biker16

you costs don't include utility relocation. I "believe" the LR55 cost do. I don't think the costs of LR55 can be acuratly accounted for yet becuase the rails are so expensive because they have to be custom made and without being able to make large quanities of the rail you cannot accuarately estimate the costs. add in a average of 3.2 million a mile for Systems, tractive power, communitcations, etc. so maybe 8.2 million a mile. Another advantage of LR55 rail is that it can be used for streetcar, and heavier light rial and even heavy rail rolling stock. So the situation that Portland has with the maxx trains being unable to run on streetcar tracks would not happen.

I would love to give a European engineering firm a shot at this project, making Cleveland the first place in he western hemisphere to use LR55 rail and possible having our own Mittal steel being the first to produce the rail for North American use.

Yup. If there's a sizable, pedestrian-friendly development tied in with a new station in this area, then it could stimulate more growth in that area. But if it's just a rapid station without any investor commitments to build anything supportive nearby, I wouldn't do it. The section of the Red Line between the West 65th and Ohio City stops is one of, if not the longest stretch of rail transit in Cleveland without any stations. In about 1970, Mayor Carl Stokes and Planning Director Norm Krumholz were seeking a public funding (HUD?) for a multi-tower apartment complex built on a retail platform atop a Red Line station in the basement between West 41st and West 44th along the then-new I-90. There are numerous active and abandoned industrial sites in that immediate area which make a Rapid station and any spin-off development unattractive -- > 2391 West 38th Street: Metal-Mation Inc (http://www.wellwalker.com/); > 3301 Monroe Avenue: Brandon Partners recycling plant, linked to various companies by an interesting character named Bill Baumann Sr. and his sons (was a Dow Chemical plant and later, an American Can Co. plant -- read more here http://www.clevescene.com/cleveland/mister-toxics-neighborhood/Content?oid=1474690); > 2300 Fulton Road: Former Fulton Auto Wrecking, now vacant and owned by DeSoto Properties LLC (target of rezoning listed below); > 3506 Vega Avenue: Former Devern Manufacturing Corp, now vacant and owned by 3506 Vega Avenue LLC (shell company created by Horwitz Group LLC http://thglawfirm.com/) but the statutory agent is a Parma Heights real estate investor named Michael Goebel; > 3400 Vega Avenue: Caraustar Cleveland Recycling (http://www.caraustar.com/) owned by Brieten Gunter; Some of these are troubled properties that are dragging down surrounding neighborhoods. Right now it's not the best area for a Rapid station. BTW, here's the rezonings that were on Planning Commission's agenda Friday..... Ordinance No. 922-12(Ward 15/Councilmember Zone and Ward 3/Councilmember Cimperman): Changing the Use District of land located on the north side of Chatham Avenue at Fulton Road to Local Retail Business. (site of La Borincana Foods) Ordinance No. xxx-12(Ward 15/Councilmember Zone): Changing the Use District of lands located on the southwest corner of Fulton Road and Bailey Avenue from General Industry to Two Family Residential and Local Retail Business. (former Fulton Auto Wrecking listed above) Ordinance No. 921-12(Ward 15/Councilmember Zone): Changing the Use District of lands located on the west side of West 76th Street to Local Retail Business. (next to Battery Park) http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/designreview/drcagenda/2012/07202012/index.php not relatede to this thread but it seems this Ordinance No. 921-12(Ward 15/Councilmember Zone): Changing the Use District of lands located on the west side of West 76th Street to Local Retail Business. (next to Battery Park) is to convert warehouse into residential loft space and is owned by the Catan family Of Pat Catans fame. So that is good news.

adding speculation to our normal banter. At today's planning meeting. there was a rezoning of a brownfield site on fulton and Bailey avenues in ohio city, from industrial into retail. it seemed stanrge for such a location. then the Ohio City CDC mentioned that Rta is studing a Redline stop at Fulton avenue because of it's location within such a dense neighborhood.

