jam40jeff

As much as most of us would like to see it, I would say that the law-abiding folks living there want to see the criminals removed far worse than any of us who drive by occasionally.

Well, technically it's Ohio City. It sure isn't Downtown as the news story hinted. And I would argue that it absolutely is not the Flats (which overlaps with official city neighborhood definitions). The Flats are the flat areas in the river valley. This is up the hill from the river valley. Thus, not the Flats.

"Entire crews pass not makin the news flash" - The Roots, "Episodes" It's a well-known phenomenon.

Anyone who goes to the West Bank of the Flats knows that you avoid anything north of the bridge like the plague. It's extremely dangerous. Unfortunately, these guys didn't know that and it's terrible what happened. But it's disingenuous for the news to make it seem as if all of the Flats and Downtown are unsafe for everybody because of this incident.

Sorry, but Lakeview Terrace has much more crime than any neighborhood downtown. I just checked crimereports.com. 7 assaults and 2 robberies in the last 2 weeks reported. And that doesn't include the one from this story (too new to show up I suppose). E. 9th St. to E. 15th St. from Euclid Ave. up to Superior Ave., spanning a much larger area, had 1 assault and 1 robbery in the same time period. These trends hold up for some other date ranges I checked.

R&R, I would say you were pretty unlucky, or maybe there weren't many other opportunities around for the criminal. Usually, they will go for the easiest crime around, and that usually means the person with something visible on a seat (such as a laptop). Also, thefts from vehicles seem to be something that is fairly common in many different areas. A couple times when I have looked at the Beachwood police blotter, even in a suburb of only 12,000, I have seen multiple reports of car windows smashed at the hotels along Chagrin and/or Beachwood Place, and usually the stolen items were laptops or other valuable electronics left on a seat. It seems these thefts are about as common there as in the Cleveland Heights police blotter (per capita of course, Cleveland Heights is 4 times larger than Beachwood).

I don't like Dillards, but Peebles? Come on. I don't think you'd ever see a Peebles in the Beachwood Mall.

Did you really just put Dillards on the level of Peebles?

It was. I was in right-center in the 3rd row and Nick Swisher was having fun with the fans during the fight.

Can you get one sock (not a pair) at Barney's for $40?

Parking is free in almost all of Cleveland after rush hour on weekdays and all day Saturday and Sunday. I don't know if most people don't know this, if people are too lazy to look for spots on the street, or if most people are scared to parallel park. This applies to Indians games as well. I was able to find a spot on E. 9th during a Saturday afternoon Indians game about a week and a half ago and then last night I parked right in front of Local Heroes Grill at 6:50 pm, right before a game against the Yankees attended by almost 23,000 people! I was steps from the entrance and much closer than the lots full of people who paid $20 to park.

That quote is a classic, regarding "Gusto"..... I have to laugh at this because it really sounds like a joke toward a testament of downward spiral when it comes making a bit of effort in personal presentation when planning to go out to eat/on the town! I meant it that way. It really does seem like you're out of place (even at many expensive restaurants) anymore if you're "dressed up" when you go out.

I would say you pay more like 1.5x the price you "should" pay for what you get. But that means they have "extra money" left over to provide great customer service like this. And that's worth it for a lot of people. Personally, I'd rather save my money and take my chances that I'm not going to have every other computer I buy need to be fully replaced while still within warranty (actually I've never had this happen) or that I'll be able to keep the computer running nicely or fix minor problems with it, but I realize that (especially to people who don't work with computers for a living) that the comfort of a company replacing their machine may be worth it more to them.

Order your food 7 stars. The menu only lists up to 3, and none of the dishes are more than 2 stars if you order them as is on the menu (by the way, I believe they call 2 stars Very Spicy). I wanted my food spicier and they told me they can go up to 7 if you request it. I took 5 and my nose was running and I could barely finish (and I like spicy food, most people I've eaten there with think 2 stars is too hot). I bet you could handle 5, but I'd be interested to see what you think of 7.

Go to Mint Cafe and order your food 7 stars spicy.

I believe it is the patio for Angelo's Nida Italia. I think it's the latter. Little Italy has seemed to be bustling whenever I have been down there in the last 10 years.

