clvlndr

... from your lips, er, keyboard, to God's ears...

I agree with you. This is as confident as I've ever been of a Cleveland team winning a championship, and that's saying something ... I'm old enough to have lived through all the bad stuff: Jim Chones' foot; The Pass, The Drive, The Fumble, The Shot, the Modell move; the Mesa Meltdown, The Decision ... all the way last year which I now refer to as: The Olynyk... The Cavs, especially LeBron, will never admit it, but this season, they've researched, schemed, re-coached and even partially rebuilt this team (phasing out the large, lumbering (and suddenly clueless) Timofey Mozgov and bringing in creators/outside shooters like Jefferson and Frye) specifically to knock off Golden State in the Finals.... Ironically though, the Warriors may not even make it to the BIG dance. OKC, like the Cavs, have suddenly found their groove in the playoffs and are peaking, while the Warriors (at least to me) appear to have fallen back a step since they tore through the League during regular season to achieve the 73-win record (and quiet as it's been kept, I believe Golden State is hurting, and I don't just mean Steph, who I don't believe is all the way back despite his continued big scoring). Both lowly Houston and surprising Portland ran up big numbers on GSW's vaunted defense... and OKC is perfectly capable of knocking off the Warriors -- even though GSW beat them all 3 times they played, the Thunder entered each 4th quarter ahead... OKC is better now, esp with that triple-tower lineup they use with Adams-Kanter-Durant... and sometimes Ibaka. Ironically, should OKC make it to the finals, there slower, bigger pound-the-boards style is the exact polar opposite of the Warriors'. Cavs have programmed themselves as a "smaller team"... and yet, we're so versatile (and have # 23 -- always a major plus, even against the Warriors), I wouldn't be worried about either team and, yes, we have homecourt vs. OKC... But first things first... I fully expect Toronto to be our next opponent. Despite their largely fumbling, bumbling Keystone Kops-type playoff run, generally, the Raptors finally seem to be righting the ship... even though it appeared that Miami's loss of Whiteside cancelled out Toronto's loss of Valanciunas, Toronto has the big-man trump card in Biyombo which has given Lowry and DeRozan just enough cover to reassert themselves and probably knock off Miami ... hopefully tonight... Remember, even though regular season doesn't mean much now, the fact is the Raptors won the season series vs. the Cavs and we did not win a game in Toronto... Let the games (re) begin! ... for the semi-vacationing Cavs, that is.

Very cool. Love the crumbling floor illusion at the Q; most effective... I also love the view of downtown from the FEB point of view (where did the cameraman/woman stand, on top of one of the salt piles? Really cool stuff.

I would also prefer a direct connection from NCTC to the Convention Center through an enclosed, overhead walkway above the tracks. But clearly, this would be a major start.

Wouldn't that be fun!

^Stonebridge seems to be the biggest drag on K&D's rep. I haven't heard as many complaints about their other properties.

Wow, this is fantastic. While it took a while, along with some crazy counter-proposals, it looks like officials finally got it right. It'll take a bit of time for me to fully digest all the details, but my initial reaction is very positive -- all important transit elements are in place -- AMTRAK, the RTA WFL and Greyhound; and the NCTC is where it needs to be, West of E. 9th between the North Coast and the Convention Center... (sure, I would have preferred Tower City but it just seems there were too many obstacles -- like the Stokes Courthouse, and the expenses needed to rebuild track and reroute trains back into this station were probably prohibitive -- sadly, that train appears to have left the station). Also great to see All Aboard Ohio's Letter of Support and continued input on this important proposal -- good work, Ken... Let's cross our fingers that the Feds will accept this TIGER application as it could be a game-changer in Cleveland's public transportation infrastructure.

I don't judge people based on their race/ethnicity ;) Not to mention the fact that Native Americans originally were from Asia anyway. Though it makes some people very uncomfortable, we're all truly brothers and sisters on this planet.

