inlovewithCLE

Because all buses from the east have to cross the square. there are 3 east west arteries through downtown prospect, superior and St Clair, superior is the most direct route, and the highest capacity route. although you could in theory eliminate all stops on buses going through the square, the square tower city was designed to pass people from the square into the transit station. using prospect as has been done before has many issues mainly the roof of tower city. Did RTA take the steering wheels out of their buses or something? I don't understand why these large vehicles could not go around Public Square to the south. Really, considering that this area is pretty cramped and offers little room to work with and maintaining RTA access and the goal of a landmark green space seem incongruent, the bus hub needs to go underground it seems. Most European bus terminals were underground in my experience. Helsinki had an excellent model where it was the underground level of their main downtown shopping mall, and also had a metro station, and people could walk across the square to the rail terminal (most visitors usually got horribly lost doing this, so clearly the connection between separate facilities needed re-thinking). Something like this terminal connected to these underground parking bays, which could be positioned east/west if RTA is obsessed with maintaining route horizontality. I like the idea but it would probably be horribly expensive and thus unrealistic. I would love it if we had this though

By catering to the Automobile downtown cleveland tore down 60% of the warehouse district, what Was once a connection of occupied industrial building across from Jacobs field is now surface parking, Let me be clear you did not move downtown for the Surface lots. by Accommodating the automobile we have made it more profitable to tear down buildings and tun them into parking. by accommodating I mean wider roads, faster traffic, and the subordination of pedestrian utilities for congestion mitigation. For example. What is wrong with this picture? They removed the crosswalk They prioritized Vehicle traffic over pedestrians. this took a long 145ft crossing and turned it into 427ft crossing plus you have to wait 3 more light cycles to make simple crossing. Now we want to prioritize Public Square for Pedestrians and people have a problem With it. This is what happened to the Warehouse district after the justice center was built before after Do you want this to happen to the East 4th district because of the Casino? This is what you call Catering to the Auto. not car free car less, fewer people driving reduces the need for parking, that means fewer parking lots and less congestion. try doing that at rush hour. or Crossing superior Ontario or east 9th street during rush hour. better yet try to cross Ontratio at Carnegie during the day, Tell us how crossing that Street made you feel. A couple quotes “God made us walking animals – pedestrians. As a fish needs to swim, a bird to fly, a deer to run, we need to walk, not in order to survive, but to be happy.” "You can have a city that’s friendly to cars, or friendly to people; you cannot have both." Amen!

I was driving down east 55th street and saw some people building a "natural gas" gas station. Anybody know anything about that or was that talked about before and I just missed it?

You're half right. I agree to the extent of that we shouldn't ignore those who travel via car, but you cannot (CANNOT) cater to the auto in urban planning. You can't do it. Those two concepts are not compatible with each other. Catering to the auto would mean East 4th Street in its current state wouldn't exist. Some on UO are extreme and want to force people to not use their cars. I don't agree with that view. Like it or not, people are going to use their cars and that's okay, as long as we don't make decisions for cars that could damage the urban fabric of the area. This is not Beachwood, nor should it be. But having a mentality that the city should CATER to the car is the mentality that gets you a sea of parking lots in the Warehouse District. I agree that the city shouldn't IGNORE the car, but CATER to it? No.

Does anyone know when the ACS estimates are released?

I have it at 6,135 according to census numbers. Im guessing that number is getting closer to 6,500 now Thanks. Hopefully we'll keep building to get to 10,000 and then 25. I've heard Chris Ronayne say that they have roughly 10,000 people in UC. I wonder what other neighborhoods he's counting in that. Does that 6,135 number you have count students too?

Does anyone know what the current population of University Circle and Little Italy is?

http://seekingalpha.com/article/647491-forest-city-enterprises-ceo-discusses-q1-2012-results-earnings-call-transcript?source=google_news The Q&A section is the one relevant to TC.

If you go and read the transcript of the Q&A of the conference call, they said that they are doing demographic evaluation to find out who the new people are. They want average income info and other demographic information that you usually need to approach stores with. Once they get that info, then you'll see store additions. But they have to do their due diligence.

I would love that.

If the fake stores they used in the rendering video is any indication ("Ducci", "B and G", etc.) then no But if those are the actual names of the "cheap knock off" stores that will be included in this phase then yes. :wink: LOL touche.

If the fake stores they used in the rendering video is any indication ("Ducci", "B and G", etc.) then no

What I'm more interested in is the fact that Dan Gilbert said in an interview (with WEWS, I believe) that the second casino would not be a "Horseshoe" branded casino. I hope they use the "Caesar's" brand for the other casino. He said the two would have different experiences. Excited about that. And the whole idea to make a Times Square type area with the two casinos and renovations to the Q.

So is it definitely confirmed that we ARE getting a Burlington or is this based on a letter of intent or something?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not that "keen" on it either. I'm not a fan of it. But I don't find it so offensive and I don't view it in blood boiling horror as an urbanist. I'm not crazy about it, but I view it as a means to an end in this neighborhood.

