Luke_S

Not sure if there's a better thread for this, but there's a new push to get Cleveland a new, more modern flag. Calling all vexillographers! Cleveland group seeks designs for new city flag Ideastream Public Media | By Abbey Marshall Published April 23, 2024 https://www.ideastream.org/government-politics/2024-04-23/calling-all-vexillographers-cleveland-group-seeks-designs-for-new-city-flag

Not much new other than City Council approving the increased budget for Field Operations to finish their deign planning. Cleveland nearly doubles budget for the city's lakefront design plan Ideastream Public Media | By Abbey Marshall Published April 23, 2024 https://www.ideastream.org/government-politics/2024-04-23/cleveland-nearly-doubles-budget-for-the-citys-lakefront-design-plan

Perhaps related, but maybe not causally. As I'm sure you know, the gold standard was dropped to give the government more flexibility in managing economic policy as cracks in the US economy were beginning to appear after a decade of war in Vietnam and energy costs were rising. I think the period of stagflation is more likely the proximate cause. Pair that with another prominent inflection point in the last two graphs; the separation of the top 1%'s real annual wages and the productivity/wage gap in the 80's, marked by Regan's economic policies--importantly his SEC relaxing rules on corporate stock buybacks (Vox - How American CEOs got so rich).

Innerbelt project moves forward with call for design consultants by Kassi Filkins April 19, 2024 Three goals are part of the RFQ: Create a vision for the Innerbelt site that is reflective of the community’s values; create opportunities for financial growth for neighborhood residents adjacent to the Innerbelt site and throughout the city; and promote equity through physical interventions and community benefits. ... According to the RFQ document, the master plan will study two sub-areas of the Innerbelt site. The first, which will make up approximately 80% of the project, will look at the best ways to repurpose the decommissioned one-mile stretch from North Howard to Exchange streets. The remaining 20%, and second sub-area, is the still-active, two-mile section stretching from Exchange Street to Interstates 76 and 77. The project will look at roadway layout and infrastructure as well as identify interventions that will benefit the surrounding neighborhoods. https://signalakron.org/innerbelt-project-moves-forward-with-call-for-design-consultants/

Plan to turn Sherbondy Hill vacant lots into homes gains traction: Akron Planning Commission also supports North Hill renewal plan that may lead to housing development; projects could lead to 65 new single-family homes. by Kevin Dilley and Akron Documenters April 17, 2024 The Akron Planning Commission approved a request April 12 for the sale of more than seven acres of city-owned vacant lots in the Sherbondy Hill neighborhood to a home developer that promises to build single-family homes. Fifty-two lots will be sold to K. Hovnanian Ohio Operations, LLC for 25 cents per square foot — the lots comprise 308,753 square feet and the total cost would be about $77,000. ... The Meridian Urban Renewal Plan allows the city to move forward with the redevelopment of the area, which would include the development of new single-family homes. The area is a 4.77 acre plot of land at the south end of Meridian Street off East Tallmadge Avenue. https://signalakron.org/plan-to-turn-sherbondy-hill-vacant-lots-into-homes-gains-traction/

Cleveland State eyes major overhaul of iconic Rhodes Tower by Amy Morona April 17, 2024 https://signalcleveland.org/cleveland-state-eyes-major-overhaul-of-iconic-rhodes-tower/

From Nick Castele's reporting in Signal, this is a very misleading headline. Field Operations went $400K over their $500K budget and Bibb's administration had to return to Council to approve the additional funding, importantly after the costs were incurred by the consultants. So Council is upset about the cost overruns and that they weren't consulted sooner about the rising costs. Based on Nick's reporting the Browns potential move had nothing to do with Council pumping the breaks on approving the additional funding. https://signalcleveland.org/consulting-costs-rising-for-mayor-justin-bibbs-cleveland-lakefront-plans/

Love the idea, tho I think give Chester a separate and distinct style than Euclid. Assuming they replace the Greyhound lighting with the name of whatever that venue will be, maybe Chester could have an art deco/streamline modern styling?

