KJP

You know, for the longest time I've been looking for a word(s) to describe buildings with a street presence vs. those without one. Extroverted vs. introverted. Outstanding! Thank you!

You felt "belittled?" Wow. Now I see why you took such a defensive response to my message about Columbus (the message wasn't about you!). But I stand by what I said. And I will say it again. Sorry chief. And let's not use concentration camp metaphors to compare transit systems. That's over the top. See you on another thread.

It might, but I seem to recall the superblock is Phase 1. Don't trust my memory, though. Not anymore. Also, neither Stark, Asher, Khouri/Kassouf or any other Stark partners own properties west of West 6th and south of St. Clair. At least not since the last time I checked some months ago.

http://www.energyandcapital.com/articles/military-fuel-renewable/420 The Next 'Greatest Generation' 2007-05-04 By Chris Nelder That's it . . . the Pentagon has officially smelled the coffee on peak oil. They're not talking efficiency improvements or pilot projects anymore. Oh no. Now they're singing a much more plaintive tune:

You and I may not like some of the reasons why one Ohio city is more transit oriented than another, but the fact is they are. You pointing out that Columbus is mostly suburban only underscores my point. COTA has no 24-hour bus services, many routes not operating on weekends, and those that do run on weekdays operate only hourly. Nearly 10 percent of the 380,000 residents in Stark County are below the poverty line. In Franklin County, it's 12 percent of 1.1 million residents. Now, why again does Stark County have a higher transit ridership? Because it's more transit oriented, for the reasons we've both mentioned (better transit service, a history of consistently available transit service, more transit-oriented land use, connectivity with other transit systems--such as Akron Metro, and other factors). But the number of low-income people is not the reason. If that was a driving factor, Columbus would be much more transit-oriented. This isn't throwing a rock in a glass house. While no Ohio city has anything more than an average transit system or transit-supportive community, Columbus is probably among the most transit-apathetic or outright transit-hostile major city in the United States (metro Detroit is certainly up there too). When the city's working poor won't/can't take transit in Columbus, that is worth using a catapault to throw some boulders at your community's leaders' houses.

He's building 3 million sq. ft. of office/residential. So unless that is going to be skewed very heavily office, I'd say that's a low number. At a 50/50 office/residential mix and 1,000 sq ft a unit, he'd be building 1,500 units. That's just a ballpark figure based on big round numbers of course. But I put it out there because it gives an idea of the scale he's working on. I found this message of mine. Note that a hotel was considered part of the WHD masterplan. If you take the number of hotel rooms and replace them with housing units, the total for the Superblock/Powerblock (Stark's assumed Phase One) would be a shade more than 1,000 housing units... http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=2591.msg67705#msg67705 In the Historic Warehouse District's revised masterplan (2002), it proposes for the Powerblock surrounded by W.3rd, W.6th, Superior and St. Clair (they call it Block 8 ) five buildings, a mid-block parking deck, plus an underground parking deck for an office building in the adjacent "Jacobs Block" on Public Square. Here is a breakdown of their proposal, per building: > 8 story building with five facing St. Clair, 346 housing units, 50,500 square feet of retail, 275 structured parking spaces; > three more buildings (plus interior parking deck) within block, 20 stories, 12 stories, and 7 stories with 5 facing the street, 242 total housing units, 9,100 square feet of retail, 760 structured parking spaces; > Hotel facing Superior, 10 stories, 430 hotel rooms, 66,000 square feet of meeting rooms, 59,800 square feet of retail. > Underground parking deck off Superior for office building in neighboring "Jacobs Block" and other uses - 1,600 parking spaces.

Excellent news. Even better news!

Damn I hate the few times when I'm right... http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=5749.msg182845#msg182845

You have to wonder what the future is for this massive plant. Brook Park city officials have been preparing for the possibility of the entire plant closing. Ford may idle one engine plant Union says slack demand jeopardizes Brook Park unit Saturday, May 05, 2007 Robert Schoenberger Plain Dealer Reporter Ford Motor Co. may close a factory on its Brook Park campus for a year because the automaker has too many of the engines produced there. Cleveland Engine Plant No. 1 is down this week. Leaders of United Auto Workers Local 1250 say the company wants to keep the facility idled, because demand for the 3-liter V-6 engine is not expected to improve. Ford spokeswoman Anne Marie Gattari declined to comment... Plain Dealer reporter Joe Guillen contributed to this story. To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: [email protected], 216-999-4059 http://www.cleveland.com/business/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/business-2/1178353841234600.xml&coll=2

Tough stuff in Chi-town.... _________ http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-070503rta,1,1302210.story?ctrack=2&cset=true Transit official: 'Moment of crisis' By Richard Wronski Tribune staff reporter May 3, 2007, 8:31 PM CDT Frustrated regional transit officials all but conceded Thursday that their strategy for winning a major increase in state funding by building grass-roots consensus has failed so far. Transportation funding is "not even on anybody's radar" in Springfield, said new Regional Transportation Authority Board member Judy Baar Topinka, a former legislator, state treasurer and gubernatorial candidate. More at link above:

I miss her, her chainsaw and her shaving cream. RIP Wendy Orleans Williams. No, because Columbus residents don't seem to consider transit, whether that's a fault of COTA's route system/services, the small amount of land use designed around transit, or that Columbus has the lowest percentage of households without a car among Ohio's eight largest cities. Comprende my original point?? You sure Columbus isn't your mother?

