8ShadesofGray

The Countryside Conservancy just released The Countryside Harvest Guide (http://www.cvcountryside.org/Website/Local%20FoodWorks/countryside_harvest%20guide%202006.htm), which provides background information on Northeast Ohio's farm resources. In addition to the West Side Market, they list a number of city-based farmer's markets (not counting the many available in the inner ring suburbs). These include: - The Galleria, T 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. - City Fresh (Clark Metro CDC), R 3 - 7 p.m. - City Fresh (W. 48th and Lorain), R 3 - 7 p.m. - City Fresh (Slavic Village CDC), F 3 - 7 p.m. - North Union Farmer's Market, Sa 8 a.m. - 12 p.m. Obviously, we could stand to improve in this area (more locations, longer hours, indoor sites so that they can operate year-round), but I still think we got undercounted here.

^ But not that infrequently. Every 10 minutes during rush hours and 13 minutes during the day. Anectdotally, everyone time I've ridden the 326, it's been PACKED. The stop at Public Square typically has a line of 20-30 people whenever I've ridden it in the AM.

This may be a stupid question, but if the rationale for this is that the neighborhood wants to invest in transit upgrades as a community development strategy, and if the 35 (on Broadview) and the 20A (on State) are some of the most frequently used corridors, and if the 51X (on Pearl) does not rank toward the top of the list, why is the neighborhood concentrating on rail/BRT on Pearl instead of on Broadview or State, both of which have similar retail districts that could benefit from increased use? Granted, maybe Pearl ranks 11th on the list, but it just seems counterintuitive not to concentrate on the other two corridors, particularly since all three routes will get you in Parma's vicinity and all three would start with the exact same W. 25th St. route into Ohio City. If anything, I would think creating a faster transit line along Pearl would dilute ridership on the other two bus lines and thus potentially harm their respective retail strips.

Very posh ... look at all the eurotrash it's bringing to the hood (or perhaps a black-tie event just let out). And look at those trees; obviously, they didn't rescue the old-growth line running down the middle of E. 12th. Honestly, it looks very nice, and certainly looks like it might be appealing to a slightly older crowd than in the Warehouse District or E. 4th. Given my ongoing confusion about which of the three lots is which part of the development, what intersection is that? St. Clair and E. 12th? The new 13th or 15th?

^Unless we start seeing corresponding cutbacks by developers who favor the city and its inner ring. I think we're on the front end of finding out whether the national slump in real estate sales is going to effect how aggressively new units are built in the city of Cleveland. And that could be a whole new thread - what should Cleveland's game plan be if city-based development does start to stagnate? How do we keep this neighborhood revitalization energy going?

^ I think they based the list on the 50 largest municipalities and not the 50 largest regions. Unfortunately, in terms of city population, I don't think Cincy makes it; Pittsburgh similarly does not get ranked.

^^^ I haven't looked at The Economist methodology, so I shouldn't really speak to its validity. I will say this, however. Simply listing the criteria used in a study doesn't make the study sound. Robert Putnam provided a great deal of statistical background regarding his study of social capital, but the Creative Class researchers still tend to pick at his methodology. Meanwhile, Richard Florida provides ad nauseum background research for his Creativity Ranking, but it remains one of the most prevalently disputed rankings of American cities. Meanwhile, whether it's cogent or not, SustainLane does provide a pretty thorough methodology as well (http://sustainlane.com/article/896/). One immediate red flag for me is that the study engaged in primary research with representatives from a number of cities nationwide ... but not Cleveland or Columbus. ^ The chart does indicate that Planning/Land Use was our big killer. But I believe that this factor included not only sprawl but percentage of green space in the municipal footprint. Without taking the vast majority of the Metroparks into account, nor the National Park, I think we could have been unfairly judged in this category. That being said, pointing to park assets that lie outside the city just deflects away from our lack of commitment to greenspace in the city. And obviously, unmitigated sprawl and lack of smart growth principles continues to be a major problem locally.

It's funny, though, that we get so riled up with methodology when the results are disfavorable or we don't feel we've gotten our due. But I haven't heard of any write-in campaigns to correct The Economist's livability methodology. Guess that's human nature, though; we'll happy with distorted analyses as long as they're distorted in our favor :wink:

^ And while we only have two major farmers' markets, there certainly are some other ones, correct? I was thinking that there was an East Side market. And this is definitely only looking in city boundaries ... otherwise, we also have a number of markets operated by North Union. What shocked me most: We ranked thirteenth in the country with a paltry TEN LEED-certified buildings?! That's really insane to me.

^ Nominate X to fix ODOT.

I know they are. And I don't mean to grouse (too much). I just wish that if they lacked the capacity to update the events listing on a quarterly basis, they had at least temporarily removed the link to the document. My concern is less with UCI, who I recognize is doing some substantial work and primed for even more great stuff, and more with a somewhat systemic problem in Cleveland regarding old information. This seems to be truest when organizations are going through leadership transitions (e.g. UCI, DCA, the City of Cleveland).

^ Since March?

As long as we're complaining about out-of-date websites, I went to University Circle's website for some event information for this weekend. Their monthly featured events page "cannot be found". No need to worry though; they have a PDF quarterly calendar of events. Unfortunately, that calendar is for events in January through March 2006! Argh!!!!!

Don't know if this is bad news for the project's business to date (at least on the Near East side), but they have removed the dedicated CityWheels parking sign from the back of Tower Press (21st between Superior and Payne), and there's been no sign of the Scion for at least a week. :cry:

^ Booooooooo! I actually considered it, as we might as well get a more accurate reflection of perceptions, but I feared that pranksters from the other two C's might skew our results :roll: ^^ Agreed. I think it's probably pretty apropos that people are starting to talk about University Circle as Cleveland's Uptown. I'm excited that people are seeing a positive future for the city's east side. I for one would love to see a corridor of mixed-income neighborhoods on the east side similar to the Edgewater/Detroit-Shoreway/Ohio City/Tremont corridor that's taking shape on the West Side. Perhaps something along the lines of Theatre & Avenue/CSU & Quadrangle/Chinatown & Live-Work/Hough/University Circle & Little Italy/Shaker Square. Just imagine if we could get a functional corridor (without boarded up buildings, etc.) from Lakewood's border to the edge of the Heights ... I think that would position us well for drawing people back in from the suburbs and for recruiting businesses and labor.

For me, the point is less about whether the color schemes are to my personal liking, but rather whether they signal something different and something that will make people take notice. I think anytime you take risks in designing the physical environment (whether that be risks with color, structure, material or location), you're bound to rurn some people off. But when you try to design an environment that is "non-offensive", I think you often end up with something bland, milquetoast and absolutely forgettable (and I think this is true of a lot of the building stock in Tirana, as well as sizable sections of Cleveland). Even in our artsiest districts, I can't think of too much "edge". All I'm saying is that whether we individually like particular elements or not, Cleveland should mix some innovations into its mix, rather than catering to some citywide lowest common denominator. Here's one example. Personally, I think this is one of the ugliest things I have ever seen in this city. But I bet there's not too many people who've missed it. Or who couldn't approximate its location.

Fortunately, I got confirmation of that from the Home Builders' Association. Still, unlike previous installments, I've heard absolutely no marketing of the event. This may be because I don't really run with a housing or community development circle, but I didn't with the two previous Citiramas and still heard about those.

I'm a little alarmed that Citirama is three weeks away and the website STILL isn't up (http://www.hbacleveland.com/ME2/dirsect.asp?sid=67412DA00A63457B89A6702BEA04ED28&nm=Home+Shows)! What's going on?

^ I absolutely agree. I can imagine looks of horror on some of the big players' faces when they see some of the things in this study. That being said, I think that if nothing else, edgier and more innovative elements could appear in areas BESIDES buildings, e.g. use of greenspace, signage, public art, etc. Hopefully, as you noted, it will also lead to at least some isolated innovations, along the lines of demonstration sites. Again, I think that these same principles can be overlayed, with more community buy-in and equal success, in other Cleveland neighborhoods that are looking to rebrand as "edgier".

^ I agree that Detroit-Shoreway is already booming. For whatever reason, perhaps ongoing perceptions that it is crime-ridden, I don't hear about this as frequently as its neighbors OC and the Edge. I do, however, hear often that it's ready to pop, what with Battery Park, Gordon Square, West Boulevard, EcoVillage, etc. Definitely one that's going to be hot in 10 years. My vote went to the Near East, however. There is scant room for infill, but there is an abundance of industrial buildings within the footprint of the live work overlay district, and I think we're already seeing some exciting housing options emerge (Mueller Lofts, Payne Avenue Lofts and Florian Courts). Between the artist in-migration, major housing investments directly to the West, a collaboration between 3 CDCs to more effectively brand Chinatown and the potential that ECP will offer, I think this area is REALLY going to surprise Clevelanders in 10 years time. Gotsta root for the underdog! Plus, I'm ready for Cleveland to give the Near East Side some love!

^ There are also a couple of places a little closer. Unless they've closed (which they very well may have), there were a couple bar/diner combos at Ontario and St. Clair that served mega-greasy breakfasts. For healthier breakfast options, there's the Au Bon Pain at E. 8thish and Superior and Panera in Tower City. For light fare, there's also Caribou in Tower City and Arabica at Rockwell and Ontario. I know that none of these provide the same visibility or ambiance that you could get at an E. 4th street greasy diner; just noting that there are definitely some options out there.

^Obviously, everyone can use their own measures of success. The rationale for the post was that with every Cleveland relocatee that asks for info on ideal neighborhoods, we usually offer the same exact opinions - Edgewater, Ohio City, Tremont, Little Italy and Shaker Square. I guess I'm curious which neighborhoods people think will be added to this list in ten years, i.e. which neighborhoods will have "the vibe" going on. I've included some neighborhoods with significant residential populations currently (Brooklyn, Collinwood, Westown, Woodland Hills) because a) they may have numbers but currently lack the word-of-mouth enthusiasm you get about Ohio City, etc., and b) because they are all engaging in major rebranding, development, etc. that could lead them to be THE places to live in Cleveland.

I'm not usually pro-study, but I'm kind of glad they assembled this info. Hopefully, it will inspire a whole host of neighborhoods to make things a little "edgier". If nothing else, gotsta love what Tirana has done. Obviously, we need to preserve historic gems without paintin' 'em up, but there a LOT of areas in Cleveland where this could be done - the first that jumps to mind is the corridor of sprawling, low-rise, non-architecturally significant warehouses along lower St. Clair.

It seems like there is a lot of strategic planning, branding and housing innovation going on in Cleveland neighborhoods. So who's doing it right? Who's efforts are going to pay off big? I apologize in advance if I've left out any neighborhoods that are up-and-coming - please add them. I did intentionally left out the standard fare neighborhoods (The Edge, Little Italy, Ohio City, Shaker Square and Tremont).

^ Unfortunately, there is one marked difference. Suffice it to say, Cleveland is one up on its neighbor to the East.