Clevelander17

Haven't seen the official numbers yet, but I know it failed in 78 counties and passed in about five (with a few still unreported).

Yeah that made the ballot way too busy. I heard a couple of voters around me complaining about it.

Okay I was confused by Hts121's comment about Sherman voting "yes" on Issue 5, but I get it now.

I've always been intrigued by Rockefeller and the other national elite that lived or spent extended periods of time in this town during the late 1800s/early 1900s. I wish more of the archictecture (such as the Millionaire's Row mansions) would have survived.

Comeuppance day for Governor Kasich.

Looks like there are some folks trying to find out more about the Rockefeller Mansion and what possibly lead to the fire that burned it to the ground. Pretty interesting stuff. http://www.fox8.com/videobeta/b608fdd8-ca57-4c4e-9636-b245d496ca18/Home/Rockefeller-Arson-Investigation http://www.fox8.com/news/wjw-rockefeller-mansion-arson-investigation-txt,0,2501327.story The story was produced by Fox8 news, so consider their view with a grain of salt, but it appears that the search itself is being conducted by real historians associated with the WRHS.

I'm voting against Issue 3 simply because there is a lot of other crap that was slipped in that has nothing to do with "Obamacare."

There is no bad teacher epidemic. Certainly some bad teachers do exist and they should be eliminated, but failure to do so is a failure on the part of administrators, not the system. Tenure has its place. It also protects good teachers and gives them the freedom to experiment with curriculum, disagree with supervisors on important issues, and not have to worry about losing their job to a BOE member's niece who just got her teaching license and would initially be paid significantly less. How would you fairly measure "performance"? Testing, especially not the current ODE testing, is not going to fly. As for paying more into health insurance, while that would be nice, this is a bit of a red herring. If health insurance costs weren't rising exponentially, it wouldn't even be an issue. Perhaps we need to do something about truly instituting health insurance reform? (And no, I do not believe that Obama's plan is the answer.) But let's say that that teachers and other public sector employees begin paying no less than 15% for health insurance and 10% for pension. The problem with SB5 is that not only is there no maximum, but now that public sector employees can no longer even negotiate for such benefits, there is little doubt that those percentages will begin to creep up as years go by (with little chance of being lowered even when the economy gets better). Education is one of the few professions where everyone seems to think they're an expert despite a lack of experience or connection with the reality of the schools. This is part of the reason why unionization is, in many ways, a necessary evil. The people actually working in education should be the ones making the important decisions.

I'm talking about state legislators. Private sector benefits like McDonald's or Wal-Mart? Or private sector like Goldman Sachs?

Basically resurrecting this thread here, but I had to bold that part about Forest Hills. I've been house hunting lately, mostly in the heights, and was floored when I discovered that this neighborhood was actually in the city of East Cleveland. This is not the type of neighborhood one thinks of when they hear East Cleveland. Unfortunately, this neighborhood comes with the East Cleveland hassles of amenities and unreliable/non existent city services, so it's immediately axed off my list. If you change that to city of Cleveland, you'll have me lined up first to buy a house. Has anyone driven down Brewster Road? I just can't believe this is East Cleveland. A Cleveland annexation of East Cleveland would do wonders. The area immediately north of University Circle is instantly opened up for development and Forest Hills becomes one of Cleveland's nicest residential neighborhoods. I recently discovered this area, too. It also shocked me that such a nice, quiet area could be located within the borders of an otherwise extremely troubled city. I don't know if you got over to Oakhill Rd. (a few streets over from Brewster), but there are some really unique, beautiful old homes over there, too. However I disagree wholeheartedly with your belief that things would be better for that section of EC if it were part of Cleveland. IMO, Cleveland can't even properly service the area currently within its borders. Adding this section to Cleveland, particularly the part that is uphill and somewhat isolated from the rest of the EC, would not necessarily improve things for residents that live there. That area is a much more natural fit with Cleveland Heights, and if there is any annexation to occur, it should go to Cleveland Heights. Generally-speaking, I really don't understand how the borders ended up like that whenever they were drawn up many decades ago. Personally I think that, everything west of Belvoir and south of Terrace should be Cleveland Heights. It would certainly make things much simpler. From memory, Those that live in FH are refereed to as "those on the hill" since its sits above the rest of EC. The "hill folk" don't want to be associated with economic ill's the lower portion of EC has and at the same time do not want to be apart of CH, because of the high taxes. I don't see annexation happening, as it wont happen without these people BKA "the haves". You're probably right, but I can dream. Those people in the FH area of EC are in a tough spot.

How about merit pay for legislators. For instance, for each bill you pass that is so incredibly out of touch with the will of the people that it is overturned, you must return 5% of your salary/benefits regardless of whether or not you voted for it. Also, how about revised seniority for legislators? Once you hit age 65, you are automatically retired from office to bring in fresh blood.

Yeah you're right. I remember growing up playing baseball at the park and just about everyone called it Forest Hills, so I've been incorrectly referring to it as such for my entire life.

Maybe they can get Bourdain to throw some support for the memorial.

I never knew there was a "Forest Hills" in Cleveland! I guess you learn something new everyday. From looking at maps, it appears that that area is a bit disconnected from the East Cleveland/Cleveland Heights Forest Hills. Was the Cleveland Forest Hills also originally part of the Rockefeller estate and did Euclid Avenue come through later? Or was the Cleveland Forest Hills developed independently of the EC/CH Forest Hills and simply borrowed the name from the latter?

