TPH2

I can't say I'm totally surprised, but I didn't think it'd be that many... Election officials reject 98 percent of signatures on petitions to recall Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson By Andrew J. Tobias, Northeast Ohio Media Group Email the author | Follow on Twitter on June 24, 2015 at 4:15 PM, updated June 24, 2015 at 4:25 PM CLEVELAND, Ohio -- An already long-shot effort to recall Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson was dealt a major blow on Wednesday after elections officials rejected more than 98 percent of the 12,887 signatures submitted by the group. Elections officials certified as valid only 260 signatures submitted by recall organizers on Saturday, the County Board of Elections said in a news release. The group needed 12,025 valid signatures from city residents who voted in the November 2013 election to force a recall election. http://www.cleveland.com/cityhall/index.ssf/2015/06/election_officials_reject_98_p.html

What a day for a walk around downtown! I've never actually been inside the Federal Reserve Building, I've got to do that some day.

^ I really liked Milwaukee. I wish I had gotten to spend more than just a few hours there. They have a great lakefront and it makes me depressed about the state of ours (don't even get me started on comparing Cleveland's to Chicago's...makes me sick). From my brief experience, I also found the stereotypes about drinking and cheese to be...quite accurate. They seemed to have quite a bit more vibrant and intact neighborhoods not far from downtown. EDIT: Also, it was pretty incredible how much better the roads are in Chicago and Milwaukee, despite their winter weather being the same, if not worse, than Cleveland's.

I went to visit my cousin in Chicago last week and as part of the visit we took a trip up to Milwaukee and down to St. Louis to catch some baseball games, as well as a game at Wrigley to see the Tribe and a stop at US Cellular. Here are my pictures from from the trip: Milwaukee And now to the reason for the trip: Nationals vs. Brewers at Miller Park. This was my first experience seeing baseball in a dome...and I wasn't a fan. The park was nice, but I was not blown away by it. They have a good tailgating scene in the parking lot, but my main complaint was how the stadium was decently far from downtown and not surrounded by anything. St. Louis One of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen, the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis The Old Courthouse The elevators to the top were the most interesting part of the Arch And kind of a scary ride up Beautiful East St. Louis And now for the Show Me Series: Royals vs. Cardinals The money shot STL Union Station The Art Museum Toasted ravioli...so good Springfield, IL Quick stop in Springfield to visit the grave of Mr. Lincoln Haha! Chicago Second City The Friendly Confines. Nice to see the Tribe finally get a win in person this year Old school Sad L ride home after the Cavs loss... Obama's house Pre-game breaded steak sandwich before the Sox game

I was just looking back at the first few pages of this thread a few days ago and thinking how crazy it was that it's been almost 10 years

This thread has been dormant for a while, but seems like the best place for this? If not, please feel free to move. I saw this mentioned last week, but here's the Cleveland.com article: Cleveland gay club Bounce to reopen in time for Cleveland Pride (photos) By John Petkovic, The Plain Dealer Email the author | Follow on Twitter on June 24, 2015 at 11:09 AM, updated June 24, 2015 at 11:11 AM CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The sound of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" blasting out of a radio as workers prepared the dance club for its return said it all: Bounce is bouncing back. The iconic gay club will reopen on Friday. The near West Side spot -- 2814 Detroit Ave., Cleveland -- shut down in January after a 13-year run, leaving the gay and drag scenes lamenting the closing of one of the area's longest-running clubs. http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/06/cleveland_gay_club_bounce_to_r.html

From Facebook: Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority 2 hrs · Due to a broken down train, we are unable to run at full capacity for 2-car trains this morning. There is one, 1-car train on the Red Line. It is currently headed westbound from East 55th Street Station. We apologize for the inconvenience. Seems to be a daily occurrence this week. The Facebook comments are brutal.

^ This can happen often in academia. Just because a university has a school or department that excels in a particular area does not mean that the institution itself relies upon those faculty members for making institutional decisions. I can't say this with any degree of certainty, but it would be my hunch that no Levin faculty members are consulted when it comes to making these types of decisions (with the exception of Ned Hill maybe, but his background isn't planning or design EDIT: he does have a MUPPD degree, my bad.). It does often lead to some ironies though.

They've pretty much finished up the landscaping around the CIMP, and they did so quite quickly. There are some things I like about what they did, but I can't imagine the green space will be utilized very much.

