jamiec

I will seriously have a temper tantrum if they move my Giant Eagle all the way up there. I can walk to the Clifton location to get beer, candy, mac 'n' cheese and other single-guy crap anytime I want - no car needed! I would argue the customer base at the Clifton location is totally different than the 117/I-90 spot near Home Despot.

Good news! I think Wal-Mart is really thinking about being a "good corporate" citizen these days, especially since they have less room to seek and destroy around the country. They seem to be a little more "soft-hearted" on a variety of issues.

Well ain't they dainty! Looks like Cleveland can't muster the muscle to compete with Akron ;)

Well, I don't know if that is exactly a fair comparison. Silver Lake isn't Avon or Westlake. Those people have been there for a while. But I agree they shouldn't be able to hold up everyone else.

^^ Like KJP said. A number of high-traffic streets converge on Tallmadge Circle. This is right on the edge of Akron. It's not podunk nowhereville. I'm not an expert on traffic circles, but you merge on to it and then go round and around until you can get off on the street you want. There are no lights or anything breaking up the flow. I believe the circle dates at least from the 1800s. Google Map this address to see the circle: 115 Tallmadge Circle, tallmadge, ohio

Well, I grew up in the Akron area where there was a real, high-traffic circle (Tallmadge Circle), and that thing is stressful, I don't care what the stats say.

Haha :) My mom lives in Hudson and uses one of those folding metal carts when she walks to the grocery store. She also got hers at a thrift store.

So, UrbanOhio is sort of like Captain Planet?

This to me seems to serve the same purpose as shutting the road down to outside traffic. As a driver, I'm not taking a street that's going to have two traffic circles within 10 blocks. From a motorist, POV, one's bad enough.

I suppose continued argument over this building is rather academic because its fate is planned out. I don't anticipate seeing hordes of people protesting the commishes on a decision to demolish. But I just spent a little time researching Marcel Breuer, and I am now coming to understand the prism with which his work is viewed. In fact, I already knew about some of his work through art history classes. His best is really quite fascinating. However, I still think the Cleveland tower is ugly, and it is worth noting that in every encapsulation of his work that I read, this building is not mentioned. This presents a few questions: Are buildings worth being saved just because of who designed them? Unlike a faulty painting, song or story, you can't minimize its importance and keep it out of sight save for when making academic points about a person's career. A building continues to live on in a city, keeping it's prominence whether it deserves it or not. This is the artistic question, so to speak. For Cleveland, art is probably of minimal importance compared to the financial questions. While the tower's beauty is obviously up for debate, the case can be made that for the cheaper price, we can keep something more signature than what would potentially replace it. I saw on the news today, that East Cleveland isn't plowing a side street because a water main broke, and it's easer to leave it frozen than to fix it, so they are letting residents sit with a nearly impassable road. Is it worth spending twice the cost of refurbishing in light of situations like this? I'm not much for the "new" cities, but watching the NBA All Star festivities going on currently in Las Vegas had me looking around here rather critically. That is not to say I want to move to Las Vegas because I hope to never go there ever have to go there, but damn, does Cleveland always have to characterized by adjectives like "gritty" and "real?" This is a place where people are supposed to want to live, not a Charles Dickens story. In this regard, I find Northeast Ohio rather oppresive, and I think this is why people are emotionless when it comes to this tower. I don't believe there is animosity toward this specific building, but rather, there is animosity to it and a great deal of the visible city's vacancy and dourness. I do value authenticity, but I don't think that authenticity should be synonymous with despair.

^ This is an interesting idea, and sort of similar to what I was thinking... Maybe UrbanOhio could become a statewide non-profit, urbanism activist group? Easy for me to say :)

WHAT?! That'd be fantastic!

Man, these pic threads make me think I should be living in Pittsburgh!

I forgot about that building in Royal Oak. Love it!

Wouldn't it be neat if they built the convention center over the tracks so then you could have a station inside the convention hall! This is probably crazy talk. I'd like to see the old CC turn into a movie studio, as well, but the state is CC-blockin' us on the tax issue!

^^ That is terrifying, and I like that building!

^ Did you all see the story about the boutique owner in New York who was suing the city because of a homeless guy who always slept in his doorway. He said he complained and complained for years but nothing was ever done and it hurts his business. The homeless advocates were tearing him a new one. I can't say I blame the guy.

What happened to the panhandling thread? Was there some resolution to this?

They say they want to put tolls on highways going into cities. In a place like Cleveland, wouldn't that just be another reason for people to stay in the suburbs?

And they thought DETROIT was scary! This really pisses me off. We all work to convince people that we live in a great place, and this happens. We need more cops, we need more cops! That's all there is to it, it seems to me.

They didn't give a time...

I was watching the news yesterday (Action News) and they mentioned that two visitors from Detriot were attacked and robbed coming out of their hotel on Public Square by a "bunch of young thugs." Anyone heard about this? This bummed me out a little. It *is* Action News, but they actually didn't sensationalize this as much as you might expect from them.

^ It's OK. I understand your passion.

How come when someone disagrees, you gotta call them names?

Is Forest Hills where Spiderman's aunt lived?