Ethan

I agree with you on the necessity of gathering data and weighing tradeoffs. I also agree about the highly preliminary nature of this plan. This plan is currently a short poem, it will need to become a long novel before it can be built. To clarify what I meant by saying both that Huron is overbuilt, and that it's removal would cause issue: when I say it's overbuilt, I'm referring specifically to the number of lanes. Huron currently has three lanes in each direction. This is overkill (so plenty of room for a downtown bike loop!). Traffic is primarily going to/from Ontario to/from Detroit, the bridge has 1.5 lanes in each direction, and Ontario has two left turn lanes. So the third lane is overkill. The big difference between Huron and Prospect though is precisely those turn lanes. As an example, I came back late tonight (post rush hour) when the light at Ontario/Huron changed there were 10-12 cars waiting to turn left. At the next light at Prospect there were another 5 cars waiting to turn left. There's only space for maybe 10 cars to turn left onto prospect, so even during normal times that intersection will cause issues. There's a similar story going in the other direction as turning right isn't any easier. To be clear, I'm not saying that increasing traffic alone should ever sink any project, just that it should be one small issue considered amongst many. For what it's worth I agree with other posters claiming Cleveland doesn't have much traffic, but I don't agree that sabotaging what is currently (and unfortunately) our most functional form of transit is the way to increase density. I know a lot of people like myself who have jobs out in the suburbs but who choose to live in downtown, Ohio City, Edgewater, etc. If I can't reasonably commute to my job, that's one less person adding density to your neighborhood. That said, I also value walkability, parks, access to nature, etc. I see a ton of value in this plan, and all things being equal I'd take it. I'm just questioning whether a tradeoff is really necessary, or, if in this instance, we could have our cake and eat it too.

I'm not sure I see the wisdom in closing of Huron. Maybe it will make more sense with more detailed renderings, but the road is already a bridge, it isn't impeding pedestrian traffic to the river at all. Really their whole plan with regards to Tower City seems a lot like reinventing the wheel. It might still be the best possible solution, but it's very far from the simplest... The only reason I can see for eliminating Huron is aesthetics. While I agree aesthetics are important, knocking down a functional bridge for purely aesthetic reasons seems insufficient to me. Surely we could dress up the bridge a bit and make it a bit more attractive? And lastly, while I realize the majority of people on this site won't be sympathetic to this point, we should mention traffic. This closure will affect traffic. Huron is currently an overbuilt road serving as a major route for traffic to and from the near west side. I don't think Prospect is well suited to handle all that new traffic, and I don't want to push more cars into public square. The far simpler thing would be to leave Huron, and I tend to be partial to simple solutions. They tend to be cheaper, and easier political lifts, and thus, far more likely to actually happen.

While my preference is pretty much always for parks, I could be appeased by a nice, quality boardwalk. That said, if it's on the other side of and parallel to the road it's not going to feel like a boardwalk, but just a large sidewalk. Bedrock clearly wants more space for development, and probably to get their main buildings as close to the water as possible. If they insist on that, I'd rather they build their buildings (casino) over the road, and at least have a proper boardwalk with shops on one side and water on the other. That's way more money, but they are also asking the city to pay quite a lot here for infrastructure improvements that will benefit their properties, so I'm less sympathetic then I'd normally be. I'm also not a fan of a casino on the water. Living near the current one has made me think of casinos as ugly black boxes, without windows, that don't interact with their environment at all. If they do opt to put the casino here, hopefully the river facing amenities are restaurants (or something) and not the cold, hard face of the casino.

I don't like the canal road realignment. Particularly the part where it looks like the road will basically be on the water, which seems like a waste. I'd rather leave the road where it is, and preserve the land from canal to the river as park space.

The Dharavi neighborhood is Mumbai has over 700,000(!!) people per square mile without any major tall buildings. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharavi But it's unfortunately a massive slum. Building up, and money more generally, is the secret sauce that allows people to enjoy the upsides of density, while minimizing its downsides. I expect most ancient cities had their share of slums and substandard housing for the poor that history has neglected to chronicle.

It looks like Oswego, NY is a deep water port, and can do containers. I'm really not an expert though, so I could be misreading something. https://portoswego.com/

Cross posting this here as well.

