j73

^I agree - this seems like a really bad idea. The Clinic campus already feels very disconnected from the surrounding area (yeah, you have to drive through it, but most of the entrances are on side streets) and this seems like they're just turning their backs on the community and focusing on their little island. As I read it, I wondered when they were going to ask to put up a big fence around the whole thing so it could truly feel like a suburban office park plopped in the middle of a city... BTW, I don't think it would hurt Case's plans for the Triangle and the Beach as Chester pretty much dumps you back on to Euclid right at their proposed retail area, but any hopes for redevelopment Euclid between CSU and CCF (the shabbiest part today) would be pretty much killed.

The reality is that the US still has WAY too many banks. According to the Fed there are almost 1600 banks with more than $300MM in assets. That doesn't even count all the little banks, credit unions, S&Ls, etc. That number has been declining as many of the restrictions on bank size of have been lifted (e.g. interstate banking) and the technology has improved to allow things like Nat'l City owning a bank in FL. While I like competition as much as the next guy, these small banks are often too small to be efficient or to offer the services I want (like finding one of my banks ATM's when I travel). I don't think we want 3 banks (or 2.5) but whittling it down to 50-100 large ones (>$300MM which isn't even very big when you consider Nat'l City is #18 w/$73B in assets) seems very likely over the next few decades.

I think I mentioned this randomly in some other post once, but since it's actually relevant now, I'll say it again... The Cultural Gardens have a ton of potential - they're uniquely Cleveland, have great (and sometimes sad) history, and could be really beautiful. I know wim mentioned that some improvements had been made (at the Shakespeare Garden specifically). If so, a lot more need to be made. Most of the gardens are missing much of their statuary (some's in storage, some's just plain gone), many of the fountains don't work, and the landscaping is generally poorly maintained. Here's what I'd propose (if money weren't an issue, of course): (1) restore all the statuary and fix all of the infrastructure that's there (in and of itself this is a big project - I think I saw a price tag of something like $25MM just to do this) (2) Improve/restore the plantings and try to make them somewhat culturally relevant (3) Finish the 2 newest gardens (African-American and Indian) (4) Build a visitors' center that features (some) parking and exhibits giving a history of the gardens and suggested itineraries for tours of the gardens. Some programming would also help - several of the gardens have small built-in performance or gathering areas. For a lot of info on the gardens, check out: http://academic.csuohio.edu/clevelandhistory/culturalgardens/ Beyond that, it's always seemed remarkable to me that Rockefeller Park wasn't lined with Apt buildings that looked into the park (don't put the bldgs in the park, but adjacent to it), sort of like how the buildings in NYC frame Central Park. Who wouldn't want that view? Finally, spend some money and make Gordon Park a place someone would actually choose to spend time. It's utterly depressing today. Put a beach in, some recreation infrastructure (volleyball nets, maybe?), and landscape the thing a bit. Right now it's basically a trash-strewn and weedy parking lot next to the lake.

^and btw, while I like the look of the University square building from the street, have you ever actually shopped there? It's a complete pain in the ass. We go b/c it's the nearest Target, but it's one of the least usable shopping centers I've ever seen. The parking garage in the middle sounds like a great idea, but just works really poorly. A better design probably could have kept it urban and made it usable, but oh well... a topic for another thread.

As for Dutch Alley, the Encyclopedia says this in the "Dutch" entry: The Cleveland Dutch settled in a segregated pattern according to their place of origin and religion. The Zeelanders and some from Overijssel Province lived in 3 east side neighborhoods: along Central Ave. between E. 33rd and E. 39th streets, where the True Holland Reformed Church (later East Side Christian Reformed Church) was built in 1872; along Lexington Ave. and E. 55th St., where the First Holland Reformed Church was built in 1864; and at E. 75th St. and Woodland Ave. in "Dutch Alley.

