Clevelander17

This is my concern with completely eliminating tenure for teachers. I think the new SB5 provisions could bring about a situation where a successful veteran teacher is replaced by the fresh-out-of-college nephew of a school board member.

Yeah that's kind of what I was getting at. And I think people will "create" their own new ways around this intersection, making for new headaches in the area. The Sussex neighborhood is still pretty quiet at the moment, but I wouldn't bank on that remaining like that with a newly configured Warrensville-Chagrin intersection!

Here's a ranking system of neighborhoods/suburbs in Cuyahoga County: http://media.heightsobserver.org/media/docs_1317664543.pdf I question some of the methodology, but overall I like what they were trying to do.

There won't be a line.

Well, if that's the goal, and it's a noble one, then it probably begins and ends with the Blue Line. Beachwood preempted any logical move to extend the Green Line further east (which would have made a lot of sense and worked out very well) and I don't know enough about the Red Line to know what its options might be, though I suspect there are also some big obstacles there, as well. I think, for the most part, we're several decades too late here.

The theory exists in practice nearby at Shaker Square -- one of nation's first planned TOD's. It's not the TOD part that concerns me. It's the rerouting of traffic.

I agree with this 100%. These are really the only people I feel sorry for. The owners and players can go fly a kite.

One other cool thing about Cleveland Heights is the street names and their English ties. http://www.chhistory.org/FeatureStories.php?Story=StreetsofClevelandHeights&View=OurLondonConnection&section=2

I wish they still had Norris Cole. I wish even more that he was not on the Heat roster.

If it's extended to Solon, who would use the transit? Do you think that a lot of people from surrounding suburbs would park and ride? Would you expect to see downtown workers using the train? How long would such a commute from Solon to downtown take? Would people be turned off by the idea of riding through North Randall, assuming that redevelopment there doesn't work out? Would extending the rail system to the exurbs possibly encourage people to move out the central city (or tacitly endorse such sprawl)? These are just a few questions I have about extending the Blue Line even further (into exurbia), because I did not even know that that was a possibility.

^Gotcha. Hypothetically that sounds like a great idea. But those people that are commuting from the outer-ring suburbs to Cleveland/those commuting from western Shaker Heights to the employment centers of Beachwood/Bedford/Solon probably aren't going to be changing their transportation methods/patterns all that much because Shaker heights wants a downtown in the middle of their current route. That assumption simply cannot be made. I think a great deal of those people are still going to approach that intersection as usual and use side streets to navigate around. Either that, or they'll start using other routes through Shaker Heights, causing new traffic problems in other parts of the city. I'll never claim to be an expect on this, but it does look like they're setting themselves up for some potentially serious unintended consequences.

What I don't understand is that if this Medical Mart was a big money-maker, why is there any need at all for the taxpayers to step in and fund it? I mean wouldn't private companies be tripping over themselves to take on the financial risk to be the ones to bring such a concept to this city? The convention center I understand for the most part.

Bedford and Maple in the same district? That would be a war...lol. Solon would become the new Walton Hills, paying a big chunk of the freight while sending virtually no students. Leaving aside the question of why a Republican governor would piss off a Republican leaning town that badly, all this would do would be boost private schools and marginalize public education. I can't remember how serious I was being with that post. But you're right, such a plan would have serious unintended consequences. Solon is already the last stop out of the county for many people--I suspect that this would simply expedite the process.

I hope it goes past Christmas...of 2012.

So where does that traffic go? I want to know what they are thinking will happen to the hundreds of automobiles that on a daily basis cross that intersection using Van Aken/Northfield.

So essentially we could be building this extension just for the sake of building it? What if that redevelopment fails (which is not an unlikely scenario)? Then we've got a Blue Line extension to nowhere? I'm not sure I'm understanding what you are saying here. The primary goal of redesigning this intersection should be to get traffic through more quickly and efficiently. What happens on the fringes with development should be a secondary concern. Cutting off access to the intersection from Van Aken and Northfield is simply going to push that traffic to side streets (including some very residential areas) creating a whole new set of problems and headaches for residents and others who are in that area more than once a month.

As long as they don't touch Charley's Grilled Subs, I'm cool.

I'm trying to educate myself on the Randall Park Mall redevelopment, but I'm skeptical. I just don't know if it would be worth it to extend the Blue Line out to that area. I think the proposed idea of extending the line out to the Harvard Park/Chagrin Highlands/I-271 area made more sense. So what happens to all of the traffic that uses Van Aken-Northfield to cross that intersection on a daily basis? I think forcing them elsewhere is just going to create messes in other areas.

I know you didn't say it was a good idea, I was just offering my opinion on the issue. I understand what both sides are trying to do. They're each cherrypicking the parts for which they have the most support and building ads based around those issues. Not entirely honest, but then again, it's really hard to generalize a bill that truly is a comprehensive load of crap with a few nuggets sprinkled in.

I disagree as the finances are different. What sport in Europe parallels MLB, NFL or the NBA? Soccer, Lacrosse, Rugby, crickett, Field Hockey, Volleyball & curling barely register a blip on the sports radar screen in the States. Also, in Europe the travel and insure is much higher than it is for our sports leagues. They don't play much lacrosse in Europe. Also, European soccer, particularly the EPL, is quite popular in the United States.

But what exactly is the point? Also, if Northfield is closed off at the Chagrin-Warrensville intersection, how are will auto traffic access it? If the proposal is to flush traffic to the side streets, I think we'll see a new mess form at that intersection. I always thought the traffic circle idea made some sense but I guess it's off the table.

SH and UH are both much more residential than CH.

I sure hope not. If there is one issue Republicans have the worst understanding of, it's education. There is mixed evidence that merit pay works they way it's supposed to work and there is, as of now, no fair and accurate system.

I don't know if I agree with that. I think giving free space away could potentially devalue the space. I'm not sure it will raise the demand on the remaining space. Again, I'll ask, do you have any idea what a Merchandise Mart is? You cannot compare this type of space with traditional office space for lease. I think some people are jumping the gun and asking for construction to stop, without having all the details or a full understanding of the functions of a merchandise mart and it's niche/unique leasing. I'm sure I have a better idea of what it is than a majority of those who are blindly supporting it and hoping that our government leaders and the developers aren't going to screw it up. That's certainly not stopping them from entering the discussion, now is it?

There may be some very good, very needed aspects of SB5 that could help communities as they move forward in these economically uncertain times. The problem is that the law is loaded with other unnecessary political crap that is there to strictly benefit the Republican Party. The pro-SB5 crowd is being disingenuous in that they're promoting the idea that if Issue 2 fails that we'll be stuck with the status quo into perpetuity. That's complete nonsense. When SB5 is repealed, there will be opportunities for everyone to go back to the drawing board and compromise on implementing the most sensible and needed aspects of reforming public employee compensation. This, as opposed to one side ramming through what they envision to be the necessary changes, which as we all know is what happened. Here's a general idea that is only tangentially related to Issue 2/SB5. Everyone keeps saying that the money is not there. I tend to think that this is quite an exaggeration. In my opinion, the money is most certainly there, it's simply a matter of priorities. And right now, there are many people to whom education and public safety are simply not a priority. There is no way to argue that it is good idea to pay employees in these fields less (thereby accepting that the cream of the crop will choose other professions) and still claim that you support strong schools and police/fire departments. What I would propose is that rather than cutting the compensation of employees that work on the front lines in these incredibly important positions, that we do everything we can to make sure that we are first cutting out all of the bloat from support/bureaucratic/administrative staff. That's of course if you truly buy the idea that "the money is not there."