jar3232

Signs are up identifying the "village" on state. I'll try to take some pictures.

So the stairway is part of the over grown bridge on 117? You would think that would be easy to make ADA compliment and it is kind of a good location. Give me some plywood and nails and I'll have that station ready in a week.

Any information or back story on the stairway would be appreciated to, I tried googling it, but didn't find anything. Sounds very interesting though...

Time to bring back an old thread. So I am looking for some good out door courts to play at during the summer. Anyone know where there are some good pick up games in the city?

I summarized the Pearl/W25 transit study in the following thread: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,8513.0.html

OBCDC Meeting Reminder Membership/Community Event, 6:00 to 8:00 pm Thursday, April 23 Gavin Lee Party Center 3315 Broadview Rd This meeting will include: • Results of planning studies recently completed by OBCDC on behalf of the area we serve (Master Plan, Transportation for Livable Community (TLCI) and Lower Big Creek. • Update on OBCDC current and future projects • Discussion/Q&A

We already have one off of West Blvd (Ray's Indoor Mountain Bike, which is awesome and everyone should check out) AND there are plans to put an outdoor mountain bike park in Old Brooklyn (Treadway), the planning commission voted 2 months ago to incorporate this into there strategic 2020 plan. I dislike how disorganized this city can be at times. Why midtown? Terrible idea

I saw the transit plan for the W25/Pearl corridor. A lot of streetscaping ideas and such. They want to go with the BRT option. After the plan is presented to the public next week I can probably send it out, PM if you want more details.

April fools or not, I like that design...A pedestrian lift bridge would be awesome...

Ok this might seem like a dumb question, but what's wrong with just being a digital paper? Most of these articles make it sound like a bad thing. I honestly prefer to get my news online. Maybe it's me, but I find computer screens far easier to read than print.

So I have a random question. I was driving back on 77 from Akron to Cleveland tonight and noticed they are putting up 4-5 new buildings along the highway. Is it just random office space?

Expressway Diner in Cleveland. Great GIANT menu and open 24hrs a day. http://www.freetimes.com/stories/14/47/greasy-is-the-word

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fed-survey-economy-apf-14544246.html EDITED DUE TO COPYRIGHT POLICIES

I assume it was something like that. The suburban kids were probably flashing money around and trying to buy pot, not saying they are at fault, but it sounds like they put themselves in a dangerous situation. Again, I firmly believe in my 99.99% rule.

I got my C&C when I was working for FannieMae doing foreclosures. I was going in and out of pretty much every abandon house in Cleveland alone doing maintenance and trash outs. Never once was I threatened or even had my truck messed with or ANYTHING stolen. Most people just wanted to see if I was hiring. After 3 years of doing that I am pretty convinced that 99.99% of violent crime that happens in Cleveland is either drug related or domestically related. I have never once felt unsafe in Downtown. I have a feeling more is going to come out about that E12 murder than they are reporting.

http://reosearch.fanniemae.com/reosearch/ (FannieMae) http://www.homesteps.com/ (FreddieMac) http://sheriff.cuyahogacounty.us/foreclosures.asp A better listing is usually found at the county sheriff's department, for example this is the one in Cleveland.

Well last night I got my S-10 totaled in an accident. She was a good truck and will be greatly missed. Now I have a couple of weeks to find a replacement. One great thing about the previous truck was that it was a flex-fuel and I am fortunate enough that in Parma they have a bio- diesel/E-85 station. So this brings me to my question. Is there a dealership in NE Ohio that specializes in electric/bio-diesel/alt. energy vehicles? If not does anyone know of a good place to find one?

And another... Looks like sleazy tactics by Clear Channel here. Did anyone go to the billboard meeting last week? http://www.cleveland.com/cityhall/index.ssf/2009/02/clear_channel_claws_at_council.html

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/02/cleveland_officials_considerin.html

Unfortunately I don't think I can argue that. I hope for all our sake that statement is wrong. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LwyVFnEjvo&feature=related So what's the answer than? What do you do? What do you value in that type of society? Because I would argue without a livable wage society would probably spiral towards an inevitable collapse.

For anyone interested in reading or listening to the transcripts, they can be found here: http://www.wcpn.org/index.php/WCPN/news/16206/

Eh, that's a whole other subject. I do find it increasingly disheartening to hear/read/see comments like that become more and more common. I thought that is why people came to America in the first place. Fought in wars and stood up for the greater good, to have the RIGHT to be free and earn a livable wage. You know, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness thing. Believe it or not, most teachers work hard enough to earn the right to make a livable wage. If the value you place on schools is the bare minimum, that is the type of education you will receive. Did we put a man on the moon through inadequately funded schools? What type of future or people do you expect when you say that educators should work for less than a livable wage? I am pretty sure that is and has already happened. Have you heard of any districts hiring in the last couple of years? I work for a good district and I cannot tell you the last time we added a new teacher that wasn't replacing a retiring or leaving teacher. Schools have gone through the budget cuts for the last 20 years. When times were great in business and industry, did anyone step in and say lets give more to the schools? Nope, they cut the state funding to the levels they are now. That's why we are in this mess. Talk all you want about how schools need to cut more, sometimes there really isn't anything left to cut.

I won't argue the benefits aren't good, but when did that become a crime? As for retirement, teachers do put a majority of their pay towards retirement. I pay close to 20 percent of each pay towards my retirement, a system I probably will never collect on. Most professionals in my field do the same. I am sure there is always exceptions to the rule (and in every field), but for the most part most teachers are not getting rich teaching, they just make a LIVABLE WAGE. I don't think there is as many "double dippers" as you think. As a general rule districts would rather hire new teachers, and as you have pointed out there is a number of teachers in Ohio without jobs. New teachers are easier to work with and have a better understand of "today's" educational world. Plus easier to fire. Double dipping happens in every field. How about the Senior working and collecting social security? Should that be banned as well?

Teacher pay and salaries is another discussion, but I will say teachers get paid a fair wage. No teacher is getting rich off the system. The teacher residence is a terrible idea if you want to cut wages for the record. Who is going to go through 4 years of lower wages to ultimately get a 55K a year job? The one thing that worries me is the Full Day kindergarten he plans on implementing. Most districts I know have half day classes (AM/PM classes). This means adding facilities, supplies and of course more teachers. I think the idea is a noble one, but I don't know he is going to pay for that when districts are already strapped for cash. Also a lot of what he wants to implement is already done, i.e. schools are graded on their fiances (and open to the public), audits and over sight on academics. As for funding, I think to "fix" the system he simply wants to roll back HB 920 which limits schools collecting an increase in money with rising property taxes. It has for years limited schools funding by creating "phantom revenue", but recently it has helped school by holding back the housing market collapse and drop in home value. Kind of a double edge sword as of late. Again, This doesn't fix the problem, it just lets districts collect more money without going to the voters. Just kind of takes the power away from the people. I hope there is more to his plan and this isn't his only solution. I was intrigued on his stance on charter schools. Currently to open one you have to be an existing management company (something I believe he or Taft signed into law). Now he is stating he wants them under ODE control and out of the management companies hands. Interesting to see what he is going to do there. I can speak for NE Ohio only, but the majority of districts only collect between 15-25 percent from the state. The school I work at only receives about 19 percent. :-( Sadly I would be shocked if the states picks up a 50 share in all of the 647 school districts in Ohio.