audidave

Is this the correct thread for the news of a study that sounds like its boundaries will be exclusively in the city of Akron? I'm not picking up a "commuter" vibe from this grant. My take is that Metro is going to take seriously the idea that they have a rail line that should be able to easily enhance their current services. Maybe the study does take more than a cursory look at the potential outside of Akron for possible new stations and stops. Possible new stations- Belden Village and CAK with obviously a stop in Canton. Hopefully the next grant that comes out is a dual-grant with SARTA to explore the commuter angle. For unknowing UOers, the Merriman Valley is more of an entertainment district with about 30-40 bars and restaurants with less than 5 being national chains. It has all this without any retail destinations or even large employer. It straddles the Cuyahoga river and the towpath and is wedged in by Cuyahoga Valley NP and metro parks that surround the valley. About 5000 people live in this area with probably about 2000+ going to University of Akron or Kent State. This stands as an obvious instant TOD- just add a railway stop(and a train)..

The University Park Alliance has signed a master plan developer to help them flesh out their vision for the blocks that surround the University of Akron campus. I figured it was worthy of having its own thread once that happened rather than staying in the random category.. Here's the article from yesterday's ABJ: http://www.ohio.com/business/international-firm-s-partnership-is-jolt-for-university-park-alliance-plans-1.240452 International firm’s partnership is “jolt” for University Park Alliance plans By Betty Lin-Fisher Beacon Journal business writer Published: October 16, 2011 - 07:27 AM The University Park Alliance, a nonprofit group working on the redevelopment of 50 city blocks around the University of Akron and surrounding downtown areas, has entered a partnership with an international real estate firm known for its work on sports stadiums and aquariums. Last spring, the UPA showed off what it called a “Master Plan” put together with the university, business partners and city and county government. The plan divided the area into four districts of downtown along three major roads — Market, Exchange and Main streets. Now KUD International LLC, with offices in New York, London, Long Beach, Calif., and Orlando, Fla., has joined with UPA on what is being called a “master services agreement.” It will give the company responsibility for developing a portion of the projects outlined by UPA. The partnership also allows KUD, whose parent company is Kajima Corp. of Japan, to work on financial and other resource issues to help local and other developers secure financing and reduce risk.

^^ Not to belabor the point since none of us have the full financial picture, but being in debt with almost $200,000 in back taxes plus other outstanding debts, I don't think means that they were totally financially solvent unless one is to imply that the partner was just taking the money for personal use. That could be the case. But then I would assume there would be criminal charges of laundering or more directly embezzling. My point was that I would frequent the restaurant on Sundays and Saturday afternoons and there was barely a person in the restaurant. Nice for me since I got great service. I feel, had the Marriott been built and opened by now, the restaurant would not have such slow periods of time and would likely have an additional 10-30+ patrons a day/night in addition to what they normally receive. That would, I believe, allow them to avoid closure. It makes sense to me that they could not exist on the traditional Akron restaurant dinner crowd of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.

For mtn biking, I guess I'd have to recommend vultures knob near Wooster. I haven't been there yet. Almost went this week tho.. You should be able to hop on the train in downtown Canton to come up to Akron on the weekends for a nice excursion. Maybe with your bike even?

I don't think this is much of a trend. Restaurants close in good economies and bad. There have been I'm sure just as many restaurants opened in the last few years. I think the restaurants had their various issues to deal with. Location, demographics, and quality did in Yoconos. Plenty of places to get a decent pizza in that general area. It seems to be all by itself there on W. Exchange. I'd say similar reasons for Nick Anthe's closing minus quality issues. There really isn't much near Anthe's to make an evening of it. They probably should've moved close to the Diamond Grille since they share the same diner demographics and they'd be a lot closer to downtown. If anything it was probably The Office Bistro that ended up putting the last dagger into Anthe's. For VegiTerranean, the reason is more the huge expense of being in a brand new upscale loft building and not having the daily foot traffic that was promised. I would wonder if the 2nd phase building was built by now whether she would've closed up shop. I think the easy out is someone or a group of deep pocketed people in LA requested that she focus her efforts out there where she won't have to worry about money issues like here. So she's taking her chef with her to give this a go as a chain most likely. I'm still wondering when the restaurants/bars will be announced at Lock 4 by the Akron Civic Theater.

