Vincent_G

Burlington looks very interesting. It seems junkier than I would have expected.

Of course it would be good if traffic calming on the peninsula was coordinated with South Euclid and Cleveland. The one Cleveland street in the area, Edgehill Drive (not to be confused with Edgehill Road), is a private street, but the rest of the city of Cleveland is only accessible to Edgehill Drive by way of either Cleveland Heights or South Euclid.

I would like the city to experiment with traffic calming in the north end. The city's northern extremes lay on a peninsula that is formed by Nine Mile Creek. The cutoff prevents most through traffic from entering the neighborhoods in this area, which also includes a patch of South Euclid and a small, psychologically gated neighborhood (Creekside) of Cleveland. The lack of through traffic makes the streets quiet in general but also opens them to occasional high-speed traffic. Speed tables and those kinds of interventions could be experimented with, but it would also be great if some of the intersections could be trimmed to require slowing down to turn.

Last weekend I visited Cincinnati for the first time in the streetcar era. The streetcar has really taken the city to a new level. It was very useful and smooth, and I experienced very short wait times.

Many nice old buildings. I had forgotten about that streetcar.

I am surprised to see the poor condition of Pine Bluff and wonder what happened to the place.

Yes, unanimously.

Yes, 481 will become 81, and the former 81 will become Business Loop 81, using those green signs that I think I have only seen in Michigan. BL81 will still be an expressway on both approaches to downtown Syracuse--from the north and south--but will disperse into the streets in the middle of town. Interstate 690 will still run east and west along the north side of downtown. 81 southbound has never had a direct connection to 690 westbound, and there were plans to make that connection as a part of this project, but there was almost no support for removing more of the city, including possibly parts of the Franklin Square neighborhood, to accommodate the connection, so this part of the plan will not go forward. I am sad about the elevated highway being removed, because it really brings you into the thick of things in a visually impressive manner, but I still completely support this project. If everything works out, there will be innumerable possibilities for re-connecting the city's two centers--downtown and University Hill.

I was dismayed to read that a sufficient number of signatures had been gathered for this effort. I don't think anyone who really thought about this proposal would think it is a good idea, but that doesn't mean it won't pass if put on the ballot in May. If the promoters successfully use the feel-good-about-yourself populist approach that the Citizens for an Elected Mayor used very skillfully in their 2019 power play, they could persuade enough voters to think that casting a vote in favor of this park was really doing something, in the same way that many people thought that voting to change our form of government was really doing something: Finally, we have a voice after 100 years of being forced into silence, servitude, desperation, and despair by a council-manager form of government! How heartwarming and compelling, etc. I love Cleveland Heights and think that Greater Cleveland would have to come up with something like it if it didn't already have it, but it has certainly disappointed me of late.

I don't think RTA has any plans to put service on the OCB. For comparison, it doesn't have any service on Chester. On the other hand, there are several RTA train stations on or in proximity to the new road.

I am impressed by the new road. Unlike the West Shoreway, it feels as if it has truly been designed to be driven at 35 or 40 mph. If you are coming from the west, there is a stepdown from the freeway, so it makes the transition to lower speeds less sudden. In the transitional area, there are no sidewalks or bike paths, but the road has clearly changed from a freeway into something else. When you get past the transitional area, there is a sidewalk on one side and the multi-use path on the other. It really seems like a street, and I noticed that the Quincy/105 rapid station has a grand presence. If you come into Cleveland on 71 and go through to University Circle, you really get to see a compendium of Cleveland places--the modern prosperous city, the intense industrial areas, the desolate zones, everything. I completely agree that it should be named Garrett Morgan Something. I think street would be better than boulevard or parkway, because then it would really be unique. I was surprised to see that it is a part of SR 10, so I would also like it to be referred to as The 10, as if we were in LA, Toronto, or Buffalo. I agree that the name Opportunity Corridor is embarrassingly bad. I remember in the early planning stages it was referred to as UCAB, the University Circle Access Boulevard, which was a more honest and yet fully defensible description of what the street really is.

It's good to think big, but this could end up as a disaster.

Exciting news about Park Synagogue: https://www.cleveland.com/news/2021/09/park-synagogue-picks-a-developer-to-find-innovative-ways-to-preserve-an-architectural-masterpiece.html

Agreed.

The problems of East Cleveland affect the whole region. Its problems should be addressed by the county and the state, not a neighboring municipality.

The charter government that Cuyahoga Citizens approved several years ago could assume control of East Cleveland, with EC's approval. Most people have only limited knowledge of what the change in county government entailed, but, for one, the charter gives the county the ability to operate as a home-rule municipality on its own. It cannot function as a municipality in a place where an existing municipality does not want it to, but, if East Cleveland were to surrender its charter, the county could take over as the provider of municipal services without any interruption or need for outside approvals. Of course, the county is not really set up to provide municipal services (with some exceptions--the sheriff, for one), so it would have to hire other entities to provide some of the services. It would make sense for Cleveland and Cleveland Heights to provide services under contract to the county. Cleveland is more capable than Cleveland Heights in some ways, but the opposite is also true. They are both far more functional than East Cleveland. Also, it is absurd to suggest that Cleveland Heights would want to annex East Cleveland for a connection to University Circle. No municipality, sometimes even including Cleveland itself, is more closely tied to UC than Cleveland Heights, and this has been true for generations.

Entrada looks as if it could break with the ersatz-vernacular design that has plagued this kind of construction in Cleveland for decades. It appears that there are no fake muntins or bolt-on window-shutter lookalikes.

That lane could become part of the sidewalk without a negative effect on traffic. There could maybe still be a few spaces for five-minute parking.

Yes, I have seen backups on the hill, but usually only if there is an accident or extreme weather, and the loss of the lane that is now blocked by the jersey barriers doesn't seem to have slowed traffic. Even when that lane is open, it is often not passable during rush hour because of cars stopping to pick up at Starbucks. I think a few spots could be opened back up for the coffee traffic with the rest remaining closed permanently.

It would be great if Cedar could be narrowed permanently in that block. Cedar Fairmount is one of the best older commercial districts, but that wide street is a real drawback.

I think there will be more than enough parking in Cedar Lee. The garage was built with a whole floor dedicated for exclusive use by the apartment residents in whatever building will eventually be built at the Meadowbrook site. As far as I know, that floor has never been open to the public for parking.

I remember the building that used to be where the CVS is now at Mayfield and Green in South Euclid. It was substantial, with storefronts on the first floor and at least two floors above. It came up to the sidewalk and really gave that part of town a downtown feeling. I have always felt that South Euclid squandered its downtown and let it devolve into just another part of the Mayfield strip. I think Cedar Center North was handled pretty well, but Oakwood is inexcusable.

No, they do not.

That is really sad. If it continues, Lorain will be perceived as the only city in Lorain County.

It looks like an outlet mall.