There's a handful of interesting quotes in here, I've only picked out a few. The consensus, with one exception, seems to be that a mixed use development in Brook Park is not guaranteed to be successful and even when comparing to revenues of other mixed use stadium developments in Atlanta or LA it would take years to recoup those costs. The article makes it clear that the Cleveland market is not the ATL/LA market so the comparison isn't perfect... The suggestion was this development would be in direct competition with other suburban lifestyle centers like Crocker or Strongsville, and that's without taking into account whatever Jimbo has planned for Berea. There was no mention that the move would hurt Downtown, though it didn't seem that question was raised. Again the comparison was made to Gilbert's real estate investments downtown. The Haslams want a $2 billion Browns stadium. Would a Brook Park development make it possible? Apr. 13, 2024 By Sean McDonnell, cleveland.com Mixed-use developments have a ton of upside, said Matt Kittle, a Cleveland native who’s helped develop the land around SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles. But he said the payback period on these kinds of investments is 20 years, if not longer. “This isn’t like an overnight type of thing,” Kittle said, noting that the 300-acre Hollywood Park development is 40% built seven years after breaking ground. ... J.C. Bradbury, an economics professor at Kennesaw State University who has watched the Braves development closely, said the numbers show that the upside of these mixed-use developments is not obvious. https://www.cleveland.com/news/2024/04/the-haslams-want-a-2-billion-browns-stadium-would-a-brook-park-development-make-it-possible.html

I would argue your weighting is inverted. If you look at when the decline began it's pretty well before smart phones and social media had the influence they have today. You could maybe expand social media to the fragmentation of media more generally allowing for siloed information and echo chambers, but I think looking at the chart there are some pretty clear events around the sharper declines that probably better explain what is going on. The first decline from the 70% mark is roughly around 9/11. Should be fairly obvious why Americans would not be satisfied with the direction of the country after this event; there was an increase in paranoia as Americans felt less safe and we entered into two wars that pretty quickly became unpopular. A second sharp decline looks to be around 2008 which would be the mortgage crisis and resulting recession. To your broader point this resulted in slower growth, flat real wages, and increasing economic inequality. It also left Millennials as the first generation that will not be better off economically than their parents as they entered a challenging employment market with ballooning student loan debts only to be hit with rising housing costs once they are able to enter into the housing market. Lastly, as someone else suggested, this graph would probably be more informative if broken out by partisan affiliation. On average outlook might be lower, but that might just be the result of Republicans and Democrats flipping their assessment based on which party is in power at the time.

Metroparks eyeing fall debut for Wallace Lake improvements: Around The Town Apr. 05, 2024 By Rich Heileman, Sun News Upgrade plans include an outdoor classroom and recreation education area and an ADA kayak launch. Metroparks, for the first time this year, is offering watercraft rentals, including single and tandem kayaks, at Wallace Lake. Project architect Ryan Denker said the improvements, which are expected to be completed in the fall, will also include accessible space for outdoor recreation-based programs. The proximity of the classroom space to the lake itself will allow for hands-on environmental programs. https://www.cleveland.com/berea/2024/04/metroparks-eyes-fall-debut-for-wallace-lake-improvements-around-the-town.html

We can get more BRT miles than rail miles for the cost and new or extended BRT corridors are economic drivers, as we saw on Euclid. These BRT projects also don't preclude expanded rail service in the future. I think it makes sense for the RTA to take on the projects it can now instead of waiting to get the funding together for rail expansion.

Its like a 1/2 mile further to the post office site from Public Square than it is the lake front. The walk to the post office site currently isn't nice, but it will take infrastructure improvements to make the walk to the lakefront more pleasant too... to treat the PO site as out on an unwalkable island is a bit overstated.

Nothing new in the article but to say that RTA has launched a new website to track the railcar replacement project: https://www.riderta.com/rcrp Greater Cleveland RTA launches new site to track railcar replacement Apr. 04, 2024 By Lucas Daprile, cleveland.com CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority is launching a new website to help the public track its $393 million investment in new railcars. The website,www.riderta.com/rcrp, is already live and includes information on RTA’s pursuit of new railcars, future and past milestones, the latest project news and more. When the program is complete in fall 2027, RTA will have replaced the system’s 34 light rail cars and 40 heavy rail cars with 60 “common” railcars. Unlike the old cars, the new ones will be able to run on all of RTA’s rail lines, including the heavy rail Red Line, and light rail Blue and Green lines, according to a news release. https://www.cleveland.com/news/2024/04/greater-cleveland-rta-launches-new-site-to-track-railcar-replacement.html

They've already identified a location for the soccer stadium just south of the Innerbelt Bridge. If we get the opportunity to move the Browns Stadium off the lakefront we shouldn't squander that by replacing it with another stadium

