urbanlife

i knew something wasn't right. most of the bike racks aren't even up yet! they took a picture with the same u rack and moved it around the city to show what it would look like, a nice idea - even better if integrated with GIS, but they haven't even put these up! nothing like claiming a "win" when the project isn't finished. anyone know the timeline on these racks? i've seen these white "X"s for a long time...

this finally explains why there were little white boxes with an "x" inside painted all over the city sidewalks. i had hoped these were future bases for unified newspaper and magazine racks, but bike racks are great as well.

absolutely. gateway opened 11 years ago, and this building is still unrenovated? my understanding is the owner of the building does not want to sell or develop the floors. clevelander leases the entire building, but only uses part of the basement, 1st floor and on big days, the 2d floor. the upper floors are basically vacant, although they are supposed to open the windows up (they are insulated and boarded up on the inside, as well as painted on the outside). a couple of factors that pose problems. 1)ownership. 2) upper floors would need dedicated entry. right now, you can only get to the upper floors by going through the bar area. as for windows, this building is perfectly set up to have some windows/balconies cut into the east facing wall.

they were trying to get people in for their happy hour yesterday, so i guess they must have the liquor license now.

there was some serious work on the bowling alley today - they removed and are in the process of installing the window wall facing euclid. there is also some serious drywalling going on. it is coming together nicely. they can't get this plywood down soon enough imo. hopefully these will be the sliding windows. since they are the same owners who redid flannery's, it seems they understand about connecting to the street.

anyone who is downtown should take a stroll through here today. what a difference removing the underbrush and trimming the trees makes. you can actually see out and in, a very big improvement. i actually sat by the fountain and it didn't smell like urine!

but, imo, the first thing toward getting this crowd dispersed is to have some activities for people not waiting for the bus or asking for a handout - legitimate street level businesses/restaurants that care about their front door and their appearance. what exists today at street level to discourage undesirable behavior? very little. even renaissance and sans souci are really up 1 level from ground and don't interact with the square. bp, key, 55, moetzenbaum federal building don't interact at street level. if we could get something at street level at the dillards, i think it would have a big impact and at the very least move this crowd to another quadrant. probably all a moot point, as the release says "avenue at tower city", which would mean something most likely facing inward. the square does look much better now with the bushes trimmed/removed. you can actually see in!

90.3 @ 9 is going to have a discussion on this topic tomorrow (Thursday) morning.

although i don't share the same passion for this particular bridge crossing, my main point, as stated previously on this thread, is that i don't think anything is going on with public art here b/c of other factors, ie potentially a bridge rebuild and the thought that whatever $$ are available are not enough to do this area justice. to think that they would rebuild and not scrap the old bridge, would go against much current activity in this city. we certainly have lost many historic structures. it would have been nice to have the buildings on the other side of this saved as well, but no one paid much attention until the demolition was announced. the end point remains the same: everyone that cares so much for this bridge (and the public art component) should be at ALL the RTA board and committee meetings making their voice heard NOW and not when a decision has already been made. and since it is a train bridge, figure out the actual authority who would do the rebuild. There was an RTA board meeting yesterday morning. How many Clevelanders were there? a few. How many were there that didn't work for RTA? ...guesses anyone?... there is one thing cleveland has been missing for years: leaders and true civic leadership for the greater good of the community. let's be proactive and not reactive.

well, if 1% is for public art, this is not even half of the total expenditure. there will also be art at public square, which wasn't mentioned. i also think that there may be a major rebuild of the bridge area in the near future (not by 2008), and the thinking might be to just paint now and just wait for the rebuild. how nice would these intersections be without the steel obstructions for traffic and peds? think I77 bridges before and after...

