jamiec

The PD posted a podcast interview with the Stonebridge people: http://www.cleveland.com/business/audio/index.ssf?/business/audio/kroll.html I"m still trying to get it to work, lol. It was posted today, though. edit: OH, snap, "wild dogs and dead bodies" =) I LIKE WHAT CORNA IS SAYING! He wants to bring Tremont and Ohio City in there....cool.

Hah, don't shoot me, but that "dense" shot of the TJ Maxx sign directly over Pier 1 is sort of cool looking. I wish downtown had cool multi-level retail like that. It's gaudy in a lively way.

Places in Style Locally owned chic Wednesday, September 20, 2006 Roxanne Washington Plain Dealer Reporter It's been noisy and traffic-challenged in Greater Cleveland lately, as new shopping centers such as Crocker Park and Legacy Village rise from the dust, and old favorites such as Beachcliff Market Square get extreme makeovers. But there's been nothing quite like what's happening at Eton, Chagrin Boulevard in Woodmere. More at cleveland.com http://www.cleveland.com

^^ I get what you're saying. At first I thought it was hideous, but I work on the same block, and over the past few months it's grown on me. The building isn't "pretty," but it is very unique and it seems unwise to knock down something that might be architecturally significant to be replaced by some unimpressive building, modern design. And according to the one architect, we could save $20 million just by keeping it and encasing it in glass (which is my favorite option, haha :). Maybe the money cannot be transfered for some stupid reason, but wouldn't it be nice if we could transfer that $20 million for use on something else downtown? I took a long walk around downtown last weekend taking pictures, and I'll be honest, downtown on the whole is oppresive to me. I'm not so militant about it as Litt. I just figure if we can save a big chunk of change, why not focus on some other projects? Fix the place up big time, fill it up and lets go to work elsewhere.

Who competes with roads? (besides other modes of transportation) you guys lost me

Actually, according a newspaper report I read recently, the people behind these casinos promised to give kickbacks to Cincy to get the bigwigs to go along and support this. EVerytime I've been to a casino outside of Las Vegas, it's always been a big pit -- Michigan, Canada. Yech.

I thought the idea of encasing the existing building in glass is a cool idea..... Of course, someone told me I was the only one around who thought Key Tower is one of the best looking buildings around....

Well, I'm pretty sure it's all meant as a joke. Dave Chappelle is rich, and he drives a Prius. What business does Dave Chappelle have in making jokes? Chappelle's story reminded me of the time I thought I was going to have to punch a crackhead in the face on the A train going to the Cloisters in NYC. The guy was convulsing so bad he couldn't even talk. I was with my friend, a smaller girl, and I was trying to position myself so he couldn't get to her in the corner, so he was in my face just losing it. Luckily at the next stop, he staggered off. UGH. I was ready to blast him...It's probably a good thing because I haven't punched anyone since I was like 11.

When the orchestra played in Public Square, I noticed there were some people in the upper levels of that place, and I thought: Damn, that'd be a nice place to live! I thought I saw them working in there, too. I just didn't know what for! This is great news! That looks like a lovely place to live. You'd be right next to Tower City and the Rapid and the Warehouse District and E. 4th...and the highway if you're going on a weekender =) Making some of the old vacant buildings into residential is a great idea, in my opinion. :clap: :clap:

Well, I'm pretty sure it's all meant as a joke. Dave Chappelle is rich, and he drives a Prius.

Like many other transit ridership numbers, I'm skeptical about this. I see lots of bikes on the bike racks and on the trains every day and I wonder how they're counting them. If it's up to the drivers, well, I'll bet we're undercounting things by about half! As for the installation of racks, I'm still seeing the "x"s, but I'm not seeing the racks. What gives? Oh, they're just waiting for winter.

EWW! That reminds me of this Dave Chappelle bit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdYhmR4lVQA

I wish we could get the slobs who own vacant retails spaces downtown to clean up, too.