With the lakefront thread locked, this is probably the best place for this. https://www.crainscleveland.com/real-estate/cleveland-mobile-home-park-closure-will-make-way-lakefront-park-expansion "The Euclid Beach Mobile Home Community on Cleveland's East Side is far too costly to maintain and should be closed to make way for a unified Euclid Creek Reservation — a lakefront green space that will rival Edgewater Park in size. That's the conclusion of the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, which purchased the 28.5-acre mobile home park in December 2021 to prevent a private developer from swooping in. Representatives from the land conservancy and OHM Advisors, a planning firm, presented their findings at a public meeting late Thursday, Feb. 9, at the Collinwood Recreation Center. The decision provides clarity to park residents, who have been living in limbo for more than a year. It also enables neighboring landowners, including the Cleveland Metroparks and the Cleveland Public Library, to start planning for the future of their properties." I'm glad to see this continue to move forward. When complete this will be a valuable asset.

It's also a big deal to anyone wanting to live car free in the area as it puts 24/7 car rental at the end of a mass transit line. If you're relying on public transportation and need to get/return a car at weird hours options are slim.

On the college topic, it was my experience that a lot of, if not most people tend to move off campus to a generally much less walkable area Junior/Senior year, very often with the prime motivator being money. Money is a big part in the decision after college as well, suburban living is often just an economic decision. Particularly for people for whom being carefree (edit: car free) isn't possible or desirable.

This might also make sense here.

I'm skeptical of this list, but it's a pretty good article. Worth a read. https://usa.streetsblog.org/2023/02/07/americas-most-equitably-walkable-city-is-cleveland/

I hope they go back to the drawing board.

The problem with independent commissions is that they can theoretically be captured. That could be by one party, special interest group, or even organized crime. It might still be better than what we have now and there is probably ways to safeguard against this, but my preference would just be to define a limited algorithmic approach leaving few to no ways for representatives to put their weight on the scales. One example is the shortest splitline method. This may not be the best one, but it is easy to explain. See below video from CCP gray.

Their conditions are interesting and worthy of discussion. "Raised crosswalk table to be extended to match area of darker paved area in butterfly design; ramped crosswalk taper to extend further in east-west direction to raise grade to crosswalk, but not to impede traffic; east and west sides of center crosswalk to have concave-designed edges to reflect the butterfly design; bollards continue to be studied to extend further than they do to the east and west." I very much approve of extending the crosswalk table.

I live above Tower City, I buy some stuff from there, mostly out of convenience. But if I have any planned shopping that needs to be done, I tend to leave downtown. The downtown premium is just too high. While it's nice to be able to walk and get my groceries (for example). I can save a significant amount by driving to the Steelyard. It's not a choice about the kind of world I want to live in, but just a recognition of the economic reality.

The scenic railroad only has one set of tracks. Regardless, I think it would be a missed opportunity to not run dual tracks to independence. If only to keep the commuter rail option open it makes sense, but it may also afford CVNP a bit more flexibility in running trains.

^ I'm wondering if they were at all inspired by the good example set by Intro. I hope so, and all future developers.

"As for when that will be, it’s still unclear. The project was supposed to be completed by now but instead, the bridge will be closed through the summer of 2023. ODOT hoped to start painting the bridge in the spring and replacing the concrete driving surface to finalize the project." https://www.news5cleveland.com/traffic/traffic-news/reopening-of-center-street-swing-bridge-delayed-as-repairs-taking-longer-than-expected https://www.bikecleveland.org/bike-cle/news/rider-alert-center-bridge/2022/12/ This is an absurdly long project. Perhaps justified by the complexity, but a real pain for pedestrians and cyclists.

Maybe another pedestrian overpass at the end of Professor?

Unfortunately more bad news to add to this pile. Champs Sports is closing. I heard it from a cashier at Rainbow. She's noticed the trend of national chains moving out and is worried they are next. In her words it feels "like Randall Mall." I'm not sure I share her pessimism, but I do agree with a lot of the posters here, Tower City likely needs a few big national anchor tenants to survive. Especially since the arcades are already holding down the small local shops market.

No, it is not. See below, it is shown as "Cuyahoga Valley" https://planning.clevelandohio.gov/maps/index.php I've also seen it on some maps as part of Tremont, maybe the neighborhood boundaries were updated?

I went a few nights ago. The experience is a lot of fun! Price is pretty reasonable as well. Don't expect Ginko quality or anything, but I'd definitely recommend!

Is Ronayne advocating for making it a boulevard or removing it entirely? One of the reasons I prefer the boulevard approach is that it seems like a much more realistic lift politically.

The coolest thing about the midway project to me is the trees that will accompany it. So I was a bit apprehensive when I followed that through to the presentation link (https://t.co/gOzSVHbGCO) and found that the trees drawn into the Superior Midway diagrams are tiny landscaping trees. I understand the engineering and landscaping haven't even started yet, but it seems like greenery always decreases from initial conception, so this is a worrying first sign. Hopefully the new Urban Forestry Commission does their job and makes sure tall trees are planted.