clvlndr

I like NextConnect. I've used it for the Rapids and the HL, and it's been within the minute each time.

One in 10 miles of RTA rail track under 'go-slow' orders By Alison Grant, The Plain Dealer Email the author | Follow on Twitter on June 22, 2015 at 11:00 AM, updated June 22, 2015 at 11:10 AM CLEVELAND, Ohi0 -- When Darius Stubbs started riding the Red Line rapid after moving to Cleveland in 2006, it usually rumbled along without a hitch from West 117th Street to downtown. Lately, not so much. Stubbs said the start-and-slow pace of the train Friday morning on the West Side of Cleveland happens a lot. His two-car train picked up speed after leaving rail platforms at West Boulevard and West 65th Street, only to unaccountably drop to speeds of 5 to 10 mph on straightaway sections of track. "It just seems like between every station, we're stopping or slowing down," said Stubbs, an actor and teaching artist headed to PlayhouseSquare for a symposium on screen writing. "When those slowdowns happen, they add quite a bit of time." The culprit: Aging track ties and instability in the track bed, or ballast, that force operators to apply the brakes in order to proceed safely. Culprit No. 2: A gap of $150 million that it would take to bring the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority's 63 miles of Red, Blue, Green and Waterfront track to an excellent or good state of repair. http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/06/one_1_ione_1_in_10_miles_of_rta_rail_track_under_go-slow_ordersn_10_miles_of_rta_rapid.html#incart_river

I too developed lactose intolerance in my early 30s (and sadly had to kiss things like eggnog good bye forever)... but I can eat limited ice cream -- probably because it is frozen -- and not get a reaction: usually just one cone or scoop and that's it.

^... btw, Mitchell's was the perfect establishment in Market Square to attract more families and balance against the bar/beer heavy orientation of the District -- which is, of course, it's charm and fame... It's really upped the ante in making Ohio City perhaps THE go-to neighborhood in Cleveland -- at times, even eclipsing downtown.

Good point. Pierre's has been in Midtown long before the ECP/Health Line/BRT, so folks cant say BRT influenced it... Also, I particularly like the fact that Mitchell's newest, and most visible franchises have been in rail-friendly TOD areas of Cleveland: Uptown and Ohio City/Market Sq. And whatever anyone thinks of the ice cream itself, I doubt even the harshest critic will give them anything less than 5-stars for their home-plant, recreation of MODA in Ohio City, which is as much an ice cream museum as it is a restaurant... ... now for the product... I'm not the greatest connoisseur of ice cream as I was in my earlier years (eschewing the poundage, mainly), but I have to say that Mitchell's was very solid imho, and my girlfriend really liked the experimental flavors they had, to which I give them props... I will say that Sweet Moses in Gordon Sq gives them a serious run for their money and, perhaps, in my limited sampling (from Mitchell's mainly in U. Circle), I might give SM a slight edge... but only slight. Mitchell's chocolate, chocolate chip was very, very good. ... one minor Mitchell's irritant is their refusal to offer coffee. As a serious drinker of black coffee, the marriage of coffee and ice cream is a natural, and Mitchell's is rare among ice creameries that I know of that doesn't offer coffee (Sweet Moses sure does). I've mentioned it to their managers and dropped this suggestion in their boxes for the last couple years, but still Mitchell's hasn't budged. It's forced me to BYOC, which is a pain... Still, I'm a big Mitchell's fan and absolutely support them, particularly because of their commitment to Cleveland -- similar to my patronage of Constantino's, Dave's and other businesses that have invested the big bucks in our city -- btw I've always Heinen's as a Shaker guy ... love 'em even more now that they've gambled bigtime (and seem to be winning) with their new downtown location.

Actually, this location is in Ohio City... It looks great, though.

Looks good... Alley Cat has the most prominent position of all the satellite restaurants...

