LifeLongClevelander

Sounds like nothing more than an automated message. Another example of nobody minding the business which has been typical with RTA for a long time.

"Thanks, Haslam" is what the fans are cheering in Houston. He has single-handedly helped in what could transform a football organization for years to come. Unfortunately it is the Texans at the expense of the Browns. He played the fool on taking a first-rate creep off of the Texan's roster who was NEVER going to play for that team again and paid for it with a whole lot of draft picks. Houston was able to parlay the 2022 #13 overall draft pick into a #15 first round pick, a second round pick, 4th round pick and 2 5th round picks. The 2023 first round pick from the Browns will probably be somewhere around #5 to #7 overall plus a high 3rd round pick. If the 2023 season is another train wreck, it will translate into another high first round pick in 2024. All of those picks could have plugged the many holes that the Browns have now that still would be present even if that EXPENSIVE quarterback played the whole season. The fans of the Texans should "honor" Haslam. Houston was able to dump the pervert off to an idiot and obtaining a boatload of high draft picks in multiple rounds of multiple drafts. A deal like that may get that team to the Super Bowl. If the Browns eventually extricate themselves from this self-imposed trip to the NFL wasteland again, it won't happen until the truly worthwhile stars of the Browns will be past their prime or gone from the team altogether. That massive contract will handcuff the Browns making any notable free-agent moves for years.

No consistency or logic in the play calling and with the players on the field. How often have we seen Chubb not on the field in crucial situations, yet today he had few nice receptions and runs after the catch. Anytime Chubb gets the ball, he can make special things happen, but he is so under-utilized. This is nothing new. Having certain personnel on the field and their usage has been questioned in the past. One thing is very consistent: the same tired old post-game excuses.

The defense put out another poor performance. For all of the high-priced players and high draft picks, one wouldn't know it based upon the results. Each and every week they have made poor rushing teams or average at best running backs look like a bunch of stars. As for the play calling, it was another week of awful play calling. Needing two scores at the start of the 4th quarter, there seemed to be no urgency. Then, later in the 4th quarter they were trying time-consuming rushing plays or short passes when they needed to get down the field quickly. They eventually started to have some bigger gains, but by then a lot of time was used up.

Both Bibb and Ronayne do have the power to appoint board members (4 by the mayor and 3 for the county out of the 10 total) that hopefully have a "vision" towards the improvement of RTA, but that could take time. Bibb named one new member and wanted to remove McCall, but the removal didn't happen. Maybe between the two of them, either via board member appointments and persuasion of existing board members, they can correct the serious mistake of hiring Birdsong to be general manager. It would be extremely unlikely to see her removed from her position before her contract ends, but they don't have to offer her an extension, pay raise and bonus for a performance that didn't warrant any of those "rewards". Then the board can undertake a serious search to find a competent general manager to do the job. Between the leaders of the city and county, the message can be made that they will back a new general manager that will transform the system. If they make that unified signal, the RTA's general manager post will be attractive to finding the leadership that the system badly needs.

If the changes stop collisions from happening, all the better. RTA doesn't need any more bad publicity if a collision and injuries occur. Furthermore, the "fragile" condition of the ancient LRV fleet doesn't need more of them out-of-service due to accident damage. Besides, any cost savings they were trying to obtain would be more than evaporated in spending time and money to repair damages and bad publicity.

In 1996, the eastern suburbs had 66 inches of snow come down in about 5 days. Friends of mine in Cleveland Heights had to prop up the center of their old garage with 4x4's to keep it from collapsing from the weight of the snow.

Supposedly, the hanger structures (and probably the terminal building) have very wide footers to compensate for sinking into the landfill materials. When the Shoreway had a major reconstruction/pavement replacement a number of years ago, to minimize the duration of lane closures, quick-setting concrete was used. The reconstruction project used triple the amount of the quick-setting concrete that planned due to excessive damage that was not expected due to settling. That settling was due to the Shoreway being built on landfill.

I'm not a civil engineer, but the Great Lakes Science Center has a very informative display on what needed to be done to have caissons that reach bedrock. I want to say they had to go down about 130 feet, but I am not certain. Even though it is west of Burke Lakefront Airport, it is still located on fill materials as is everything that is north of the railroad tracks. Insufficient footing depth is also the reason why the old Municipal Stadium could not be properly rebuilt for continued use by the Browns. The old stadium's footers did not go down deep enough to properly support the structure.

I wonder what will still be coming regarding the contraction in the retail sector. Pre-pandemic, there were reports of the amount of excessive retail space in this country (the largest percentage of any other country by far). I fully expect there will be significant contraction in that area as well. If a new retailer does come into an area, it will come at the expense of the existing ones.

These lenders make nice money when it comes to refinancing. Even with significantly higher interest rates, refinancing for a new 30-year loan may be attractive enough if the new monthly payment amount drops, especially if they are quite a few years into their current loan. For those who are having a tough time making ends meet with inflation, dropping that monthly payment amount could help a lot, even if does mean a new 30-year loan. If Wells Fargo is trying to get out of the mortgage lending business, maybe they see what is coming and they want to get out before another collapse occurs.

Elimination of the inventory tax won't matter much to retailers who want to unload inventory. They are still stuck with storing inventory someplace. May help with the bottom line, but new orders will sharply decline until that inventory gets way down. If orders stop, it will translate to job losses.

Based upon historical cycles, we are overdue for a recession. Also, credit card debt is rising significantly. If holiday spending is down, it could be another indicator. Retailers like Walmart, Kohls and Target are drowning in inventory. Nationally, inventory is so high that that there isn't enough space to store it.

I am familiar with the battery powered buses. Last year, the "tiny" Laketran system became the first system in the state to adopt that style of bus. That system also has been extremely successful in securing all sorts of grants and special funding. That is how they were basically able to launch the battery powered bus operation. Many US major transit operations have successful highway express bus services using highway coaches, not city buses or modified city-type buses, for commuters who live further outside the central urban area. RTA purchased a new fleet of highway coaches for their park-n-ride service to replace the remaining coaches that were about 18 years old in 2020. Then, about a year later after purchasing the new highway coaches, they decided to eliminate most of that type of service. They unloaded 6 older coaches in 2021 that had many years of service remaining for next to nothing and then this year donated two others that were even newer than the ones unloaded in 2021. Many of the 2020 buses sit unused. The park-n-ride lots have basically been abandoned as there was no interest in using the remaining stop-and-go service to get downtown.

In Germany, do they offer express services or basically non-stop operations from outlying areas? Under the operation of CTS and after the creation of RTA, there were multiple routes that offered express service and during rush hours, flyer service (even fewer stops) . Those buses would stop at major destinations, but not be slowed down by the many intermediate stops. Those stops were served by the local buses. For the #9 Mayfield route, they operated flyer service during the rush hours and express service the remainder of the day. It was very common for Mayfield flyer buses to pass 4 or 6 #6/6A local buses. Later when RTA operated park-n-ride freeway service during rush hours, it would take 1/3 to 1/4 of the travel time to get from a park-n-ride lot. After RTA eliminated most of those routes (only the "subsidized" Strongsville/Brunswick route remains), the reasoning was they made less money than the local services between the same two points as they could service more riders along the city streets. First, all of RTA's operations can be considered money losers, it is just that the park-n-ride freeway routes had no opportunities to serve riders once they got on the freeway. It didn't help that the park-n-ride lots had poor security serving to alienate riders. Second, the park-n-ride service only charged 10% more than regular bus service. When RTA was formed the percentage of flyer/express fares were much larger over local fares at 40%. It seems that RTA has completely missed the point that people want things quickly. For commuting purposes, turning normal commutes via RTA that would have taken 15-20 minutes into hour long trips is a turnoff. They could learn a lot from successful major US transit operations as well as others in places like Germany. If these other operations can make them work, so could RTA if they bothered.

For a transit system to be dependent on the 9-to-5 office workers, based upon their actions over the last several years, they seem to think they aren't important either. Management seems to not even realize what century they are in at this time. Yes, they offer wi-fi, but people want things quick and comfortable. This isn't the 1940's where bus trailers with hard seats and no suspension were in use along with streetcars that had coal-fired stoves and rattan seats were the only options for people to get around. Slow, unreliable and uncomfortable service is doing nothing to retain riders, let alone attract new ones or lure back the ones who have left. The former president of the board of trustees Dennis Clough wisely decided to not even consider some sort of tax increase to fund RTA. He knew it would fail badly and it would fare even worse today. Most people have no use for RTA and it has significantly failed the suburbs that fall under the "regional" banner. Until new viable leadership comes aboard that completely cleans house, RTA will continue its death spiral.

Thank you both for expanding on the list. It just emphasizes the corporate losses that the city has endured over the years. Considering that Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals are both based here, the semi-successful nature of biomed companies is worrisome. One would expect that type of business excelling here. Unfortunately, with the losses of all of those companies, the income tax paid by residents for companies not within the city's limits only makes up partially for the corporate tax loses. As for those companies that have left the area, they will take residents with them.

A possibility of a company to be added to the list is great, however as you mentioned that company is in Medina. It is good for the area, but it doesn't soften the blow of the City of Cleveland losing another major company. The city has lost so many companies, either by moving out of the city's limits (Parker-Hannifin, Eaton) or mergers/acquistions (East Ohio Gas, SOHIO, National City, Charter One, Union Commerce, Ameritrust by Society, Central National by Key).

