w28th

I hope those that are envisioning this North Coast Transit Center are not thinking about this with limited vision. When one lays out an aerial of this area north of Mall C you immediately realize that whatever is constructed here could be a catalyst to completely bridge the gap between north coast harbor and the city grid to the south. I may one day get a diagram I put together for this area onto UO, but until then, simply visualizing the grid of the city expanding down to Browns Stadium could add several blocks of developable land to the city core. Selling off this land for future development could offset the costs the city would initially ensue for preparing this area for development. Add in having the railroad buried underground (but multimodal station clearly visible and bustling at street level), and this could be the beginning of changing the mindset of our city towards density based on transit connections. I see anything short of burying the railroad tracks between W3rd, E9th, Alfred Lerner Way (for starters at least) and creating a new street grid spilling northward, as a big disappointment.

Got ya. Relieved they aren't trying to change the name of Euclid Avenue to a more suburbanite acceptable name.

"... has made strides in designing highways that conform to an urban environ." That is an oxymoron, highways are the least urbane piece of infrastructure in any city. They break down the scale and connectivity of neighborhoods. Highways work in all other terrain except the urban. Even Henry Ford knew this.

Not sure where to post this, but what in the hell are the new street name signs along Euclid Avenue saying "CHERRY TREE LANE?" What are they refering to? To me, it seems like the silliest thing I've seen in a while.

Someone needs to tell people to stop doing serious renderings in SketchUp, it looks terrible... and building absolutely horrible and embarrassing steel arches, not to mention lining evergreen trees against blank cmu walls as if it's a park restroom. This is much worse than I could have imagined but I suppose it should have been expected. A living wall would be pretty dope, but it would probablty take some care and thought and that's apparently asking too much. Here's one from the Caixa Forum in Spain by Patrick Blanc in collaboration with Herzog & de Meuron.

In related news, I went to a lecture at MoCA on friday night by a design studio called Metrogramma out of Milan, Italy. http://www.metrogramma.com/ They are teaching a studio at the Kent State CUDC downtown mext year, and these guys are on top of their game. They do a lot of masterplanning and reconceptualizing of urban centers throughout the world, and have taken an interest in Cleveland. Throughout the lecture they talked about tranforming parts of cities that have negative conotations into city assets through architecture and landscape implementations. Basically providing a different lens with which to view the city. What can be done with the inbetween void spaces that exist within the city and how can contemporary design expose these opportunites. In the end it was interesting to see how people from outside this region or even our country view Cleveland, and they are extremely intrigued by the possibilities, and look to be doing their own research on the city/region. However, in the context of the lakefront, they are the second group of well respected European architects that have come into Cleveland, knowing nothing of the city previously, and were adamant that the Cuyahoga River and surounding valley is what sets this city apart from the world. Not the lakefront. Several reasons align with this thinking from relationship to human scale, available void space, location at the center of the city/region, historical relavance as the reason this city exists, and if we can reimage the thing that normally divides us as a city and was at one time a national embarrassment (burning river) it would probably change a lot of minds when thinking of the city. And, just for fun, they created some imagery of for the closing of the lecture (there was also an aerial view of the river valley from north of E55th looking towards the city at night which I don't have a picture of, but trust me it was pretty sweet). Enjoy, and look forward to hearing what else comes up from this firm.

Villain.

I did a quick look at who owns the surface lots and garage between Prospect and Euclid, and boy, it has changed hands a lot over the years. Between Feb 2001 and January 2002, it changed hands 9 times, and at one point was owned by the City of Cleveland for 4 days... Too bad the city sold it.

I would love to shoot some stinger missles at that parking garage between Euclid and Prospect. What a great trade: 10 story building containing the largest theater in the country for 2 surface lots and a parking garage.

The trolley could just do a loop in Tremont and head back the same way it came instead of going over the Lorain Carnegie, which I agree, is a long way without any activity.

It's not often that a city can expand itself into valuable lakefront land by about 20 blocks. If this land is properly prepared for new construction when the port leaves (which is a bothersome 10 years minimum) this could transform the concept of what this city is based on. The investigation is absolutely worth it. It's funny when this city tries to move forward with ideas (whether the masterplan firm is right is another conversation) there are always those that will say "typical Cleveland shooting for pie in the sky." Yet when the city doesn't do anything they sh!t on the city for not trying to improve itself. Whatever clvdr, the conversation on this should be occuring, and should stay in the dialogue about the city.

