urbanlife

what i don't like about the existing displays and the new ones that i have seen, is that they don't show true 'real time', but only show the next 3 scheduled trains. Now, this is nice, and as others have commented may be adequate, but when all the trains and buses have GPS, true real time should not be difficult to get up and running.

Here is what RTA is missing though: functionality like NextBus offers. CASE is the only "transit" system in Ohio using it, but it tells you when the next 4 buses are coming, lets you easily pick stops, direction, view the route and stops on a google map as well as the exact location of the bus. Good stuff. I know that RTA has something like this internally, but they should make it publicly available as well. Overall Route - Choose "Ohio" and "Case": http://www.nextbus.com/predictor/stopSelector.jsp Real Time Location of the CircleLink: http://www.nextbus.com/predictor/publicMap.shtml?a=case-western&r=circlelink

I found this buried in a NOACA report on air pollution from Dec. 2005. Any ideas on when these will be going up or where exactly? Alternative Energy – Wind Power: The Work Group heard a presentation from Green Energy Technologies Inc., which is installing a demonstration project involving a wind turbine (Smart Energy Tower) at both Cleveland-Hopkins Airport and at Case Western Reserve University. It was apparent that, when the towers are in production and available to large businesses, they can be used successfully as back-up electricity sources, reducing draw on the traditional grid. The towers are also planned to be used for cellular purposes, wireless Internet, and hydrogen production for some shuttle vehicles at both the airport and the university. The Work Group determined that wind power will not be in production soon enough to make an appreciable reduction in pollution for SIP purposes, but the electricity produced will be quantified for the SIP, regardless.

any body want to take bets on how long it takes for one of these windows to get broken out once they put some computer equipment and food in there? hopefully this will lead to better use of the jumbo screens. playhouse square took out $3 million for these at 8% interest. Let's get them to use.

While I don't necessarily disagree, I think that many people raising a family have additional considerations: 1) Is it easy? 2) Is it affordable? 3) Is it good for my kids? Not every suburb meets these criteria, but raising a family can be tough business and I think at the end of the day most parents want to do what makes the most sense for the kids, and then themselves. Can it be done in the city, absolutely. But not for everyone. Plus this is one area where net in-migration really makes a difference. I don't know many people who grew up in Cleveland proper, their parents had either left a generation ago and they were raised in the suburbs and now feel comfortable there. Someone just moving to Ohio may be more likely to move into a city proper. It is all individual choice, which should be preserved, but not necessarily weighed in favor through incentives towards the suburbs.

^ i saw it listed as 1923.

here is a link to a blog that was done 'real time' during the event. basically backs up prior comments, but it walks through step-by-step the events of the meeting: http://clevelandplanner.blogspot.com/2006/02/live-blogging-from-cleveland-innerbelt.html

^ I don't think there is one definition, it is a combination of factors based on age, price, amenities, location, management. generally anything older than 30 years is B space, no matter how nice. Isn't Terminal Tower Class B office space as well?

I posted a link on this thread to the audio file from WCPN: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=4504.60

Our friend Joe C. was on WCPN this morning talking about transit. I only caught half of it, but it is now posted on the website: http://www.wcpn.org/news/2006/01_03/0216rta.html A few summary points: 1) Joe C quoted a figure of 100 millon a mile to expand rail. WTF? 2) New electronic signage coming to stations, still only showing next 3 scheduled trains though and not real time arrival information. I'd still rather have a small sign that has nothing else on it except for "Next Train: 4 minutes". 3) A lot of callers were interested in attractive more "choice riders", but no real program to do this discussed.

anyone see the new video board at the station in tower city? they installed it this morning above the customer service desk, replacing the old board that only showed cleveland.com headlines, but no real time information. it was playing a coke video on a loop. looked cool, but i guess this means that there will be no real time information at any point in the future that you can see from tower city? anybody know what the deal is?

^ KJP, what I meant was that the OCNW was not actively trying to get the imformation published in papers, but were providing a service to residents or others who actively subscribe to the safety mailing list. What Sun paper covers downtown and where can you pick them up downtown? I've never seen one in a machine or at the newsstands downtown.

