audidave

Looks like you did more train riding than bike riding... :wink2:

There's still a lot of hidden infrastructure costs involved in the Tower city plan. Will the city/county need to build additional parking garages? What are the costs of altering access roads and is the costs associated with the various tubes and tunnels part of this plan? The energy costs of a wide open exposed CC sprawling all over the place are surely higher than the energy costs of one sunk into the ground. What is the life expectancy of a high rise tower? As this CC gets tacked onto the monolithic TC will there need to be some buildings in the complex brought down in the next 20 years or so? Are high-rises designed in the 1920s and built in the 1930s expected to last beyond 100 years?

Sorry Jeffrey there's no connection to peanuts and Akron. The brick walled building with the fire escapes would be the Akron Civic Theatre with its Moorish Spain interior. The other UA building that you saw is formerly a Department store out of Akron called Polsky's and it was a direct competitor to Oneils that is across the street from it. Polskys now holds the Summit College or UofA community college and a Starbucks.

Thats a quote from the May 30 article on the Convention Ctr. OK, so it sounds like it could be for the sake of argument $5-10 million extra cost in clearing out water and maybe a 6 month delay. I'd say its one thing to do construction and not realize you have to schedule for water concerns. If dealing with water for 6 months is built into a schedule you shouldn't have too excessive of cost overruns for this issue. They can work on refurbishing Public Hall during that period of time. Has there been any test drilling? I seriously think this is just something that FC has thrown in as if there won't be cost overruns at a TC site! By throwing out some great unknowns it makes people speculate and not want to make a decision.

Its funny I just "discovered" the Peanut Shoppe this past winter when I was at Lock 3 for the German ChristKindl. One of those booths was roasting nuts and selling smallish paper bags for like $4-5 and it smelled so good I had to have some but then realized that it might be cheaper outside the Lock3 at the Peanut Shoppe. I've known it was there, I just never made it inside since I'm mainly downtown after 8pm when they're closed. I walked in there and was astounded at the variety and the inexpensiveness. I was able to buy 2 bags of items for like $3. Nice pics. I'm glad you like Ohio Brewing.

The idea of a dying city is kind of intriguing. Thats why I've watched the stats on Y-town for several years. I don't think it can fall much further in population. They had a dying industy that they totally relied on and it finally died. They now are more or less tied to Lordstown GM plant which is doing well. There's such a small population left that they definitely make the best of it. Whats nice about Y-town is the people are pretty gregarious. They barely have chain restaurants like you see dominating other cities. I doubt they even have a Max and Ermas in Y-town. I just checked and chains are pretty much out in the suburbs of Boardman and Niles. That means the neighborhood mom and pops are doing ok which gives a place like Y-town serious character. Its pretty annoying going to a place like Columbus or Denver and the restaurant options are 70-80+% chains. So Y-town isn't dying, dwindling yes but I think they've reached their bottom and will stay a smallish city.

I still think the ground water thing is crapola since you can easily use gravity as you dig towards the lake to clear the water out. Unless there's SOOO much water that you are in Lake Erie which I have a hard time believing, this should be pretty doable and a non-issue unless your name is FC and you don't own that property. :whip: FC cry me a river apparently under the CC.. Is the CC sinking? I don't think so....

The target market here is the doctors and patients of UH and Cleveland Clinic hospital/medical facilities. Add in this guys practice. Add in people coming from Macedonia, Hudson, Glen Willow, Aurora, and Solon. I doubt there will be too much "East-side" draw. Its hard enough getting to Tburg from downtown Solon. The critical piece to this working is the new Cleveland Clinic complex that I don't even think has started to be built yet. If you're wondering where thats going in, its right by the Tburg BP that had the naked guy getting arrested last weekend.

Just did a little checking there on Yahoo! foreclosures and there's around 15-20 homes in foreclosure currently, mainly in the $50-75k range. I think the AMHA development is the only fixture there. I recall working in Tburg back 8 years ago and thinking that was a rough and bleak little neighborhood. I'm sure the doc will donate lots of fauna to hide the housing back there and probably fence up his mall.