Nice story about a rapid expansion of a local company that exploits waste energy. Akron hoping to build hub for energy companies By Stephanie Warsmith Beacon Journal staff writer Published: October 4, 2011 - 12:38 AM Akron is hoping to create a hub for advanced energy companies, with the first step being the renovation of an aging downtown building to become the new home to one of these businesses. Akron City Council heard additional details Monday about the administration’s plans for refurbishing the former Hamlin Steel headquarters building to house Echogen Power Systems, which Mayor Don Plusquellic announced Friday. http://www.ohio.com/news/local/akron-hoping-to-build-hub-for-energy-companies-1.238382

I lived there on weekdays for last 9 months and it is a 8-5 downtown. The people either go to the suburbs or north on Elmwood. I often walked around downtown and not see another person after 8pm.

Yea, Hudson is a good place to look at. Other benefits of Hudson are proximity to the Cuyahoga Valley as well as another urban area in Akron and metro parks to explore. Its a fairly cosmopolitan town because of the western reserve academy. There are a lot of doctors and executives from both cleve and akron area companies that live there. So if one is looking for a low key New England town to live in that would certainly be a great choice.

Interesting article. Probably positive effects for Northcoast ridership. http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/metro-buses-told-to-leave-chapel-hill-mall-grounds-1.235003Metro buses told to leave Chapel Hill Mall grounds By Dave Scott Beacon Journal staff writer Published: September 14, 2011 - 10:04 AM Metro will move most of its buses off of Chapel Hill Mall property starting Sept. 25. CBL & Associates Management, operators of the mall, sent a letter to Metro on Aug. 19 demanding the move because of “extensive and continual damages your vehicles are causing to our asphalt surfaces.” The mall agreed to allow one route per hour on mall property.

^That sounds like Ravenna Arsenal should be high on their list.

This would seem to be a fairly trivial change but i think it will be fairly significant for downtown Akron. I wasn't able to understand from this report the extent of the angled spots but it was only where there was a bump-in previously that the angled parking was employed. I think this will be huge for businesses along main street. Some people didn't quite grasp the concept and pulled straight from the other side of the street when i drove through there last night. I wonder what its like during the day. http://i.akronnewsnow.com/news/local/item/2662-angle-parking-expands-downtown There's a new look to Main Street in downtown Akron. The city has expanded its angle parking from East Exchange to Church Street. The change from parallel parking occurred this week. Akron City Traffic Engineer Dave Gasper says the angle parking was expanded after success with angle parking on South Main between Exchange and Cedar over the past couple of years. He says the change also results in a gain of 23 additional parking spaces.

That's a pretty sweet idea! I would expect the more typical users would the sand volleyball players at the courts right next to that. It would give people a reason to stroll on the towpath there towards the baseball stadium. I'm curious who would've had this drawn up. Was it developers on their own being creative after doing a downtown study or was there somebody local that has an idea for a cafe in that spot? I would think there would have to be a lot of sign offs from city and county to set that up. Would the city lease the space? Would it be seasonal? Intriguing. I always like repurposed empty space.

The wrecking ball cometh to Akron. More destruction on the way this time at the Beacon itself: http://www.ohio.com/news/break-news/beacon-journal-to-raze-parking-deck-1.232352 Beacon Journal to raze parking deck Beacon Journal staff report Published: August 30, 2011 - 10:34 AM The Akron Beacon Journal parking deck, a fixture on High Street for more than 50 years, will be torn down this fall, the company announced Tuesday. The structure will be taken down because of its deteriorating condition.

Well they aren't just building a burger joint. They are building a 20,000sq ft office complex as well. There are a few vacant pieces of land in downtown but there are plans for some of them and I'm not sure of status of space next to GoJos. If anything this will take away the open sea of parking spaces that are on that block. It's a pretty nice piece of land being in between 2 one way streets as people either head in or out of Akron from the South. I'm sure the land will be far more productive and well kept in their hands than it had been previously. And you could go there on your lunch should you take the director of Planning job that's open at Metro...

