jamiec

What's the point of creating a concept that looks awesome and then not doing it? This is like at the Detroit Auto Show where you see a concept car that rocks and the REAL car coming out is a Taurus. BUMMER!

This is sad. I'm a big fan of used bookstores, however, I have to admit, none of the stores in this area have captured my attention like John K. King in Detroit and The Strand in NYC. That said, I feel like the writer sort of exaggerates the affluence and "boom" in Ohio City. It's definitely one of my favorite neighborhoods around, but I wouldn't figure just having a shop would equal sales there. http://www.freetimes.com/story/5020 Thirty and Counting Bookstore On 25th Faces Hard Times, Again By Michael Gill E-mail Mike O'Brien - "The official statement is that we're going to try to keep it open." There's no official statement that the Bookstore on West 25th is going to close, says the bright-eyed proprietor Mike O'Brien. But with green flyers spelling out the word SALE in the window, he's getting questions about that a lot lately. With his wavy grey hair and bushy beard, O'Brien could be a character in Moby Dick or some other novel about ships, their captains and the unforgiving sea. "People see the signs for 60 percent off all books, and they assume that's the case," he says. "The official statement is that we're going to try to keep it open." One of only a few remaining independent, used booksellers in the region, the shop once known as Six Steps Down (named for a former half-basement location on Franklin Circle), has been a fixture in Ohio City for most of its 30 years. It's one of those bookstores that causes a certain type of customer to say you "have to be careful" when you go in there. Shelves and old wooden pear crates are stacked high and lined with the titles of yesteryear. There are chairs near the front windows. In three decades, O'Brien has had evolving series of readings by poets and writers, as well as workshops. The third Saturday of every month poet Jim Lang hosts a poetry reading and distributes a "Bag-o-zine" collection of local poets' work on loose flyers. The fourth Tuesday of every month poet Gina Tabasso hosts a workshop in which poets sit in a circle to read and discuss each others' work. His hospitality has earned plenty of good will. Last fall Lang put together an anthology, 30/25ths: Not Just Any Versary, to commemorate the bookstore's 30th year. About a year ago, friends helped organize a rent party which enabled him to pay off back taxes and get current with his rent. Just a few months later, though, he began to slip behind again. O'Brien says the things that sell most quickly and for the best prices are "heavy- duty philosophy and psychology" books. "I can't keep original-language Greek and Latin authors on the shelf," he says. But the condo and restaurant boom that has given much of West 25th Street an economic boost in recent years hasn't rubbed off much on the store. O'Brien says he's "several months behind in rent," but quickly adds that his landlord has been "incredibly patient." O'Brien is committed to the idea of a physical store with a door open to the street, even though he sees both the neighborhood and book sales generally going in a different direction. While the area around the West Side Market has flourished with new condominiums, restaurants and bars, he says that traffic doesn't keep the same hours as his bookstore, and that people who have come for a night out aren't in the book-buying mood. Meanwhile, bookstore chains have solidified their position in the market, and online sales have increased. "Ironically I have sold books online to people in this very neighborhood," he says. He's put books up for sale on Amazon and "more esoteric stuff" on Alibris, but that he'd "hate to give up the ability to help the neighborhood by getting books in the hands of people who are not great readers." O'Brien says it wouldn't take much to turn things around: just two or three people a day buying two or three books each would put him "within shouting distance of solvency." But at the moment all he knows is that he'll stay open through the month of April.

Yes, I'm not a dummy, I saw the Medical Mart stuff, but how come we always have to take people's word for it? Around here, big decisions are always begun with the phrase "Trust me..." All I want is some objective proof that can assure me this is worth it. I'm not against spending big money for big projects, I just think we don't have much room for error anymore.

It wasn't him ranting, what I heard at least. He was just sitting there. It was experts from universities talking. They pointed out that in 10 years, convention hall square footage has doubled in the U.S., which is driving down demand. They also said that the public investment required only, in rare instances, has paid off by the returns of the convention centers. OK, these guys might not be unbiased when it comes to these topics, but I don't want to blow a bunch of public money on some building that's not going to be worth it. http://therealestate.observer.com/2007/03/testifying-their-yankee-stadium-love.html

Kucinich had a discussion of this and sports stadiums on Capitol Hill last week, which I saw on C-SPAN. After hearing that, this to me sounds like a waste of time.

