Clevelander17

I didn't think a vote was necessary for a city to merge with a township. If it was, then the threat from Akron wasn't a real threat because citizens could just vote it down, right? As for North Randall, was the city formed because of Thistledown? Or is that its main benefactor, either way, it and Highland Hills (specifically formed for Figgie International) should most definitely merge with Warrensville Heights. The three already share a school district, so this one is a no-brainer to me.

Yeah, I can agree with that, especially if part of that meant cleaning up the local income tax code and it eliminates this situation where certain municipalities are able to sit back and rake in money from non-residents who spend ~40 hours a week in office buildings. But in general I don't think it's a terrible idea to try to put more money in the hands of local governments and less in the hands of the state government.

A lot. It was cited as a major motivation in the PD article. As for Shaker Heights not wanting to merge, that may be true of residents in the northern/eastern part of the city, but the southern/western part is not wealthy. It heavily middle-class black like much of UH and CH. SH is an interesting case study. I think it would be a potential great merger partner for either UH or Beachwood, and a decent merger partner for CH. I also think that SH would be one of the last ones to the regioanlism table, because it has a perception to maintain, even if that perception is built on a legacy from half a century ago that's hardly based in reality these days. I'd be okay with the state slashing the budget and cutting back aid to municipalities if, and ONLY if, this is to be follow by a state income tax cut. Taxes could then be raised and collected on a more local basis and ultimately more of that money would be staying local.

I like what you did with the Hillcrest cities. I think that makes sense, but I also think that you'd have some problems with getting residents of Highland Heights and Mayfield Village on board. Also if I'm a resident of UH (oh wait, I am) I think throwing SH into the mix makes a merger with CH (and to a lesser extent, SE) more palatable. But SH residents probably run to the hills with the thought of associating with CH and SE. I can't get speak to the specific difficulties in getting the Southeastern suburbs in joining with Cleveland, but I do think there'd be some big challenges in doing so...particularly in places like Garfield Heights and Cuyahoga Heights, and perhaps even Maple Heights. Lot of, um, pride in those areas. I'm going to keep playing around with this map...it's pretty fun. I do agree, though, that it's a little bit imperfect because you can't change borders, which in some cases I think would be necessary.

School districts are completely independent entities from municipalities. Legally they are pretty much their own level of government. When talking of merging municipalities, school districts need not even come into the discussion...though I'm guessing that a lot of people might be confused by this and that could stall progress. That's not to say that merging school districts also wouldn't be a good idea. Right off the bat I think that Richmond Heights CSD should be merge into the South Euclid-Lyndhurst CSD. I could bore with some others that I've thought of that I think would make sense but I won't do it right now because it's a long list.

And playing around with the graphic on the Cleveland.com, here's how I would tentatively re-draw municipality lines in Cuyahoga County:

Interesting piece on Cuyahoga County and mergers (with the author's own proposal): http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/08/redraw_cuyahoga_county_to_eras.html

I'm not sold on Weeden, but Thursday night's performance was more encouraging than discouraging as far as I'm concerned. He clearly has a very strong arm. And the Browns are clearly running a pretty vanilla offense at this point in the preseason. I think things will change a bit when the season begins and teams also have to respect the running game with Richardson. And if not, Matt Barkley will be there next year tantalizing the new faces in the front office.

I was just in Dayton last weekend driving around a bit and I was trying to imagine what the city was like in its heyday. Something I never really thought about or explored during my time at UD.

Ugh...well, I'm still skeptical about needing a new development at Acacia for all of those upscale retailers, though I do sort of understand the arguments for it. Is there any open land anywhere else in the eastern suburbs, somewhat near 271, that might make for a good location for new upscale retail development?

I think what he may be asking is, since Legacy Village is relatively new, why wasn't it developed in a way that would have made it the "right spot" for any of these retailers that are conspicuously missing from Greater Cleveland? Building on that point, what stores are currently at Legacy Village that are unique to the region? Nordstrom Rack for sure. Although I don't like First Interstate and would love nothing more than to see them get some competition that may potentially poach some of their nicer tenants, I still don't know if more retail is right for that area. Traffic at the Cedar-Richmond intersection is a nightmare at certain times of day and when there is an accident or inclement weather. If this idea were to somehow go through, I think the roads would absolutely have to be widened even further, and probably on the dime of either Lyndhurst or the developer.

