jamiec

Hmm, I guess I can speak for the Gold Coast, although I'm renting a $625 apartment across the street from all of the towers. This is a very nice place to live; it's quiet and lively at the same time. With the density, the streets aren't "dead," even when it gets cold in the winter. The summer is the best, of course. I typically walk west during the week toward Lakewood Park and snoop out the big houses. During the weekends, I go to Edgewater Park, which would be a convenient bike ride or rollerblade trip away for you. During the summer, this a great, diverse place to be. As far as crime goes, there's nothing happening here that would alarm you. Real estate? I'm pretty sure any of the desirable neighborhoods in Cleveland, Lakewood or Shaker, etc. are going to appreciate over six years. I'm not a real estate agent, though, so maybe someone can speak to this. The one thing that's a pain about Lakewood, and it makes no sense because this city is so dense, is the retail options stink for some essential stuff like books, clothes, etc. Frankly, Tremont is getting my attention for possible relocation next year because it feels more "well-rounded," although it's not as dense and technically "safe" as Lakewood. Don't know if that helps! There are so many great things to see and experience here. It'll be fun!

HMM. My friend works in Ryan's DC office. I'll send a note!

Frankly, you can make all those natural cleaners at home for cheap. I was at Target, and they had this "all-natural" window cleaner that was twice the price as Windex. All that shat is water, a little lemon and a little white vinegar. There are a number of different ways you can do it, but geez, white vinegar is like nearly 50% of every recipe!

I know you're trying to save some bucks, but you can get a flight through Continental to NYC for $180 roundtrip, including taxes and everything. To me, the extra $60 is worth it.

Perfecto! If I ever leave Cleveland, I'll probably move to Boston.

I don't think the "establishment" is ever going to be able to do what we want it to, and I feel we're setting ourselves up for disappointment if we expect that it can. Frankly, I've reached the point where I couldn't give two tiddlywinks what Bob Stark, Frank Jackson or anyone at the state level does. In my opinion, real positive change is going to have to come from us. We just need to keep injecting our opinions in the decision-making process and supporting ideas and projects that we find exciting. There are tons of awesome things happening around here, so don't get down. There are small businesses, restaurants, shops, etc. that would be cool in ANY CITY. Those people live here! I wouldn't call ourselves regressive merely for the fact that we didn't land an IKEA or the depressing fact that RTA and ODOT aren't expanding rail service. Does an IKEA improve our standard of living? It doesn't for me, at least. As far as this project goes, I can't hardly keep on top of it. Exit ramps, ugly bridges, old buildings. The whole thing confuses me. Why does it have to be such a reinvention of the wheel? Why does the bridge have to be so fancy? Why doesn't ODOT listen to the people who live here. If anything, this is symptom of how messed up the state is.

Put Pollard in and hack at D.Wade's shoulder!!! I'm ruthless when it comes to getting a Cleveland championship ;)

^ You can say that again. Someone's always got something smart or demeaning to say about people who've made money. Around here, it's assumed you're either lazy, lucky or crooked if you've been successful. As Traficant used to say, "When was the last time a poor man gave you a job?" After looking at Euclid Avenue pictures on The Cleveland Memory Project, and I don't know what I think about this tower project anymore. The whole damn streets been obliterated anyway.

I guess we'll always have Second Life!

^ It might be time for me to write a letter to RTA!

^lol, I was reading on the Lakewood Observer message board that "rumor had it" the stadium would be renamed National City something any day now. haha

I'm not saying Detroit and NYC are the same at all, I was just saying that to me Detroit had a spirit that reminded me of New York, especially among the older buildings that are dense. I was down by Cobo Hall. It's less to do with how it looks than how it feels. It just has an authentic vibe that felt interesting.

OH, good question. I assumed abatements were broken down per unit. So, a Stonebridge could still happen because it's a 1-family unit, or whatever? Am I wrong?

This doesn't sound bad to me...12 years for green building. I guess the question is, do the abatements still make buying new in the city a value? Also, tax abatements get all the press. Is there anything similar for existing housing? It seems to me you'd want to package and market programs for new and existing housing, especially since there's so much of it available. Thoughts?

Someone last week told me that Detroit was "never very nice." After my eyes popped out, I was too fatigued to explain why this was an insane statement. The first time I went to downtown Detroit, I was surprised by the magnitude of it. It's so much bigger than Cleveland. It reminded me of the presence that NYC has. Those are simply stunning photographs.

