MuRrAy HiLL

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson confounds City Council members by withdrawing a deal with a Chinese lighting company By Mark Gillispie, The Plain Dealer May 26, 2010, 10:00AM CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland City Council members were thrown for a loop Monday night when Clerk Pat Britt announced that Ordinance 496-10, Mayor Frank Jackson's controversial deal with a Chinese LED manufacturer, had been tabled and sent to the legislative dustbin. Council didn't see this one coming. Jackson had the 10 votes he needed from council to approve a deal giving Sunpu-Opto Semiconductor Ltd. an exclusive contract to sell the city LED lights in exchange for building its North American headquarters here and creating 350 jobs. In an interview Monday night, the mayor said he realized that he had tainted the process by announcing the Sunpu-Opto deal during his State of the City speech in March while administration officials still were awaiting responses to a questionnaire sent to other LED companies. http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/05/cleveland_mayor_frank_jackson_13.html

^ I was kind of thinking the same thing. I hope the retail is no more than a dry cleaner, laundry mat, convenience store (ok I'll take that), and maybe a bookstore, bar, or coffee shop. I too fear oversaturation until we keep filling in population. I like how CSU is aggressively expanding it's residental options. Overall, good for the university and great for the city. This side of downtown will be the fastest growing section since what...1920 rates?

Oh wow I had no idea....for some reason I thought it was an annual thing.

So I have an idea for once-- why don't we use a city event a.k.a Tremont Hellenic Heritage Festival(http://www.annunciationcleveland.org/Festival/HellenicHeritageFestival.dsp) to time up our Happy Hour gathering. I'm thinking Saturday, MAY 29, afternoon sometime. 2 pm? Any recommendation of a nearby places? Tremonters? I usually don't venture in much, so I'd be excited for this.

Since you'll be going to CSU, have you considered Downtown?

Cuyahoga Community College Announces Construction of Hospitality Management Center Downtown Project to complement other planned and future downtown Cleveland developments CLEVELAND, May 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C®) today announced that construction is underway on its 'Hospitality Management Center at Public Square, Cleveland.' The new 25,000 square foot facility will feature a state-of-the-art culinary facility, classrooms, a demonstration studio, and a 'video wall' visible to passers-by. The Hospitality Management Center will open to students in October. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cuyahoga-community-college-announces-construction-of-hospitality-management-center-downtown-94769284.html

I did find these two: Ohio City http://cleveland.craigslist.org/apa/1757371806.html Tremont http://cleveland.craigslist.org/apa/1757198712.html Again parking still seems to be the problem EDIT: This one has a garage and fits into your $700 ballpark figure exactly http://cleveland.craigslist.org/apa/1757617714.html

A coworker just told me about this no more than 5 minutes ago. Any word on why a grocery store couldn't survive with the expanding downtown population and virtually no competition? Here's the story from Mar 31st: http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2010/03/grocery_store_at_downtown_clevelands_reserve_square_apartments_is_closing.html

At that price, you can't live Downtown unless you have a roommate. You may have to consider Tremont, Shaker Square, Ohio City, Little Italy, Cleveland Hts, Lakewood etc...basically areas within 10-15 min.

^^ wow, I'm reading a ton of positive articles on this as well: Employment Increased in 38 U.S. States in April May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Payrolls increased in 38 states in April, led by Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, indicating the recovery in the labor market is becoming more broad-based. Employers in Ohio boosted staff by 37,300 workers last month, the biggest jump in 22 years, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Those in Pennsylvania added 34,000 workers, and employment in New York climbed by 32,700. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-21/employment-increased-in-38-u-s-states-in-april-update3-.html Ohio adds construction jobs in April http://dayton.bizjournals.com/dayton/stories/2010/05/24/daily1.html

Looks like Cleveland is doing a good job snagging historic tax credits: http://www.progressohio.org/page/community/post/daveharding/CqCN When does the next bunch come out??

Another Cleveland City Church closed. 12 more to go.... Cleveland: St. Patrick parishioners say goodbye Updated: 5/24/2010 5:13:44 AM CLEVELAND -- The parking lot was jammed and the pews were packed with people shoulder to shoulder for Sunday noon mass at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Cleveland's West Park neighborhood. "It's very emotional," said Eloise Campbell. "Been here 82 years. Would you believe (that)?" St. Patrick is scheduled to shut its doors May 30th after the closing mass is celebrated by Bishop Richard Lennon. http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/news_article.aspx?storyid=136626&catid=3

