archangel

Weren't the CIA dorms supposed to be part of Intesa? Any impact on that?

Weeden probably gets another year, but if it was up to me, all he'd get was a chance at the QB position, not a promise. He should never have been on the roster. Wasted pick? It's a sunk cost. Either change the offensive system to suit him or get rid of him. New coach, new OC - fine, position is up for grabs. I think Greg Little is fine for now. He gets to play out his contract. I would not spend a high pick on WR. I'd spend it on G (depending on Pinkston recovering), CB, or LB. I'd not keep Shurmur. He got better, but not better enough. Even if we win the last two, I don't know. It's hard to see the upside.

Just wanted to add that the area around the Transformer Station is starting to get good. The OC Firehouse now has a good artisan coffee shop and a flower shop, and some offices (and one apartment, apparently?) as well. The Transformer station opens in February, I think. Hopefully some of this energy migrates north to Detroit.

Fantastic news. :)

This is a great outcome. Very cool. I look forward to seeing renderings for the tower. That building offers some great views despite being kind of blah itself - once it's rehabbed, it should be an attractive property and spawn some small development nearby.

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/11/2_men_shot_after_chase_ending.html#incart_river_default#incart_m-rpt-2 http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/11/no_one_injured_during_police_c.html "Two suspects reportedly are dead after leading police on a high-speed chase beginning in Cleveland and ending with gunfire in East Cleveland, according to reports." Crazy. Opened fire right outside the Justice Center? Suicide by cop? I was right there a few hours before this. Ugh.

Glad we won, but I think the point above about a CB is legit - they wanted Patrick Peterson last year, and when he and AJ Green were gone, they traded down. They could have stood pat this year and taken Claiborne instead of Richardson (or just gambled and waited to see if Richardson would fall to 4), saving a couple of late picks in the process. Haden/Claiborne duo would have been ridiculous, though Peterson was the better prospect. Haden, Claiborne, and Ward in the secondary - oof. That said, I'm still alright with Richardson - I just would have taken a guard rather than Weeden to guarantee he has total support. If we reduce the number of guys Richardson has to beat or shake off on his own, he's going to break more big gains.

I attended the 'People's Party' for the West Side Market at Crop last night. Really good food. A bit too crowded at some points but overall a very nice event. http://www.cleveland.com/dining/index.ssf/2012/11/west_side_market_benefit_peopl.html

Not necessarily. Heckert and Banner know each other, and worked together for quite awhile. They could work together again. Depends if the GM's responsibility changes significantly under Haslam. And I think Heckert has done a very good job, Owen Marecic aside.

Good that they're doing something with west quad. The real question is what will happen to the current buildings. More UH expansion or other CWRU work?

I went in there. It's curious and neat to see, but it's also useless because it's nowhere close to being up to code. And it's not so special that it absolutely has to be saved. The other buildings that they do use are pretty nice, so the site has been well-preserved overall. Attractive nuisance sounds right. People used to break in for no real reason other than to say, "I broke into the Ridges!"

It was never in the bag. The offense accomplished nothing the entire day - Weeden was pretty much mentally crushed from the get-go. The defense was spectacular in most regards. Not surprised Richardson had a slow start, but Weeden was far worse than expected, and I had low expectations.

I think the best bet is to start slow, with the obvious merger candidates and the less exciting but still important service consolidations. Merge a handful over the next 3-5 years and then determine how to proceed - nobody will stand for a rapid merger process unless there is an obvious benefit to all, and 'we'll save money' is a dubious argument, at least in the short term (which, if this comes to a vote, is what will be foremost in peoples' minds).

^ Wages as a percent of the economy. States already offer incentives for adding jobs. The federal government does to an extent. There are no incentives that will correct a massive and unproductive imbalance of wealth other than the income tax.

I would like to see the inner part of the flats become the club and music zone downtown, because the places in the WD just don't stack up, and other places are far-flung. Plus, if/when they build the second Casino, there could be some serious synergy between the two.

Yes. Use it frequently. With customization, it is a very useful site, and potentially a massive timesink.

327... 'breathtaking incompetence'? Not only is that irresponsible hyperbole, it's just...wrong. The Jackson administration, with barely a handful of people to staff on issues like this, inherited a messed up tax code with all these various taxes (such as the admissions tax) that had been selectively enforced or just sloppily administrated. If they grant a blanket amnesty, that's totally unfair to the venues that did pay the tax (and some of those are major players in the city), and it also, frankly, lets some people off the hook who deliberately held back money for years and years. That doesn't paint city government in a positive light; it makes them a dishonest broker. The musicians, patrons, and club owners will cheer, sure, but the business owners who paid are going to be livid, and such actions create contempt for the law. THAT would be 'breathtaking incompetence', or at least close to it. And I totally agree the rate was far too high, places like the Beachland/Peabody's can't sustain that, and I am fairly certain that they will not pay the amounts that are claimed, only a small portion thereof. And that is a reasonable, equitable solution that ends in lower taxes. Smells like competent government to me. Credit where credit's due.

The trade as proposed is a steal for the Cavaliers. We rent out our cap-space short-term, get $3M in cash, and a first-rounder? Oh, and we get rid of Luke Walton? Sign me up.

Strongly agree. I have my issues with the overall competitive balance of the NBA (and MLB, to a lesser extent) but generally I am tired of people hating LeBron or hating Art Modell or whatever - get over it, move on. LeBron James = best player in the NBA, he was going to win it eventually, and whether anyone agrees on those terms or not is really irrelevant. He won, so good for him. And I'd *still* welcome him back in Cleveland later in his career. Grudges accomplish nothing.

Nice pictures.

LBJ is the best player on the court. The odds are in his favor if he keeps it together.

Can't answer all the problems in one draft. They did make FA offers to Pierre Garcon and Josh Morgan, but were outbid by offers I consider overpaying. But most FAs end up 'overpaid'. Still, we have 40M in cap space...third most in the NFL. Next season, they ought to be more active.

My dream scenario: Cavs match whatever the offer for Alonzo Gee is, retaining him (barring a truly ridiculous offer). The Cavs trade Alonzo Gee and #24 and whatever other sweetner is necessary to New Orleans for the horrible contract Emeka Okafor and #10. NOLA is happy (I think) because they free up cap space, get another young player to go alongside Anthony Davis, and probably can still get a useful depth player, along with whatever else they want to make it work (I'd part with anything not in the starting lineup, but no future 1sts). The Cavs then send #4 and #10 to Charlotte for #2 and draft MKG, who immediately becomes the strating small forward, replacing Gee. This only applies, obviously, if there is zero chance of him being there at #4, which I think is a safe bet. Your starting lineup is then: PG: Irving SG: Gibson C: Varejao/Okafor PF: Thompson/Varejao SF: MKG Need depth, but that would be playoff-caliber no later than a year from inception. Okafor might even be useful; he'll cost basically what Jamison was costing us.

From a 3L - good call, haha.

^ That's correct. It lasts until move-out is over (end of this week, I guess?) and returns in August for move-in. Happens every year.