I suppose it could be taken that way MH.

I am so tired of the "This is Cleveland" line spewing from the mouths of this city's "leaders" in academia. Hard to understand how they can't figure out that they should be the ones leading the voice towards density in the urban fabric. Do you think people in Portland or where ever find the need to create excuses for LESSER expectations? And really, Deihl's use of the line in the context of this conversation makes absolutely no sense. The port is basically a blank slate and could be viewed as a starting point of growth in this city. But no, Deihl needs to drag this project through the mud of all past ills. Great job.

I love the Volk's building and especially the signage. We need those little storefronts with quirky little shops. They make cities.

Not very impressed. No engagement of spaces or buildings with the water, and the major segregation between the city and current port land is still there. I wasn't excited by the selection of this firm and they seem to be fulfilling my personal expectations. And isn't angling the streets in that manner playing right into the winter wind patterns?

It's as if RTA is trying to reinvent wheels that don't need to be reinvented. I mean, they're trying to jump ahead with this beeping bus thing, and honestly it makes me not even want to ride the bus let alone live in an apartment that's anywhere near these damn things. My parents bought a unit at the Park Building and actually have trouble sleeping because of the constant beeping of multiple buses on Public Square. That's unfortunate. And now this proof of payment thing comes along, and it seems to be a disaster. RTA can not say that the ridership count is accurate without a machine doing the counting. How can they trust or even expect every driver or station operator to count every single person? I think this may also have an impact on the low ridership count over the last few months. I use RTA everyday (monthly pass), but I'm really losing faith in this agency and they're really hurting the customer, the city, and themselves.

Sh!t, Public is already basically a traffic deterant with the amount of no left turn restrictions. Really this comes down to how the freeways were designed, making the entrances into the city mostly from the south when the city is clearly setup for east/west movement.

Close it down. Times Square is closed down for hours at a time to allow pedestrian use. This would be no major problem for traffic. Even if it is, it will react and find other routes. As it is currently stands, I'd say that the area of Public Square is roughly 50/50 split between park land and roadways. I honestly wouldn't have a problem with having buildings built on the Square, but I don't want to get everyone here too riled up...

Apparently we lost 10% of our population and the unemployment number went from 0%-10% overnight, if you believe RTA's explaination. Personally, I find that the slow speeds and constant stopping along the red line make me reconsider taking the "rapid" these days. The beaping buses are also a HUGE annoyance in my opinion. I've biked or walked over the past few weeks more than I have in the past year because of delays and the obnoxious beeping. Also, I really don't understand how the census can have a yearly estimate every year. I have never been and know of nobody personally that has been contacted at any point between the big census counts every 10 years. How are they getting these numbers?

The problem is that this isn't the highest and best use for a site that is so well positioned and invested into for street level interaction. I understand what you're saying biz, but this is a very short sited development decision on a thoroughfare that we knew would not make a 180 degree turn over night. Cities are never really complete, and making the right decisions right now can affect the way things develop for decades. Putting a psych ward in the middle of Euclid is not a wise forward looking option.

Also check out Scorcese's "Mean Streets." Great atmosphere of NYC Little Italy during the Feast. All red lights in the bar scenes. Also, the original "Shaft" is great for 1970's Harlem and Greenwich Village. And don't forget the TV show Kojak. Seasons 1 & 2 are on DVD and are great.

Between the beeping buses and the 3mph over the CUT Viaduct for the "rapid" it's been an annoying past few weeks on RTA. I actually walked home a few days ago to not deal with those issues.

Lack of train station coordination is very disappointing. At this point I think the AmShack should be completely demolished and a new station constructed at E9th or W3rd.

Suprised that getting financing for residential would be more difficult than office. The vacancy rate for rentals in this city is under 5%. Guess they're looking to do condos not apartments. Whoever cashes in on this rental market will make a ton of cash, wish it could be me.

The fountain at the NE quadrant was on a few weeks ago at a very low level compared to what its capabilities are. The fountain at Mall A has had low water flow lately as well. Don't understand what the problem is.