cleveman86

For what it's worth, I have learned that Roundstone is going to build their new headquarters just over the border in Rocky River, taking over the property where Cravings Thai Cuisine is located and at least one adjacent property. The owners of that Thai restaurant were given one month's notice that their lease will be terminated at the end of May. :/

As citizens, is there anything we can do to advocate for change at the RTA? This seems like a horrible mess that needs to be addressed urgently. Who are these people accountable to? What role can the new mayor play in fixing RTA? It's embarrassing seeing the state of our transit agency. I used to think I could attribute it to being in the state of Ohio which has been woefully derelict in supporting public transportation, and while there's certainly some truth to that, based on what I'm reading here, the agency itself has a lot of blame to shoulder for poor management decisions and lack of vision. I really want to see it turn around as I believe a good public transit system is key to Cleveland's future. Cleveland has so much momentum...I'd like to see RTA start turning a corner...quickly!

I'll echo Paul in Cleveland. I also went to the Elton John concert and the entry from the RTA walkway from Tower City was completely backed up with hundreds of people just standing there. We waited almost 30 minutes to get to the top of the stairs. They were letting small groups in at a time through a single security gate and when we finally got up to the top of the stairs...a security guard said we could go outside and walk the 20 seconds to the other entrance where the entry was a breeze. Why were they not forcing people to do this to get people moving? Literally hundreds of people were just standing in the tunnel blocked and with no clue what was going on because there was no communication until you got to the top of the stairs. I was very disappointed to see that the renovation did not have better access from our public transit hub downtown. I hope they somehow can fix this...because it was a mess. Another black eye for public transit in Cleveland. Other than that, the renovation itself was quite beautiful! ?‍♂️

So I watched the U.S. Senate debate between Sherrod Brown and Jim Renacci the other night. I tend to side with Brown on almost everything. However, one answer he gave disappointed me. One of the panelists asked about the candidates' positions on raising the federal gas tax to fund infrastructure projects with a focus on funding public transportation projects in Ohio (since we all know Ohio's funding of public transit is pathetic). I seem to recall the panelist pointing out that drivers were not paying their fair share to maintain roads. Apparently, the gas tax has not been raised since 1993. Brown's argument was that it was unfair to raise taxes that primarily affect working class people and did not seem willing to support raising the gas tax and instead focused more on revising the current tax code so that billionaires pay their fair share. Renacci seemed more open to the idea of raising the gas tax citing an approach that would raise the gas tax in line with the rate of inflation. I have to say, on its face, Renacci seems to have the better position on this, no? A lot of you are way more educated and experienced in public transit funding so I trust your opinion. Is Brown right on this? Is he just taking a politically "safe" stance? Can anyone justify his position to me or is he simply wrong on this one?

This begs the question...how do universities grow to become an OSU or UC in size and prestige? How does CSU become a more academically elite university? I would imagine the answer involves numerous factors and hopefully CSU is heading in the right direction. It would be amazing for CSU to one day be one of the premiere state universities in Ohio, and right in the middle of our downtown core! Is that even possible?

Yeah, I'll chime in say that there's certainly plenty to criticize the City of Cleveland and the RTA for. However, this situation was not one of them IMO. As a teacher in a far west suburb, I was up this morning at 5 AM shoveling snow knowing I would probably have school no matter what it was like where I live in Lakewood. I went to bed at 11:30 without a flake of snow to be seen. I watched the forecasts last night. No one predicted a lake effect squall like this hitting at the time it did on the West side no less. It had the absolute perfect timing and was much more intense than the predictions I saw. I shoveled at least 8 inches of snow out of my driveway in Lakewood. Show me a forecast that predicted that kind of snow. And even if they did...is ANY city or transportation organization around here equipped to handle that amount of snow falling in less than 6 hours (I don't know when it actually started) and peaking during the morning rush hour? I think any criticism here is a little overblown. Now if we had better rail transit to get us around this city...maybe we'd have a lot less to complain about. Are you listening state of Ohio???

This is thinking an extra step ahead...but assuming this thing moves in the next decade, what do you see as the best use of land on the giant parcel that is currently occupied by the justice center? New office tower? Mixed-use development? Knowing how history has played out, is there any chance we end up with a "new" giant parking lot one block up from where the "old one" was, assuming the Weston Project sees its full build-out? Do you think re-development would be swift or is there a chance we'd be staring at another blank "hole" again for some time? I know this is trying to foresee the future because many factors could be at play here, but I'm just wondering if there is any insight by those of you that seem to have more expertise that would indicate one way or the other.

Does anyone know when all the cars will be finished with their update? Took the rapid to the West Side Market this past weekend and also to an Indians game and I was hoping I'd get lucky and get on one of the new cars - no such luck! I certainly can't wait - that brown/orange interior can't die fast enough...