So much for Curry being damaged. Dude is amazing and was again last night in OT. Long way to go before we can schedule a parade. I still feel good about the Cavs. Yes, Curry is back and torching 3s late in the game, ... as usual. But Golden State doesn't quite look like the team that was tearing up the league. For one thing, their vaunted defense is allowing teams like Portland, and even pathetic Houston, run up big scores on them. I, like a lot of Cavs fans, still have the vision of the 30-point GSW blowout at the Q which, ultimately, cost David Blatt his job. Neither that Golden State team, nor that Cavs team, is the same as then. Particularly the Cavs. We're a much more potent, passing offense with Love, now a key cog -- unlike the semi-Forgotten Man he was under Blatt. And now we have this new weapon; this man named Channing Frye who is just another, dangerous tool in Tyronn Lue's tool belt. Frye's 3 pointers, and his length and ability to guard the rim OK, gives us yet another part-time center -- a dreaded 'stretch 5' -- who can space the floor by pulling opposing 5s away from the hoop opening the lane for LeBron, Kyrie and even Love, when Lue tries his new Frye-LeBron-Love front line. Steph or no Steph, I still believe a Ring is within our grasp -- and this assumes Golden State is even going to make it past either OKC or the Spurs, which they may not... As one of the local pundits is fond of saying: the only thing that can stop the Cavs is the Cavs.

Makes sense in response to the earthquake... LA is building/has built scores of TOD.

^I believe a line along Detroit should originate in Tower City; jog over to the Detroit-Superior subway deck utilizing the still existing subway station at W. 25. Then surfacing on Detroit heading westbound to Lake Av and to the beach.

^None of this is comforting considering K&D is likely the largest RE holder in Greater Cleveland.

Curry is likely out again for Game 4. GSW has looked rather ordinary against Portland and should be down 2-1 rather than being up the same. Things are trending against conventional wisdom in the West playoffs, with San Antonio looking like a shadow of themselves-- the suddenly look old and vulnerable and, for all the talk of Kawhi Leonard, he's overrated. Yes, he was series MVP vs Miami/LeBron 2 years ago and he's a nice player, but to hear the media, it's as if he's comparable to LeBron and, of course, he's not. Even when Curry returns, will he be damaged goods? Who knows, neither the Spurs nor the Warriors may make it to the Finals-- could be OKC, which is playing better of late. Portland is the only team to have beating GSW twice this season. Are they capable of taking them out of the playoffs? Everything seems to be breaking for the Cavs these playoffs. The only thing that could stop us is (heaven forbid -- injuries). Chuck Barkley stated last night, he thinks the Cavs will win the championship.

Stereotyping mass transit, eh? Nice.

Actually, you implied as much earlier in stating that the east Red Line is superfluous since we have the HL. The HL is the cheap version of the up-the-gut rapid transit line, principally a subway, that was being discussed. Yes, Cleveland had about 11,500/sq mi in 1950... The Shaker Rapid was, then, over 35 years old. The Red Line was just starting construction. Employment decline and suburbanization along freeway freeway routes certainly fueled Cleveland's population decline. No one is saying bar hopping will "save" ridership, but I specifically noted one tiny subset of this and you ran with it: that people did use the WFL when FLATS BARS were jammed ON WEEKEND NIGHTS and there was LIMITED PARKING along the East Bank. There's no reason to believe this won't happen again, once the new FEB grows into Phase III and parking options, once again, become limited. You refuse to acknowledge the fact that the main potential WFL ridership is people coming in from the outer rail system and riding the WFL to waterfront destinations, NOT people using it to move about downtown. There are/can be instances where the latter could be practical, but that's not the main advantage of the WFL, largely because downtown is so compact. The stiff hills into/out of the Flats can make the WFL advantageous to some people, though. Not true. Buffalo's daily LRT ridership is 15,700. While Cleveland's RTA doesn't post daily numbers, the best estimate from multiple sources, including the APTA which doesn't have RTA daily numbers either, is about 22-27,000 daily on the Red Line, and 10-12,000 on the Blue/Green lines. This means the Red Line alone carries more than Buffalo's NFTA rail line. My point was that Buffalo compares better in the one aspect I mentioned in that they did build an up-the-gut subway line and we haven't and, yet, they are smaller. You missed the point.

Last night was Channing Frye's coming out party for the Cavs. I think, now, Lue truly realizes what he has in this man and he will, going forward, become an integral part of our rotation. As we saw last night with Lue's great coaching moves, Frye is our weapon to combat the hack-a-Tristan approach teams are taking in crunch time, even if we lose a bit of Tristan's D and rebounding. And in many ways, Frye gives us much of what Mozgov gave us -- he's long and lanky, can guard the rim, is more mobile and, obviously, is much more of an outside weapon than Mozgov is. And you can tell, Frye readily, really wants this... wants to end his career with a ring, and can smell it. Same with RJ, but on a different level. The Cavs are going to win the championship this year... Book it!

