jamiec

This sounds more MY speed. It's sort of pathetic that I'm 20 years under the demo, though. lol. Says something about me I guess. I also like that they are getting this done without making a big fuss. As my journalism teachers used to say, show don't tell!

i content that any place is a great place to live (yes, even yellow knife) as long as you get the most out of your city and know how to take advantage of it (took me like four years to get that in cleveland but took me one week in DC) It took you four years before you figured out how to take advantage of living in Cleveland? What were you doing before the "aha" moment? try going to case western Word.

Woah, that last one looks like the scene from Spiderman 2 where Spidey has to save that runaway NYC subway car from crashing into the water!

i content that any place is a great place to live (yes, even yellow knife) as long as you get the most out of your city and know how to take advantage of it (took me like four years to get that in cleveland but took me one week in DC) It took you four years before you figured out how to take advantage of living in Cleveland? What were you doing before the "aha" moment? I tend to be pretty efficient about finding stuff to do where I live because I keep moving myself to places where I have no friends. I have to figure things out, or I go crazy! In Boston and NYC it was fairly easy to find fun stuff to do. If all else failed, I'd just go for a walk and take pictures with my little disposable Kodak camera. In Detroit, it was a little harder because I actually lived an hour outside of the city, so I really couldn't just explore at any given moment. In Cleveland, I find that my location is really very good because I can try everything without needing to go too far -- depends on my mood. Like today, I rollerbladed to Edgewater Park and went swimming and then stopped at the grocery store on the way home. But in my opinion, the "friends" issue is critical. It's one of the reasons I'm still adapting to living in NEO after being away. It's also one reason why I didn't like living in NYC (OK, there were a few other reasons). Having good friends is the best way to grow some roots. It's also more fun to hang out with your boys at some dive bar (anywhere!) than it is watching reruns of Frazier in your apartment. I don't want to bring up C-SPAN again, but I was watching this 30-something architect talking about living in NYC. He said for him, 9/11 was an event that for the very first time made him feel like he was a part of the city, a member of the community. Before then (and he seemed to indicate it was like this for him now, too) he felt like he was observing everything from the outside, as if he wasn't really a part of things. I found this observation incredibly interesting. First, he was not a native New Yorker; he said he grew up in many places so he never really formed a real "I am from XX" feeling. I guess that sense of community is something that I crave. In Cleveland, it's easier for me to call this place home because I grew up here. In other places, specifically New York, it feels to me as if there is almost an immigration test -- How New York are you? Only two years? Not New York enough! I guess the fundamental test for me is, can I wear the local baseball team's hat and feel authentic about it? In Boston, I bought a Red Sox hat and wear it to this day because I felt at home there. In Detroit, I almost bought a Tigers hat, but I forget why I didn't. I think it might have been because I was so far from Detroit, I didn't really feel connected to the city. If I was living in Royal Oak, I imagine I would wear the D. In New York, I waited two weeks before I went to K-Mart and bought a $10 Mets hat so people would stop yelling at me for wearing an Indians shirt. I still have that hat, but I don't wear it.

High Schools in Cleveland play their Senate championships at Gund Arena/CSU/The Jake...If im not mistaken. I recall this "community" involvement being key to the the cavs and indians (as well as CSU) giving back to the community. Cool, thanks for the info! I didn't make it clear, but I was thinking an amateur, all-ages tournament like the And 1 street basketball thing they play on ESPN would be cool. But this is just a random idea.

I've lived in Detroit, NYC and Boston. In my opinion, Cleveland is as good a place to live as anywhere as long you have friends around the area!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20060805/tc_cmp/191800654 NYC Transit Authority Embraces Podcasts New York City is taking advantage of the popularity of iPods among its 130 million transit riders by introducing podcasts that provide information and tips about public transportation. The Metropolitan Transit Authority, which runs New York City's subways, commuter trains and buses, has introduced TransitTrax. The podcasts are presented in six sections: customer safety, building for the future, promotions, security, advisories and news. Some feature new technologies authorities are testing in subways and on buses.

Interesting! I read the plan, and took great interest in the sites that are currently being examined. I liked a number of them. You mentioned elsewhere that there were some developments on that front. Are the sites in the report not being looked at anymore? Also, I think the concept of the museum is pretty interesting. It really looks interactive. I'm definitely excited because this museum/hall-of-fame really focuses on something most people don't know much about. This is the type of place I could visit and really learn something new about American history. What kinds of things will the pool, baseball field and basketball court be used for, besides, of course, the obvious :) I mean, would they be open to use by anyone, like a park? This is sort of related to an idea I had recently in terms of basketball. Most cities have a spot where all the best people come together and play pick-up games. I was thinking, wouldn't it be cool if Cleveland made its spot downtown somewhere? It was just a concept I came up with, so I haven't really fleshed it out. Maybe rather than doing pick-up games, they could create a league where teams from NEO could play each other in a season and then have a final tournament. In New York high schools, the city series or whatever it is called, is really important and they face off in Madison Square Garden. It be kind of cool here to have something like that. Just an idea, and I suppose it doesn't fit with this particular museum's mission.

