clvlndr

Heinen's seems very adaptable in terms of location/climate mix, and I have no doubt their downtown store will be no less than excellent -- just like every Heinen's I've ever been in.

Check out LeBron James, Jr... It's obviously in the genes!!

And we can thank Byron Scott for that ... I'm thinking/hoping we can run more offense through Love who will stretch the defense 10-15 ft ... and more. Remember, one of the reasons cited for Love not getting the touches and scoring high consistently, esp early, is because of all the pick 'n rolls run by LeBron and Kyrie through Andy.

I love Andy, his attitude and his style of play, but a major season, or near season-ending Varejao injury has become a frustrating annual rite of passage for the Cavs and their fans. It was foolish to continue to bank on him as our main big man esp in such a critical situation. My buddy thinks Blatt will stick with mainly to a Thompson-Love-Marion front court and use Haywood sparingly against slower bigs, like Jonas V... ... I just hope Griffin doesn't bow to media pressure and deal Dion for mediocre/stiff guys like Kosta Koufus. That would set the franchise back, clearly.

I think a 2-hour time limit in the WSM parking lot is a way to go. Also, I think the City needs to section-off WSM parking from the clubs/restaurants. I realize parking, as it is, is scarce during rush periods (ie Saturdays), but it can be done. And, yes, the spots should be metered (if RTA riders, with their multiple routes to Ohio City, have to pay, why should the financially-struggling City continue to subsidize well-heeled drivers with free parking!?) ... Look, they're using meters in all of the lots in the University Circle/Uptown area, which is newer, much less established than OC and, still, not completely finished -- well, it almost is with Corner Alley now being opened. However, UC/Uptown shares excellent rail (Red Line) and 24/hour bus connectivity with downtown and other areas nearby. Last I looked UC/Uptown caters to no public institutions like the WSM and yet UCI makes drivers ante up... So why shouldn't the City do so viz the WSM in its parking lot(s)? A parking crunch is a GOOD problem to have. Obviously Cleveland has been salivating for decades to reproduce such popular neighborhoods, like OC (and UC as well), where people (locals and tourists) are scrambling to get to, and fighting to park... That's the price of popularity. I just hope some of the people involved, including some of the WSM vendors, would calm down the fatalistic rhetoric. That's not going to help anybody. Until (and if) Baltimore builds its LRT Red Line subway through downtown, Little Italy and Fells Point, Cleveland's downtown and close in hot spots are considerably better connected than B-More's -- hot areas like Fells Point and Federal Hill have no rail service at all, with the latter not scheduled to get any anytime soon... I do think some kind of reestablishment of a community circulator and/or trolley service connecting OC and Tremont could be useful, as the oft-infrequent #81 bus, alone, is not a viable alternative for such a popular neighborhood. (RTA might be wise to divert some of those W. 25-southbound buses over to Tremont then reconnecting with W. 25 southbound at, say, Clark Ave). ... but the trolley should NOT go all the way downtown; only between Ohio City/Market Square and Tremont, only. I'm tired of RTA constantly duplicating viable rail service with buses (ie Trolleys to the Rock Hall when the WFL is right there)... Ohio City is a major transit hub in itself.

This isn't a "small-ish tax credit", that's the problem. This credit would have paid for 25% of the project. Sorry Strap, you're right, $25M (or 25%) is substantial. But as Michelle notes, since they received the $5M credit, previously, they're now "just" in need of another $20M. I'm still optimistic they'll get it ... from somewhere, just probably not in time for the RNC... Oh well, the City will indeed have a life after the Republicans leave in Summer 2016!

I'm still pounding the Haywood-Jones drum. On Sunday, we face the formidable front court of Randolph and Gasol, where we will be well undersized. It would be crazy NOT to play Haywood in this case, but I fear hardheaded David Blatt may, in fact, keep Haywood on the bench. As these games progress, and Andy, Thompson and Love continue to get pummeled as the rim, the heat should be turned up on Blatt for not playing Amundson more or Haywood, at all... These guys can, at the very least, bang/wear down these opposing bigs and, in Haywood's case, block shots at the rim. And Haywood still has a jumper from 10-15 feet away from the hoop. At the very least, I think Brendan can spare us what Chris Fedor calls those hide-your-eyes moments that Shawn Marion seems to give us every game, offensively. As for Jones, he's showed again in 2 recent losses, OKC and Atlanta, who lethal he can be from outside and what a quick release he has (he doesn't have the slower, set-up motion like Delly and Harris). I really like Joe Harris and his potential, but at this point we need to see more Jones off the bench until Joe can get more comfortable with the NBA game. Jones has shown he can deal with being yanked in and out of the lineup and still be ready. Joe's not at that point, yet. Also note: both Haywood and Jones have championship rings... Marion does, too, but he's getting playing time.

