clvlndr

... add to OSU's advantages the fact that MSU's secondary is banged up and inexperienced going with 2 freshman D backs. And while the rainy weather through 3 quarters clearly hampered passing and punting for both teams, I was shocked Urban played it so conservatively with only 2 air-it-out JT passes. Hell, Dantonio trusted his 2 platooned backup QBs through the air more than Urban did with his powerhouse Barrett-to-Braxton hookup... In general, OSU just looked like the proverbial deer in the headlight all afternoon long despite the fact that the game was played in The Shoe with OSU coming in as heavy favorites. This was by far Meyer's worst coaching performance I can remember despite the fact that he's a no-brainer future HOF inductee... ... btw, Elliott, who rushed for 30-something yards, ragged on the coaching staff after the game and announced he's not coming back to Columbus after this season... Ouch!!

And although Norfolk Southern has shown a willingness to address those concerns, CSX appears to be dragging its feet. A spokesman told the editorial board that CSX would make a decision on "aesthetic" improvements and "proposed attachments" to one of the bridges by year's end, but that's not good enough. . . . Norfolk Southern has given its OK to the plan, but CSX has not, Calabrese said, nor has CSX agreed to let its Cedar Road bridge be painted. CSX is reviewing the transit authority's plan for aesthetic improvements, including gutters and decorative elements, according to CSX spokesman Rob Doolittle, and a decision is expected by the end of the year. I love ironic names.

I'm speechless other than to say this is awesome and obviously remedies the most vexing eyesore in downtown Cleveland ... and it came out of the blue... Just goes to show how truly high the demand for apt units is in downtown especially now that the adaptive reuse office building supply is suddenly becoming scarce. ... and the banks are seriously opening their coffers for new construction at long last.

... and this is at a time when there were about 1.7M people living in Cuyahoga County. Too bad, in nearly 40 years, county leaders haven't come together to move forward on this... and, worse, that the transit agency (LCT) in a populous, commuter county like Lorain doesn't even have any bus routes into downtown Cleveland. Ohio continues to be so byzantine and factional. At the very least Cuyahoga, with GCRTA, is one of the few counties to have it's transit act together despite the financial woes it's now facing. As long as this state remains dominated by its Republican, anti-transit, every-man-for-himself mentality, I don't see a multi-county (truly) regional transit authority materializing anytime soon... I hope I'm wrong, but ...

^I noticed this the other day. Definitely a step in the right direction.

Bump

$150,000 grant will hire University Circle traffic planner By Brenda Cain, cleveland.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on November 16, 2015 at 4:06 PM, updated November 16, 2015 at 4:40 PM CLEVELAND, Ohio – University Circle Inc. has received $150,000 from the George Gund Foundation to hire a traffic manager to help prepare the area for an influx of traffic congestion coming when the Opportunity Corridor is complete. The grant is expected to pay the manager's salary for two years. "If you look around the country, the really progressive cities all have transportation departments to help them plan for future needs," said University Circle Inc. President Chris Ronayne. The new $331 million boulevard is planned to run from East 55th Street at Interstate 490 to East 105th Street in University Circle. The hope is that the crosstown corridor will spur economic activity in some of Cleveland's most dilapidated and under-populated neighborhoods. University Circle already faces massive traffic challenges. http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/11/150000_grant_will_hire_univers.html#incart_river_home

Cleveland did not win the RNC largely because of good transit (the rapid) and Cinci did not lose the RNC because of its lack of streetcars. The RNC needed to be in a city with a certain number of buses and both CLE and CIN met this requirement. CIN dropped out because of its shabby arena and CLE won due to its overall appeal. To say CLE won the RNC because it has a rapid transit system and CIN lost because it does not is misplaced. Perhaps largely is too strong a word. But Cleveland's quality public transit absolutely was a major reason the Republican site committee chose Cleveland, and why they didn't choose Columbus or Kansas City. In particular transit was cited in article after article, including this one: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/07/robust_public_transit_and_cent.html

Hopefully someone, somewhere, will raise a question about our esteemed governor-turned-presidential hopeful, John Kasich, who: - has presided over this horrible transit funding situation (and no doubt encouraged it) - had his party choose Cleveland for the 2016 RNC, largely because of good transit, principally the Rapid (which is ironic because Republicans generally, like Kasich, despise public transit as some kind of social engineering where poor and minorities ride -- Oh God, Obama and his lefty/socialist minions are coming to take our cars as well as our guns!!), and - while playing the Proud Host at the RNC despite barely spending any time in Cleveland normally (accept to push hard for the Opportunity Corridor), ... the same city where his fellow Republicans will be zipping around ... on the rapid transit system he barely funds (talk about irony)... ... maybe, just maybe, somebody will put Kasich on the hot seat on this ... well, I'll be satisfied if it's merely a warm seat.

2 questions: 1. When RTA recently closed the WFL for a week or so, why did they only rebuild 2 of the 3 grade crossings and not all 3? The Main Ave/FEB crossing is still terrible. You can wreck our tires there if you're not careful. 2. At the new Little Italy station, I thought they would maintain temporary lighting under the NS bridges until a new walkway is built in a year or so. Yet, when I walked through there the other evening, the lights were gone and it was dark, dank, muddy ... generally horrible. Why has the temp lighting been removed and when is the current horrible situation, at least, be fixed up? At least throw some kind of lighting there -- or were officials only concerned with Feast of the Assumption foot traffic? (Note: the great thing about the new RTA station's location is there is, due to the neighborhood density, lots of daytime foot traffic between LI and U. Circle; they deserve better)

In Phase 2, will Amtrak's stations maintain the 1 track/1 platform arrangement, or will there be 2 tracks, either from a center island platform or 2 side platforms? Obviously the latter would be more desireable.

