KJP

Boo for Russian drivers (and bad music). I can't believe the driver of that articulated bus kept driving!! Yay for the tunnels being able to hold up against those nutjobs.

Good stuff, Rob. Does the Millennium Station have escalators/elevators from street level to track level?

Next week (May 3), Sun Newspapers will have a large spread in each of its 25 papers on regionalizing fire department services. I wrote an article on what Cleveland is doing (probably will run only in the two Cleveland papers, and possibly some of the inner-ring burbs). I also overheard what other reporters discovered in the communities they cover. Pretty interesting stuff.

I got back about an hour ago from NASA, and fortunately the clouds broke long enough for me to get some aerial photos. We landed just before the thunderstorm hit. Unfortunately, we passed downtown twice on the left side of the Continental 737. And I sat on the right side of the plane... sigh. However, the woman who sat next to me was very pretty and conversational! I'll post the pictures in a later message, hopefully today. My column ran in several of today's Sun papers.... _____________________ Sun Newspaper April 26, 2007 New campaign to market a dynamic city Write of Way Ken Prendergast A new marketing campaign will be launched today to draw people to a city where businesses specializing in finance, insurance, filmmaking, graphic and product design, information technology, biotechnology, health care, machinery, renewable energy and other sectors are growing by leaps and bounds. That city has so many job openings in those fields that they can’t be filled by people from that city alone. What city, you ask? It’s — Cleveland, of course. If you scoff, then you just proved why the campaign by the Greater Cleveland Marketing Alliance is needed. It’s aimed not only to draw people to Cleveland, but to remind ourselves of the many wonderful assets we possess and take for granted. After 11:30 a.m. today, an Internet link to the campaign will go live on the Web site of the Greater Cleveland Marketing Alliance. There will be a link to the Web site at www.gcpartnership.com. “Over the past 18 months, we’ve worked with hundreds of volunteers across the region to develop a brand to promote our region for business and tourist attraction,” said GCMA officials in a written statement. “The brand is also aimed at ourselves. As some people have said, it’s time we got the chip off our shoulder.” Development organizations BioEnterprise and NorTech say about 5,000 health care and information technology jobs are unfilled in Greater Cleveland. EmployOn found 8,105 total job openings, but don’t include roughly 1,300 openings posted on individual company Web sites. By that accounting, there are nearly 10,000 available jobs in Greater Cleveland. Web-based job posting site Monster.com says Cleveland is fourth in the nation in the annual growth of online job postings. Sounds pretty dynamic to me. Some local firms say the biggest challenge to their continued growth is finding trained candidates. NorTech is striving to address that with a job matchmaking Web site, mwww.neotechjobs.com, it launched April 15. Sources of that growth include OneCleveland, an extension of an advanced Internet provider network developed for Case Western Reserve University. Another is a high-capacity, transcontinental fiber optic cable running below Euclid Avenue, which has caused technology firms to relocate to the new Idea Center at Playhouse Square. Oh, and did you know Playhouse Square is one of the nation’s largest theater districts? Or that the Cleveland International Film Festival has grown to become one of the largest film festivals in the country, drawing more than 200 films and nearly 60,000 visitors from 50 nations? And who would have known Cleveland is a growing filmmaking city? The New York Times does, after it published an article about it Sept. 10, 2006. Filmmakers are relocating here from New York City and Los Angeles, and new developments like the $20 million Hyacinth Lofts live-work campus on East 63rd Street. Cleveland’s prowess in the arts shouldn’t be a surprise, not with the well-earned reputations of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland Institute of Music, Lakewood’s Virginia Marti College, Beck Center, Playhouse Square, Cleveland Playhouse and, of course, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Growing in stature is the three-theater Gordon Square Arts District at West 65th Street and Detroit Avenue. These and other efforts will be buoyed by a countywide arts tax which voters passed in November. Perhaps you don’t see yourself in a technology, medical or arts career. There’s jobs in other fields, too. The Regional Economics Application Laboratory and Environmental Law and Policy Center estimates Ohio could secure 26,000 jobs in developing renewable energy and alternative fuels. NASA Glenn Research Center’s focus on high-efficiency power systems is creating spin-off jobs in the private sector here. It’s the only NASA research facility in the northern half of the U.S. Machinist jobs are in high demand, and financial/insurance companies like Progressive Insurance and Quicken Loans can’t seem to hire people fast enough. Local developer Nathan Zaremba says 100 people start new jobs every Monday at the Cleveland Clinic. University Hospitals is in the midst of a $1 billion expansion just at its University Circle campus. Nothing creates a cool city like a hot job market. Networking helps, like getting a job coach. Other networking resources for young people include the Cleveland 20/30 Club. Or check out www.UrbanOhio.com where you can also learn about the next hot urban neighborhood or facts like downtown Cleveland having the fastest growing downtown population of any major city in the Midwest. There’s reason for Clevelanders to be proud and hopeful. While we may hear of more local factories closing or other bad news, it’s part of the challenging and sometimes painful transition this region is going through. “Northeast Ohio is a powerful, dynamic region with more to offer than many people imagine,” said officials at the Greater Cleveland Marketing Alliance. “Everyone who lives here should be proud to be a resident of Northeast Ohio and we want them to say that when they talk to people who come here for business, tourism or who think about relocating here.” Here’s hoping they’re successful at spreading the word. ###