^LeBron and Kyrie were out of character. It was an emotional moment; the team had just been thoroughly dismantled in front of their home fans. While I don't want our players to be rude generally, I do want them to be pissed off after a game like that. I never like smiley, sunshine-y players after a bad loss. I would give these two a Mulligan because, normally, they're very outgoing, polite and upbeat with the media; especially LeBron, who's had a lot more experience with it than Kyrie... And as one sports guy noted, Roda should have prefaced his question to LeBron by attributing the "embarrassed" comment to Blatt, which is where it came from, and I'm sure LeBron would have addressed it differently. While Roda is a die-hard Cavs and hoops fan, he does have a snarky reputation and I'm sure LeBron is aware of it.

^Plus, I think Michelle was talking strictly in terms of May's being finished in time for the RNC for which, now, it probably won't be. But I'm convinced this project will happen... In the bad old days of downtown Cleveland (1950s through the early 90s), a bump in the road like a small-ish tax credit would kill a project like this forever. Not so in the can-down Cleveland of today.

Very good point. I'm disappointed, but not bitter. nuCLEus is going up diagonally across the street from May's, and with this plus the synergy from E. 4th, the casino, the revamped Public Square, May Company is going to happen. It just won't be with this particular tax credit.

And that's a damn shame. This property sits right on the border of Wards 4 and 5 (Ken Johnson and Phyllis Cleveland, respectively). Both them and Frank Jackson should be called on the carpet for this. As Mark Naymik correctly notes, Shaker Sq is a premiere district in Cleveland, and this crap shouldn't exist just 1/2 block from the square. Ridiculous!

And this has been going on for years; Buffett's been an investment adviser to LeBron.

Man check out that blond dude sitting to Gilbert's left ... John Boehner and his perpetual tan have got nothing on this guy.

^Yes, I stand corrected. Joe did bring back 24-hour rail service last year. I'm pleased he's bringing it back this year. Hopefully, it will be an annual provision once again... I do, though, tend to remember it disappearing around the time Joe was hired GM... What about the extended Weekend hours? This was eliminated under Joe. I'll admit, it was designed primarily to serve the Waterfront Line when the Flats was at its peak in the late 1990s, but the Flats has since declined. However, downtown generally on weekends nowadays is every bit as lively, if not more so, than the Flats of the 90s, given the strength of E. 4th, the steady growth of the WHD and jam-packed casino, which sits directly on top of the Rapid station. Lower Prospect, 5-points and E. 9th/Euclid, among other hotspots, are also generating traffic (and I'm not even throwing those nights when there's a concert or ballgame)... And as you'll note, the Flats East Bank is reinventing itself... Tower City is a hop, skip & a jump from all these areas. 2p weekend service should be implemented, at least during the summer.... Philadelphia, which had subway service hours similar to RTA's, recently extended summertime weekend 24-hour rail service to year round. Will some expansion at least be considered, JetDog?

Agreed... and on top of all that, there were the special teams. I mean, did we field 1 kickoff even remotely near the 20? Several times taking a knee in the end zone seemed obvious. Unfortunately, Johnny has turned himself into bulletin board material for the league (and notably this game: you think the Maualuga taunting and Lewis "midget" comment came out of nowhere?) and he made rookie mistakes. But what the hell happened to that stellar defense of a week ago? A D that was so good that it made benching Hoyer a no-brainer based on how much of a gift the D handed Hoyer that he pissed away... Yesterday was a comedy (or tragedy) of errors on all levels, including coaching, because this team didn't look remotely prepared for this key game.

C'man E.Rocc, you know good & well what the definition of sprawl is and that Boston's is nowhere near Cleveland's. You know that sprawl is spreading wide area land-use growth in a region that's shrinking population-wise. You also know sprawl is linked to automobile/road/freeway growth linked to single-use (i.e. cul-de-sacs), unwalkable is the opposite of smart-growth, that is dense development around (an) urbanized core(s), with multi-use development and often linked to mass transit hubs and promote walk-ability. You also know that Boston, with its massive network of rail rapid transit, commuter rail and regional Amtrak, fits the classic definition of smart growth than more all but a few American Cities, and that Cleveland, aside from much of the city and some close-in suburbs, like Shaker, Cleveland Hts and Lakewood, has been more prone to typical freeway-influenced sprawl. You're not dumb; you know this, so why the rhetorical B.S.?

Part of it was Manziel's rookie inexperience. Part of it was all the bulletin board material Johnny has given opponents with the Money Phone, the hot tub with the hot babes in Vegas, Learjet rides, etc., etc., etc...

^Very glad to hear this, esp since a year or so ago Thistledown's future was in doubt... The N. Randall area really needs T'Down and this expansion is great news, indeed.

