KJP

MEDIA RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Marie Zickefoose, City of Cleveland [email protected] Mayor Bibb announces appointments to Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority Board of Trustees Thursday, March 9, 2023 – Cleveland – This week, Mayor Justin M. Bibb announced two new appointments to the Board of Trustees for the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA). Pending approval from Cleveland City Council, Calley Mersmann and Jeffrey Weston Sleasman will both serve 3-year terms ending in March 2026. Current board members Valarie McCall and Luz Pellot will conclude their terms of service this month. “I send my gratitude to both Valarie and Luz for their dedicated work on the GCRTA Board of Trustees,” said Mayor Bibb. “I am confident that Calley and Jeffrey will continue to be valuable partners in their new roles, furthering the vision of providing equitable, accessible and efficient transit for our residents and riders.” About the Board Appointees: Calley Mersmann is the Senior Strategist of Transit and Mobility at the City of Cleveland. As the first person to hold this role at the City, her responsibilities include developing transit-supportive policies, practices, and projects at the City; cultivating a strong interagency partnership with GCRTA; and directing the City’s transit and mobility work toward achieving equitable, accessible, safe, and sustainable movement for all Clevelanders. Mersmann previously served for four years with the City Planning Commission as Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator. Mersmann holds an MPA with concentrations in Local Government and Sustainable Development from Indiana University. She is a regular GCRTA rider and bicycle commuter. Jeffrey Weston Sleasman is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Boussole, LLC, a consumer goods startup focused on biomedical technologies. He is an active member of Clevelanders for Public Transit, a rider’s organization that supports and promotes affordable, accessible, reliable, and environmentally and financially sustainable public transportation in Northeast Ohio. Sleasman is particularly engaged by the potential for land use and mobility decisions, including provision of reliable, affordable, and convenient public transportation, to advance equitable economic advancement. He holds an MBA with a focus on Strategy and Entrepreneurship from The Ohio State University and has been a dedicated transit rider for over 30 years. ###

Demolition permit application filed for the for the Pearlbrook Shopping Center and the construction permit application for the Sheetz gas station. With the Building Department shorthanded, it may be weeks if not months before they're approved.

One of the articles (not mine) reports that the Taylor Commons' owner Paran Management is working with WXZ.

Maybe that's what's causing it. On twitter, I saw someone offer an interesting suggestion that the HQ be converted to residential with the glassy atrium turned into a winter garden with a nice restaurant and/or coffee shop with outdoor seating in the summer/fall. The surrounding grounds would be like living in a park, perfect for jogging, cross-country skiing, golf course next door, shopping just up the hill. Seems like a spot for some high-end residential. And that mansion...

I should be able to get there around 6. Maybe a little earlier.

I thought it might happen sooner rather than later so that SHW could move more of its employees to downtown Cleveland.

Two Cleveland-area projects win millions By Ken Prendergast / March 8, 2023 Two Greater Cleveland historic rehabilitation projects got an unexpected boost this week to the tune of nearly $7.2 million. The Taylor Tudors portion of a larger development in Cleveland Heights plus a renovation of McKinley School in Cleveland’s Westown-Jefferson Neighborhood were beneficiaries of an oversight by the Ohio Department of Development (ODOD). MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2023/03/08/two-cleveland-area-project-win-millions/

For some reason my ex-TRW HQ demolition story has gone viral. Apparently word got out on some message board or another forum. I figured it was a pretty big story and was initially disappointed that it wasn't getting more clicks. But it's getting them now, moving toward 8,000 views.

East end or west end?

Check out the video. Imagine this in Ohio -- three Charlotte-Raleigh round trips plus the Charlotte-Raleigh-New York City. So four trains in each direction between Charlotte and Raleigh which had nothing before the 1990s.

They're focusing on travel within North Carolina and to some extent up to Washington DC. The state has quadrupled service between Charlotte and Raleigh and reduced travel times section-by-section.

My wife's drive-by shooting (I was driving).

North Carolina is a strong supporter of passenger rail. And this is what strong support can get you....

I'm going with a big no on this one....

Sorry. Busy day..... Two Cleveland-area projects win millions By Ken Prendergast / March 8, 2023 Two Greater Cleveland historic rehabilitation projects got an unexpected boost this week to the tune of nearly $7.2 million. The Taylor Tudors portion of a larger development in Cleveland Heights plus a renovation of McKinley School in Cleveland’s Westown-Jefferson Neighborhood were beneficiaries of an oversight by the Ohio Department of Development (ODOD). MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2023/03/08/two-cleveland-area-project-win-millions/

What a remarkable city

Cleveland is one of the few cities that jumped on the office-to-residential conversions early on. It had to after its many companies with headquarters here were swallowed up by bigger fish. Opinion | To revitalize downtowns, cities need to stop making this big mistake Opinion by the Editorial Board March 4, 2023 at 7:00 a.m. ET Cities across the nation face a dilemma: Downtown office buildings are empty as workers prefer to stay home. Nearly all local leaders agree part of the solution is an office-to-apartment conversion boom. Cities have started rolling out tax incentives to encourage developers to begin this transformation. This strategy is straight out of the playbook that revived center city Philadelphia and Lower Manhattan in the past quarter century. But there’s a problem: City leaders aren’t doing enough. No mayor or city council member wants to hand a lavish deal to real estate developers. But the urgency and scale of the downtown crisis in many major metro areas mean local leaders need to give away a bit more than they probably would prefer. Consider the nation’s capital city. Downtown D.C. is more than 90 percent commercial buildings. The vibrancy and workers are largely gone. Crime and grime are increasing, while property tax revenue is quickly decreasing as building values plummet. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) has put out an ambitious “Comeback Plan” that calls for 15,000 new residents living downtown by 2028. To make that a reality, the city needs developers to convert roughly 7 million square feet of office space to apartments and condos. Her team estimates about 1 million square feet is on track for conversion so far. There’s a long way to go. The situation is similar in Chicago, San Francisco, New York and Atlanta, among other cities. MORE https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/03/04/downtowns-cities-convert-offices-residential/

Thanks. Unfortunately I missed it.

Oops.... (and thanks @willyboy) Cleveland Clinic to raze ex-TRW HQ By Ken Prendergast / March 7, 2023 Two significant structures on a large piece of land in Cleveland’s eastern suburbs, whose prominence is owed to the industrial giants of Gilded Age Cleveland, face very different fates. One, the 106-year-old, 45-room Frances Bolton Mansion, will be preserved. The other, the 1985-built, former TRW headquarters with its four office wings radiating from a glassy central atrium, is proposed to be demolished by the end of the year. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2023/03/07/cleveland-clinic-to-raze-ex-trw-hq/

No permit applications have been submitted for that parcel fronting Euclid since October. And that was for a zoning review.

A permit is due to be issued any day now for the interior demolition of the building.

I'd love to go but my son's school concert ends at 7 pm.

Cleveland Foundation Headquarters got its certificate of occupancy yesterday