willyboy

I've talked to a few people about the johnny's situation and if anything, they would be looking to expand, just like terry Tarantino or the Salerno's from Lago. They were actually looking at chagrin blvd very recently, but decided it was too far away ( the owners live on the near west side I believe.). Anyways, they have been there way too long and have too much of a regular clientele base to ever consider moving. If anything they are continuing to look at expansion. Now a name to the new place? I have no idea if they'll keep "johnny's" in the title. Also, if you consider that they have kept their original Johnny's on Fulton open, even though it would have been easy for many to have closed there and moved to greener pastures, it certainly makes it seem less likely that they would abandon the w-6th location for the "new" flats. If I remember right, I believe the owners live in that big white house at West Blvd and Clifton (north-east corner).

Well cardsnxtyr reported it here on Wednesday, April 7th, and Mr. Masek came on shortly after that worried about people rushing to judgement for possible crosswalk issues at Cleveland State. Id like to think that he picked up on Cardsnxtyr's report, but as noted above, "that they were unaware of the roadway problems until contacted by The Plain Dealer on Thursday". Wow, I dont know what to say.... Hmm, I guess I could repeat my clowns comment that I made in the RTA thread a while back when everyone at RTA was playing dumb, but then KJP will come on and cry that we shouldnt have such high expectations from RTA officials. :|

I believe shes a transplant to Cleveland. Look for her riding her bike around downtown at 3AM...

If those A-holes on Hessler f@#$ this up again, I will be more than pissed. What is wrong with them! "Cogger and other Hessler residents, including Holland, said they're exploring whether they could use legal means to block the project, based in part on an option residents were offered nearly 20 years ago -- and didn't exercise -- to buy a small portion of the Uptown site."

Congrats to Jonathan Sawyer on his big award..... Even though he is not my favorite Cleveland Chef, we are still very fortunate to have him. Greenhouse Tavern's Jonathon Sawyer wins Food & Wine magazine's prestigious Best New Chef award http://www.cleveland.com/dining/index.ssf/2010/04/greenhouse_taverns_jonathon_sa.html

Yes, it does sound a bit convoluted. "As I said before as a white man you wont understand." Maybe not then, but I also have a pretty good feeling that you couldnt understand certain things by your half arguments. I do understand stereotypes and how they are perpetuated, and your brother always seems to help to reinforce that stereotype (and dont make me go back and reference the other stories). So you might want to look at him next time you complain about people making assumptions based on race etc.... Thats part of my point that you wont acknowledge.

No actually I'm not, your point is always the same. I believe you have missed mine. Remember I live in the Chocolate city. Things have evened out a bit over the last few years though, but still. In your story about your mother being mistaken for the maid (yes I have a good memory), did you not admit that she came out of an unlikely house all dirty from cleaning, in a house that would typically have a maid to do the cleaning... In a house that would typically have white owners??? I don't know how it is there, but in DC, nearly 95% of the maids/house cleaners etc. are Latin, the other 5% are black. So admittedly in telling the story you basically said it was extenuating circumstances, yet your brother lost his temper on the poor guy anyway for making a stupid mistake, (thus reinforcing the Puerto Rican stereo-type), yet you'll call them racist for stereotyping such a temper)). I would think most people that were proud of their heritage would have laughed about it (realizing the circumstances and how it looked), I know my family would have had a good laugh as opposed to being defensive, putting the person in a headlock and calling it racist.... as if we had some sort of inferiority complex. I dont buy your arguments here. As Dan reinforced, you cant expect people to respect a culture that your family comes across as being so defensive about. My point is the same because that is my experience and again as a white man, you dont' understand. Living in DC and being Black and living in DC is two different things. No she didn't come out the house dirty, but she had a scarf on her head. The dude was offensive. "poor guy"? Just because the neighborhood typically has minority maids and is predominately white does not excuse his actions. How can you justify that?? In the situations when my mother has been asked that its been in a way to "classify" her. The majority of the time its never just a general question, but a question to categorize or classify. I told you my memory was good, same thing: "There are also those that make general assumptions about people as well. When we got a new stove the gas man "thought" my mother was the maid. He asked her to sign, and per my brother said, "you can sign here. It's ok, you can sign the lady of the houses name, I wont say anything to anyone so you don't have to worry about getting fired." He assumed because my mom was dressed a certain way - and why wouldn't she, the kitchens being remodeled and she's cleaning - that she was a servant. My mom responded, "I'll just sign Mrs. MTS" and looked at the guy. He said, "Yes that's fine the other maids do it all the time.", which set my brother off. I turned from the drive to the walkway that leads to the house and there was my brother, with his hand around the guys throat and I could hear (but couldn't see) my mother ordering my brother to put the man down and my brother telling the guy to get off our property and not letting him get in his van. My brother wouldn't him get in van and told him to get the police. When the police came they weren't very sympathetic to the gas guy. They gave us one hell of an apology."