Whatever happened to the first Iraq war refugees to resettle in Cleveland? Khwater Nayef and her three boys stepped off a plane at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport in the fall of 2007, fleeing a nightmare. They had lost Dad to sectarian violence. Mom narrowly escaped a kidnapping. She fled to Syria to save her sons and Cleveland Catholic Charities helped the family resettle in Lakewood. http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/05/twins_day_bequeath_first_iraqi.html

Some more feel good, rave reviews from NYTimes: Cleveland’s Voluptuous ‘Lulu,’ Surrounded by Beethoven By ANTHONY TOMMASINI Published: May 23, 2010 In assessing an orchestra, classical music insiders and audiences can get too caught up with the issue of sound. Yes, to be enveloped in the sheer sonic splendor of a great orchestra is a wonderful thing. But I am willing to trade a little aural roughness for bracing performances when a conductor and players challenge themselves in the best sense and bring striking insights to standard repertory or champion living composers. There is more at stake for the American orchestra than the pursuit of glorious sound. As a rebuttal to this point of view, however, there was the Cleveland Orchestra’s concert on Friday night at Carnegie Hall, conducted by Franz Welser-Möst. The opening work was Beethoven’s “Coriolan” Overture, and from the first moments — three vigorous statements of a stern, sustained C in the strings, each one bursting into a slashing chord — the sheer sound of the orchestra was mesmerizing. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/arts/music/24franz.html

Well if 10,000 is not a bad attendence, then I apologize. I just think it wasn't marketed as well as it could have. I hardly heard anything about it until the day of. I honestly was expecting a crowd of a around 20,000, and with proper marketing, I don't see how this was out of the question. Either way, what a great weekend for Downtown and Cleveland. Saturday, we had this soccer game, a home indians game, Asiatown Festival, Pickwick and Frolic show, playhouse sqaure, HOB concert, ....overall, one happy and proud Clevelander.

The game was on May 22 and the US team won 4-0. I have a question though, was this event not promoted enough?? IMO The attendence was pretty embaracing low for an International Event -- 10,321 out of 73,000 available seats?) is it me, or does this sound like a lower number than expected? Any thoughts? I hate to say it, but with the Amatuer Wresting attendence so low (http://www.cleveland.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/04/us_open_wrestling_officials_ac.html) and this event, is this going to hurt the cities chances of holding future events? Or am I sending out panic flares to soon?? Here the PD coverage of the game: http://www.cleveland.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/05/american_stars_wambach_lilly_s.html

WHOA -- GREAT FIND! How about perfect timing in the wake of the "Avenue Market" closing on E. 13th.

^^well maybe they should delete my post! Yours seems more appropriate since mine is in "Projects and Construction"

The Asiatown festival had a HUGE attendance. I'm hoping publicity like this will help the neighborhood and spur more development! Cleveland's first Asian Festival draws thousands to the city By Mark Puente, The Plain Dealer May 22, 2010, 3:53PM CLEVELAND, Ohio-- The idea Vi Huynh hatched on a sleepless summer night last year ended up drawing more than 5,000 people Saturday to Cleveland's first Asian Festival. The region's Asian-American community broke new ground when nearly a dozen independent groups worked together, often behind young leaders, to plan the event. Ninety minutes after the festival opened, people were walking shoulder-to-shoulder in and around Asia Plaza at East 30th Street and Payne Avenue. http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/05/cleveland_first_asian_festival.html

Here's the Wyse website/news: http://www.wyseadv.com/main.html From the articles, there is no indication that this is in anyway temporary. But I agree respectfully asking them is the approach needed.

Cleveland Planning Commission approves deal to sell convention center By Laura Johnston, The Plain Dealer May 21, 2010, 1:49PM CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Planning Commission on Friday signed off on selling the city's downtown convention center for Cuyahoga County's new medical mart complex. Commission members also embraced the proposed layout for a new L-shaped convention center beneath malls B and C that connects with an above-ground mart at the northeast corner of St. Clair Avenue and Ontario Street. But some members pushed for a redesign of the park-like surfaces of the malls. Member Norm Krumholz referenced Chicago's Millennium Park, 25 acres of sculptures, gardens and gathering spaces that opened in 2004 and has drawn masses of tourists and locals ever since. "Right now the open space is virtually dead," Krumholz said. "It'd be nice if you could draw some crowds." http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga-county/index.ssf/2010/05/cleveland_planning_commission_approves_deal_to_sell_convention_center.html

What is the intersection??

^^Are those both JRR Tolkien quotes? ;)

So who is taking part/took part in "bike to work day?" (May 21)

More and more stories on the Chinese lighting company setting up its foreign HQ in Cleveland: http://blogs.forbes.com/china/2010/05/19/chinese-firm-angles-for-cleveland-headquarters/ Maybe we should transfer over all the previous posts and create a new thread...