surfohio

Agreed. I used to live in Michigan and during that time Gov Jennifer Granholm hired Richard Florida's consulting firm to address the state's brain drain and they came up with the "cool cities" program. Check it out. http://www.coolcities.com/main.html Trust me, it did nothing to retain young people, they still leave in droves for hotter job markets like Boston, DC, Chicago, Atlanta, etc. Once the jobs are here, young people come for the opportunities, make a little money, you'll start to see more people reinvesting in pockets of the city which have been overlooked. There are lots of things wrong with that plan. Not a big enough focus on transportation, for one. Too broad a scope, for another. (It's comical to look at the list of cities aimed to become cool.) Frankly, Ohio has better bones than Michigan. You have to have the potential, to make it work. Or you can be Portland. Cosign. Kasich needs to place more emphasis on public transit. Ohio's public transit can be a whole lot better than what it currently is. And although Michigan does have a lot of nice areas outside of SE Michigan, especially along the western shore, I agree that Ohio has a lot more potenital than Michigan. Ohio vs. Michigan! We can't compete with their coastline, in that realm they are just way out of our league. The "Pure Michigan" campaign has been miraculous. What we should find out is why they're so far ahead in sheer number of quality micro breweries. Kasich, get to work with some kind of pro-beer plan! Or even better, help us get our beaches back from 100 years of horrible coastal misuse. p.s. LOL at the Tide Posse. But at least they didn't hire that NEXT GEN? consultant chick that robs idiotic cities (Akron wtf?) with her elementary school solutions.

A Higbee's Phase 1 casino would not only be open during, but after construction of the $600 million permanent casino, which will open in 2013 across from Tower City Center. http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/cleveland_metro/big-announcement-planned-about-cleveland-casino

Roman columns that echo when you knock on them are never ever acceptable. 327 if you've been to Caesars in Atlantic City you'll see just how awfully tacky that theme is.

^ That pic is beautiful. It reminds me that there is an absolute dearth of well-manicured, well taken care of green space downtown. As I am looking out from the 34th floor of the Galleria, so much of the city just looks tired and un-loved. If you look at old postcards, like Edgewater Park for example, things were better in the past. You could tell that people were taking better care of green space, whether it was by volunteers, the city, or local horticulture society. I'd be really ecstatic if someday our Malls can in any way resemble the design in above pic, however simple it is.

Agree 100 percent!

Well, my sudden fears of a cheesy Sizzler-esque Wild West Theme have been quelled. Now, I'm hoping the press conference can allay my fears of a tired and cheesy Julius Caesar/Roman theme. Please please please no tacky Roman columns inside or outside the place. If the inside of Higbees looks anything like the Coliseum, set of Caligula or the Roman Senate I'm going to be pissed.

Interesting topic! I split time between Brookly nY and Cleveland (Lakewood actually), where I own my house. I strongly believe that the elements of art, music and community that have gradually made Brooklyn so attractive certainly exist here in Ohio. There is so much potential here, but positive changes seem to occur at such an achingly slow pace for whatever reason. I chalk it up to midwesternness. That demoralizes me, and I know countless others who have opted to move elsewhere even after years of working hard to make Cleveland better. I don't even blame them. Life is short. As far as perception goes, I think Cleveland currently has far too many "red flags" to overcome. The pockets of life are too few and scattered. Visitors to our city who don't know any better cannot avoid a mostly lifeless, blighted, undeveloped waterfront and a downtown that's often completely vacant on weekends. Combined with the legacy of awful public schools, stupid lists in Forbes and the very real issue of corrupt politics, the negative perceptions that we have to overcome loom very large. But I'm still optimistic right now. I'm an excellent tour guide, and every friend who has ever visited comes away loving the authenticity of Cleveland's bars, restaurants, music scene and most of all, the people. There is a sense of awe in the history, the abandoned warehouses, blue coastal views and diversity of culture. So much potential! And to think that just ten years ago in what is today the trendiest section of Brooklyn the mafia was still dumping bodies, burning up stolen cars and shaking down the Brooklyn Brewing Company for "protection" money. There is hope.

It's frustrating that out of all the allotted money, none of it is being used to allow the CC to span the tracks. To further impede future development north is just unacceptably short sighted.

Happy Dog and Now That's Class in Cleveland are definitely not gay bars. Though Now That's Class is most definitely right next to the Hawk, which is. Okay, Here's what I've got: Cleveland: BOUNCE, A Man's World Complex,The Hawk, Twist, Leather Stallion Saloon, Union Cafe, Cocktails Cleveland, Mean Bull, Bottoms Up, Lemons and Limes, Hush, Now That's Class, Happy Dog, Chubby's North Coast Grille and Bar (15) Cincinnati: Adonis, Below Zero Lounge, On Broadway, Rosie's Tavern, Simon Says, Little Bit Bar, The Yadda Club, Old Street Saloon, Serpent, Main Event, Bronz, 701 Bar and Lounge, Golden Lions, Shooters, The Dock, Crazy Fox (16) Columbus: Union Bar + Food, Exile, Axis Nightclub, Level, Havana Video Lounge, AWOL, Trafik, Slammers, Blazer's Pub, Wall Street, Club 20, Club Diversity, Tremont II, Southbend Tavern, Cavan Irish Pub, Inn Rehab, (16) Toledo: Rip Cord, Bretz Bar, R House (3) Dayton: Club Masque, M J's Cafe, Club Aquarius, Stage Door, Up on Main (5) Akron: Square, Adams Street Bar, The Interbelt, Inferno, Angel Falls Coffee Company, Coctails/Daddy's, Tear-Ez, Roseto Club, The Office (9) I'm on your side in that Columbus is the "Gay Mecca" but I don't think your bar counts are accurrate, and stating that there are more gay bars in COLS than the rest of the state combined is flat out wrong. Seperately, it looks like Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus are pretty much the same. I'm surprised by Akron though. 9 for a city of that size is pretty impressive. ...Cleveland does have the world's largest bathhouse though. ;)