I don't see this as a bad thing. There has been very little reinvestment in that area South of downtown for 30-40 years. Besides the new Bridgestone R&D complex which is almost complete there is the new IT co-location company building near there because of Bridgestone as well.. The area has been fairly blighted since Firestone moved out of Akron. To me this is a win since they are moving this outside of downtown. They are shutting down another McDonalds store that I'm sure probably needs to be shut down. I don't think they could find land in downtown to do this type of project anyways. I see this more as a harbinger of things to come. That area still has fairly inexpensive land very close to downtown. I think any service company that is downtown that is seeing its lease getting higher will be seriously considering that area to move to with its access to I76/I77 and downtown. McDonalds created back about 15 years ago their "McDonalds University" also with a new McDonalds just outside of downtown but to the West on Market St. Not sure when they sold it but it is now used by the Akron school system for hosting schools that are being rebuilt.

Cross-posting this from when I posted this on the Random Akron Mass transit forum.. Below is a link for a 20 year master plan survey for Metro RTA. They supposedly have everything on the board as far as what they are looking at including BRT, commuter rail, street car, and light rail. Please take the time to fill out the survey and speak your mind.. http://www.akronmetro.org/20-year-transit-master-plan.aspx Oh, and KJP or anyone really, they are looking to hire a planning manager... Thanks

^ Some slow walkers there.. I'd say about 6-7 minute walk to Canal Park from the metro multi modal hub. Ohio brewing is en route btw. Maybe a leisurely 10 minute walk to the Art Museum. I believe there are free trolleys that cruise about downtown during the weekdays. Otherwise, I'd say bring a bike if you are wanting to get around..

Like many cities this is the festival time of the year. There is the Hamburgerfest going on this coming weekend. There are various sporting events that can be watched in Akron like Aeros-AA team, Racers-women's pro softball, soon the nations top collegiate soccer team in the Zips, as well as Zips football.. I'd suggest you follow www.downtownakron.com for updates on events.. For a quick lay of the land since you're interested in bar crawling.. There are basically 5 "party" areas of Akron: Downtown of course and that will stretch from Northside area down Main st to I guess Spaghetti Warehouse.. Zip Strip- E. Exchange college bars that are starting to come back after several were torn down for the new stadium. added-(There are "Roo buses" connecting the two above areas when class is in session well into the evening..) Highland Square area would be the next closest to downtown just up W. Market st. "The Valley" or Merriman Valley is about a 5-10 minute drive from downtown depending on which way you go. This is in the Cuyahoga Valley. The lakes in the Portage Lakes area of Akron. This is about a 15 minute drive south down Main St. My thoughts on getting Metro to "work" with you are highly doubtful. I would be very surprised if Metro were to designate a bus to go on a crawl. There are currently party buses that come down from Cleveland area and drop people off in the Valley and downtown. Metro is more concerned about maintaining service to the hinterlands of Summit county. If you want to get to a mall I guess Metro will be fine. Partying past 1am, I doubt you will see a bus anywhere. You can do a couple brewery tours in Akron at Thirsty dog and Ohio Brewing. They are about a half mile from each other. It depends on what you think is exciting. There are events going on constantly at Stan Hywet, Lock 3, Musica, Civic Theatre, Art Museum, even the Zoo, Library, and Convention center have random events going on. You might want to look into Meetup.com

I was down there last year for Ohio Beer week. Definitely a sweet college town. Didn't see too much of it as I mainly hung out in the bars. It was very impressive how students and alumni came back into town to party at all the bars with the 30+ breweries beers. It definitely feels like the metropolitan center for 100 miles in any direction which is kind of hard to do in Ohio for a small college town. It seemed the bulk of the people I ran into were coming from Northeast Ohio if they weren't locals. To me it reminded me of a hillier, more lush Kent but with many more nicer bars minus the ever vigilant riot police.. Driving along the fairly unused train tracks coming from the North through the hills, I couldn't help but think how sweet it would be to have a train connecting Akron/Canton to Athens one or 2 days a week. Otherwise its close to a 2hr drive down 77 and then another half hour to hour into the hills.

I'm curious what the relevance the master plan is to streetcars.. I have not seen any information about how they are taking transportation issues into their analysis. Metro RTA is not a partner in this master plan. BTW, I posted on the Greater Akron Metro thread for those of you that may be interested in transportation issues in the Akron area to fill out a survey for their own 20 year master plan.

As far as the reason why it was never completed, it was to have a revolving restaurant at the top ala CN tower in Canada. I guess they were in such a hurry to build the thing that they didn't take into consideration the water pumps needed to be able to pump water up. Not sure if it was a matter of the pumps they designed were too small or it was an afterthought and couldn't be put them into place once it was built. So truly a white elephant..

