cadmen

End of time huh? Is that before or after the Browns win the Super Bowl?

Regionalism is a topic that comes up every now and then. Usually prompted by some event or another. Then all of us progressive thinkers opine on all the positives that would occur if we could somehow herd the many, many local officials and (even more difficult) the populace of all the cities that make up Cuyahoga County into creating some type of uni-gov. Unfortunately, if we're being honest, we know it's not going to happen. There are too many entrenched interests, too many people who would actually lose something, even if looking at the big picture, they would derive more benefits from a consolidation than they would lose. It would mean somehow overcoming those objectives. It would require a massive amount of education and even then it won't happen. There are way too many people in the County who let fear of change prevent them from making positive decisions. I think while the County does produce many people who aren't afraid of change, who aren't afraid to think big I also think a lot of them look around, see all the mental and financial roadblocks and...just move on to a more "can do" type of city. That makes it even harder for the rest of us who do want progress. One thing I have noticed in visiting numerous ex-Clevelanders around the country is that many of them moved to cities with a very different attitude. Cities that believe if they can think it they can do it. We're not like that. After we think it our next thought it why we can't do it. It's a problem that I believe is a result of decades of lose and dis-investment, lack of a more educated people and an economy that is still based too much on producing things and not enough on creating ideas. Look, I AM a huge proponent of "making things" but an economy based on too much of that and not enough on ideas will necessarily produce a populace that can be afraid of risk, afraid of new ideas. Ideas like consolidated county government.

I was reading an op ed piece in Crain's by the guy who used to own Million Air based at Burke. Besides his personal bias for keeping it an airport he did bring up something most of us know about but in our desire to develop the lakefront, we downplay. That being the fact that the landfill Burke is built on is nothing more than toxic crap. The only way to build something tall is an expensive removal of most of the soil and you still have to dig deep to hit bedrock. At what expense? We're not New York, Chicago etc. with deep pockets. And to repeat some of the above, we still have plenty of other under-developed land in and around downtown waiting for shovels. I still want to see Burke closed but my preference is to turn it into a woodsy park. Plant trees with species that grow 100 feet or more. Like Stanley Park in Vancouver. I think we could plant on the land without too much remediation or expense.

In general I'm against sky-walks for all the reasons stated. But for CSU I think a sky-walk bridging Chester and connecting dorms with many classrooms makes sense. I know if I lived in those dorms in the winter I would appreciate the convenience, warmth and lighting if I had to make the walk. At best there are only going to be a few thousand living north of Chester and that's not going to create much of a critical mass that ordinarily might encourage a greater street presence. Sure if 10,000 students lived there and were walking back and forth from the dorms to classrooms then, yeah, there's safety and energy in numbers but I don't think that's the case here. In this instance I think a need for warmth, safety and convenience out-way a desire for a strong street presence. We're not talking about a leafy promenade connecting dorms to a campus. Were talking about a four season city looking to connect a dorm area with classrooms that are separated buy a large and busy city street. In this case I think it's ok.

Good one.

I would love a name change. University of Cleveland or vice versa. Any name combining a city and a state sounds cheap. Cleveland State, Memphis State, Detroit State etc. Remove the State and the new name already sounds more prestigious. It's just a perception thing but in today's shallow world perception is king.

So the FAA wanted to know how high a volleyball would go. Really?? I'm thinking if a plane is flying that low its got way more problems than a volleyball. Another example of Burke impeding lakefront growth. Is having a small underutilized lakefront airport worth all the restrictions on...uh, pretty much any and everything Cleveland would want to do down there. Other cities would kill for lakefront but the only thing being killed here is lakefront development.

Well that seems to be a smart answer to the issues PS is going through. I am very glad to see this hybrid approach. PS is surrounded by a lot of new investment and is way too high profile to allow it to degenerate. I'm not sure how much the Bibb administration had to do with this but somehow I don't think the Jackson people would have done much of anything.

And people.

We're doing better than Pittsburgh, Columbus and Detroit. That's encouraging.

As an old dude I love baseball but I have to admit around here baseball in an open air ballpark in the spring can be brutal. All this talk about what can be done to tweak the experience is missing the real point which is we need a retractable dome for the team. I know...it's not going to happen. It's too expensive. If any sport gets a dome it will probably be the Browns although they don't need one. Baseball does. Just imagine a game where the weather is nice - open the dome. Cold and rainy - close it. Fans would be comfortable. The game would be a sure thing so attendance would be more predictable. Add in a Ballpark Village with bars, restaurants, little shops, residential and maybe a boutique hotel all in a confined space. If the baseball experience was more comfortable and fans knew the game wasn't going to be rained out I think that consistency would create a much bigger draw. Unfortunately there is only so much money to spend around here and with other big projects (lakefront, new Justice Center, new football stadium etc.) vying for limited public dollars I don't see this happening but if it did it sure would be a fantastic upgrade from what we are dealing with now.