I'm not knocking the work that Mr. Calabrezze is doing in his lobbying efforts, but I don't see things getting better for a very long time, if ever. Also, not everyone agrees that increasing the gas tax to provide more money for transit is a bad idea during a recession. Accepting the current transportation funding formula, which spends money on bad choices, and waiting for better days does not make any sense. RTA should continue to push for more funding, even if that means raising taxes. Do not wait Mr. Calabrezze, keep pushing for changes in the funding formula. I'm willing to pay more for gas to have a better transit system, and I am not alone! (If gas prices were higher, as in Europe, perhaps we would have a higher percentage of the population calling for better transit.) Ohio because we are %90+ urbanized but that population is evenly distributed around the 8 MSA there is a division and dilution of power at the state level because of this. some of you seem to think we have a transit problem in Ohio, but in truth we have a urban policy problem in Ohio. why doesn't northeast ohio have a unifed transit agency? state Law, prohibits it. why can't we use gas tax revenue for transit? because state law prohibits it. I emplore the good people here to take a larger view of urban issues in ohio and relize that they are related. a good first step is http://votersfirstohio.com/ " Voters First is led by a coalition of nonpartisan groups and people from across Ohio. It was created to take the power over drawing our congressional and legislative districts out of the hands of the politicians and put it in the hands of the people." if passed it would redraw district in 2014 not 2021. beginning to take apart the machinery that has made suburban districts combine with a rural district and not represent the basic concept that suburban is really urban. it should undo the divisive machinery in Columbus. second step would be my idea for a ballot amendment to rewrite the constitution of Ohio to allow gas tax revenue to be distributed based on population and administered in a way that keeps cleveland from subsidizing development in rural counties. allows gas tax revenue to be used for more than roads, and ODOTs powers to be redistributed to local regional authorities, not run from Columbus. finally set up a dedicated funding source though a state wide property tax to strengthen regional connections through the creation of intercity and commuter rail networks. a state wide tax of $45 per year per person would raise 500 million dollars in transit funding per year. I'd pay $45 per year for high speed rail service and commuter rail service, I think alot of Ohioans would feel the same way. of course a new infrastructure bank and reform of federal transportation funding would help alot. either way these investments will have to be made sooner or later. Yes...we should support this. Gerrymandering that creates uncompetitive districts is an evil we need to get rid of. the death of the moderate politician in Ohio means that every election could bring swings to the left or to the right, and hurt the ability of government to affect long term change.

I think Biker may take issue with that statement! I and a lot of other people are beginning too question why the costs quoted for rail not just light rail seem excessive in the US vs the Rest of the world. We have gotten into a situation where we started building light rail systems as a substitute for heavy, and the costs began to spiral out of control. rememeber light rial began as Streetcars and interurbans that primaraly operated in road ROWs, but has become more and more dedicated ROWs most interurban and streetcars could not go past 50mph, with the use of dedicated ROWs light rail began to increase speeds, to up to 70 mph. with increased speeds you had to replace the simple and cheap Overhead wiring with a Cantentary system and upgrade the tracks, Also since the new "light Rail" trains were so powerful you had to upgrade the power infrastructure to to handle the greater acceleration of these now much heavier trains. So today basically every cleveland light rail proposal is for super light rail. since our super light rail trains are unfit for street running any extension involve costs involved with a super light rail car. issue with the current light rail cars. Poor driver visibility too wide 9'3" vs the max considered for street running of 8'8" most street cars are less ~8' the PCC streetcar was 8'4" the current health line buses are 8'4" other niceties like a fully enclosed coupler, skirts for trucks turning Radius buses are 13-14 meters modern light rail is 11-25 meters. I am not sure what the specs on the breda's are but they don't look to be that stringent change the rolling stock and you could drastically reduce the cost of line extensions.

Wow this is exciting news indeed. the Hallle building will make amazing residence. I just wish they would do the same to the old Halle garage across the street.

I would like to see the artificial barriers of county and municipal boundaries removed and replaced by an agency that encompass the entire functional region. form cleveland to Akron to Lorain to lake county, to Medina, an agency that can connect these areas together.

ADA compliant?

I'm a lawyer--working on my way towards becoming a well-paid one. A common misconception is that more words are necessary to close loopholes. That's often not the case. Quite often, the more language you give me to work with, the more likely it is that I'll be able to find language that can be interpreted the way I want. (The Internal Revenue Code is probably the worst offender, but it has ample competition.) Also, a good lawyer knows how to make rigid, inflexible rules work for them as well as more open, flexible standards. I stand by my original point. If the amendment is that wordy, it's going down in flames--it will get nay votes even from possible supporters of the general concept. then how would you write the rules for a complex governing board suggested by the proposed law? I like alot of Ohioans are tired of R and D gaming the system, and the absence of moderates on both sides of the political spectrum.

