Old AmrapinVA

Generally, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Pittsburgh share the same economic might (as they are all mid-tier major cities). Debating who is more important is like Paris and London duking it out for "who has more economic might in Europe." Understood. And I thought the way you presented the information was very cool CDM. I have no beef with the original post. It's just the "by far" comment that David posted that got me going. If you wanna see "by far" for real, come on down to Tysons-Dulles, VA corridor...there's more office/apartment construction going on than all three of Ohio's "C's" CBDs combined and outside of AOL, there aren't a helluva lot of f500 companies headquartered there. AOL (nor any of its sister divisions) are or reported as fortune 500 companies Ah hell, I just assumed that. So there may be no f500 companies in the corridor. As for the arts, NoVa has quite a few great arts places that aren't funded by anything except local donations/tax funding and small biz.

Why not Parma? It's super progressive. AND it was mentioned on "30 Rock"! Not only that it was the basis for the original theme music on the Drew Carey Show. C'mon, you know you want live there.

Generally, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Pittsburgh share the same economic might (as they are all mid-tier major cities). Debating who is more important is like Paris and London duking it out for "who has more economic might in Europe." Understood. And I thought the way you presented the information was very cool CDM. I have no beef with the original post. It's just the "by far" comment that David posted that got me going. If you wanna see "by far" for real, come on down to Tysons-Dulles, VA corridor...there's more office/apartment construction going on than all three of Ohio's "C's" CBDs combined and outside of AOL, there aren't a helluva lot of f500 companies headquartered there.

C'mon...bragging about which Ohio metro has the best economy this decade is on the lines of arguing which team is better -- the Royals or the Devil Rays. In the end, who really cares? Jesus, the DC metro has one county (Loudoun) that has had as much growth as the entire Cincinnati metro this decade. And the unemployment rate here is half that of Cincy. Feel free to brag, but I wouldn't. Comparing yourselves to places like Cleveland, Detroit and Pittsburgh -- the rust belt heavies -- Cincy will mostly come up roses. Compare it to most other parts of the country...and Cincy looks below average at best.

They mentioned Parma? LMFAO. How can the Cleveland area be mentioned WITHOUT Parma. :)

Dayton airport to receive $2.5 million grant By Laura A. Bischoff Staff Writer Wednesday, April 11, 2007 COLUMBUS — Dayton International Airport is in line to receive a $2.5 million state grant to improve a long-vacant concourse, state officials said Wednesday. Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher will announce the grant at a 4:30 p.m. press conference Thursday at the airport, his spokeswoman Nikki Jaworski said. The money is included in Gov. Ted Strickland's proposed two-year state budget under the state Department of Transportation. Jaworski said the airport hopes to use the money to improve Concourse D and then attract a new commercial carrier. Concourse D has been closed for about a decade. <<Damn, I thought CLE was messed up! Dayton Aviation Director Iftikhar Ahmad has said he wants to add restaurants, specialty shops, live music and art exhibits inside and around the terminal as a way to attract airlines and increase flights. Business development has become a greater priority with the loss of a major airport tenant — the United Parcel Service Inc. air freight hub. Full article at http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/04/11/ddn041207airport.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=16

Dayton to offer nonstop flights to Las Vegas By Joanne Huist Smith Staff Writer Thursday, April 19, 2007 Flights from Dayton International Airport to Las Vegas will soon be quicker. Dayton Aviation Director Iftikhar Ahmad announced Wednesday that AirTran Airways plans to offer nonstop flights from Dayton to Las Vegas, beginning this spring. "It's a direct flight, something needed in Dayton," Ahmad said. "I hope it starts next month." The flights will be offered three days a week, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Full article at http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/04/18/ddn041907vegas.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=16

^^ There are several pros and cons about shutting down BKL. Like I said before, my biggest concern would be after shutting down the airport, we'd have 10 groups fight over what to do with the land over a long period of time. If you're going to develop it into something else....then have the bulldozers on standby the day after it closes. Nothing would look worse for the city than having essentially a giant 1-mile abandoned brownfield site right on the lakeshore and right next to downtown. I also 'appreciate' the PD angle of playing the upper middle class against the poor. Like shutting down the airport will fix the '30-percent poverty' problem in the city.

I couldn't agree more. The only way the Cavs have a road series in the Eastern Conference is if they play the Pistons, which wouldn't be until the Eastern Conference Finals. This is a win-win for the organization and the city. Isn't this the first back-to-back 50-win seasons since Ehlo, Daugherty, Price, Hot Rod, etc.?

Quebec City

Well USA3000 also has customs flight. I think the improved customs facility has to do more with the additional continental flight to come online, rather than not being able to handle the recently announced Quebec Flights. The new facility is to be in the C concourse as NW moves to the A concourse. so i suppose the smaller carriers can use the old facility and continental will use the new facility. the current facility is the pits! I was being a bit sarcastic about the YQB thing. Hopkins gets a small amount of international traffic in the winter - the USA3000 flights like you mentioned and the weekenders to SJU and CUN offered by CAL. I've never taken an international flight out of Cleveland...where is the facility, the A concourse? I'm assuming it's pretty small?