I know a few years ago there was dire talk of Chicago's L shutting down due to the lack of CTA funding repair ... It says a lot that the Report's 2 photos of deterioration are of RTA's Rapid system. That 1st Red Line photo must have been after severe flooding. I can't imagine those tracks were even usable at that point... As for that horrible crumbling shot of the Lee Rd, Blue Line station, it would be nice if an "after" shot could be included of the nearly-completed handsome new station that is replacing it.

... and you would be 100% correct. Abramovitz designed Erieview's tower.

I'm surprised and saddened to hear that Alison Grant lost her job; hate that to happen to anybody, not to mention the PD now no longer has a Transportation writer. I don't know what's in worse financial shape these days: RTA or the PD.

Very good news. We work with people with offices in Tower East, and as the buyer noted, it's in solid condition, just tired. Even though this building rose during the height of auto-age sprawl, which is a bit antithetical given that it is really a 60s version of TOD, it's a signature Max Abramovitz structure that adds considerable commercial density to the area which should boost the new Van Aken development... It's also now a National Historic registered structure... Another highly-detailed, well-researched article by Michelle... we've come to expect no less.

I disagree. First there isn't evidence of even minimal decline along N. Moreland. This are is thriving, vacancies are hard to come by and rents have soared in recent years (I know because a HS friend of mine is looking to move back to the Square area and is having trouble landing a reasonable, quality apt on N. Moreland are hard to come by these days; competition there is high).. Now south of SS, there are indeed problems we know about, esp those condemmed buildings behind Dave's Market on Drexmore and elsewhere along E. 130 and S. Moreland. But even in this area, there are still gems: solid and even desirable buildings; 2 of them, The Castle and The Mansion at the corner of Drexmore, Ludlow and S. Moreland are still very beautiful and well cared for properties... There are others, too, so I'd be careful of blanket statements.

I wish I could see how the hell they're doing it... Modern construction techniques baffle me.

These townhouses look like very impressive. I kinda wish they fronted on the corner of W. 19 & Abbey, but the Animal Clinic, a handsome building, is only a few years old itself so destroy it so soon would be a huge waste. Unfortunately it's a very large building and does block the corner where I'd rather see the townhouses. Apparently development here wasn't well planned, esp since the desire, and current thrust, for more residential density for this immediate area has been on the minds of planners for quite some time.

Yes, it blocks future extension of the Blue Line. And I'm paraphrasing GCRTA GM Joe Calabrese: It's not a substantial building that would block a future rail extension. So by the time that building is due to be replaced, the extension of the Blue Line may be justified. Sounds like pretzel-logic.

Nice set. Glad to see our neighbors to the north diving headlong into HSR and electrified regional rail... The Art Deco interior of the Hamilton rail/bus station looks almost identical to Cleveland's soon-to-be-abandoned Greyhound station.

Calabrese's churlish response is unbecoming of Greater Cleveland's transit chief. In particular he notes: "The truth is that more than 45 percent of RTA’s capital budget is allotted to rail, yet rail serves only 19 percent of RTA’s customers. If for this reason only, logic may suggest that RTA rail services should be abandoned. ... But RTA has no such plan." Given that this has been a constant quote/theme of Joe's, it makes one tend to believe his first 2 sentences and not his last. AAO's response is much more civil and enlightened and they deserve applause for shedding a light on this serious problem ... and the area's transit future in general. It's a conversation Cleveland's officials need to be having. It's just too bad the major local media, especially the PD, is not covering it.

I stayed up and watched the LAC vs. GSW game with a buddy last night after the Cavs. He's really freaked out about Curry and thinks the Cavs will go down to GSW in the finals once again, even if we're at full strength. I disagree, but does anyone else feel this way?

My parents have lived in Nashville for 20 years and I visit 1-2 times per year. The city's situation is dire because the density of the metro is incredibly low (I saw one assessment that put them around 45th least dense out of the country's 50 largest metros) and there are basically zero obvious ROW's (other than paralleling interstates) available for light rail construction. That's why there has been some push for commuter rail on the various freight lines, but DT Nashville is not a large employment center. And on top of that, the city is built on rock (very few homes have basements and there are only a handful of underground garages downtown) that is typically broken up with dynamite at great expense. I have heard speculation that the rock makes tunneling cost-prohibitive, but I'm not sure if that's true. ... note, however, that Salt Lake City has a relatively small metropolitan area (just over 1.1M), it's density is also low (1,666/sq. mi.) and it's downtown is small, too. And yet, they are served by about 90 miles of rail! ... 44 miles of LRT and a similar amount for it's N-S commuter rail line. This is an amazing can-do spirit for such a small metro area. I wish Ohio cities were so motivated.

^Good news... Btw, as of Monday eve it didn't appear that the grade crossing at Flats East Bank had been upgraded.

Thank you... Just 2 days ago, after a nice meal and shopping in dense, gleaming Uptown, we were (somewhat happily) stuck evening rush hour traffic along Euclid stretching from Uptown all the way into Stokes Blvd and the Clinic... it was stop 'n go, often with nobody moving ... including a couple Health Line buses: the future of Cleveland transit in many local eyes.. Some Rapid Transit I said as I looked at my friend and derisively laughed. Yeah, right...