I don't know what you mean by a Boston "machine." In fact, from that first quarter mile streetcar-subway that opened in 1897, rapid transit was a hit in Boston. After the city built it and leased it to a private streetcar operator, Boston Elevated a private corporation (you should appreciate this E.Rocc) was founded to build subways and elevated lines in the City... And of course, Boston never was "Porter-ed" like Cleveland was (as in subway killer Albert S. Porter). And of course Porter's scope was much wider than killing the subway: he advocated the death of downtown and mass transit, facilitated sprawl and suburban flight with the massive freeway network, etc.... And even though Porter's been dead for decades, the Cleveland is still trying to shake his negative influence on transit and development... We've come a long way with the revitalization of downtown and the development in TOD and emphasis on urban pedestrian districts... But the Opportunity Corridor boondoggle and freeways sprawl districts like Highland Hills, Avon Lake/Westlake, Medina-Strongsville-Brunswick, etc., shows that Porterism isn't entirely dead.

RTA could start with, at least, extended Rapid Transit hours until 2-2:30p on weekends. They used to have this during summer, until Joe Calabrese was appointed GM. Calabrese even did away with RTA's traditional all-night rail service on New Year's Eve. The service of course was largely in part to put heavy drinkers on trains rather than cars. That in part was the reason for the extended summer, weekend hours... But Calabrese did away with it all... Nice call, Joe!

Land use surrounding the ditch? Just spit ballin' Which, in turn, is supported by a much different regional economy, stronger city center (which makes location a primary amenity), and terrible traffic, all of which themselves further contribute to transit ridership. I don't doubt those aspects help Boston, but it's also a mentality Boston has that we haven't had, though we're slowly developing it. We have, in recent years, rediscovered our Rapid system and are building TOD around a couple of stations (and yeah, I know some may squawk, but nuCLEus is absolutely TOD at the Tower City rail head). I'm not sure about the promising apartment complex at the Ohio City rapid; haven't heard about it in about a year... But things are looking up... But Boston could build a rail line into farmland and they would develop around it... We too often have looked at our rail stations as trains in a ditch... Boston? ... an opportunity.

It's interesting that a number of Cleveland people state that people don't ride the Rapid here because stations are often in a "ditch" next to a railroad line. Well, this planned Boston T Orange Line infill station is in a "ditch" next to a railroad line. In fact, the new Green Line extension to Somerville, where work is about to commence, has this characteristic. In fact, many Boston stations on the various routes travel next to railroad lines and are in "ditches." And yet Boston has one of the highest rider counts in the country. What gives? What makes Boston so different than Cleveland?

^I'll admit, Jones has gone cold over the last few games, but I wouldn't give up on him as he's still a weapon and the fact that teams are running him off the line and/or hurrying his shot is proof of that. I'm not schilling for either Jones or Haywood. I just believe you should use all the tools in your tool belt; shoot all the arrows in your quiver, or whatever metaphor you choose to use. However, when it's a rather random move, eyebrows are raised. Specifically I cite Joe Harris' insertion to close out the 4th quarter last night. Harris has been used sparingly and not at all until the 4th quarter last night. It was weird that Marion disappeared. (NOTE: I love Marion's D intensity and work around the rim, but his shooting, esp of late, has been atrocious... it may just be age). The problem again is the lack of set rotations, at least re Harris, and I think that has thrown off the kid's development in recent weeks. ... But the proof is in the pudding, and what Blatt has been doing has somehow worked. We had an 8-game winning streak and even last night, in the face of superior talent on the road with LeBron out, we nearly erased a 20-point lead in the 4th quarter and went out fighting. I can't complain about that.

I agree. Half-mile spacing was the standard for very high-density, pre-automobile cities in the late 19th, early 20th Century. Cities with older systems like NYC, Philly and Chicago adopted this standard. However, in most cases these routes were supplemented with express service skipping many of these stations, or where there was/is no express service, cities like Chicago simply started eliminating stations, esp in the inner city when population declined there. Toronto, whose core is dense, decided to build a throw-back system in the 1950s with the every 1/2 station spacing, esp on its Bloor-Danforth line. Unfortunately, without any express service, TTC subway rides are maddeningly slow even though, obviously, Toronto has always had great passenger numbers. TTC has tried A-B skip stop service, which Chicago and Philly have also used on their non-express lines (ie Philly's Market-Frankford el). For a medium density city like Cleveland, strict 1/2 mile spacing overall doesn't make sense, even though there are some unusually dense parts town (or otherwise planned in advance areas) it does work: ie University Circle area, where the E.105, UC and (new) UC/Little Italy stops are about 1/2 mile apart. Also of course, the Shaker Heights LRT lines (which were largely designed and built 100 years ago) are 1/3 mile apart, generally, and the Waterfront Line stations are between 1/2 and 1/3 mile apart based on the density of service there. I do believe, as both I and others have noted, that infill and/or relocated stations at places like E. 89-Woodland, W. 44 and W. 85 could be workable, but in each case there would need to be some coordinated plan for TOD growth in tandem with these new stations.

It didn't take Sam Amico to figure out that we should have used Haywood last night among the trees named Ibaka, Perkins and Durant when OKC was dominating that paint at both ends.