I agree, if he takes his business out of the city, it would take away from the all the people who do take the time to travel up to the Cleveland area and it would be nice if there was a Melt downtown... but then I would probably go broke from eating there all the time :) Yes, I know when I was reading their Facebook posts they were getting alot of fans from the Food Network publicity that planned to make the trip to check it out. And then there were some that lived in other places that had been there and were begging him to open in their city.

Um I did my thesis on this subject, and I'm a federal employee in guess what? So yes I can criticize RTA as well... Your trying to make some kind of parallel (because its such a similar time and place?) in what led up to and what happened in Hough through the 60's and the OCB is laughable. You do realize the amount of civil unrest that was going on nation wide in the late 60's right? I think your one of those people that is stuck in a paradigm of thought and time because you have never lived any where else. :roll:

No actually I'm not, your point is always the same. I believe you have missed mine. Remember I live in the Chocolate city. Things have evened out a bit over the last few years though, but still. In your story about your mother being mistaken for the maid (yes I have a good memory), did you not admit that she came out of an unlikely house all dirty from cleaning, in a house that would typically have a maid to do the cleaning... In a house that would typically have white owners??? I don't know how it is there, but in DC, nearly 95% of the maids/house cleaners etc. are Latin, the other 5% are black. So admittedly in telling the story you basically said it was extenuating circumstances, yet your brother lost his temper on the poor guy anyway for making a stupid mistake, (thus reinforcing the Puerto Rican stereo-type), yet you'll call them racist for stereotyping such a temper)). I would think most people that were proud of their heritage would have laughed about it (realizing the circumstances and how it looked), I know my family would have had a good laugh as opposed to being defensive, putting the person in a headlock and calling it racist.... as if we had some sort of inferiority complex. I dont buy your arguments here. As Dan reinforced, you cant expect people to respect a culture that your family comes across as being so defensive about.

and that what's wrong with you people now! Learn about another culture! I hate it when I'm in another country and I see/hear Americans trying to impose Americanized ideas on people in the country they are visiting. With terms like, "well back home we don't do this". I have a relatives with traditional Latino names, such as, Xiomara, Idalys, Yenny, Yesenia, Soledad, Dionisioand Diogenes. Names are butchered constantly. Idalys and Soledad only became easier to pronounce when tv personalities showed up on the scene with those names. and on the flip side, based on a persons accent, it would irritate me to no end when a person would people would say to my mother, "now where are you from?". Being the lady she is, she would smile, over enunciate and reply, "a place where they don't end sentences in prepositions." Bottom line...some of you people need to learn and respect other cultures. MTS, I often find you hard to follow when it comes to discussions of race (and other things). You talk of learning and respecting other cultures and often of not being so sensitive, yet theres always such a defensiveness by you or people in your family when it comes to things like where you are from? Is it not something you are proud of, or something you want to celebrate? That’s usually when people become defensive when asked, otherwise typically people would be proud to explain their background (this is where I’m from!!!). It makes it difficult to learn and respect other cultures when people are defensive about it from the get go. “I hate it when I'm in another country and I see/hear Americans trying to impose Americanized ideas on people in the country they are visiting. With terms like, "well back home we don't do this".” Well I think being in somewhere like DC where there’s a very high Latino immigrant population, some people probably find the lack of basic assimilation a bit troubling. I realize back home they may do things a certain way, but it really is necessary to learn to use a toilet and even trash cans while in this country.

Gee, that sounds like the same thing Albert Porter said to the folks who were in the way of the Willow Freeway (I-77) in the 1950s. They were pushed out and landed in Hough creating conditions so desperate that many of its residents didn't care anymore and rioted, burning 240 buildings, killing four people and injuring more than 30. KJP that part of your post was extremely ill informed. :|

:lol: Not to say that zoning codes cant be outdated given their original purposes??? Im guessing the minimum frontage has to do with sidewalks and consistancy with the other buildings, yet it doesnt state a maximum allowed frontage...???