The world stops one after Cove Avenue in Lakewood, imho. :evil: :evil:

I've got a rant. This is my biggest rant with Cleveland, and maybe it seems silly, but it's this specific retail location on Euclid Avenue.... edit: Looks like the picture didn't work right. It's the picture here: http://lccleveland.blogspot.com/ that is of "Loretta's Restaurant." It's the one that's all gated up and stuff. It's repulsive. It is so dirty, it makes me sick when I walk by, and the smell is enough to make you gag even when you're a few storefronts away. This is seriously is shameful. I will even say I understand that the real estate market here is tough, that's why there are vacancies, but come on, why do WE, the pedestrians, have to be grossed out? Man, this makes me SOOOOOOOOO mad. This building is OWNED by someone. Clean up the damn mess! EDIT 2.0: I also was hanging out in Public Square today, and that place was a mess. I don't blame the downtown alliance workers because I saw three of them cleaning up on the east side of downtown only minutes prior to arriving in the square. They are doing their job. But why can't the people sitting around, resting or waiting for buses throw away their garbage? That's the biggest problem there. People have a bottle of coke, drink half of it and leave it behind when they go. There are trash cans all over the place. Why don't they use them? The downtown alliance guys aren't servants. Not only do we need to clean up downtown, we also have to change people's behavior. What a pain in the ass.

McDonald's!!! I have one in Cleveland I go to where the kids there hook me up with a one-foot tall soft-serve helping for $1. Oh wait, you said non-chain.....

I read a column in the Dispatch that proposed Cincy or Cleveland as the new affiliate...however, their contracts don't end until 2008, I believe. From what the article said, this shouldn't have any problems for the newstadium. And as a Clevelander, I feel the need to say something: Yankees Suck!

http://crainscleveland.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060915/FREE/60915002/1006/2020 This is sort of related. Crain's interviews the Cleveland Fed president/CEO, and this is what she had to say about Cleveland... Why do you suppose Cleveland’s economy has experienced a slowdown? (note from Jamie: I'm not an economist, but, uhhhhh, maybe one of the reasons is we still call one of our biggest skyscrapers the name of the company that isn't even there anymore...) I wouldn’t describe it as a slowdown, but it is lagging the national economy. The national level economy has slowed from its strong first-quarter pace. A lot of that has to do with the slowing in the housing market and higher energy prices taking a toll. Here locally, we just learned last week our unemployment rate jumped. We’re still a region of the country that has a lot of auto assembly and auto parts suppliers. How would you judge the overall health of Cleveland? How do you measure economic health? As a community, you can say we want to grow jobs. Well, do you want to grow any kind of job or grow income? I haven’t looked at Cleveland, but how do you measure Cleveland? There’s the whole (Census Bureau) report that the city proper is No. 1 in poverty in the country. You need to be careful in how you measure that and how you measure a region. Oh, what an insightful conversation.

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: Wow, I agree. That right there is fantastic!

I agree that the cost of art is rising to unrealistic prices. It's probably nearly impossible to get into the "classics" game right now. Most of the Monets and Picassos have homes, like you said. If I ran the museum in Columbus, I'd think about working into a different sort of niche. I'm no art historian, but there has to be a segment of art that they could really go after and own. Whatevs! I've been to the museum, and I thought it was a bit small, but I liked it. Are you serious that people don't know it exists? The first thing I do when I roll into town is find the local art museums. I may need to go from mansion to mansion and give them a what for :lol:

I'm actually shocked the museum has so little money. Obviously Cleveland would have more because of our industrial days, but, geez, you'd think some of the "new money" people would be chipping in in Columbus to help create the storied arts organizations of the future. I can definitely see Columbus constructing a giant, ballsy addition/new art museum like they did in Denver http://www.denverartmuseum.org/home.

Are you talking about the tracks that go in between Clifton and Detroit through Lakewood? That would be AWESOME. I would ride it every single day.

I'm not hanging MY head in shame. I'm pissed off about it, but I'm not going to take the blame for how ugly it is downtown. If the city named a day and offered the tools, I'd volunteer my time to fix it up down there, but as it is, there's not much I can do. I already contacted the downtown alliance about volunteering, and never got a response.

Oh man, those comparison shots of Cleveland and Chicago are almost comical.

Yay! For the future condo owners: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: