j73

I'm no mushroom expert, but that first pic looked just like the ones they were selling at the Shaker Square farmers' mkt this wknd for $19/lb (it's a good thing mushrooms are light!) Think they're called "sulfur shelf" or "chicken-of-the-woods". Like I said I'm no expert, so if you go back eat them and die, don't blame me :-)

Looks like there will be 5 more nonstop destinations (they said a total of 20 and have announced 15) and said that they'll be adding mainline (i.e. non regional jet) flights. That makes me think west coast and/or intl. Biggest west coast cities where they don't have any nonstops incl Portland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Orange County, San Jose, Honolulu, and Tucson. Also seems likely that they'll add some int'l at some point: why would you build a new customs area if you weren't? I don't think you have to go through customs when you come in from Canada so the new flights to Ottawa and Quebec aren't it, and I can't imagine that the seasonal flight from Paris alone would justify it. Also, per the PD article below from the day after the announcement, it looks like they have some interest in adding service to Amsterdam. _______________________ Continental expanding its Cleveland hub at Hopkins An investment in Cleveland,' Jackson cheers Saturday, September 15, 2007 Henry J. Gomez and Susan Vinella Plain Dealer Reporters Passengers at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport soon will have more than 30 options for nonstop flights to 20 new destinations, among them Little Rock, Ark., and Memphis, Tenn. Continental Airlines announced details Friday of a planned $50 million hub expansion that will add service and offer travelers amenities such as a larger security checkpoint and more ticket counters. The project also will create 700 jobs. "This is one of those moments," said Mayor Frank Jackson, surrounded by civic and business leaders at a City Hall gathering. "This is an investment in our future, in Cleveland and our region." The announcement confirmed months of speculation about the airline's growth at Hopkins. Both city and state officials considered the expansion crucial to the region's economic future. Ohio has offered $16 million in incentives to support Continental's expansion. Hopkins must contribute $505,000 as a partial match to the state money, an airport spokeswoman said. The airport also could contribute up to $3.5 million through a new incentive program that financially rewards airlines for adding new flights. Continental, the world's fifth-largest airline, is Hopkins' largest carrier. The company, which already employs more than 2,000 here, also has hubs in Houston and Newark, N.J. But Cleveland has the smallest of the three hubs. Continental Chief Executive Larry Kellner, a former resident of Rocky River, said that makes Hopkins a logical place to grow. "We are going to bring Cleveland into more of a hub than it is today," Kellner said. Expansion here should ease congestion at the Newark hub, which will reallocate many of its regional jet aircraft to support the new air service planned for Hopkins. Continental plans to begin nonstop flights to 20 new destinations by next summer. The airline also expects to launch its previously announced nonstop seasonal service to Paris by then. To reach these Plain Dealer reporters: [email protected], 216-999-5405 [email protected], 216-999-5010

I'm curious why there won't be advertising on Silver Line vehicles. This seems like an obvious way to raise funds, especially for mass transit which is almost always state-subsidized. Is there a law that prevents it? Given that taxpayers subsidize the system it almost seems irresponsible not to put ads in/on the vehicles...

Update: drove by tonight and they've actually begun working - demoed out some of the windows and framed out a new overhang. The renderings on www.anatoliacafe.com look great, but then again the renderings always look great...

They're moving into the space at the southwestern corner of Kensington & Lee. Greve's florist used to be on the corner - they're definitely taking that space and I think they'll also be occupying the space just south of that, that used to be the Nearly New Shop. You're right about Stone Oven - they seem to be doing very well in their new location as does Phoenix Coffee (which beat out the Starbucks that usedup the street). Do hope something goes in where the Pub on Lee was, though... Cedar Lee seems to be about average in terms of turnover in Cle Hts - more than Cedar/Fairmount, less than Coventry at least over the last few years. Streetscape there has improved in recent years w/new businesses moving in and improving their facades and old businesses just deciding to do it (including some unlikely candidates like the HVAC people, the dry cleaner and the vacuum store).

Anyone have any renderings of RTA's proposal? Also, is there any news about development of the north side of Euclid, east of Ford?

Got takeout from Anatolia Cafe the other day... Owner mentioned that they'd be in their new location on Lee road "by the end of the year, probably November," and then added, "never put a date on anything!" (the original signs announcing the move say Sept 2007). Noticed the other day that the new location now has construction fencing around it (not world class, but it'll have to do...) Didn't look like any real work had started, but at least it looked like they were getting closer.