Here's the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry on Collamer (short answer: it was once part of E. Cleveland) COLLAMER was the section of the present city of EAST CLEVELAND that stretched from Lakeview on the west and Ivanhoe on the east. Bisected by Euclid Ave., Collamer was intersected by such roads as Noble, Taylor, and Lee to the south, and Doan, Shaw, and Collamer to the north. The original settlement of Collamer was established in 1812 when a tannery and gristmill were started by David Crocker near Collamer St. and Euclid Ave., where NINE MILE CREEK crossed. Named in 1850 for Judge Jacob Collamer, postmaster general under Pres. Zachary Taylor, the little colony had previously been known as Nine Mile Creek or Euclid Village. Some of the earliest churches in the Western Reserve were established in Collamer, including the Plan of Union Church (later the FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF EAST CLEVELAND). Because of the large number of ministers who came to reside there, the area was referred to as Saints' Row. From 1870-79, Collamer was the largest grape-shipping point in the U.S., followed by Dover, OH. It was also noted as the territory of the Lakeview & Collamer Railroad, which ran north of Superior, turned east, and ran north of Euclid, where it again turned east to Chardon. Part of this route was used later for the rapid transit, which ran from E. Cleveland to PUBLIC SQUARE. Collamer was included in the township of E. Cleveland (est. 1847) and the village (later the city) of E. Cleveland (est. 1895).

without wading into the whole DC vs. Cleveland debate... The arguments against SYC seem to fall into 2 categories: 1) That Wal-mart, Target, Home Depot are fundamentally evil and thus building them anywhere is bad. I have little patience for this argument. jamie's post a few pages back pretty much sums it up for me - they've found a more cost-effective way to deliver goods that people want and have done it in a way such that many people would rather shop there than at their other alternatives. Additionally, in this situation, many of the products offered by these stores simply aren't available at other retail locations in the city. To me, SYC makes living in Tremont/OC/etc. more attractive since rather than driving to a suburb, you can easily get to SYC instead while still living in a vibrant, urban environment. Most of the retail in those neighborhoods (w/the exception of Dave's and Family Dollar) are likely to be little affected since they don't offer the same kinds of things (e.g. art galleries, ethnic restaurants, etc.) 2) The second type of argument is more compelling - that the retail planned for SYC would have been better placed within the neighborhoods or, failing that, designed in a more urban way at the SYC site to essentially turn that into something of a neighborhood (potentially with mixed use, etc.) This first half seems desirable but unlikely - where would you have put all that retail and would those retailers have gone in without having the HD or WMT next door to help draw traffic? I agree w/the 2nd, but as many have pointed out, mixed use seems unlikely for that site given its proximity to the industrial valley. So, perhaps the design is changeded a bit with more parking garages and a denser, more "main street" feeling and we create a Crocker Park version of it. Seems like tweaking at that point that changes little.

^amen...

I'll likely make the Downtown part...

We call those trees "maples". :-)

^Speaking of Coventry... New patio at Panini's looks to be open or about open. They did a nice job with it. Looks like a Jimmy John's is going to move into the old Big Fun spot - hope Grum's can survive. No visible progress on City Buddha and American Apparrel, although both are supposed to open this Spring (which ends in about a month...) New Thai place (Mint Cafe) has people out the door on weekend nights. Pacific East added Malaysian food a couple months back. And I saw someone in the old Deli Delite space (next to Pacific East, more on the Mayfield Road side). Maybe something's going to try that spot again. On the down side, Medic is still empty, with rumors still that Marc's will move in. Old Utrecht still empty as is most of the block between Pacific East and Mint Cafe (incl old Grog Shop). Not sure why I felt the need to give a complete run-down on Coventry, but there you go...

Lots of good suggestions above re:Ohio City and Tremont - both are great neighborhoods. Don't be put off by Cle Hts because of the "50+ lights" comment. There are many lights, but there aren't 50 by any stretch. Regardless of the exact #, commuting from the Coventry or Cedar/Fairmount areas of Cle Hts (or even Cedar/Lee for that matter) to CSU is about a 10-15 minute drive. And, if your SO has a suburban bias, Cle Hts might be more palatable than OC or definitely Tremont (which has always felt more gritty urban to me than the W 25th area of Ohio City). Cle Hts is often described as an "urban suburb" and as goofy as that sounds, it fits. It's pretty dense, has walkable neighborhoods, and lots of non-chain places, but is a bit safer and more suburban feeling than those other places. Obviously, take a look around and see what works for you.

^I see the Scion in Coventry parked all the time at the Marathon station at the NW corner of Mayfield and Coventry. (Easy to spot since it says "City Wheels" right on the side...)

