as all CTA maps, use the term "rapid transit". At the airport, we use the term rapid transit and the stylized, universal signage w/ the euro-looking train and 2 tracks under it. I don't see what more we can do. I might suggest, though (like Chicago), RTA post more ads w/ big glossy pictures of an airport Rapid train while advertising how cheap and fast it is compared to cabbies ... of course, our loud taxicab union would probably cry 'foul'. I used to see some of these at Hopkins, but they've disappeared.

^ The Illinois budget increase is good news for the Midwest, in general. I sure wish we could benefit from this, in Cleveland. I know the Ohio Hub/Midwest Direct plans are in the works, but it sure seems strange that most of the major the Midwest satelite cities in Chicago's constellation get such good daytime service, (and let's not forget Detroit's, what, 3 round trips) except us. And yet, even an 80 MPH, couldn't service over the flat straight-shot tracks w/ 3 or 4 stops could deliver Clevelanders into Loop, in what, 5.5 hours? Pretty competitive w/ a car I'd say. While I understand noozer's comments that Cleveland was traditionally "flyover" (or flyby, given it's rail) status, it's still surprising, particularly given our vertex position in splitting eastbound service into N.E., E, S.E. routings. And were we always flyover territory? Even during the glory days of our post-Van Sweringen, Terminal Tower prominence?

I 2nd MyTwoSense. We Clevelanders often get bogged down in such negativity, we can't see what we've done right in this town. To hear some, Tower City is the most god awful mess you can imagine; yet, to outsiders, it is mixed use, multi-modal palace -- one that's rarely duplicated anywhere in the world. And the Rapid is a major asset that many cities considered 'better' than Clevealand -- Seattle among them -- have trouble even building. And it's a useful tool in moving locals & tourists around town to many businesses and activities and it interconnects very well with our bus system (extending the rapid) to which it offers a somewhat rare free transfer ... This acknowledgement is not a license for laurel-resting by any stretch of the imagination. The But it's nice, sometime, to be re-grounded by getting a fresh perspective. Good stuff, blinker; thanks for that... :wave:

I, too, was frustrated by Larry, b/c I know he's a much better player. He's got a lot of rust, plus I think, given his friendship and rivalry w/ Arenas, I think he was constantly trying to one-up Gilbert (well, we saw how that turned out). He violated that age-old premise of that great athlete: he didn't play "within himself"; he turned the ball over and took some wild shots... But Larry dished out 11 or 12 assists and, as usual, made some key D contributions. And let's not forget Game 5, where he carried the load, scoring-wise, while leading the triad of himself, Eric and Flip when LeBron went down on fouls (ridiculously, from a refs POV) in the 3rd quarter. Let's not give up on Larry just yet. Don't forget how we got off to such a hot start (and whipped these same Pistons) before Larry went down to injury. I also loved what Eric did for us; I was calling for his benching for Flip & Larry, and look how huge Snow stepped up for us. Go Cavs. :clap:

and we'll all be waiting too, pope; we'll wipe that nasty grin off Sheed's ugly mug ... CAVS ROCK, BABY!!!!

Thanks for the info. It's easy to be skeptical about some of RTA's "long term" rail plans, like expanding the Red Line into Berea when that plan was killed off by Berea's complaints years ago. Ditto, the Blue line ext into Chagrin Highlands, which Calabrese all but pronounced as good as dead a few years ago -- he's good for that, you know, except when it comes to his treasured BRT (aka, the transit-funded street landscaping project, as is correctly coined by DaninDC) Who is RTA trying to kid? I guess it's up to the City to push for the Waterfront Line's lakefront extension (much like the City pushed for, and got the Waterfront line, itself). It's also interesting how much the death of the Flats East Bank seemed to drop RTA rails already weak 9M numbers to 7M in the course of about 5 years. Hopefully, growth in the form of Wolstein's project can help boost that number. Obviously, the better news is that there appears to be growth elsewhere in the system. It would be nice if we could get those TOD projects moving. Those could be a big boost (although, the youth Center proposed at West Park doesn't seem like much of a TOD -- a sprawling suburban-like building with cars all around it).

Unfortunately, this just shows that when your news reporters -- true to their form in a State that's indifferent to transit -- clearly clueless about rail passenger service, they are inept in conveying to the public actual facts about the benefits of transit and can easily be swayed by naysayers who, like the reports themselves, operate in a vacuum of information.

... and meanwhile, back at the ranch, gasoline prices are shooting through the roof once again (as oilman Bush tries to con voters by acting like some kind of faux liberal/consumer activist "investigating the problem"), big airlines are collapsing, dropping routes, laying off personnel and leaving gates empty at many a port... so we have fewer and fewer options, and what does the Idiot at 1600 do? ... sure, continue to slash, cripple and try and kill Amtrak... ... the term "idiot" is a compliment to George Bush.

^ well, KJP, everyone certainly appreciates your hard work. But that's a terrible indictment of our transit agency, the biggest and baddest in the state. Quality mass transit could mean so much to rebuilding our metro area, but we've got a bunch of yeahoos running it. It's a crime. :whip:

^ Good points, noozer, but you forgot one other key element: getting RTA on board, be it through arm twisting or otherwise.

^great to hear.

We've been following this as it's right in our back yard -- I grew up right around these parts. Shaker w/ this project, along w/ Shaker Towne Center, is seriously throwing down the gauntlet to rival/neighbor Cleveland Hts (Heights Bites!!) in its long overdue development of walkable, mixed use developments. It's surprising that w/ the obvious advantage of rapid transit, Shaker's been so slow in such TOD development; but it's geared all its (limited) commercial development towards the auto -- the most recent debacle being Shaker Town Center I, built in the late 80s/early 90s, w/ the businesses set way back from the curb behind the typical sprawl-burb surface parking sea in a typical strip mall type development. These new 2 TOD developments are making the best of Shaker’s decades of poor planning, and it's great to see... I too despise just missing the light at the Chagrin, Warrensville, Van Aken & Northfield intersection... too bad we can't go really nuts and build and underpass for Warrensville and extend the Blue line overhead in the center of a handsome skyway surrounded by temp controlled sidewalks connecting buildings in the new development... ... well, a guy can dream, can't he?

^I thought the max length of platforms on the Red Line is for 4 cars, which would be all Cleveland could ever need, anyway. You're right, E.105 has been reduced w/ the new station, whose entrance has been switched from E.105 to adjacent Quincy. But my understanding is that once the reconstruction of E.105 -- currently underway -- is complete, the plan is to lengthen the platform all the way under 105 and to open an elaborate headhouse at that location to complement the Quincy entrance. Meanwhile, there was initially a TOD plan for the Juvenile Court/holding on the old Carling brewery site. I don't know what the status is, though. Also, I didn't know E.120 was shortened, too. I never use that stop, but KJP has mentioned the plan is to relocate that station to between Euclid and Mayfield. My thing is why don't they at least put some 2-car trains back on the Blue/Green lines during rush hour. It stinks to see so many people sardined on those silly single car runs, esp the elderly riders. RTA claims to rejoice in expanded ridership after they've vocally touted their service, yet not that they're riding, RTA doesn't know how to treat them.

"Opponents fear increased rail traffic and another cause of urban flight." Huh!!?? Excuse me, I'm choking on the bullshit... The disinformation spin-miesters are in their war rooms ready to mount a full assault on this worthwhile project. Obviously, it's already started. The information police (us) need to stick to the key elements to shoot them down: - it's cheap ($13M get's it up and running w/ the $2M operating expense. - it's effective; fast, green, and the potential to concentrate growth around station. - serves the most people -- it cuts a straight line connecting: a) the densest part of the county (Lakewood central/East), with the corridor (I-90 west) which is actually growing.

And the great bonus re this human phenom is you can root for LeBron, the person... he seems like such a nice, down to earth kid... No knucklehead-ness w/ this hometown guy; he's incredibly humble. And for that we can rejoice. :clap:

This is all well and good, but isn't it a damn shame that we're the ONLY metro area, already w/ rail, where we don't have (and haven't had since that jerk Al Porter derailed the subway), any kind of comprehensive plan for rail? A city where it comes to agitation of well-intentioned neighborhood groups, or activitist-consultants like KJP since the transit agency is anti rail, constantly negative on the future of the metro area and who lives way out in an urban sprawl burb where he never has to personally deal w/ rail, himself...

Fair points.

CAVS KICK BUTT!! LEBRON: 32PTS, 10 REBS 11 ASSISTS IN HIS 1ST FRIGGIN' PLAYOFF GAME EVER!!!!! CAVS ROCK!!!!!! WHIP THE WIZ!!!!

Hopkins has improved a lot in the last few years, w/ the new terminal and underground tunnel to it, and the promise of the extended runway. Its appearance is much better. Credit to goes to Mok, but much work needs to be done. As we speak, Southwest is adding a Philly to Columbus route while still having no direct Cleveland-to-Philly route. We've got to fight back in getting low cost carriers into Hopkins (wresting them from Akron-Canton) in a way similar to how O'Hare fought back against Midway's 80s-90s low-cost air boon in Chicago. At least, I hope the talk of a Brecksville-located "super airport" has been put to bed. Let's hope Ricky Smith is worth the change and not just a Jackson patronage pick.

