8ShadesofGray

Its financial support in hand, BioEnterprise to emphasize broader efforts Partner organizations sign on through 2013; group envisions less need for singularly focused assistance By CHUCK SODER, Crain's Cleveland Business 4:30 am, August 3, 2009 BioEnterprise Corp. may change as much in the next four years as it has in the past four, but one thing is fairly certain: It'll be here. The group's partner organizations have committed to providing their portion of the Cleveland nonprofit's budget at least until 2013, according to BioEnterprise president Baiju Shah ... ... For more information, please visit http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20090803/SUB1/308039985

Cleveland's Euclid Avenue development is going in right direction by Chris Warren (Cleveland) Plain Dealer Sunday August 02, 2009, 5:00 AM Contrary to the opinion expressed by Thomas Bier in The Plain Dealer on July 26 ("Euclid Ave. primed for growth -- until City Hall got involved"), the city of Cleveland has not walked away from its long-standing efforts to promote economic development in Cleveland's Midtown neighborhood, nor has it "shattered" the promise that the Euclid Corridor between Cleveland State University and the Cleveland Clinic would be developed for private businesses. More at http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/08/clevelands_euclid_avenue_devel.html

Was at East Cleveland Public Library this weekend, and on the way back, saw what appeared to be wood framing going up at Circle 118 ... quite a lot of movement on the site in just two weeks, really.

I'm not sure, but it just showed up on the County Planning Blog a couple days ago, so I assume it's pretty recent.

From the Cleveland Stater (http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:Gn-D_BghmxUJ:www.csuohio.edu/class/com/clevelandstater/News110304.html+cleveland+stater+corlett+building&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us) ... Sorry for the weird link; I couldn't get the page to work, so this is the cached content. The primary building proposed for that plot of land is a new visual arts center to improve the art department’s amenities and give them a higher profile on campus. With the recent deal with Playhouse Square to renovate the Allen Theater to house the theater arts program, the potential use of the visual arts center has changed. The amount of performance area would be reduced, Schmittgen said. “However the project is still very viable programmatically [as a] fine arts, dance, exterior and interior performance venue,” Schmittgen said.

This is not Section 8. It is also not a housing tower like is on W. 25th. It will be a mid-level apartment complex for people with chronic homeless problems. Participation in the program is contingent on being a good neighbor in the community. The program has previously had a 95% success rate in keeping people off the street. Crime does indeed fester in some public housing projects, but they tend to be the monolithic structures like Caprini Green. This is 70 units of housing, a reasonable number for CHN to be monitoring for any problems that might arise with the residents. I work next door to a very similar project downtown (1850 Superior ... adjacent to the Tower Press Building and across the street from the Plain Dealer). In four years, I have never once experienced a single problem with any resident of the building. I have walked around the neighborhood at 10 p.m. at night and felt relatively safe; I have certainly never had a single concern for my safety associated with 1850. Meanwhile, professionals are paying anywhere between $750 and $2000 per month to live and/or operate small businesses next door in Tower Press; it is always at near-full occupancy. A full-service dry cleaner and car rental firm are on the other side of the building and don't seem to have experienced any problems with the property. All of this seems to indicate that the transitional housing has done little if anything to hamper development in this particular neighborhood. Euclid Ave. could be a different case, for sure; it's a different environment. I think all of you are entitled to be opposed to this project, but I do feel that people are overreacting to the scale of what it will do to the avenue and prejudging a population based on their impressions of 1960 and 1970 layouts for subsidized housing (not based on any experiences with scattered site, mid-scale or other models that have been much more successful and have generally not been bastions of crime). 70 units! In 5 years, this is going to be a mere footnote in the redevelopment of Euclid Ave.