I saw a presentation by the American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials in the past year that showed the impact of increased fuel efficiency, alternative fuels and the like have had a nearly meaningless impact on gas tax revenues. Actual federal gas tax rates haven't increased since 1993, and in the last few years vehicle-miles traveled (and thus the gas tax revenues from them) have not grown as fast as the costs of building and mainting roads. Another big problem is the increase in the number of transportation project earmarks inserted into the last 6-year federal surface transportation funding reauthorization (SAFETEA-LU). So the big deficit due to hit the Federal Highway Trust Fund within the next few years is due to a number of factors, but the WSJ picked the least important one on which to focus its article. Nor did it say a thing about the current federal effort (National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission) underway to research and recommend solutions to the problem. Not very informative journalism....

The Ohio City Bicycle Co-op offers bicycle rentals. Granted, it's not in the CBD, but you can walk there in a few minutes from the Settlers Landing station. Rental info is on their website, the link to which I posted earlier.

Too bad the WJS spent so much of the article on Oregon's mileage-based experiment. I would have liked them to discuss more of the root causes of the problem, and that the Congressionally authorized the creation of a commission to study the problem and recommend solutions (here's two websites for the same thing): http://www.transportationfortomorrow.org/ http://www.surfacecommission.gov/Statute1909.htm

Those who defend Buford and do the crimes he allegedly did have two choices: Get away from the negative influences, clean up your acts and live long, productive lives. You will write your own legacy with your positive contributions to posterity; OR Keep robbing, drugging and killing to the point that whatever culture you claim to be a part of becomes extinct, then those of us who aren't part of your culture can write your legacies for you. The memories of you and your culture will be very harsh, and soon cast into history's dustbin of worthless parasites.

"Baddest" meaning "goodest"? They are terrific. The colors are outstanding and the black-and-whites very moody.

I thought Vladivostok's port gets closed by ice?

Also try the Ohio City Bicycle Co-op on Columbus Road (in the Flats -- not Ohio City!). See: http://www.ohiocitycycles.org/ Does Spin offer bicycle rentals? I know OCBC does, as does Century Cycles' Peninsula location. But I'm looking for one on between Rocky River and downtown.

As far as I know, most Cleveland-area media was invited. I'm not bound to withhold anything, which is too bad because I'm going into this pretty green. A PR firm just told me when and where to go to board the plane (at NASA). So I don't know which media markets were targeted. I will keep my eyes/ears open to see if any non-Northeast Ohio media is there, and where they're from.

Can a low-rise 1960s urban renewal office building be attractive as a live-work space??

A free public tour of the subway below Cleveland's Detroit-Superior Veterans Memorial Bridge will be held by the Cuyahoga County Engineers from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, May 26 (NOTE: future tours will be held June 30 and Sept 1, both are Saturdays). New attractions have been added. Entrance to the subway is at the northeast corner of West 25th Street and Detroit Avenue. Enter next to the county engineers' bridge garage, 2433 Superior Viaduct.

If you don't like to hear selfish bragging, pay no mind to this post.... As part of the Greater Cleveland Marketing Alliance's rollout of its new marketing campaign for the region, they will take local media up in a plane and do the press conference high above the city. On board the plane will be honchos from the Greater Cleveland Partnership, Team NEO and Greater Cleveland Convention & Visitors Bureau. Yours truly will be among the media to fly with them! This will be too damn cool. I'll bring a camera, of course, and pray for good weather so I can get some good photos from the plane. I'm sure it will be fun, but I doubt the views will be as good as the one I got while aboard Channel 19's helicopter in the mid-1990s. We flew between Key Tower and the BP building, at a height of about the 45th floor. The pilot then hovered about 1,000 feet above the Cuyahoga River, behind Terminal Tower, and then tilted the helicopter forward so you had little choice but to look down. Our photographer stood on the runners, but was tethered to the chopper. He was a nut. But I digress. I'll give a full report this Thursday. BTW, I've written a column for this Thursday's papers about the marketing campaign, and even included a plug for UrbanOhio in it.