Amtrak's updated high-speed rail plan Read the entire updated plan here. http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/BlobServer?blobcol=urldata&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobkey=id&blobwhere=1249243768002&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobheadername1=Content-disposition&blobheadervalue1=attachment;filename=Amtrak_Amtrak-Vision-for-the-Northeast-Corridor.pdf

somewhat controversial article about the French Railway operator SNCF involvement and the role politics played in the route decision www.latimes.com interesting to note that SNCF was a lead consultant on the The Midwest High Speed Rail Association HSR development study. http://www.midwesthsr.org/2011-economic-study Personally I prefer the cost estimates from existing HSR operator to that of the normal cartel of US engineering Firms which have less experience with this type of project. There needs to be a overhaul of FRA rolling stock standards to reflect modern PTC standards to prevent cost escalation due to proprietary rolling stock.

how Gerrymandering works. Let's say there's a state with 100 people in it and 5 districts. 50% are registered democrat and 50% are registered republican. If everything was split there would be 20 people in each district with 10 democrats and 10 republicans making each of the 5 district races competitive. Now the Tom Delay redistricting plans come into play. District 1 is created to contain 20 democrats and 0 republicans. That leaves 50 republicans and 30 democrats. The other 4 districts each get 7 or 8 democrats and 12 to 13 republicans. That makes 4 very solid republican districts and 1 solid democrat district. This effectively guarantees that Republicans send 4 Congressmen to the House and only 1 Democrat. Politicians do not want competitive district they want safe districts, and the party in power can make districts that are safer for them and usually makes a deal with the other party to make their district safe as well. gerrymandering explained Tell me you haven't felt there was something out of place in this state for a very long time. this and ODOT are Holding Ohio back.

I undestand what you are saying but laws like this need alot of words in it to prevent the inevitable finding of loophole for some well paid lawyers. the concept of non politicized way of drawing districts is a powerful one in IMO.

http://votersfirstohio.com/

While your district is 90% democrat for that one seat in the house, there may be 3 seats that are 60% republican and 40% democrat. instead of having 2 seat for each party you now have 1 Dem and 3 Republican seat. Gerrymandering. we wonder why we are so polarized when politicians never have to move to the political center to win elections anymore.

how Gerrymandering works. Let's say there's a state with 100 people in it and 5 districts. 50% are registered democrat and 50% are registered republican. If everything was split there would be 20 people in each district with 10 democrats and 10 republicans making each of the 5 district races competitive. Now the Tom Delay redistricting plans come into play. District 1 is created to contain 20 democrats and 0 republicans. That leaves 50 republicans and 30 democrats. The other 4 districts each get 7 or 8 democrats and 12 to 13 republicans. That makes 4 very solid republican districts and 1 solid democrat district. This effectively guarantees that Republicans send 4 Congressmen to the House and only 1 Democrat. Politicians do not want competitive district they want safe districts, and the party in power can make districts that are safer for them and usually makes adealt with the other party to make their district safe as well. gerrymandering explained Tell me you haven't felt there was something out of place in this state for a very long time. this and ODOT are Holding Ohio back.

federal

I understand your concerns but gerrymander districts and safe D or R district cause political divisiveness we have seen in the last few decades. If approved by voters the redistricting would take place in time for the 2014 elections for state senate and house and US congress. the goal is to open up the process and bring balance between the D and R by including the independents what the Toledo Blade says... "November’s ballot already is so overcrowded that Ohio voters may just give up instead of trying to make sense of it. But a potential addition to the long list of state and local levies and questions is both timely and needed. Every 10 years, after the national Census, Ohio adjusts the boundaries of state legislative and U.S. House districts to reflect population changes. Whether Republicans or Democrats control the General Assembly and hold the statewide offices that are charged with redrawing the lines, the party in power abuses its power to create more districts for itself and fewer for the other party. The gerrymandering is often appalling. The new 9th Congressional District meanders along Lake Erie from Toledo to Cleveland. It is neither compact nor competitive, and is contiguous only because of a bridge that connects two parts of the district that are separated by water. State lawmakers talk about making the process less political. This year, the GOP-controlled legislature created two panels — the Redistricting Task Force and the Constitutional Modernization Commission — to recommend changes. But there is little hope for reform when Gov. John Kasich and state Senate President Thomas Niehaus, both Republicans, say they don’t think the Ohio Constitution requires neutrality in redistricting."