Except for several years living overseas I've been a Clevelander all of my life. This is my town and I have no plans on leaving. That being said our weather is "complicated." Recently we had a few days of extremely misty, cloudy weather. I loved it. I loved the contrast with the warm sunny days just a week earlier. I LOVE snow. That being said, sometime around March I start to bitch about the long winter. April used to be nice here. Now it seems pretty grey and cold. I guess in a perfect world I would keep most of our varied weather but replace some of those cold, damp and cloudy days with a few more weeks of warm and sunny days. If current climate changes continue I think in a few decades Cleveland (and the entire Great Lakes region) will be the beneficiary of a pretty large mass movement away from the hot, harsh and increasingly water deprived Southwest. Right now we are just hanging on to our population. We're in sort of a holding pattern. But time (and climate change) is on our side. I won't be on the planet to see it but I take some solace I knowing that later in this century this part of the country is going to be "hot" again. And we'll be cool too. Slava Cleveland!

Unfortunately there is still outbound movement too. I just bought an old (1908) Lakewood house. The owners (young couple with 2 kids) are moving to Phoenix. What's driving the move? The weather they said.

You want to know who forms the base of MAGA...all the people who lost those jobs. And not just locally but all across the industrial Midwest. Corporate greed and Democratic inability to do much about it. Union job - Democrat. Unemployed/underemployed union worker - MAGA.

For the life of me I can't figure out this bias against height by our decision makers on these Boards. I understand the concept of a building not dwarfing everything around it. Blending in. But that shouldn't be a hard and fast rule every time. One perfect example is when views are part of the equation. New apartments in this area are able to take advantage of lake views ONLY when built tall enough. And last I read, water views are still desirable. Besides the height issue I'm not a fan of this design. Especially the intentionally unfinished top. The best thing I can say is it's different, but in a bad way. And the finishes seem to need work. To sterile. I do like the courtyard and the deck/promanade though.

So Americans think Jews make up 30% of the population? I think that says more about just how clueless most Americans are about most things than Jews specifically. I'm constantly amazed when I'm having a conversation with someone and what l thought was common knowledge completely escapes them.

We're looking at two problems here. Companies moving out of downtown to a suburban location is one thing but the real elephant in the room is WFH. That is a much bigger concern for downtowns across the country. Its been a struggle for decades for the average city to hang onto its downtown office workers but when America's flagship downtowns (New York, Chicago etc.) are losing too then we know downtowns are in perilous times. Downtown can't just be a place to live. A vibrant downtown needs office workers, government workers, residential and a sports/entertainment component. WFH is is a huge problem for downtowns. It may be great for the bottom line (companies need less space). And at first glance it may appear to be a bonus for workers although l'm not sure about that. Our society already spends too much time alone with a screen and l doubt that is psychologically healthy.

^ Does that count as a good start?

Ken are you referring to Bobby George or Vladimir Putin?

Hey Park Place...come on down!

Has there been a study to actually see if Burke costs money or makes money for the city? Start there. If it is net negative then replacing it is a no-brainer. If it is net positive how much net positive? Then compare Burke's net positive with whatever income a different kind of usage could generate. Because Burke is built on landfill remediation to build anything substantial could be pretty expensive. Low rise buildings (some combination of residential and business/entertainment) might be the best use. UNLESS it was turned into a park. That would be the easiest and cheaper version of converting it. If the ultimate decision is a park I vote for using the bulk of the land for a forest with trails running through and around it. Something like Stanly Park in Vancouver. That is a great use of land in an urban setting. An urban forest. Beautiful. We are supposed to be the forest city after all.

Can't get a feel for how big the outer office space will be as the mechanical core seems pretty large. It's almost up to the street. Doesn't seem to leave much room for actual offices. Maybe it's just an optical illusion.

I think I speak for everyone on this forum when I say "Well that sucks."

Sure...it's a clown show but ultimately this delay may turn out to be good news IF the headquarters ends staying downtown where I want to see it. I never thought moving it out was a good idea in the first place. Man, what's that expression? Cleveland, you gotta be tough? Yes we do.

A beat cop walking through PS on a regular basis AND a social worker doing the same seems like a good way to diffuse potential problems before they blow up. I think all cities should try something like this in high foot traffic, high visibility areas. It's like the original intent of Defund the Police (a terrible, terrible branding of a pretty smart idea). Rather than cops just driving around put some on a beat in areas that have a lot of foot traffic or are high profile places. And if you also have a social worker involved people may get better attention besides being arrested because things got out of hand. Having a social worker or a person trained in conflict resolution working with police seems like an idea worth trying at least. Sorta like how Sherriff Taylor handled things in Mayberry. And before l get excoriated, yes l know Cleveland is not Mayberry but using a different approach is worth trying at least because what we have been doing isn't working out all that well.