I was thinking for the most part anything East of Goodyear Boulevard that way you would be closer to the park.. It all is seriously middle class housing with fairly nice housing stock. I suppose the same could be said about Firestone Park area of Akron, but I really don't know that area as well. I'm not sure what local restaurants/services are located nearby. Whereas Goodyear Heights has a "main st" with shops although I think they are about to close down the local Post Office. I think the Linda theater may still be open.. The only other place i would take a gander at if you're serious about biking, is the "valley". There are plenty of apartments down there with obviously a great bar scene too. The towpath is right there and its pretty easy to bike straight into downtown Akron maybe a 10-15 minute pedal. Sand Run park is obviously a great park to run/walk in. The only problem is you have to get out of the valley to get to Canton. It can take 8-12 minutes to drive to downtown Akron. If Kent doesn't matter so much and biking isn't that important, then maybe take a look around the Portage Lakes for rental properties. Housing prices there are surprisingly low despite being lakefront property.. I would think that would translate into low rent but maybe not.. You really need to just visit the areas to get a feel for them and decide what is right for you..

I'd suggest either Goodyear heights or Highland Square. Use Padmapper.com to figure our your price range, availability, and preferences. The benefits of Goodyear heights is that it is fairly equidistant to Kent and Canton. It's about a 5 minute drive to downtown Akron. Goodyear Heights Park is a fairly nice local park with biking even. I'd look at renting a ranch there. If you don't want to have to deal with yardwork then definitely look at Highland Square. Benefits of HS are a diverse, walkable, and welcoming community. Lots of unique shops and owner-operated bars and restaurants. Summit Mall isn't that far away nor is Chapel Hill. But you've got some pretty incredible grocery stores nearby in West Point Market, Acme #1, and soon to be opened a satellite Mustardseed Market in Highland Square. Its probably the only community in Akron that if say you don't have a car, you're not looked at like you just sprouted green antennae out of your head. Awesome, cool places in or near the square: Square records, Nervous Dog coffee, Swensons in Wallhaven, Angel Falls Coffee, Highland Theatre, Alladins, Trecaso/Mary Coyle Ice Cream, Annabells, Mr. Zubs open til 3am, Matinee.. Those are just the places I frequent and I don't even live anywhere near there. Happy shopping!

Thought I'd dust this thread off and add something for the other fellow Summit County UO members to put their .02 in about.. Something that doesn't come along every week. A 20 year plan seeking input.. I really wonder how much input they expect to get when its not marketed, not highlighted on their website, and you pretty much have to be a transportation geek exploring their website to even find out about it.. Anyways, I filled my survey out and actually kind of expect to be taken kind of seriously since I wouldn't expect more than 10 other people will take this survey.. I guess why make work for the commission members by having to read hundreds if not thousands of "petty" responses.. Anyways, here's the link. make your keystrokes heard... http://www.akronmetro.org/metro-downloads.aspx

Here's an article in the Scene. Apparently a certain someone was interviewed by Scene about the event in Akron.. Improved Rail Service in NEO Could Happpen, But Not Soon When millions of dollars in federal money earmarked for Ohio inter-city rail fell apart last year, the dreams of train-loving commuters looked dead on the tracks. Now a new plan has emerged that could lead to rail service between Akron and Cleveland someday. According to transportation planners and rail advocates, the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad line — best known as a pleasant recreational outing and not a very good way to actually get anywhere — has the potential to be used for regular commuter service. http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2011/05/10/improved-rail-service-in-neo-could-happpen-but-not-soon I'm guessing the quote of not looking at "transportation options anytime soon" meant exclusively expanding rail to downtown Cleveland. It kind of feels even though they keep improving the rail system, they aren't expanding their rail options in Summit or Stark anytime soon either. I'm half thinking if they were worried about funding issues they could put a proposal on the ballot. I feel its a fairly progressive county that would vote for something that is well thought out and logical. That's what ballot proposals should be for. Perhaps a half cent sales tax increase for 3-4 years for 6 built multi modal stations and 2-3 trainsets in Summit County: CAK airport, Goodyear campus, merriman valley, cuy. falls, hudson, maybe a south arlington or even a stop in Belden Village south of the airport. The track is there fairly unused. Synching up the various bus routes that are on the routes in these various areas would make this a home run.