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The PD published an editorial yesterday about RTA's proposed transit cuts that was so much pablum and offered no solutions, I'm not even bothering to re-post it here. (ie -- the state "needs to do more." ... duh; how about listing some state officials who should be pressured, er, contacted to try and get more RTA funding?) Also I think it's great that Clevelanders for Public Transit has been formed and is active in advocating for the public, esp the transit dependent. One tactic I wish they would take regarding the Waterfront Line, would be more fact-based and positive. Some people who dislike the service put it down saying it's for millenials and hipsters who want to hit the clubs and bars. Truth is, the WFL clientele is anything but. The small cadre of loyal weekday WFL riders I see are almost always working, non-professionals coming from the EY office building or cooks, waiters and hosts/hostesses from restaurants, clubs and bars. I get the sense that, for some of these individuals, the WFL is an important lifeline to them. True, they are small in number, so they really don't have much of a voice, but they're still important too. And the fact is, the more opportunities that is created with more establishments and residences in/around the WFL -- esp in FEB Phase III, more people will ride. I do see some lawyer/accountant types on the WFL during rush hour, but overall not that many. Most of these folks stream, on foot, over and around the WFL tracks to get to their beloved autos, which is too bad. The important thing is to shout down the WFL haters, like a Mark Naymik or a Norm Krumholz, with facts to drown out their empty, anti-rail rhetoric. The WFL definitely needs more friends and supporters because far too often, the transit "advocates" are quick to throw this important service under the bus, metaphorically, while advocating for their own particular service... Transit advocates should, indeed, advocate for all transit and not nitpick on behalf of their own particular route while trashing others. This type of approach will get us absolutely nowhere, other than less (state) funding, more cuts and more misery.

Agreed. There are no doubts about the strength of Indians' rotation, yet still concerns whether they will receive adequate run support. Even in yesterday's 4-1 win, the PD's Paul Hoynes noted the Punch 'N Judy method we had to use in order to manufacture runs, save Kipnis' solo insurance HR bomb late in the game, on top of the fact that Indians struck out a whopping 11 times. Today though, obviously the whole club had it going on.

So far so good. We need to play around .500 in April and May; hopefully (at least) slightly above this in May. Horrible April's and early Mays have killed us later on, because Francona, being the cerebral, player's manager that he is, observes player's habits (esp pitchers) and tends to get the best out of them later on in the season -- hence Tito's traditional strong finishes.

Even though, from the air, the new design mimics a butterfly, it remains to be seen how well it actually works at ground level. Let's see if it really is a more people place than the old design. Obviously restricting motor vehicles is major (as well as, for some, removing RTA buses, and the people who catch them), but ... I will say that sitting in the window at the Renaissance last week in between CIFF films, the new pavilion facing the hotel appears rather large. Speaking of our transit system, has any long-term solution been reached for RTA's bus locations? For the near term I'm assuming the south, SE routes will continue to terminate on south Ontario adjacent to the casino.

^The East should be more interesting than the West. And even Indy, at 7, could be a load if Paul George gets into a groove... Toronto and Miami could be the Cavs' biggest obstacles to the Finals.

^Atlanta isn't coached by Stan Van Gundy, either, a high-quality coach and a guy who seems to always have the Cavs' number. Most notably, it was SVG's Orlando Magic, with rising star center Dwight Howard and a bunch of cast-offs and misfits (like Rafer Alston), who beat out arguably LeBron era I's best Cavs team -- a 66-win team, infamously making us one of only 3 teams in NBA history at the time to win at least 65 regular season games and not win the championship (obviously this year, another team will join this hall of shame as Golden State and San Antonio have won 73 and 67 games, respectively). And because of this stomach-turning upset, we/the nation was forever denied a LeBron vs. Kobe championship -- btw, the Lakers easily disposed of Orlando as we should have been, but for some awful coaching by Mike Brown and the disappearance of Mo Williams in that series. c'est la vie. SVG tends to get the most out dysfunctional clubs, like Detroit had been prior to his arrival. I.e: he's taken raw Andre Drummond and helped develop him into one of the elite bigs in the League -- you know AD?... the center we passed over in the draft to grab mighty Dion Waiters. Because of this depressing history, I will not rest comfortably until we win the 1st 2 games against Detroit at the Q, despite the fact we SHOULD take this series.