Unless you KNOW the answer, then there's going to be varying degrees of hope involved in your choice. ;) I know, but the question is really then "How do you think the Browns will do this year?" Plus, I was on a roll making MTS's blood pressure rise yesterday. :) But if we are really talking about what we hope the Browns are this year, I'm hoping for 16-0 and Super Bowl rings.

Let me go get my Magic 8 Ball.

I liked Gusto. We ate there for our anniversary last summer. It's nice yet has a fairly casual feel to it. You won't feel out of place dressed nicely though. I haven't been in Etna's, but it was a cozy place when it was Valerio's (that's where we got engaged). Small, a fireplace on one side, bar close by but separated a little. Nice feel. I'd assume Etna's is similar. I haven't been to Michaelangelo's, but a coworker of mine really likes the food, but I don't know what he thought of the atmosphere. It's a little further down Murray Hill Rd., so that may be a plus or minus for you based on whether you want to be in the heart of all the eateries. Also, there's a place that's supposed to be nice right at the corner of Edgehill and Murray Hill. I don't even remember the name off the top of my head and I don't feel like looking it up right now. I've heard some good things about it, but haven't been there myself. For dessert, I'd recommend Presti's. I haven't been very happy with some of the items I've had at Corbo's since they moved into their new space. it seems a little more hit and miss now.

He has since taken up residence in my kingdom. :clap: How did he ever convince his wife they should move in with you?

The question is "How will the Browns do in 2010?" not "How do you hope the Browns do in 2010?". :)

LOL

I said 6 wins or less. But by that, I mean 6-10. Which says that I am more optimistic about this year's team than I was at this time last year about last year's team. I predicted 4-12 last year. At least it seems we're headed in the right direction.

That's akin to saying that cars should be physically incapable of going 75 MPH if the highest speed limits in the country are to be 70 MPH. I don't particularly see any net social or economic benefit in having roads that essentially deliberately damage cars going above the speed limit. In addition, if you could potentially build a road that was unsafe to drive above 25 on when the road was brand new, keep in mind that the elements take their toll--pretty soon the effective physical limit of that road would be 15. "Damage" cars? I never said that. Narrow streets with on-street parking, a fair amount of intersections and stop signs, no long straightaways would do the trick. And all of those features are functional for the urban environment as well. I hate the speed bumps and other traffic calming devices as much as you do. But if you build a residential street as wide as a highway with no cars or trees on the sides and gradual curves, people are natural gonna drive much faster than W. 31st Pl. in Ohio City (or even a normal street like W. 38th St.). The idea is that if everything were urban, it would be closer together and scale well. That job that is 20 miles away now, thanks to all the suburban strip malls, wide highways, and huge parking lots you have to drive past, could be only a couple miles away with good public transit connecting you to it. Sure, people wouldn't be as physically mobile, but that's because they wouldn't have to be. They'd still have access to just as many amenities and jobs, just that they'd all be closer. We have built a society where people are mobile just because they have to be to get to the same amount of things, and it's a huge waste of energy. There is no guarantee that that job would indeed be closer than 20 miles away even in a more dense urban environment. It could just as easily be in a different downtown core or node in a multi-core urban landscape. Also, people in this all-urban world still wouldn't have access to as many amenities because certain amenities simply don't mesh into urban environments. I like to take day trips on weekends out to wineries in the countryside on occasion, for example--and I like to do that in a car, not an SUV or some 6-wheel gas guzzler. If people lived in sufficiently urban areas where they didn't HAVE to drive for everyday amenities or their drive, they would still be ABLE to drive when they want to. The roads would be lower speed in the cities, yes, but there would be less traffic (thanks to not everyone HAVING to drive everywhere) and you'd hit the countryside much faster (like 5 miles from the core rather than 30), where the roads would (and should) be designed to accomodate higher speeds. We absolutely HAVE built a society where people HAVE to be mobile. Sure, people WANT to be mobile. But people WANT to be mobile WHEN they want to be. How many people do you hear complain about their commute to work? How many stories do you hear of people not being able to walk to the Wal-Mart they can see from their development? Or not being able to walk from one strip plaza to the one across the 9 lane highway (think Morse Rd. in Columbus)? The problem is that we weren't smart, and in trying to accomodate people's desire to drive for recreation, we unintentionally built many environments prohibitive to any means of transport other than automobile. I believe that it IS possible to have it both ways if we planned better.

Yes, it does. If you don't have a good record, you don't make the playoffs.