In the long run, unless the building looks like a dump or is generally poor shape, does it really matter what it looks like to most? One would think what is inside matters the most. Is it a good place to work? How do the pay and benefits stack up? How well is it managed? Is it stressful? What is the future of the company? When things shake out, how many people would rather work in a building that is below par in most if not all of those things that happens to be classic in appearance or go for a convenient location that works out to be better in the other areas? Convenience does matter as RTA offers little in making many jobs convenient for most workers.

Cleveland once was number 3 on the Fortune 500 company headquarters list. Now it has just THREE companies on that list: Cleveland Cliffs, Key Bank and Sherwin Williams. Both Akron and Maumee have two on the list. Columbus has three. Cincinnati and Pittsburgh each have six. Now Cleveland is losing Medical Mutual on the Fortune 1000 list. At least Medical Mutual is staying in the area. It is big help to Brooklyn to finally regaining at least some, if not most of the loss of tax dollars from American Greetings. Losing a company worth billions is devastating any way one looks at it. Does anybody see a Fortune 500 or Fortune 1000 company relocating to Cleveland in the foreseeable future to make up for the losses?

A big thing that has been overlooked with Ryan is that he didn't even win counties that were the main part of his congressional districts for 20 years. It is bad when a candidate cannot win in their own home territory.

It seems like every chance that comes up, RTA has made it more difficult for suburban commuters to use mass transit to get downtown. They have eliminated almost all park-n-ride service. The old and unreliable rapid transit fleet is much too prone to breakdowns plus there are extended complete shutdowns of major sections or entire lines which discourage using the rapid transit lines to get to work. Looking at the Brooklyn location for Medical Mutual, it doesn't appear that many of its workers will use RTA either. It just proves that businesses know that RTA won't be a factor for commuting, be it downtown or suburbs.

Great observation. When a company leaves the area and worse yet, the state, it does considerable harm to the area. It takes the jobs with them. Maybe the workers stay here--if they are fortunate enough to find suitable work. Unless the jobs are replaced with expansion in existing businesses or new ones coming into the area, the available pool of potential jobs shrinks. It will cause considerable harm wherever they live with reduced living space demand and tax revenue. Down the road, potential future employers could consider the talent pool or lack of as part of their decision making process. I have been faced with that situation and know many others who were in it as well. It happens when your employer shuts down and move operations out of state. I was lucky to find suitable employment and stay in the area. It did take a while, but the thought of looking outside the area was starting to cross my mind.

The original Toronto subway was built under Yonge Street. Yonge Street was already basically at capacity traffic-wise. The streetcars were limited to trailer-trains (a motorized unit pulling a trailer). Due to the limitations of the city blocks, 3-unit consists could not be used or they would block intersections. They filled the need of populace of providing the service to the area that the Yonge route operated. They eventually extended the Yonge subway beyond downtown on University. The same thing happened for the Bloor-Danforth streetcar line. Surface street capacity was more than maxed out. Again, they were limited to 2-unit consists for the same reason that limited consists on Yonge. They originally operated motor-trailer consists and then 2-car PCC trains (TTC did test a 3-car PCC train, but it never operated in service). In the 1960's, the original Bloor-Danforth subway section opened, with extensions eventually added to both ends. By removing the transit vehicles from traffic, they were able to speed up service and continue to provide direct service to the areas once served by the streetcar lines. Much more expensive, but it continued to directly serve the areas that had and needed transit service. As @KJPstated, CTS built their rapid next to the railroads "on the cheap". It was really on the cheap after diverging from the shared Shaker Rapid tracks going out to Windermere using the right-of-way prepared by the Van Swerigens back in the late 1920's and early 1930's. The right-of-way, bridges and even partially constructed stations from the original construction were used. After East 120th and Euclid, they stopped serving residential areas. At least Cedar-University Circle served an important area, but due to petty, narrow-minded thinking, they would not use the station that was started at Mayfield Road as that was being served by the competitor Redifer Bus Line. Even though Redifer was acquired in 1964 by CTS, it took over 1/2 century to correct the mistake of 1955. The East 105th Street area of Euclid Avenue was once a second major theater district. The Cedar-University Circle and East 105th-Quincy stations of the heavy rail line were too distant to serve any useful purpose for theater goers. The East 79th, East 55th and East 34th stations did little else but provide stations for nearby industries (until many closed). Imagine what could have been if the heavy rail line would have continued under Euclid Avenue that up until the end of streetcar service had heavy ridership.

Most definitely the raise should be linked to getting rid of those illogical rules. However, if Bibb holds his ground and refuses the raises, he will pay the price.