Many of the storefronts vacated in advance of this project (which may be what you were implying). While I'm not a fan of the design of the University Square or southern Cedar Center developments, with this newest development, this area's becoming pretty dense and easy to live in without a car (w/decent bus service to dt). I wouldn't want to live there, but you could...

BTW, the guy who talks on WCPN every Friday about business and development in Cleveland (Scott Rolston from Fairport Asset Mgmt, IIRC) mentioned last Friday that he thinks we'll see a study about the future of Burke from the Jackson admin in the next few weeks. Not sure how well-connected the guy is and what the study is, but interesting, if true. Here's the link - the comment is in the last 1/3 of it. http://www.wcpn.org/index.php/WCPN/Player/7335/

I echo noozer's comments - you'll find lots of folks here who are passionate about public transportation and its importance to a vibrant city. It'll probably also help to have some thick skin :-) I applaud you for signing on and for being on the board - welcome! In any case, if you haven't already, you may want to check out these 2 (long) threads about the RTA generally and the Euclid Corridor Project in particular: General RTA thread: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=4504.0 Euclid Corridor thread: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=2840.0

Not to wade into this general debate too much, but... I think you guys are essentially arguing about whether having a 60+ story bldg there is the best thing to do right now. If we knew that all the parking lots in and around downtown were going to be built out with great mixes of retail, office, and residential, and that they'd all be filled up, and in a reasonable amount of time, I think pretty much everyone would be in favor of a biggie - it would improve the skyline (with a more tangible benefit of boosting civic pride), and inject a whole bunch of density. The debtate comes in about whether all that additional development is really coming and whether there's enough of it. CTF216 keeps pointing to Pesht, the Avenue District, etc. as evidence that it is. KJP keeps pointing out that even after those developments, there will still be tons of surface lots around downtown. Comes down to this: Is the add'l density of the highrise better than the more continuous flow (and more street-level retail) that you get from erasing the surface lots? My personal guess is that right now, we're probably better off with the lower (15-30 story) buildings, mainly b/c the office market still isn't that hot and even with the great developments that are being planned, there's still a lot of surface lots that break up the urbanity (and ultimately vibrancy) of downtown. Additionally, I'm skeptical that the mkt could absorb 1 million sq ft of office space in Pesht, however many sq ft over in FEB, AND a 60-story skyscraper (another million?) on public square. But that's all my novice take... If Jacobs wants to build a monster, that's pretty much his prerogative since he's the guy putting up the $$.

Not that it's all that relevant to the point at hand, but the Chrysler building broke ground in 1928, a year before the crash, when the economy was by all accounts pretty good. And per the NY Times, it never suffered the low occupancy rates that plagued other buildings in the 1930s (like the Empire State Building). I think the Empire State Bldg fits your point well - by its 1931 groundbreaking, there wasn't much economic need for a huge skyscraper. From the NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/garden/26push.html?ex=1189051200&en=f2babd569f772cb6&ei=5070 By the opening of the Chrysler Building in the summer of 1930, over 70 percent of the space had been rented, compared with the average opening occupancy for an office building in the 1920's of 52 percent. Its tenant roster held some of the marquee names in American business, including the Western Union Telegraph Company, General Electric and, of course, the corporate offices of Chrysler. As the Chrysler Building thrived, others failed. The Manhattan Company Building, Chrysler's rival in the 1929 height race, quickly began to bleed cash. The soft rental market drove down its rental rates from $8 to $3 per square foot, and its owner lamented that he had to sell the building in 1935 for $1.2 million - less than he had paid for its high-speed elevators. The Empire State Building, although it stole the height crown in 1931, merited the sobriquet "Empty State Building" as early as 1932 for its lack of tenants. In contrast, Chrysler maintained his high occupancy rate throughout the 1930's, and in 1937 retired his $7.5 million mortgage leasehold bonds 11½ years ahead of schedule.

Per the guy who started the rumor on airliners (for whatever that's worth...) he says the announcement will actually be made on 9/14 when Continental's CEO is in town again. He mentions a new Concourse E, north of concourse C. Who knows...

Thanks for the refresher... 44 pages is a lot to keep track of! (and thanks for your continued reporting on this project, KJP!)

Also looks like he's proposing a good-size office bldg at the NW corner of St Clair & W 3rd (Block E in the graphic). Does he control that land? Didn't remember that being part of the original plan...

Friend called them to check in on progress - apparently they're only up to 6 at this point, which is halfway to what they need to start construction.

We tried to go to Machu Picchu before the Tribe game Monday and it was dark - no sign or anything (except one touting their happy hour Monday-Thursday). Hope the place hasn't shut down...

Living near Coventry, I can't say that that location seems all that busy either... My impression (not sure if it's from, info here or the Cle Hts Sun) was that the city was giving them a very good deal on the rent for the first 5 years (perhaps ramping up during that time). Will be interesting to see if they can make it work once they're paying market rent.

BTW, was in OC today and noticed a sign in City Buddha's window that the store there was closing! Anyone know anymore about that?

Where's the bldg in the 3rd pic?

Given that the vast majority of people don't read this or or other related boards and that the PD is a general interest newspaper, it's not all that bad... Might actually make people think about walkability more. In general, while the site has many obvious flaws, I think we're being a bit harsh here. These guys try to crawl and we yell at them because they're not walking yet. Yes, it should include churches, museums, markets, etc. and it should clean up the data to cateogrize things correctly, and it should, blah blah blah. It's a start. It's much much easier to be critical than to actually build the thing. Lots of good suggestions have been made here - hopefully they'll hear them and make the thing better. In any case, despite its flaws, it seems directionally correct - places with higher scores do tend to be, in reality, more walkable than those with lower scores. Some outliers (e.g. Parma v.s Shaker Sq), but generally directionally correct. BTW, here near Coventry in Cleveland Hts, I got a 72, although it gives no credit for any of the museums in University Circle nor the restaurants in Little Italy (which are a little far, but I have walked to them, but it does give credit for the Starbucks in Univ Circle...) Back to the criticizing... One other thing it would be nice for the site to do is to consider the mix of things in the neighborhood, not just the quantity. I.e. is a neighborhood iwth 40 restuarants in it really more walkable than one with only a handful of restaurants, but with a laundromat, grocery store, dry cleaner, video store, hardware store, bookstore, clothing store, access to transit (and a movie theater :-) )? I think the way the site works now, it would say the the first neighborhood is more walkable, although most people would say the 2nd is.

They need to average 15,000 in actual or paid attendance per home game to be Div I. I think Kent or Akron has had some issues hitting that some years which is one of the reasons they added the games vs. the Big 10 teams. I don't think there are any requirements for I-AA (like Youngstown State) or Div II, or Div III.

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought it was a rhetorical question. From what I've seen/heard it's an absolute yes! I've never lived anywhere where the people who lived there were so negative about their town. Boston calls itself the "hub of the universe" for crying out loud! Most NYers I've met might complain about specific issues, but at the end always come back to sentiments like "it's the greatest city in the country". Clevelanders (especially the surburbanites who rarely actually set foot in the city) seem very ready to accept the conventional wisdom that Cleveland's in a death spiral, that nothing's going on downtown, etc. Sentiments like "Well, of course, Cleveland's a shithole, but I live in Solon so it's ok." I think in general (here and elsewhere), people are far more down on the central cities than the greater metro areas. Even many people here will say that NE Ohio is a "great place to raise a family" or something like that. This has changed somewhat as almost any city you can name has become much more attractive to live in over the last 20 years, but is still more of the rule.

Update on Zocalo in today's PD - looks like a 9/6 opening Zocalo Mexican Grill & Tequileria joins Cleveland's East Fourth Street lineup Wednesday, August 08, 2007 Bill Lubinger Plain Dealer Columnist Tequila lovers, mark it down. Zocalo Mexican Grill & Tequileria debuts on East Fourth Street in downtown Cleveland on Thursday, Sept. 6. And it arrives with the mindset of a Tequilas-R-Us. Management promises a choice of 85 tequilas, tequila flights, upside-down margaritas, a tasting room and tequila ex perts along the lines of agave somme liers to guide you. Tequila will also drive many of the menu's mari nades. Zocalo will also offer tableside guacamole and a fresh tortilla-maker.

Surprised to hear they're breaking ground. A friend put a deposit down on a unit in May and at the time he said he was the 4th person and that they told him they needed 12 to break ground. He also said they'd need to come back fto him or a non-refundable deposit at that point. As of last week they hadn't done that. Could be close I guess since I think they had only been open about a month when he put his refundable deposit down, which, at 4/mo would mean they'd be getting close now.