^Dammit, Strap, you make some good points. There are many examples of cities with relatively lifeless central business districts (you can add DC and Chicago to the list, although Chicago's trying) even though there are a lot of daytime workers. So, does that mean adding office bldgs (and downtown workers to fill them) is a bad (or at least not particularly helpful) idea? I'm still not sold - most of those other cities have pretty attractive urban neighborhoods to live in that aren't all that far away and have few housing options in their CBDs. So maybe the answer is that adding an office bldg in downtown would help drive housing in the WHD? Like you said, some urban economist probably has figured this out already, but in the absence of a real answer, it's more fun to just make stuff up... :-)

I disagree. They help build many things that make downtown a more attractive place, both to walk around, but more importantly, to live. First, they provide jobs - living downtown makes a lot more sense when your job is nearby. Second, while all of downtown that some of those office workers see is between the parking garage and the building, many venture out for meals, run errands at local business or go out for drinks after work. No doubt, residents make the biggest difference since they live/work/shop/generally live in the downtown, but workers are probably the next best thing as they help support some of the business that make downtown living a viable option. In any case, given the vacancy rates at the moment, its hard to see that there'd be too much office construction any time soon anyway...

^My guess is that what makes it controversial is that the initial, easily-measurable cost of putting a homeless person in their own apartment looks a whole lot more expensive than putting them in a regular shelter (even more so if the city relies on other agencies to fund and run the shelter). So voters start screaming about the wasteful city spending $s on putting up homeless folks (especially after the inevitable story about the homeless person put up in a really nice apartment comes out, regardless of why that might have made sense). Even after the other costs come down, it still looks expensive to the average voter since it's hard to trace the decline in other costs to the reduction in homelessness. Another controversial element could be the moral hazard problem. I.e. I'm barely scraping by paying my rent, but if I just went homeless I could get a free place. Could probably mitigate it with rules about who qualifies, but they could be difficult to implement/enforce.

Ugh. While I like when folks in a neighborhood get together and take an interest in improving their neighborhood, this just sounds like your typical, provincial, anti-development crap. People just don't like to accept that as a neighborhood improves, demand to live in and develop that area will naturally increase and that will drive up prices. Some of these groups act like it a tragedy that people might actually want to live in "their" neighborhood. If UC did actually turn into another Georgetown, we should be thankful. It would great to have at least one neighborhood whose charm didn't need to be described as "gritty".

^how so?

^Isn't that in the Old Arcade?

Just quoted Pope b/c I liked his post and it's related to the redevelopment plan, highlights of which you can find here --> http://www.littleitalyredevelopment.org/masterplan.htm

Murray Hill is the name of the street, was the name of the school, is the name of the physical hill and is often the nickname for the whole neighborhood, as in the "Murray Hill Art Walk", etc. I've always heard the names used synonymously, but have always preferred "Murray Hill" - every town has a Little Italy. Not much charm in that. Doesn't really matter either way...

Actually, according to my records, both the Villa Carabelli and Edghill Townhomes are completely in Cleveland. I think MTS is the winner on this one - according to the Future Heights site, half of the units are in Cleveland and half are in Cleveland Hts. If I remember correctly, all the Cleveland ones sold quickly b/c they had more generous tax abatements.

If anyone has access to it, there was a really long article in the PD 2-3 yrs ago about the Progressive building and why it wasn't built. That article either outright said or strongly implied that it wasn't built b/c Peter felt like the powers that be in Cleveland didn't accept him and weren't willing to help him get it done.

RE: the Ratners. Saw this on cleveland.com. Thursday, March 23, 2006 Big donations and record attendance highlight film fest News and notes from the Cleveland International Film Festival ... Cleveland concert-promoting legend Jules Belkin announced at a screening of “A Cantor’s Tale” Wednesday night that he would match anyone’s donation to the festival’s $30,000 "Challenge Match" two to one. Forest City developer Albert Ratner took him up on it, writing a big check after the film. Marcie Goodman, executive director of The Cleveland Film Society, the festival’s parent, would not disclose the amount of Ratner’s check, but the "Challenge Match" tally began the day at $17,000 and ended it at $27,000. The "Challenge Match" takes donations throughout the festival to ensure the success of future festivals. Belkin has more than a passing interest in the festival. He is vice president of development for the Cleveland Film Society’s board of directors. This year’s fest runs through Sunday at Tower City Cinemas.

^Weird - I was thinking the same thing... If the CIA doesn't make room for them, what about renovating the old Mayfield theater in Little Italy?