I saw Spike Lee on C-Span tonight saying pretty much the same thing. In urban schools, getting good grades is considered a bad thing and not keeping it real. As he said, that's crazy!

This makes me sad, honestly.

Remember how small the Ford SUVs were in Jurassic Park compared to today...................? :shoot: :shoot: :shoot: :shoot: :shoot:

Did you see the Cavs fired Michael Reghi? I think that's really crappy. These are the things that make me hate sports. He seemed like a decent guy! What's wrong with Michael?!

hahaha, oh snap! I noticed no one responded to this, probably becuz it's the best retort ever. I love Edgewater. I'd move there if I didn't already live a block away, lol. But what do I know. I have as much street cred as a Barry Manilow greatest hits record. I'm the kind of guy who would cry to get out of a speeding ticket.

Yeah, I saw at the dealership there was a new Accord that had a "Made in Ohio" sticker in it with the percentage breakdown of where everything came from. Most of the work was done here but there were some parts shipped in from Japan. It's too bad we didn't get that new factory, but I was reading in the Dispatch that Ohio will still get some economic benefits, so the glass is half full! Support Ohio, buy Japanese, I guess.

I recently purchased a new (well, gently used:) car. I'm still unhappy about needing to buy a car (I'm one of those people who would rather drive around a beater all my life than stress about a payment or scratching a shiny new beauty), but I really can't get around it with my job. If I want to get more responsibility/increased wages in the future, I can't be bumming rides off my boss to get to clients' offices not serviced by bus routes. Anyway, I purchased another Honda Civic. And to KJP's point, the Civic market is BOOMING right now because of the fuel issues. It's got to be good to be a Honda dealer right now. They get them in off leases, fix them up a little and then put a $15,000 sticker on the window, no matter how many miles are on the the odometer. This is the third car I've driven in a little less than 10 years, and they've all been Civics -- this time I'm actually driving a car made in the same decade, though, lol. I've been looking into buying a new car for a few months now as my old car was starting to have some problems, and I had thought about going American this time around. I was forced into a decision after a recent minor car accident (no injuries or anything, and my old Civic actually doesn't look that bad. but at 10 years old, the repairs aren't worth the money). When push came to shove, I went Honda again because of all the reasons I went with them before -- good gas mileage, solid warranties and solid construction. Plus, they're the same price as the American cars, and I just feel comfortable with them. I am sure you can draw some sociological, Marxist conclusion about this, but I am beginning to identify with that dopey "H" logo. I had my 1997 Civic from 2001 until now, and besides the accident, I only had one weird problem when a computer inside broke, which could have cost a lot of money, but it was covered by Honda, and the car was eight years old when this happened! Other than that, just oil changes, exhaust systems, brakes and tires. I was ready to drive that thing into the ground. I was getting 35 mpg on the highway easy. In high school, I drove a 14-year-old Civic around and I would have driven that into the ground too if my parents wouldn't have made me buy a new car (they were afraid I was going to get squashed by an SUV). I'm actually hoping the next time I need to buy a car (which I hope is in 10 years, but I guess that's unlikely anymore), I want to get a hybrid. Maybe they'll all be hybrids by them. I want 100 miles/gallon. And since most American Hondas are made here, I have to feel guilty. Unless I'm in Detroit. Sort of funny sidenote about Detroit. When I lived there last year, I took my Civic in for an oil change and the guys at Valvoline had to get an oil-change manual out for my car to figure out how to do it. I thought that was interesting because anywhere else, Civics are omnipresent.

Rovers Morning Glory started in Cleveland! Apparently his ratings in Chicago were terrible, but around here he is unstoppable in my demographic (18-30 male). My cube neighbor at work listens to the whole show at work every day in the morning. The show changed a lot when they moved from Cleveland to Chicago -- I remembered it being a lot more raw and dirty. I'm not a super fan, but I do listen during my tiny morning commute. NE Ohio has some interesting local radio options. I wish there was more going on, though, especially up here. Am I missing any local talkers besides WTAM and that other sports channel. Down in the Akron area, WNIR is "the station" for people driving around during the day or doing jobs where they can listen to the radio and work. It seems like every painter during the summer or UPS driver is listening to WNIR. I don't agree with the politics of some of the stuff people are saying, but all of the "headlining" hosts are local and they talk about local issues, which is pretty cool in this day and age. Up in Cleveland, Triv is the only one besides NPR who ever talks about local issues, as far as I can tell, and he's always down on things I support. But I'd still rather listen to talkers than the horrible music they are playing on the music channels. The only place to get good tunes around here is from the Oberlin and John Carroll stations, and I can hardly get them on my radio.

I don't know if I'd consider broken windows serious crime, though. When I was little, a neighbor kid used to sneak out and smoke pot and then at one point he and his friends ripped the basketball hoop off the garage. This is the sort of stuff I'd expect. We didn't have break-in robberies or muggings or visible drug dealing. I think that Old Brooklyn sounds similar to Cuyahoga Falls, if it's populated by a bunch of blue-collar, regular folks. What you're saying is interesting though. What do you think the sec. 8 landlords' responsibilities are? It's their property, shouldn't it be their job to keep a house looking good? That's just a question. I wouldn't ever want to be a landlord. No matter how much a person makes, if they are a slob, they're a slob.