I think for most cities, el's are a no-no, even w/ the more pleasant concrete "T" construction, some, I've seen, w/ cylindrical support posts, even planters hanging from them. They still offer visual clutter, shadows (often moving) and a degree of noise over streetscapes. Chicago made the brilliant move, over a century ago, of placing it's L trains directly over or adjacent to alleys traveling parallel to the main traffic arteries meaning you could 'hide' the L's behind the streetscape building line. But Chicago is also more unusual than Cleveland and most big cities in that it is totally flat with extremely large blocks meaning incredibly deep lots. This offers wider alleyways with more room to play around with. Of course, Chicago's Ls are old, so old that, I wouldn't surprised that Chicago's growth (as it is a comparatively young city compared to its Eastern counterparts) was designed with, and grew along with, the expansion of the elevated rail lines. Cleveland, with its smaller blocks already built up corridors, hillier terrain, esp the Big Creek/Metroparks valley and, of course, the Flats, is more of a challenge to els, not to mention the fact that we have always lacked Chicago's density in most corridors (the Lakewood Gold Coast being the major exception). CORRECTION NOTE: I referred to a “Parma Freeway” when I meant, the Jennings Freeway—obviously, I hold urban freeways in such high esteem, I forget their names. :wink: MODIFICATION TO PROPOSAL: In my scenario of having the “Parma Branch” swing out from Pearl/W.25 for a non-stop Metro General Hosp to Pear-Brook shopping Center run along an Jennings Fwy-I-480 routing. I’d modify that to have one Station at Broadview Road to promote wider distribution. ALSO: Pearl-Brook is where we could go TOD crazy: a major multimodal station with a terminus for Parma buses, a stop for Brookpark’s #98 to interface w/ the Pink (Flamingo) Line. Here we could build I-480 exit ramps feeding directly into a Pink Line park ‘n ride, with high rise apartments, hotels, expanded Pearl-Brook retail, etc… THINK BIG. MODIFICATION #2 – if you really want to get nuts, you can add a branch spur from the line diverging east/south at Metro Gen that would stay on W. 25 over the Big Creek/Metropark’s Zoo bridge ending at the south end just north of downtown Old Brooklyn. You could extend such a line down into the valley with a loop all the way around the Zoo’s main exhibits. Such a branch-off line would only run M-Sats during daytime hours (and only on Sats during the summer Zoo season), otherwise, riders can ride the #79s up to their terminals at Metro General. And if they wanted to go into Ohio City beyond the Red Line Stop to, say, Lutheran Medical Hosp or the Detroit/Stonebridge area, they could hop an extended Ohio City/Tremont Community Circulator, as all regular through bus routes north of Metro Gen would be eliminated.

Am glad people are talking about this corridor as it’s an important one… But rail to Parma’s a toughie. It’s such a long corridor that a surface-all-the-way option, even with the junction w/ the Red Line for the 1.4 mile hop over the river may be too slow to improve enough over the current buses to make a difference. And believe me, the Red Line tie in is the only logical route. Aside from BRT, which I think is a waste of time, it makes no sense to run a surface line all the way through crowded/busy Ohio City/Market Sq, which, though direct, will only slow the line even more. The only thing that would make sense for that route would be to ramp into a tunnel after passing over the Red Line; then under Ohio City on W. 25th to a direct tie into the existing D-S subway. From there, I don’t see why we would compound the ancient mistake of not extending the subway a few thousand feet to Public Square rather than go to the expense (and traffic disruption) of ramping back up to street level – but that’s me, and since the W. 25 subway, even such a mile long one, will never happen, the conversation is moot. One option to increase the speed of the Parma line could be, this: - Red Line to W. 25 branching off to the surface - Light rail down W. 25 to the Metro Health/hospital campus - jog over to the Parma freeway for a non-stop run, south to I- 480 (or the N-S tracks) - west over I-480 (or the N-S tracks) to Pearl - up to Pearl left turning south down the Pearl median south into Parma (local stops but separated like Shaker and Van Aken; stops/crossing streets say every .3 miles, w/ some occasional ped bridges. In my mind, this makes the most sense although (and I see you guys frowning already) we know that these off to the side ROW’s are similar to what we have now on our low patronized Rapid… But in a medium density town like ours (and others like it; particularly those that are in no-growth mode like Cleveland) I think history has proven you’ve got to give up something in terms of door-to-door service to achieve the kind of speed that can compete w/ cars (and remember, unlike Dual Hub, the Parma route has the aforementioned competing freeway to challenge rail. -

Sorry for your hassles. But it was a great job and I'm glad the quality of your work is getting headway on this important rail project (as you know, in Cleveland, that's a feat in itself!) ... Sadly, what you're telling us kinda sounds par for the course when it comes to the Pee Dee.

Yes, that is funny. Funny, strange. Good article, though. Personally, I hope both get built. It's rather interesting that Shaia's talking about building w/in the year - for 2 large-scale towers - while Wolstein's pegged his earliest start date for low rise residential work at 2009. Perhaps it's because of the extensive street config and brownfield work, needed. But I wonder. Maybe Shaia's puffing. It'll be interesting to see how all this shakes out.

Yes, that rounded outer wall, behind home plate, definitely evokes ebbets field; mimics it, exactly. Even though it'll still be in 'far off Queens' at least some of the old timers may be mollified, a tad; those who are still bitter that the Dodger's bolted Ebbets and Brooklyn for LA nearly 50 years ago.

I would like the trolleys coming off the lower deck feeding the old Shaker terminal, but that doesn't mesh with a proposed "trolley loop btw downtown and O.City." I also think, if this were the case, you'd hear something from the City and/or RTA. Either way, utilizing the lower deck of the D-S and the prospect of even more new units at the amazing Stonebridge (beyond Stage V), is very positive, indeed.