urbanlife

this development is also in the running as the location for the cavs practice facility.

Downtown Akron finally has taken some steps in this direction. I was walking around yesterday, no camera of course, and saw the Polsky building windows fronting Main St had been "wrapped" with colorful images and web site addresses for the university, ej thomas hall, etc. Looked good, especially for what was an otherwise dead block at street level. Ultimately, some storefronts would be better, but at least this is a recognition of the problem. Where are we coming with the Cleveland program? I walked Euclid today, a nice dark and dreary wintery day and the only interesting progress appeared to be NatCity changing their window displays. Anyone just want to chip in a few bucks and print some stuff ourselves and slap it up on, say, 668 Euclid?

market is ok and good for essentials. wouldn't eat much of the prepared food, lunch meats, etc. But it is good for milk, canned food, salad bar, cereal, beer, wine, etc. street level visibility is key, i agree. however, i think it could only open up onto the E13 th side, which doesn't make it more visible to the missing customer - the downtown worker/resident. this store is already frequented by chesterfield, RS and the subsidized housing nearby. Superior side is storage area and mechanicals and E.12 side is being redone for the new scorchers.

Reserve Square developer buys attached hotel Thursday, December 15, 2005 Christopher Montgomery Plain Dealer Reporter Apartment owner and developer Doug Price is once again expanding his presence in downtown Cleveland. On Wednesday, the chief executive of Willoughby's K&D Group Inc. closed on his $5.2 million purchase of the 268-room Embassy Suites hotel attached to the Reserve Square apartment complex at 1701 East 12th St. Price bought the 765-unit Reserve Square for $38 million in August. The hotel's seller was FelCor Lodging Trust Inc., a large hotel real estate investment trust based in Irving, Texas. Price said FelCor, whose properties are concentrated in Texas, California, Florida and Georgia, decided the Cleveland market didn't fit its strategic interests. More at http://www.cleveland.com/business/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/business/1134639260295471.xml&coll=2

From Dec 14 PD: http://www.cleveland.com/cooking/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/living/1134553079299310.xml&coll=2 Reality show will highlight Lola progress Wednesday, December 14, 2005 Joe Crea Food and Restaurants Editor Michael Symon often has garnered national attention for his acclaimed Cleveland restaurants Lola and Lolita. The restaurateur is about to enter the spotlight again -- this time in two countries. Red Apple Productions, the Toronto-based producer of "Opening Soon," a reality show that airs on Fine Living television and Food Network Canada, is set to start shooting a segment on the reinvention of Lola. More at http://www.cleveland.com/cooking/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/living/1134553079299310.xml&coll=2

i think one of the reasons that market square and star plaza work well is that they have a nice mix of mature, non-locust trees that actually make it feel like a park. i also think that lincoln park in tremont is a great space as well. although there are some larger trees on public square, and it might not be appropriate to block the soldiers monument with large plantings, there are numerous tree grates sitting empty, and the ones that are filled, have scrappy little locust trees. not very fitting for a grand park in my opinion. i think the streets could stay if they just lined them with nice trees and allowed the canopy to cover the streets. these locust trees, although they love salt and pollution, never seem to get very large in the sidewalk plantings.

and he likes to nod a lot during meetings even when nothing is directed at him. very strange.

The dome on the soccer stadium is up tonight. It is not retractable, just a large inflatable/light support structure covering the field. The lights are still on the outside, so maybe the light goes through the white covering.

but if we put rail in the medians, where would all of the Ohio Highway Patrol officers sit with their laser guns? I do seriously wonder what safety forces might lobby against such construction. Although the concrete medians are common in the cities (providing no cut through for police, fire, medics), there are also usually more exits available where a vehicle could turn around and re-enter heading the opposite direction. is this an issue anywhere else where rail in the median exists?

Here is the video link for the story. Despite recent violent crimes, no cops assigned to patrol downtown http://www.woio.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?clipid1=591928&at1=News&vt1=v&h1=Despite+recent+violent+crimes%2C+no+cops+assigned+to+patrol+downtown&d1=99400&redirUrl=www.woio.com&activePane=info&LaunchPageAdTag=homepage

yes, pleurisy. i spell checked it but when i corrected the spelling, i deleted the u as well. go figure. Another family comes forward with Quay 55 apartment horror story On the WOIO.com video page if the link doesn't work. It looks like there are more problems now: http://www.woio.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?clipid1=591921&at1=News&vt1=v&h1=Another+family+comes+forward+with+Quay+55+apartment+horror+story&d1=172500&redirUrl=www.woio.com&activePane=info&LaunchPageAdTag=homepage

Has anyone heard more about the air quality problems at Quay 55? There was a report on the news the other night that said another tenant has come down with plerisy (Lebron has the penthouse here now and came down with this as well last month). He is no longer staying there and the other tenant is moving out. They showed some environmental reports that claimed mold, water damage and white powder in the ducting. any updates?

