Vulpster03

I noticed the Institute of Art launched a redesigned website. Great move in my opinion, and long overdue. http://www.cia.edu/ The website doesn't feature any details about CIA's plans, but I'm sure they will in the near future. Also, I find it interesting that it was mentioned that a lot of these developments at CIA will occur in the next five years! It sounds pretty exciting.

I never seem to hear voiced concerns about recent Cleveland development impacts on its first suburbs. While I want to embrace all that is happening downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods, could urban renewal in the city steal residents and retail tenents from cities like Lakewood and Cleveland Heights? These cities have traditionaly been favored by young professionals, artists, professors, students, and middle-income people who prefer urban living. What impact does the Warehouse District, Ohio City, and Detroit Shoreway have on Lakewood, and what impact will the University Circle arts and retail district and housing initiatives have on Coventry, Cedar Fairmont, and Cedar Lee in Cleveland Heights? Is there a threat here, or could all of these developments be seen as complements and draw people into the city and its first suburbs who traditionally wouldn't consider them?

I think you are right that it might be too small for Forest City. I reviewed their properties and projects lists on several occasions, and they don't seem to be too interested in that 'type' of development anyway. They seem to like things like office buildings, large scale residential developments, hotels, and insitutional projects. They don't seem to do the who shopping center and apartment thing like these developers are interested in. Forest City is developing Case's West Quad research center, so they are interested in Case, but I can see how they aren't real interested in this type of district project.

This news article today was really good to hear. I'm also glad that these developers have responded to Case's plan for the creation of the arts and retail district, even though Case isn't going to provide funding. Not that Case should, but it is good that these developers see the logic and opportunity available here. Of course it will be interesting to see how the city plays a role in the development, which I'm sure will begin to unfold sometime in the near future. Anyone have an initial preference on the developer? I know we really have to see each of their plans to make a judgement, but I'm kind of thinking I'd prefer to have Stark Enterprises develop this area. I think they have been embracing new urbanism in the past several years better than the others, and seem the most capable at attracting new retailers to the Cleveland market and really creating a buzz about their developments. Yeah, hopefully this development will help the neighborhoods between downtown and University Circle. I think the Euclid Corridor's goal is to do this, and successful development downtown and in University Circle will probably encourage further improvements along Euclid and hopefully spill over into other areas of Midtown like Chester, Prospect, and Carnegie. Chester by the way seems to have made a lot of improvements in terms of new housing for a while now.

clvdr, I strongly support a west shore line. If you read my first post on this forum, I talked about how great it would be if Market Square/Ohio City, Gordon Square/Detroit-shoreway, Edgewater Park, Clifton Boulevard, Rocky River and maybe Westlake or Bay Village could all be connected. Clifton Boulevard seems like the perfect place for a portion of this transit line to run. It is certainly wide enough to put in boarding medians, and Lakewood is so densely populated (especially on the shore in the towers). In my criticisms about putting the transit line along Detroit in Lakewood, it is only that I see where Clifton would make more sense. It is within closer proxmity to a lot of people, Clifton has the potential to become even higher density with new housing, and you could easing create a specifically Lakewood circulater bus that could could connect Clifton with Detroit Avenue. Intuitively I believe this line would be one of the most used out of all the RTA lines, and I think it would be very important to plan a transit line here as soon as possible. We have all kinds of new interest in Ohio City and Detroit-Shoreway where all kinds of new housing and development is occurring. You have the reconfiguration of the Shoreway coming up. Lakewood remains in my opinion a very attractive place to live, and Rocky River remains extremely attractive and is a very good example a mixed-use community that seems to be improving and exhibiting increasingly higher density housing in the Old Detroit area. The opportunity and importance for a west shore line should be an extremely high priority right now. Again, I am strongly relying on my instincts and feelings based on my knowledge of the west side, but I think that the people who live on the West Shore and along I-90 generally have a more favorable opinion of downtown Cleveland, and see things only getting better. People here would embrace the line and use it. The only issue for a lot of people who live in areas like Lakewood (maybe not so much), Rocky River, Bay Village, and Westlake is that they consider (perhaps mistakenly) that access to downtown isn't convenient enough. I think they would embrace a transit line and it would encourage them to enjoy Detroit-Shoreway, Edgewater Park, Ohio City, and downtown on a more regular basis. As someone who has lived in Avon Lake their entire life- a city on the Lake practically in the middle of Cleveland and Lorain- I will say that a transit line right now along the west shore that extends all the way out to Lorain is probably unnecessary. I know that no one east of Avon Lake would want to travel west of it, and people west of Avon Lake have no desire to go east of it. I have been able to gauge this interest my entire life. For one thing, the western Cuyahoga communities support jobs and retail that is way out of Lorain County's market. Another thing is, people in Lorain-Elyria actually consider the city of Cleveland and even downtown a dangerous place where they don't really want to go. This perception is completely ridiculous, especially because Lorain-Elyria probably has more crime and issues than Cleveland, but this is what they believe. People in the western Cuyahoga communities would probably appreciate better linkage with Cleveland, but would probably be more hostile towards attempts to link their communities with Lorain-Elyria. There is just this cultural divide between the two metro areas that wouldn't lend itself well to a feasible line. I don't think studies are capable of understanding this.