Next time, take the Lakefront Bikeway through Edgewater Park, then go west on Edgewater Drive into Lakewood. There's MUCH less traffic on Edgewater.

They don't have many roads up there because they're impassable for much of the year due to snow, while diesel fuel turns to gelatin in the cold. The Trans-Siberian Railroad uses electrically powered locomotives, and uses rescue trains when there is a malfunction or accident. They will have to use eletricity as their source of motive power for those reasons, and because of the length of the proposed tunnel. All that being said, unless there is a concern of water ports being closed due to ice, I question whether it would make more sense to develop rail links from Siberia to more southern water ports in Russia or China. Waterborne shipping is the lowest-cost mode of cargo transport. But if that isn't feasible, then I can see why the rail tunnel would make economic sense.

Nearly 7:30 a.m. Monday, still nothing!!

I think there is still far too much fear and racism in Cuyahoga County and Greater Cleveland for something like this to work. And even those who aren't racist are classist. They don't mind if their kids hang around someone of a different race or ethnic background as long as they have similar manners, discipline, work ethic and, yes, income. Among us whites, we hear things said by other whites they wouldn't say around minorities. And I'm sad to say that when I hear them spoken, I realize there's some deep-felt racism still alive and well in many people. That goes for police, too. When some became comfortable with me as a reporter, they said things about blacks that made me realize that fears expressed by many blacks about some cops are real. Though some blacks don't help their cause, either, by calling police racists after the minority was caught shoplifting. It went the other way, too. When I attended Myers College, I was in the minority. I was shocked to hear that blacks were scared to go out into the suburbs for fear of being hassled by police (see above) and getting arrested for "Driving while black." They called English "your (white people's) language," a few wondered why a "Wonder Bread guy" from Geauga County would want to go to "their school," and some called me "Ronald Reagan" for my views, even though I'm pretty liberal. Maybe a Cuyahoga School District would help to bridge this cultural divide, too. In fact, I think we should address that divide before we even consider a countywide school district. Otherwise, I predict fear will prevail and we'll see a repeat of the "Escape From Cleveland" that we saw after Judge Battisti desegregated the Cleveland schools in the 1970s. This time, however, the escape would be from Cuyahoga County. You may think this is funny, but I really believe that we first need some cultural exchange programs between kids in the city and suburban school districts. I honestly believe the cultural divide has grown that wide that a misunderstanding has bred a fear that complicates any desire to unite the region.

The zoo inadvertently let it leak two weeks ago when they issued a press release saying Northern Trek would be closed April 28 for the bridge demo. Ooops! The folks at ODOT said earlier this week that they realized they weren't going to be able to keep the demo a secret from the general public, so they might as well issue a press release. After all, they had to notify the zoo, the railroads and the residents living nearby about the demo anyways. How ODOT expected all those neighbors to keep the demo date/time to themselves is beyond me.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07112/779770-109.stm Sunday Forum: Prep for peak oil Pittsburgh should follow Portland's example and get ready for the end of the fossil-fuel era, advise DAN BEDNARZ and KEN SMAIL Sunday, April 22, 2007 What issues are critical to Pittsburgh's future -- now that we've kept the Penguins? Merging county and city governments? Economic development? Shedding the "Smoky City" brand? Improved ethnic relations? Equality of opportunity? Transportation infrastructure? Innovations at universities and medical centers? All of the above? Unfortunately, Pittsburghers would not place "energy preparedness" on this list, as Portland, Oregon, recently did.

Let me guess -- Pinnacle?? I'm with My Two Sense. Rent first. Plus, there's more affordable for-sale units under construction in/near the center city that will come on the market in the next year or two. You will have any more choices soon. You don't expect to find a wife whenever you go on a first date, do ya? Sample, learn, move on to the next sample. Repeat as needed.

That's freakin' funny!!

