redbrick

Snapped some random EC shots today but first, something more important... There was some back and forth down thread about the "straightness" of the EC light poles. I believe I witnessed first hand today why some of the poles may be leaning one way or the other. A CPP crew was installing a pole in the UC stretch and the method used to check the pole involved a CPP worker, a 4 ft. piece of string held at arms length and a large nut, the kind used at the base of the pole to bolt it down. Now there's nothing inherently wrong with this low-tech plumb bob method if the person holding the string was maybe a block away or so and therefore able to sight the entire pole from base to top. The pole would also have to be checked twice, once from the curb/side of the street where it was installed and once from across the street -- 90 degrees to the first check. In this case however, the CPP worker had to be standing no more that 15 feet back from the pole on the side walk and spent all of 5 seconds checking the pole with his 4 ft. string before he pronounced it "good". Anyway, on to the pics:

Too bad Dennis can't investigate ODOT :roll: http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/10/two_more_innerbelt_bridge_lane.html Two more Inner Belt Bridge lanes, three more downtown ramps shut down Posted by Patrick O'Donnell/Plain Dealer Reporter October 02, 2008 02:55AM Categories: Real Time News Two more Inner Belt Bridge lanes were shut down overnight along with three more downtown highway ramps -- including a key one from Interstate 77 northbound -- because of deteriorating bridge parts. Now two lanes in each direction over the heavily traveled Interstate 90 bridge and four ramps are closed and will remain that way until at least next week...

Dennis initiates investigations while other states leave Ohio in the dust as far as public transportation funding and alternatives -- see the Amtrack thread to get a feel for how far behind we are in Ohio...

Kinda surprised they gave them that much sidewalk, that stretch sees a decent amount of foot traffic at certain times and it seems like there's only room for two people shoulder to shoulder at the narrowest point.

^ Unbelievable. Less than $20 million in local funds to rebuild a 10 mile stretch of roadway that was approaching third-world conditions. Cities like Boston to states like WV rake in hundreds of millions (billions for the big dig) in federal money thanks to their reps in congress and Cleveland gets this :wtf: :wtf: :wtf:

Please tell me this "it's the baby boomer's fault" cry vis a vis the Eaton move is just venting for some of you. If it were only that simple. Ever work in San Jose, Orange County, Seattle for that matter? Plenty of bright, young entrepreneurs quite content with the whole "campus" arrangement... I think what RNR is trying to say is that the anti-urban people have to be won over, or least neutralized, if we're to ever reverse the suburban out-migration trend of the last 50 years. As I said earlier in the thread, the general feelling among those 450 Eaton HQ workers about the move out east is most likely positive. It's a hearts and minds/PR battle folks and no progress if going to be made by bludgeoning people over the head with the city is great and the suburbs suck. To bring it back to Eaton -- $25 million to keep 450 workers in the core, plus a fortune 500 headquarters. Let's assume they would grow to 500 employees, that would be $50,000/head. Sure wish I could have got the city to give me $250,000 in tax breaks for my 5 person consulting firm that I moved downtown. As much as we'd all like to see Eaton anchoring a new office tower in the CBD (I never liked the proposed campus in the flats), I rather have 100 new startup firms downtown, with jobs that attract people from outside the region (2 of my employees not originally from NEO) that actually appreciate all the city has to offer.

Having done consulting stints in dozens of "Eaton type" HQs over the years, the sad truth is that the average HQ employee probably views a move to a campus type setting at a place like Chagrin Highlands as a very positive move. Easy on/off the expressway, plenty a parking, numerous chain retail/restaurants in the vicinity and perceived "safe" surroundings.

If it was up to me I would put 5 or 6 caddies on the awning -- and call it caddy gridlock :-D

Yes indeed, been saying that myself since the first day I heard the granite was "value engineered" out oh some 5 or 6 years back I think it's been now... The concrete curbs and median will be looking pretty busted up a few years from now, it's starting already if you look close. In this case it's nonsense to call the concrete for granite swap "value engineering" -- it's just up front cost cutting plain and simple that will have to paid for down the road either ascetically or in real dollars if/when repaired.