So, in your opinion, would Cleveland be better off without the Rapid? You've said as much several times. Cleveland's rail system, especially the light-rail, needs to be tweaked/extended to maximize its use and development potential. I only mentioned the east side Red Line due to the much better service and access the HealthLine provides. Too bad the Euclid Avenue corridor couldn't have had a light-rail line connected to a larger light-rail system. Cleveland's light-rail is not used enough because it's not accessible and has a very limited route. The Red Line has better potential since it spans the east and west sides with a direct connection to the airport. However, its route as well is out of the way for the most part and runs through now low-densely populated areas. Cleveland leaders are to blame for the past, resulting in the current transit issues. Population and employment growth both in the city and region will increase the odds of higher ridership in its current configuration and increase the odds of extension potential. Creating a convention business downtown as a complement to the IX Center could creat a dual hub for visitors and conventioneers to transport from downtown hotels out to the IX Center and vice-versa. The IX Center was supposed to create a hotel demand in and around the airport/Brookpart Road. A Red Line spur would have helped. Cleveland's rapid transit system will languish until its use and development gets updated. I don't disagree with a lot of what you're saying, I would just put things into perspective. Cleveland has done quite well with mass transit, even though we're frustrated that service is shrinking, trains are falling apart and patronage is below what it should be.... No American city of Cleveland's medium size and low/moderate density has built, or is building, subways through core neighborhoods. (if you look at the Cleveland-commissioned subway study of 1918 -- the one that recommended streetcar subway loops under Public Square -- even though Cleveland was in a boom period heading toward it's greatest in-city size as the nation's 6th largest city, it still had moderate, uneven density with largely wood-frame, individual housing that planners had to cope with). Cleveland, historically, was not a well zoned or planned city. Railroad lines splayed all over the city; factories sprung up along these rail lines (which, as we know, both killed off Millionaire's Row and ruined our eastern shoreline for residential uses) and neighborhoods sprung up around these factories, where employees could walk to work. Early subway planners noted this made Cleveland a-typical in terms of planning trunk-line subways -- hence, they recommended the short subway loops, ... to be extended and upgraded to HRT at a later time... Even Denver, which I greatly admire, is building over 100 miles of electrified LRT and HRT commuter rail, but isn't building any subways -- it's entire network is at surface, within freeway medians or, like Cleveland, extensively along freight RR ROWs (Denver is exploiting RR ROW's like we should be doing despite our nearly 100-year head start). Baltimore, which is somewhat like Cleveland, has one HRT subway route. But Baltimore's an old, Eastern row-house city that's denser than Cleveland (7,671/sq mi vs. 5107/sq mi). Buffalo is the one city that's slightly smaller than Cleveland, and with a Cleveland-type density, that actually DID build an LRT subway up it's main artery (literally under Main Street), but Buffalo's LRT weirdly surfaces at the edge of downtown and runs in city streets through downtown. Also Buffalo's 1 LRT line is the only one they've built after over 30 years. I would like Cleveland to be doing more given that it was a pioneer in light rail and even heavy rail, for mid-sized, moderate/light density cities. Unfortunately the United States is a very conservative country when it comes to publicly funding mass transit and, quite obviously, Cleveland is in an extremely conservative/backwards state in this regard. If this were Cleveland, Ontario, Canada, things would be much better...

So, in your opinion, would Cleveland be better off without the Rapid? You've said as much several times.

I don't believe in the City/region making driving difficult merely to tacitly force people to use transit. I do however believe that driving/driving conveniences can and should be restricted, limited and even eliminated, where auto traffic harms walkability in certain walking districts, and in Cleveland, there are several ways the City can and is doing this. One biggie is the elimination of auto traffic through Public Square. The downgrading of Shoreway West to a boulevard is another. Reducing cheap parking should be another. Cheap parking downtown, especially in areas like the Flats, should be limited. Its availability induces more people to drive and, yes, hurts transit. People may have short memories, but back during the years immediately following when the WFL opened, there was significant, in some cases heavy, train patronage on weekend nights. That's when the Flats clubs were packed and parking was limited.

