blinker12

Yeah, I hate being in that area now. Walking along Prospect Avenue, you can practically hear the surface parking lots and freeway entrance signs screaming in your ear, "Get in a car! Now!"

JMC, Thanks for posting that article about the St. Rocco's townhouses. They sound like they'll be great -- dense and built with sturdy materials (if we are to believe the comment about stone and brick).

^ I wouldn't be surprised. Shaia is in the business of building surface parking lots, not mixed-use developments. I just hope he sells to Wolstein at a reasonable price.

This reporter seems to be taking this project under his wing. Especially for the PD, there has been some pretty detailed reporting on it over the last couple of days.

^Hard to say. The article doesn't say for certain that there are any site-control issues at this time. OCNW withdrew the 41st and Lorain site, but that plan has been replaced by a rehab proposal. For all we know, they're right on track to meet the deadline. I just wish the reporter would confirm that. Maybe (probably) CMHA is being cagey.

Go North Royalton! Thank goodness *someone* is still representing that isolationist view that got us into this wasteful mess in the first place! :roll: Otherwise, glad to see this picking up steam. Suburbs study value of merged fire departments Friday, March 10, 2006 V. David Sartin Plain Dealer Reporter Olmsted Falls will become the sixth southwest Cuyahoga County suburb to join a $250,000 study on merging fire departments and emergency medical services. Berea, Brook Park, Middleburg Heights, Parma and Parma Heights began discussions last year about a merger. More at cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com

It's still unclear from this article whether the Duck Island proposal is going forward. I guess we can assume it is? Housing agency trims size of proposed development Friday, March 10, 2006 Angela D. Chatman Plain Dealer Reporter Public housing officials unveiled the latest version of a development plan for Cleveland's near West Side to the mixed reaction of a crowd as diverse as the neighborhoods involved. The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority's plan for the Riverview HOPE VI project now calls for 267 housing units -- down from the 384 envisioned last fall. The plan includes 186 market-rate and for-sale units and 81 lower cost -- called affordable -- rental units on scattered sites in Ohio City and Tremont. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has given the authority until March 22 to obtain control of all of the sites... more at: http://www.cleveland.com

This seems to be a step in the right direction: Fear of foreclosure? Call Cuyahoga's new one-stop help line Friday, March 10, 2006 Thomas Ott Plain Dealer Reporter Cuyahoga County has an urgent message for homeowners who face foreclosure: Call 2-1-1. The phone line is part of a new foreclosure-prevention campaign called Don't Borrow Trouble, Cuyahoga County. Callers will be referred to nine agencies and law firms that will help them work out repayment plans or challenge illegal lending. More at cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com

Activists seek repairs fast for Cleveland's abandoned Coast Guard station Friday, March 10, 2006 Tom Breckenridge Plain Dealer Reporter Lakefront activists called Thursday night for immediate repairs to the city's historic, but abandoned, Coast Guard station, an architectural landmark at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River that is rotting away. A rapt crowd of 50 shook their heads and murmured at slides showing the battered, windswept station. They gathered at Gordon Square Arcade, West 65th Street and Detroit Avenue, to view the city's visions of what a restored Coast Guard site would look like. More at cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com

^ :-D

I love the idea of rehab instead of new construction. That's great. Also, I agree with OCNW that more subsidized units at the CMHA office site would be a bad idea because it would increase concentration. Also, why are we talking about demolishing anything? Those are cool old buildings. Build the new units on some of the parking lots in the neighborhood. The Duck Island people need to just move to North Royalton.

It's almost too obvious, isn't it, considering 95% of the members of this board are men? :roll:

Thanks X. Let me quote myself:

Visions of an eatery and museum for abandoned Coast Guard station Thursday, March 09, 2006 Tom Breckenridge Plain Dealer Reporter The iconic, abandoned Coast Guard station at the Cuyahoga River's western mouth would be restored to glory -- and multiple public uses -- under multimillion-dollar plans that will be unveiled tonight. City planners envision the 65-year-old station converted to a restaurant and Great Lakes museum, with public docks and a promenade. The Cleveland Planning Commission will gather public comments on three versions of a restored station during a 6 p.m. meeting tonight at Gordon Square Arcade, West 65th Street and Detroit Avenue. Estimated costs on the three proposals range from $5 million to $9.2 million. The city has no money for the work but believes plans for a restored site -- it's on the National Register of Historic Places -- would draw tax credits and federal, state and foundation funds. More at cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com

This is great! :clap:

^Probably because it's butt ugly.

The project is featured in New Urban News: http://theavenuedistrict.com/images/blogs/File/New_Urban_News.pdf Flats East Bank is also discussed in a portion of the article not posted online.

I hear this kind of whining all the time in Cleveland -- complaints about lunatics on the buses and such. I ride the bus almost every day and have NEVER had a problem. I just thought I'd put that out there as an antidote to some of the other stuff that's been said here. OHLover, thanks for your intelligent remarks and for putting things into perspective. And in a feeble attempt to bring this thread back onto topic: Musky, thanks for the update on the transit center.

Agreed, gotribe. What difference does it make what they paid in 2004? The Flats has been on a downward spiral for years, and it's not going to stop until someone does something dramatic (i.e. this project). If the owners hold out, their property will just continue to depreciate -- especially if Wolstein's stuff, which comprises 80% of the site, continues to sit and rot. Still, let's not have a collective anxiety attack yet. It's still very early in the negotiations... no one expected the owners to sell at first offer.

I think this is a sign that the OC is truly, once and for all, gentrifying -- for better or worse. Just a few months ago West Side Community House moved, now Neighborhood Family Center may go too. The location of these services in the neighborhood is a large part of what keeps it feeling economically diverse. (Of course, there are still lots of other services around, so that won't be changing completely anytime soon.) Anyone up for a discussion of whether this is a good or bad thing? On the one hand, the utopian vision of Ohio City being open to all appeals to my idealistic side. On the other, I think Cleveland needs some higher-income -- i.e. gentrified -- neighborhoods if it is to survive (cribbing a little from grad school friends here who may or may not want to take credit). And since there's plenty of affordable housing in the city, I don't worry about people getting displaced too far afield, if at all. In fact, I would guess most of the users of these services don't even live in Ohio City. That was part of why WSCH moved to 93rd and Lorain -- to be closer to its constituency. At any rate, a very interesting topic for discussion...

What an annoying reporter. He should have just approached this as the positive fluff piece it is... who cares about the accuracy of the highs and lows? Yeesh. :roll: Anyway, glad to hear the news.

Eh-- It's a little bland, but not bad. Think about the tripe we were getting on Euclid 10 years ago (the Applied Industrial spaceship at E. 36th). As for tenants, the old building was to be renovated and occupied by a collection of nonprofits. I assume most of them will now be locating to this new structure.

Re: Come Home, it seems we should have a plan for what to do with the ideas that people came up with. In other words, how are we going to get them out there?

Lovely! Thank you, and welcome.

Wim, I doubt Riverview Tower will ever come down. It just houses so many people. But I don't mind it as much as the hovels -- I don't know what else to call them -- that make for quite a depressing streetscape north of the tower on the east side of W. 25th.