edale

Thanks for all the photos Jake. In the second to last one, is that vacant building on Pleasant also getting renovated?

Fountain Place is owned by the Bortz family. They are as stubborn as it comes, and they're always looking for massive handouts from the city. They had plans drawn up for a 20-ish story condo or apartment building on top of Macy's 5 years ago. I actually got to see the renderings, as the company I worked for at the time was involved with helping the City retain Macy's and Saks, as both were threatening to move at the time. The reason they never pulled the trigger on the project is because they couldn't hit the dollar amount they wanted to get out of the city. Rather than work to find other financing, they decided to drop the proposal altogether, with the hope that the city would reevaluate and come up with their money (sounds kind of like what happened to Skyhouse, but I have no insider knowledge there). Given that the redevelopment of Fountain Place has been stalled before the Kroger apartments were even dreamed up, I don't think 3CDC is responsible for this one. I think it comes down to the greed of Arn Bortz, and that's about it.

Yes I get the same impression. The tenants leaving along with the proposed residential component on top that has gone silent points to a new concept being developed for the site. While I hate seeing businesses leave the core, this corner should be put to a higher/better use than a 3 floor property. Wait, what? Tiffany's is leaving because Macy's is leaving. Saks will almost certainly follow suit and leave soon, too. This isn't a situation where they wanted to stay but are being pushed out by developers eyeing the site for bigger and better uses. This is a huge loss for downtown. What used to a premier corner will now be vacant, and I would bet it will be vacant for some time. Frontage on the square presumably makes this site more attractive than others downtown, but when you have 4th and Race plus developments along the riverfront (skyhouse, the banks) stalled, it doesn't inspire me with confidence that this site is going to become something anytime soon. Cleveland has long standing surface lots fronting their Public Square, so I guess there's an in-state precedent for this. Does anyone else feel like the center city has actually been declining for the past year or two? After making some huge strides, like building the CAC, Smale Park, Great American Tower, the stadiums and Freedom Center, and streetcar, it seems like the city is only inching forward these days, if at all. OTR continues to hum along (even though it feels like the pace of development has slowed a bit there, too), but downtown seems to be struggling. Outside of the Court Street Kroger + apartment building, there is little else going on.

^ We're not talking about any impeachment anywhere. If there is a corrupt or unstable judge, of course impeachment can work as a check on the judicial branch. Calling for the impeachment of multiple judges because they made a ruling you don't agree with is severely messed up, and something that should not happen in a civilized democratic nation. Also, not following judicial orders to turn over data to the courts is a terrible precedent to set, and the Senator should absolutely be held in contempt of court.

^ That is shameful. Why do Republicans consistently act so evil? Disagreement is normal in politics, but they are actively trying to subvert the government and established systems of law and order so they can cling to some shred of power. It's absolutely ridiculous.

^ That's cool, and a good fit for the Short North. I think Shinola and Warby Parker would be good fits for OTR, too.

Hm, is there a market for this in Lawrenceburg?

^ Yeah, but the vast majority is very poor and black. It used to have one of the largest concentrations of projects in the country before a lot of them got torn down and replaced with some mixed income housing that still skews heavily towards the subsidized side. There are several little mini neighborhoods in the West End: Here's the Citywest area, which is pretty large actually: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1111927,-84.5262286,3a,75y,292.14h,73.96t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1supybDLiS9evptnHaPf9X0g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1070401,-84.5263435,3a,75y,278.92h,95.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sI2S2zQKanTaWU-zopbRcSg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 There are some pockets that are turning around, and some absolutely beautiful blocks exist, especially around the Dayton Street area: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1182383,-84.5280041,3a,75y,74.79h,89.78t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sujvOLuCmBQ28ZUXWt7I9og!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 Other parts look super run down and ghetto: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1155386,-84.5278068,3a,75y,253.91h,97.99t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1stTHpegGwJd30QGlQSXO7qg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1150283,-84.5297098,3a,75y,217.19h,90.02t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sx7C_L1K_OEXZFtCKux7--g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 I'm not sure if this is technically still part of the West End, but idk what else it would be. Very charming and old portion of the neighborhood, that is home to mostly professional types: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1076226,-84.5218478,3a,75y,252.96h,78.91t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sjQIktR5puwQZ4YFp9-30hA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.com/maps/@39.106975,-84.5218765,3a,75y,309.97h,87.24t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQAlkjYWOc8bLgijIu0hwoQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

That dot isn't the IE, though. Guess that's probably like Bakersfield, but the Central Valley is pretty Hispanic outside of some of the larger towns like Fresno and Bakersfield. The IE isn't really the same vibe at all. It's pretty Hispanic and there's a decent (for CA) black population in places like San Bernardino these days, too. It seems to be the preferred spot for people being priced out of South LA, and there's quite a bit of crime and 'urban' issues out there instead of a bunch of country folk like what it used to be a couple decades ago. I was reading the comments on some article about San Bernardino just yesterday, and they largely consisted of white people complaining about Mexicans taking over, and Mexicans complaining about white meth heads lol.

^^ What's up with the little dot of purple in the CA Central Valley?

Weird spot for this artwork, for sure. Something Cleveland specific would seem to make more sense. A mural of the landmarks, a digital installation showing residents of the city ala the Millennium Park fountains, hell even a ‘living wall’ type of thing would all be worlds better than this. Land Studio seems to come up with some pretty weird and tacky ideas.

^That is how you build a sustainable local economy, folks.

Wait, noooo. That, the boat ride at Mexico, and the outdated 360 degree movie at Canada were seriously some of my favorite attractions at Epcot! I haven't seen Frozen, but I hate it simply because of this.

^ That really sucks, but isn't all too surprising. Typical Cincinnati self destruction.

How is this site better than Oakley in any way? It's literally right next to a school and housing, with no commercial activity anywhere around. Isn't the intent of zoning, in part, to keep incongruent uses away from each other? I can't think of a worse neighbor for a school and residential neighborhood than a giant stadium. Also, didn't MLS say they were awarding teams to two cities, and the finalists were Detroit, Nashville, Cincinnati, and Sacramento. Nashville gets its team, and then MLS goes on retreat and misses their own deadlines to announce the other winning bid. Couple weeks later announces that Miami is getting a team- a city that wasn't even on the list of 4. Why does anyone want to be part of this sham of a league? They're obviously a mess! Even Austin, who all but had the Crew wrapped up, is now getting some cold feet. Of course Cincinnati is all in, though. Anything to come off as 'major league' for the couple dozen people who tune into MLS games. ::)

Wait does this mean you’re team music hall skywalk? Et tu, GCrites?

I thought the play also felt long. There were something like 17 songs an act.

BUT you have to walk over a freeway -- which is a shitkiller. No you don’t. Unless you’re talking about Central Parkway?

Why the hell does a soccer team want to develop housing? Why is the local media not calling FC out on their shadiness? They want public funding in some capacity, so they need to be transparent with the public.

Oh yeah, much nicer for sure. The way Lunken is set up, there are a lot of little hangars with their own facilities rather than one centralized one. The place where P&G stores their planes there is very nice. (not to derail the topic)

Whoever runs Burke should lobby Ultimate Air Shuttle to expand service to other cities. Not that its reach will ever be that broad, but they go to Chicago, New York, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Cleveland from Cincinnati. I imagine there is similar demand for service to those locations in Cleveland, and the 'door to door' service is so convenient and easy. My parents almost exclusively use UAS to visit my sister in Cleveland these days. It makes a little weekend trip actually make sense, since you don't need to devote 9 hours to sitting in a car through cornfields and Cbus.

^ lol great company I'm in. But seriously, I do not understand what all the hype is about. The story is almost entirely driven by the lyrics of the songs instead of the action on the stage, and many of the songs sound like cheesy Drake covers or something. Add in the little sister love triangle sub-plot, and the whole thing felt pretty lame to me. My only thought is that most of the people who go to see Hamilton are otherwise pretty unfamiliar with hip hop, so it feels cool and fresh to them in the context of a musical. I like some musicals quite a bit, and I think the story of Alexander Hamilton is interesting, but the overwhelming popularity of the show is perplexing to me.

I think I'm the only person on the planet who thought Hamilton was lame.

Burke Airport is such an interesting asset and potential development site for Cleveland. On the one hand, it's absolutely incredible to have a working airport literally right next to downtown. I took the Ultimate Air Shuttle from there to Cincy last summer, and it was amazing to be able to leave the hotel 30 mins before the flight was scheduled to leave and just walk right on the plane and be in Cincy 45 mins later. For a business traveler, I can think of nothing better (though I was not flying for business at that time). It looks like there is some considerable room around the airport that could potentially be developed for air related business, if the airport is to be kept open long term. CVG has really seen tremendous growth from this type of stuff, with both DHL and Amazon having their North American logistics operations based there. Burke probably doesn't have the land or runway capacity for something on that scale, but it does seem like air cargo or other auxiliary airport developments could locate there, especially given the access that the site has to shipping ports, rail, freeways, etc. On the other hand, it's prime lakefront land that could potentially be turned into something really cool. A whole new neighborhood could be built there with amazing views of the lake and the city. It could be really special, if done right. Regardless what happens, I think Burke Airport is a tremendous asset for Cleveland, though perhaps a bit underutilized at the moment.

It seems like Hamilton County would be just about perfect for a Congressional District. It's just about balanced between Republicans and Democrats, is almost entirely urban or suburban (though there are some rural areas remaining on the west sides of the county), and there is a good racial mix. The needs of some rural farmer in Warren County are much different than those of an urban or suburban resident of Cincinnati, so it makes no sense to have those areas combined into one district.