And to add insult to injury from, at least, the RTA radio ads I've heard, it will likely be $259K poorly spent. Those cutesy, minimal-information ads (the one's I've heard, at least) are nauseating; ... a total waste of time not likely to sway even 1 person to utilize RTA.

Great points. IIRC some Green community activists from Oberlin College as well as the old Eco-Cities Cleveland group pushed for rebuilding W. 65 and developing the Eco Village townhouses on W. 58th... And while there is still some blight in the immediate area, that lower Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood is considerably stronger than when the W. 65th station reopened and some locals consider the Rapid station as a neighborhood asset. I sure wish RTA considered proposals to relocate W. 34th ... Even a move a few blocks west to E. 30th would have made the station more convenient to Tri-C as well as the huge main Post Office building which, with some prodding, could maybe have opened an entrance more convenient to the station -- it's currently on the opposite end of the complex, far away from the Rapid. RTA wanted E. 34th closed and, now that has been chided by public pressure into keeping it, is spending the absolute minimum to rebuilding in its current horrible location (adjacent to a prison complex, no less) with no thoughts of any kind of TOD relocation.

Only the last one has any (very slight) chance of materializing, it seems. (sigh)

^Then this is extremely poor planning and design on RTA's part. Either it's penny-wise/pound foolish design, or RTA's sticking to community leaders who demanded a new ADA-compliant station when RTA really just wanted to close E. 34th.

Does this mean that 34th street commuters are going to grade-cross the westbound track, a-la the current (temporary) Brookpark station? I sure hope not. Although RTA would be saving money, this would be highly inefficient and likely slow down trains (with trains from 3 different lines-- not to mention the empty, non-revenue train moves between TC and the E. 55 Street yard), esp during rush periods with people running for trains -- which could pose safety problems, as well.

Detroit was the one team I didn't want in Round one. They beat us in the season series 2-1 (tonight's game really shouldn't count). Drummond poses major challenges for us. Thompson is gritty as hell, but is really undersized to go against the big guy. Only Mozgov is physically comparable to Drummond, but Timo is unfortunately off in mental La-La land these days just when we need him. Kyrie also had better ramp up the D against Jackson, or he is capable of smoking us as well-- as he did against No. 2 during the regular season. And then there's Marcus Morris who, essentially, is playing Drummond's in-the-paint "deputy" much as Greg Monroe did prior to this past year. In actuality, Detroit is a 8-seed that barely crawled into the playoffs, so we should handle them; esp given the extra playoff gear LeBron always plays in (save that infamous Celtics series in 2010 just prior to Decision I). As we've seen, LeBron has been ramping up since the Miami loss weeks ago. Let the games begin! ... er, after tonight that is.

^Well, then at least some good came of it. Railbus; that's what it was called! ... I remember waiting on the Shaker platform with my Dad heading home during rush hour... We had to wait until the Railbus to load and clear before our train could board. I do remember it was packed and people were excited that this experiment would lead to Lake County commuter rail.

^ The new station will feature a hillside walkway with covered rest points. The station will be in compliance with ADA accessibility guidelines, and offers enhanced security and improved lighting. I'm curious as to what this station will look like.

Very interesting. I wonder if it would possible to guesstimate the demand for some of the lines that are essentially commuter rail, by initially running buses along those same or similar routes. Back in the 1980s, a British Company marketed and (I believe) lent a self-propelled diesel LRT commuter rail car to RTA. RTA temporarily leased/used NS tracks and ran the LRT car from Mentor to Terminal Tower (no TC in those days). IIRC, the car was low platform and stopped in Euclid and then connected with the current Rapid at RTA's E. 55 shops/yards and ran the final 2.5 miles over the Red/Blue/Green main line into the, then, Shaker LRT terminal... I recall this experiment being a huge hit, but at the end of the lease period, RTA returned the car and there was no further pursuit of commuter service in this corridor (aside from RTA GM Ron Tober's proposals for commuter rail in the late 1990s) until the current Red Line extension proposal to Euclid Square which, itself, appears shaky. So it goes for non-aggressive transit policy for RTA, it's (sad) a tradition.

