urbanlife

on another note, apparently that new 'temporary' parking lot next to flannery's was supposed to have a 1 foot landscaped buffer and 4 foot aluminum fence. don't see either of these. anybody have access to the plans that were approved? i can't seem to find this online. the city should probably shut this down ASAP until it is up to spec. oh wait, this is cleveland city govt, where even keeping the street lights on appears to be too much to ask. why would someone have to follow their approved plans?

i'm a little disappointed by this editorial. if only everyone could focus on the existing parking lots and underutilzed land ALL OVER DOWNTOWN, the river and lake, and not just 1 piece - burke - that has all sorts of potential hurdles to any future development. Could the burke land be nicely developed? absolutely. but, where do they think the demand for building is going to come from if the city can't build up existing underutilized land? surely there is more demand now for a residential tower attached to tower city or in the middle of the warehouse district, or overlooking jacob's field but none of these are anywhere close to reality. another thing i don't like is the 'chicago' reference again. E9 area is a 'poor man's version of what chicago offers' - well, i think chicago has 150k living downtown. cleveland has 10k. maybe, just maybe, things might look a little different here or be of a different scale. if they really want to start developing the lakefront, the city needs to get off its ass and develop their 'temporary' parking lot on the pier. where are all of these grand plans??

I think they are called Grove Court.

^it might be, but if i recall, there was more interest in using the public art dollars in downtown and uc, rather than the proposals that were submitted for e55. but, i don't think any final decisions have been made, so if people want public art @ e55, they should speak up now.

^ i think that most of the public art funding for that intersection has been "value engineered" out of the project. the last i heard was that no decision would be made until the final budget was known for the design/art component, and that it might end up just being a better painted rail bridge (which is not part of ECP funding).

and if you notice, the premium was paid for surface lots. the parking deck, with more spaces and more potential parking revenue, sold for much less per space, for instance, than the surface lot next door. the value of the land itself is going up. this is a good sign for development, although in the short term it may slow things down. Price Per Space 9.4m - 250 spaces = $37600/space (gateway lot) 5.35m - 400 spaces = $13375/space (parking deck) 10m - 400 spaces = $25000/space (warehouse lot)

^ i believe the solution was always some sort of structured parking with mixed uses to take the place of a surface lot. it doesn't seem to have much momentum though, as the wsm merchants appeared against the various cmha plans to do something along these lines. in the end, there would still be some "free" parking available to people who drive to the wsm, but the density and number of uses would increase.

. . . The here-today, gone-today pavement on East 17th Street . . . It was paved recently, between Euclid Avenue and Prospect Avenue. But on Friday, backhoes showed up, broke it up and had it trucked away. What a waste. What gives? Reader with a ringside seat. A waste it was, but only of concrete and time. It is part of RTA's Euclid Corridor project. Jerry Masek, the transit authority's spokesman, said inspectors determined that the wrong kind of concrete was used, so the contractor agreed to take it up and replace it at no cost to RTA or to taxpayers. A parking lot was on the site before the Euclid Corridor got under way. Masek said the new pavement should be in by next week, and you should be able to drive on it by September.

^anything could probably be converted, but 2 of the major items needed for rail are not there: 1) no rails installed (obviously) 2) no overhead electric service. if the buses were electric, then i would think a conversion would be a more feasible option. as it stands now, it costs anywhere from 1-1.5 million per mile to electricfy.

^the owner is trying to get a restaurant into the space (possibly some sort of mexican place), however as you can tell, there would have to be a lot of work done, and with all the cement pillars, it would be a rather tough retrofit, imo. the thing those condos miss is some parking. too bad retrofit didn't have a ramp into the basement area for parking and the use that first floor space as a very luxurious lobby area.

2 quick updates on fantasy one. 1) they have letters from a law firm taped to their entrances, titled "Hand Delivered". Name of a construction LLC listed as addressee. 2) website now has this update: "UPDATES: OUT OF OUR HANDS, WE WILL NOT OPEN TIL' FALL 2006"

Exactly. I think we are doing some locally, and there are certainly many groups dedicated to the effort, but there is little publicity about the projects or the benefits. Every statement from the mayor's office should talk about these issues. The county needs to constantly talk about the issues. Builders need to talk about the short term and long term savings and benefits and what they have done and are doing. I also think that the when tax abatements in cleveland are visited again, there needs to be a "green" requirement for a tax abatement - anywhere from 0 if nothing is done to 12 or 15 year or varied % if more is done to reduce runoff, reduce energy consumption, create energy, etc.

i think that it actually caught fire on quite a few occasions, but it was the last, large fire that actually brought about change. EDIT: Here is a quote on the fires. I don't believe there are any photos of the 1969 fire. "On June 22, 1969, the Cuyahoga River caught fire in Cleveland, Ohio. The blaze lasted just thirty minutes, but it did approximately fifty thousand dollars in damage-principally to some railroad bridges spanning the river. It is unclear what caused the fire, but most people believe sparks from a passing train ignited an oil slick in the Cuyahoga River. This was not the first time that the river had caught on fire. Fires occurred on the Cuyahoga River in 1868, 1883, 1887, 1912, 1922, 1936, 1941, 1948, and in 1952. The 1952 fire caused over 1.5 million dollars in damage." http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1642

