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FWIW - While the Columbia Building demolition did not sit well with me, the proposed pedestrian bridge did come with the benefit of "activating" the second floor of the casino. With the ruling from the SHPO and the Park Service at a federal level, I wonder if the ruling would have had a different outcome if the bridge was not attached to the Higbee structure. Lets suppose Gilbert were to build a movable pedestrian bridge (similar to the jackknife bridges on the cuyahoga) with the base of the bridge on the former Columbia building site. The only modification to the Higbee required to gain access on the second floor would be modifying the windows on the second floor corner (which are already 8ft+ tall) to be hinged and open-able. In a dream scenario, the jackknife bridge could even be up during good weather months, and have the bridge only be lowered in the cold months.

I saw a 3D sketch of the Oakwood plan on TV and on the internet at http://voteyes96.net/. The rendering is consistent with the site plans shown thusfar. Keep in mind this image represents the best of what to expect (when all the trees are 40ft and mature).

Regarding Dunham Tavern Park and 6611 Euclid. I happen to agree with the Cleveland area history blog -- that that 6611 should be considered a supporting structure for Dunham Tavern. Meaning that Dunham is remarkable not only because it is the oldest building in the City, but also because it survived for so long on Euclid ave -- when the rest of the nearby real estate was sold off to create multilevel industrial buildings. http://www.clevelandareahistory.com/2011/03/cincinnati-and-cleveland.html I do support the concept of the central park of HTC -- but i think it can be had by acquiring other parcels than 6611.

This is exciting -- with a very off-the-path location. This will be located at 1163 East 40th Street -- approximately e40th and King (calling it 40th and St. Clair takes a little imagination). I wonder what can be done to better integrate this facility with the main AsiaTown Core -- additionally i wonder if there if there is a way for this development project to begin to revitalize Kirtland park.

I am very interested in the AsiaTown Transportation & Streetscape plan including the Paifang Gate element. My favorite one of these gates around the country is the contemporary one in Los Angeles. I have superimposed it on the Superior Ave Railroad bridge to demonstrate what it would look like in Cleveland.

here is a public square configuration (i call it the home plate layout) that is probably cost prohibitive as it involves road relocation, but it has several strengths. Short of the closure of both Superior and Ontario it has 1) The largest continuous park space 2) least amount of roadway. Largest Continuous green-space Current Config - 1 acre (4 x 1 acre parks) Ontairo St- Closed Config - 2 to 2.5 acres (2 x 2.25 acre parks) Homeplate config - 3 to 3.5 acres (1 x 3.25 acre park) Feet of Roadway (measured from center line of street - does nut consider number of lanes) Current Config - 9,000 ft Ontairo St- Closed Config - 7,500 ft Homeplate config - 5,000 ft