I feel like pedestrian streets should really be instituted very rarely, and only if the circumstances are perfect. I don't think pedestrian streets become destinations due to the fact that they are closed off from cars, and draw pedestrians simply for the fact they have been designated specifically for them. Pedestrian streets only make sense when 1. There is already a heavy pedestrian base, and 2. the street wasn't really designed well to accomodate the automobile in the first place, 3. there is a lack of indoor structures that serve as pedestrian zones. I recently spent more than five months in Europe, and this is what I'm basing my feelings on. I saw some pedestrian zones that weren't so great, and others that were wonderful and full of street life. They really only work when the street's economy is soley based on tourism. When over a thousand tourists at any given time are out on a street to see the historic sights, eat, drink, shop, and the street wasn't designed for the automobile in the first place, then you see the sense in making these pedestrian zones. If a street could be complete (with automobiles) then this should be the ideal. Barcelona's Las Ramblas is the nices example of a complete street that I have ever seen. Check out more about that street if you are interested on good "complete" streets. It has everything, from trees, wide sidewalks, a metro line running underneath, car lanes, and bike lanes. It is great, and connects the central square of the city with the harbor. It is kind of overly touristic, but full of life, and a good combination of non-touristic purposes as well. On most college campus' this model works well, but it still fits what I see as the necessary criteria. Cleveland we can see how most of the streets are designed for automobiles, and some of the sidewalks have good distance between the street and the building that allow plenty of room for pedestrians (like in the Warehouse District). I don't think it would be necessary to close W.6th off from automobile traffic. We could also consider Tower City, the Old Arcade, and Colonial Marketplace as pedestrian zones. In fact I use these structures most of the time as a pedestrian route when walking through the city. Are they necessarily doing very well in terms of attracting tenants and things? I think we should be looking at what already have in terms of pedestrian zones in the city, before we talk about creating a lot of new ones. It would simply create an overabundance of pedestrian spaces, and we might loose something from the automobile traffic in the process.

I think Detroit Avenue in a lot of places is just too narrow to support a rail or streetcar line, but thats just my impression.