From the referenced Quinnipiac poll ... You can also see responses for likelihood of ridership, although those numbers don't vary a great deal from demographic to demographic. Questions 51 and 52 at http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1322.xml?ReleaseID=1276. Party affiliation and geographic location seem to be the biggest indicators of support or opposition. Interestingly, the lowest support of any demographic group came from residents of central Ohio, who seem to have a great location for taking advantage of inner-state travel (although Cleveland and Cincinnati seem better positioned for travel elsewhere). Governor Strickland is proposing passenger train service between Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Dayton. Do you think this is a good idea or a bad idea? Total Good Idea: 64% Bad Idea: 29% Don't Know: 7% Republican Good Idea: 56% Bad Idea: 38% Don't Know: 6% Democrat Good Idea: 75% Bad Idea: 18% Don't Know: 7% Independent Good Idea: 59% Bad Idea: 33% Don't Know: 8% Men Good Idea: 62% Bad Idea: 33% Don't Know: 5% Women Good Idea: 65% Bad Idea: 26% Don't Know: 9% White Born Again Evangelical Good Idea: 57% Bad Idea: 37% Don't Know: 7% Central Ohio Good Idea: 52% Bad Idea: 41% Don't Know: 7% Northeast Ohio Good Idea: 70% Bad Idea: 23% Don't Know: 8% Northwest Ohio Good Idea: 60% Bad Idea: 32% Don't Know: 7% Southeast Ohio Good Idea: 62% Bad Idea: 32% Don't Know: 6% Southwest Ohio Good Idea: 66% Bad Idea: 31% Don't Know: 3% West Central Ohio Good Idea: 65% Bad Idea: 26% Don't Know: 9% Age 18-34 Good Idea: 73% Bad Idea: 19% Don't Know: 9% Age 35-54 Good Idea: 62% Bad Idea: 33% Don't Know: 5% Age 55 and Older Good Idea: 61% Bad Idea: 31% Don't Know: 8% Income of Less than $50,000 Good Idea: 66% Bad Idea: 25% Don't Know: 9% Income of $50,000 - $100,000 Good Idea: 60% Bad Idea: 35% Don't Know: 5% Income of More than $100,000 Good Idea: 65% Bad Idea: 33% Don't Know: 2% No College Degree Good Idea: 63% Bad Idea: 30% Don't Know: 8% College Degree Good Idea: 67% Bad Idea: 28% Don't Know: 5%

I walked by yesterday and I too was surprised that it was intact as it is. There are definitely some rough areas ... 3 to 4 windows down on the eastern-most part of the Euclid side looked like a real mess, but generally, I think 668 was at least as bad, if not worse. I'm really curious to see how the condition of the corner section ... I don't know why, but my intuition tells me that if there are going to be problems, it's probably going to be in that strip. But loving it so far ...

^^ There is already a strip of parking in front of the Music and Communications Building, directly to the northeast of the Corlett Building, and the surrounding landscaping could easily be cut into if they need a few more spots. Meanwhile, 13 of the University's 26 (!) existing lots and parking garages have reserved handicapped parking, and Lot C (by the Chester Building) is reserved entirely for travelers with disability. Not trying to shoot the messenger or anything. But seriously ... Cleveland State! No more parking! ^ I can only hope that that is the meaning and that the actual footprint of the building will be the "grassy space" described in the article. Better green than gray. I can't imagine they would build surface parking right along the streetscape, and I cannot imagine that they would have been awarded a variance to do so this soon after the ECP's completion.

Was it me? My mailbox is totally full. Haha.

The same is true of the public housing. As I indicated previously, CHN's previous transitional housing projects have had relatively high design standards (at least relative to subsidized housing design in general), and I know that they are definitely giving considerable consideration to design standards with this project. Just as with the hospital, the vast majority of commuters are not going to distinguish this housing from student housing around CSU, etc.

Sorry for the meandering ... I forgot about the plan to break up the super-block. This is not so bad, assuming they can get a pocket park there shortly, particularly if there is indeed a restaurant across the street, like the article indicates. Demolishing the Corlett Building, however, and replacing it with surface parking along Euclid ... that seems ridiculous to me. I understand if they can't maintain or use the building, but a park and farmer's market seems sufficient; there is no need for parking right there.

Agggghhhh! I certainly hope CSU has a very detailed Master Plan associated with this (with this specific demolition, I mean ... since the only plan I know of was for the Wright Center space. What if the "compatible use" could have used the existing building stock?! The demolition of these two buildings, and the potential conversion of one into surface parking on Euclid Ave., seems so unnecessary barring a pressing development need. This seems like such a departure from the excellent work the university has been doing the past several years to better integrate into the neighborhood. Restaurant and park to highlight changes on Euclid Avenue BY VINCE FRATIANI, The Cleveland Stater The Best Steak and Gyros Building at 1910 Euclid Ave. will soon be converted into an urban park, adding green space to the development projects taking place north of Cleveland State University’s academic campus core, according to Ed Schmittgen, university architect and executive director of capital planning. Right next door, the Morse Graphics Building is slated to undergo some changes of its own ... ... For more information, please visit http://www.csuohio.edu/class/com/clevelandstater/Archives/Vol%2011/Issue%204/copy/News110403.html

