KJP

I go to all parts of downtown frequently and at all times of the day for interviews, to pick up police reports and attend meetings. There is a noticeable diminishment of pedestrian activity when the weather is cold/snowy/raining/windy. When mother nature is spitting out three of those conditions (and sometimes all four!), the pedestrian activity is minimal, even during lunch hour. But visit the same locations of downtown during the same times of a sunny, mild day and the sidewalks are quite busy. On a beautiful day last summer, I walked during lunch hour from the Windham Hotel, up 9th to Lakeside and then to the malls. The sidewalks were simply mobbed with people. There was a pedestrian traffic jam trying to get around some scaffolding along 9th near St. Clair. And when the "walk" signs came on at intersections, the floodgates of people opened. So does this mean that Clevelanders aren't hardy people after all? The visual evidence seems to bear this out.

Additionally, in our meetings with neighbors and Lakewood residents, we heard three words loud and clear: parking, parking , parking. We understand that it is currently in vogue to ignore the reality of cars, but we feel we have a duty to consider our neighbors as well as our customers. I would love to know who they interviewed. I live in the neighborhood and I wasn't interviewed. And what the hell does "it is currently in vogue to ignore the reality of cars" mean?? I assume that to mean ensuring that parking is available in the quanity demanded by the market? One of the key elements of life in Lakewood revolves around a healthier, pedestrian and fitness focused lifestyle. So how does putting parking between the buildings and the park help this? So we can lie on the grass in the park and sniff carbon monoxide from a car's engine being started up? So we don't have to walk more than a feet from our cars to reach the park? Geez, why don't we just put in a moving sidewalk in the name of that "fitness focused lifestyle"? Or are we really that lazy that we can't walk from a parking lot on one side of a building, through a well-lit portal, to the park-side of the building? If that's the case, this country will be comprised of a bunch of overweight, arthritic slobs. Whoops...too late! Developments designed like this don't help turn back that trend.

Here's some things to consider when refuting Mr. O'Brien's assertions that sprawl is responding to the public's desires: ____________________ http://realtytimes.com/rtcpages/20070117_surveydesign.htm Published: January 17, 2007 AIA Survey Shows That Community Design Trends Favor Greater Accessibility to Public Facilities by Peter Mosca Community design trends are moving toward greater accessibility to public facilities, such as transportation and commercial activities, so reports the American Institute of Architects (AIA). In its recently released Home Design Trends Survey, the AIA found that neighborhood design trends favor more mixed-use activities with infill and other higher-density development, and with dedicated areas for recreation and open space. In addition, traditional design of neighborhoods and homes with upscale exteriors, and windows and porches to encourage more street-level interaction, also are gaining in popularity. "Access to public transportation, and alternative transportation systems, such as bikeways and walkways, as well as access to commercial facilities, were both reported as increasing in popularity as community design elements by a large share of residential architects," said AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA in the executive summary of the study. "Higher gasoline prices have made travel for routine activities more expensive, so preferences for greater accessibility may be partially in response to resistance to long drives. More services integrated into development, such as health care and convenience stores, are increasing in popularity, although by a smaller margin than a year ago." The AIA study also found that almost 70 percent of residential architects report an increase in mixed-use facilities, often combining residential with retail, office, or service uses. Other trends also included infill and higher-density development. "While density is increasing, there is a corresponding growing popularity for recreational opportunities, such as walking trails or exercise centers, as well as dedicated open space to help offset some of the density in development," the AIA study reported. "Traditional neighborhood design -- with homes closer to the street, front porches for more neighborhood interaction, and smaller lots -- also is increasing in popularity. With greater preferences for interaction, mixed uses, and accessibility, it's not surprising that gated entrances are declining in popularity." ______________________ http://www.city.cleveland.oh.us/pdf/press/2006112891.pdf Cleveland maintains 1st place ranking in new housing construction November 28, 2006 – City of Cleveland officials working with Calabrese, Racek, and Markos, Inc. (CRM) Development Research today announced that Cleveland issued a total of 183 new forsale residential permits during the first three quarters of 2006, the most in Cuyahoga County. Tied for second place in Cuyahoga County were Westlake and North Royalton with 79, followed by third place Berea with 73. “This is further evidence that, together, we can create neighborhoods of choice in the City of Cleveland,” says Mayor Jackson. “Cleveland has a lot to offer. We want to make sure developers, potential homebuyers, and business know that we are a great City with quality affordable and market-rate housing in our neighborhoods.” Cleveland also moved up to third place from sixth place in the seven-county region. The first place city was North Ridgeville City with 283, followed by Avon City with 201. CRM Development Research is a subsidiary of Calabrese, Racek, and Markos, Inc., a full service appraisal firm. This division monitors market activity for new residential development throughout the Northeast Ohio region. [NOTE: this only includes new construction, not renovation of existing buildings into housing. If that figure were included, it's highly likely that Cleveland's number of "new" housing units would at least double. And developers like Nathan Zaremba say that two-thirds of their buyers are coming from the suburbs and other cities.] _____________________ Now, given these little tidbits of information, which are just as readily available to Mr. O'Brien as they are to me and everyone else with Internet access, is it really true to say that "Sprawl, meanwhile, will continue along whatever turns out to be the path of least resistance, because sprawl offers choices that make people happy." I'd say not. Why are people moving to Lorain County from Cuyahoga County if they prefer more densely developed, walkable neighborhoods? I suspect it has more to do with housing design. Older homes cannot easily accommodate the things we want in our homes today, like home theater entertainment systems of today, large refrigerator/freezers (ever try to move one of those around in a bungalow typically found in Parma or Fairview Park, let alone a 100-year-old home in Lakewood?). Also, many single-family homes in Lakewood have just one bathroom. So.... What if we altered state law so that the taxpayer funding that will be used for the new highway interchange in Lorain County were used instead for rebuilding existing neighborhoods in the I-90 corridor? What if they were used for low-interest loans to property owners to modernize or expand their homes? Or for communities to clear and clean troubled properties so they could be redeveloped with walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods? Or for funding improvements to existing transit services and adding commuter rail featuring station-area developments? Any or all of these would have significant impacts on land use, sprawl and traffic in outer areas. Yet we continue to ignore the needs of existing neighborhoods while pouring more dollars to support new suburban communities in a metro area that isn't growing in population. Continuing to do this only condemns existing neighborhoods to a premature obsolesence and, ultimately death.

