CH Jake

Despite the scaffolding, not much actual work seems to be going on. A chunk of stone fell off the building a few years ago, leading to some repairs and maintenance. But the scaffolding has stayed. Liability insurance? Can anyone shed any light on this?

I thought Jim wrote a great article, even with the quotes from the convention-business guys. It lays out a lot of the facts and unanswered questions in a very clear and simple manner. Something that we rarely see out of the PD.

Great idea! (another reason to be thankful I don't live on the west side, eh!?)

Not to mention that we need to get these drawings before the eyes and ears in local, state, and federal officials ASAP now that there is talk of federal investment in infrastructure projects!

The website appears to be blank this morning. Any suggestions?

Downtown I'd recommend Nesi (Professional Hair Designers 241-1244) on Chester, between 9th and 12th. Excellent, very professional.

The cut-through is almost always open. When the garage is closed (typically after 9pm even when there's no show), you can still get in coming north from Euclid but you have to exit at the garage end in the alley between the garage and the back of the Allen theater. Late at night when the garage is closed I don't think you can get into the garage unless you have a keycard for the garage.

Doc -- you can also cut through the Playhouse Square garage to the Bulkley Building. Although perhaps that takes you uncomfortably close to the Greyhound station?

A presidential signature, which he has indicated he will give. Then comes appropriations prior to the change of each fiscal year. Congress must appropriate, or budget, a dollar amount for each funding category authorized (up to the dollar amounts authorized) for the coming fiscal year. There are many other steps in this, but none of those can happen without the funding authorization that's now near reality. There is some risk that the floor vote won't be scheduled before the end of this congressional session, which would mean that we would have to start over again. But since the Democrats have the majority and are afraid of Bush recess appointments I suspect that they will not adjourn until the last moment. We probably will get the floor vote, but I'm not holding my breath -- 'cause we might not.

The Indianapolis city center mall is in the center of the city -- and actually extends over and across a main intersection. It's like a spider that is visible from many places in a wide downtown area that has spurred activity along each of its arms. Tower City, on the other hand is hidden away from the street in a corner of downtown where its expansion and off-shoot development is basically zero on the river side (Huron). So we're left with spurring development in that triangle bounded by Superior, Huron and Ontario. More street activity in that area would be great, but since the mall is actually out of sight, I'm not really surprised that it hasn't spurred development at street level. A cantilevered convention center on the other side of Huron might help if it is visible at street level and includes street level storefronts, but I doubt that that will make it into the final design. But if not, I don't think it will add many more feet to the sidewalks around Tower City.

Are the Convention Center and the Medical Mart necessarily tied together? The price of the Convention Center seems to be out of reach at the moment. Can we get the Medical Mart in place now, and delay the Convention Center while we seek additional ways to fund it?

For emphasis. Oh, yeah. :drunk:

Piling on... Roldo Bartimole says that just the interest on the bonds for the $528 million will push the cost to Cuyahoga taxpayers over $1 billion. "The cost is $526 million to be financed by the quarter-percent sales tax added by Commissioners Tim Hagan, Jimmy Dimora and Peter Lawson Jones without a vote by the public. (Jones didn't vote for it because they didn't need his vote but he's for it now. The same goes for his November opponent Bay Village Republican Mayor Deborah Sutherland whose dodgy advice is to be "extremely careful" with the deal, but she is not opposed to the project.) That $526 million will not appear magically. Cuyahoga County will have to borrow the money (most of it - $461 million - needed quickly for construction). With interest until 2027 - duration of the bonds - we will have paid likely double - or nearly double - the $526-million. There's your Billion dollars, folks. " http://www.coolcleveland.com/index.php?n=Main.StoryNotAvailableAtOurBoughtNewsmedia He raises some interesting points to go along with the questions raised above by other posters. How is the water table being addressed at the riverfront site? How was it addressed at Browns stadium, closer to the lake than the current convention center? MMPI is only taking over two floors of the Higbee building -- how many jobs will that really create and is there an asbestos problem with the Higbee building? This last question is disturbing because Nance didn't seem to know about asbestos in the Higbee building but thinks the county should pay to renovate the space for MMPI. Finally, he makes a great point -- perhaps the county sales tax is better spent on RTA than MMPI & Forest City.

Interesting story out of Pittsburgh about the economic benefits from the Pittsburgh-to-DC bike path. http://post-gazette.com/pg/08209/899883-85.stm

Someone call Commissioner Jones and ask for those estimates!