sonisharri

I basically share the same concerns, and I'm glad to see an article covering this from an alternate point of view. Functionally, the land bridge connects one place where no one actually lives (ie. the blocks directly surrounding the mall) to another place where no one actually lives (the lakefront, where people theoretically could live in the future via a very large public subsidy). Further out than that, the W 3rd and W 9th bridges already serve as pedestrian connections between the residential parts of downtown and the RRHOF, stadium, etc. Even a smaller pedestrian bridge like the one that already used to exist could provide the same level of connection, functionally, as the $200 million land bridge project would, and if done well could still offer a visually prominent and pleasurable entrance to the lakefront at a fraction of the cost (look up the Millenium Bridge in Denver). This is the bigger issue in my mind. I was sympathetic to this project at first as a sort of highway removal scheme to increase connectivity, but the Shoreway doesn't really divide any residential neighborhoods downtown. And while I support a rebuilt/calmed Shoreway, the "boulevard" concept could definitely be much more well-executed if done in a more progressive political climate. If the state is worried about reconnecting people, there are, and already have been, many better opportunities for this: the highway-to-boulevard conversion of the western Shoreway could have connected far more places where people already live (and will, upon completion of the Westinghouse project) to an already existing massive park space on the lakefront. Away from the lake, many west side neighborhoods could benefit even more from pedestrian bridges across I-90 and I-71, and probably at a much lower cost too. Unfortunately I think the first sentence in this quote holds true. If the main goal of the land bridge isn't to connect places where people already live to places they want to go, then it's just a massive public infrastructure investment for a neighborhood that doesn't even exist yet. I'm not at all opposed to new development on the lakefront, but why is it necessary to give away such a large subsidy to a single developer just to build a parking garage for future development, especially when that money could be much better spent on an infinite number of more useful things? There's clearly no shortage of developable land in the rest of downtown, and I may be wrong but I don't believe any parking minimums exist for the area within the Innerbelt. As much as I'd love to see the lakefront utilized for development and park space, what's the reason for rushing development of a new neighborhood when most of downtown is essentially uninhabited? New development in the eastern portion of downtown and further down St.Clair, next to an interconnected network of lakefront park space via a closed Burke (hopefully?) and the CHEERS project, would be far preferable IMO than several apartment buildings with easy access to a not-so-well-respected football team.

Ontario feels less like a "street" and more like a freeway with crosswalks... always amazes me singlehandedly stopping 9 lanes of car traffic at the Eagle Ave pedestrian crossing

That just reminded me of this photo I took the other day of the West Nineteen townhomes from Train Ave:

I’ve seen a lot of my images display up as “spacer.png” with slower internet connections, here are links to the two photos if you’re still unable to view them: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UZG3ZRMUC-aqOjROszB-o2Gvg0SFWqAD/view?usp=drivesdk https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y12agCboIkiGtB2jp-yNeMYLmpXpphAR/view?usp=drivesdk I keep most of my images in a public google drive folder because of the free storage and use a little trick to display them here, though I’m not sure how effective it is on every device. here’s the link to the folder in case you’re interested: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-5re4zZLrnvHx9hNMr54mStCS-fnQs87

Just noticed the blue accents on The Davis from Superior... looking sharp, though the rest of the photo is about as gloomy as it gets I realize this is like the fourth photo posted of this infill site, but *damn* these things go up quick... no wonder I rarely notice them being built And still no movement on Gold Coast Lofts.

fwiw, the reopened east side red line service felt noticeably faster when I rode today

MidTown Collaboration Center site (5-5-23)

Couple more panels already…

Welleon (5-5-23)

That’s a reasonable point, but maybe the design isn’t that important if it’s just gonna get replaced in a few decades anyway…

Yes, it does look “rather knockoff and cheap,” but that certainly isn’t unique to this era. You could probably sum up all of the styles of multifamily development in cleveland’s history in like, 3 photos… lemme give it a try: All of these buildings were designed to be cheap and mass-produced, accommodating the large amounts of population growth in the city’s industrial heyday, yet have become a treasured part of Cleveland’s architectural identity—not because of their uniqueness but because of their abundance. Point being, in 100 years these buildings will represent the unique historical context in which they were built—to accommodate growing employment in Cleveland’s healthcare and education sectors and provide workforce housing as affordably as possible especially for those without means to live further away and pay for transportation. Tacking on extra architectural features just for the sake of appearance only detracts from their purpose by making projects like these less economically feasible. I agree about the grass though. Yuck.

Maybe the one view in downtown that’s changed for the better… especially after SHW

First two are by Knez on E 97th, third is by the Land Bank on E 93rd

Karamu House renovations (5-3-23) Did someone say infill?

Library Lofts project is picking up steam... (5-3-23) Landscaping on Chester at the Artisan Circle Square is definitely one of the most underrated projects at the moment, imho. Like... Chester just casually has a 250-footer now?

Yeah, walkability and transit access definitely come in different levels. I regularly walk to classes a mile across campus at Case and just picked up a job a 1.5 mile walk from me, but my “comfort zone” is very different than other people. That said, it’s worth noting that the 48 picks up across the street from these townhomes and offers service to the Clinic and Shaker Square, with connections to the Red Line a stop to the north and to the Blue/Green lines at Shaker Square. It also runs 24 hours a day.

More progress on North Park Place townhomes (4-29-23)

SRV expansion today (4-29-23)

I got kinda curious how these would all look next to each other so I did a little mockup with the available renderings...

I took the 9 yesterday after I missed the Healthline and it's honestly a pretty viable alternative. Depending where you're going downtown, it might even be more convenient.

Like the article said, it would’ve sucked if the red line was the only option to get downtown, but that’s far from the case (no pun intended). From Euclid & Stokes, weekday headways for the Healthline are 15 mins, and 30 mins for both the 11 and 9 which also go to Public Square, connecting additional points downtown as a bonus. And that’s just from a single intersection… Combine that with the 3 (Superior), which shockingly runs every 15 mins during the day, barely a 10 minute walk from the northern edge of campus and even shorter for many of the off-campus students in the “Circle North” area. Additionally, the 8 (Cedar) comes every hour less than a 10 min walk from the HEC. All of that and I haven’t even mentioned the 66R with its mere 30-minute frequency. Heck, with a little paint for some dedicated bus lanes, UC to Downtown transit would be top-notch. Edit: Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe this means that transit leaves Greater UC for downtown an average of every 4 minutes as it stands now. With the Red Line running at normal frequencies this “average” would be closer to 3.5 mins. Of course this only applies to weekdays, and totally depends where in UC you get on, but it’s fun to think about nonetheless.

I know I just posted, but I love how these came out (4-27-23)

Center Street Bridge progress as of yesterday…

Can confirm 👍

The Peninsula, Silverhills developments (4-27-23)