PHS14

One thing a Democrat controlled city doesn't want visiting Republicans to see is the tons of trash gracing its rail lines. The tons of trash that has been there for decades. Volunteers? This should be at least a twice a year event using prisoners or those sentenced to community service. At least the trash will be gone for a bit even though the city itself may end up being trashed by demonstrators next month.

September 2006...before the Depression started.

Used to be the best side; now it's the new east side.

Sarcasm, I hope?

RTA says the fare evasion rate is quite low. I believe it's 3%? What else is RTA going to say?

The writer of this article is from the west side.

Gee, no mention of the infamous WFL? Interesting since this line has 387 daily riders. Guess it doesn't need any help. Maybe I should have included the term ''realistic'' expansion plans.

Is all the trash gone or is the City hoping the brush overgrowth covers it up?

You know there will be a car going through the Square every so often, especially a few drunk drivers.

Yes, the Renaissance Hotel, which is on the Square.

One plan did have a bridge over Superior. I remember looking at the plan that was approved and it did look that the ''tunnel'' was there. Regardless, there's no bridge, tunnel or any underpass for Superior Avenue. If bus stops are placed on Superior Avenue, within the Square, there's going to be a lot of litter and those flower beds will be trampled. Hopefully the City will keep things in order and it helps that a police mini-station will be opening on the Square.

What rail line expansions do you envision for Cleveland?

Neither is St Louis and its rail lines attract more riders than Cleveland. This isn't a population issue; the culprit in Cleveland is sprawl and the WFL's limited and badly planned route. Ummmm.......St. Louis itself is only 10% of the population of its metro area, Cleveland is 19%. Sounds like it's even more sprawled there. Ummmm....St Louis has better planned light-rail system so, even with its sprawl, it's serving more riders than Cleveland's. Cleveland's rail lines were badly planned, for the most part, since the get go. The Green/Blue lines were designed for Shaker Hts. residents 100 years ago, a time when people there went to work downtown. The Red Line, for the most part, runs in out of the way rail beds and on the west side, the 1960s extension from W 117th-Brookpark were designed as commuter stations with large parking lots. This has gone the way of the light-rail lines, people don't work and commute downtown like they used to. The WFL, well, that speaks for itself. The WFL's latest introduction in 2013 has attracted a whopping 387 riders/day. Bad design. Poor fare structure for use between Tower City and Muni Lot; restricting this may bump ridership but the WFL needs to connect or loop directly through the CBD and head to the west side as well. Otherwise, the WFL will continue to be an embarrassment. You're not making sense. How was St. Louis' rail system 'better planned' than Cleveland's? The Shaker Heights rail system was planned and built when the automobile was still new. It was built into farmland. As a result, 100 years later, we have still one of the finer, planned and accessible suburbs in the nation. Shaker Square, meanwhile, is a model TOD for the nation. I don't get your constant negativity. The Red Line was indeed built on the cheap. It was developed along a route that was planned and partially built as an extension of the Shaker lines by the Van Sweringens. Cleveland got a loan in the late 1940s to develop the Red Line. Had it not been partially pre-built and been cheap to build, Cleveland would never have gotten the money... When when the Red Line was conceived and executed, there was only 1 freeway in the region: the roadway we call the Shoreway that only extended, at the time, from Gordon Park on the East to Edgewater Park on the west through the north side of downtown. Are you saying Cleveland should not have accepted the loan and not built the Red Line?.. You're a broken record. St. Louis Metrolink LRT was built after the St. Louis metro region has sprawled and its freeway infrastructure built out. Their LRT in a sense, then, was chasing sprawl whereas Cleveland's was built more to develop land and create TOD... Shaker was farmland when it was built. The West Park and Puritas areas were largely undeveloped at the time, too. Again, how does this make St. Louis better? It is bigger and, yes, Cleveland's Rapid should be expanded, but how is St. Louis better? Good luck with the RTA rail lines in Cleveland. If you think West Park and Puritas were not developed when the Red Line was extended through these neighborhoods...there's nothing left to say. Hope you continue in your efforts to increase rail ridership in CLE. I'm moving to Philly next week. Btw, St Louis rails serve where people live and where they want to go, that's why its better and ridership proves it. You did mention something about the Red Line which applies to Cleveland generally as well: doing things on the cheap.

You must not have been paying attention to the contruction progress if you thought Superior Avenue was being built under the Square. I like that idea but it never was in any plans. I think there was a plan to bridge Superior Avenue at some point.

Looking at the web cam, are these bus stops those things on the east and west half along the north side of Superior Avenue? It's hard to make out what those are. I still say no bus access through the Square and certainly, at a minimum, no direct bus stops.

Many of our rail stations are in places that were abandoned as well. The Red Line has a poorly designed route for the most part.

Neither is St Louis and its rail lines attract more riders than Cleveland. This isn't a population issue; the culprit in Cleveland is sprawl and the WFL's limited and badly planned route. Ummmm.......St. Louis itself is only 10% of the population of its metro area, Cleveland is 19%. Sounds like it's even more sprawled there. Ummmm....St Louis has better planned light-rail system so, even with its sprawl, it's serving more riders than Cleveland's. Cleveland's rail lines were badly planned, for the most part, since the get go. The Green/Blue lines were designed for Shaker Hts. residents 100 years ago, a time when people there went to work downtown. The Red Line, for the most part, runs in out of the way rail beds and on the west side, the 1960s extension from W 117th-Brookpark were designed as commuter stations with large parking lots. This has gone the way of the light-rail lines, people don't work and commute downtown like they used to. The WFL, well, that speaks for itself. The WFL's latest introduction in 2013 has attracted a whopping 387 riders/day. Bad design. Poor fare structure for use between Tower City and Muni Lot; restricting this may bump ridership but the WFL needs to connect or loop directly through the CBD and head to the west side as well. Otherwise, the WFL will continue to be an embarrassment.

Neither is St Louis and its rail lines attract more riders than Cleveland. This isn't a population issue; the culprit in Cleveland is sprawl and the WFL's limited and badly planned route.

I also see crosswalk signals there, so I'm thinking maybe these lights and signals are more about giving pedestrians the opportunity to press a button and cross safely if needed, but maybe someone in the know can give some insight into the plan. Now that the Public Square redo is pretty much complete, it's even harder to imagine buses on Superior Avenue disrupting this setting.

Got it, thanks. Then its more Cleveland gray then. Oh well, at least the building is being cleaned-up. Hopefully some $$ is going into the inside as well.

Just what Cleveland needs at the Comfort Inn, more Cleveland ''brown-beige''.

It's blended in with the rest of the southern half of the Square, near the ''speakers' corner''. I hope the Square is open in time for some ABC shots during the NBA Finals home games. I hope ABC steps it up with some good shots of Cleveland generally during the NBA Finals instead of the cliché shots that we've all seen time and time again.

This project is really looking good. It's time to develop E 6th/Short Vincent again with retail, bars, restaurants etc. The Theatrical still stands and the old Roxy space would make great anchors for this ''T'' block area. Hard Rock Café relocation would make a great anchor on Short Vincent and bring nice foot traffic. I would convert the first floor parking garage that mars the E 6th/Short Vincent northeast corner into retail, restaurant, bars etc and add an additional floor on this monstrosity. A nice streetscape redo for these two densely located streets is in order as well.

Got it. Thank you. Looking good on the Square; opening has to be very soon.

Do you have a link to the webcam? I can't access the one from towercity.com/info/publicsquare