I AM FURIOUS ABOUT THIS! And is this Calabrese related to the one who the building next door to First Merit? Or is that all the same building, I can't remember. If so, he has a dump building and gives away our historical artifacts! http://blog.cleveland.com/earlyedition/2007/04/citys_historic_webb_c_ball_clo.html Time ran out last week for Cleveland's oldest street clock. It was snatched off the sidewalk by a town of 2,500 people. Local members of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors were ready Monday to fix and restore the 121-year-old clock at 1112 Euclid Ave. after reading in the Plain Dealer that its owner had agreed to give it to the Fredericktown Historical Society. For more information, click the above link.

Fight to Save Downtown Building Isn't Over Yet, Says Lawson Jones I ran into Cuyahoga County commissioner Peter Lawson Jones this morning at breakfast, and took a moment to congratulate him for his principled stand on the preservation of the Breuer Building, which some see as an architectural landmark but which his commission counterparts are itching to demolish. The Plain Dealer this week did what it always does, editorializing against preservation and thus throwing its weight toward what establishment players want rather than average citizens. In doing so, it thus ignored the ongoing and impassioned calls of its architecture critic, Steve Litt, who's been campaigning to save the building. Last week, he had this to say. In February, he wrote this column. Last September, in a column no longer online (but the energetic Norm Roulet mentions it here), Litt got the whole debate started by writing that "the three Cuyahoga County Commissioners soon could decide to pull down a 29-story downtown office tower by Marcel Breuer to make way for a new county administrative center. That would be tragic and wasteful for a city with a limited supply of historic buildings worth saving from any period. In this case, apathy over mid-20th-century Modernist architecture is playing a huge role. Debate over the Breuer tower has been absolutely anemic." Imagine that, a PD writer trying to spark more rather than less community debate! It helps explain why Litt isn't merely popular in many quarters, but increasingly becoming at least a minor folk hero to some. Anyway, Lawson Jones said this morning that all does not look so gloomy as some would assume. "It's now before the City Planning Commission, and I'm hopeful, knock on wood, that they'll do the right thing." He added that it wouldn't hurt if people were to call the commission and make their voices heard. Okay, folks, you have your marching orders (okay, more like a suggestion). That number is 216-664-2210. http://workingwithwords.blogspot.com/2007/04/fight-to-save-downtown-building-isnt.html

^I agree, that thing is awesome! How could you NOT want to do that? Man, you watch these movies where people romanticize the past where people did use trains, but hardly anywhere can you actually "enjoy" what anywhere else on the planet is ubiquitous.

What's the incentive for a company to offer free wifi?

Yeah, cut 'em some slack! Think whimsy! When I was little, it was my DREAM to run a backhoe and get into the dirt. To me, it signifies progress. Better than a crappy ass street.

Yeah, and what if they plastered their marketing materials all over the trains? This would be a cool mixture of tourism and transportation!

This thread is reminding me of grasscat's quote on ColDayMan's signature! 1. Constructive criticism is important! Just doing stuff in an area where we need more people doing stuff doesn't mean you should find out better ways to do things. I think if you read what has been written here, people, for the most part, are appreciative of what is happening via the DCA, but there are concerns. For example, if you go back to last summer, you would see how I was mad that these folks were cleaning Public Square and then a bunch of slobs would come back and leave their garbage! That still makes me mad. Maybe the DCA should be given the power to give littering tickets! 2. While my initial contact to DCA was ignored, after the recent post, I received a note, which I appreciated. The one thing I learned when I moved back here and started trying to volunteer is, sometimes it's very hard to help out! For example, I had to contact four different people at the CMA to even learn about volunteering opportunities. There are a lot of people around here who want to do their part, however they often aren't mobilized fully.

^ My old apartment complex in Michigan did this all year long, and it was a very nice place. I'm a little surprised more places don't do this, especially in renters markets like we have.

That article from the Dispatch was a disaster of anecdotes. Besides the 2% difference in population growth, they look at the differences in terms of which of the cities "feels bigger"? UHH. Anyway, this isn't really news but it's bad for Cleveland, obviously. It would seem to me that 4 to 7% population growth isn't horrible, is it? I'm not an expert. Phoenix et. al. are burning it up, however, but I'd rather live in Port Huron, MI than Phoenix, yech.

What a bunch of dopes (not this woman in the article, though, she sounds quite nice). What's worse, construction or a road that looks like it's on the way to Fallujah? Only in Cleveland can people take lemonade and get acid indigestion.