coneflower

They got ASAE in a couple weeks, which is the trade show for trade show people. That is a huge get. Last 2 years they were in Nashville, Atlanta and New Orleans. I went when it was in Atlanta years ago and the energy was terrible because the facility was too big for the event size. I bet the energy will be great here because it will feel busy without being obnoxious. I have worked in trade shows and I think our biggest challenge for getting national events is breaking the stereotype that Cleveland is not a fun travel destination and we have fewer direct flights compared to bigger cities.

Roldo is a pretty old man at this point. He is old school and his point of view, I imagine, is that it’s not his job to make anyone feel good. His job is to tell the people the truth as he sees it. It’s honestly pretty incredible that he’s been annoying civic leaders as far back as 1968. I don’t have any problem with him and think voices like his are important. Always being negative worked against him, but then again the dude is pretty old and seen some BS. There were others like him that are no longer with us. Today’s media landscape is much different and I think sadly so.

Is this a lesser league? I’m confused lol

I guess I’ll just come out and say it… this building looks fine to me. It seems like a decent enough match to the new buildings across the street. Did the design change because of complaints or to save money? Is this actually being built or is someone getting their kicks making people on this message board go nuts? “Let’s see what they say about this one, Frank!”

Hey, the Supreme Court just wrecked the power of the regulatory state today. Dare the FAA to do something! 😂 This would be extremely cool, though.

It’s funny because if Haslam copied the approach in Indy as described in this article, he’d be competing with the downtown convention center we just spent millions to renovate, which is double stupid for the region.

Who cares where anyone came from? It’s not like you can do anything with that information. It’s not like they can or more importantly should ban people from certain places. It’s sad because this stuff happens and then the automatic reaction is to cance the activity, whether it’s a church fair in the suburbs or a family friendly winter/Christmas festival downtown. I don’t know how you address it but my hope is we won’t let a bunch of jerks and brats ruins stuff like this for everyone else.

I have no idea who has an edge but our regional population and media market is much bigger than Cincinnati. We’re just under Minneapolis and Miami.

Right. The Browns want their Brook Park dome and if they can’t get it, they’ll accept $1B in renovations to the current stadium as a consolation prize 😃 The only question is whose money are they going to spend? I like the suggestion of Congress stepping in on these stadium funding issues at a national level but seems rather unlikely especially anytime soon.

Crain’s has a pretty good article on the stadium. You can read it via the Cuyahoga County library https://www.crainscleveland.com/sports-recreation/why-browns-are-insisting-new-dome-or-major-renovation The overall gist of it is that Browns stadium is in good shape (although it requires ongoing maintenance money) and the only reason it requires any $1B+ renovations now is for fan experience/amenities. Ken Silliman, the former Gateway board chair, says the stadium was not “hastily built” or “shoddy.” He argues the best path forward is the status quo, which the team rejects. The Browns want the public to pay for upgrades to fan experience. I don’t think the article was intended to be a take down of the Browns’ position but the facts being what they are serves that role.

That is a lot of faith to be putting in politicians. Because Haslam is such an unlikable rich dude, folks assume that the government is fighting “the good fight.” But they can make bad decisions or have flawed thinking too.

The Browns leaving the region altogether would destroy the careers and “legacies” of every politician who had anything to do with it. I don’t think anyone is dumb enough to accept that as an option, especially Bibb who surely has higher aspirations. My gripe is we’re here in these forums debating non-stop, making all kinds of assumptions, but the people who were elected to actually do the negotiations have hardly said anything. Thankfully we have local reporters who are piecing it together, but I just think Bibb and Ronanye (who never says anything and it seems has most at stake if they leave Cleveland and want county money) have an obligation to provide more insight into what they are thinking.

I’m glad the city and county heard and responded to my griping about them yesterday in the Browns stadium thread. The influence of UrbanOhio! 😂

Right. But how is any of that achievable without any realistic funding sources? My point is the big money that was designated for this potential project looks like it’s going somewhere else.

The plans are missing any discussion or exploration of timeline or funding. The whole reason we’re even talking about this is that the Browns came to the table with their own plan years ago, which included a billionaire with deep pockets and connections to statewide Republicans. I don’t see how they proceed without that? It seems pie in the sky and I have seen no evidence that it’s doable without Haslam or state Republican helping.

I don’t disagree. But what is the timeline and process to go from empty stadium to something else? We can all imagine many better uses for the space but if all the county and state money is flowing to a new stadium elsewhere, where do the resources come to improve this area? Based on a quick search the cost of demoing the stadium would be around $20M (someone can correct me but that seems to be the price for RFK). If we’re talking about city funding, how likely is council going to prioritize that with other resident needs? Especially if there is no funding to do something like a giant park that would require many millions more. The elected leaders responsible seem to be whistling past the graveyard.

Moving the stadium to Brook Park does not seem strategic for our region. But none of our elected leaders will go on the record to say anything besides milquetoast PR statements. The biggest question is if the stadium moves, what the heck happens to the space it left? Where will money come from to make that some beautiful public resource? Will the state give Cleveland more money for that if it’s funding hundreds of millions for a football stadium? Somebody needs to step up and take the lead with a vision besides the Haslams whose interest is just the Browns.

This is the same story for me except I was living in another state/big city. I have actually looked for jobs with the intention of working downtown and for what I do (office work) I rarely see any openings.

I haven’t seen this discussed anywhere but I thought it was interesting. Sort of inside baseball but also makes you go “hmm” https://signalcleveland.org/email-reveals-cavs-ceos-frustrations-with-cuyahoga-county-over-rocket-mortgage-fieldhouse-landlord/

Police chases are counter productive unless we’re talking about a seriously dangerous criminal or terrorist. When a chase starts, a crime has already occurred. Creating a situation where people are fleeing at high rates of speed where they can go out of control and hurt more people just increases the chance for more crimes and victims. Police don’t immediately go Rambo when confronting someone who is holding hostages. They work to deescalate the situation because it decreases the chances of people getting hurt. I’m not saying the CPD is flawless or even well run, but it’s not fair to compare crime in suburbs to what is faced in Cleveland. The volume of crimes and 911 calls is much higher in Cleveland. Suburbs can respond more forcefully because they have less volume and less severe crimes to police in the first place. And I’m sure you could get any suburban police chief to go on the record and say “oh yeah, I am thankful we don’t have the same needs as CPD.” It’s completely fair to critique CPD and CLE leadership their approach to crime but to me saying “this wouldn’t happen in Lakewood or Beachwood” isn’t fair, imho.

To me it reflects their corporate culture/brand. Also sort of reflects Northeast Ohio’s approach to design generally. Conservative, utilitarian, not showy. I’m glad they built it. I do think it’d be nice to see more creativity around town but I think that requires a pretty dominant personality to make it happen—Dan Gilbert type folks. SW is old and beholden to shareholders, so I get why it is the way it is.

My favorite thing about all these stadiums wanting funding is how elected officials don’t actually ever say anything or share their opinions. It’s sort of bizarre, isn’t it?

This isn’t a minor league stadium though. It’s for the top US women’s league… and men’s minor league, right? People are comparing this to the Browns, understandably, but to me there a few differences about the reasons for using public money: We don’t currently have any women’s pro sports teams. As we all know, women’s sports teams are less profitable and far less resourced compared to men, especially the NFL. There is a social benefit for our community to attract a women’s league team here. As I understand it, this facility would have a lot of different soccer uses for women and men, including pro, semi-pro, college, and the community. That creates more realistic opportunities to use this facility frequently compared to a giant NFL stadium. If we provide public money, I’d demand free or very inexpensive soccer clinics and leagues for local youth, especially those living in Cleveland. The land itself isn’t in demand and is reasonably close to downtown. I did a google map search and it looks like it’s only a 10 minute walk from Progressive Field at less than half a mile. One can fairly argue we shouldn’t give any money for sports stadiums, too. I personally see more community benefit for this vs. an NFL stadium.

I have been working remote in team environments since 2020 and it has been good. I worked in a remote team more than 15 years ago (I was in an office but not the same state as my teammates) that worked well too. I understand there are varying preferences. Doing remote well requires a lot of effort. And I do think you need to get together in person periodically to help strengthen relationships But imo when giant companies make these moves it’s really just a way to reduce headcount. AT&T closed a bunch of corporate offices not long ago and said you had to move or lose your job, even if you were going into an office. It’s probably from the financial crisis of 08 and my upbringing here in Northeast Ohio that I’m mentally aware of the risk of getting laid off at any moment haha.

Here are the two plans next to each other. I need to adjust my responses earlier because when you look at them like this they aren’t really that super different. The Haslam plan (is it a plan or just a an illustration of a vision?) definitely includes more buildings but to your point @Luke_S, I don’t know if there is any evidence there would be demand for all those buildings right away. I have no idea what is physically possible.