Ha ha....I did legal work for American Electric Power for 5 1/2 years. We looked at millions of documents, so I've seen that guy plenty of times!!!!

We could probably all agree pedestrian walkways over Exchange would've been a terrible idea. It's not a highway! Redevelopment on Exchange needs to follow in the footsteps of Gordon Square/Detroit-Shoreway up on Cleveland's west side. Shoot....I dont' have time to find a good link....but wider sidewalks and brick crosswalks are great measures in giving motorists the hint to "slow down." Right now the lack of cross walks and street intersections along that stretch, much like being on a bridge, gives drivers the subconscious "drive faster" signal. But the worst is the curve in the road across from the Infocision Stadium. That is definitely the Frogger Zone for sure.

Re: Cleveland 1960 or so....I'm very surprised to see that the water is blue!! I would have guessed the Lake Erie of this era would have instead looked just terribly bad. Anyhow, it was most interesting to see the "Cedar Point" ferry spot. And the building next door looked like a very neat arcade. Reminded me of San Francisco. p.s. was nice to see the vintage "Parma" flamingo at 5:21

A $40 million Phase II is planned. It will include a series of glass atriums along the Cuyahoga River that will honor Cleveland's waterfront history. **This is an idea that I've been visualizing for a long long time. I'm sure they would be glad to take me on as a consultant. :)

This is another fantastic development for my "almost" neighborhood Detroit-Shoreway. My only complaint is the drywall over that interesting bricked over doorway in the spare room. Anyhow, Randy and Linda are truly wonderful people, I know they'll succeed once again!!! Thanks for posting.

Anyone know the status of those buildings seen behind the Tower City Ampitheater? It's really cool to see a series of old buildings still intact. I hope that the casino project will lead to some kind of attractive re-use. With a boardwalk, improved riverfront, towpath and future (fingers crossed) cuyahoga valley line this little spot could have tons of potential. If the Casino rightly embraces the river this could be a very cool and attractive little spot. It's steps away from Gateway. p.s. During the events held down there the place really does seem to have a nice, festive vibe. Would be nice to see more permanence in that regard.

Right I've seen nothing official re: Exchange. Re routing it seems infeasible, but if there was ever a street that needed traffic calmed, it's Exchange St. I've seen students hit countless times.

This is absolutely true and what drives me insane about U of A!!! They want to shed the image of a commuter school but they are not doing enough to make the campus and surroundings pedestrian friendly. This will only hurt future development, and delay the positive transformation even further. I'm dead serious when I suggest bringing in hated rival KSU in to get some better design implemented.

Regarding the new Exchange parking garage, I am holding out hope that the ground floor can be re-purposed for retail. The best example of this I can think of is Fat Fish Blue in Cleveland. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2722/4425266547_32e4e96e57.jpg The garage may have been needed, but designing without regard for better street presence was extremely short sighted, and a textbook example of bad planning.

Ya know I've been hearing this theory for years. So I asked my friend who is a PC guru and in IT for calvin klein. He thinks that theory is mostly untrue because the hacker that "takes down apple" is going to get tons of publicity, and theoretically if this was easy, it would have already happened. His opinion is that the architecture of the mac is what makes it less prone.

Sure there are some bad buildings, like Christies, that are just awful and should be demoed tomorrow. The industrial buildings there should be restored. So much potential. That way you keep the authenticity and the unique heritage of the place intact. The Wolstein plan of complete destruction was a huge mistake. Then again, when the "vision" of the west bank results in the stunning new architecture of the Larry Flynt club, you might as well just move that planned mental hospital from Euclid Corridor and just put it right next to the Powerhouse.

Right! As much as I love the Seattle proposal, tearing down the garages for the grassy hill concept made zero sense. It's not like that would magically make the area some calm, pastoral setting with the railroad and shoreway right there. More infrastructure- not less- is the solution to connecting downtown to the lakefront.

Ha ha don't tell that to Litt....he seems to think the "symbolism" of the dna windows is more important than, I don't know....letting in light to the building!

I think the architecture of the horse track, Scioto Downs? is interesting. And the old drive in has been an inspiration to countless photographers!! But yeah, south of Columbus is Jerry Springer land.

I couldn't agree with that more. Wealthy Republicans these days always say how they do things that are "good for business", whereas what they really are doing is pushing us towards an aristocracy and protecting their wealth by ensuring it remains "in the circle". How does the estate tax prevent that? Trust me, the Bush's and Kennedy's of this world will get around these regulations as long as they exist.

Is it me, or does this website explain nothing?