Ethan

Understood, I wasn't necessarily replying to you, but you make a good point. It is a bit ridiculous that suburban police who almost certainly have an easier go off things (for the most part, on average) get paid more than City of Cleveland police. In a fair world, the reverse would be true. I doubt Cleveland can do it, but I think it would be wise for the City of Cleveland to pay police better than the suburbs, or at least on par. It's not great to create an environment where officers bailing for suburbs is a rational decision. They're almost certainly going to have an easier job there (and likely be better appreciated for it) so they should probably be paid better to work for the city.

Doing a quick internet search police officers seem to earn roughly as much as teachers. (Low $60k a year depending on which source you trust). Everyone seems to agree teachers are underpaid, and cops don't get nearly as many days off, so I would think they are underpaid as well.

100% agree. But even if one spouse is making $65,000 a year more than half of their take home income is going straight to childcare. When viewed in that light, it's very understandable why in situations where free childcare is not available (grandparents, etc) one spouse might choose to stay home. But I also understand that may not be a reasonable (or desired) option for all families. You're exactly right that there seems to be an unfortunate sour spot where some couples make too much for assistance, and too much to quit their jobs, but also too little to be able to afford childcare. No idea whatsoever what can be done about that. Realistically though, childcare is never going to be cheap. Raising kids is a full time job. Paying someone else to do it is basically adding an employee to the household.

$525 a week is basically the take home pay of someone making $16 an hour...

Because you're bringing up distinctions without a difference. you're claiming household energy use is going up, while industrial is going down (due to outsourcing), and per capita is going down? Great, re read my post, because that is the theory I addressed throughout! You never backed up your claim with numbers that household energy use is going up. It isn't my job to find numbers that support your point. I found actual data (not an opinion piece article) that contradicts what you said. Find me real numbers backing your claim and we can continue discussing this. And my whole post was addressing net energy, so I don't understand your complaint. There's no more net energy than energy use of the whole world.

Your theory seems plausible, though I'm not sure how effectively your source actually makes your point. I'm not much of one for words, here's (some of) the relevant data. As you can see US energy use per capital is decreasing. Your theory (as I understand it) is that we are off shoring our manufacturing and artificially lowering our energy use numbers. This is almost certainly happening to at least some extent, and the numbers for China definitely make it look like that's what's happening, but I don't think it accounts for the largest share of what's really happening. The other thing to consider is that energy use per capita increases as people move out of poverty. I think that's most of what's happening. For instance, I think it's interesting that per capita energy consumption in Mexico hasn't increased even though we've certainly sent some of our production down there. (It's also worth noting China was dirt poor in 1990) Here's GDP per capita over time. with the exception of the The United States. The graphs look pretty similar. You can play around with these and add more countries if you like. In general, rich countries are getting richer without increasing their energy consumption per capita (and in most cases decreasing it) while poor countries are using more energy as they get richer. While some of that is likely from outsourcing, it certainly isn't 1 to 1. A lot of what's happening is poor people getting access to temperature controlled living* and the ability to go where they want when they want. For the most part global energy consumption is going up because people are moving out of abject poverty and into the comforts of modern living. *If you doubt how much of energy use is temperature control, throw Iceland or the UAE on the graph. Density and mild temperatures (e.g. Western Europe) are great for keeping energy use comparatively low in spite of wealth. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-energy-use?tab=chart&country=USA~OWID_WRL~CHN~MEX~IND~DEU~SAU~ISL~AUS~ARE~GBR~FIN~POL https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/gdp-per-capita-worldbank?tab=chart

If the problem really is just economic (and I'm not convinced it is), then the solution is simple. More money. Can we prioritize safety (and thus police offers) more in city budgets? Looking into it, Public safety is already 53% of the general fund, which is a little less than half of the overall expenditures. Policing makes up the lion's share of the the money allocated to public safety, but it's far from all of it. Taken all into account, police were 13.7% of the total expenditures from last year. So could we direct more money to the police? Almost certainly, but what we should cut to do that is the much harder question. Regardless, it's hard for me to imagine the investment not paying off. Safety is one of the main reason people are fleeing the East side in droves. Safety (and, more importantly, the perception of safety) combined with school performance are the main things holding Cleveland back. Spending the money and political capital to make people think the streets are safe would go a long way, and it would basically open up large swaths of land for redevelopment.

I don't think it's that simple. While there may be a narrow lane for public schools to do something like this within the bounds of the constitution. I think they would have a hard time making sure they aren't favoring one religion over another. If they are using volunteers, do they have to accept every volunteer who passes the background check? How large of a religion does it need to be? Church of Satan? Westboro Baptist Church? Lots of questions. If they are paying the chaplain how does which religion get selected? They can't be expected to pay for multiple. If every school district goes with the most popular they'd all be Christian, that could look like the state expressing a preference for Christianity. This is full of constitutional land mines.

I'm all for new technology if it works. The important thing is that current and potential criminals view it as probable that they will get caught. That's what discourages crime long term. Other than helicopters though, and to some extent street cameras, I'm not aware of any of those technologies being successfully used at scale. As someone mentioned earlier, most drones aren't fast enough, nor do they tend to have long enough battery lives. Tracking devices are interesting, and should be explored, but like any technology they can be gamed (changing cars, removing device, etc). And if your final objective is to apprehend the criminal, not just the vehicle, you will still need to have an officer in the area when the offender decides to exit the vehicle. The best way to ensure that happens is to follow the alleged criminal at a safe distance. And as KFM44107 correctly points out, what ifs always go both ways. Personally I think the best way forward is to empower officers with the best possible knowledge and allow them to make the decision that is most appropriate for the situation. There's always tradeoffs, and any black and white policy will be gamed, but I think that's the best option.

Last I saw the full reopening date was spring/summer of next year. Has that gotten any more specific or improved?

I can sympathize with the safety concerns of police chases, but I just don't understand the people who oppose police chases think would happen once criminals understand the new paradigm. If you're operating a stolen vehicle, or just remove your license plate, there's no meaningful possibility of the police catching you if they won't chase you. Criminals are by and large still somewhat rational humans and adjust their behavior based on external factors. Research has shown people's behavior is based far more on the likelihood of getting caught than the severity of punishment if they do get caught. As an example, why not run a red light if you know there's no possibility of the police chasing you? (And no, they're not sending a helicopter after someone who ran a red light). You can't parse the chase / don't chase scenarios unless you are also seriously considering game theory in your analysis. What I mean by that is that it's entirely possible that each individual chase is not a great idea when viewed in isolation. But, when taken as a whole, it's very possible that a policy of chasing at least some time is preferable to the alternative, because it reduces the overall number of future situations where the chase / don't chase decision needs to be made. This is the concept I've never seen anyone who opposes police chases seriously deal with.

🥳 Market Avenue to be permanently closed starting this Friday!! 🥳 https://www.instagram.com/p/CwlahojPgg6/ Edit: Cleveland Scene article on the topic: City to Close Market Avenue To Cars Permanently Starting This Week "In a triumphant win for urbanists and most Ohio City businesses, City Hall made the decision to close Market Avenue to car traffic permanently starting Friday, September 1st. ... The eight, 15-minute parking spots that previously existed on Market—those that, Small said, were abused—will effectively be transferred to increased metered parking on West 26th Street, where delivery trucks will be assigned to load and unload. Such replacement sits in line with what Ohio City Incorporated had been proposing for years, and what some skeptics saw as a plausible business deterrent." https://www.clevescene.com/news/city-to-close-market-avenue-to-cars-permanently-starting-this-week-42654668

Brewdog's food is pretty good. As I remember the selection isn't huge, and the prices are a tad high, but I had no issues with the quality. It's a great space, whether you end up inside or out. Manageable walk from Tower City. Very accessible from the Towpath.

I don't believe there is much of an ongoing pot of money from the city for the cultural gardens. The Cleveland Cultural Gardens Foundation does receive some public funds though. From there 2022 report. Also, here's a useful list of gardens including which ones were in development as of last year. After walking by Sunday, I think the Pakistani garden can drop its asterisk. It looks great!

Several of the cultural gardens, like the French, for example, are currently basically just allocated empty plots of land waiting for something to be done with them. I wouldn't have known several of them were there if it weren't for the people there for one world day and the (I think temporary) signage. I would absolutely love for all of these to be filled out, as I'm sure the immigrant communities they represent would as well, just need to find the funds. Imagine how nice it would be if every garden was as nice as the Hungarian, Italian, or Hebrew gardens to name a few!

Walking around the cultural gardens on one world day it was interesting seeing all the plans for expanded or new gardens. Granted many of these have (probably) been trying to gather funds for a long time, and some of these may never happen, but I'm pulling for all of them. The cultural gardens are such an underappreciated and unique asset for Cleveland!

End of next week sounds SO much better than a vague "end of summer." Hopefully that proves correct! I'd be interested in the more detail version of this.

Here's a map of the relevant area if anyone's interested. I'm torn on if this should become part of the park. On one hand I sympathize with the plight of Peninsula, but on the other I'd hate to see more development in/around this national park that I think struggles with a lack of strategic depth and far too many private inholdings. I guess on balance I'd prefer to see the vast majority of this go to the park, though perhaps retaining a bit of the land near the road for private development makes sense. But even then it depends on the sort of development. Single family homes would be a waste, retaining the current use of the quarry as a privately owned natural swimming pool for public use might be the best option as it is a great park adjacent land use that will also bring in some taxes to Peninsula. Earlier article on the same subject with more background. https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/local/2023/03/01/heritage-farms-selling-85-acres-wont-affect-christmas-tree-operations-peninsula-carol-george-haramis/69892615007/

Those responses are disappointing. This project is long past its original completion date. And given how many times this project has already slipped, and that they still aren't willing to commit to a firm date, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if it slips again... Hate to be negative but this project has given me few reasons not to be.

I haven't seen any photos of the pedestrian bridge/gerbil tube yet. Core structural elements are up. Here's a quick pic from Friday as I was walking past. Bonus pic

I think all three of these have already been mentioned, but when I think of nice small-town downtowns, I think of Cuyahoga Falls, Hudson, and Kent. They are all within a short drive of each other, and all have their own unique feel.

What do you mean by completely up to date? Is that sarcasm? I think the top Reddit comment basically nails it. The site itself states it primarily relies on Google image data, and as another commenter lamented a few days ago, Cleveland hasn't received updated satellite imagery for a long time. https://www.reddit.com/r/Cleveland/comments/15xk8la/26_of_downtown_cleveland_is_parking/ https://parkingreform.org/resources/parking-lot-map/

A post about % parking lot coverage recently made its rounds on the Cleveland subreddit. I found myself wondering now that Sherwin Williams is filling most of the previous largest parking crater, has there been any rumors or developments about what I believe to be the new largest parking crater in the downtown core, W9th and St. Claire? (Or any of the other major downtown parking craters?)

Another very positive article on the new downtown Luna location. I agree, much needed, and I can confirm the food, service, and atmosphere are very good. https://clevelandmagazine.com/food-drink/articles/why-the-new-downtown-luna-bakery-location-is-a-game-changer