^If a development is convenient to a rail station, what difference does what the developer says make?

I soaked up every minute. Reggie Miller stated that the Cavs are playing THE best ball in the playoffs to date.

Good point, the collateral fallout from the WFL in terms of transit investment setbacks can't be measured. The Euclid Avenue BRT may have become a part of an extended light-rail line; instead we got a bus lane and a dead-end train at the Muni lot cutting through the east bank flats, the very same area White led to destruction. Yes, White is way up there and is just a part of the overall lackluster, inept and corrupt leadership Cleveland thrives on. There was no "fallout" from building the WFL. The Waterfront Line was totally separate from the Dual Hub subway, which is what the Health Line BRT should have been. Ron Tober, RTA GM at the time, was fighting hard for Dual Hub when the Bicentennial Committee for Cleveland came up with/drafted a resolution IIRC that the Waterfront Line be a so-called Legacy project-- planners raced to get it done in time (both for Moses' B'Day as well as to handle the crowd crush into the Flats Bicentennial weekend). In so doing, they ended up bypassing Federal Funding/red tape, and got a boost from the State, where ex-Cleveland mayor George Voinovich was more than happy to assist. Dual-Hub was a big ticket item and NOACA, Tim Hagen and the County Commissioners and White decided it was too rich for their blood and went with the HL -- had nothing at all to do with the Waterfront Line. Tober also wanted RTA to develop commuter rail as well as consider other rapid transit expansion but, in true Cleveland fashion, they ran him out of town as a too-big spender and we ended up with Joe C and, well... The total amount for the WFL was about $55-58M (not counting discretionary road reconfiguration the City decided to undertake) -- meaning, all told, it was about $70-72M... And even that amount, even by 1996 standards, is a drop in the bucket compared to, say, about $350M a piece for both the HL and the OC (highway) projects... I can't believe how people continue to get their hair on fire about a cheap, largely grade-separated, 2-mile rapid transit extension that, is (sorry PHS14) is stimulating (albeit slowly) development along the waterfront. I wish there would have been more teeth gnashing about the Opportunity Corridor, an urban highway designed to serve impatient West Siders that will dump autos, cause traffic snarls and hamper walking in University Circle. I wish folks had better priorities.

Absolutely. These aspects make the Golden Triangle seem, in some ways, like a mini-Manhattan. It's amazing that Cleveland is only 120 miles away but so light years than Pittsburgh, visually at least. Particularly love a couple shots: - the little kid climbing on the stone lion - the mural with a bow-tied Andrew Carnegie under a hair dryer sitting next to a woman (or is it some other famous Pittsburgh guy? can't tell) doing the same... classic.

^I agree with some of your points. And while this is a transit discussion, maybe on another thread you can explain how Mike White was the worst culprit in terms of running the city into the ground. He was far from perfect, I agree, but in fact, many of the seeds of today's significant renaissance in Cleveland were planted under his administration: developing the Beacon housing and similar townhouse/apt development in, around the Clinic; tearing down and rebuilding much of the decrepit East Side CMHA housing which, today, look like suburban tracts. fixing up the rundown streetscape of Ohio City and fixing up the Market Sq district; landing the stadiums in Gateway which turned a derelict, peep-show/hooker precinct into the busy sports, sports-bar, restaurant, apartment and hotel district; building the Rock Hall and the Science museum in NC harbor, when the former hadn't been nailed down and may have been lost to another city -- you can't deny the major image boost the Rock Hall has had for Cleveland; and yes (I know you hate it), the Waterfront Rapid Line, which is slowly spawning TOD and will develop more. White did other positive things and I'm not listing them all. He had his goofs, too, like losing a potential move of Progressive Insurance into downtown... Like I said, the man wasn't perfect, but White did much more good than bad and can hardly be blamed as the "main culprit" for Cleveland's decline, which is simply ridiculous. Anyway, that's my spiel; back to transit ideas for the future, like the very viable idea of commuter rail along radiating freight rail lines.

This is a nice set. Much like Cleveland, Pittsburgh has come a long way in the last decade, esp downtown. I remember staying in at (IIRC) the Hilton at Point State Park. When a bunch of us went out for dinner on a warm spring night, it was dead as a door nail down there -- there weren't even homeless (why bother?). Even still, though, it has always been one of the more visually interesting cities, and these photos capture that -- and people!!