Example #537 why we should scrap the Inner Belt plan, stop throwing good money after bad, and start the whole fricking thing over again (lots of graphics accompanying Steve's latest piece in the paper)... ________________ http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/steven_litt/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1177144340204160.xml&coll=2 URBAN PLANNING Ensnared in an Inner Belt jam Sunday, April 22, 2007 Christian Menn of Switzerland has designed some of the most beautiful and innovative contemporary bridges on the planet. But in Cleveland, he has become a whistleblower. In phone calls and e-mails over the past month, the 81-year-old engineer said that the Ohio Department of Transportation brushed his ideas aside and selected a concept for a new I-90 bridge over the Cuyahoga River that's ugly, structurally unnecessary and more expen sive than it needs to be...

That's too bad. I wish they'd get away from their tech-envy and be practical. Consider that "conventional" steel-wheel on steel-rail high-speed rail gets you 80 percent of the travel time savings as Maglev, but at half the cost. Here's something I posted on another forum recently.... I'm not saying this is what you believe, but some believe we should go ahead and build TGV-style, Shinkansen-style, etc. dedicated high-speed rail services, or even maglev. What they don't recognize with this "Big Bang Approach" is that these services are an overlay on top of existing fast, frequent passenger rail services that also benefit from high-density urban centers served by extensive transit that act as traffic feeders. We have none of that in Ohio. We are at a disadvantage of having to build up the rail traffic base from scratch, as well as having to develop the supportive dense land uses and transit services in our cities to make a high-density travel mode like dedicated high-speed rail viable here. Lacking these supportive assets, spending $20 million to $30 million per mile to build dedicated HSR rights of way is a huge risk for governmental and corporate investors. What we're trying to get with the Ohio Hub (costing up to $3 million per mile) is to catch up to the equivalent of the 1960s-1980s Trans-Europe Express network that offered multiple daily trains per route at 100+ mph speeds. What proponents of the Big Bang Approach may not realize is that most of today's high speed train networks (TGV, ICE, AVE, Thalys, etc) have only a small percentage of their total route system using dedicated high-speed rights of way. For example, only one-third of the TGV network is on dedicated HSR rights of way. The rest uses older, conventional tracks, many of which were upgraded for the TEE and other segments since upgraded further to allow TGV speeds of 220 km/h (137 mph). Consider this map of the TGV (+Thalys & Eurostar) network which shows the dedicated HSR routes as colored lines with the conventional TGV routes as black lines -- http://www.railfaneurope.net/tgv/jpg/tgvgeomap.jpg For ICE in Germany, even less of its network is on dedicated HSR lines. Some of their trunk ICE routes are dedicated HSR lines, with ICE trains fanning out from the trunk at various locations. A similar approach is being taken with the Paris-Brussels-Köln-Amsterdam-London (PBKAL) project, which is funneling high-speed trains over trunk routes, much like a spine. Some of it, notably the section between Brussels and Köln, involves upgrading the existing right of way with extra tracks, more gradual curves, grade separations, expanded stations, signal systems, enhanced electrical power supply, etc. But conventional trains parallel the PBKAL high-speed services, offering more station stops and more local connections/feeders. I'll be riding most of the PBKAL trunk next month and I hope to write about my experience in future newsletters. After we get much of the Ohio Hub and Midwest network and their fast, frequent passenger trains, I can see them followed by the construction of dedicated high-speed lines acting as a trunk for several Ohio Hub and Midwest routes. Consider a high-speed trunk from Chicago to, say, Fort Wayne. Trains to southern Michigan might split off near Hobart or Valparaiso, as might trains to Indianapolis and Cincinnati. Trains to Columbus, Toledo, Detroit and Cleveland could go their separate ways at Fort Wayne. The dedicated right of way might even continue beyond Fort Wayne to Toledo. A similar dedicated right of way could be built on abandoned rail lines between Columbus and Cincinnati via Dayton, with trains funneling into it from Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Louisville and Lexington. These are just examples from my own personal thoughts. I'm sure others might have some good suggestions for trunk routes. Sorry for the long-winded answer. But I hope this gives some indication as to why it's important to evolve the base of traffic demand for passenger rail with equally evolutionary and progressive steps of developing passenger train services. I know we want today what other nations have had for decades, but theirs didn't just suddenly appear either. It's been a decades-long evolution for them, too. We need to start the evolutionary steps, including establishing the funding mechanisms that allow ridership and revenue growth to feed on itself, much like the highway and aviation trust funds create a feedback loop. So lets come up with some best-practices examples for funding mechanisms, get them enacted, and start building!