I don't know why, but I feel like there are a lot of signs that indicate uprooting the Quicken Loans HQ and relocating it here is a real possibility. At least the news seem to indicate to me that there is a greater chance of this happening than there ever was with OfficeMax. Does anyone else feel the same way? OfficeMax in Shaker (though started there) had been owned by this company in Chicago for a while that was serving as the OfficeMax headquarters. When the execs talked about their desire to consolidate its operations under one location, it seemed like Cleveland had a good chance for a variety of reasons, but looking back you have to admit that it was unlikely that the Chicago-area HQ was going to uproot all its offices here when they wanted to consolidate their operations after such long abesentee management. This Quicken Loans situation is a little different. Before they even open their planned office here, they announce they might consider Cleveland as a possibility for a relocated HQ. They apparently brought all the employees here for a weekend last year out on the town highlighting the city's great attractions and assets. You have Dan Gilbert saying great things, and of course he is an owner of the Cavs. You have to wonder if a possible HQ move hasn't been the plan all along, or at least a real possibility. I just find the sequence of Quicken Loans announcements very interesting and unlike anything I think we have seen before. I think the city has really been working on its high tech initiatives. We have the Tech Czar working on a lot of projects. I think Euclid Avenue for instance has become really wired with really high-tech something-or-another cables actually running underneath in the vaulted corridor underneath. I've heard about this mentioned in news articles about tech companies moving downtown and attracted to the sheer high-tech infrastructure that is downtown now. Also, that project with Intel and Digital Cities and One Cleveland, and the Ingenuity festival. Maybe the city has really sold Cleveland's image as an up-and-coming high tech city, and maybe Detroit doesn't have similar initiatives nor the image Quicken would like to have for its HQ. In addition to the increasingly high tech profile of the city, maybe Cleveland is actually more economically sound than Detroit. Cleveland has always seemed to have a strong financial industry, which Quicken Loans might be attracted to as well. the prestigeous Federal Reserve Bank Branch (which employees a lot more people than people realize), Key Bank/McDonald, National City, DFAS, Progressive, and the presence of Hunington, Fifth Third Bank, Chase, and Deloit. Maybe Cleveland also offers a lot more for young professionals in terms of urban living downtown. It is one of the Top Ten emerging downtowns of the country if I recall. I think the Warehouse District is looking great and probably very attractive for college grads. The Flats East Bank, Avenue District, East Fourth, and other smaller projects throughout the city are also looking great. I was only briefly in Detroit about a year ago. It has been about 6 years when I was in Detroit last. I was in the area and stopped there for the Taste of Detroit or something. There were people there- not much- but the rest of the streets downtown looked so dead. Like a depressing ghost town scene to the extent that I don't think has ever really existed in Cleveland. It was nothing like the Rib-Cook off. I'm sure Detroit has improved since then, and I'm not really qualified to say, but I don't think Detroit offers an impressive up-and-coming downtown and will struggle a lot more than Cleveland's efforts. Don't people say that though the two cities are similar, Detroit is like Cleveland but without the glitz? Maybe Detroit doesn't have the same things to offer, or have the same momentum going on in the city. This company seems to be growing, and it seems like the company might want to identify with a city that is growing or wants to grow in the same cultural direction as the company. I think Quicken Loans is strongly considering a move here.

The nice thing about this service as far as I can tell so far from the little bit of trip planning are the reasonable times the buses arrive and depart Cleveland. I have never used greyhound or Amtrak, but considered it several times, and was curious about it. The timings available for departure from Cleveland and arrival in other cities is almost pointless. It is in the 12:30 AM to 4 AM range. I think its unacceptable. I don't know if this fortunate or not, but it seems like these bus routes wouldn't be appropriate for the feeder routes that the Ohio Hub Rail plan calls for. They seem to be strictly express buses. The line running from Cleveland to Chicago won't even stop in Toledo for instance to pick up new passengers.

