8ShadesofGray

The basic structures for all three are now up. There are renderings at www.clevelandpublicart.org (click on Projects and then on % for Art).

Yep. There are a number of resources out there for artists, and in the next two years, there are going to be more robust efforts around helping them get affordable space (including increasing their ability to own space so they don't get priced out), market development and grant funding. I'll start a new thread once more details are worked out ... right now, I'm working on putting together a steering committee regarding artist space issues. As far as live/work goes, it's a complicated issue, but here's the main idea: the City of Cleveland passed an ordinance that allows artists to live in industrial zoned buildings on the near east side (industrial buildings from about E. 17th to E. 64th); there have been discussions about creating similar live-work overlay districts on the West Side as well. While the city of Cleveland is all about this conversion of uses, the state of Ohio's building codes are not. In order to allow people to reside in these buildings, owners have to modernize them to meet minimum residential codes. These changes, particularly modernization of elevators and installation or modernization of sprinkler systems, can be cost-prohibitive, particularly if the space is being rented out at the low rates artists are seeking. As such, many landlords don't perform the modernizations and rent the spaces as workspace; if the building is inspected, artists are typically evicted. This happens occasionally, but literally hundreds of artists are maintaining spaces in these industrial buildings, and many are living in their spaces. As for Tower Press, the building was always set up to have subsidized artist spaces on the first floor and market-rate units on the floors above. To the best of my knowledge, all of the units on the first floor are still occupied by artists at discounted rates except for the commercial units fronting Superior, which are occupied by arts and culture nonprofits and arts-focused businesses.

If I recall correctly, there was also some talk about reviewing a couple of sites outside of downtown, namely in University Circle in order to take advantage of proximity to the Clinic and UH. As far as site selection goes, this proximity also seems like a key consideration. Given that one of the reasons Cleveland is well-positioned for a Medical Mart is that potential buyers could see new equipment in action at the Clinic or UH, I would think it would be important to have quick and reliable transportation routes to these sites. Among the two lead sites, TC might have an upper leg with Red Line and Silver Line access available to University Circle (whereas the mall site would require a walk to Public Square or taking the Waterfront Line back to Tower City).

Priceless.

Okay guys, I hate to start this conversation and then bail, but I'm heading to Seattle, Portland and Vancouver until the 4th. I'm happy to put in some substantial work on organizing this (brochures, signage, etc.), and maybe we could aim to do something mid-September. I'll follow the thread when I get back; feel free to PM me as well.

The article itself doesn't make me mad. To be honest, the spillover effects of Jacobs Field have been slower and less pronounced than was articulated when the Gateway tax was put into place; downtown development is occurring, but I don't know how much ECP or any of the major development projects happening right now have been catalyzed by the presence of Jacobs Field (with perhaps the exception of E. 4th Street). That being said, Jacobs Field certainly has been a good addition to the city and has opened up some development opportunities in the Gateway District, even if they've been less pronounced that was anticipated. What does upset me, however, is that the negative nancying that the PD reporters do in their op/ed pieces are impacting the press we receive outside the region. Enough is enough. I'm past the letter writing stage. I think (and I'm dead serious here) that we should stage a rally in front of the PD and one in front of Ideastream to challenge Dick Feagler to go on a tour of Cleveland with a group of us. It's time that we demand more from our local news media. News is one thing ... they have a responsibility to report on negative trends and incidents in the city. But if reporters are afforded a platform from which to offer editorial opinions about the status of the city, then I think they have a civic obligation to at least be informed of what is occurring in the community, good and bad, not what they catch in the yellow journalism headlines of the organizations they represent. Who's with me? This could also be an opportunity to generate a brochure about all the good things that are happening in Cleveland that we could distribute to passers-by and generate some buzz around those items. Two birds, one stone. I'm just getting fed up with this, and it really might motivate me to leave Cleveland unless I have a positive outlet to address these negative perceptions.

That is pretty crazy ... I've heard that Ante Up has had a lot of big musicians in as of late. Just my opinion, but I think Tyler is going to be one of those developments that is under the radar and will just seem to explode onto the scene once people realize the full range of innovative things going on over there.

Patrick O'Donnell (Cleveland) Plain Dealer August 16, 2007 Say no and walk away. If a panhandler holds out his hand for help, walk on by. Yes, it sounds cold. But the Downtown Cleveland Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving Cleveland's downtown, is passing out fliers to downtown businesses and apartment residents with the message "Don't Give Where It Can't Help" ... ... More at http://www.knowledgeplex.org/news/746481.html

Yeah, congrats on the house, guv. Really beautiful, lots of attention to sustainability and I LOVED the salvaged floor. Out of curiosity, were the doors salvaged? We were walking through the house commenting on how beautiful the doors were and how they were of a better quality than you typically see these days.

Great update Weepinwillow. As a side note, is there somewhere I could access a list of current tenants? I was just explaining this project to a group of people last night and they were pretty stupefied by the list of tenants I could remember off the top of my head, and I'm sure that's just the tip of the icerberg. If you'd prefer, you can PM me. Signed, Your Neighbor Directly to the West

Check out the new site; pretty swanky: http://www.gordonsquare.org/

The CVB established an Arts and Cultural Tourism division in 2005 and since has been working with arts and culture organizations on their marketing and has facilitated collaborations between hotels, restaurants and arts and culture organizations to make such packages. Among other packages, the Wyndham has a Playhouse Square package and the Hilton Garden Inn has Zoo and RRHoF packages. And many arts and culture organizations do cross-promotional collaborations. At the forefront of this type of collaboration is the Cultural Collaborative (Cleveland Botanical Garden, Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Western Reserve Historical Society); the three organizations are looking at how they can collaborate to cut expenses and increase visitation. Look for these types of collaborations to increase, as 11 arts and culture organizations (Cleveland Botanical Garden, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland Play House, Cleveland Public Theatre, Great Lakes Science Center, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Opera Cleveland, Playhouse Square, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Western Reserve Historical Society) are currently collaborating on a gigantic shared marketing database.

