Ewoops

^Punch, the article says the name would be Case University Hospitals of Cleveland, Western Reserve was not included. I wondered about how the Clinic would feel about that as well. I also wonder how Western Reserve alums feel about Case moving toward dropping them from the name altogether. I think it's a good idea, if they can get substantial buy-in from the remaining Western Reserve grads, Case is a lot easier to brand than Case Western Reserve.

Alternative Press Magazine

^No fair!

^I think Iris Wolstein was the one who made the donation to the law school for the lobby and facade renovation.

Musky and Wimwar, the moratorium on eminent domain shouldn't impact the Flats Project, because the Flats land has been declared blighted, so it could be taken under the old standard, which is still in place under the moratorium. So even if it isn't grandfathered in, using eminent domain here is ok. I think the moratorium suspends the taking of unblighted property for private rather than public use, which is for the first time clearly constitional due to the Supreme Court's recent decision. However, the use of eminent domain is a huge political problem, because of the backlash from the recent SC decision. That might impact the Flats project. Particularly with Shia, or whatever that guy's name is, who is proposing his own development, although I hear it's more of a negotiating tactic to get more money out of Wolstein.

^I agree with all of the planning problems with the Applied building, but I will say that I have never driven by that building with anyone else in the car who was seeing it for the first time when they didn't say "what's that building?" I don't know what that means, I just know that it stands out. Could be because it's out of place, could be because it is striking. I think it's probably both.

^People ski like crazy in Sandusky and Huron over the summer.

^Even if we could just knock down the low rises and put a park there, you could put a lot of housing on the West side of the street and help to bridge Market Square to the Flats and downtown.

^Still though, the neighborhood really runs north-south, and the "avenues" intersecting it run east-west. I think I may have posted on this before too. I think Perk Park, or even Erieview is a much better name for the neighborhood being created Between Euclid and Lakeside along East 12th. Maybe it's not too late, the project doesn't have to define the neighborhood, in fact, Reserve Square is much larger.

^I agree that the river is where it's at. I'd just as soon create a green lakefront for folks to use when it's nice out, and build up the core of downtown and the flats with dense residential. The lakefront just doesn't offer the same types of connections for a neighborhood, it's too isolated. The river valley, on the other hand, can pull downtown and the near westside together, as well as linking the city with its southern neighbors.

^I want to qualify my last post with the comment that I think abatements play a large part in a homebuyer's decision to make a purchase, even if the price of the unit is inflated based on the abatement.

^I think the abatements only work in that they are encouraging developers to build. The actual value of the abatement seems, at least to me, to be included in the price of the unit. Resale prices on units that are no longer abated seem to reflect this. So, the idea is, are we over-incentivizing builders and, if so, what is the optimal incentive below which new home construction will decrease? Having a discussion about this, which is all Mayor Jackson has stated that he is in favor of, is probably in order. Further, the legislation has to be reconsidered by council in 2007. However, making a reactionary decision based on politics would be really bad.

^Thanks for the pics, it brings back memories. The entrance to my dorm during my first year of law school was under the archway in your first picture. Also, I did most of my studying in the Reading Room. Ann Arbor is an incredible college town/small city, it's really a small town with a big world view.

^Has there been any progress on these pocket parks? I haven't noticed that they've done any work, and was wondering if I'm just missing them or if the project has been put on hold. Does anyone have any info on this? Thanks.

^agreed

^Or 1/4th of a new ballpark!

^great idea! I wonder what it would cost to provide the underground Tower City link? I think linking it with a revamp of Public Square is a great idea as well. Further, there's got to be a better way to create an above ground flow from the Malls to Public Square, I think that the Malls are visually my favorite part of downtown, but they are terribly under-utilized.

^Pope, I think the Arrowhead project also calls for a Soldier Field style renovation as well. I think I remember reading somewhere that the dome would be $100-200 of that $450 million. I'll take a look though. I think that, if we could get the NFL to commit to two Super Bowls over 40 years, and the NCAA to commit to three final fours over the same time period, it would be worth it. The economic as well as the psychological impact of those events on city residents would be large. However, without guarantees (I think KC got one guaranteed Super Bowl over the next 20 years or something), I wouldn't build based on speculation alone.