A Lorain County line doesn't really make sense to me. I don't think it would be used. The Lorain-Elyria metro area population never really goes into Cleveland. Not for jobs, not for entertainment, not for anything really, and vice versa. What Cleveland or Cuyahoga Country resident go west of Cuyahoga Country for anything? I grew up in Avon Lake, which is one of the few cities outside of Cuyahoga County that gets RTA bus service. It is very limited and only available during rush hour, but I think enough people do use it. Avon Lake has been getting RTA service for as long as I can remember. Avon Lake and Avon are the only two cities in Lorain County where the residents travel east (and we do for everything), and the only Lorain County cities that could be considered part of the real Cleveland metropotolitan area for this reason. It is unfortunate, because their development and prosperity has been due to suburban sprawl in Cleveland, but a lot of people in Avon and Avon Lake do work downtown, and go into the city regularly (compartively speaking of course, because not enough people from these cities go into the city for pleasure). Traveling on I-90 from Avon or Avon Lake only takes 25 minutes to get to Public Square. So the only justification I think in creating a commuter line west into Lorain County would be to reach Avon and Avon Lake better, but even so, these communties are designed so poorly that you would always have to have an automobile and public transit routes (even community circulators) wouldn't work very well. RTA would be better justified in simply improving some kind of service into Bay Village or Westlake for the area residents and those west into Lorain County to meet up with. I think the Westlake Park-n-Ride lot has been successful (as far as I am aware of) for this reason. Interestingly enough though, there used to be a lakeshore line running from downtown Cleveland to downtown Lorain. Electric Boulevard in Avon Lake and a little bit of Bay Village (hence the name) is where the tracks used to lay. The space has been turned into a residential street in the 60s, and probably incapable of returning for lack of space.

Yeah, I think this sounds great, but I can hardly believe it. You know I checked out the trip planner for a future date to see what the catch is. Sure enough, it was $1! and I think that includes your luggage fare, but not your reservation (but even that I think is only fifty cents). I mean to go all the way to Cleveland from Chicago for only $1.50! I pay that to go Shaker Square from Tower City. Oh, I wonder if your return trip costs a lot more. I bet it has to. This is all so strange, and it sounds too good to be true. For a bus it doesn't take that long either. It looks like the trip to Chicago on these buses is only 6 hours. Downtown Cleveland to downtown Chicago with a couple breaks here and there would take a little over five. This sounds much better than greyhound! If this is really a feasible business, then I'm sure they are looking to expand. Cleveland wold probably become a really good transit hub once again! Halfway between Detroit and Pittsburg, halfway between Cincinnati and Buffalo, and halfway between Chicago and New York. It sounds exciting to think about.

I wonder if the new "gold line" name for the bus route that runs along Clifton where we'd like to see BRT, rapid, or streetcar is actually some kind of test. I wonder if RTA is trying to market this route and make some changes (supposedly improved) to the schedule to check out the possibilities. I can't say I necessarily took credit for the new "gold line" name on the bus route, but I sent them feedback about a year ago, and recommended they make a "gold line" BRT to oppose the silver line, and provide better service on the upper-westside. Maybe RTA does take feedback sent to them seriously. I think the west side route should go from Rocky River, into Lakewood on Clifton, turn right on Lake Avenue, and head east on Detroit either all the way to public square, or down W.25th to a new transit center opposite the rapid. I suppose it could even go on to Carnegie, and connect with the Euclid Corridor. Heck, it should just be one line anyway! What I like about my route is that it would connect Market Square, Gordon Square, Edgewater Park, Clifton Boulevard, and Rocky River. This entire area is seeing a lot of significant investment and new housing (Battery Park for instance), and it already has such a high density. It would be good to invest in transit here probably more so than about anywhere else. The Shaker line is nice running into the east side and especially Shaker Square, but the line on the Gold Coast in whatever form would probably be way more successful.

Cleveland.com News Update New intercity bus service coming to Cleveland (4:18 p.m.) A company that provides bus service in Great Britain is coming to America, and Cleveland will be one of its stops. Offering fares as low as $1 for nonstop travel to and from Chicago from eight Midwest cities, Megabus.com will rely on Internet booking. The service is due to start running April 10. Besides a few $1 discount seats, regular bookings will cost up to $27.50 one-way. The other cities in the service: Cincinnati, Columbus, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and St. Louis. The company doesn't plan to use terminals. According to the Megabus Web site, Cleveland passengers will be picked up at the RTA stop at West Huron Road and West Third Street downtown, by Tower City. MORE: http://www.cleveland.com

I think the Grand Prix in Cleveland is pretty significant. It also attracts a pretty good international crowd from what I understand. I did not however attend.