Yes, but I want a Continental flight, as Delta planes and serves sucks! Those planes are flying PJs, except the planes used for the shuttle. In addition, my miles get f*cked up when I fly on Delta, the way they have structured the skymiles program & skyteam marketing partnership! FROM my sources in CAL, they are introducing more non stops to the west coast to relive EWR while the INS/Customs facility in Cleveland is being rebuilt and enlarged so that they can process more international passengers. The planes used will most likely be 757-200 (SFO & LAX) or 737-900 offering the same on routes to LAS, SFO, LAX, ONT, SAC, SJU, PDX and SEA with the same onboard services you would get on any flight to those citys that departs EWR. In addition, CLE could see one daily flight to OAK, ALB, AUS, SLC, VAN, YYC as they can't very well expect O/D to be more that 55-60% from the local market, for international flights to Europe, so domestic service in to/out of CLE has to be beefed up to support it. So they will start with bring the Gatwick flight (which starts May 3) then CDG, then AMS. Its suspected that Berlin, Dublin & TLV would be next. There would also be a bigger push to see daily Caribbean service, from Cleveland as well. By then there should be 787 in the fleet so some of the 767 can be rotated to Cleveland. This will also hurt DET as many passegers from CLE fly to DET to connect to flights to Europe will soon be able to leave directly from Cleveland therefore increase Cleveland presence on the international level and hurting DETs profitablility. Well what you say makes sense. On Wiki, it says the YQB flight will have customs handled there for both inbound and outbound. I mean if CLE can't handle additional Federal Inspections of a freakin' once-a-week RJ flight, I hope it's because they working on improving FIS/IAB facilities.

^^Oops, wrong on the San Diego service from CAL. They offer it, it's seasonal.

^^ I agree with ya MTS. CLE-SLC non-stops are handled by Delta. CAL (or at least ExpressJet) had OMA for a while, it went in the crapper about three years back. As for PDX or SAN, who the hell knows? It's weird CDG will get going before CLE gets a non-stop to two rather large cities on the west coast.

A 'love letter' to the city of Cleveland? This keeps sounding worse and worse. There may be an opening in the CVB office soon.

Seattle was never lost, it was put on a seasonal-only basis for the last few years. It's going to be year-round again. Whopee!

^^ I should have posted this article first, it goes into greater detail about Allega and it's contract with the city. Contractor Allega pleads case to avoid ban from Cleveland Thursday, April 12, 2007 Mike Tobin Plain Dealer Reporter Representatives from Anthony Allega Cement Contractors Inc. met with city officials for about five hours Wednesday to explain why they should not be banned from doing work for Cleveland after an investigation concluded the contractor used a front company to skirt city rules. Exactly what Allega officials said is a mystery. The City Hall meeting was not open to the public, and company President John Allega declined to comment, although he has previously denied the accusations. Maureen Harper, a spokeswoman for Mayor Frank Jackson, also declined to discuss the case until Jackson makes a formal decision. The director of the city's office of equal opportunity now has five days to make a recommendation to Jackson on what punishment, if any, Allega should receive. The company could be forced to pay fines and be barred from any city contracts for up to two years. A report released by city investigators earlier this year said Allega, the lead contractor for the $150 million Cleveland Hopkins International Airport runway, used minority- and female-owned front companies that did little work and redirected most of their contract money back to Allega. The investigation started after Ricardo Teamor, a longtime confidant to former Mayor Michael R. White, told the FBI that most of the minority subcontractors working at the airport were front companies. Most of the companies got the work by paying kickbacks to Nate Gray, Teamor said. Gray is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence after being convicted of racketeering and money laundering while serving as a middleman for companies that traded bribes for public contracts. http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/117636698863730.xml&coll=2

^^ I can tell ya in VA we had regular gas hover around $3.10/gal last summer for about 3 weeks, and I'd say it was above $3 for about 5 weeks total. DC (which taxes gas pretty heavily) had alot of stations selling regular for $3.50+ for a good 2-3 week period, and was selling above $3 for at least 3 months. I don't know where the demand destruction is around here, but looking at the lines of SUV's lining up at the gas stations last summer it ain't $3. Maybe $4...who knows.

Airport contractor suspended indefinitely from city work Tuesday, April 17, 2007 Mike Tobin Plain Dealer Reporter The company accused of using front companies to get around hiring requirements on the massive construction project at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport has been suspended indefinitely from working for the city, Mayor Frank Jackson said Monday. Jackson's announcement came a few days after a hearing in which Anthony Allega Cement Contractors Inc. disputed an earlier finding that the company violated city rules when it paid companies owned by women and minorities to do little or no work. "There's a cloud over this," Jackson said. The city was required to make a formal ruling within five days of last week's hearing. Both sides agreed to waive that five-day window while Allega disputes procedural issues in the hearing process, city officials said. Until then, the company is barred from city work. To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: [email protected], 216-999-4128 http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1176799382185810.xml&coll=2

Oh you're gonna make alot of friends on this board when your first post is a backhand slam at Cleveland, Cincinnati and Ohio in general. Good luck with the move, let's hope the people in Painesville don't throw you in the lake with that attitude. ;)

Already missed #1 WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Soaring U.S. retail gasoline prices show no signs of easing, jumping another 7.4 cents over the last week to an average $2.88 a gallon, the government said Monday. Damn, at least my fantasy baseball team is in first place. :)

Apparently, this upcoming episode and at least the following one will have Cleveland in the storyline. I don't know if this is worthy of getting too upset about. The shows ratings are pretty poopy due to the Ugly Betty/Grey's Anatomy lineup on ABC...and all that Survivor/CSI stuff on CBS. This won't be talked about the next day...unless city leaders get upset and start issuing statements. I hope the city lies low on these episodes even if it paints Cleveland in a bad light (which is probably a good possiblity). If the city gets wound up about the first episode...then more than likely alot more people will watch the second due to the press.

^^ The unemployment rate is rather depressing, although I now it's a seasonal thing. It's good to see that last sentence about the several large players in the market and the increasing possiblilty of new office space downtown. I don't think that's been there in the past.

Props to the pope....he called the Cavs a 4 seed...they'll be a 5 unless a damn miracle happens.

I already knew that. Ya think 19K would have come out for say....Pirates-Nationals? They were two good AL teams. Milwaukee fans are pretty versed in baseball...they knew it was good baseball for a cheap price, that's why the attendance was better than expected.