Cleburger

I cannot fathom that they wouldn't have this thing ready by the Rock Hall induction ceremonies. At the risk of sounding like a Cleveland.com poster, if this was in Dallas it would be done by now. I'm really starting to believe that Columbus is like the GOP on Obama--wishing nothing but failure on us.

So what exactly IS getting done with the $100 million the newly-impoverished Mr. Wray claims to hold claim to for new projects?

This news should have all of our federal, state and local leaders boarding a bus to Columbus. All discussions about economic impact aside they are playing with the safety of 120,000 drivers a day. Stop building sound walls and take care of this project!

I'm sure the decision makers in Columbus will whack a bunch of Cleveland projects right off the top!

Can you share those B&W Pics KJP?

Will take a lot to overcome that army of lobbyists! At least alcohol and tobacco had the churches working against them, but sadly most American's don't see the problem with fast food and obesity. It is quickly becoming health epidemic #1!!

I love the shots up Euclid Ave towards the Clinic/U Circle with all those buildings rising out of Uptown. That's definitely a view that has changed since my last trip to the top of the Terminal dating back to pre-911!

I'm sure the Agora can coexist in the neighborhood with offices since there are not all that many events there. Hank Loconti will continue to book events there, but the competition with House of Blues and other venues will continue (so far their has been no mention of a casino venue THANK HEAVENS!). So let's hope Midtown can creatively subsidize the rennovation and fill the schedule with non-traditional events. If office developments spring up they should help support some dining establishments during the day, and perhaps those same eateries could open on event nights.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cleveland rock icon has changed hands, in a deal that promises to preserve the struggling Agora Theatre and office complex on Euclid Avenue. Late last month, the LoConti family quietly donated the Agora complex to MidTown Cleveland Inc., a neighborhood nonprofit that plans to move its offices there. Continued reading: http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/01/agora_complex_changes_hands_lo.html

Agree totally on Columbus--sounds like an extension of ODOT! Disagree on casinos in "major" cities. I can think of plenty of examples of cities without casinos. Here in the US the trend has been for cities on the decline to rush to get them in the last 20 years. I wonder what we are all going to do when every downtrodden city has a casino. That day is nearing quickly!

This is a certainty--from the CPD officers I know and hang out with, many of their calls go unreported because they'd spend their entire shifts doing paperwork. There may be much different data from 911 calls and actual response reports.

That's not really fair--the chase started at 76th and ended at 110th and Lake. The getaway driver could have driven anywhere! Clifton/Lake Edgewater are still reasonably safe, though I haven't seen a map as the other neighborhoods above with specifics. From living in the area I know that once you cross to the proverbial "other side of the tracks" (south of Baltic) things go downhill...

We need the West Shoreway Boulevard Conversion! This will help keep Ohio City and Detroit Shoreway growing, while helping to stabilize Clifton/Baltic (which has seen some decline).

Agreed and I present it to them in those absurd terms to make the same point about the Shoreway. It was designed for their parents to make the commute with double the traffic. Today there are fewer than 30,000 cars a day using the route. Why not tone it down for the good of the residents old and new who are trying to forge a neighborhood for the new century?

Haha--I have thrown out similar ideas on other forums to get the same point across. OK Lakewood and Rocky River commuters, if you are worried about the last three minutes of your commute, how about we blow a 6 lane highway right through Lakewood and Rocky River to speed things up. In fact, why don't we connect it all the way out to Westlake so I can get from my house in Cleveland to the new center of commerce at Crocker Park. Why should I be inconvenienced? And plus, it will help you having a 6 lane freeway right through YOUR town! They never seem to have a response for that.... ;)

Understood--I suppose I was speaking in general terms when we were a manufacturing and economic force to be reckoned with, and even threw in a sports championship here and there. This predates me by several decades of course... :)

I would go in a heartbeat if I could. Cleveland will always be my home, but after 20 years of trying to invest in it's neighborhoods and be a proponent I'm fed up with the lack of growth combined with the consistent defeatist attitude. I long for Cleveland to return to it's greatness of the 1950's, but sadly I don't think it will happen in my lifetime. Today's politicians are too interested in quick fixes like aquariums and sports teams to make a real lasting impact on our cities' futures.

The same way Ohio's largest cities have let state government (both parties) ignore all of the state's urban needs for 40+ years. What can Cleveland do about it? Withhold state tax revenues? Threaten to secede? Go to war? The Sovereign Nation of Cuyahoga. It has a ring to it. Plus we can add four more casinos, along with cheap gas and smokes! ;)

The last couple paragraphs say the most. How can we expect to have a fighting chance without a local representative on the board? How does Cleveland let the Governor ignore the largest metro in the state when it comes to transportation?

Come along and help us make this happen! :)

Serious question, is Lakefront Drive vacant 90 percent of the time like the Shoreway is? Every time I've been to Chicago that stretch of road has tons of 24/7 traffic. The current existence of the Shoreway, by comparison, does not appear to have the same level of necessity. Dead on surfohio! This is about the future of OUR lakefront, not what the Shoreway was 40 years ago. As someone previously stated the daily use totals are down to 30,000 vehicles. This short stretch of highway needs to be updated for the next 50 years of Cleveland's existence. That status quo that benefits 30,000 people from Rocky River and Lakewood to save 5 minutes on their commute will not really make much of difference in their lives. Are all 30,000 of them going to move somewhere else? And if they chose to do so, where are they going to move? Further out that requires them to use I90? Where is the logic in that?

There are no West Shoreway-specific plans that involve building buildings. But the city's lakefront plans showed that new buildings (mostly lakefront housing) could be spurred by slowing down the Shoreway traffic and making it less of a physical barrier to Edgewater Park. Right--spinoff development as a part of the master plan. But nothing directly connected to the boulevard itself. I don't think you would find a person on this forum who does not want to see that kind development happen--but nothing is going to happen unless this project comes to fruition.

Wherever did you get the idea that this is about building buildings along the boulevard? I have yet to see any plans that encourage that. There are, however, many buildings in the west 70s and 80's that would be ripe for redevelopment as residential, commericial and office spaces. This project will keep the progress going.

And there never will be any of that so long as it stays a limited access 50 mph freeway... I don't understand the obsession with development in a park area anyway. The idea is to open up this great asset to the development that is already occurring nearby or is in the works in the neighborhoods adjoining the shoreway route. This is Cleveland--a city with a continuing population decline and plenty of vacant/open space. Just up the bluff there are plenty of vacant lots and abandoned warehouses ripe for development. Conversion to a boulevard and improving access is about those places--not putting new commercial development inside Edgewater park.

Good news. I wonder what city "officials" are making the journey?