Another story on woio last night about how no police were on patrol in all of downtown. This is at least the 2d time this has happened since August due to combos of equipment failure, vacation and sick leaves. craziness. Does anyone know when the city is going to put the citistat information on the web? i know they are using it internally to map/track/respond to crime trends, but originally i think they were going to make it publicly available (maybe not real time) like Baltimore.

It looks like REALNEO is also getting into the act. Hopefully everyone is focusing on the 'real' stumbling blocks to get this done, as there seems to be good community support (this board aside). From an email this morning: In collaboration with leaders in government, education and the community, we are developing http://neobridge.net to help transform the I-90 bridge over the Cuyahoga into a landmark “Signature Bridge” – a work of public art – that will provide Cleveland with the world-class gateway we deserve. The PD had an editorial on this subject just today. Visit http://neobridge.net to learn more about this project and important upcoming planning events. NOTE: November 22nd, REALNEO will host an Excellence Roundtable to further citizen discussions on the NEO Bridge initiative. This roundtable will focus on the ODOT plan and alternatives, and will feature fascinating Cuyahoga County Planning Commission Director Paul Alsenas – ODOT representatives have also been invited. For further information, visit http://neoexcellence.realinks.us/Innerbelt While you are cruising the information superhighway, be sure to visit http://realneo.us to view our redesign and participate in our new “Community Forums”, initiated during Rebecca Ryan’s recent “world-café” visit here… many of the forums feature video clips from the world cafés, to help bring this to life.

there are a lot of cold, dark winter months ahead. it would be nice to see at least a small start before then.

Saw some info today that rail does make up 15% of ride origination at RTA now. This is up from 10% a few years ago - all in an anti-rail establishment. also, look for a fare increase in near future. future budgets are trending negative and there is not much "low hanging fruit" to eliminate anymore.

i took a detour inside the Halle building today. they are redoing the entire first and basement levels, adding comfortable lounge seating, removing the theater motif and installing wi-fi. they have already moved the art store - the glass walls will come down and that area will have couches and chairs. should be interesting to see how this interacts with the street. renovations are also underway on 3 upper floors.

Here are a couple of pics of the pole: <img src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/urbanlife/IMG_1294.jpg" alt=""> <img src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/urbanlife/IMG_1293.jpg" alt="">

Here are a few shots from today, during the day. The storefronts are even worse after dark when no lights are on and random people populate the doorways. Between E.9 and E.12 <img src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/urbanlife/IMG_1305.jpg" alt=""> Shouldn't this be a code violation - exposed wiring on the outside of a building? <img src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/urbanlife/IMG_1304.jpg" alt=""> <img src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/urbanlife/IMG_1303.jpg" alt=""> <img src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/urbanlife/IMG_1300.jpg" alt=""> <img src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/urbanlife/IMG_1299.jpg" alt=""> Even the Statler doesn't appear too worried about empty storefronts - maybe filling a few of these up would have helped them make their mortgage payments. <img src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/urbanlife/IMG_1298.jpg" alt=""> Here is the 668 Euclid storefront between E.9 and E.6. They did at least close off the doorways and paint everything black - creating a nice canvas for some future artwork? who knows. <img src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/urbanlife/IMG_1302.jpg" alt=""> And here is a pic of the National City 1st floor along Euclid - no retail, but interesting displays/advertising and most importantly lights in the windows at night. <img src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/urbanlife/IMG_1301.jpg" alt="">

The National City building is a good example. On Euclid b/w E.9 and E.6 they had breast cancer awareness window materials last month and now something new. there isn't anything at street level here, but the additional window treatments and lighting make this section of Euclid feel much more active. The 55 building on public square also has some nice murals in the lobby that really give some energy to an otherwise dull area.

the city also had some branding effort i saw about making E.9 into a true Rock and Roll themed Blvd leading into the HOF. Maybe this effort could take care of some of the E.9 street level spaces.

The one building that would start to help is the new county owned HQ building at corner of E.9 and Euclid. These buildings sit a critical intersection and are completely dead exept for the key bank ATM machine. I would think the county could at least fill the windows up with something, even if it is only "The new home of Cuyahoga County coming in 2007" or something and actually get some lights working on the ground floor at night. Between east 9 and east 12 along euclid is in terrible shape.

From yesterday's NYT. Interesting perspectives on other TOD. http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/11/02/business/transit.span.jpg Trading the Car for the Train By TERRY PRISTIN PASADENA, Calif., Oct. 26 - Los Angeles may be the car capital of America, but a few Angelenos, it seems, are beginning to consider leaving their cars at home.

ODOT delays I-90 meeting The Ohio Department of Transportation has postponed for three weeks the selection of a design team for a new Interstate 90 westbound bridge over the Cuyahoga River. The agency had planned to start the selection process Monday. But late Friday, in response to questions raised by the city of Cleveland, ODOT delayed the initial meeting on the selection process until Nov. 21. ODOT now plans to pick a designer on Dec. 12. Nov 1, Plain Dealer

there has been a delivery of what appears to be the pole sections for the wind turbine. it is currently fenced off on land behind the science center. no noticeable progress on a concrete pad for the installation though. i took some pics and will try and post later.