Most other cities that I have lived in or around, from small to large, would at least publish weekly or monthly crime stats in the local paper. I've never seen a "crime watch" section of the PD, listing the crimes. Are there too many to list? Is this how the PD "believes in Cleveland"? or is it some choice, not to report? I think constructive reporting, as noozer suggests, makes the most sense and provides actionable information for residents. edit: here is a link to last week's Akron Beacon Journal Crime Watch Listings: http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=10FC6DF337249B90&p_docnum=2

i am always so impressed with the stonebridge development. this project always seems to have the least hype but the most progress. no big press conferences, no waiting game for pre-sales, no BS - just building after building going up. does anyone know how they are financing their construction on these projects? the other builders in town seem to have to presell half the units before they break ground, but stonebridge appears to just build the shells at least and then finish interiors as units are sold. are they just taking more risks or using their own capital?

but if this would make the stadium usable year round for other events, fits in with convention and lake front plans...one word...synergy. if it exists and can be funded not on back of the cleveland schools, roads, police and fire, i say go for it. think big.

^ i agree with comments on Action News as well, they drop "punks" a lot..but they are "everywhere." But I do like the focus on downtown. Their 3 lead stories almost always have to do with what is going on downtown, whereas 3 and 5 seem to focus more on suburb action.

they were initially looking for funding late night during the week and weekend service from city of cleveland and downtown cleveland partnership type organizations.

I'm interested in getting some feedback about what others think of this situation. As a brief intro, the Ohio City Near West Development Corp. has been providing police brevity reports to residents of Ohio City (and others who can sign up for the email list). One of the staffers gets the police reports from the district every week through a public information request and then summarizes the crimes that have occured, removing names and addresses, but providing the general area of the crime, and the type of crime. In addition, the safety committee was sending residents to sentencings and otherwise trying to show up and let judges/police/potential criminals know that they take their neighborhood and its security seriously. I generally think this is a good service as it allows: - people to be more aware of the types of crimes occuring and where they occur, so people can either change their behavior (leaving 1st floor windows open), patterns (walking in a certain area alone), or to report suspicious behavior. - Cleveland is using a mapping tool in the PD called citistat that tracks crimes, but doesn't make it available publicly or real time. Baltimore has their's available on the web: Program Description - http://www.ci.baltimore.md.us/news/citistat/ Interactive Maps - http://141.157.54.34/bpdmaps/police.htm Apparenty some people in Ohio City thought that these reports actually were hurting the perception of the neighborhood and have convinced the OCNW to stop distributing this information. None of it was put in the papers or otherwise publicized except for people who subscribed to the weekly safety updates. Here was the message: Due to concerns from the community regarding the negative perception of the previous Safety Update reports, I will be suspending the Brevity Reports (Cleveland Police reports) from future safety communications to this Email list. If anyone has a specific crime incident that they would like to know about, please contact me at the OCNW office at 781-3222, and I will look into your requested report. This Email list will be for general announcements involving safety matters that reflect a more positive image of the neighborhood. Once again, this is in response to numerous requests from the community. Thoughts?

but in many cases public spaces were in much better shape. i'd much rather have a nice park and areas for neighbors to meet, exercise, socialize, etc. When the public spaces are not well maintained or when they are taken over by the homeless, drug dealers, or other "undesirable" uses, then a 4000 square foot house with a nice yard becomes the standard as people can not find usable space and don't want to socialize with those who frequent the public spaces.

Since the source for the release was Rubin, I don't know why they didn't spin it more positively saying something along the lines of him wanting to change the mix of stores.

^ unless they rebrand the market in reserve square as part of the expansion and in anticipation of avenue district. they are expanding/rebranding/rebuilding that market, but nobody seems to know what the exact details are. this would be a good location as well. it could also be "greater cleveland" as the Cedar Center is getting a Whole Foods: Cedar Center Plaza Sitting on the southwest corner of Warrensville Center and Cedar Roads is Cedar Center, a retail mainstay of University Heights, Ohio. Currently 20 acres of strip center facilities, the center is scheduled to be redeveloped into a retail / office complex beginning in 2005. When completed, Whole Foods will be joining CVS and Blockbuster Video as anchor tenant. Across Cedar Road is the newly developed University Square that is home to Target, Kaufman’s I hope there is one coming for downtown though...