Atlantic Yards: A Crash Course Katherine Mella, Next American City When Developer Bruce Ratner of Forest City Ratner Companies announced the fanciful vision of a sports stadium in Brooklyn surrounded by world-class architecture designed by Frank Gehry, little did he know he was about to head one of the most controversial development projects in the history of New York. In addition to the stadium, the master plan of the project, in an area known as Atlantic Yards, showed a mixture of commercial, retail, and housing units, as well as green space. The original price of the project, slated for a 2006 completion, was $2.5 billion and included 8 million square feet and 22 acres of development. By the time the Public Authorities Control Board finally approved it in December of 2006, the cost had doubled to $4 billion, partly due to rising costs associated with Gehry’s designs ... ... For more information, please visit http://americancity.org/daily/entry/1724/

Nonetheless, it's a valid point. If the Commissioners are going to talk about relocating and centralizing operations, it seems reasonable to at least consider this as an option, particularly if it keeps the Merchandise Mart build-out (relatively) on schedule. Of course, 2 out of 3 Commissioners HATE this building :) At the very least, they could at least be using this as a negotiation technique ... Hey, if you don't want to sell, fine ... we're happy to move to an office tower a couple blocks over, we can start this thing tomorrow on our land, and you won't get a dime. The problem, of course, is that there's not much of a reward for selling the property to the county now. Even if the Commissioners are not bluffing, and they are prepared to move county operations, and they have the financial resources to do so, this property owner could easily sell the property to someone once the Med Mart is up and running, sell it to any number of firms that might capitalize on proximity to either the convention center or the Mart ... or maybe Forest City could start an alterna-Mart and they could operate the parking. Wouldn't that be rich? :)

I think it would also be prudent to work with the Port Authority as they flush out their redevelopment plan before making any decisions about the existing Rapid stations. Their broad vision seems to suggest three continguous neighborhoods on their current site, each high-density and mixed-use. And their hope is to have at least SOMETHING going up on the site within 3-5 years (I believe the initial inclinations were to start on the land immediately to the north of Browns Stadium). Were this plan to be fully realized, maintaining the W. 3rd and E.9th station, and supplementing with the North Coast Transportation Center, seems like it would raise the potential for ridership. I know we're talking about a relatively short distance to be able to walk to an alternate station if one or both of those were torn down, but I think we all know Americans' propensity for laziness :)

I think the Port move presents some amazing opportunities for downtown development, but I do think the environmental concerns and concerns about reduced lakefront access for eastside residents, are also very valid. Moreover, while the port move presents new economic development opportunities for east side neighborhoods through their proposed International Trade District, I worry that the Port's plans to date have been rather vague. The sheer size of this district, stretching from the lake past St. Clair Ave. from E. 30th to MLK, suggests it will have some neighborhood impacts on Asiatown, St. Clair Superior and Glenville, only some of which are definite positives. Among other things, I wonder what having 500 acres of office park, coupled with the existing highway, will do to lake access on the east side. While the port move to E. 55th might be on the whole a good thing (I'm about 60% yay on this), I think constructive criticism of it is worthwhile for ensuring the most bang for our buck, as is citizen demand for Port attention to transparency, accountability standards, environmental impact, neighborhood impact, resident health impact, etc. I don't see what we stand to lose by having a (reasonably) informed debate about this, but we have a lot to lose by not debating ... 20-30 years is a long time period ... long enough for a public body with little opportunity for public oversite or recourse to forget promises that it's made regarding the city's East Side.

Questions from a novice :) 1. Does the fact that the 3-C was not listed among the rail priorities of the midwest governors (I believe Chicago to Detroit and to St. Louis were listed in an article somewhere around here) adversely impact the 3-C proposal? Or am I misreading or overstating the role of the priorities expressed in the summit? 2. How would the 3-C corridor interface with existing Amtrak service? Specifically, would it lead to any likely increases in service or adjusted hours for trips between Cleveland and Chicago and/or Cleveland and Pittsburgh. I know this might be speculative at this point, but I'll take speculation from people in the know over my uninformed guesses anyday.

Year-on-year median sales prices are down, but relatively speaking, we were in excellent shape here. Every single one of the markets among the 20-city composite are down year-on-year. Cleveland, where the decline in median price was 6.2%, had the 3rd least severe slide in prices (Denver, decline of 4.6%, and Dallas, -4.1%, are the only cities that had less of a slide). The average city experienced a 17.1% drop in media sales price ... nearly 3 times as severe as our own. Be thankful you're not in Las Vegas (-32.0%!) or Phoenix (-34.2%!). And for those of you who would say, well yeah, that's because of the Midwest housing market ... Chicago experienced a 17.5% drop and Minneapolis, -21.7%. And for those of you who would say, well yeah, that's because of the cheap values you find in the Rust Belt, you may have a point, but Detroit has countless more basement bargain prices than does Cleveland and still experienced a year-on-year drop of 24.5%. Certainly not out of the woods, and certainly not a foregone conclusion, but it looks like Cleveland is relatively well-positioned to recover our 2005 high housing prices, compared to our peers. In Las Vegas or Phoenix, it may be years before owners recapture the value they lost on their homes.