^i'm pretty sure cleveland has been using citistat internally for at least 2 years. there may be changes in how it is monitored or how staffing is changed in response to trends, or maybe they are now requiring the entering of information, etc. i would like them to make this available to the public though. it seems this is a perfect application for some of the onecommunity bandwidth. as it stands now, the police dept web page is basically 1 static web page. EDIT: I found some information from Feb 2005 State of City Address, http://www.city.cleveland.oh.us/mayor/stateofthecity/stateofcity2005finalvesion.htm "We are doing all of this with a smaller and more efficient government. Indeed, the budget I proposed for 2005 is $3.6 million less than the city spent in 2001. We will have nearly 700 fewer employees, yet I still expect—and you still deserve—excellent city services. This month Cleveland embarked on the CITISTAT method of performance-based accountability. Beginning with the departments of Public Safety, Parks, and Building and Housing, we will measure our performance and use these measures to improve. Already we proved that what is measured matters with the focus on police overtime that resulted in a savings of $4.7 million in 2004. Cleveland Citistat will help us to focus our resources wisely so that we can invest in development. Thank you Cleveland Foundation for your start-up grant! "

here is the PDF of the powerpoint RTA presented regarding the 821 changes: http://www.riderta.com/pdf/presentations/2006-07-11-821.pdf

maybe he is reading the uo...the headline on pluggedincleveland.com has now changed to: "Ohio City Residents in Disagreement with Proposed New Construction in Historic District - Click To Read" anyway, at least the message is more objective. also, the redirect to ohiocity.com has been tamed a bit as well, providing a better background to the situation.

I think he has every right to fight for his (and his neighbors, apparently) interests, however 2 points that strike me: 1) i think he should be signing these letters with every single resident in the area (or OC) that is not in support of this project. i haven't followed this issue at all, but it looks way too one sided as it stands now. If "everyone" is against this, why does the only person charging ahead live next door to the planned project? 2) i also think that taking over his over websites hurts his credibility in providing information (which both ohiocity.com and pluggedincleveland.com do). "Councilman Joe Cimperman Doesn't Care About Ohio City Residents - Click to Read" is a sensationalized headline, and shows no objectivity. Should probably read, "OC residents supporting zoning click here to support effort" [edit]: fixed typos.

well, it is registered to David Stack, the same guy making these statements. I think he may just be a supporter of Ohio City. I don't know how "official" his site is, as the ocnw.org appears more focused in this area. It also appears that he lives across the street from the development and doesn't want to look at it. ohiocity.com Registrant: David Stack 2920 Jay Ave Cleveland n/a OH 44113 , United States Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com) Domain Name: OHIOCITY.COM Created on: 10-Dec-99 Expires on: 10-Dec-06 Last Updated on: 15-Oct-05 Administrative Contact: Stack, David [email protected] 2920 Jay Ave Cleveland ohio , 44113 United States 216-575-1480 Fax -- Technical Contact: Stack, David [email protected] 2920 Jay Ave Cleveland ohio Record updated on 23-Nov-2003 Record expires on 10-Dec-2004 Re cord created on 10-Dec-1999 , 44113 United States 216-575-1480 Fax --

^ but this isn't the jay hotel project, just a random 2 house development with these requested variances. and what was on this website before? it seems like he may just own the name with ".com" and post what he feels like? i don't know... the guy doing the posting is also behind the pluggedincleveland.com website.

here are a few photos of the evolution of redline cars... from 1969: 1980: and today (with paint removed): I think the older cars were 48', but the existing fleet is longer.