Here is a very superficial argument which I will refute later when I have more time... _______________________ A dangerous intersection Public policy, personal preferences collide on Interstate 90 Wednesday, March 07, 2007 Kevin O'Brien Plain Dealer Columnist At the corner of Ohio 83 and Chester Road in Avon stands a gas station. The sign out front says Marathon, but it's really the Gas Station of No Return. During much of the day, after you pull in and fill up, you have to wait so long for a break in traffic so you can get back on the road that you're half-tempted to return to the pump to top off. The roads there, just north of Interstate 90, just west of a Wal-Mart and just south of the Avon Lake line, are that busy. I don't happen to live in Avon or Avon Lake, so I don't have a dog in the coming fight over Avon's wish to build a new interchange farther east on I-90, which would relieve traffic pressure on the one at Ohio 83. ........ O'Brien is The Plain Dealer's deputy editorial director. To reach Kevin O'Brien [email protected], 216-999-4146 Previous columns online: cleveland.com/columns

The section of I-90 with the "rail" median is from West 65th to about West 140th at the Lakewood-Cleveland border. If you notice, the westbound lanes of I-90 go under West 65th and the eastbound lane go over it. That separation was designed so that a rail line could branch off the nearly adjacent Red Line on a gentle S-curve over the westbound lanes and West 65th and "land" in I-90's median.

Good Vulpster. I would share that exact statement with her.

Peak oilers keep saying this, but ignore the political and technical realities. OPEC announced cuts during the second part of the year and there is evidence that the Saudi's and Kuwaiti's are the only ones complying with them. Here's the problem in saying anything with certainty about Saudi Arabia's oil reserves data -- that data is a closely guarded state secret. The only way we'll know with some certainty whether SA's production is up or down by choice or by capacity is after some period of time, possibly years. Wouldn't it be nice for SA, as the globe's central bank of oil, to tell us and the rest of the world when their stock is at risk of decline? Of course, the reason why they won't is to keep the Wahabi revolutionaries from storming the royal family's palaces.

I should be able to make the meeting this Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Starbucks in the Warehouse District. I hope others will come too.

Draw a concentric circle 1,000 feet around a transit station at the center. That circle is a reasonable outer walking distance from that station. Within that circle is where the highest density development should be encouraged. Now if a rail line is placed in the median of a highway, a significant portion of that 1,000 feet is used up by each side of the highway. Worse, there would likely be only two pedestrian ingress/egress routes to the rail station -- the road bridge over/under the highway. A street grid with short blocks or a street pattern radiating outward from the station are much more effective pedestrian traffic flows.