^I would love to see CSU and the MLS group partner to create a soccer/small football stadium project. It could be used for MLS, CSU football (if CSU had football it could jump up to MAC or Conference USA), and St. Ignatius, Glenville, and other major high school football games. It seems like a perfect fit, the Wolstein's are involved in the deal and are already the greatest contributors to CSU. I'd love to see them find a way to fit it into the lot just north of Chester and East of 13th, and see if they could make it part of a larger project that would include student housing.

^I was under the impression that they were going to take the 1 large theater and create 3 or 4 screens.

What part of the county are you from?-I grew up off of Perkins Ave in Sandusky, but my parents moved to Berlin Heights when I was 16 (my mom got transferred to Cleveland, my dad worked at Union Chain on the western side of Sandusky), and I graduated from Edison in '97. Kalahari is technically in Huron Twp, not Perkins Twp, and is closer to Milan than it is to Sandusky proper. I would argue that people from all over the county work there, and that it is in the south/central part of the county, not the northwest. It's interesting that you lump Sandusky together with Perkins, Huron and Margaretta/Castalia. Most people I know in Sandusky blame those places for their problems, and don't see development in those areas as a good thing (People in Sandusky bitch about the 250 corridor in Perkins all the time, it drains their tax base, kills the downtown, etcetera). I'm sorry about the roads at your parents' place, but not surprised! The services in Berlin Heights were pretty poor as well. I think that rural communities in otherwise populated counties get hosed all the time, they just don't have enough votes. It costs a lot of money to extend infrastructure that far out, and without a lot of political clout, counties are hesitant to make that kind of investment. I'm glad to have a fellow Erie County area person on the board!

A brand new YMCA us going up on Detroit, and Lakewood is undertaking a major renvation/expansion of its library, and has plans to do a drastic improvement of its lakefront park. There seem to be a lot of projects going on in Lakewood that will dramatically add to the quality of life for its residents.

^But I'm with you on voting for Kerry! We are a swing county, and I've always voted absentee in Erie County, but now that I'm back in Ohio, I've begun voting in Cleveland.

TC Joe, I disagree that the county government focuses on Sandusky at the expense of the rest of the county. I grew up in Sandusky, and due to population loss in the central city (Sandusky is the Cleveland of Erie County), the county government has been increasingly taken over by suburban/rural interests. While it is still the county seat, Sandusky now makes up less than a third of overall county population. The current waterfront development and other impressive happenings in the downtown are the product of Mike Will, the ambitious City Manager who has nothing to do with the County gov. I think that the County should focus on its waterfronts (Vermilion, Huron, Sandusky) and historic downtowns (mainly in Sandusky, Milan and Vermilion), as they are easily its most important assets. The Sandusky Bay Area has created a one-stop shopping vacation type area, ala Orlando, instead of leveraging its quaint downtowns, waterfronts, perch and Walleye fishing, Cedar Point, and the islands in a way that would allow it to maximize its potential. People should be staying all summer, not just for the weekend. Don't get me wrong, there is a strong real estate market for direct lakefront property, but Downtown Sandusky should be the Petoskey or Cape of the NorthCoast. It's got an abundance of historic homes just begging to be turned into summer cottages, and all are within walking distance, if not directly on the waterfront (which has breathtaking views of Cedar Point skyline and across the Bay). All this within a two hour drive of Cleveland (1 hour), Columbus (2 hours), Detroit (2 1/2 hours), and Toledo (1 hour).

I love both cities, and don't think it's easy to compare them. I would kill for the vibrancy that goes along with being a capital city and the home of one of the largest and most storied universities in the country. Also, most of my neutral friends from high school (Sanusky)/college (OU) prefer Columbus, although they aren't really urbanists (More Easton dwelling types). Most of my friends from law school (U of Mich) wouldn't be caught dead in either city (they're mostly insecure types that feel like they have to be in brand name cities), but all have been impressed when I've brought them to Cleveland. A lot of my high school/college buddies love Columbus and bash Cleveland (I think that too often people from one metro or the other bash the other to try to validate their own choices on where to settle). Obviously, I've chosen Cleveland, but I think there are a lot of unique things to recommend both places, and think people living in both cities are fortunate. I think we should continue to talk about what makes our cities great, but not at the expense of other places, particularly other places in Ohio.