I wish I was paying closer attention back then, though that does seem vaguely familiar. TRW isn't even an independent company anymore, right? So I guess it was almost inevitable that they weren't going to have their headquarters in Lyndhurst anymore regardless of what happened with the referendum (though the voters wouldn't have known that).

What happened was that TRW changed developers. The original development group was out of Chicago. It was to be much more urban oriented, much like heightsfan talks about - a la Easton and Crocker. For whatever reason, TRW kicked them out and sold it to First Interstate. This came AFTER Lyndhurst voters approved the zoning change. So, in actuality, Lyndhurst residents did not approve Legacy Village as its built today. They and the city expected something different. It was to be much more urban in nature with mixed use buildings. First Interstate had zero experience in upscale or urban development and it shows in their poor design. Today, the only free land at Legacy (unless you count the acres of parking) is slated for a boutique sized hotel that's been delayed for years. My hope was the Acacia land could be Legacy, done the correct way. True, that's a lot of assumptions and hope but I'd like to think the city learned its lesson from that. So the zoning change referendum came BEFORE First Interstate became involved in the project? Interesting, I never knew that. Regardless, just about everything that was promised to residents for Legacy Village has come up short. What part of the land is the boutique planned for? I'm guessing the western portion close to Cedar Road?

I'll say before someone else eventually does...**cough**Ikea**cough**. Seriously though, my understanding is that Legacy Village was supposed to be multi-phase, but actually never got past it's initial phase. It was supposed to have housing (of which it has none) and office space (of which it has very little). Even if what's part of the current structure is unacceptable to potential tenants, I have to believe that there is enough open space on that property to build something else to suit an outlet like The Container Store. Discussions like these really bring me to despise developers and how wasteful WE--the citizens--let them be in the way they pillage the land around us. Cuyahoga County really could use something like a regional retail council to prevent this nonsense from happening over and over, especially if all of these unnecessary suburbs continue to insist on remaining independent.

I think this would be great for the region, but I'm becoming bitter about the fact that something like this didn't happen for Oakwood (which arguably needed it more than Acacia due to comparative locations and infrastructure). This is the problem with our divided region. The Lyndhurst mayor wants more tax dollars to ensure that his city (which isn't even needed) and his job remain viable. Developers don't care about retail saturation and poaching, because as long as their project is the latest and greatest, they will be the beneficiary...at least until the next one comes along in a decade or so. It's all about money for those at the top, but quality of life for the rest of us is not being improved. What a gigantic mess.

While putting the Magnum at #10 may be quite a stretch, it's still a very good ride, one that has definitely stood the test of time. In regards to your comment about Maverick and Diamondback, I guess that's your opinion, but give me MF over both. Another interesting coaster rankings list, the Mitch Hawker Coaster Poll: Cedar Point: -Millennium Force #8 Steel -Maverick #13 Steel -Top Thrill Dragster #33 Steel -Raptor #50 Steel -Magnum #58 Steel -Blue Streak #67 Wood Six Flags Magic Mountain: -Apocalypse #30 Wood -X2 #32 Steel -Tatsu #35 Steel -Goliath #70 Steel -Riddler's Revenge #90 Steel Six Flags Great Adventure: -El Toro #1 Wood -Nitro #18 Steel -Kingda Ka #65 Steel -Bizzaro #72 Steel

That's what I was hoping for, too, when I read about the rumors a month or two back. FYI, just for fun: Cedar Point 2011 Golden Ticket Awards (Top Roller Coasters): -Millenium Force #1 Steel -Top Thrill Dragster #9 Steel -Magnum #10 Steel -Raptor #18 Steel -Maverick #21 Steel Six Flags Magic Mountain Golden Ticket Awards (Top Roller Coasters): -X2 #16 Steel -Goliath #40 Steel Six Flags Great Adventure Golden Ticket Awards (Top Roller Coasters): -Nitro #3 Steel -Kingda Ka #33 Steel -El Toro #3 Wood So based on that, CP is not only stronger at the top but also deeper. In fairness, these types of awards seem to have a bias towards Cedar Point for whatever reason. It also should be noted that the 2012 rankings aren't released for another month or so, meaning 2011 additions to parks obviously haven't been included yet. You also won't find a lot of flying or stand-up coasters on the list and there are only a limited number of "traditional" floorless. The only "gimmicky" ride designs that are highly-rated are inverteds (like Raptor), but I'm wondering if the new wing coasters might be able to get some love?

Yeah it's pretty close. I just give the edge to CP because of Millennium Force and Maverick, both of which are one of a kind and highly-rated. I think that flying coasters (Tatsu) aren't that unique anymore, not really fun, and even painful. I've never been on a 4D coaster like X2, but it is pretty unique and highly-rated (though I still think Maverick wins out in a head-to-head battle with X2). Although winged coasters are pretty rare right now, I do expect them to become more and more common and I doubt that GateKeeper will be a record-holder or remain all that unique by the latter half of the 2010s. I imagine that it will be similar to the way Raptor and Mantis both held various records and were trailer-blazers in their respective coaster types in their early days but were later passed by faster, larger versions. Additionally the wing coaster concept looks like one of the better ones to be created in recent years (superior to both the stand-up and the flyer, and really an improved version of the floorless), so I think it should be a popular coaster model that will be repeated nationwide. SFGA has a few solid coasters including Nitro, Kingda Ka, and El Toro, but I don't think it has the "depth" beyond those three to really compete with CP or SFMM. In fairness I've never been there so I can't really say for certain. Oh and I agree with you about being sad to see Disaster Transport go. Although it wasn't that great of a ride, I do remember being intimidated by it as a younger child, but also really enjoying riding it with the family on our yearly trips to CP. It had the nostalgia factor for me.

I haven't been to CP in a few years (I've been on a mini-boycott since Cedar Fair questionably shut down Geauga Lake), but this thing looks like a lot of fun and might be worth the trip. I know that technically Six Flags Magic Mountain in California has more overall coasters, but I think that CP has a stronger variety of unique and record-setting thrill rides.

If they can be a long-term AAA format station in NEO, I'll be obsessed with them, too!

I think, though I'm not certain, that the Lakers and Sixers will be able to hold Howard and Bynum "hostage," if you will, when they become free agents next year. If either one wants to go elsewhere, but want a max contract, they're going to have to work with the front offices of those respective franchises to get a sign-and-trade.

What a huge day for mens track and field. -Bolt being superhuman on the biggest stage. -David Rudisha setting a world record in the 800m (unfortunately this won't get nearly the recognition it deserves) -Ashton Eaton winning the decathlon in dominating fashion. The crazy thing is that all three of these guys could be back in Rio in 2016. Age-wise it might be the most challenging for Bolt, but considering the freakish athlete that he is, I wouldn't put it past him. Wow, what a fun day of track!

Forgive us for not being excited and optimistic. I mean it's only been, what, almost half a century since our last championship. And it doesn't help when outsiders (national media, for instance) goad us on and antagonize.

The parking ban on residential streets begins at 2am. You are allowed to park on most non-residential streets in the City, but the tricky part is accounting for bans on one side of the street or the other during rush hour. You can park on Mayfield Rd. for instance right near Coventry. There is no overnight restriction. The problem is when you get home from work, you can't park on the eastbound side of the street...... but then you will have to be up early enough (6:30am, I believe) to beat the ban on parking on the westbound side. It can be a pain. It can be a pain, but it's even worse trying to drive through the area during rush hour when one or two parked cars (despite the ban) are clogging up traffic. Luckily the CHPD doesn't mess around and they bring out the tow trucks with the quickness when they catch such a situation. I didn't know about there not being an overnight parking ban on the non-residential streets. That's interesting...I do know that even on residential streets if you call the CHPD and let them know about your car being on the street overnight that they usually will leave you alone. I don't know if that applies to the areas with heavy concentrations of apartment buildings, though.

I love the Indians franchise, but once they fell out of contention last week I began rooting for things to get as bad as possible. Why? The Dolans deserve a crappy team and the hatred from the fans that comes with it. I'm sick of the front office and the ownership and I have zero faith that with the current crew in charge that the organization will ever make a legitimate run at a title. It may be a pipe dream but I'm hoping that the Dolans are shamed into selling this team to someone who really wants to win and isn't looking to simply make a buck while having lackies out and about in the media blatantly lying to the fans.