Old AmrapinVA

There's so much misinformation on the Web and this storm is such a threat to human lives that the Onion should have held off on this. This is a Cat 4 storm in an area that has never experienced one in recent history. Even if only one person actually believes this and stays, it wasn't worth the joke.

Yeah, I can tell you with first hand knowledge that an increasing amount of riders do deal in drugs and other illegal activities and most gangs are using them here in DC and Baltimore. Could not be the case in Cleveland though. Yes they're very noisy and cumbersome but they're very easy to get away in and aren't registered. Cops aren't going to chase one down the sidewalk and there are plenty of alleys to get lost in. It's why DC Chief Lanier wants them off the streets. They ride up on sidewalks or alleyways and don't care if they run someone over. Their popularity was initially not drug related (VICE has good doc on the "early days" of riders) but riding has become of a bit of a gang status symbol for this area. Again, Cleveland may be quite different.

Going to need a curfew for sure. Going to have to monitor constantly for drug/gang activity if Cleveland bikers do the same "activities" as they do in DC/Balt. This facility will likely become a focal point between the police and bikeriders unless someone can govern the facility from the inside. Hoping it will work but I have a feeling this is another bad idea from a city government with a long history of making wrong choices. I think it would be great. I grew up riding dirt bikes and would love to get one but the closest place to legitimately ride (that I know of) is Lake County. If it was well done I think you'd see a lot of young people coming from the inner and outer suburbs to use it. I ride bikes too and I hope it works. The problem is these bikes aren't just being used for riding around, they're also being used for other activities. Is this going to be a park for everyone or is at an attempt to recreate the Midnight Basketball program that was used to keep young adults off of the streets and out of gangs during the crack epidemic a few decades back. If it's the latter, it needs to managed well or it could become a problem. Is the city operating this? In DC they've taken the somewhat opposite route of Cleveland where the Police Chief has an active enforcement program to try to get most of them off the streets. It will be interesting to see which approach works better. I think this is a good idea overall. But not if the park devolves into some kind of lawless Mad Max scenario. So I agree with you guys, there has to be oversight to ensure that it's a safe environment. Still I'm optimistic. Yes the bike culture is ingrained with drug sales. It's not unlike the outlaw origins of NASCAR in that regard. And motocross is a big sport and has all kinds of sponsorship opportunities; if done the right way it's another sport that can channel kids toward healthy competition and a better future. Who knows, maybe this place affords the police further opportunity to interact with neighborhood kids in a positive, meaningful way. We're lacking information at this point. My other questions are: Is this a Midnight Basketball program or just a park? Are they looking for sponsorships or is this just a facility to get the bikes off the street and contained? Is the city going to be responsible for it? We all want the same goal of making this a positive place but if it's managed incorrectly it could centralize drug and gang activity and drive away residents and could be another eyesore in a city which still has too many. There needs to funds to operate the place after it is built. Long-term thinking needs to be applied by the city of Cleveland here.

Going to need a curfew for sure. Going to have to monitor constantly for drug/gang activity if Cleveland bikers do the same "activities" as they do in DC/Balt. This facility will likely become a focal point between the police and bikeriders unless someone can govern the facility from the inside. Hoping it will work but I have a feeling this is another bad idea from a city government with a long history of making wrong choices. I think it would be great. I grew up riding dirt bikes and would love to get one but the closest place to legitimately ride (that I know of) is Lake County. If it was well done I think you'd see a lot of young people coming from the inner and outer suburbs to use it. I ride bikes too and I hope it works. The problem is these bikes aren't just being used for riding around, they're also being used for other activities. Is this going to be a park for everyone or is at an attempt to recreate the Midnight Basketball program that was used to keep young adults off of the streets and out of gangs during the crack epidemic a few decades back. If it's the latter, it needs to managed well or it could become a problem. Is the city operating this? In DC they've taken the somewhat opposite route of Cleveland where the Police Chief has an active enforcement program to try to get most of them off the streets. It will be interesting to see which approach works better.

Going to need a curfew for sure. Going to have to monitor constantly for drug/gang activity if Cleveland bikers do the same "activities" as they do in DC/Balt. This facility will likely become a focal point between the police and bikeriders unless someone can govern the facility from the inside. Hoping it will work but I have a feeling this is another bad idea from a city government with a long history of making wrong choices.