I hear you on that. I too believe there could have been more creative planning to mix the new FEB apartments with the old buildings, but unfortunately it's water under the bridge now. At least there's the old buildings outside the footprint along Old River Road south of the looming blue Main Ave Bridge, notably the Samsel Hardware building and the, the old Watermark Restaurant buildings and a few others, which maintains the Victorian integrity of the neighborhood.

St. Louis is very similar to Cleveland in terms of size, age (they're a little older), industrial character, demographics and severe population loss, and yet they continue to make progress and expand rail after having bypassed Cleveland in track mileage some time ago. What's our excuse?

... that said, if I were Blatt, I'd go with Mozgov and stick to our Games 1-3 game plan and pound these guys, even if Mozzie occasionally gets caught in no-man's land on D. Other guys must rotate on the help D and guys not-named-LeBron have got to hit their open looks... If we can do this most of the time tonight, we'll be heading back to Oakland tomorrow.

I'm not giving up on these finals by any stretch, but to the doom 'n gloom whiners (whom I don't see on this board), consider that around this time last year, we were simply thrilled to get the top Lottery selection and the shot at either Andrew Wiggins or Joel Embiid and a great chance to not be attending the Lottery this year... and then a certain player decided to come home... We've had nearly 2 solid months of Cavs playoff basketball and the Cavs are a highly unlikely participant in the finals given our severe injuries, esp Love then Kyrie (who more or less, didn't play between Boston and Game 1 against Golden State), with 2 finals wins, no less, and a chance to force a Game 7... It's been an amazing joy ride and, whatever happens tonight, the future is fantastically bright with LeBron, his All Star-to-very good supporting cast along with a brilliant GM who's only going to make this team even stronger in the off season... Obviously, if we had our full compliment, the roles would be reversed going into tonight (if there was even a Game 6), and if Vegas has any team rated higher than us to win the finals going into next year, they're crazy... GO CAVS!!

The Tigers and M-Cab were struggling and barely above .500 before the Tribe paid a visit last weekend and, well, talk about a Magic Tonic for the Motor City Kitties...

^Good. Demand will probably be down tonight, even though 2-car trains on all 3 of RTA's beyond-downtown rail lines will be needed. I understand that fans are somewhat down in the dumps after Game 5 and are bailing on game tics, which both available and available below face, easily. I can't imagine that the street crowd outside the Q will be nearly as big as Thursday, so it looks like RTA may catch a break.

I really like the concept drawings of these 2 buildings: classy and open (lots of glass), but with an architectural nod to their nautical surroundings.

^Huntington (originally the Union Trust building) is an amazingly huge and majestic building. Glad it's got a new owner who sounds like he's going to give it some TLC.

^1 car!? Why? RTA hasn't run exclusively 1-car (I'm reluctant to call them) trains since POP was implemented in 2010, at least as far as I know (I haven't seen any 1 car trains). Why now? And why is rail access so particularly tough tonight?

Tell me about it... That name alone makes me suspicious of him.

I think Blatt should go back to the lineup that got us the lead in this series: - Put Mozgov back in at center and leave him there. - Run low pick 'n rolls for LeBron, or Delly, to free them up either for the runner or pass to Mozgov or Thompson. - Whip them on both boards. - Get the combo of Delly and Shumpert to beat the hell out of Curry and - slow the tempo down to keep GSW to under 100 points. Whether it's Memphis, Houston or Cleveland... Golden State wilts when you pound them inside and control the game's tempo... Yes, we panicked in Game 4 when Kerr pulled Bogut for Iguodala and Mozgov ran out to the perimeter to guard AI which opened up the middle. And yesterday, when Golden State ran out to an 8-2 lead, Blatt panicked and pulled Timo again until late in the game. I say stick with the game plan that gave us success. If the Warriors have an early run, just call timeout to settle our guys. Don't panic and start throwing guys into unfamiliar situations like throwing away our trump card and going, because that's what Kerr has thrives off of (he did to Memphis exactly what he's doing to us now -- but the difference is that, unlike Memphis, we have BOTH size and outside shooting (or at least we should), whereas Memphis is more a strictly inside, grind-it-out club). ... and we keep Andre Iguodala out of the paint... if he beats us with shots from the perimeter, then so be it. Better that as opposed to watching him throw down dunks like we've been seeing for the past to games after Blatt went small. You're almost always going to lose in sports -- any sport -- when you allow your opponent to force you to play his game rather than vice-versa.

Not necessarily anti-rail. Pro-business. The target audience for Crain's are people who are part of Cleveland's business community, and who will generally support development, and especially downtown-focused development, that is *sustainable.* The question I would pose for those trying to make the case for continued or possibly even expanded rail operations would be this: what can be done, particularly right now when capital is dirt-cheap, to place these rail operations on a sustainable footing? Meaning that as much as possible of both operating and capital costs, preferably all of both, are returned to the community in the form of (a) fares and (b) TOD, job growth, etc. that verifiably results from the presence of nearby rail transit. If you want the support and cooperation of the business community, that is the case you will have to make. I think it can be done. I don't think it has been done to date, but I think it can be. That's a chicken and egg argument. In order for business to create development related to transit (ie TOD), business leaders must first buy in to the concept of rail transit in the first place, and conservative organizations like Crains, clearly don't. They do not believe mass transit is a viable urban travel alternative because, in their minds, the 'decent' people who fuel TOD development, won't use it anyway... Is investing billions to build mass transit and tens of millions to maintain it worth it to bring in a few clerks or toilet cleaners when the hot mid-level executive is going cruise into the parking garage with her/his BMW, Benz or Infinity?

Can somebody stick a sock in the mouth of whiner Greg Brinda with his trash-the-Cleveland-fans act? Shut the hell up!!!!

That's a GREAT IDEA, McLovin.

There's a rumor he's trying to get Wade to consider coming here. Love D. Wade, but the last thing the Cavs need right now is another injury-prone star, don't you think?

From the UC-Little Italy station PD article: The current project ends abruptly at the railroad bridges crossing Mayfield, as the street and sidewalks enter a dark, puddled underpass where walls are shedding small chunks of concrete. But that will be different next year. RTA has hired City Architecture to design a makeover of the underpass. One element will involve extending the ribbon of LED lighting from the station for illumination. "We're going to clean it up, light it, keep the debris from the railroad away," said Joseph Shaffer, RTA's director of engineering and project development. He said the work will be done by the fall of 2016. So the N-S underpass at the new station will remain as dark, dank and nasty as the one at the current Euclid-E.120 stop for another 1+ years. Why wasn't this cleanup better coordinated with the station building?

But you're familiar with Cleveland. For visitors, esp 1st time visitors, try giving them walking directions to The Pro or the Q. Also consider that the first part of the walk is a short, but steep, uphill walk under the gloomy Shoreway Main Ave bridge. Also note that Aloft is advertising a shuttle to and from the stadium, so even the Aloft folks realize that it's a challenging walk, esp for out-of-towners... I know it's fashionable for folks to believe the Waterfront Line is useless, even when the trains stop practically right in front of the hotel... I've heard the ad too (and seen Aloft's website touting the shuttle van as well)... ... You also forget that the Waterfront Line is also useful for the Rock Hall, which is about 1 mile away (and also uphill from the Aloft), but you never hear any mention of it. As tradition7 notes, more people gripe about the Rapid than use it... And as you can see, even on this board, people make excuses and reasons why not to use trains as opposed to reasons for using them... Is it any wonder why our train system is so lightly used, esp by Clevelanders?

The new Soul Of America travel website, geared toward African American travelers, looks very nice, and is comprehensive, ... and in it's "U.S. Cities" section, it has a very nice write-up for Cleveland: http://legacy.soulofamerica.com/cleveland-guide.phtml