KJP

Here's some important posts from the past....

Most of the mainline railroads that were engineered for higher speeds were built before Akron saw its biggest population increase coinciding with the rubber tire and the growth of the auto industry and driving. The only mainlines built through Akron were east-west (Baltimore & Ohio's Chicago-Washington mainline and the Erie Railroad's Chicago-Hoboken, NJ mainline now mostly gone). There was a secondary line called the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus railroad that was absorbed into the Pennsylvania RR that branched off from the Cleveland-Pittsburgh mainline at Hudson, OH. But nearly all of that line has been gone for decades. Ditto for Canton. It's only mainline was the Chicago-New York City Pennsylvania Railroad, an east-west line. Just dink rail lines going north-south that weren't built for high-volume, high-speed operations. Dayton was historically on the Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati mainline that was designed for 80+ mph operations and remains so today. The only other rail line between Cincinnati and Columbus is only 10 miles shorter than the route via Dayton and wasn't a mainline railroad. It also doesn't pass through any population centers. So routing trains via Akron would add an hour to the Cleveland-Columbus trip and result in more riders lost from Cleveland than gained from Akron. Similarly, routing via Dayton is actually faster than via Wilmington and Washington Court House, plus you get the added benefit of serving a metro area with 1 million people.

Can Ohio Turn the Tables on “Brain Drain”? Although Rust Belt states have traditionally struggled to retain their college graduates, new data suggests that Ohio might be set to reverse the “brain drain” that has plagued the region for decades. Cover graphic by Ruth Chang for Midstory. https://www.midstory.org/can-ohio-turn-the-tables-on-brain-drain/

He's from Ashville, a part of Ohio that's been forgotten. And yes, I had to look up where it is (it's between Columbus and Circleville). Give that area a split of the Cardinal from Portsmouth, up to Columbus, Toledo and Detroit. Maybe that'll shut him up.

The properties surrounding them keep getting developed and will cause the used car lots' property taxes to go up. When they get tired of using more of their proceeds from (allegedly) laundering money to pay taxes, they'll sell. Otherwise, we'll have to wait until they go to prison or die from natural causes, etc.

BTW, there's a lot more renderings of Artisan and especially of the interiors on Zillow https://www.zillow.com/b/artisan-cleveland-oh-9FrLLR/ than there is on the Artisan's own website. Note that Library Lofts is shown in the first image. I don't recall that being a part of an exterior render before. Here's a sampling of what's on Zillow....

I don't know if this is actually a photo from the 1940s but it sure is noir....

@Agreene you rock!!

I mentioned the 500-foot towers. I didn't put them in an article however.

The Cleveland-Portsmouth Ohio & Erie Canal was built from 1825-32. It was feared by many that it would be a huge failure. Of course, it wasn't. Four canals were built as branches off it over the next 20 years. The Toledo-Cincinnati Miami & Erie Canal was a separate system that had its initial trunk route built 1825-45. It had two branch canals added from 1843-48. The point is, not everything gets built all at once. And some of it comes much later as more people become more comfortable with this unfamiliar transportation mode and the skeptics are muted.

I wonder if any applicants lied to get millions of dollars? I wonder how much ability the Ohio Tax Credit Authority has to scrutinize the financial data in those applications? It's not like any of the applicants have previously committed felonies or anything.

No, I haven't. Hear anything @zbaris87?

Example of Chester, PA. The town was promised that new highway interchanges would result in an economic boom. They were really only for a proposed soccer stadium that was built. The town ended up filing bankruptcy because the economic return never happened. The economic development potential of intercity passenger rail and the fact that we have long been in a state of diminishing returns on economic development for a long time needs to be part of our message somehow: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2023/2/27/highway-ramps-promised-to-deliver-chester-from-hardship-residents-are-still-waiting

That's what happens when a project's sponsor has money to burn.

Remember when I posted in the hotel thread that two of those half-dozen hotel projects in/near downtown aren't happening as planned? If the TMUD credits aren't used, they go back to the state to re-awarded.

@mrnyc On which project? Westinghouse?

Another Red Line train caught fire this morning, this time it was inside the airport station. So how's that new train procurement coming, RTA?

Cuyahoga County scooped us all. They posted this press release five days ago. I never saw it until today... https://cuyahogacounty.us/county-news/county-news-detail/2023/02/23/2-mill-econ-dev-loan

You *may* be able to build a subway from downtown to UC for $2 billion. Its $750 million price tag in 1995 adjusts to $1.5 billion today using the BLS inflation calculator that applies to most things except infrastructure which is rising in price faster. BTW, I would put the Downtown Loop on East 13th north of Euclid and East 21st/22nd south of Euclid.

My turn Ohio City high-rise may get loan, start date On March 14, Cuyahoga County Council is expected to vote on a proposed $2 million loan that could finally close a persistent funding gap on the planned $103.7 million Bridgeworks development. The investment would allow site demolition and construction to start as early as this spring, putting a 15-story building at the west end of the Detroit-Superior Bridge in the booming Hingetown section of Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood. MORE https://neo-trans.blog/2023/02/28/ohio-city-high-rise-may-get-loan-start-date/

New freelancer working for NEOtrans The Elliot: New life for historic Tremont church By Emma Wind / February 28, 2023 The Elliot, Tremont’s newest events venue which opened in Fall 2022 in Tremont’s former Holy Ghost Church, has launched its Rosehip Room speakeasy with a spring lineup of performing acts. They will perform in the Rosehip Room, a speakeasy designed to accommodate live music, trivia nights and private events at 1415 Kenilworth Ave. in Cleveland. The Rosehip Room’s launch was celebrated with a party Feb. 24. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2023/02/28/the-elliot-new-life-for-historic-tremont/