Well, I'm home sick and I saw on the History Channel if a tsunami hits the East Coast, then the Midwest will have to take all the population and responsibilities from the East Coast. So we've got that going for us...

Yeah, I was Googling something related to downtown Cleveland and was led here. This place has become required reading for me for news and analysis of anything related to the three C's.

Yeah, no doubt. The temporary station is a real pain the butt, I've got to say. I hate getting off a train and missing the Circulator back to my apartment. This happens everytime, and then you gotta wait 20 minutes. UGH.

I don't think anyone here is going after the average worker. What they are doing is hard and much-needed. However, I do wonder about the leadership of the entity. I sent an e-mail like eight monthes ago to the DCA asking if they needed any volunteers and no one responded to my query (this is actually a surprising trend. I also have contacted other entities that keep telling us we need to help out and then when I say I want to help, they don't know where I can go to do anything. It's like they're so focused on the idea of getting people motivated to care they don't have an idea for what to do when you get someone who cares) My one question is about the role of an ambassador. Is it really a good idea to give them "law-enforcement" responsibilities like going after vagrants and providing quasi security? To me, it'd be better if we had volunteer police officers like in NYC where they have more serious-looking uniforms and direct communication with law enforcement in case of emergencies. Ambassadors, it seems to me, serve a different sort of function. Maybe that's something the DCA should address. I don't know what an ambassador is supposed to do...

I think just having police around to stop the most aggressive ones would help a lot.

That sounds like a good deal to me! How far is it from "downtown Ohio City?" I am not good with trying to estimate walks. About 10 minutes from the hub...15 from the Rapid?

Who knows! I'm not an expert in explosives! :drunk: :drunk:

You mean they're not even going to implode it? At least give the building the respect of going out with a bang rather than being pecked at like a rotting corpse.

^ So, what's the point of a study? To companies that they won't go out of business if they open shop on Euclid?

^^ Agreed on the bad setting for this event. It would have been better at CSU. Plus I didn't get the girl from the CVB (I think) who let me sit next her's phone number because I couldn't determine if her friend was a boyfriend or just a friend, thus sending me home in a disappointed mood.

Yep, he'll called 'em out. ::nerdy voice:: I blogged about my impressions clevelandada.blogspot.com. He said he wants to start Pesht next year. 1 million sq.feet of residential; 2 million sq. feet of office. $1.5 billion dollar development.

I'm going. I forgot my camera, though !

^ Details, details!

I normally do them early. This year was a pain because I had to do four different returns because I moved in the middle of the year. BLEH. Plus I free-lanced and got my ass kicked for that. And Lakewood wants their money up front for 2008. GEEZ!

BRT, bus lanes or something has to be a part of this discussion! Everyday, the 55 buses go down Clifton and Lake and they are JAM PACKED! If it's going to go from 15 minutes to 30 minutes to get to work with the Shoreway all bottled up, those people, imho, are going to take they cars on 90...

In shape, I average around 16 to 18 mph over 40 miles. For four to five miles, maybe I could average 20 mph, but I'd get to work all nasty if I did that. TDF speeds at 35 kilometers an hour (I *think* that's their speed) is just insane. If that's mph, that's just superhuman. Of course, they come down the mountains going 60+ mph, so.....

I agree with 3231; the marketing is going along with other changes. With that said, I sent this Web site over to the people doing the actual marketing. Hopefully they'll check it out and maybe interact. Sometimes its easy to rip on people when they do things you wouldn't do. I'm trying to do this less because it's not fair. That's frustration talking.

^That's what I was thinking... Also, this seems to me to indicate that light rail or BRT has to be a part of this project.

I'm not seeing any celebrities!!!!!!!!!

OH, this is easy. Just give Rotten Raddish or Joshua Soybottom a call!