clvlndr

^I'm happy for Buffalo, too. They had a great start with an nice up-the-gut system in the 80s that leaders, for some reason, just abandoned. Now with the reemergence of the City, especially downtown and in neighborhoods like Allentown and Elmwood, they're finally starting to appreciate the fact they have a good, expandable rapid transit base, esp given Buffalo's smaller size. It helps to have a progressive transit-friendly Gov. like Andrew Cuomo as well (please, could we trade him for John Kasich?) Buffalo is a lot like a somewhat smaller Cleveland character-wise, density-wise, weather-wise, etc. Obviously Cleveland has had a renaissance too (although I'm sensing that after our big RNC-driven year last year, our momentum is beginning to stagnate as public disputes (Public Square) and developmental financing problems (FEB III, nuCLEus and maybe even 515), among others, are rearing their ugly heads) but leaders here, from the mayor to the transit chief to the county executive to the governor to the Statehouse, don't seem to believe in the much larger rail asset that Cleveland already has and seem content to let it die a slow death... and we the riding public seem content on letting them get away with it.

That's pretty impressive; considerably larger than I anticipated. Nice TOD.

The almighty Tin Lizzie rules this town.

This is an incorrect description of Higbee. Forest City had investment more than $40 million in the Higbee Building prior to the casino, including converting three of the upper floors for Key Bank offices and rehabbing the main floors for a number of civic organizations (Greater Cleveland Partnership, Council of Smaller Enterprises, Positively Cleveland, etc.). One might argue that the casino brings more life to the building, but it was far from "desolate, dingy, or abandoned." Yes, there's some truth to what you're saying, but the main entrances to Higbee's were sealed up and the main shopping floors were empty. Positively Cleveland and the prior offices only used small portions of the space which, now, is entirely now -- 3 floors -- used by the casino. And while casinos are not everybody's cup of tea, I'll opt for the vitality this 24/7 operation brings rather than a largely empty space.

I think the writer's just a wee bit paranoid. Detroit is Dan's hometown where his company was founded, nurtured and now thriving. Of course that, and his alma maters, Michigan State U. and Wayne State, are going to be the major objects of his affection and $$$$... That said, it's obvious he's made a ton of positive development in Cleveland, a nearby city where he had no interest until he bought the Cavs 11 years ago. For long suffering Cleveland fans, like me, if he'd merely bought the Cavs, turned them into a 1st class sports organization (rare at the time for Cleveland; Jacobs had sold the Indians and all we had/have were the, gulp, Browns), as he has (and turned them into champions, no less), that would have been enough... ... but he developed the casino from a desolate, dingy abandoned Higbees' department store, put more Quicken Loan's office workers in Higbees, bought TC's Avenue to fix up and grow, fixed up the Q and bought at least a thousand -- probably a couple thousand jobs here (with more likely to come). I'm not saying he's been perfect, but having Dan move into this market has made this region, especially downtown, a whole hell of a lot better than if he'd simply stayed in Detroit... So per the PD article, I don't think he has to walk around with a bullhorn, or a sandwich sign professing his love for our city... action speaks louder than words.

^what's going on with the commuter engineers overshooting their end-bump barriers a la the movie "Silver Streak" in the 70s? We have MTA Hoboken last summer and now LIRR Atlantic Ave/Brooklyn... 2 similar accidents, too close for comfort.

Wait till the newly empowered, newly emboldened Republicans on the Hill start their privatizing, downsizing Amtrak crap once again.

Do I have to repeat my suport for light rail under the Detroit-Superior bridge? But that and so many other productive transit ideas won't replace buses, nor should they. Even if you think it should replace buses, no rail project is going to happen when Cleveland's political leaders are, at best, ignoring the erosion of public transit funding and at best actively trying to sabotage transit because they seem to think that Cleveland's downtown will be the first one in history to succeed with transit de-emphasized. As for gondolas, I can't speak for their backers. Maybe our aloof business community prefers them so they don't have to rub elbows with the rest of us little people milling about below as we wait for broken trains and look for buses delayed by detouring around the newest public transitway-turned-valet parking zone for another corporate pat-on-the-back event. I wish the idea was put out on the table for public view. To me, it makes too much sense to ignore or just kick it around as some UO fantasy because, in other cities, it would be discussed, at least. I don't like being afraid to put good, workable ideas like this out there just because we (rightfully) believe the current leadership can't see past yesterday as those leaders can be replaced.

Guess KJP doesn't want to answer my question.

^Good for Buffalo. At least one aging, downtown-progressing/population-losing Midwest lakefront metropolis has its head out of its arse enough to at least plan to extend its existing rapid transit system.

^Korver now free to report to Cavs' practices; bench.

Sources: Mike Dunleavy Jr. to report to Hawks on Tuesday http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources-seeking-buyout-mike-dunleavy-jr-resists-joining-hawks-on-new-york-trip-170349001.html

^Yeah, Grant often wanted to be the smartest guy in the room with his draft picks. Anthony Bennett was certainly one of the ball & chains on Grant's future here. Brooklyn may have been AB's last chance saloon in the NBA. I hope not; he seems like a nice kid with a lot of physical tools but just cannot seem to connect with the sport.

^AB's NBA future is on fumes.

