Vulpster03

and I know I'm more attractive when spitting into a cup than with a cigarette hanging out of my mouth. It's spitless now. The market always adjusts. You can always get nasal snuff that you snort. It was very popular during the founding of the country, and I think there is even a snuff box still kept stocked on the congressional floor.

My apartment is nearly one hundred years old. Modern furnishings work just fine, but I personally like the contrast.

CB2 is a cheaper/younger offshoot of Crate & Barrell, but I really like the design and I have been happy with the quality. I've been getting most of my new furnishings from there and Cosmic Collectibles in Lakewood. Design Within Reach is another place I like, but the prices certainly aren't within reach of me at this point.

MVRDV was just featured in Dwell Magazine. The article didn't talk about the CIA project, but it showed a previously released rendering of the CIA project and caption.

Other: Please specify 8 (9.2%) (Non-Profit Sector) Institutional Advancement. Development

The only thing Irish about it is really the Guinness on tap. Everything about the neighborhood, the owners, back room, bocce ball court and menu makes it Italian. And the pizza ovens for the patio are coming from Sicily. Again, why even bother billing yourself as an Irish Pub? As someone with Italian heritage on the west side and no Irish heritage whatsoever, I get sick of all the Irish hoopla.

I wish they would just ditch the whole Irish thing. It makes more sense to be Italian.

I guess I don't really care if Applebees goes in - especially if it is a component of mixed-use development and not an out parcel - but I just don't understand the attraction to applebees. My Friends has them beat hands down. Personally, I'd rather eat at Lakewood Hospital's cafeteria than applebees.

^ I have an issue with streetcar justifications as well. I do advocate streetcars, but these statements aren't really very strong 1. People like using streetcars, because people can see the tracks and know where they go. (Downtown visitors wouldn't know where the tracks go anymore than roads.) 2. Streetcars are a necessary service to offset the cost of increasing gas prices. (It may promote higher density development near the line and enable people to go car free, but the general metropolitan population wouldn't benefit from the streetcar) Both statements are better used for the justification of a metropolitan light rail system. Revitalizing downtown by attracting investment in higher density development is in my opinion the strongest case for streetcars.

Pop culture doesn't bother me. I indulge in it occasionaly, but I don't take it seriously. When people take it seriously and start to let those things dominate their time and lifestyle, then it becomes a problem. I'll watch Best Week Ever when I happen to catch it and I follow a couple reality TV shows, but things like Grey's Anatomy parties bother me (they killed the bar scene on Thursdays at Miami for one).

Oddly enough, I just went to the Happy Dog on April 15 for the first time. Very impressed. It is my new favorite.

$11.44 million for 8.8 acres of downtown waterfront property seems like a steal.

I don't think it is strange or poor taste to see children in a bar area or even sitting at the bar with their parents, especially if food is served. You can't hide from children the fact that some people (adults) drink alcohol , so what's the big deal about children being in a bar anyway? On one hand, I think its probably a good thing to take children to a bar. It takes away the mystery, shows them it can be a normal thing that adults do, and makes drinking less of a big deal. Perhaps if more parents adopted that attitude, you would see a lot less binge drinking in young people. Only if the bar has a kind of vulgar "pickup" clientel culture, would I think it strange or poor taste to see children at a bar.

I would hate to see the project die, but I think their price per square foot is too high. I know new quality construction costs are high, but I don't think they can make the project successful at those prices.

If you look on craigslist there should be listings for temporary/summer housing not too far from the Clinic in neighborhoods such as University Circle, Little Italy or Cleveland Heights. A lot of those places rent to students during the academic year, and I know they look for summer renters. Air conditioning might be hard to find.

Lakewood would be perfect for your price range and there are a lot of doubles to choose from. I live there and very much enjoy the safety, walkability, diverse amenities, excellent library, and location in the Cleveland area. You can check craigslist, but the best way to find units is to drive around and look for "For Rent" signs. When my cousin, her husband, and their baby relocated to the Cleveland area they found a very nice unit in a double in good condition on Lake Avenue near Lakewood Park. It wasn't very expensive and it was the perfect neighborhood for a young family.