GCBL had an interview with Andrew Watterson, the Cleveland Sustainability Manager. http://www.gcbl.org/planning/city-sustainability/q-a-with-andrew-watterson GreenCityBlueLake spoke with Cleveland Sustainability Programs Manager Andrew Watterson on July 14, 2006 on the occasion of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson joining more than 200 cities who've signed the U.S. Mayor's Climate Change Agreement. We discussed what this means for sustainable activities now and in the future in Cleveland. Congratulations on signing the climate change agreement. Did Mayor Jackson sign mainly for environmental reasons or are there other reasons? The reasons why Mayor Jackson signed is, yes, for the environment, but also for economic development. There’s a lot of technology around addressing climate change. When signing agreement, we’re really approaching it from municipality itself — the focus is trying to reduce the city’s own emissions, to lead [its citizens] by example. Tell me what appreciable measures you have taken or plan to take to reduce Cleveland’s greenhouse gas emission? So far, we've adopted an anti-idling policy which was made official on June 1, 2006. I’ve been amazed at the impact from just creating a policy — this is in effect for the city’s whole fleet of trucks. There are exceptions for vehicles that cannot operate without running the engine, but it sets up procedures if you have, for example, multiple vehicles on site — we don’t need to have every vehicle running. A lot of lights and radios cannot operate without the engine on, so we’ll start to retrofit those vehicles. Purchases will happen over time, but the focus on idling will allow us to put better equipment on the street and change the specs when we order. What’s the cost-benefit analysis for buying equipment that allows you to have anti-idling as far as the fuel savings and air quality improvments? What’s the payback period? It depends on the technology we use, but for the policy itself, the cost is education and getting people to turn off their engines. The payback is immediate. For the equipment, the payback is in a range of one to two years. Also, we’ve been purchasing hybrid vehicles — we have 32 hybrids. Most are Ford Escapes. The Escapes replace Ford Explorers, so the fuel economy change is huge. We’re downsizing our fleet (which is 4,000 light-duty vehicles), and buying more fuel efficient vehicles. How would the city like to green up its buildings? We’re changing our specifications, from roof replacements to high efficiency lighting. We’re working with all divisions and departments on this. For instance, City Hall’s roof replacement is an Energy Star roof. You either have heavily insulated or reflective or green roof — we will cost compare. There’s a lot of issues here — first, there’s no parapet (or wall) on City Hall’s roof, so wind loads are really extreme. It’s a big concern, we don’t want soil or gravel from a green roof blowing off. We're not considering wind turbines, but solar is a different story. We’re looking at all renewables to reduce our carbon footprint. We have to first establish our baseline. But, I’m under the impression that everything from planting trees to changing composition of road materials to reclaiming land qualifies for [the climate change agreement]. Have you considered looking at your building codes to ‘green’ them up? Well, we have to look at this new law that passed in the spring [supported] by HBA that prohibits municipalities from setting building codes higher than the state’s codes. But, in the city’s Housing Trust Fund, we put in additional funding for those developments that pursue Energy Star [$5,000 per unit up to 20 units with a $100,000 cap] and getting LEED certification silver or gold [a 20 percent bump up in funding also capped at $100,000]. The city’s Community Development Department has all of the details. Are you considering renewable energy purchases for the city? Purchases of renewable energy is something the sustainability program would like to put in place. We purchase a lot of power. We’re just starting the interviews for (a Water Department) energy manager. Their primary role will be conducting energy audits and managing energy assets in the Water Department, which has an $18 million energy bill. This person will be responsible for improving that. With Northeast Ohio in non-attainment for air quality and the director of the OEPA telling NOACA that even drastic local measures won’t reduce emissions (that it’s a multi-state problem), can concerted local action make an impact? To wake up in the morning you have to believe that. It’s probably the most comprehensive way to address our non-attainment status, and that’s one of biggest reason we signed the agreement. What advice can you give to other mayors in the area considering signing the agreement? I'd encourage them to sign it and make us a stronger region.

from the July 14 NOACA board meeting: Board members also approved the Trans-Erie Ferry Terminal project, submitted by the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority, for inclusion on NOACA’s Transportation Plan, Connections 2030, and State Fiscal Year 2006 – 2009 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). The project has been earmarked for SAFETEA-LU funds and includes the construction of a 30,000 square foot terminal building and operational costs to ferry both passengers and cargo across Lake Erie. http://www.noaca.org/july06rel.html

where will this festival be in the future? the one reason it seems 'to work', is that there are so many abandoned/underused buildings on both lower euclid and lower prospect. would this festival work if it were only on the street? only had one vacant building? E.4 is a natural fit, but again, hopefully some of these storefronts become occupied all year long and not just 4 days. i mean, hopefully in the near future we won't have abandoned buildings downtown. from the music component, i think ingenuity could work in the same places, but so many of the tech/art exhibits seem best for abanonded buildings. once silver line is done, will buses be able to route off of Euclid? where will festival go next year? maybe ingenuity could also showcase other areas downtown with similar vacancies? raise awareness? any thoughts or insight?

This is the story i'd like to see as well. I think it has to do with a couple of factors: - they started small. had enough money together to get financing on the first building. went half condo/half rental. condos sold, providing cash for next building. - then they started converting rentals into condos in first buildings, raising more money to fund future down payments. - they have been extremely innovative in cutting costs. lightweight steel construction, pre-fab panels, etc. does anyone know who is doing the financing for stonebridge? at this point, it could be all in house.

^ i agree about cleveland being new to the presell. this is one reason that stonebridge was successful, as it was built and then sold off. stonebridge v is being built part rental as well, with plans to convert later. the other problem with presell is you have to wait. at the groundbreaking announcement last fall for avenue district, the plan was to close the parking lots in June 2006 and start construction...almost 2 months behind the initial optimism. i'm hopeful it still happens, but wouldn't be happy having to wait even longer to get into a home i had already put money down on.