Several times. Fastest way to Gordon Square from Lakewood. Does, should, the 55/CSU BRT-lite have a stop at Battery Park? If not, will the Shoreway conversion make such a stop more feasible? ... The few times I've been to BP (which I really like) I've always driven, but it appears that the #26 along Detroit is a tad distant..

^Great work by Jake, as usual, who is THE Cincy subway historian.

A little more decorum among some admins and mods would go a long way. Some can be quite nasty. ... btw, ColDay is not among those.

^Good grab... interesting.

Nice job. I visited Hawaii in the late 90s for a week-long conference but, unfortunately, never left Maui. I'd like to make it back out there... It's gorgeous; a true tropical paradise, but just so friggin' far away -- a full day of flying (oh the airplane claustrophobia!)... and, yet, it's still the United States. It's quite amazing to me that there are these highly urban environments on this group of small islands waaaaaaayyy deep in the South Pacific, distant from practically everywhere. Many people don't appreciate how old, established and urbanized Hilo and Honolulu actually are, with Honolulu actually building a 20-mile, driver-less heavy rail rapid transit system including a stop, of course, at Pearl Harbor.

Not really. In point of fact Cleveland, like other cities that are stressing walkability and public transit (well, other, more progressive cities are promoting the latter a whole lot better than Cleveland is), are making urban driving more difficult and less attractive. That's why the Public Sq and Shoreway projects, as I cited, are happening. That's why you're seeing more traffic calming devices like speed bumps, crosswalk protection lights, and narrower main drags. Unfortunately, Cleveland has taken a huge step backward in building the highly foolish Opportunity Corridor urban highway.

I thought this was for construction jobs, not for businesses locating there. I still think the OC should be called Garrett Morgan Parkway. I appreciate your sentiment, but it would insult the legacy of the legendary Mr. Morgan with this joke of a project. I'd prefer to call it: 'Kasich's Folly,' and at the E. 105 on-ramp/entrance, build a giant statue of a smiling John Kasich, with pistol in hand, shooting an Amtrak locomotive. This would be more apropos.

Why? This is exactly the wrong approach to take. It sounds like your intent is to spend tax money to inconvenience people to get them to live the way you want them to live. It's pretty much becoming the strawman some conservatives would like to portray the left as. As an open strategy it will be emphatically rejected, as a secret one it will be suspected until finally it comes out as being intentional. If that's not your intent, that's still how it will be portrayed. All it can really do is backfire. I don't, per se, making driving more difficult is the way to go, although, indirectly, I have no problem with it, such as projects like the Public Sq improvements cutting off through traffic or the Shoreway West boulevard-ing project... I do believe, though, that downtown needs to cut back on the availability of cheap, surface parking, because this really is hurting transit... Why are there umpteen cheap surface lots on the East Bank of the Flats, for example -- as there is in other corners of downtown? Every time I'm down there during evening rush hour, I see streams of office commuters stepping over the WFL tracks to get to some $4.00-5.00 all day (or maybe even free street parking) lot. People in this town, especially suburbanites, are lazy; can't even stand to wait the less-than 15 minute transfer to the WFL from a bus or the Red Line (or, like, no wait time at all if you board the Blue or Green Lines from the East side), for example, when heading down to the resurgent FEB clubs and restaurants... Ditto for public events... Much of the crying I heard following the Indians' opener snow-out yesterday is from people who paid all that money for parking... boo-hoo---> take the damn Rapid next time, and maybe on foot you can enjoy more of downtown.

Damn shame. This shortsightedness screwed with a lot of fans.

... well, the last time our opener was snowed out was in 2007 when we played our "home" opener against the Angels in Milwaukee. Of course, that year the Indians went to the ALCS and had the Red Sox on the ropes 3-1 with lowly Colorado waiting for them in the World Series. Of course in true Cleveland sports fashion, we choked away games 5 and 6 and Boston handled us at home in Game 7.