Where I live (Wash DC) I'd put you at the Four Seasons - cheapest room $831 a night. But in Cleveland, the Ritz is an awesome bargain - well worth what they charge. Actually I prefer the Park Hyatt in DC. Followed by the R-C DC, the Inter Continental, the the St. Regis the W and lastly the Grand Hyatt. Let hope this refresh of the R-C CLE raises the bar No mention of the Hay-Adams? Very disappointed in you MTS! ;)

I don't see how they could have any plans for a groundbreaking if they acquired the final piece of property only two weeks ago. Plans for a groundbreaking don't stay secret. When there are plans (or even rumors of plans), someone will be post them here. But considering the price Weston paid for that final piece of property, Weston is quite serious about this project. Per Jarboe's Nov. 2015 PD article on this project: They aim to break ground in early 2016 and open the first apartments in mid-2017. Like other downtown developers, they'll have to work around the July 2016 political convention and any construction restrictions tied to that event. http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2015/11/weston_citymark_capital_plan_a.html They're behind schedule according to the dates given in the article. Hard to believe Phase 1 will open by 2017 at this pace.

I had a front row seat in DC when Washington poached Montreal. Believe what you want. The Dolans have no real ties to Cleveland, even if they are based here. If they wanted to jump ship to say, Portland, nothing is stopping them and they will use the attendance card as exhibit A as to why they should leave, fair or not. It think it's a possibility.

So play in an empty stadium in a TV market that has shrunk from 11th to 18th in the last 20 years. Cleveland-Akron-Canton may be out of the top 20 by the time the lease expires. Not being negative but there are other cities with a growing TV markets without an MLB team. One argument for the team to stay would be butts in the seats.

Similar statement: If you want to burn the flag then you should be kicked out of "my" country. What's the point of having an Indians thread without about talking about a very real issue with the organization? The national sports media notices how pitiful the Indians attendance is. Cleveland is not being shown is a positive light. I'll believe what you say when I see it. The argument used to be just make the playoffs and attendance will rise. Now they need to go to the WS? Indians dropping attendance had nothing to do with the Browns. Indians were still selling out in 2000. It had to do with the change in ownership. Once the Indians are released from their obligations to the current lease, there's no reason why they should stay with these attendance figures.

And sadly these attendance woes have been nothing new. I remember going to games in Muni stadium when I was kid in the 80's, and there might be 7 or 8 thousand there. This was in that huge cavernous stadium which made it look even more ridiculous, and that was when you could get a bleacher seat for 4 dollars. It was just about the same price or cheaper than seeing a non-matinee first run film. At least the Indians have high ratings for their broadcasts. In fairness, the Indians were in almost three decade slump where they could barely sniff .500 at times in the empty Muni days. That was also in an era where a team had to win a division with eight teams and no wild card. The season was over before it began every year back in the 70s and 80s. I got why nobody went. There's no excuse for the low attendance this year. Makes me think that Indians will only be part of Cleveland for the short term. Plenty of cities could outdraw Cleveland that have no MLB team at this point. People need to get over the Dolans. Yet when the 2-14 Clown show starts at the other end of downtown in a few weeks, First Energy will be packed. RGIII will save us! Same old, same old.

Not even close to being true. Median income of the Toronto MSA is $75,270CAD. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/famil107a-eng.htm Median income of an Ohioan is $49,308USD. Using the current exchange rate it's $64,446.67CAD. http://www.deptofnumbers.com/income/ohio/ It's about a 15% difference. Also, the median price of home in Calgary is $422,000CAD. Converted it's $322,781.74USD. http://www.creb.com/Seller_Resources/Housing_Statistics/ At least there are still affordable cities in the United States to buy a home. In Canada, unless you plan to live in the Yukon, Newfoundland or some place in central Quebec which can have snow in June, you're mostly out of luck. Currency exchange rates don't come in to play. If you're earning $75,000 CAMP and your home costs $800,000 CAD, no one in Canada cares about the exchange rate anymore than someone in the USA thinks about exchange rates when buying/renting a home in the USA. Also, all of the cities mentioned have public transportation systems and support of land use patterns that make it possible to live without a car and the roughly $10,000 per year in annual expense that goes with it. People who live in those cities don't spend a lot of time in their homes. The city is their living room. If you're going to compare Ohio's median income with Ontario then you have to use exchange rates. It's math. It would make no sense otherwise. That being said, if someone in Toronto is making $75k on average and the average home is $800k while in Cleveland someone on average is making $45k and the average home is $125k, math again shows the cost of property alone in the GTA would offset any additional costs in Ohio. The value in Cleveland is much better. The USA has a distinct advantage of affordable housing in several markets. This doesn't exist in much of Canada now. It's a very good thing for the United States. I love Toronto, I consider it my third home and the GTA is the best urban planned city in the Western Hemisphere. That being said, it's becoming way too unaffordable. All of Canada has a housing bubble from hell that is too late to fix. Feel bad for people who live there, I know many who rent and want to move here (as long as Trump isn't the President.)