Maybe it is bulky because it has the ability to display multiple signs on some kind of rotation system?

It seems like any nightlife/entertainment district goes through phases - not just Cleveland either. The Flats were hot and then they weren't. W.6th in the Warehouse District is hot now. E. 4th is creating strong competetion, and maybe in the next few years it will kill W.6th. And then who knows? Maybe my generation (who never partied in the Flats) will be going... "what happened to the Warehouse District? That was such a hopping place to be back when I went downtown." When it comes to entertainment/nightlife destinations, they all go through cycles.

hayzell - I am not sure if this would help, but when I've decided to go to University from Lakewood on RTA I take the #6 Detroit Avenue bus and transfer to the Red Line at West Boulevard Rapid Station (Detroit/W98th). I have felt safe making this trip late at night - and I think it would be fine for a female - but I can't say much about walking around Cedar between the Clinic and the Rapid station.

Is 20% really the standard? I thought the actual standard was 15%. Most of the time I do 20% but it is not unusual for me to give %15.

My feeling exactly. I couldn't complain about my chop salad, but Metropolitan has an advantage.

I think you would be surprised what some parents are willing to spend for amenities and "safety percautions". I graduated from Miami U last year, and there were some brand new "apartment-style" housing built. Each unit is four bedrooms. They charge almost $4,000 per person per semester. It includes utilities/maintence, but I think its still pretty pricey. Considering a semester is basicly four months, the monthly rent on these small four bedroom apartment is $4,000. It is an outrageous price for Oxford housing, but the students (mostly girls) feel safer being on campus and they like that they are "new"

See you soon

I am thinking about going, but I don't know if I could handle your seemingly abrasive personality

There are ways we can develop communities that foster natural social interaction, without force. 1. Create a financial and urban planning/zoning system that curbs suburban sprawl. It may not eliminate the option to sprawl into the suburbs, but there are things that can be done to slow it and reverse the trend from a public administration standpoint. 2. Drastically reform state and local governments to make way for the creation of metropolitan government in order to reflect the reality of where community exists today. Giving people power over the geography of their daily lives will only be good for citizenship and democracy from a political theory standpoint. Many people live, shop, work and play in multiple municipalities but can only vote in one. 3. Invest in engaging public/civic spaces; public squares, parks and greenspace, townhalls, community meeting places, public art, etc. 4. Strengthen civics and classical education in public schools, which emphasizes that true freedom is not the freedom to be a part from others as an autonomos agent, but the freedom to be a part of the community as an active citizen. So these are some of my suggestions how one would go about creating a more inclusive, tolerant and vibrant society based on communitarian ideology. This allows for plenty of input, encourages input, and none of it is really "forced" like your Prohibition example. Also note that the federal government would have very little involvement. Entrenched individualism, indentity politics, and majority rule and intimately linked. The idea that only you can relate to yourself and no one else, leads people to vote according to their strongest principle identity (religion, geography, race, gender, sexuality, socio-economic status, etc.). The majority identity - or coalition of identities - will ultimately win in this system, and this sends the minority the message that they don't matter (because they're wrapped up in the identity politics game). The linkage of entrenched individualism, indentity politics and majority rule is a downward spiral that creates too much tension. Eventually tension will become so great, that things will snap. The way to avoid conflict is to encourage daily life and voting as an expression of citizenship, not an expression of identity. This is not to say that that your religion, geography, race, gender, sexuality, socio-economic status should be diminished, but you should view everything within the context of citizenship. Civil Society plays an important role, when when you have voluntary organized groups, informal assocations and a pattern of interaction available to create cross-cutting social cleavages. Identities overlap and there is a community of community. The very problem with places of great turmoil, is that they have no civil society. Their identities become entrenched along social lines and there are no cross-cutting cleavages. The more you align yourself to your identities - the more hostile envirnoment that creates. It is one thing to have Catholics and Protestants in Northern Island, but when you entrench those identities with geography and socio-economic status it causes problems. It is one thing to have blacks and whites in a metropolitan area, but when you entrench that with geography and socio-economic status it causes problems. It is one thing to have Christians and Muslims, but when you entrench that with race, geography and availabilty of resources it causes problems.