It doesn't look like Western Reserve has been officially dropped from the title. The website still uses the full title near the top (albeit under "Case" in much larger and distinguished font) and the copyright at the bottom is still Case Western Reserve Univeristy. I would be in favor of keeping the full name, and simply encouraging "Case" as shorthand or term instead of CWRU. The other efforts of the university to add Case to every other institution in the circle seems a little ridiculous to me. Would the university change the Cleveland Museum of Art to the Case Univerisity Art Gallery? haha. Yeah changing University Hospitals or Severance Hall or anything else seems unnecessary. If anything Case should change its name to incorporate Cleveland. Like University of Cleveland or something to that effect to better communicate its location and name recognition with the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Cleveland Clinic, but this would probably be a bad idea and alienate alumni. As a student caller for Miami University I encounter very few alumni who bring up the fact we changed from Miami Redskins to Miami Redhawks just a few years ago before I came here. It was a big deal when it first happened, but people did seem to eventually get over it. I do have more trouble though with the Western College alumnae. Western College was a private all-women's college here in Oxford actually associated with Mount Holyoake in MA. In the 70s the school went bankrupt, and the campus was purchased by Miami. It has since been integrated into the Miami Campus, but that part of campus remains "Western" and is the place for Miami's Interdisciplinary studies program. The alumnae from Western sometimes get abrasive when they hear a male calling for the Western College Alumni Association, which is a guise anyway for simply Miami University. The university does its best to preserve the Western College name and identity, but the alumnae from this school really aren't very valuable to the university. There aren't many left, and there aren't that many. I perceive a lot of the complaints I receive from alumni regarding these changes to simply be an excuse not to give. Maybe I would feel differently in their shoes, but I think they have to realize that the institution itself has essentially remained unchanged and progressed even since the time they attended.

"Oh in Ohio" update! The "Oh in Ohio" indie movie with Danny DeVito, Parker Posey, and Misha Barton filmed in Cleveland has released its trailer and launched a website. I'm not sure if it will be released nationwide, but I'm sure it will play in Cleveland Cinemas sometime this summer. The official website:http://www.theohinohio.com/ The Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KM8jMGg3O0&search=The%20Oh%20in%20Ohio%20Mischa%20Barton%20Paul%20Rudd%20Parker%20Posey PD Coverage of premier: http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1142674680192320.xml?eaall&coll=2 It sounds like some interesting national exposure for the city. The filmmaker also had great things to say about the city, and that it plays something like a character in the film. I could pick out a view of the lakefront from an office window, and a short clip from the Civic Center. I heard they also filmed at a local school, a neighborhood in Avon Lake, and a game at Jacob's Field when the film was in production. I don't know how much I'll like the film when it is released, but appearance-wise it looks pretty good. It seems like one of the most significant recent films shot in Cleveland because the story line takes place entirely in Cleveland, and the movie makes viewers aware of it.

David Wain, the filmmaker of Wet Hot American Summer, is from Shaker Heights. The movie makes a couple references to Cleveland, and features another Shaker Heights native; Molly Shannon. Airforce One from a while back now features a shot and scene of Severance Hall in the openning. Severance in the movie is supposed to be some kind of ambassador's mansion.

I think those pictures look great, and I could totally see them on Euclid and midtown. I kind of struggled in my thoughts about how Euclid should look in regards to architecture. Something about embracing really contemporary architecture seems attractive, as well reviving Western Reserve style architecture, but I think this red brick Italianate revival would fit very nicely. In addition to the Masonic Auditorium, there are a number of red brick Italiante mansions still intact on Prospect. These homes on Prospect probably never matched the granduer of the ones on Euclid, but they still look very nice, and I'd like to see more revival of that architecture in Midtown. Italianate architecture in Cleveland is pretty rare, and the lack of it distinguishes it from the rest of Ohio, but it would be very nice to add more Italiante infill here to create a unique identity for Midtown as well as the overrall diversity of architecture in Cleveland.

I think Case just launched a significant master plan update on its website today. You can see the link here: http://www.case.edu/webdev/mplan/index3.html Also, outgoing president is interviewed by Cool Cleveland: http://www.coolcleveland.com/index.php?n=Main.CoolClevelandInterviewEdHundert

Even though I wondor if Stewart Square can be successful, and if it is successful I wonder too about the potentially negative impact on uptown, I think more mixed-use development should be used in Oxford to target the non-student population. I agree with you about Oxford's relationship with the university and the college population. There is an attractive non-student population in Oxford that isn't really recognized. First of all the university employees a lot of people, and Oxford kind of serves as a medical, legal, retail (traditionally), entertainment, public broadcasting, and cultural hub for the surrounding rural communities that employees both professional people and people in the hospitality industry. There are also people working at the Fraternity/Soriority headquarters offices in Oxford, which interestingly was a practicular market that I think is being targeted for a condo development near the Beta headquarters just outside of Oxford. The univeristy and city could also develop business incubators and start up companies (preferably in a designated district) with relationship to the university. With all the events that take place on campus, the attractiveness of uptown Oxford, and a good base of unique and high quality shops/restaurants I think the town could capitalize more on the Cincinnati and Dayton markets by making Oxford a day-trip destination. Butler County is one of the highest growth counties in all of Ohio, and though its growth is related to sprawl and out migration of Hamilton County, I think Oxford should try and capitalize on this and be a "smart growth" model. So, I see the potential for a retail/residential/office development for the non-student population. Some of the apartment comlexes near Tollgate could be purchased, renovated, and turned into for-sale housing as well and incorporated into a greater more comprehensive plan. The creation of "downtown" along Locust on the former sites of Walmart and Big Lots would provide the perfect size and location for an appropriate downtown district of this kind. I am a junior political science major at Miami right now by the way.

If you had to guess, what tenants do you think will go in this place? Do you see something like national apparel retailers like Gap, Urban Outfitters, American Apparel. Or do you think for whatever reason local places might relocate from uptown into Stewart Square? Speaking of Tollgate and the former Walmart. Both sites should and could be redeveloped into Oxford's "downtown" in an effort to try and halt development sprawling away from the city center down 27. Maybe not all of Tollgate, but at least the Big Lots and CVS portion across from the Walmart. (By the way Mocha Joe's is closed now too). The city also needs more non-student market-rate housing within mile square. Building a mixed-development here on these sites would have been preferrable.

I'm having a hard time imagining what kind of retailers will go into Stewart Square. CVS is going in for sure, and that's all I know. There is a contingent on campus (ridiculously) obsessed with Panera and would like to see one go in. I guess I could see that, but with uptown oxford already in place with a successful mix of tenants and urban atmosphere where there is still room to fill, and Tollgate struggling a lot right now, I'd like to know what kind of tenants the developers intend on pursuing. I think there is little room for retail growth in Oxford, but that's just me. The bar and restaurant market in Oxford is over-saturated.

I grew up on an outer west side suburb of Cleveland. If you mention downtown in any one of the west side suburbs, and I suspect much of the east side suburbs, people automatically think of downtown Cleveland. In my opinion Cleveland suburbs generally weren't ever designed to have downtowns. They seemed to have been created with a great understanding that they were going to be (for the most part) purely residential and rely on its relationship to downtown Cleveland. I think this really creates a stong "metropolitan" feel to the area, unlike other cities in Ohio and the country too. There are no Main or High streets in Cleveland suburbs, unlike Columbus and Cincinnati suburbs. Of course the suburbs haven't always been considerate toward downtown Cleveland, but in their conception they certainly were. On the west side I find it interesting that pretty much all commercial development stretching from Ohio City all the way into Lorain County lies on Detroit Avenue and Lorain Road. That's a pretty considerable distance and for about 90% of commercial districts to lie on two roads that serve a population of nearly 200,000 I find it pretty impressive (those numbers are my estimates, and based on nothing else). Very few suburbs in Cleveland could be considered sustainable. Most people drive across multiple municipal borders everyday for various reasons; work, schools, grocery shopping, restaurants, churches, parks, other errands. I know a lot of people who go to neighboring post offices, libraries, and rec centers just because they like them better. Regionalism should really take off here for these reasons. Cleveland suburbs are too numerous and tiny to offer everything to their residents. Schools are a huge road block to consolidation, but what's really the difference between Lakewood and West Park and/or Edgewater, Rocky River and Fairview Park, Avon and Avon Lake, Bay Village and Westlake, North Olmsted and Olmsted Falls? A lot of suburbs should be consolidated. Promote better planning and development, and cut costs of administration. But anyway, to go along with the orginal topic, excluding the passe lifestyle centers, Chagrin Falls does without a doubt have a downtown, and its probably one of the best small town "downtowns" that exist in the country. Rocky River along Detroit, and a little bit of Lakewood's West End is also pretty cool and I would recommend as a destination.

