DM4

^ (Edit: @clvlndr) Its convenience. If it takes 10+ minutes to drive to a station its not worth it it many cases. Westlake, Bay Village, Strongsville, Southern Suburbs, Eastern Cuyahoga County, and all of Lake County do not have convenient connections. Yes maybe some of the Western suburbs pass stations, but that is already 15 minutes into their trips. Why stop and park, wait for train (could take awhile), and then take the longer journey on the train? Then transfer to the waterfront line (could take awhile as well). If its two people, RTA will cost them $10. a way bigger hassle and longer trip. You can easily find parking for cheaper than that. Make that a family of four, or a group of friends, and thats $20 for RTA. And that is for the people who technically have access. Like I mentioned earlier, most of the region does not. Lake County alone is home to 230,041 people, none of which have access to rail.

Its a shame it isnt on TV

^ You wouldn't want it too close to any buildings or attractions because of wind.

I still believe a huge issue is lack of access. I know a ton of people that would love to take a train downtown but don't have the option to.

How many people in the city government and county government are actually pro transit expansion? Does the mayor support transit expansion? City council? Planning commission? County council? It also doesn't help that the head of RTA is against rail (based on everything i've read here). Then again why would he rock the boat when he is making $243,386 a year and is under contract until 2020.

^^ Very true about how easy it is to drive in Cleveland. Cleveland has very wide downtown streets, especially for our traffic levels, which also makes things very easy to drive. Also as we abandoned transit in the past, and welcomed cars with open arms, most of our office buildings were built with attached garages, making it very easy to drive to work, park (without looking forever), and get into the office with very little walking, and all of it being inside. The transit system also doesn't reach where most people live and requires those workers to still drive to the stations. Right now its just extremely easy and convenient to drive. Why drive all the way to a station(most of the region doesn't even have that ability), wait for train, ride train, and walk from Tower City to your office (possibly in rain, snow, cold, etc.) when you can drive directly into your office in half the time for only a few dollars more for parking. It will be very hard for things to change without a large expansion of the system, as well as the demolition of several parking garages and development on parking lots. Edit: Also RTA needs to make the All Day Pass work for two adults and up to 2 children on weekends and every weekday after 5pm.

^ It also appears to be a one way entrance only, which isn't toooo bad!

I strongly oppose the Euclid Avenue storefront parking garage entrance, but ill take it if thats the only way these buildings can get rehabbed and finally brought back to life. That stretch is currently a huge embarrassment for the city. Fortunately it can also become one of the best stretches in the city.

I think Cleveland did decent with transit 30 years ago but continues to fall behind each passing year. Here is a list of the top 25 metropolitan areas. Cleveland is better than some but I would say far from the majority. Which cities do you think Cleveland has better transit than? Ridership is near the bottom which reflects the system. Other cities are expanding and improving their systems while we sit back and strongly oppose any expansion which doesn't involve slow moving rubber wheels. Edit: also RTA has to be the worst transit organization in the country when it comes down to ridership/station ridership statistics and information. New York Los Angeles Chicago Washington DC San Francisco Boston Philadelphia Dallas Miami Houston Atlanta Detroit Phoenix Minneapolis Cleveland Seattle Denver San Diego Portland Orlando St. Louis Tampa Baltimore Pittsburgh Sacramento Charlotte

^ That made think of having two large detached Guardians, except holding boats instead of road vehicles.

Yeah I was disappointed to see how faded it is. Not a good impression on visiting fans/anybody coming downtown to see a game.

^ Because they never intended on rail, just BRT, which lakewood is already getting.

What's with the 90 degree turns as well? A slight curve would look nicer. For the money we are spending we might as well just make East 9th and East 3rd look nicer with plantings, lighting, etc. This bridge won't really provide that much more convenient of a walk. And it will be a long isolated one.

That could never happen in Cleveland with all of our closures! :-P

Agreed. I wonder if a football stadium could fit over here? It would be nice to have a new stadium that is built away from the lakefront and has direct access from all three rail lines.

Ive heard spring 2015. Btw Little Italy was packed tonight. This station should only make things better by making it easier for visitors and tourists to visit from downtown.

Strap, thanks for posting my thoughts for me :). There is a lot to think about with here. I almost wish that K&D would announce that they've bought two buildings--and that they're converting one to all residential and moving the office tenants to the 2nd building. Just thinking out loud. Lots of these tenants simply aren't candidates for class A space. I'd hate to think we're kicking tenants out of downtown/out of the city to add more apartments. I'm all for more residential, but some of this needs a closer look to better understand the e eventual impacts. Very true. Also you are trading a larger number of people (office workers) for a smaller number of people in the building (residents).

All very good points!

Id rather go after Love next year instead of trading away the future

Im not too familiar with the port, but from what I have seen it seems rather quiet down there. Not much activity. I feel like the port has far more land than what is actually needed. Is this the case or do I happen to see it when nothing is going on? Still seems like a lot of empty useless land to me.

THANK YOU. Agree 100%

^ Imagine if they won consistently!

^ Is there any renderings of this? I havent seen any but would love to if they are available. Cant quite picture it.

The only change I would make would be for it to stay on the surface across the bridge and continue at street level to East 9th, over to Euclid and back towards public square. Take workers closer to their jobs. It would also save on costs while increasing ridership.

I feel like this will end up looking terrible and out of place.