Avogadro

Very good- thank you!

Quick query for jmasek or JeTDog: have the two interior bike racks been retained for the BRT vehicles? I was just at a City Bicycle meeting when this question was asked, and I haven't actually seen the inside of the displayed vehicle.

Well, because I foolishly think that a county-based model for supporting regional transportation is flawed. :| Also, because it would require drivers to know that Glenwillow is in Cuyahoga County but Willowick isn't. I don't think that anybody would enjoy waiting for the driver to consult a list.

It won't be a problem once the sidewalk opens again, sometime before BRT service begins.

Mmmm... probably not. Think about where you tend to do your spending. While you may frequent restaurants near your workplace for lunch, you probably do most of your shopping near home. And, given the retail development trends, your average non-Cuyahoga resident will also tend to shop near home (usually in their own home county). That said, I also agree that one ought not have to produce an ID to determine bus fare (even when picking up a ride from Strongsville or the like). A more equitable system for regional transportation probably wouldn't rely on sales taxes in the first place.

^That was completely Stephanie. I got chills just reading that.

What does Saffold Strickland have to do with this? Besides, she's a Common Pleas Judge, not Juvie.

I'm terribly sorry to hear this. I've had the pleasure of working on a couple of projects with the Congresswoman and her staff; she was an intelligent, caring person who also had remarkable humility. I don't often have the opportunity to work with elected officials who were secure enough to say "I don't know" and curious enough to learn more. She was one.

I second Avogadro's (and 3231's I guess?) wish, not only for the sake of subarbanites wanting their kids in the school system, but also for the sake of the kids already in the CMSD. Avogadro, she's got your number!!! BOOOOOOOOOOO! *catcalls*

My wish is that the Cleveland school district so good that suburbanites fight to get their kids in the schools. Yep, it's a fairly boring wish, project-wise.

I'm confused. Are you saying that the cvsr should eventually change its schedule in order to test out commuter rail possibilities, or that the existing schedule can be maintained, and that rail advocates begin tracking how many folks are using the service? If the former, I think that KJP conclusively described why that wouldn't happen, and if the latter, it is highly unlikely that anybody would use the service to commute (for example, all Canton to and from Independence trains leave at 9 a.m., well past rush hour, and they don't run on Mondays and Tuesdays).

There is really nothing that can be done to regulate against perfectly asinine activity. Riding on the sidewalk or even in a dedicated bike path would not have been safer than the bike lane. Even changing the light pattern (since the the driver obviously missed the red light completely) would have made no difference. I'm glad that I'm reading about this here than in the obits, Columbusite, but outside of having a bike network that is completely isolated from the street grid (complete with bridges and tunnels to avoid roads), cyclists (and pedestrians AND other drivers) are at the mercy of bad drivers.

I'm not sure why having an Ohio city (or even a pan-Ohio bid) host the Olympics would be desired, much less perceived as realistic. There's no shame in not having the transportation infrastructure, venues, lodging capacity, etc. needed for a modern-day bid. An enormous influx of Federal and State spending would be needed to bring any of the Cities up to snuff, and even then, is this what you want to see afterwards?

^I don't think that the Cuyahoga downriver of the steel mill has frozen solid since they started dredging it back in the 19th century; it's 23 feet deep. Also, there is enough thermal load in the river throughout the year (mainly from the Southerly Treatment Plant and Mittal) that it won't be stable enough for skating. However, a better bet for outdoor skating might be the Ohio & Erie Canal.

I am super-happy with the Acme Bags: they fold up smaller than a cellphone, and open up to the size of a normal plastic grocery bag. http://www.reusablebags.com/store/acme-bags%E2%84%A2-workhorse-style-1500-special-p-258.html

That part of the river hasn't been widened for several decades, but I think that it looks wider because Nautica/Scene Pavilion/PD Pavilion/Whatever wasn't yet built.

Read the report: http://www.gcpartnership.com/medicalmart.aspx EDIT: Estimated Sources of Funding Construction Period Rent $63,500,000 Construction Period Interest Income $12,500,000 Net County Bond Proceeds $415,000,000 MMPI Contribution $19,000,000 Subtotal $510,000,000 Estimated Need $536,000,000 Residual ($26,000,000) Any combination of the funding alternatives would not only completely cover the incremental $26 million, but would also create additional flexibility to address unforeseen project contingencies. Current Hotel Tax Redistribution (Net Bond Proceeds):$25 million Other Governmental Sources:$15 million Additional Tax on Hotel Guests (Net Bond Proceeds):$50 million

"The expected riverfront cost is $536 million. Renovations and addition to the current convention center were expected to cost $583 million." $50M is not that much of a difference. No word on where the extra $100M or so (after MerchMart's $20M) is going to come from, eh?

Well, I am a bit more invested personally in Lewis and the green building movement. Wake me when Finney begins generating its own energy. :) I'll hunt for some of my campus pictures later this week.

What? No Lewis Center for Environmental Studies pics? (Great pictures, really. Guess one of us needs to go back, eh?)

Actually, that marina is a "working man's" marina, judging by the dock rents, folks who are there, and quality of boats docked there. Carry on.

I'm pretty much going to push this wherever, but if you haven't been privy to the webcomic stylings of Rick Smith, it's high time that you were. Good bike comics, Cleveland-based, and gaining mad cred as you read this. Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery

Funny, my sidewalks were nice and wide and lit with walk signals. I rather enjoyed my bike lanes. Zip, zip!

I rather hope that nobody in Cleveland addresses the Forbes piece, since it would give credence to the so-called analysis. It's not on par with challenging census figures, which actually has an impact on federal budget management and programming. Having the news media or local officials get outraged by a bunch of cherry-picked figures and gross generalizations packaged in a ranking better suited for the pages of Men's Health helps nobody.

There is a program similar to WOW in Cuyahoga County called Senior Transportation Connection: http://cuyahogaseniorsride.com/index.htm One main difference (and something that would make it easier to begin a new project) is that STC doesn't own any of its vehicles. Rather, it works with its network partners and takes advantage of the vehicles that are already in use by municipalities/senior residences/recreation programs.