The median salary is higher in the entire province versus Toronto. Mainly due to many higher paying government and contracting jobs in Ottawa and natural resource mining in the far north of the province. Ontario's median is $78,790CAD. Converted it's $60,217USD. Closer to a 20% difference.

Not even close to being true. Median income of the Toronto MSA is $75,270CAD. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/famil107a-eng.htm Median income of an Ohioan is $49,308USD. Using the current exchange rate it's $64,446.67CAD. http://www.deptofnumbers.com/income/ohio/ It's about a 15% difference. Also, the median price of home in Calgary is $422,000CAD. Converted it's $322,781.74USD. http://www.creb.com/Seller_Resources/Housing_Statistics/ At least there are still affordable cities in the United States to buy a home. In Canada, unless you plan to live in the Yukon, Newfoundland or some place in central Quebec which can have snow in June, you're mostly out of luck.

Part of the reason why people demand charter schools is because of the shocking amount fraud and mismanagement of funds in some of our public school systems. Instead of pitting one group against another like Oliver is trying to do, why not work on ways to get parents more involved so that this behavior stops altogether at all types of schools.

How large are the public handouts? Tens of millions?

Sherman, let it go. He strongly believes in access to transit, especially for those that have no other option. Nothing wrong with that. Yeah, the question is being raised because they're looking at a one month sample size and thinking that this will continue forever. Can the city ban winter weather too? Because it's going to be a hindrance on the user-friendliness of the square.

What's productive and constructive of your last question there? I think he was just being honest about how he felt. Why take the thread off-topic? Just let it go.

I think that depends quite a bit on the speed of the buses and the proximity to pedestrians. I have seen some scary near misses when road construction pushed buses and confused pedestrians into close contact. Then again, I'm sure the new PS was designed in consideration of this, with public safety in mind. We're talking about 600 vehicles a day, many stopping to pick-up and drop-off. There's also a signal. Set a speed limit for the buses. It's not that complex. I'm with the through bus crowd. I don't see the big deal. We're talking 43 vehicles per hour max. That's nothing.

600 buses a day? Assuming 500 fall between 6am and 6pm, that's 42 an hour. 00:00-00:59 14 01:00-01:59 10 02:00-02:59 8 03:00-03:59 7 04:00-04:59 12 05:00-05:59 25 06:00-06:59 36 07:00-07:59 42 08:00-08:59 41 09:00-09:59 34 10:00-10:59 28 11:00-11:59 28 12:00-12:59 28 13:00-13:59 28 14:00-14:59 30 15:00-15:59 43 16:00-16:59 32 17:00-17:59 33 18:00-18:59 26 19:00-19:59 22 20:00-20:59 19 21:00-21:59 19 22:00-22:59 18 23:00-23:59 18 This is the buses per hour (excludes park and ride) How about just running buses from 0600-1000 and 1400-1800 when there are 30+ buses per hour. That leaves lunch hours open. Or would schedule changes be too complex for people to follow?

^^ You hit the nail on the head, IMHO. This project is not urban or even suburban. It's strange to me how some on here want Burke gone yet are willing to accept this right in the shadow of the airport. I guess removing Burke would make a great spot for a giant strip mall anchored by a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

There will be lots of people to the lakefront. They will be in their cars on Marginal Rd. and backing up the exit onto E. 9th. Nobody is even talking about the added amount of car traffic this project will bring to an area by E. 9th that is slowly aiming to be more pedestrian friendly. I think the only way Horizon funds this is if they find out they don't have enough parking and need additional space at the Muni lots.

It has the capability of being very depressing. Absolutely. And I asked if anyone here had any confidence in the City to ensure great architecture and planning...and got crickets. The fact that there are no codified design standards for the Lakefront is ridiculous. But if you have ever been to a vibrant waterfront you see that retail is almost always an integral component. How would you like to see that area developed? Something that isn't an isolated car centric strip mall in box? This isn't what's at, say, the Inner Harbor. Outside of building a Red Robin/Exxon/Kia dealership almost anything is preferable over this. Hell even an Exxon would probably generate more local foot traffic than this project. This isn't urban or even inner suburban.

This project is depressing. Especially when I look at what Ken posted about Pittsburgh and the I-579 cap. I see two different downtowns still going in two different directions.

The only positive to me: Can a downtown location drive enough traffic away from Lodi/Aurora to shut those sites down and bring this type of retail back to the center? I'm very skeptical this project will do that though. I think there will be three less than 1/2 filled outlet centers.