Bombay Chaat (which has been "coming soon" since I moved back to Cleveland last summer) is finally open at the corner of East 21st and Euclid. They have a pretty wide ranging menu, although as of right now they are only serving menu items after 3pm. Before 3:00 they have an all you can eat lunch buffet for $9.99. I'm no connoisseur of Indian food, but I thought it was quite good. The customer service is very good as well. Here's their website: http://www.bombaychaat.net/

^ I would rather use the term "sewer" than "wastewater."

By THIS logic, Pittsburgh needs to drop the "Steel City" and rename its football team... And Cincinnati is no longer the largest inland American city (aka Queen City of the West), so might as well stop calling it the Queen City.

^ I don't know the frequency, but they do use a combination of GPS and odometer data. But speaking strictly anecdotally, most of the time I do find the NextConnect real time info to be fairly accurate, even when the times veer from the schedule significantly. EDIT: Also, thanks transitapp[/member] for coming to UrbanOhio!

^ Not exactly. There are instances in which NextConnect resorts to the scheduled time when "real time" data isn't available, but the majority of the time it's based upon the location of the bus/train. Quite often the information on NextConnect is accurate, but there are certain instance in which it is not--a problem that RTA is currently in the process of rectifying, from what I've been told. I agree, but at least the Rapid tends to run pretty close to scheduled times, relative to buses.

Just tweeted out by the Transit App: @transitapp "Cleveland: you may have lost the finals, but we've got a pretty good consolation prize. Real-time data for RTA!!! https://t.co/jEin7sILXX" EDIT: After looking through the app real quick, it looks like a only a portion of the bus lines are using real time data. The Rapid is also not yet included. I'm curious about the timing though as I know RTA was in the process of doing a "stop survey" because their real time data was not very accurate, and they had said they didn't want to make it open source until that was complete. Perhaps they're doing it piece by piece? Regardless, it's very welcome news.

One in 10 miles of RTA rail track under 'go-slow' orders By Alison Grant, The Plain Dealer on June 22, 2015 at 11:00 AM, updated June 22, 2015 at 11:10 AM CLEVELAND, Ohi0 -- When Darius Stubbs started riding the Red Line rapid after moving to Cleveland in 2006, it usually rumbled along without a hitch from West 117th Street to downtown. Lately, not so much. http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/06/one_1_ione_1_in_10_miles_of_rta_rail_track_under_go-slow_ordersn_10_miles_of_rta_rapid.html

Not specific to the U.S., but it was nice to see Pope Francis mention transit and city planning in his latest encyclical: "The quality of life in cities has much to do with systems of transport, which are often a source of much suffering for those who use them. Many cars, used by one or more people, circulate in cities, causing traffic congestion, raising the level of pollution, and consuming enormous quantities of non-renewable energy. This makes it necessary to build more roads and parking areas which spoil the urban landscape. Many specialists agree on the need to give priority to public transportation. Yet some measures needed will not prove easily acceptable to society unless substantial improvements are made in the systems themselves, which in many cities force people to put up with undignified conditions due to crowding, inconvenience, infrequent service and lack of safety." http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/06/19/the-popes-wise-advise-on-traffic-parking-and-public-transit/

What?

Signage is up for Tabletop and the opening date is listed as June 26th

How long was Holy Craft even open? The Google street view from July 2014 says "coming soon". Holy Craft opened late July/early August 2014 and closed sometime shortly after the new year, maybe February or so? So yeah, it didn't have a long run

^ That's a ridiculous statement, but regardless, I think we can all agree it's good to see Mitchell's make a list like that as opposed to Graeter's or Jeni's.

^ You mean, "Best location in the nation." And I think that just sounds laughable to most people. Sorta of like when Baltimore started with the "Greatest City in America" slogan.

^ I have no idea what was going on. There were people photographing on the other side of the Rapid tracks too, and a few dozen more just sitting on the hill.

This was a welcome sight tonight:

What?! It's right past the check in counter for the Holiday Inn Express (if entering from Euclid) or just to your left when entering from Vincent. It's run by Sammy and usually his son is there working. I think their breakfast is better than P.J.'s was. EDIT: Here's a picture I took last week of Jack Flaps before it opened. I went by it today around lunch time and it had a pretty good crowd.