This road to me is about opening up access to people that are coming from the area south of Cleveland. It is a bit tricky to get to the UC or Cleveland Hts area coming from Medina, Summit, or Portage counties. If there were to be a quick boulevard off of I-77 that would roll into that area it would definitely be well used and would take a lot of traffic off of 77 on its way to the innerbelt. It doesn't sound like a bad idea as long as its kept a boulevard and given neighborhood access and used for redevelopment of that area.

Also the top brass are golf crazy and it would be hard to have a Bridgestone tournament in Akron when you've pretty much moseyed off to Tennesee. I'm kind of surprised that the expected amount going into the new building is only $100 million. There seems to be a plan in the works to "revitalize" Firestone Park/South Akron area as part of this agreement with Akron. Hopefully thats included in the $68 million. OK, next big project announcement in Akron to look forward to should be a new hotel with or without an arena attached to it. With Firestone staying, that should be enough to tilt the need for a 2nd hotel in downtown.

Loft pizza is incredibly unremarkable. I do recall they had "buy one get one free" a few years ago. It was something like $5 for 2 pizzas. Its cheap and edible far but from being "the best place to get pizza"

The problem with the peak oil hype is that there really hasn't been too much of a problem getting oil in the last 50 years. When there was a problem for the US, mainly we had the oil crisis of the 70s and everyone then clamored for cars with good gas mileage. Thats how the US works and the Saudis know it. Slowly move prices up and we'll gladly pay. Shock us with high oil prices and we'll find other methods or more efficient means to pay less at the pump. Don't forget there were oil gluts back in the late 80s. I have always been supportive of higher gas tax because I knew people would have no problem paying it. Hopefully in the near future we can get the gas price back down under $2/gallon then have an additional .25-.50 gas tax to improve public transportation. The positive aspect of this increase in price of gas has been apparently less people getting killed on the road, a serious re-evaluation within society of the necessity of personal transportation, a realization how much gas is going into an SUV tank, and serious interest in conservation. Pain in the wallet is a wonderful teaching tool. So the reason I dispute Peak oil is the fact that new technology is not taken into account. I feel that with more modern batteries and ultracapacitors, hybrids and plug-ins will come into their own. There's also more modern diesel engines coming on line and there's of course an ability to use a variety of biofuels if one should so choose. Personally the major shift will be with hydraulic transmissions in combination with diesels. Several local companies are working on this - Eaton and Parker Hannifan as well as a company in the Detroit area called Hybradrive. I would expect to see this technology coming soon to a post office near you. They are testing it on garbage trucks right now as well as UPS and Fedex trucks. With all that said, its close to the end of the line for the internal combustion engine because its so 20th century...

I've had pizza from various parts of Ohio as well and I'm really not impressed by the rest of Ohio's versions of pizza for the most part. I do love Dewey's which is pretty much out of the part of Ohio that I would think it would be hardest to find a decent pizza. I also really like Marions pizza out of Dayton. For that style of Ohio pizza where they cut the pizza in small squares its pretty good. Northeast Ohio pizza places for the most part do not cut their pizzas into tiny squares. Its conventional pie shape and cut unless its a sheet pizza and its more in a NY-style. I've been told there are some Youngstown pizza parlors that are able to pretty much reproduce NY style pizza. I have no idea what a "Jersey-style" pizza might be. But I'm sure there's enough variety throughout Northeast Ohio between Y-town, Akron, and Cleveland and all their Italians to find at least decent pizza and potentially phenomenal pizza. In Akron, my favorites are Luigis and Rizzis. I live now close to Farinaccis and thats pretty good. For a local chain Zeppes is nice too. The only good pizza I've tried in Cleveland is Deweys.

The first step is the selling of the Radisson. Once that goes forward and everyone knows which flag its going to fly then the stage will be set for the 2nd downtown hotel to be built. There are many factors and catalysts to adding a second hotel: moving of the bus pandemonium off of Main St., the potential of a Biomedical Corridor, Main St. Redevelopment, towpath coming into downtown Akron, potential association with a new arena, consistent crowds downtown on weekends at Lock 3, shrinking downtown office vacancy, potential NEOUCOM expansion into Akron, and the upcoming Firestone Research center decision. Perhaps a 20+ floor boutique hotel would be in order considering all the celebs that arrive in Akron for Firestone golf, various LeBron events, Canton Football Hall of Fame...

I've only been to Tremont a few times but to me its one of the best places to dine or go to bars in Cleveland. As in you can't really go wrong with going to Tremont eat and/or drink. The quality of the experience is going to be pretty high. Although I think there are definitely some pretty outstanding food choices throughout the Cleveland area. The high quality is really concentrated there as Lolita and South Side can make you come begging back for more.

Thats a pretty interesting rumor you got there! I would be doubtful of a D&B coming in. It sounds like they want their Jillian's back.. I'm not sure I'd want to live in a building that had a D&B in it either. Also that whole canal walkway is going to be totally saturated with restaurants in the next few months. Interesting how the PD had an article a few months ago talking about what to do in downtown Akron right at its lowest point when several bars had shut down and before several new ones that have opened. Did a wee bit of research in to your rumors and it looks like its Ferchill/Main St Partners/Terremark Partners that are all working on redeveloping Main St. and Bowery. From their webpage you can pick up a lot of info and renderings. http://www.terremarkpartners.com/ Here's a snippet of the Main st project I'm guessing including the Landmark and Whitelaw buildings: "Scope: 135,000 square feet of retail, residential units, loft office space" A mixed-use historic redevelopment of seven buildings in downtown Akron, adjacent to the Lock 3 development. The project features street front retail, new public space and waterfront dining." I know they've been renovating and I believe doing asbestos abatement. Rumors I had heard is they were looking to start getting restaurants in by end of August. I think thats a pretty fast time frame at this point since nothing has been announced. More likely nothing will get in before 2009 as Brubaker comes back from the wrecking ball and into its new digs on Main and Exchange. Their original plan of "lock 3" is dead. They wanted to put an Aquarium and imax in downtown with new condos. That would've been lame. Here's a funky pic of the courtyard

Well there is something called "Best Practices" in the business world. I would imagine there is something akin to that in government. From looking at well run city governments vs poor ones you see how concerned a well run city government is to provide services and provide cost savings to its citizens. The good governments are quite proactive. I think a lot of the fire/police issues could probably be handled by better county government structures. Otherwise, I have no care if various cities/townships/villages want to merge their fire departments to save money and be more efficient.

There has been no active chatter about a hotel but I have no first hand knowledge or really even second hand knowledge. There's other rumors going on about a potential new arena in downtown to replace the JAR. This absolutely has a serious LeBron factor tied in to it. This could be the reason why no one has heard anything lately about a new hotel if there is a move afoot to combine a hotel/arena in downtown. If you didn't know, LeBron was spending some more quality time in Akron again for his basketball training camp at the UofA that ran 4 days and had many premier college freshmen and coaches/scouts. Recently, he also hooked up the UofA basketball team with top Nike apparel bearing his likeness.. The only major retail development I can think you're speaking of is part of the Goodyear EastGate or whatever they're calling it. Its still in the planning and design stages.

Don't forget the billion dollar Goodyear HQ project and we're still waiting to find out about the multiple hundreds of million dollar project for Firestone Research center. That decision should be some time at the end of July whether a far out suburb of Nashville gets it or Firestone Park area gets it. Its slightly expected that Firestone will announce during the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone CC that they are staying in Akron.. The construction going on by the Inventors HOF is the new magnet school going in. Its a consortium of UA, Akron Public Schools, and HOF to create a school devoted to Science and Math. Plans are still on the drawing board for expanding the Northside Lofts with a second larger building. They chose a bad time to build the first one and now they're waiting for the building that houses Vegetaranean to be mainly filled before they start on the second phase. www.northsidelofts.com Also, by the Civic, including the Landmark building, there is major refurbishing going on of all the buildings there. New offices, condos, apartments, retail, and restaurants should start popping up in the next few months. I expect in coordination of the bus meeting place moved off of Main St. at the end of this year, downtown is going to catch fire. There will be no more beat up buildings downtown on S.Main St by the end of 2009. Case in point, the massive Ohio Brewing/Damons just opened inside the Oneils building and thats adding to some new nightlife downtown as it builds off of the Lock 3 and Aeros game day crowds.

