KJP

How about a dedicated transit line through the heart of UC? Or converting the HealthLine from MLK to downtown to rail by rerouting the Blue Line?

@cadmen Not unless they get the work done early https://www.riderta.com/riders-alerts/buses-between-tower-city-and-east-55th-st-stations

I responded here

I gave up years ago on seriously ever expecting to see rail expansion in Greater Cleveland. The only chance is a relatively small project like extending the Waterfront Line as a downtown loop or rerouting the Blue Line to University Circle/Cleveland Clinic. And even then you'll have to drag RTA into it, kicking and screaming. As soon as I read that you were taking RTA from West 117th to Little Italy, I reacted "oh no!" All this month, RTA is replacing track between Tower City and East 55th and doing an awful job informing the public about it. I'm surprised you didn't take the 67R shuttle bus from Prospect/West 3rd to East 55th.

@originaljbw I proposed something like that to RTA 20 years ago when you could legally use existing infrastructure as a local contribution to leverage a fixed guideway federal grant (like what St Louis did in leveraging and repurposing it's old freight tunnels under downtown and the Eads Bridge). Unfortunately, Ron Tober was on the way out and Joe Calabrese was on the way in. That was the end of that.

Where? And how can that be structurally possible?

This wider trio of passages of double track are only available in the middle and you have to get to them. The east and west ends have narrow track approaches with structural supports right up against the six track spaces. You cannot remove the structural supports. Again, they tried putting cars only on the lower deck in the 1950s and there were too many crashes with cars hitting the support structures. And they only tried allowing cars down there. They couldn't even run trucks or buses on the subway deck because of the narrow lateral clearances at the east and west ends. So they filled in the old track ramps. Let's learn from history.

That lack of maintenance reportedly has made the bridge unstable and, if the bridge isn't removed or stabilized (at the prices shown), the bridge will eventually fall on its own.

The width of the old track spaces is too narrow for the safe operation of cars at the east and west ends of the bridge. This was actually tried in the 1950s after the streetcars and tracks were removed. But it was halted after cars kept hitting the support posts for the roadway above.

Eagle Avenue lift bridge to be demolished By Ken Prendergast / June 23, 2023 According to public records, the city of Cleveland is seeking to demolish the Eagle Avenue lift bridge over the Cuyahoga River as early as next year. There are no plans to replace the city-owned bridge which links a rapidly developing Scranton Peninsula in the Flats with downtown’s Gateway District and its venues for the Cleveland Guardians and Cleveland Cavaliers. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2023/06/23/eagle-avenue-lift-bridge-to-be-demolished/

One can find religious intolerance among all religions and all are insignificant unless you've succumbed to the messaging by a certain cable news channel. Stop letting fear get in the way of inclusivity and economic growth.

The engineering reports show that the precast concrete panels on Rhodes Tower are letting in moisture and wind and causing the building to age faster than normal. They have to be replaced and it doesn't make sense to replace them with the same type of material that caused the problem in the first place. Unless there's a better way of sealing the seams between the concrete panels, a new exterior is needed.

I have an African-American friend who is a high-income professional living on the south side of Chicago. He is greatly dismayed by the number of African-Americans leaving Chicago for the suburbs and, especially for the South. I'm sure we've also seen the data about the large number of whites moving into Chicago and the growing proportion of whites vs blacks in Cleveland. We need to get a grip on providing safe, livable communities for all in our urban centers. __________________ The waves of migration that brought Black Americans to many northern cities are reversing. Departing residents are heading everywhere from nearby suburbs to high-growth areas in the southern U.S., such as metro Atlanta, according to demographers, real-estate agents and public officials. The latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates, released Thursday, indicate Black residents are continuing to leave many urban centers in the North and elsewhere, adding to decades of decline. These losses have hit many major cities with historically large Black populations, including Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and Oakland, Calif. The outflow marks a reversal of the Great Migration that began in the early 20th century as millions of Black Americans left the South looking for more economic opportunities and to flee racial violence. Much of the current shift is driven by younger, college-educated Black people who are relocating from northern and western places to the South, said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution. MORE: https://www.wsj.com/articles/black-americans-are-leaving-cities-in-the-north-and-west-c05bb118?mod=hp_lead_pos9

I'll take a market approach here. Look at the urban neighborhoods that are walkable, safe and mixed-use -- Ohio City, Tremont, Little Italy, German Village, Short North, Clintonville, Over-The-Rhine, Mt. Adams, Clifton. What else do they have in common? Their housing is relatively expensive compared the rest of the city and even most surrounding suburbs. Why? Because they're in demand and because the supply of such neighborhoods is limited. People want the low-mileage lifestyle which is economically and physically healthy. Isn't that reason enough to supply more of it?

From below "the other crane"....

Not sure I agree with this. Lots of inaccuracies, stereotypes and outdated info.

I asked. No answer. Here's the article..... City Club tower tenants announced By Ken Prendergast / June 22, 2023 Detroit-based City Club Apartments, a 104-year-old private real estate owner, developer and operator, held a Topping-Off event today on the 18th floor of its 23-story City Club Apartments-Cleveland mixed-use apartment and penthouse community. Mayor Justin Bibb and City Club Apartments Chairman and CEO Jonathan Holtzman were among the speakers at the event that celebrated the construction milestone, opening of the residential pre-leasing center nearby at 313 Euclid Ave. and the announcement of four café/restaurant/bar venues at the new 250-foot-tall tower. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2023/06/22/city-club-tower-tenants-announced/

Didn't have time to write an article about this yet.

The Eagle Avenue lift bridge, assuming it is ever restored, will be a major endeavor. The city will be the responsible and will have to go through a ton of permitting from the Army Corps of Engineers, Coast Guard, Dept. of the Interior and who knows who else before construction can start. And that assumes the city can find the money. Rehabbing the Columbus Road lift bridge was a $32 million project. Eagle has been closed since 2004 because a structural support column failed inspection. So its lift span raised and locked. Not knowing how much of the existing Eagle Avenue bridge towers or span are salvageable, I'd have to assume the entire thing needs to be demolished and start new. That's especially true at the east end which had the gradual ramp approaching the bridge. Now, Eagle east of the bridge is going to be restored but with a steeper ramp. The lift bridge's tower on the east side of the river accepts the approach at a higher elevation than the west side of the river. I'd guess that a new Eagle Avenue lift bridge is probably a $50 million to $75 million project. I did some Google searches and found that the city has the bridge as an active project that's now in an alternatives analysis. The city is favoring demolition of the bridge but has other options available -- stabilizing the existing structure, removal/relocation, or replacing the historic bridge. You can submit your public input here by July 14: https://publicinput.com/g8483 I found in the NOACA's draft TIP that the city wants to spend $2,928,499 to demolish the Eagle Avenue bridge over the river.

Or before, if things come together as they appear to be.

@BoomerangCleRes See June 7th post

Future site of Lynette Gardens Senior Apartments, a mixed-income development.

For Bedrock? Yes, probably. For others? Not necessarily.

When someone says density, some folks react with fear. But it need not be that way. There are lots of kinds of density. Here's an example of gentle density. What examples do you have and where would you like to see them built? I'd like to see this built in the median of Shaker Boulevard at the east end of the Green Line in Shaker Heights.