Cleburger

BRT is long dead on Clifton. "Enhance Clifton" is a waiting area and beautification project--has nothing to do with BRT. I've pointed this out several times on this thread when UO forum members started complaining about BRT--this project has no BRT component at all.

Great news! I'm not up on funding sources--who can explain what this amount and origin might mean for the project?

Another excellent post Tedolph. Ever consider running for office?

So I have to ask, if Lebron wins a ring in a strife-shortened season, is it still legit?

West Shoreway Boulevard Conversion. The full monte. Not the watered-down version. I want ever bike path, tree and stoplight. Why? A single building is nice. But the Shoreway conversion has the chance to change the course of Cleveland in a couple ways. One, it's the first piece of the cog that is Lakefront Development. With any luck there would be some sort of domino effect that would spread eastward from our newly invigorated near-west shore. Secondly, it can do what many so-called urban pioneers (including those of us on these boards) have been unable to do in Cleveland's recent 20 year history of renewal. It would connect "pockets of development" and allow them to spread and grow together. Downtown, Ohio City, Detroit Shoreway, Cudell and Edgewater would all benefit from this connection. :clap:

I was at CSU in the early/mid 1990s, in what I would call the peak of the commuter school days. So nice to see all the housing going up around the campus and hopefully someday they won't need all those lots any longer! Division I football baby! I am convinced CSU needs to take this step! Let's get 40,000 kids living and spending mom and dad's money in Downtown Cleveland!

I give them a year or two before they start sucumbing to our world-famous road salt. ODOT seems to forget this when buying apparatus like signs, guardrails...and GIANT CONCRETE WALLS to block sound from subdivisions. :roll:

Oooh, that's a really intriguing idea! I've always liked the density of residential that exists along Franklin over there, and a couple apartment or condo buildings would fit in well. My own personal pipe dream has always been a subway line running under Detroit Avenue to West Boulevard, serving the growing communities along that corridor, that would continue above ground west of West Boulevard and act as a commuter line going out through Lakewood along the freight ROW parallel to and north of Detroit. Love the pipedream. And sticking with the topic of the thread, the West Blvd intersection is a great place for TOD--already has a fairly high density and room for expansion!

I haven't seen any confirmed schedules, but I personally doubt the auto or boat show would move downtown. The IX offers and incredible amount of floor space at cheap rates. The city/county would have to offer quite the rent deal to offset the more expensive labor, etc.

Wouldn't Greektown in Downtown Detroit qualify? I mean Detroit's downtown had been long dead, but Greektown was always a somewhat thriving entertainment district within it.

Care to place bets on how many of the board members use RTA services regularly? :-P

Great news!

He earned just $50,000 a year, owned a 3-BR house in tony Leesburg (certainly had to have a car out there), AND had to pay child support + other expenses? I figured he'd have to be living out the food bank BEFORE he lost his job! Agreed. Sort of a ridiculous person to focus on. He makes 50k in the wealthiest county in the US and he's paying child support for 3 kids? He's had his home for 20 years--it cost over $1,000 for his mortgage. He really should be paying much less but for some bad refis and poor home equity loan decisions. Why is the USAToday trying to make it seem like this guy was living the good life before he lost his job? Not to dump on this guy's situation, but I'm sure you can find much salient personal tragedies to focus on. As an aside, this article points out another problem in our society today. The loss of the traditional family and breakup of marriages is expensive. If he was still married to the mother of his children, suppose she made $50,000. Together they would be sharing expenses on one house in that area. When the family breaks up suddenly the court orders you to supply a home for your children, pay support etc--dividing up already limited resources. Perhaps together their choices on the area they lived in made sense. I speak from experience--have been paying well over $1,000 a month in child support for nearly 10 years now and maintaining my own separate home for my children.

I thought the BRT and/or median project was officially dead?

My vote is that it becomes mainly parking--and lots of it!

I still do not believe Phase 2 will ever be built, at least as it was presented on paper. If and when ground is broken I think we'll see a drastically downgraded version, in which the parking element is seriously increased. Just my gut instinct....

BTW, and slightly off topic, saw a survey team working Clifton over near W 115th a few days ago. Anyone know what this might be now?

Amen punchin Pat. Amen!

I agree also. Let's spend more to reconstruct sound walls for ODOT. That is an investment in Cleveland's future....

Ted is a hypocrite. He wants you to tote a gun...but try taking one to his shows. Metal detectors protect Ted a the door. So much for practicing what he preaches.

Wow that Mayfield Station is going to be something else when it gets done! :clap:

Thank you Jerry for your extremely professional response to my emotionally charged (admittedly) post on the 55th St shift change problem. Obviously the driver in question did not adhere to the rule as stated and should have been reported. I wonder how many of the drivers stay in contact via cell phone ("I'll be right there just another 5 minutes buddy!")?

I'm sure the union contract allows for this somehow. It's in the fine print. :whip: Same goes for 55th changeovers. Probably has something to do with driver contracts and pay for commute time. Just my 2 cents...I'll let Jerry weigh in with the truth as RTA sees it.

No, I don't. I think a lot of traffic would divert to alternate routes. Traffic, like water, tends to find it's level. Also, let's not forget that the majority of traffic on the Shoreway becomes traffic on Clifton, which doesn't have any substantial problems. Why are at grade intersections OK to the west of Lake, but not to the East? This is a big part of the argument against this that I don't understand. If ODOT properly plans for and installs timed lights, etc, the effect on commuters on this last 2 miles would be minimal. I really hope our leaders show some guts and fight ODOT for every penny on this project. This project stands to help finally do what most urban developers in Cleveland have not been able to do: tie multiple neighborhoods together at once and give them all a fighting chance. Without it, Detroit Shoreway will remain isolated from Clifton/Baltic, Edgewater, etc.

I apologize CTowns--it was actually the Embassy Suites that i was thinking of not the Doubletree (Hilton brands confused....) Here is the website for that property: http://embassysuites1.hilton.com/en_US/es/hotel/PHLDTES-Embassy-Suites-Philadelphia-Center-City-Pennsylvania/index.do