And check out the official website: http://development.ohio.gov/UD/OHPTC/ with additional information on the application process. I will be curious to see how the new attention to regional distribution impacts Cleveland; specifically, whether future applications from Cleveland will be adversely impacted by the earlier heavy distribution in northeast Ohio. In other words, will ODOD be attempting regional parity among the credits within a given cycle, or will ODOD be attempting regional parity among the credits over the lifetime of the program? If the second is true, I would anticipate we won't see many Cleveland projects getting funded for a while. Even after splitting the earlier cycles to allow more applications from outside northeast Ohio to get a review, Cleveland still has an INCREDIBLE lead in this program ... $93.9 million to Cleveland, compared to $16.9 million to Cincy and Columbus's $9.4 million.

From the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit Resource Center The Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit is available again during two application cycles in 2009. This site is designed to provide an overview of the new tax credit, and to direct you to the latest resources, news and information concerning its availability and use. This site will be updated as information becomes available to Preservation Ohio ... ... More at http://ohiopreservationalliance.homestead.com/ohptcresourcecenter.html.

The ideastream layoffs were, I believe, related solely to the state budget cuts. I would expect to see similar fallout in a wide range of industries, from those receiving direct state payments to those receiving state contracts to those who provide support services to government workers. But it could be worse ... Ohio's 2010 budget gap was 4.8%; California's was 35.0% :(

From the sound of it, I definitely still lean toward Larchmere (and maybe Shaker Square ... these are literally one super-block apart), Tremont and Ohio City for you guys. Larchmere / Shaker Square and Ohio City for transit access. Larchmere / Shaker Square for park access (Lincoln Park in Tremont is pretty but relatively small; the Shaker Parklands immediately to the east of Larchmere and Shaker Square are 600 acres and pretty stunning). Tremont for artistic vibe. All three are really outstanding places, and all three have some great housing options. There's not an insane amount of high-quality housing there, but you might also check out Duck Island. This is a tucked away little neighborhood where a) you will have the peace and quiet you said you like while b) still being directly on the W. 25th Rapid, 5 mins. from the West Side Market and the Market area of Ohio City and a 10-15 min. walk from Tremont. It's often overlooked as a potential place to live, but in some ways, it presents the best of both worlds. The trick is finding the right housing there. There are some newish modern looking townhomes and also some nicer large houses, but the majority of the houses are pretty simple, skinny, two-story deals.

We're back, and we're taking it to the nabe :) Save the dates ... Hear some amazing community development stories and be among the first to see the renovated Gordon Square. The Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC) is excited to announce the dates and location of the next From Rust Belt to Artist Belt conference. The two-day conference is scheduled for Thursday and Friday, September 17 and 18, and will take place in various locations throughout Cleveland's Detroit Shoreway neighborhood including Cleveland Public Theatre, 78th Street Studios, and the newly renovated Capitol Theatre. Registration will open in July. The conference is a component of CPAC's Creative Compass Initiative, which is set out to connect two strong sectors in the region, arts and culture and community development. For a deeper understanding of related issues read From Rust Belt to Artist Belt: Challenges and Opportunities in Rust Belt Cities, CPAC's white paper. For some recent examples of the artist belt movement, check out a great article published in April by the Wall Street Journal, Artists vs. Blight.

More details! More details! Haha. Maybe you could describe a neighborhood in the U.S. that you really love ... :) With a home-based business, you might also consider a live-work option ... you can't get a much more urban feel than that. KJP pointed out two in his list of availables ... LoftWorks and Payne Avenue Lofts, both in Cleveland's Asiatown neighborhood. For a rental option, check out the stunning Tower Press building (http://www.towerpress.com/). Live-Work may be a little more difficult with dogs, although some landlords allow it, and depending on the building, there may be access to some form of community greenspace directly outside the building. But I have no idea if live-work would be of interest in the first place ... more details! :) I would also check out COSE's Home-Based Business Network (http://www.cose.org/en/Business%20Networks/Home%20Business.aspx), and depending on the nature of your business, Arts Network (www.cosearts.org). These are special member divisions of our small business chambers, one of the largest in the country. It's a great way to network with other small business owners, but more importantly, they can provide you with access to a lot of discounted services (particularly health insurance and utilities) that can defray your business costs so that you have even more wiggle room on property prices.