The project did go through zoning appeals yesterday, from office to Hotel, apartments and restaurant space: Calendar No. 10-28: 2000-30 East 9th Street Joe Cimperman 10 Notices Schofield Properties, LLC and Euclid-Ninth Investors, LLC, owners, appeal to change use of a 14 story building from office to restaurant, hotel and apartments located in a General Retail Business District; contrary to Section 355.04 a maximum lot area coverage of 186,062 square feet is proposed where one-half the lot area that equals 21,723 square feet is permitted; no front yard is proposed and front yard regulations in Section 357.04(a) require 26 feet; and contrary to Section 357.08(b)(2) no rear yard is proposed, where the equivalent of one-half the building height or 59 feet is the required rear yard according to the provisions of the Cleveland Codified Ordinances. (Filed 3-9-10)

Here are his reviews of GHT and Chinato (and I agree with him at least on Chinato , I haven't eaten at GHT yet but some of the things I've heard echo Mark Corcoran): Thanks for the links, that was amusing, and somewhat reflective of my GHT experience (not terrible but a bit underwhelmed, also agree about the space) although after my first experience I promised Id try it again, but alas there are too many other places to try!.

Yeah thats it. Its also up on this coming weeks zoning appeals: From bakery to restaurant Ward 9 Calendar No. 10-29: 12200 Mayfield Road Kevin Conwell Roseanne Passalacqua, owner, appeals to change use from a retail bakery to a restaurant with a maximum of 60 seats and 15 employees in an existing three story building on a 50’ x 175’ corner parcel in a General Retail Business District...........

I saw this this morning, they had a video on Cleveland.com. I was like "huh, where can I not get one"

Also funny thats its called Cuban Crafter's since Cuban cigar's are illegal in the U.S. (embargo) So I dont think they are going to be Cuban....

Yes, Shaker is very well known for their very high property taxes (among some of the highest in the country), excellent services and good schools (and general loveliness). Cleveland Hts is also pretty well known for being up there, but a little lower, as well as Lakewood. In spite of this we are looking for a house likely in Shaker Hts, and we dont even have any kids!

Great tour... Thanks Andrew!

Some good points. I agree that there isnt much of a point to zoning if a variance can be obtained so easily. We have seen the discouraging results on Euclid and will likely so more in the near future, but I see that more of an issue with the city being too (as you said) desperate. But many of the disappointing developments could have been different and many wouldnt have had issue with the zoning (as Ive seen the same examples in other places of how it should/could have been done), but the city seems too "afraid" to demand something better (or at the very least work with the developer on the issue, which they usually just need some understanding of). You could say that evidence is Houston itself (for me), and likely for many pe ople that like an urban city environment. I dont personally like the feel of Houston or places like it.. I know peole that have moved there for jobs etc., coming from a better planned city that hated it.... But its all about whats important to you. The old joke was that you could buy a house there, and out of nowhere you could have a muffler shop go up next to you..... Im trying to keep an open mind though.

Exactly. Unfortunately we wont likely get any answers to that, just maybe some finger pointing. Disconnect anyone?

I think this emphasis on no-zoning is absurd. There are so many factors that go into the differences between Cleveland and Houston that it seems incredibly narrow to concentrate on (lack of) zoning as the reason for Houston's better economy.... Houston is known for its terrible planning and hodge podge development. Most planners have always held it up as how not to do things in regard to city planning since there really isn't a plan (and it shows). The resulting mess is an extremely auto dependent city. I don't disagree that the processes in Cleveland have been known to be painstaking and I hope that is being addressed somewhat by the Mayor appointing a person to help streamline that process, but I think holding Houston up as an example due to its lack of zoning is ridiculous. (What does that do for quality of life issues.... Although I guess different people difine that differently as well) I understand this is your and part of one viewpoint, and I want to spend more time on the ReasonTV series to see if there is anything useful.

HAHA we are knuckleheads. This certainly isnt the first time that redbrickbarn has dissed UrbanOhio on Cleveland.com (Ive seen similar things from hin/her on there recently). He really must have had some losing arguments on here at some point (or had a time out) and has a bone to pick, and an ego to repair.

Time may not allow me to make it to both on my visit, but I am currently leaning towards Dante. I will be sure to give a review.