Thanks. Nice letter!

Nah, looks like the usual shot between the eyes from JHK. No unusual profanity from him. Learned stuff about Ditech I didn't know before, too!

I think Los Angeles has a pretty damn good transit system that is getting better all the time. Absorb that figure for a moment. Now compare that to the Ohio Department of Transportation's pitiful $16.3 million in state funds for transit last year and again this year. Michigan's transit budget is 15.2 times larger than Ohio's!! The Ohio Public Transportation Association is asking for $89.9 million next year and the establishment of a dedicated fund for transit. Write your state legislators and ask them to approve it ( http://www.house.state.oh.us/ and http://www.senate.state.oh.us/ ). Truer words were never spoken.

Detroit makes for a good rail destination but not necessarily a hub. The lack of population centers to the north and the presence of large lakes to the northeast and southeast confines its potential as a hub. Also, most of the principal rail lines pass south of Detroit. Both of those routes have more passenger trains and ridership than any in Ohio. The Chicago-Quincy route has 2-4 round trips per day and Chicago-Champaign-Carbondale route has 3 daily round trips. Only one Ohio Amtrak route has as many as two daily round trips -- Cleveland - Toledo - Chicago. Outside of Northern Ohio, no part of the state has any Amtrak service except for the thrice-weekly middle-of-the-night train service through the SW corner of Ohio with a stop Cincinnati. The reasons why those Illinois routes have good train service is because the trains run on well-maintained fast railroads, there is little common-carrier (bus, plane) competition, the state provides financial support to those services and each route has a number of univerisities along them with much of their student populations coming from Chicago.

They have a vote at NOACA, so that's exactly why the issue will be discussed tomorrow to get the sense of the board on how RTA's vote should be cast. They did the same thing with the West Shore Corridor and ultimately passed a resolution in support of seeking federal funding for a transportation alternatives analysis.

That plan was developed intentionally with a Chicago focus. It doesn't mean it's bad, it was just the Chicago interests that led it. As complement to that plan is the Ohio Hub. It has only one Chicago route in it -- Columbus-Chicago. The rest are focused on Ohio -- hence the name, the Ohio Hub System.

Just found this terrific report from a few years ago.... http://www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/report04/sprawl04.pdf (2.6 mb download)

Usually does. Or catches fire!

Whoever submitted that to Wikipedia is wrong. The reason why Acela trains can't tilt is because Amtrak asked the trainsets to be built wider than the original design specifications. The Acela was a technical disaster because Amtrak f*cked it up by frequently changing the specs on the manufacturer Bombardier. Despite that, Acela trains have the capability to operate at up to 165 mph. And the reason why Acela can't get up 135 mph on sections south of New York or above 90 mph on the section between New York and New Haven is because the overhead catenary structures can't handle the stress of higher speeds. That's not a function of the tilt train technology. The Talgo 350, for example, has a designed top speed of 350 km/h (219 mph) but has reached "only" (340 km/h) 212.5 mph in tests. It is for the new Madrid-Barcelona line.

They're actually kept outside in an open yard. That's not really a big deal, just the way the rail cars are designed and possibly the way they're maintained (or not maintained). RTA is saving money by not maintaining buses and trains as they should and instead using capital grants (including from federal sources) to replace engines, components, etc. rather than repair them. BTW, the large building off East 55th Street is a train maintenance facility. And no RTA trains are stored under Tower City Center -- though some historic streetcars and interurbans from Trolleyville USA may still be under there.

It's on Detroit Avenue just west of West 117th Street in Lakewood. It's a small but growing and well-respected school. It's one of those little urban gems that adds to the terrific variety in the area.

Don't forget a larger taxbase and lower business costs because of business not having to build and maintain as much parking (which non-motorists also have to pay for with higher consumer prices).

For downtown, a building can be demolished and used for parking (with a city-OK'd parking permit) for up to two years as long as the site owner either puts up a building or submits a plan for putting up a building. If neither happens before the two years has elapsed, the city can revoke the parking permit. That's not what I'm hearing. I was told Aldi's threatened to sue the city if it required the grocer to build next to the street. That's an older building that was put up a few decades ago. The CVS was actually built in the 1930s as a Clark's restaurant (a chain of family restaurants).

Unless you're Amish, you're going to get hit no matter where you live. But if you live on a navigable waterway with a port served by rail, you'll do better than those who aren't.

The TGV has a "belt line" of Paris, more of a bypass actually. On that bypass around the east side of the city is EuroDisney.

Boy, I sure started some shit by posting that article!