I understand your concerns but gerrymander districts and safe D or R district cause political divisiveness we have seen in the last few decades. what the Toledo Blade says... "November’s ballot already is so overcrowded that Ohio voters may just give up instead of trying to make sense of it. But a potential addition to the long list of state and local levies and questions is both timely and needed. Every 10 years, after the national Census, Ohio adjusts the boundaries of state legislative and U.S. House districts to reflect population changes. Whether Republicans or Democrats control the General Assembly and hold the statewide offices that are charged with redrawing the lines, the party in power abuses its power to create more districts for itself and fewer for the other party. The gerrymandering is often appalling. The new 9th Congressional District meanders along Lake Erie from Toledo to Cleveland. It is neither compact nor competitive, and is contiguous only because of a bridge that connects two parts of the district that are separated by water. State lawmakers talk about making the process less political. This year, the GOP-controlled legislature created two panels — the Redistricting Task Force and the Constitutional Modernization Commission — to recommend changes. But there is little hope for reform when Gov. John Kasich and state Senate President Thomas Niehaus, both Republicans, say they don’t think the Ohio Constitution requires neutrality in redistricting."

last I checked independence is about 30-35,000 jobs. ironically most of Independence's job center is locate within .65 miles of I-77. but nothing like the expansive I271 corridor where in some case the it is 1/2 mile from the road to the front door.

It alot more complex than trees, from what i have seen. the pavement system was designed to allow water through the pavers and into a retention system near the trees. It look like during the winter the water in the retention system froze nd led to the pavers being heaved and the retention system collapsing causing a depression in the sidewalk. I do think we are often too quick to blame and not patient enough to understand that our personal timetable is not what governments or business operate under. IMO the priority is to repair the safety hazard first and the trees come second. also we are in a drought.

I'm not knocking the work that Mr. Calabrezze is doing in his lobbying efforts, but I don't see things getting better for a very long time, if ever. Also, not everyone agrees that increasing the gas tax to provide more money for transit is a bad idea during a recession. Accepting the current transportation funding formula, which spends money on bad choices, and waiting for better days does not make any sense. RTA should continue to push for more funding, even if that means raising taxes. Do not wait Mr. Calabrezze, keep pushing for changes in the funding formula. I'm willing to pay more for gas to have a better transit system, and I am not alone! (If gas prices were higher, as in Europe, perhaps we would have a higher percentage of the population calling for better transit.) Ohio because we are %90+ urbanized but that population is evenly distributed around the 8 MSA there is a division and dilution of power at the state level because of this. some of you seem to think we have a transit problem in Ohio, but in truth we have a urban policy problem in Ohio. why doesn't northeast ohio have a unifed transit agency? state Law, prohibits it. why can't we use gas tax revenue for transit? because state law prohibits it. I emplore the good people here to take a larger view of urban issues in ohio and relize that they are related. a good first step is http://votersfirstohio.com/ " Voters First is led by a coalition of nonpartisan groups and people from across Ohio. It was created to take the power over drawing our congressional and legislative districts out of the hands of the politicians and put it in the hands of the people." if passed it would redraw district in 2014 not 2021. beginning to take apart the machinery that has made suburban districts combine with a rural district and not represent the basic concept that suburban is really urban. it should undo the divisive machinery in Columbus. second step would be my idea for a ballot amendment to rewrite the constitution of Ohio to allow gas tax revenue to be distributed based on population and administered in a way that keeps cleveland from subsidizing development in rural counties. allows gas tax revenue to be used for more than roads, and ODOTs powers to be redistributed to local regional authorities, not run from Columbus. finally set up a dedicated funding source though a state wide property tax to strengthen regional connections through the creation of intercity and commuter rail networks. a state wide tax of $45 per year per person would raise 500 million dollars in transit funding per year. I'd pay $45 per year for high speed rail service and commuter rail service, I think alot of Ohioans would feel the same way. of course a new infrastructure bank and reform of federal transportation funding would help alot. either way these investments will have to be made sooner or later.

this underscores another obstacle to improving service the cities themselves, the city of cleveland traffic engineers don't not want buses clogging up traffic with more aggressive signalization, IMO there is no reason the HL can't move through downtown at a faster pace than it does now. it makes sense to me that a bus with 60-70 people should have priority over 20 cars with 25 people.

LR55 rails are designed for heavy vehicle traffic as well as streetcar to light rail traffic. It would not be a problem to run buses on the LRT lanes to LR55 is special because the rail are not fastened to the ground they are glued in the trough which allows for it to give.