Coming to Terms With Our Obsessions Time to ban car commercials? - Bob Ecker Monday, February 6, 2006 Social engineering is a concept many Americans naturally abhor, because it attacks our deeply held freedom, and we have always believed in doing virtually anything we want. Free-market capitalists feel this way, and most citizens usually go along for the ride. But our country's obsessive consumption of oil to fill the tanks of our auto-centric culture may eventually kill off the world, and believe it or not, Mr. and Mrs. America, you and I will go down, too. Our love affair with cars has to change, sooner rather than later. The hubris of excess (see Hummer) has gotten our society into a pickle, and it's time to take a novel approach with this problem. Let's tamp down the future demand side -- to put it another way, like a diet, we must somehow decrease our appetite. Cars are wonderful machines, I'll freely admit, and powerful tools that help us maintain our modern lives. But this obsession has gotten way out of control and threatens the very air we breathe, the earth beneath our feet, our overflowing landfills and even the worldwide political landscape. If every American drove less, kept the same car longer or thought about cars as a well-being issue, then perhaps we can yet avert catastrophe. ........ URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/02/06/EDGU9GJCDM1.DTL

An interesting new web tool to look at comparable real estate values in your neighbohood. http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB113935396648967688-lMyQjAxMDE2MzA5OTMwNTkzWj.html (link active for 7 days) THE MOSSBERG SOLUTION By WALTER S. MOSSBERG AND KATHERINE BOEHRET For Real-Estate Voyeurs February 8, 2006; Page D1 If there's anything Americans obsess over as much as sports, pop culture and college for their kids, it's real estate. All over the country, people love to talk about how much their homes, and those of their neighbors, might be worth if sold today and what it would take to snag a new house. Trouble is, it's hard for average folks to obtain solid, neutral estimates of the market values of homes without consulting a real-estate agent. There have been a few Web sites that offer estimates of a home's value, such as housevalues.com. But they require you to enter your contact information and to be contacted by a real-estate agent or mortgage broker in order to actually receive a detailed estimate. While these sites look like they are focused on the consumer, they are actually designed to generate sales leads for agents.

OK. I went back and read the thread and found some interesting numbers. First, it appears that Zaremba has bought the land, apparently 5.5m upfront and then 6m as the units sell. Now, it is relatively easy to hide these numbers from online, however with all of the other backroom stuff that goes on in this city, i'd like to actually know how much was paid. Also interesting was the price points originally estimated at 187,000 to 333,000, which may end up being true in later phases, but the cap at 333,000 appears to be way understated. The reason I keep using price per square foot is because someone will offer a unit that has 700 square feet and costs 180,000. In my mind it is about how much space you are getting for your dollar - and certainly location and convenience, but not at a premium that this market doesn't support. Having lived in Silicon Valley for a few years, I am somewhat immune to seeing high prices for housing. However, one of Cleveland's strengths is it's affordability. This market doesn't require people to live in small studios or 1 bedrooms at high prices, and it shouldn't. I hope all of these sell out, but I also hope someone starts developing a more mid priced product downtown to appeal to many others that want to participate.

i was/am, but am concerned about the entry level price points per square foot. I'm not going to buy a 900 square foot unit, I need more space for home/office and guest room, etc. However, I also am not looking at sinking 400k+ for a 1600 square foot condo (+upgrades, +utilities, +condo fees, etc.). I don't think that this could resell in this market and 400k can buy a lot of house/condo in other areas of the city. I'd prefer to see some offerings in the $200/square foot range, making a 1600 square foot condo around 320k. With construction costs of residential buildings under 12 stories in this area around $140/square foot (and maybe cheaper even in this case, as this land was a $1 purchase from the City, lot is already cleared, no major utility relocations), that still leaves the developer a profit margin of $60/square foot, or almost $100k on a 1600 square foot unit,multiply this by the total number of square feet, and I think someone is going to make some real money - even if the margin decreases to $35 or 40/square foot. I'm all for him making money for taking the risk and for the market dictating what gets built, but I'd much rather see some better deals for some of the homeowners taking risks as well, and at these price points, I'm not convinced.