I think that the jcrew location was released to the art gallery for a while. it started as a trial, but i'm pretty sure they are staying there for now. i think the best location would be right on the square. this is what everyone has been asking for: restaurants on the square. open up the first floor dillards space and it would have frontage on both ontario and public square, with potential for patio dining under awning area. additionally, would be able to access from within terminal tower lobby as well... just imagine...people sitting at tables eating, drinking and socializing instead of people pissing and asking for money...

on cleveland.com forums, there was an exchange in the food forum that said LOLA will open in Sept. FOR SURE, but that exact date hasn't been determined.

my information was coming from workers on site, so it is possible that they are not completely in the loop. i just hope that there is still an entrance to the grocery from the e12 side. judging by the quality of the new embassy suites entrance and the new office space, i think this will be a good remodel and can't happen soon enough.

for big events, it might not make a huge difference, however the other morning around rush hour puritas and one other station were not staffed (intentionally, i don't know - it could be a call in sick or something). There were a lot of people that got on at these 2 stops and it created 2 problems: 1. the train fell behind schedule because 16 people were waiting to put their ticket through the machine at the front. if you are relying on the train running on time, having these sorts of slow downs as ridership grows is unacceptable. 2. the 2d car of the train had plenty of seats available, but everyone was packed in the front car. Some of the standees could have probably walked between cars, or walked on the platform at the next stop or something, but it still should be like this. Open all the doors for all the cars.

is there a website for this project?

Next Train signs have started popping up in some of the stations, although they don't appear to work correctly yet. They are wireless and are supposed to provied real time arrival information. The one in towercity showed the next scheduled arrival, but when the train was late it didn't update. The one in Ohio City wasn't yet working. My only complaint after seeing 2 of the signs is that they aren't in obvious locations. The ones in Tower City are in the middle of the platforms (where they make some sense), but i'd also like to see them at the top of the escalator so you knew if you had to hurry - especially with 15 minute headways. Ditto for OC station - on the platform facing away from stairs, so you can't tell from the top level what the status is.

I think the grocery is going to expand east (into the fomer RS business office space which is now vacant). No sidewalk presence, unless they have changed their plan. Originally, grocery expansion was to happen first and there was talk of going to sidewalk for at least a little visibility. but, when they landed the lease for the charter school, they dropped everything and have been working on that instead. no new date on grocery expansion now.

^instead of using magnetic strip or other ticket, you basically get a ticket receipt and only have to show it when asked. it is very popular in europe, more of an honor system, but there are many more enforcement officers that ask to see your 'proof of payment'.

Apparently the Clinic did not approach anyone in the neighborhood about this project before announcing to the public/RTA it's intention to close the street. Fannie Lewis was not in the loop and does not support it . i don't know if that is a good thing as she seems to obstruct a lot, however, it seems pretty crazy that the clinic didn't at least consult with their neighborhood first. kind of shows their mindset...

hot of the presses: there is going to be a press conference in mid August regarding the trolleys...expaned hours? weekend service? city support to keep it free? ... stay tuned...

OK. I dug up the Cleveland Board of Zoning Appeals Resolution for 211 Prospect Avenue from Feb 27, 2006. Here is the pertinent text: "Access to the parking lot is from East 3rd Street. In addition to a 6' landscpaed buffer strip, a textured wire fence will be installed along Prospect Avenue to support the growth of climbing vines and flowering plants to screen the lot." (emphasis added) 2 things: 1. why would they need climbing vines for this 'temporary' use? 2. who signed off on approval of this building permit? he/she should be fired immediately.

Here are 2 renderings I came across for the new e55 station. It looks like it will be LEED certified. I still don't understand why more of the platform waiting areas are not covered (like the very old stations and the stations built before the current leadership). It does rain and snow in cleveland, in case anyone is listening. www.rlba.com/portfolio/6185GCRTAE55TH.html

^ hopefully one of the vacant e4 properties. closer to businesses and hotels, what could be a better location?

I read this to say that Cleveland has had 2 other canine teams assigned to hopkins since 2002 (presumably certified as well), and this is the 3d team. but, what i don't think says much is 400 dogs at 77 airports = ~5 per airport average. now, the larger airports have many more dogs for sure, but cleveland is something like 33rd largest airport by traffic. i would hope that we have as many teams as the 44 airports below us.

fox 8 was doing an interview at lunch today in front of sincere building space. there was some talk about stark and property values, but i couldn't watch the whole thing, so i don't really know what was going on. was there news for e4 today?