Urbanophile

^ Wow, that's actually really cool. For those who have heard about the negative environmental effects of fish farming, that wouldn't apply in this case. Fish farming is only bad when they net off sections of a body of water to farm fish, and their droppings mess up the ph level of the water. This fish farm is self-contained, with circulated filtered water. A lot of fish farmers don't want to spend the time or money investing in this kind of operation, since it's much easier to net off sections of water. I hope this happens!

It's too bad American Greetings chose to move when they did. I met a few women from AG last week.. they drove all the way to downtown on their lunch breaks to help support the businesses on E. 6th that were affected by the Garfield Building parapet collapse. They said at the time they were excited for the move to Crocker Park, but now they just wish they were moving downtown.

And here I was, about to say that I thought the design looked pretty solid. Of course it depends on the quality of the materials, but I think it will fit in quite well.

From the Cleveland.com article: Wow. I knew that building was huge, but that really helps put it's massive size into perspective. For something that big, there's really no other feasible option than mixed use.

The design is pretty much what I expected - meh. But this is still an exciting project that will really help to bring positive change to this part of Clifton. I hope they find good tenants for the remaining two retails spots. Great Clips and Dollar Bank are fine (neighborhoods need banks and hair salons), but they aren't particularly exciting. I vaguely recall previous site plans with a frozen yogurt place in one of those retails spots. I think that could be a good fit.

Council members also have to approve all Economic Development funds in their wards. If they don't approve, then the project can't receive funding from the City and would have to find a private lender. I actually think I really like the way Cleveland's City Council is set up, with all the council members being in wards and having relatively strong power within their wards. I just think there are too many wards, and many of them are poorly drawn. For example, look at ward 6 (Mamie Mitchell), which has little consistency. It could easily be split between the surrounding wards. Same with Dona Brady's ward. That northern section of Cudell would probably be better served in Matt Zone's district. I'm assuming that the districts are drawn by the council, and that's why they're so poorly drawn?

It's truly shocking just how many council members there are for a city of Cleveland's size. At the most, Cleveland should have 15 council seats... and that's being extremely generous. It should really be more like 10.

They better not tear down any of those nice trees.

I love that they are embracing the Schofield name. I wish this happened with more buildings in Cleveland. It's ridiculous that The 9 isn't called The Breuer or that the (soon to be) Corning Place (ugh) is not sticking with the Garfield name.

^ Love that first pic! I'm so excited to see that view with the Justice Center completely blocked :)

Thanks, TPH2, that is definitely the kind of stuff I was hoping for! I was already aware of some of that stuff (Reed & Johnson's convictions, Cimperman's strong support of LGBT rights, Polensek being around forever, etc), but your list definitely helps put some things into perspective. I've actually briefly met a few of the council members (as a result of my internship), and out of the 5 I met and/or spoke to, Mamie Mitchell kinda seemed the most scatterbrained (this isn't based off of much information though). I hope to hear more opinions. This is a fun topic to discuss.

So, I just moved to Cleveland and I realized that I really should learn more about the makeup of the city council. I grew up in the Youngstown area, and went to college in the greater Cleveland area (Baldwin Wallace). I've had a major interest in the development of Cleveland for years, but I'm not as knowledgeable about the local politics as I'd like to be. It seems like the majority of potential candidates for the next mayoral election are coming from the City Council, so I really want to learn more about the council. The only places I can find detailed descriptions about the council members are 1) Wikipedia (which isn't very helpful or informative in this case), or 2) The City Council website (which is basically designed to make them all look good). I've done a little research on their voting records and such, but I'd like to know more about their accomplishments, failures, and their overall character. I now live in Ward 15, so Matt Zone is my councilman. I don't know much about him except that he's big on the arts. I've also met Joe Cimperman a couple times, and he seems like a really nice guy, but according to Cleveland.com's comment section he is actually the devil incarnate. So, I'd just like a relatively unbiased summary of the current council members, if that's not asking too much :) Varied opinions are welcome and encouraged!

^ Good news! Btw, regarding that rendering of the health campus you posted earlier... does that show East 100th will be extended through to Chester?

^ Where exactly is Agora Foods going? That nice stone building that currently houses Jackson Hewitt? Or that brick building across W. 57? (On a side note, I think if someone were to ever develop the lot on the corner of Detroit and W. 58, it would make a HUGE difference in terms of walkability and placemaking) Hey neighbor! I'm really loving the neighborhood so far. That Father Frescati extension certainly help with connectivity. While they're at it, they should just punch Frescati all the way through to W. 69, and tear down those ugly yellow suburban style houses ;) ... I'm actually only half-joking. There's still an issue with connectivity between W. 69 and W. 70 - you'd either have to go all the down to Detroit or Father Caruso to just go one block over. I wonder why connectivity is such a mess in this particular part of the neighborhood. I'm guessing it's the result of various private developers not working together.

Well, that's certainly good news! I just moved to the neighborhood, and it's amazing how there's hardly any connection between 69th and 73rd. For example, if I want to walk to Stone Mad Pub from my place at W. 76th, I have to go down to Lake and then Detroit, six blocks east, and then up 65th. It looks like Herman Avenue was originally supposed to connect W. 76th with W. 49th which would have helped a lot with connectivity, but I think the planners got drunk or something, and now we're stuck with 3 separate Hermans that don't connect.

^ That master plan is pretty "pie-in-the-sky" (as most master plans are). I highly doubt we'll ever see the Ohio City Farm land developed into mixed use, and same with all the other proposed mixed use on that side of W. 25. As far as I know, the City wants all that land east of W 25 and north of Riverview to be converted into public green space. Even after the hillside is stabilized, most think it's still risky to build there. I think Snavely is really trying to push for the stabilization, because public green space would positively impact the proposed development at W 25 and Detroit. It would also increase the value of all the land west of W 25, since it would open up some very nice views.

It blows my mind that some people thought it was a good idea to cover up this beautiful building. It may have taken a long time, but this restoration is definitely worth the time and effort.

^ It's not a building that will go down in the architecture history books, but it's still a fine addition to the city. As far as I know, the Lakeside-facing porch is the only significant change from the original renderings, which is not bad at all for a design-build project. This building is replacing one of the lamest former buildings in the city with a glass tower (much needed in this city which is full of beige). I'm not going to complain too much about the small details on this one. Besides, the overhanging roof and steel pillars will make the podium part look a lot less boxy.

I wonder why that was taken down when they have more exterior work to do

^ No need to apologize. I think the Columbus Hilton is pretty "meh" in its design. But at least it interacts well with its surroundings. The Cleveland Hilton is obviously going to be a much more memorable building.

Thanks, dave68, those renderings help clear up a lot of questions! I was initially worried when I first saw they removed the porch from the Lakeside side, but I'm happy to see that pretty much all the other architectural details are remaining the same.

^ No, we discussed the Lakeside side, not the Mall-facing side, which is what gruver is talking about. The Mall-facing side actually never called for a "porch" - at least nothing like what was initially planned for the Lakeside side. There is a small porch for the Mall side, and you can see that in the photos (the little bit that juts out around the 3rd or 4th floor). As for the overhanging roof, I don't see why we would rule that out yet. I'd think that that would be one of the last things added.

I still hate the new name.

^ Well, the good news is that they did a very good job of renovating that building. I really think a similar restaurant could survive there. There's still a decent amount of density in the surrounding neighborhood, it's across the street from a rather large church, and it's just up the street from the Third Federal offices.

^ That's good news. I really think that the stretch of Lorain between W. 44 and Fulton is going to be one of the next major focuses of development. Within the past year or so, that area gained: Platform Beer (as well as the renovation of the place next door), the home brew shop across the street, and The Grocery up the street.