blinker12

This is brilliant... Gimmicky, yes, but brilliant. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, February 23, 2006 Senator issues statement on proposed GOP adoption ban (Columbus)- Yesterday State Senator Robert F. Hagan (D-Youngstown) issued a co-sponsorship request to all members of the Ohio Senate for proposed legislation to ban Republicans from adopting children in Ohio. The measure was in response to the recent controversial measure- House Bill 515- formally proposed in the Ohio House by Republican State Rep. Ron Hood and several other co-sponsors that would ban any individual(s) who are homosexual, bisexual or transgender from adopting children in this state. Recently, The Columbus Dispatch reported as of December 31, 2005- 2,784 Ohio children were awaiting adoption and 19,430 children are in foster care. Senator Hagan issued the following response to his co-sponsorship request: “HB 515 unfairly, and without any justification whatsoever, targets homosexual, bisexual and transgender people and bans them from forever adopting children or serving as foster parents. I do not intent to introduce the Republican Adoption Ban of 2006. The co-sponsorship request distributed yesterday was in jest, but to demonstrate a serious point. The point is this: Is a bill that calls to ban Republicans from adopting children or serving as foster parents any less irrational than one that bans homosexuals, bisexuals and transgender Ohioans from the same? Is my legislative proposal any less lacking in sound reason and scientific credibility than HB 515? Is my motive for offering this legislation driven any less by ill-will or animus towards a particular group of Ohioans than Rep. Hood’s motive? The answer to each, of course, is no. House Speaker Jon Husted has stated publicly that HB 515 will not pass in the 126th General Assembly. I agree with the Speaker that the General Assembly has much more important and pressing issues to deal with at this time which I believe should be affordable healthcare, job creation, and accessible and affordable education at every level. Yet, in 2004 this General Assembly passed the Defense of Marriage Act, ostensibly for the purpose of preserving our notion of marriage as being the sacred union of one man and one woman. Though it took many years to pass, the Defense of Marriage Act did indeed become law and later blossomed into a constitutional amendment. The General Assembly was facing the same array of problems then as we do today, but that didn’t stop us from passing this mean-spirited piece of legislation targeted solely at Ohio’s gay and transgender population. The question then is not if legislation like HB 515 will pass, but when. If conservative Republicans in the Ohio Legislature are serious about protecting adoptive and foster care children, I welcome the opportunity to discuss and debate this very important issue. Currently, more than 20,000 kids in Ohio are waiting for a loving, permanent home. They deserve our full attention and undivided support. Unfortunately, HB 515 and any future bill like it takes a very big step in the wrong direction. For those political naysayers that claim my GOP adoption ban is absurd and the best Democrats can do to provide legislation for families, I beg them to take look at the record. To date- in this year alone- Senate Democrats have introduced dozens of bills, but nearly every bill has been ignored by the Republican majority. ###

Yeah, mrnyc, I didn't know about that Scranton Peninsula bit, either. I wonder what the timeline is on that. I'd like to see the Peninsula developed under a comprehensive plan. I hope Ferchill is working with Stark, Forest City and whoever else owns land down there. Though it'll probably be a cold day in hell before FC takes action.

Yeah, Proctor seemed unwilling to budge an inch. Overall, I was disappointed in the narrow scope of the discussion. We keep fussing about details like the "signature bridge" and "downtown access points," when the entire project is wrong-headed. We don't need a faster and safer freeway through downtown; we need better public transit. We don't need frontage roads running alongside the freeway and requiring further property takes; we need caps that will mend the rips ODOT tore in the city's urban fabric 50 years ago.

I guess reports of the demise of the Atrium (668 Euclid) were in fact exaggerated. This is the second piece of news we've heard lately about its redevelopment, the other being UH's possible relocation there. Seems like this bit about Ferchill acquiring it bodes well for the UH project.

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From the PD: Notching victories in rust belt: Developer Ferchill Group finds fertile ground in aging big cities Tuesday, February 21, 2006 Christopher Montgomery Plain Dealer Reporter John Ferchill isn't a typical real estate developer. While most development money flows to high-growth markets, Ferchill has made his name in the rust belt, doing projects in Akron and Detroit rather than Phoenix and Fort Lauderdale.

I'll be out of town too.

^Good news on Frangos.

If Wolstein can't buy the Shaia site, how are K&D supposed to do it? I don't think this is a huge deal. Wolstein and the city are supposed to start site work for the development's first phase this spring/summer. It's moving forward.

So what's the status on Come Home to Cleveland? Who are we taking these ideas to?

So it seems like this --> http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=7263.0 has to work before we get to the Port Authority idea. It's a nice plan.

Thanks so much! These were beautiful. Pomeroy is definitely the star, IMO. :clap:

Thanks Matches!

GREAT NEWS!!! :clap:

:type:

I don't know much about this one. Anyone have any background, comments, thoughts, etc.? Here's an old postcard showing what I assume is the now-demolished factory (Source: Cleveland Memory Project). Pity we couldn't save it.

Fannie's flight of fancy There are better places than Midtown to lock up felons, no matter how rosy a picture the councilwoman paints Plain Dealer, Thursday, February 16, 2006 In the battle over the old Ward Bakery site on Chester Avenue, Cleveland Council woman Fannie Lewis is right about one thing: Cuyahoga County desperately needs what's known as a "community-based corrections facility." But the war horse from Hough is trying to force the issue with misinformation and with little apparent concern for potential damage to Myers University, Dealer Tire Corp. and the entire Midtown area. ... http://www.plaindealer.com/

Oh, wait, TOD is being discussed now, thanks to a question posed by a certain member of this board! Calabrese: You don't see TOD because it's cheaper to build out in Lorain than on a brownfield. "I plead with [politicians], what can we do to encourage people to build where we already are?" Yet he cited TOD initiatives at W. 25th and W. 117th, and (in an uncharacteristic moment of optimism) said there is a growing consciousness at least in NEO about how it's beneficial to be near downtown. Wi-Fi on the Euclid Corridor: They are working with OneCleveland. BTW, damn... I'm so sick of hearing people like Calabrese citing Census projections of static population over the next 30 years as if that's our sealed fate!

When the topic of TOD came up, Calabrese started talking about routing buses to suburban malls. He also talked about how Cleveland is losing density and therefore is becoming more difficult to serve effectively via public transit. However, he made no mention of RTA's potential for helping restore or create density -- at least at strategic transit points. He also made reference to the fact that he lives in Westlake. Gee, and he's not interested in density! Go figure!

I'm not sure I understand. Would this be instead of the flyers, or in addition to them?

JDD, thanks for your thoughts. It's cool to know we have a member of the CPD on the board, who can provide their take on the city from a police perspective. It's too bad that some areas off of MLK are kinda dicey. That neighborhood is so beautiful. However, I think we have reached a kind of turning point with the Heritage Lane renovation/new construction project on E. 105th. From what I hear, both the old and new units (especially the old) are selling like hotcakes. Citirama was also in the vicinity last fall.

what are you guys talking about? this has been the balmiest winter i can recall in cleveland! nice photos though, thanks!

You mean of the master plan? Because Mister Good Day posted some fantastic photos of the buildings on page 1 of this thread.

GO PLAIN DEALER! This guy is a true weasel. FBI probes Petro contract charges Lawyers: No campaign aid, no work Wednesday, February 15, 2006 Ted Wendling and Sandy Theis Plain Dealer Bureau The FBI has opened an inquiry into a report that Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro took lucrative state legal work away from two Akron law firms after their principals refused to contribute to his campaign. Akron lawyers Jack Morrison and Ray Weber said they have been contacted by FBI agents and the Summit County prosecutor's office as a result of comments they made in a Jan. 29 Plain Dealer story. Both lawyers said Petro punished them in 2002 for not supporting his campaign by withdrawing special-counsel contracts they had received from former Attorney General Betty Montgomery to handle patent and intellectual- property mat ters. Weber said two FBI agents interviewed him for two hours on Thursday. Morrison said he agreed to meet with agents today. FBI spokesman Scott Wilson would not comment, but Weber said the agents called the interview a "fact-finding" inquiry. Morrison said an agent told him it was part of a continuing probe. More at http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer

I agree, X. The idea of the uniforms is just silly. The routes themselves sound useful to businesspeople and tourists alike -- why not let that be what attracts riders?