I cannot fathom how suburban-style development would ever be OK for a major city's main corridor. The powers-that-be are suburbanizing this city at a breathtaking pace, and even though it violates every principle and value we hold dear, area urbanists are pretty much OK with this. I may never understand. While it's difficult to watch the city take so many wrong turns, it's even harder when these missteps are encouraged by all sides. It's almost as if urban density has no constituency here. I STRONGLY disagree with that statement. As I said before, all neighborhoods in this city shouldn't look the same. They should all have different characters, and if Midtown is the city's resident suburban development then so be it. As shown by the companies moving into the Midtown Tech Park and the rumored companies signing letters of intent, there is clearly a demand for it. I'm a supporter of high density, urban style development just like most here, and I generally recoil at most styles of suburban development. But I can't get myself worked up about this style of development in midtown, especially when its a deliberate part of a strategy. The businesses that moved to or are interested in moving to Midtown want that style of development. I want those employees here. I want those companies here. I want those tax dollars here. I love urban development, but to expect every neighborhood to be designed in the same way is not only absurd but its impractical. I want the city to be competitive. That's what drives my philosophy. Period. So if one neighborhood is designed to compete with the suburban tech parks then fine. Its a means to an end. The end is to get more people working and living in the city, be it in urban neighborhoods like downtown and University Circle or in a suburban style development like Midtown. My focus is wanting the city to be competitive. Period. If your focus is different, then we just have a difference of opinion.

I dont give a damn where we take from! Do other cities or their residents feel bad when a company leaves CLE/NE Ohio?? Why should we??. It's about time jobs and company's moved (back) to NE Ohio! The more the merrier! Keep'em coming! Couldn't agree more

Yep.

I believe that land across Lakeview is for an unrelated UCI project

It doesn't bother me. The design is fine to me. I think it's clear (or should be clear) that Midtown is explicitly going after a suburban style of development. From the Midtown Tech Park to this, it's clear that they WANT this style of development to be Midtown. I don't know if I'm opposed to that. I wouldn't want this in downtown or University Circle but it's my personal opinion that every neighborhood should have its own unique characteristics. So if Midtown is our neighborhood of business parks and suburban style development, then I'm okay with that. I don't want to see that everywhere, though.

If that link is for the new apartments being built then it's not student housing. It's for anyone

Love bright lights! Nothing says "big city" like bright lights. I went down there to see the screen and I love it.

Does anyone know what stores are going to be in the Welcome Center?

Its a FOOD COURT. A food court and a buffet isn't gonna kill East 4th. Come on.

That "pedestrian mall" is a failure and I wouldn't want that in Cleveland! You do need to exit and Cross Poydras to get to the Fulton St. Prospect & Euclid already connect Tower City to Euclid, the Gateway and Warehouse District areas. We don't need to build a faux walkway. Both Gateway and WHD have plenty of activities and events that will be of interest to those that not only live downtown but will visit. I don't consider something that has been expanded multiple times a "failure". Besides that, it was such a success that Caesars is building the same thing in Las Vegas. Anything that promotes people walking around an urban area, shopping and dining is ok with me. But here's the real million dollar question - what will Horseshoe do to get people out of the casino and onto the streets? I have no idea what they are doing in Cincinnati but supposedly both casinos are going to be a part of the urban fabric. But how are they different than any other casino? Yes, they are downtown. In the case of Cleveland's, its in a beautiful historic building. But this casino will still have its own bars, its own restaurants, parking structure, etc. Why will the average suburbanite who valets the car, walks across the street (or skywalk if it ever gets built), goes to the coat check and gambles for a few hours ever leave the casino? The casino and for that matter, Tower City will have everything they probably want. There's little reason to walk down to East 4th or West 6th unless theres something specifically they are going for. And let's face it, most suburbanites are not wired to walk through the city. They will take the easy route that's most comfortable for them. Will I walk to those places to eat? You bet, but the bigger question is will everyone else? If Horseshoe is sincere about creating urban vitality, they need to promote the city. Promote the WHD and the great restaurants downtown. Offering comps for neighborhood restaurants is nice and all but there's no guarantee that people gambling will leave to go eat there. That's my number one concern. I LOVE the location. But I am very cynical on it bringing much vitality to the streets when you're trying to build skywalks. That says one thing to me - you want people to come in and then leave without ever leaving the place. Building parking structures, skywalks and ignoring RTA is NOT the way to create vitality and street life. Is a casino better than an empty building? Absolutely. Gilbert has said all of the right things. Just some of his actions don't match his words which leads to my cynicism. WHAT are you talking about?? Phase 1 has a food court and a buffet. That's it. The casino is going to be giving vouchers to downtown restaurants and establishments to their customers. This has all been said publicly. It's like you're not even talking about the same project as the rest of us.