I'm not sure I understand this. It may be an unpalatable situation to be trying to address the ramps issue within a short timeframe. But it seems to me that there are definitely two choices still available. Is he basically saying that the only choice would be to retain the ramps?

Jeez, you are the gayest breeders around. Get too prepped for this event and people will assume that the tables full of a dozen coiffed men (likely with no women) is ... gasp ... of another persuasion. I'll be packing for Seattle, Portland and Vancouver but will try to make it over if I can. Since all the straight guys are honing in on the pretty territory, I'll be sporting a John Deere cap, a wifebeater, some circa-'95 cargo jeans and steel-toed boots.

Eww again ... my oh my. Well, put a spiral turbine in front of it, k? :wink:

I don't know that it has a direct correlation, although our arts and culture organizations are a) a key amenity used to woo convention organizers and b) are one of the major catalysts for increasing expenditures of conventioneers (particularly because once you get a conventioneer to visit an arts and culture organization, they are much more likely to explore adjacent retail and restaurants, much the same as they would following a sporting event). And of course, arts and culture organizations enjoy the prospect of bringing in new visitors and thus new revenue opportunities. They did mention that they would be working to try to have arts and culture tie-ins for hotel packages, etc., and Merchandise Mart apparently has a lot of background in developing arts and culture packaging/branding for visitors to their facilities, including organizing a special event called Artopolis (http://www.artropolischicago.com/). I think mainly, however, this is just the result of Cleveland's arts and culture sector being very proactive in civic affairs and organizing about issues regardless of how they relate to arts and culture. Arts and culture organizations were also heavily involved in supporting recent health and human service levies. I was wondering this myself - do sales get made directly out of the facility or through the respective home offices of the showroom owners? It's an interesting question.

^ Well, technically, CSU doesn't offer an urban policy program - just has a strong emphasis on the subject throughout all of its policy and planning degree programs (although they do have an urban policy analysis concentration in the small Master of Science in Urban Studies Program, as well as a City Management Certificate). And I don't know about the paying off part, but a number of elite schools came in behind CSU in the city management and urban policy category (meaning that, yes, they do offer some sort of comparable degree). These include the University of New York University (#4), Carnegie Mellon (#14), Harvard (#16), Johns Hopkins (#20), Columbia (#25), George Washington and Princeton (tied for #29). Judging from my experience at Levin, and I would guess the experience of many forumers on the site, LCUA really was a pretty exceptional experience and gave us access to some national scholars in economic development, community development, workforce development, anti-poverty work, etc.

Eww, I had read they were hoping to put it in a more high-visibility, pedestrian-oriented spot, but I didn't know they meant there. I love public art and would welcome it being more accessible to the public, but personally, I would hate to see that be the signature piece of public art along the corridor. For those of you who haven't seen it (or blocked it from your memory): http://www.the-politician-a-toy.us/.

Went to a meeting this morning where Hagan and Fred Nance talked about the need of the Medical Mart to the arts and culture sector. One of the most interesting factoids I heard, and one I had not heard before, is that collectively, Cleveland hospitals are the largest consumers of medical supplies in the country. Nance explained that this is the reason that so many buyers already visit Cleveland ... to see the items in action before making major purchases (i.e. equipment that sometimes figures in the several hundreds of thousands). Pretty compelling, I thought.

Anything's better than the Baby Grand on E. 34th. The noise from that place, especially as it's letting out, is sometimes unbearable at my place (not to sound like an old man or anything). That being said, between the existing R&B crowd at Baby Grand, the karaoke crowd at Bo Loong and the Americana/Alt. Country crowd over at the Town Fryer, two additional clubs would make this a pretty good little nabe for catching some music ... all within about 6 blocks.

Good catch, X.

Yikes. Some other interesting numbers from the newly released report: - At $32,131, Case Western gives out the seventh highest average amount of student aid nationwide, after a handful of very prominent colleges (George Washington, Vanderbilt, Harvard, Columbia, Pepperdine and Yale). - At 60%, CSU has the 3rd lowest freshman retention rate, after only Idaho State and Texas A&M

Me too! If I had a bird, I wouldn't line it's cage with that rag! It may be a rag, but it doesn't always work to Cleveland's disfavor ... the #2 ranking CSU enjoys in Urban Policy, for instance, is the primary I moved here. And Case's high ranking in Pediatrics brought my best friend from undergrad for his MD. He has subsequently gone on to a residency at Harvard, but we recruited a third friend from undergrad to move to Cleveland. That guy went on to earn a Master's, also at CSU's Levin College of Urban Affairs, and is sticking around in Cleveland. So the "rag" reports brought three people to Cleveland, all of whom earned master's/professional degrees, and two of whom stayed.

I'd be interested in knowing how funds from the Downtown Homeless Fund will be used, if anyone has any additional information.

^It seems like he's based his last two articles off of his supportive comments from his piece a couple weeks ago about crime in Cleveland. My general guess is a lot of people think in the same way that Feagler does. A perfect example are the two guys in Phoenix today who were commenting on the recent public art installation across the street on Superior. One told the other that the city must have invested in it "so all the homeless people would have a structure to sleep in." I'm beginning to think I might need to take a sabbatical from Cleveland just so I don't get arrested for assault ... the concentration of nay-sayers in this city are really starting to take a toll on my level of restraint.