Just to clarify, I love Cleveland very much and certainly intend on returning. I am fully aware with all the new developments throughout the city (and metropolitan area) and check up on them regularly by frequenting them. I think everyone in the city is generally doing a good job at planning for the future and wanting more investment and people in the city. The will in Cleveland is stronger and I think more yielding of results than other comparable cities. I am also continually impressed by the fact that virtually all improvements in the city have been locally developed. We should be very proud of this fact. Even though outside investment and interest should be welcomed without question, I think you look at all the improvements and see the local money, talent, and time going into them and should be very satisfied. I am all for expansion of existing institutions like schools, hospitals, and museums. They are our greatest assets, and should not be hindered in their growth. I do think their growth could be fueled by mixed-use developments. What student, professor, and doctor wouldn't be attracted to these institutions if the neighborhood matched the quality of the institution. For instance on Euclid you see a strip of run down commercial buildings across from CSU and next to Playhouse Square, a lot of vaccant space or unattractive public works types of buildings between downtown and university circle, and you have very little retail and residential serving one of the most fascinating and educational districts in the country; University Circle. I understand all the plans to fix the situation. The plans look great, and I have no doubt they will come eventually, but after seeing how well they work in other places, it seems like we should be hearing of all these plans coming to fruition any day now. It is overdue.

I'm really ready to see the University Circle arts and retail district. It is way overdue. Going to Miami University and living in a college town myself right now, I just can't understand what the problem is with CWRU and CSU for that matter. Coming back to school, I stopped in Columbus to check out their downtown. I hadn't been there in a about year. High Street in Columbus is a lot like Euclid in that it connects downtown with the university district, and they are both essentially the main streets of the city. High Street looks great, especially in the past year. Now High Street isn't as long as Euclid, and OSU is much much bigger than CWRU so it is a little easier for them to pack High Street with new developments and make it vibrant in a short amount of time, but Euclid still has all this potential, and I think more so than High Street in Columbus. First of all downtown Cleveland employs a heck of a lot more people than downtown Columbus, and intuitively I believe all the institutions in University Circle and the Cleveland Clinic combined make University Circle a much more powerful force than OSU. You also have CSU and Playhouse Square on Euclid. Where are the developments to support all this in Cleveland? I don't think the city and developers are really seeing thee potential here. More emphasis is on the Flats, E4th, Steelyard Commons, the convention center, and other things which are all wonderful, but the fastest way to really pump more life in the city is on Euclid Avenue and I don't think it is being approached with much priority. I am really hoping that it is the construction of the silver line that is holding these developments back until it is finished. But it would be really nice to see things happen in simultaneously with the silver line instead of subsequentially. Has anyone else been to the Short North and driven down High Street between Columbus and OSU and have any thoughts? Now i still think Columbus is way overrated and not as interesting as Cleveland. In Cleveland we have numerous neighborhoods like Warehouse District, Ohio City, Tremont, Little Italy, Gateway and Coventry. Columbus' High Street is really just a combination of all these districts, and there isn't really a whole lot else in Columbus, but the result is a pretty vibrant and attractive thoroughfare.