I'm not sure how much influence The Plain Dealer/Cleveland.com has in influencing public discourse anymore, but it will be interesting to watch how the tone of the coverage changes. Some others have pointed out the sharp juxtaposition between the Cavs announcing a new facility days before the Browns announce they may decamp to Brook Park. That's definitely one narrative to follow. This could be another that shapes the narrative; with the understanding that the comparison only goes so far since the Haslams have stated their intention to remain in NEO. Regardless, the emotional appeal of this comparison could be pretty powerful. I should maybe be clear, I recognize the click baity-ness of this article and headline. I'm just saying even raising the comparison to Modell, if it sticks, could weaken the Haslam's position. To the extent they care what the public thinks... Haslams could buy Brook Park land for a stadium. Art Modell did the same thing 50 years ago Mar. 29, 2024 By Lucas Daprile, cleveland.com CLEVELAND, Ohio – As Cleveland Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam eye the potential purchase of land outside the city limits for a stadium, many Clevelanders may be feeling a sense of déjà vu. That’s because about 50 years ago, former Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell did the exact same thing. ... While there are some key differences between Modell and the Haslams’ approaches, the similarities, at times, border on uncanny. We took a look through The Plain Dealer archives to see how this current situation stacks up against what was done in the ‘70s. https://www.cleveland.com/news/2024/03/haslams-could-buy-brook-park-land-for-a-stadium-art-modell-did-the-same-thing-50-years-ago.html

Very little if any, there's a discussion on this in the Cleveland: General Business & Economic News thread.

Very little Will the Baltimore bridge disaster mean more business for the Port of Cleveland? Mar. 27, 2024 By Peter Krouse, cleveland.com CLEVELAND, Ohio – The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge at the entrance to Baltimore harbor has disrupted ocean-going trade to one of the busiest ports on the East Coast, but as shippers reroute their freight it’s unlikely that much of it, if any, will pass through Cleveland. It’s possible that the Port of Cleveland could see a little more non-container cargo, such as steel, as there are already established routes for that commodity between the Great Lakes and Europe, said Will Friedman, president and chief executive officer of the Port of Cleveland. ... The large container ships are too big to make their way up the St. Lawrence Seaway to Cleveland, Friedman said, and will go to other East Coast ports, such as Norfolk, Virginia, which is on the route to Baltimore as ships make their way up the Chesapeake Bay. https://www.cleveland.com/news/2024/03/will-the-baltimore-bridge-disaster-mean-more-business-for-the-port-of-cleveland.html

Bringing this over from the Browns Stadium discussion since my question is more general to lakefront development. Apologies in advance if we've already covered this, but I have some questions about the state restricting ownership of the reclaimed land. Did the Haslam's know about these restrictions when they released their lakefront plans? I know they only released conceptual designs, but it seems like something that would come up during the due diligence phase of planning a development. Even a conceptual one. Seems like there's three likely options; (1) they didn't know and just bore ahead, (2) they knew but Jimmy assumed he would be able to cajole state officials to let him build, or (3) he released the plan to get excitement around stadium development as a way to put pressure on the city to pony up more cash for the reno. I don't think 2 and 3 are mutually exclusive... More generally for the lakefront, what's the reasoning for the state's ownership of the land over the city and has Cleveland ever challenged this? If not it would seem worth pressing on to test the strength of the state's claim. Otherwise it really hamstrings any development of the lakefront... do any of the city's have this kind of restriction on their most valuable land...? Last question; would this have any implications for the CHEERs project? Or because Metroparks is undertaking that project it wont be subject to the same considerations?

Cleveland's airport director concerned about Browns' plan for dome near Hopkins JOE SCALZO March 27, 2024 https://www.crainscleveland.com/sports-recreation/cleveland-airport-director-concerned-about-browns-dome-site#/

I'm with @dwolfi01on this; if you're trying to market what I'm sure will be luxury apartments noise pollution from an airport and main freight line are a lot to over look. You can try to sell highway access, but those highways are close so that's more noise pollution. You can sound proof units well enough but people are going to want to be able to enjoy time on patios and balconies. A big difference between Crocker and Pine Crest is those areas weren't industrial hardscapes before they were developed.

If the Haslams are looking for additional revenue through development opportunities why not offer the development rights to the current stadium location. I think Ken has said in the past the city isn't able to sell this land, but what if the city was to lease the land to the Haslams for $1 for 30 years in return for keeping the stadium in Cleveland (the post office site) and reducing the public's share of the expense?

Cavs unveil a first look at their proposed downtown training complex JOE SCALZO March 26, 2024 https://www.crainscleveland.com/sports-recreation/cavaliers-unveil-renderings-cleveland-clinic-global-peak-performance-center#/

Sounds like this press conference is just to announce the removal of the Jersey barriers.

I didn't realize Century Cycle was having trouble. It's sad to see them go out of business, but glad Eddy's was able to step in to keep two locations open. https://www.eddys.com/faq/announcement-pg1185.htm