cadmen

^ That sounds pretty impressive. Hope more and more people get interested enough to pursue STEM careers. We need to create a new workforce to replace all those people retiring.

Hopefully l'm wrong but l thought l read somewhere that the demo of the Gorge Dam was on hold due to a funding issue coming from Washington. If not can you imagine how cool it will be to have a river in our backyard with Class 4 and Class 5 rapids in it? Instant tourist attraction and a nice little way to create eco-adventure dollars from scratch.

Good news yes, but my bias is showing when l wish SHW had built the Valor Acres project somewhere in the Flats. Brecksville has natural beauty and can take care of itself. It didn't need SHW's help.

I've seen it in person a few times. The fact that both professional teams play there in their own stadiums makes it a success if nothing else. Yes, it's still a work in progress but l see the space between the stadiums slowly ( and hopefully) getting filled in. It will take more time but the canvas is there which is more than it was before when it was just highway and parking. More patience is required but it is happening. I don't think people realize just how difficult it is to build and flesh out an urban area in a region that is not growing like all those hot Sun Belt cities. And even they have trouble sometimes because "Urban" can be a tough sell in this country. It's an up hill battle most of the time. I like Cincinnati, Columbus too. All 3 C's have interesting (and different) strengths and weaknesses. It makes for a pretty cool competition and l prefer to celebrate the wins regardless of which city they occur in. That being said, Cincinnati does have that arrogant thing going and Columbus has the momentum so we need to pick it up a little. My heart and soul will always be Cleveland.

As expected. The influential get more, everyone else...less and less so.

So on one side we have a preponderance of all that is good and smart and fun while on the other side we have the four letter word that is CSX. I've seen this movie before so l know how it ends.

It does seem like the perfect combination of staying in the city, large enough site, highway access and would piggyback on the food district concept. The Opportunity Corridor was built for this exact kind of investment. I hope city leaders are being proactive here.

Love it but unless there is someone rich or some organization to champion doing something creative l'm afraid it just going to remain a smokestack.

Yea, keep the building, lose the smokestack.

I know l'm in the minority here but glad to see the smokestack coming down. As l've stated before, love smokestacks but not in that very visible entrance to downtown.

What? He didn't respond? I'm shocked. Shocked l say.

Now THAT is a Browns suburban development l can get behind. Nicely done Jimmy. Now about that other plan you have for Brook Park...can we talk?

^ This is the future of UC. Not the past where this was the last place old suburbanites were likely to go. I grew up in a time when Hough or East Cleveland for that matter was a war zone and my French Canadian stepfather told me to never go there. He's gone now but if he could see UC today even he'd be impressed, although he'd still never admit it to me 'cause l was a know it all city lover, warts and all lol.

Love the geography of those Flats peninsulas. I've commented before that l think they are a better calling card than the lakefront. Other than the vista our lakefront is just so much back and forth. My family always had a boat when l was growing up and the second worst part for me was that back and forth shoreline boredom. And the worst? The springtime work (cleaning, scrapping, painting etc) which was torture for a lazy teenager lol. At any rate, my monies on the river and peninsulas for interest and development. Can you imagine all those kick-a** neighborhoods if we built them out as waterfront living/bars/restaurants along with some canal inserts for docking? Tight quarters, little allys and surprise parklets like in the video. The only change l would make is l would vary the designs so it looks more organic. Sure, we don't have mountains or an ocean but we do have those peninsulas. Imagine what they COULD be.

^ Absolutely. That kind of village design is what l look for in my world travels. I actually plan my trips just so l can soak up that kind of experience. I was in Morocco recently just so l could get lost in Fez, Essaouira and Marrakesh. For me that is living. The funny thing is, when l run into fellow Americans and we get to talking about the cool layout everyone seems to love it but when l ask why don't we duplicate something like it back home all l get is "But where would l park?" It's like they're brainwashed and don't know it.

^ Wow. Maybe that will get someone's attention. Ha! Just kidding as l'm sure few things will rock the boat when it comes to local government. The ball's in your court local officials. Try not to dribble it off of your foot.

East Cleveland as is is not a very welcoming city but the part closest to UC can benifit from all the jobs and energy in UC. The location is a natural for gentrification and developed properly a newcomer moving to Cleveland for work in UC would hardly notice it was once a taboo area. This kind of growth and change happens all the time all over the US. Why shouldn't it happen here as well?

If true the best part of this two part equation is closing the center to conventions and moving everything back downtown. Even if some of the largest are forced to downsize with a little creative planning l think the downtown center can make them an enjoyable experience. And certainly having all conventions downtown will bring more life and street traffic back to downtown where they belong. The second part to the equation is substituting the I-X center for an employment center of some kind. I250 jobs is not huge but maybe they will grow in number or maybe a future business will take over the space and really increase the job numbers, after all, it's a very large footprint. At any rate, if it happens it will be great news for the area.

Yes, it is an amazing site. I think a site like that deserves an amazing development as well. Like the original plan, or even the second downsized version. What we have now ( if we even get it) is a terribly underwhelming structure. It's so underehelming l prefer the location is mothballed until a developer comes along who has the ability to construct a building worthy of the location. And yes, l realize that may not happen in my lifetime. I think development in the urban core in NEO is entering a new phase now. Yes, we have Bedrock's plan for the riverfront but that will take decades if it even happens. Maybe, maybe we get something substantial on the lakefront. We will probably get Jimmy's dome but that's not downtown. But that appears to be it for quite awhile. I hope we'll see a few scattered mid-rises for residential use but with all the uncertainty in the economy l think we're entering a wait-and-see mode that could last a decade or more.

Thanks for the article Ken. How much of the delay do you attribute to Cleveland's infamous permitting process and how much is due to changing market conditions?

If l'm reading this correctly without tax abatement a propeety valued at $230,000 has a property tax of $17,000. How does that make sense? Someone please explain that to me.

I loved the design before it was built and the finished product seems to be what l expected. The reason l loved it was because l saw it as a major break from what we usually see around here. It looks like something out of Vancouver, which l think is sorely needed here. The only problem with Vancouver now is this kind of design is pretty much all you see there. Now it's overkill there while here it's simply a modern breath of fresh air. We could use another 8-10 here before the design has run its course.

It's not sexy but these kind of new affordable housing developments are especially critical when it seems every new project is for top end rents. I'm all for gentrification but that can't be the only type of housing coming on board. The average wage-earner is rapidly being shut out.

Most (all?) of these lists are just clickbait.

You are correct, sir!