Putting the politics aside -- isn't getting people to the stadium via the red line/wfl the more logical way to do it anyway, and I'm guessing more cost effective for RTA?

Figured UOers would appreciate this Norfolk Southern commercial. I guess it's a year old and maybe many of you have already seen it but I just saw it for the first time today. http://www.nscorp.com/nscorphtml/video/lonelygallon.wmv

The water system carrot/stick angle is always brought up when talking about Columbus expansion and rightfully so. But realize that the annexation was also made palatable to the neighboring communites because the annexed land was, by agreement, left in the suburban school districts.

Nice set, got nauseous from the one near the end so I can't look at them again though :-(

The answer is, as other's have already said, a truly regional transit authority. And if our local leaders weren't always in a county vs. county or suburb vs. city peeing match, maybe they could rise up to the occasion and spur the state legislature to get this done. I've already posted this idea, I think earlier in this thread -- increased funding from the State (needed) tied to creation of truly regional authorities (needed) will be the best longterm answer for public transit in Ohio.

If and when they implement smart cards, charge these out of county folks a higher fare. After all, we Cuyahoga Country dwellers provide the bulk of RTA's revenue via sales tax we pay.

Sounds like a nice event but I don't think I could ever muster up the courage to attend :-D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yTidt7qqxs

Sorry to offend any AG upper/middle managers on here but having had the opportunity to work on one fairly longterm project at AG, let's just say I found the level of incompetence at that layer of the company rather stunning. Given that, I'd say the ideas of some of the "best and brightest" there are probably never even given a hearing by the powers that be.

My grandpa was from the Briar Hill neighborhood and they would always make the Briar Hill pizza with grated cheese and green peppers cut into rings. They had a Briar Hill festival for a couple of years, I am not sure if they still have it or not. Which pizza place do you get it from in Y-town? The place is actually called Briar (or is it Brier?) Hill Pizza on Meridian Rd. My understanding is that it is a kind of pizza, not a pizza place. I know they make it @ a Catholic church in Hubbard--the old folks do it on Fridays and young people aren't stepping in to take over, it's sad. My fave is always Sunrise Inn in Warren. Delicious. Yes, it's a kind of pizza but there's also a place that opened with that name in Y-Town, I think it's been open for at least 4 or 5 years but I could be wrong.

My grandpa was from the Briar Hill neighborhood and they would always make the Briar Hill pizza with grated cheese and green peppers cut into rings. They had a Briar Hill festival for a couple of years, I am not sure if they still have it or not. Which pizza place do you get it from in Y-town? The place is actually called Briar (or is it Brier?) Hill Pizza on Meridian Rd.

These recent posts remind me of a neighbor once commenting that he was worried about his wife having a meeting downtown -- during the day. It is really amazing that there are probably tens of thousands of metro area residents who haven't been downtown in years (decades???) and have a totally crazy perception of reality (thanks PD) and then held spread the bad info when they talk to friends, neighbors, out of town visitors... What a PR nightmare for the city, efforts like regionalism, better transit funding, less sprawl, etc. etc. An unfortunately these folks aren't likely to check out urbanohio or any other source of info that would help them achieve a more realistic and balanced view of the city proper.

The mere mention of Burger King makes my stomach feel unsettled but this takes it to a new level: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDPSQkLNzhw

It's rainy and fall like today in Cleveland... Here's one from Friday to remind us it's still August! The Central Viaduct curving its way across the Flats to Downtown Cleveland and Tower City.

Check out the color of the "The Icy Cuyahoga" - makes me look at those FEB renderings in a whole new way...

This "view of the Scranton Peninsula" issue is enough to solve, just don't put any windows on the west side of the building. :-o

Horrific indeed -- I may be making a trip down to C-Bus this weekend. I'll snap some photos of the fine housing stock in the Bottoms and Hilltop to brighten up this thread :wink: