archangel

Whoever does the fundraising for UH is really good at their job...

I honestly had no idea there were so many of you guys in the area. Then again, I think there are two temples within a 10 minute drive of where I grew up, so I shouldn't be surprised.

This is an interesting question to me because I spent a good number of hours this spring reading about communities (including several in Ohio) being sued by the federal government for trying various methods to stop subsidized housing from being built in their communities. Usually, the government wins, because there's a presumption that the Fair Housing Act is more important than whatever excuse the local community puts forth (zoning, aesthetics, whatever) to stop the project. It is not easy, and sometimes not even remotely possible, for a community to absolutely reject such projects, and sometimes there are rules stating that new projects need to be spread out and not all clustered together in high-poverty areas. Clearly there are several cases where large projects or Section 8 heavy areas create problems for the surrounding community, though I wonder how direct the relationship really is. It's too simple to say 'Section 8 causes problems'. It's more that these problems are over-represented among the population that needs/uses Section 8, and it becomes a tremendous 'Not In My Backyard' (NIMBY) problem where nobody wants to be the one who has to deal with it. I think that mindset is partly responsible for the failure of cities like Cleveland to deal with poverty; but the current system doesn't work too well either, and regardless of whose 'fault' any of this is, it remains unfair to suddenly drop a big project on a small community, though the situation in Green seems a bit more complicated than that. If the Housing Authority isn't doing its job correctly, I'd jump on them too. But the solution isn't to kick the can down the road; it's to fund these projects well, and in turn demand more from the people who benefit from them, including both landlords and residents, and kick out problem residents who fail to get their act together in a certain amount of time. The simple reality is nobody wants a project in their backyard unless it's a well-managed and safe one. I live near W. 25th and there's a constant parade of sirens proceeding from south-to-north, and guess where they're headed? Lakeside. All the time. I've had very few problems in OC, but I know someone who did community service in the projects, and he said it was awful. They are becoming what they replaced decades ago - low quality housing with a neglected and unmanageable population. The question is, what happens if we were to just slam the door and build a bunch of condos instead? Where would these people go? Would the associated problems really go away? I have trouble believing that.

June was not kind to the Indians, but some momentum going into the break, and they have a better than even chance at the playoffs.

Which buildings downtown are Section 8?

Website seems pretty clearly to say 4pm open, but there's one spot where it's unclear if Friday/Saturday lunch is something they do right now, or something, like Sunday brunch, that is 'coming soon'. The website definitely needs an update in more than one place.

I'm fine with replacing it with something more effective, or allowing the highway patrol to spot-check people who are belching thick exhaust. I admit I'm a bit of an extremist on the issue - I really don't want the 'few idiots' to get away with it. Depending on how much administration costs, maybe it's not worth it, though. I never waited more than a few minutes for my tests, but if that's really the case that huge lines of cars are sitting there all day, well...that's stupid. Like I said, unified national standards from the point of manufacture would be the best solution.

The precedent is solidly set. But, Marathon is a significant retention, and the income taxes from 1,750 people who are happy to work there aren't bad, either. What needs to happen more is the 'clawback' provisions Kasich built into the Diebold deal. You get a tax break for X years, but if you leave before X+Y years, we send you a bill. Man, this is good press for Kasich - I don't think they would have abandoned their operations here in any case, perhaps downsized slightly, but the governor is building a resume of big names that didn't leave. If he wins the SB 5 referendum, I may have to eat my words about him being a one-term governor. That's...kind of endearing. I wonder if any out-of-state businesses are buying into Kasich's strategy.

Remember when Sabathia did that to teams that weren't us? Yeah. Also, the Chad Durbin experiment should be canned. I think I've said that before.

Why eliminate it if the flaws can be repaired? It's not that big of a deal. I've done it for years. Hate seeing cars with totally borked exhaust systems driving around; don't want to see more of them. Are there any impact studies we can see about the air quality in CC over the lifespan of e-check? How about the pass/fail stats? I have to agree with EC; the notion that most individuals will do the environmentally-friendly, long-term thing without any coercion is ridiculous. This has been proven again and again throughout history, and E-Check is not bankrupting or unduly inconveniencing anyone. It would be better if we had unified federal standards that accomplished the same thing, but the EPA has been gutted and left a shell of its previous self. If they won't do it, I'm fine with it being done on a local level, expenses and all.

It's a good question. Where can these kids go? They need to go somewhere. Expecting them to obediently stay at home and do nothing is unrealistic on every level. I was a 'good' kid and still spent a lot of time wandering around with my friends. If cops had showed up and told me to go home, I would have, but if they'd done it everywhere we went, well... Pretty strong reaction from CH. Curious to see enforcement - how will they check?

Bring in the immigrants.

Would have taken 'Big V' at 4. Not sure what's going on. Irving is an obvious #1 and I wouldn't second-guess it for a second. Don't know what's going on with the second-rounders. Just not up on things enough to comment. Norris Cole to Miami via trade. Horrible. Not that we could do anything about it.

Seriously, what is the deal with that Pigeon house on Chester?

Which one are you talking about? The one in front of where Moda was, or the one by the WSM? I haven't noticed any loitering, and I live right there.

I personally don't think there's a balance, West, or at least it shouldn't be much of a concern for developers. I think it's that Cleveland lacks the political, financial and legal muscle to enact Giuliani-style controls on panhandlers, and locates the main men's homeless shelter near the downtown area, particularly those buildings. If workers can't walk around unmolested, it's naturally going to discourage creative urban architecture. It's very development-related.

My wife has been making frequent use of the Red Line. I probably will in the coming year as well. Got to echo what has been said about the station quality. Though I know it has more to do with the irresponsible actions of a few freeloaders, it's sad to see things not cleaned up. Generally speaking I have not had a bad experience, though, but I wish the trains ran a bit more frequently.

Hardly. Urban renewal is a block by block process, and drawing a circle on a map and saying, "The city wants X" cannot make it so. You nailed it; in time, perhaps, but not now. Not without a lot of money or a lot of new residents.

I'm not sure where else this would be more appropriate, considering it has little to do with the renovation, but I just wanted to say kudos to CMA for providing what was apparently an excellent special guided tour to a visiting foreign delegation this past weekend. The Curator of Asian Art, Anita Chung, personally gave them a tour of all the principle galleries, although most of the Asian Art is apparently not on display during the renovation. I'm connected with several of the people on the tour and they enjoyed it quite a bit, and, to a man/woman, decided that the Cleveland museum was far and away the best one they'd seen on their trip to the US.

Yeah, wouldn't the bridge let you dodge the west bank entirely? I'd guess most of its use will be people going between the park and downtown, not between OC and downtown, except possibly for Stonebridge/Lakeview residents.

Yeah, but CWRU has been saying they'll do 'something' with West Quad ever since what's-his-face tried and failed to build his biotech boondoggle there (a much larger version of what eventually went there). It would be nice to have some hint of what their plans are, anyone know?

Hmmm. I like it. Would be nice if there was more reason to go to West Quad, but I still like it.

Irving and Big V.

The one that's currently in first place, the Ritz Theater in Wellington, TX, clearly put a lot of effort into this.

We care :) I care, since I'm considering moving there in ~2 years.