cadmen

Of course l'm in the "Keep the team downtown" camp but if Haslam builds a stadium without taxpayer money l'll consider that a pyrrhic victory. I can see government dollars spent on infrastructure around the stadium though. If Haslam were 10 years younger he might have been willing to wait for Burke but his age is forcing this now. If you can say a billionaire is snakebit by poor decision making it's Haslam. Pilot flying J crimes, bad coaching/front office decisions, worse idea to hamstrung the team with the Watson deal and finally, giving the middle finger to downtown in preference of suburban parking lots where at least he'll be able to recoup some of those wasted dollars by ripping off his loyal fans with first class parking prices. Go Browns!

Man l love the Metroparks.

To be fair, l think the 20,000 number needed to support retail was a valid number pre WFH. After all those brick and morter stores were also counting on downtown offices being filled with potential customers too. Covid changed all that and probably the 20,000 metric too.

As long as rural Republicans maintain a stranglehold on state government Ohio's urban population will come up short. I have no idea if/when that changes. That being said, reason tells us that climate change will drive a lot of people back north. I think it's already happening but for the moment l don't think the numbers are all that great. We'll probably have to wait until the 2030's before things really begin to change. And even then the first large waves will go to the northern cities that have the strongest economies and the best reputations. We'll be in competition with everyone. Prospective new citizens will also be giving us the eyeball test. That's why it's important to create great looking neighborhoods and beautiful parks. We really need to maximize our lake and river. We need to support Case in a way that helps it raise its profile. We need more police and safer streets. And we need local government employees to do their jobs. People will be coming back north. There will be so many we'll get some by default. But if we really want to maximize the windfall we need to start preparing now. If we do the right things Cleveland will again take its place in the ranks of great American cities.

I think when we're talking about finding a couple billion public dollars to build a football palace and ancilary development how the team is playing at the time of the ask does play into it. Especially when the whole thing is touch and go. I was already on the side of a dome is just too expensive regardless of what Haslam prefers. Even in a country where there is little pushback on billionares getting what they want several billion is probably a billion to much. At this point l think it comes down to rebuilding on the lakefront or Haslam moving the team and l think that is unlikely. From what l've read Haslam is not all that popular in the owners club so they would be reluctant to allow him to move the team.

That presentation is exactly how to build a city. Everyone of those ideas would work. But then, we already have a bunch of great ideas in the pipeline - just need to create them. We may have to wait another couple of decades for climate change to funnel enough people and dollars to Cleveland before we see ideas like these begin to bear fruit.

At the risk of driving this topic into the ditch l'll just say the "TheClub" wants city money involved, wants fan money involved. But they prefer having us as a silent partner. Money sure, opinions no. It's the best of capitalism from a billionaires perspective. I'll go away now.

And the lord said let there be light...or maybe that was me on Urban Ohio. At any rate, light up those bridges!

Some may think this is silly but l like to ride the people mover in Detroit for the tour of downtown. It makes a nice loop. It's elavated and it's cheap. And you can't get lost lol.

I don't think the building is all that terrible. Sure, it's not great but It does look like a ton of other buildings (albeit larger) used for housing. If it was in a different location l would be ok with it. The problem is that corner is too important for a lackluster building. And now that we've seen that phenominal video of the park across the street we can understand what a wasted opportunity we have here. The first two iterations were great. Eye catching, colorful and of an oppropriate scale. The two (building and park) would have bookended a prominate entrance to downtown. Striking. It would help to erase some of the old Cleveland stigma of a boring place. Instead, what we get is reaffirmation of that. I know it's too late now but, damn, what a waste.

If it comes down to saving the building or not then using it for the new courts building may actually be a great idea. One of the biggest problems for the building is how to give that great lobby a functional use. Well using it as a courthouse lobby would seem to me a great option. And all that foot traffic wouldn't hurt the corner either. What l'm not sure about is would the courts need all the space? If not, can the unused part still be converted to housing? And if so, how would you separate access for both? Interesting possibilities though. Anything to save that great building.

Yeah and l didn't realize how close the two buildings are. Really connects that little bit of urban wasteland.

Yes, that building is turning out to be Cleveland's White Whale.

So exciting that Case is bucking the demographic trend of shrinking tradional college age people while at the same time increasing enrollment. I would love to know how they are pulling that off. Is it hard work by individuals or the result of macro trends that Case is benifiting from? At any rate, it's great news because a great city needs a great university.

OlC

If you want to have some fun just drive around the near west side and look for all the new homes sprinkled around. It's like a little treasure hunt. You'll find new homes you didn't know about because you can't keep up with all of them. That's good news for the city. New people, new wealth, new life.

Yeah but it may be the best thing for fiscal responsibility (if that word can be used in the sports stadium idiom) and the city of Cleveland.

I'm just hoping it's built.

Very impressive.

Yes...after all the various iterations l can say with a practiced eye, lt's definitely a building.

That video is amazing. I can't believe the park will look like that. It's too perfect. Now IF the park ends up like the video it automatically becomes the number one attraction in town. And IF the park looks like the video the land on 25th across from it should be prime for residential mid-rises. Who wouldn't want to live there? Absolutely stellar!

Geis has an architect?

Exactly!

The thing l love about creating parkland on top of our landfill shoreline is how easy it is. And cheap. Easy to maintain. At least compared to most every other type of development. None of this is rocket science. Plant it, cluster it and it will grow. In one generation we will have something to be proud of. Everyone loves Edgewater Park now but l grew up in that neighborhood and let me tell you, back then it was neglected, trashy and dangerous. Now look at it! We have a beautiful lake. We have some beautiful parks along it. We can easily and cheaply add to that. While we're deciding what to build on Burke trees and plants can be growing. It's a passive investment that will pay dividends down the road if we just start planting once the airport is closed.

Maybe we'll get lucky and the whole thing gets called off. We wait a bit, rates come down, matetial prices come down making a mid-rise practical again and we get a neat design. I'm certainly willing to wait.