If you think THEIR accents are bad, it's a good thing you don't get Triv! I thought it was a joke the first time I heard him. Although, I fear I do listen to him, too. I'm a sucker for local content, no matter who is delivering it.

I definitely agree. It's also pretty crappy that outer suburbs zone out any possibility of section 8 or other low (or even middle) income residents. I would love to see an affordable housing development with Section 8 recipients and working class families built in Pepper Pike or Hunting Valley- open up Orange Schools to people who could really benefit from the change of scene. Those people who live in those areas would just move somewhere else -- probably some emerging former farm town. In New York, people always say, you can find the best mix of poor and rich mixing. According to this NYC.gov site (http://gis.nyc.gov/nycha/im/AddressMap.do), there are no public housing buildings between E. 59th street and E. 98 street, which seems to me is some of the most desirable residential space in all of New York. I'm sure there are some sec. 8 units in there, though -- seems as though it might be a legal requirement? But, I think if you said you were going to put a project tower in there, the rich, UN-types would throw a fit like any self-respecting suburbanite. Section 8 has a bad reputation among suburban people because they equate it with crime. In Cuyahoga Falls when I was young, the city tried to block a low-income housing development but lost in court. So up went an average-looking apartment complex. A few years later, a city police officer told my mom not to shop in the Giant Eagle next door because it wasn't safe anymore. Was it really more dangerous? I don't know, but when a cop says to stay away, you tend to take his advice. Nationally, is there a stastical correlation between sec. 8 housing and crime? I don't know, but I suspect it does. In the small town in Michigan where I worked, the nicest apartment complex in town was low-income only. That's where the neighborhood thugs hung out and robbed pizza delivery guys. They might not have even lived there but in some neighboring blocks, which also were pretty rough. In Akron, there is a 10-year-old sec. 8 development that is among the most called upon locations to the Akron PD. It's in no-man's land on the border of Cuyahoga Falls. These suburbs prize themselves on having practically ZERO serious crime, unlike in a dense city where criminal stuff happens all the time and you deal with it. So, when people think they see the writing on the wall, the "For Sale" signs go up, and everyone leaves. If it weren't tragic, you could focus on how interesting it is. People fundamentally give up on their communities and their governments' ability to protect their families and property.

Not sure if this should go here or not. It's interesting Rover is coming back to Cleveland. He'll still be syndicated to nine other cities, although they are mostly regional markets, I think. I've got to admit, it hasn't been the same not hearing those "Rover, Cleveland loves you man!" ads every five minutes when I've driven to internships and school. http://www.cleveland.com/weblogs/entertainment/index.ssf?/mtlogs/cleve_entertainment/archives/2006_07.html#167139 Time to pack up the U-Haul again. Rover’s moving from Chicago back to Cleveland. Chicago’s WCKG, “Rover’s Morning Glory’s” home base, announced on Monday that the show will be replaced with the syndicated “The Opie and Anthony Show.” It was Rover’s last day on the station.

Hey, I know the Hudson reputation. I grew up in Cuyahoga Falls! My mom is always talking about the name-dropping. She hates when people around here ask her where she lives because the whole thing has so much baggage. People automatically think you're a big snob -- I know I would have! My folks live in the old part of town, which is the reason they moved there -- plus it's close to my dad's job in Akron. I like small towns well enough, but the truly authentic, untouched by sprawl small towns can be really creepy. I lived in one in Michigan for a year! I prefer a city like Lakewood, although it could use some real redevelopment of existing space ala Royal Oak near Detroit. Anyway, getting back to Hudson, I think the clash can be illustrated by one example. The Hudson purists enjoy having a small, flourishing, independent bookstore right on Main Street. The suburbanites want the city to open up a big chunk of land on the edge of Stow to open a Border's and Bed Bath & Beyond -- that store isn't even cool!

Just remind them that New Orleans has taken that title from Cleveland. :) I don't think we want to be competing with NO!

.....Nick Spencer?? .....Nick Spencer?? hahaha. Nope! Just me. It's a little freaky the stuff he's saying on his blog though. Like he's reading my mind, and I'm not even a business owner!

From the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/critics/skyline/ Interesting ideas! UNCONVENTIONAL Massimiliano Fuksas reinvents the convention center. by PAUL GOLDBERGER Issue of 2006-07-31 Posted 2006-07-24 Convention centers are supposed to revive cities by bringing in revenue from out-of-town visitors and creating local jobs. But the more gargantuan they become the less happily they fit into the places they are intended to benefit. In terms of architectural beauty, the convention center these days ranks somewhere close to the aircraft hangar, and for some of the same reasons: both must provide acres of space for a continually shifting configuration of objects, and cater to a temporary crowd of people whose minds are on other things. Putting one of these megaliths into the heart of a city is like trying to dock the Queen Mary in the local marina. ...

Actually, if you read my second post a little closer, I think we agree :). I don't think the government knows the first thing about being cool, and I also think governments do a crappy job attracting people to cities. They should be open to new things, and when people with big ideas DO come to town, they should get out of the way.