Basically resurrecting this thread here, but I had to bold that part about Forest Hills. I've been house hunting lately, mostly in the heights, and was floored when I discovered that this neighborhood was actually in the city of East Cleveland. This is not the type of neighborhood one thinks of when they hear East Cleveland. Unfortunately, this neighborhood comes with the East Cleveland hassles of amenities and unreliable/non existent city services, so it's immediately axed off my list. If you change that to city of Cleveland, you'll have me lined up first to buy a house. Has anyone driven down Brewster Road? I just can't believe this is East Cleveland. A Cleveland annexation of East Cleveland would do wonders. The area immediately north of University Circle is instantly opened up for development and Forest Hills becomes one of Cleveland's nicest residential neighborhoods. I recently discovered this area, too. It also shocked me that such a nice, quiet area could be located within the borders of an otherwise extremely troubled city. I don't know if you got over to Oakhill Rd. (a few streets over from Brewster), but there are some really unique, beautiful old homes over there, too. However I disagree wholeheartedly with your belief that things would be better for that section of EC if it were part of Cleveland. IMO, Cleveland can't even properly service the area currently within its borders. Adding this section to Cleveland, particularly the part that is uphill and somewhat isolated from the rest of the EC, would not necessarily improve things for residents that live there. That area is a much more natural fit with Cleveland Heights, and if there is any annexation to occur, it should go to Cleveland Heights. Generally-speaking, I really don't understand how the borders ended up like that whenever they were drawn up many decades ago. Personally I think that, everything west of Belvoir and south of Terrace should be Cleveland Heights. It would certainly make things much simpler.

I'm in my late 20s. I think neighborhood schools are important and valuable, but I like districts that are big enough to offer families some choices. Even if concentrations of athletic powerhouses occurs, I still think it's worth it to give families a chance to find the right fit for their kids. This is something that the smaller district, like Shaker Heights, can't really complain about because it's a byproduct of the exclusivity that the district attempts to maintain. I'd suggest that the OHSAA should maybe come up with a separate divisional structure for open-enrollment vs. closed-enrollment schools, but I honestly think it's completely unnecessary.

Along Prospect Avenue there are a scarce amount of really cool rowhouses. Were there even more rowhouses around town like that, and if so, are these ones on Prospect the only ones that survived?

I don't believe that Cleveland had much of a residential population at all downtown once it reached big city status. I'm sure at one time there was residential right off of Public Square when Cleveland was more of a town, but that made way for the central business district as the city grew. I do know that the area between E. 12th Street and E. 30th Street was once a densely population area made up of apartment blocks and houses. Although, I'm not sure if that area was considered part of downtown at the time or some other neighborhood. I believe very few streets around there survived as residential by 1960. Here are some photos from that area of some of the last survivors that were destroyed to make room for Cleveland State and parking lots (from the CSU archives). I don't really know the history of that area other than Millionaires Row along Euclid. I just know that must have been a pretty active residential district at one time that was leveled to make room for parking lots and one story commercial/industrial structures :x To my unsophisticated architectural eye, those look a little bit like the apartment buildings that exist in high concentrations in Cleveland Heights and near Shaker Square.

I think it's the Cleveland Public School typical "high low" sporadic issues. In the majority or certain sports one or two schools were "powerhouses". In the 40s it was East Tech (central) and West Tech. In the 50s John Marshall and JFK. In the 60s it was Glenville. In the 70s it was JFK. The 80s East Tech & John Adams. The 90s Collinwood (girls track). The '00's Glenville in the majority of sports. Open enrollment means that the best players who think they have a chance to play college ball will congregate at the best program, where the scouts are more likely to see them. Glenville's crossed that threshold, to the point where they probably don't have to actively recruit anymore. They're seeing the same thing at Maple Heights, since it's so easy to move there these days. I forgot about open enrollment, which I think is stupid, with exception to the specialized schools. Why should a family's choice be limited? Even if we're talking about sports, I'm 100% supportive of allowing students to attend a school that will be help them to fulfill their goals. If a student is a stellar track athlete, but would normally be assigned to Rhodes who has a terrible track program, why shouldn't they be allow to transfer to Glenville, a juggernaut track school? Doing so will allow that student to be around other successful track athletes and coaches who are the top of their field. In turn, this will help the transferring student to improve their skills and their chances of getting a scholarship.

True, but I would feel much better about Heights' chances if they were playing Boardman. I mean heck, even my alma mater beat Boardman. ;) FYI, the Heights-Eds game will be on SportsTime Ohio on Saturday night at 7pm.

What would Euclid Avenue look like today if even 90% of the Millionaire's Row mansions were still there? How would they fit into Cleveland today? I've never been to Buffalo, but I've heard that they kept most of their big mansions and have re-purposed them in thoughtful ways that preserve history will allowing for modern uses.

Belly Backer's probably isn't anything special, but that corner has been empty for so long that it's great to see a tenant move in and take a shot. I'm going to give it a try sometime. I haven't been to Myxx. It seems like more of a bar type place and quite honestly I haven't been out for drinks in several months. I wonder what their menu is like?

Details? (Not that I disagree, just wondering what prompted that.) I was just going to ask the same thing. I guess I say that based on just seeing all of these places like Sweetie Fry's, Myxx, Belly Backer's, Rockefeller's, and Luna Bakery all popping up in the past few months.

I've been ordering from them once or twice a month for a few years now and I've had the chance to chat with the owner before, too. I think they do a pretty good job and when the orders aren't correct or the wait time is long, I think it's usually the restaurant's fault*. Also the company has always gone out of its way to rectify any issues with my orders when the need arises, which is good. My understanding is that they have to work out contracts with these restaurants which is why their selection may be limited in some areas. They've got pretty good coverage of east suburban restaurants though. *Generally-speaking my worst experiences have been with the bar&grille type places that they've got.

Seems like there is a bit of an independent food renaissance going on in Cleveland Heights these days.