KJP with regard to offering a quality decongestant mechanism for Public Square, I'm curious as to why you seem to poo-poo to the Detroit-Superior bridge rapid-to-TC through proposal? It was, after all, your quality maps on the fantasy-oriented rail lines of the future thread that I even got the idea. Now, after the temporary relocation of westbound trains due to the Track 8 reconstruction at Tower City, I see that the old Shaker station is extant with a platform and 2 working tracks and could connect directly to the bridge, going west, and eventually through the Huron Tunnel-portal to the East. This connection seems relatively easy and makes too much sense and could literally take hundreds of buses off the Square, provide a faster, direct off-street connection to the square and expand rapid transit services so that incoming/outgoing passengers have direct rail connections to downtown and other, newer parts of the city (like say Hingetown where all the furious multi-unit growth is happening in Ohio City). Isn't this what we should be striving for here? We always believe it can't happen here while other cities build such projects? I know it's Cleveland (and Ohio) and it's not likely to happen over night, but I still think raising the possibility and putting it forward doesn't help, even to a seemingly dysfunctional city where, literally, the light rail division may shut down soon because of cheapness, incompetence and poor planning... Why is this pie-in-the-sky, especially when you have people running around talking about realistically building cable-car gondolas all over downtown? ... Your thoughts?

Suburbanized forced open open-space parking lots brought to what should be a dense FWB area. And, oh yeah, let's demolish 2320 Center Street, some of the last bit of character architecture and street presence density along the way. While we want developers like K&D and Jacobs to develop downtown, it would be nice if they better understood building in an urban environment focusing on mixed uses, street presence and walkability. Perhaps Jacobs should speak to MRN or Fairmount for pointers before they crank this stuff out there.

I certainly didn't want a McDonald's there. But a patient facility there doesn't wow me.

^OK, I get the general concept of LEHD but I'm not entirely certain what that map depicts. If it's sheer job destinations, I tend to question it. For example, I don't see how the area bounded by Ontario, Rockwell, Lakeside and E. 6th could be a bright blue high employment destination area since, aside from the Key Tower complex in the lower SW corner (which is an easy walk from Prospect btw), the bulk of this area is taken up by the Huntington Convention Center, which most of the time is 3/4s to totally empty and, even when populated, it's with out-of-town visitors as opposed to Clevelanders going to jobs. Also, I get that you don't like the Waterfront Line, even though you're not honestly factoring in my scenario of dropping riders directly down into the Rapid from the street above. You're also not consider the recent growth, and potentially greater job growth, in/around FEB directly along the WFL.

Rerouting to Prospect also takes buses significantly farther away from all the destinations in the northern half of Downtown, unless you add a messy left turn onto East 9th to the route. That said, especially if the mayor gets his way with Public Square, I'd welcome some comprehensive rethinking of downtown's entire road network. The combo of huge public rights of way, terrible bike routes, and choked bus traffic is pretty ridiculous. I'm not sure I know what you mean by 'northern half of downtown.' Downtown kind of diamond shaped; a square sitting on its side. That means buses coming in from the West Side to W. 6th would be just as accessible to the WHD as they are now and the WHD is a source of current and future development. The area north of Superior east of the Square is, per Dan Burnham's 115-year-old Group Plan, made of up largely of lower density governmental office space with large portions devoted to convention center space (and now hotels), which is only used on a part-time basis. The clear bulk of office, retail and entertainment activity is, and always has been, out the Euclid-Prospect corridor. Superior has a number of office buildings, but it's reasonably close although it bends away to the NE. Point being, through-routing buses along W. 6 and Prospect still puts a lot of commuters close to most downtown destinations, and it would still be a short walk from large office buildings like Key and the Old Sohio/BP/Huntington/whatever the hell they call it now Building on Public Square. But you also dismiss the free trolleys. Wasn't their purpose to quickly circulate commuters and visitors to all sectors of downtown? And yes I'm going to raise those poisonous dirty words: the RTA Waterfront Line... If you bring in commuters to directly over the Rapid station, the ease of merely walking downstairs for trains directly to FEB (where office development is growing) and North Point/North Coast Erieview would be a snap.

Obviously I don't know, but it's an important question that needs to be researched... I do know that, in terms of connectivity with the Rapid, the Prospect 'terminal' location trumps, oops hate that word,... it beats central Public Square in terms of moving commuters from bus-to-trains and vice versa. Plus that section of Prospect is very lightly trafficked car-wise and would be ideal for buses. There are entrances to the train terminal on both sides of the street.

Yes. Oh that's right, the only transit you think should be going "through" Public Square is a subway. No not the only way, but I can't understand the resistance to an obvious, easy ROW route under the Detroit-Superior bridge directly into an extant, unused rail station. Seems like a no-brainer to me... Admittedly through routing through the also-existing Huron subway would be more difficult and expenses, but a more ambitious city would at least look at it, especially as fast as downtown is growning and becoming more dense at its center... ...btw for ths record, I've also advocated the much cheaper alternative of routing many buses along Prospect to a Tower City terminal directly over the Rapids... Creativity is needed but, again, deaf ears..it's through the Square of nothing for most I guess.

If they were streetcars, would you be complaining? Yes.

^so no more classic MTA narrow street corner stairs with the big green or red ball on the top of the pillars. Another New York tradition bites the dust... (of course the ADA isn't having that)

What do the 2nd Ave subway street entrances look like?

^I hope you guys are right, obviously.