clvlndr

... I just thought this may be that magical Phase 3 post... darn!

^Article mentions that, despite RTA's vote yesterday, construction won't begin for nearly 2 years.

Nasty habit. Nasty people.

Cue the obligatory "It's too crowded, nobody goes there...." adage. But i believe you're exactly right. The Park isn't designed to be as popular as it is. It's a good problem, for sure. But one that should by all means be solved. The watered-down Shoreway Blvd. is a big time aesthetic improvement. It's interesting to think about what further proposals (rail, bus, on street parking changes, etc) can lead to better access along the way. You raise good points... We've been driving into Battery Park, parking, and using the tunnels which feed directly into the new EP beach house and the beach. After the beach, there are 3 different restaurants to choose from in Battery Park. We noticed a number of people are parking in BP. Because of the growing housing density in BP -- including the new apt building going up -- along with the growing popularity of Edgewater Park, it's only a matter of time before BP starts restricting parking there... Public transit could/should be more available and accessible besides the CSU/BRT pullout stop KJP noted... Maybe a Tower City to OC/Hingetown to Edgewater Park then Edgewater Neighborhood LRT would be viable (using the old Shaker Tower City station and the Veterans Memorial Bridge subway then the boulevard of the new Shoreway blvd).

Any facts or sources behind your thinking?

This just gave me an idea--what if the Metroparks cut a deal with Edgewater yacht club for a single dock and access through a gate. Then they could run their water taxi service from the Flats, enable people to use the Waterfront Line connecting to the river taxi to the park. Only hangup would be the stupid NS rail bridge at the mouth of the river. See the freight train Lakefront Bypass thread. Then tell your elected leaders to look at it. :) Of course, I'd love to have the freight trains rerouted inland away from the lakefront entirely has KJP outlined in detail in an article for the local "Greenie" publication nearly 20 years ago... But currently I don't see the Iron Curtain bridge as being a major hang-up for a Metroparks water taxi over to Whiskey Island or Edgewater Park, as well as up the river to, say, Merwin's Warf restaurant. The trains, though frequent and several miles long, at times, only last a few minutes and the then the bridge goes up rather quickly. The Goodtime III and Nautica Queen often have to wait for the bridge, but it isn't that long ... The biggest problem is there needs to be more than one boat. Certain local businesses subsidized the boat ride so it is now free to ride, but if there's no boat to ride... We often get caught up I the concept of a public transportation service being "free" without first focusing on the quality of the service. I'd rather have a comprehensive river taxi service even at cost rather than having a free service, like what we have, that basically useless an effective cross-the-river transportation service especially when there's any kind of crowd and lines. Edgewater Park has become one of the most desirable assets of Cleveland and, really, there's no viable public transportation means of getting to-from there. The water taxi would make sense especially since both Edgewater and the water taxi are now run by Metroparks.

I don't know if this was due to vandalism or because the project is about to begin but the sign in front of Mayfield Station apartments was gone yesterday. Correct. It's Mayfield Station... I mistakenly referred to it as Mayfield Lofts, which was the original proposal for this tract.

With Centric rising and Quattro, soon to be, the physical advancement of Mayfield Lofts would make it an LI, TOD trifecta.

^Just skimmed the Q2 report... It looks quite interesting and positive; well laid-out 2. It contains a couple transit clunkers imho: I don't see how 57K parking spaces and cheap parking is a positive to creating a dense, walkable CBD. And I still don't see how extending the C-Line Trolley, that gets stuck and traffic and that doesn't even serve Public Square (into the Flats) is a positive while the built WFL, which can handle bigger crowds better, sits idle.

Yeah, why did Sawyer pack up Noodlecat at for Crocker Park. Seems like a slap in the face.

^Yes, I did read Kizer had some issues getting rid of the ball on a play or 2. That's going to happen to rookie QBs because the pro game is so much faster -- although it happened to him at ND too, at times... I still think this kid will do well, esp with an O. line and a weapon here and there.

Didn't get to see the game last night, unfortunately, but from what I've read Oswieler was terrible -- and from what my brother and some Houston friends warned me, is not surprising. Quite frankly it may already be time to move on from him... I see that Kessler was decent, apparently, and was able to move the team for it's 1st TD... but that Kizer was, with a few hitches here n' there, was the show stopper. Mary Kay was gushing -- both in print and on the radio -- about the cannon he has for an arm; but that he was accurate, too, for the most part. It will be interesting to see him against an opponent's starters. I've been excited about this kid since (in my opinion) we stole him with the 52nd pick. ... and apparently Garrett was a beast... For the 1st time in a decade, I'm very excited about this season. Looking to build and discernibly move forward as opposed to making the playoffs... Let's hope my hopes pan out.

I don't see it as neighborhood extortion at all. Citizens have every right to make concerns heard especially when their elected officials -- the mayor, city council, attempt to ramrod public revenue initiatives like the $140M Q repair bill through, while cavalierly (no pun intended) ignoring purported legitimately-gathered petitions. The true extortion exists as these billionaire owners (Gilbert, a Forbes 200er, had his net worth most recently appraised @ $5B and he's attempting to buy Yahoo to bump up his numbers significantly more) threaten to move teams if they don't get everything exactly their way, including a hefty largess of taxpayer dollars to build, then repair these expensive arenas. Oh of course, local citizens need to ante up for the prestige and other-related advantages of having these pro teams inhabit their city -- never mind the tickets, arena food, licenced jerseys and other memorabilia the locals buy whose generated revenue team owners pocket... Yeah, I know usual refrain: 'that's the way it's done' lest you risk losing your pro team to another city. That doesn't necessarily mean it's right, esp for a poor city like Cleveland that 9-years ago was ground zero for the nation's mortgage/foreclosure crisis. Yes Gilbert has offered some give backs. Still, I see nothing wrong with having a civic conversation even if, in the end, Gilbert and the Cavs get what they want.

This Saturday (8/12) kicks off the annual Feast of the Assumption in Little Italy which runs through Tuesday night. On Little Italy's website reads the following: The best way to navigate to The Feast is to take the RTA Red Line which has a stop in Little Italy. If traveling on the Green or Blue Lines from the east side, you can transfer to the Red Line at East 55th. http://clevelandlittleitaly.com/events/ It's interesting that while RTA, on its website, also recommends using the Red Line, they fail to mention Green/Blue Line riders' transferring at E. 55th to the Red Line -- which, btw, I know many Green and Blue riders do. Wonder why ? You'd think the transit agency, itself, would have the most practical and useful information as to how to utilize its rail system as opposed to a mere neighborhood organization -- although LI's website is very informational. RTA's Feast travel info: http://www.riderta.com/publications/ridersdigest/2017/August#toc-8 Then again, it's RTA we're talking about... I forgot.

Very nice set, Oldmanladyluck. I see you made it up to the Signature Room on John Hancock's 95th floor... We've always tried to make that a must-see/must stop when visiting Chicago, esp when we're staying downtown. The views are even sexier with the sea of lights across the Chicago prairie at night... Love downtown Chicago. At many points, it is nearly indistinguishable from Manhattan (although the Loop/near North is significantly cleaner than NYC). But I love Chicago's dense, beautiful and walkable neighborhoods almost as much along with the many great museums, blues, jazz, arts, shopping, great eats and, of course, the Lake Michigan beaches!

Well Ken, it would seem that these cutesy miniature buses, er, Trolleys are having a tough time negotiating the narrow streets and tight turns of the Flats amidst the heavy/crazy traffic that has been attracted to FEB these warm summer nights, esp on Friday and Saturdays. You know, a high capacity, rail rapid transit (no, not another Joe C. BRT) that could maneuver through and past all that heavy traffic to speed Flats revelers directly to their homes or cars, in free parking lots at outer stations, or for connections to other rail lines and buses a few minutes away would be great in such situations. It sure would be great if Cleveland was blessed with such a system ... ... oh wait...

I didn't see this mentioned, but as of Aug 4th, the C-Line Trolley's route through FEB has been altered, probably due to the crazy traffic, as follows: http://www.riderta.com/service-alerts/new-flats-east-bank-alignment

That building really went up fast. It is kind of an update on the typical Cleveland walk-up apts that were built all over town in the early 20th century.

^It's going to be quite majestic and stand out prominently at its location. It will be another iconic building for University Circle, which of course is loaded with them, but none quite so tall and domineering.

^American entrepreneurism has no limits.

I think FEB is having an arts festival today... It's really hot now; crowded every weekend. The next step is to get some retail down there.

We went up on NJT's NE Corridor line in mid July... There was some delay and slow trains in/out of the tunnel, but it really wasn't that bad. All traffic was squeezed to the outer tracks and platforms... Thankfully we went on a weekend... I wouldn't want to experience a Penn Station rush hour these days; it's bad enough when things are "normal."

Quite nice.

^As I said, I get it... I realize TIF is an important tool to have to stimulate development in a still underdeveloped downtown market. And I'm not dead set against it for this particular project which clearly is a game changer for downtown and, on some levels, for the entire city... But I'm just saying our generally income-strapped residents (and the schools are a critical infrastructure for residents) are being asked to bear a burden, especially given what our sports teams have demanded and are demanding of them in terms of public financial support.

Uh, what? You're gonna have to back up that claim. Ah, maybe waiving 30 years of the ability to commercially tax this property in exchange for an $18M lump sum from Stark. The article estimates nuCLEus to annually generate $4.2 in taxes to CMSD over 30 years which calculates to $126M (the article says it is $121M). By leaving the surface parking lot as is, CSMD would collect about $10.8M over the same period -- as such, Stark's lump sum concession to CMSD would net an $8M bump over taxes from the current parking lot... but that's a hell of a lot less than a $116M bump CMSD would get from taxing nuCLEus. ... I definitely get the concept of TIF and, yes, a big project like this portends to generate much more future revenue, and have a much greater positive impact on downtown, than the current surface parking lot. It would seem, though creatively, the parties could meet somewhere in between -- not necessarily the middle -- but in between.