Not bad. Got any from the motorist's viewpoint?

I agree. I get information overload at that roundabout. I think the circle at East 105th and MLK is easier to negotiate. And, certainly, the circles in the heights are easier still, as the circles are large and thus, not so tight.

Sorry for the duplicate posts, but you never know in which thread people will be looking... ________________ FYI... Commercial Real Estate Women Cleveland will hold its annual professional development seminar from noon to 4:30 p.m. May 17 at Saigon Plaza, 5400 Detroit Ave. Registration starts at 11:30 a.m. The program will showcase the revitalization of the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood, including the new Battery Park. CREW Cleveland will have a knowledgeable group of panelists to discuss current events in the neighborhood. For more information or to register, visit www.crewcleveland.org on the Web. Cost is $35 for CREW Cleveland members and $45 for non-members if they register by the end of today. After today, the cost is $45 for members and $55 for non-members. CREW has applied for three hours of continuing legal education credits and three hours of real estate continuing education credits for this event. The featured luncheon speaker will be Ward 17 Councilman Matt Zone, who will discuss his vision and views on the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood and Battery Park. The first panel discussion will feature Jeff Ramsey, executive director of the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization, attorney Debora Lasch and Joy Roller of the Gordon Square Arts District. They will discuss neighborhood redevelopment and the creation of the arts district. A second panel discussion will include Chip Marous of Marous Construction, Matt Solomon of City Architecture, attorney Robert Ranallo and Amy Dosen of Key Community Development Corp. Their topic of discussion will be the development, architecture, financing and legal aspects of the Battery Park development. ###

FYI... Commercial Real Estate Women Cleveland will hold its annual professional development seminar from noon to 4:30 p.m. May 17 at Saigon Plaza, 5400 Detroit Ave. Registration starts at 11:30 a.m. The program will showcase the revitalization of the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood, including the new Battery Park. CREW Cleveland will have a knowledgeable group of panelists to discuss current events in the neighborhood. For more information or to register, visit www.crewcleveland.org on the Web. Cost is $35 for CREW Cleveland members and $45 for non-members if they register by the end of today. After today, the cost is $45 for members and $55 for non-members. CREW has applied for three hours of continuing legal education credits and three hours of real estate continuing education credits for this event. The featured luncheon speaker will be Ward 17 Councilman Matt Zone, who will discuss his vision and views on the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood and Battery Park. The first panel discussion will feature Jeff Ramsey, executive director of the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization, attorney Debora Lasch and Joy Roller of the Gordon Square Arts District. They will discuss neighborhood redevelopment and the creation of the arts district. A second panel discussion will include Chip Marous of Marous Construction, Matt Solomon of City Architecture, attorney Robert Ranallo and Amy Dosen of Key Community Development Corp. Their topic of discussion will be the development, architecture, financing and legal aspects of the Battery Park development. ###

Nothing yet from Wolstein regarding any move. As for the port, see: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=2591.msg68612#msg68612 and http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=2591.msg70057#msg70057

OK, I'll say it... Your friends were simply doing what Columbusites do -- avoiding transit! Stark Area Regional Transit Authority (Canton) carries more riders than does COTA. Not good.

Uh, do they hand out rings a lot? I think ODOT engineers take that chunk of asphalt and cuddle up in bed with it. Like a teddy bear.

I'd love to see some high-resolution photos of the four-quad gate crossing -- photos with gates up and down.

The only Shaker lines station facing a planned replacement is Lee Road on the Blue Line (Van Aken), at least that I'm aware of. East 116th needs a major facelift, though.

Cleveland's going to keep getting hammered statistically until its transition from a traditional manufacturing center to a non-manufacturing economy is pretty much over. It seems to me that Pittsburgh started having to go through this transition about 5-10 years earlier than Cleveland did. Hopefully Cleveland will see the bottoming out in the next couple of years and not last long. I suspect we've still got some more major closures in our future. I'm worried about the Brook Park Ford plant, Parma Chevy plant and maybe a few others.

You don't visit government websites very often, do you? ;) Especially sites for agencies/departments run by an elected official. Their pictures and names are always on them. Return to Pesht....

United... EVIL!

Yes, his plan is to demolish it. I wonder if he might move his offices to that building first, then as he starts building stuff, he would move into one of those buildings. Then he would demolish the Titanic Tower. Just guessing. But I was told he's waiting for the Port's island study to be done before making the formal announcement. He also was working on some TIF agreements with the city (for property/income taxes) and with the county for sales taxes. I'm not aware of where things stand regarding those negotiations/agreements.

Yay! He finally bought "Titanic Tower"!! That's worth an article. I'm on it.