I'm pretty sure economics will come to the rescue. There are definitely more things going on but the value of the dollar needs to improve and hopefully the next prez can focus on that. Also a real energy and transportation policy needs to be implemented. Its quite stunning that we get a president in that thinks he's part of a bigger plan of destiny. Otherwise I have faith in technology coming through. There seem to be multiple fronts of breakthroughs that would seem to be able to alleviate any future oil crisis. Something the Saudi's actually fear is the gumption of the US. They know people will come out of the woodwork in the US to create other vehicles that don't run on gasoline as the prices go up. Also, as the price goes up people have a real necessity to not waste fuel. People are feeling the pain and making decisions they haven't had to make in a long time: Find a closer job, move closer to the job, or turn in the large SUV for a Corolla. Any of those options are a plus for the US since that then makes that person more energy efficient. This can be repeated millions of times. People are also using their boats, jet skis, and other recreational vehicles a whole lot less this year. I'm definitely expecting a decline in gasoline usage this year. Plus many new fuel efficient cars are about to come on the market like the VW Jetta which should get 50+/mpg. Many more people use mass transit, ride motorcycles or bicycles than have in the last 10 years. So I wouldn't be surprised to see 2.50/gallon gas come January. Perhaps under $2 by the next Summer. The longer this is a hardship the Saudis know from the 1970s the more likely the US will shift to more fuel efficient technology. My main feeling is that the Russian Oligarchs with help from the government are the main ones manipulating the oil market.

My favorite things in Dayton were the Books & Co. store off of Far Hills Drive. My understanding is thats basically a Booksamillion. They always had an author speaking almost every day. Definitely one of the best bookstores I've ever been to but I'm not sure it is any longer since it was bought out a few years ago. Some pretty nice golf courses around Oakwood. Dayton has some really nice disc golf courses as well, one in Kettering and another in Belmont that I particularly enjoyed. Also in Belmont is Belmont Party center a little hole in the wall that has a HUGE selection of beers and wines. I hear there's a new place thats opened on Alex Bell rd. thats pretty good too. For pizza its hard to beat Marions pizza. But there's a Deweys which you must be familiar with on the UD strip. The Thai place in Oregon District is quite good. My favorite restaurant/bar in Dayton is El Meson in West Carrollton for the amazing food and great mojitos and other South American drinks. Its a Latin American/Carribean/Spanish restaurant. They don't serve any Mexican. It is a little pricey but the ambience will transport you to the Carribean. I never found anything interesting in Beaver Creek since its just an overbuilt suburb.

^LOVE the idea of high speed rail to Chicago from Cleveland. I agree it would then be something to build off of. I've flown and driven to Chicago and the best way to go would be rail. There would be a LOT more Chicagoans coming to Cleveland+ for weekends and events too. Probably then an influx of people moving here from Chicago once they realize how inexpensive things are and how easy it is to find a parking space.

Interesting thread. Commuting is now available 5 days a week from Canton to Akron. Wednesday to Sunday. Hopefully lessons will be learned and they try to run during the times that people are clogging up I-77 at rush hours in the Fall and Winter... Here's a poorly written article about this from mr. 1 sentence paragraph: Scenic railroad expands Canton service By Bob Downing Beacon Journal staff writer POSTED: 03:26 p.m. EDT, May 29, 2008 The Canton Lincoln Highway Station should be a busy place this summer. The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad is expanding its Canton rail service from the depot starting June 4. It also is cutting ticket prices on some excursions and expanding its Polar Express runs in Canton. The Peninsula-based tourist railroad will operate two trains a day five days a week from Canton to Akron, Steven W. Wait, railroad president and chief executive officer, said at a press conference today. CHOPPED

I'd suggest Northern Summit county from Macedonia, Twinsburg, or Hudson. From all those cities its pretty easy access via the uncrowded backroads to Solon unless you need to take 91. I was looking at a few jobs in Solon that would've been 8-12 minute commutes. Unfortunately I didn't get them. From these locations its pretty easy access to Cleveland (20-25 minutes), Akron (15-20 minutes), and the Cuyahoga Valley (0-10 minutes).