KJP

Here's what it says about the Chinatown buses to Ohio destinations at: http://www.nychinatown.org/directory/m_bus.html TL Travel Bus. 1 bus daily. pickup/dropoff: NYC, 96 Canal St. (at Eldridge St.) to Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati 347-203-2209 (NY), 917-288-6888 Five Stars Travel. 1 bus daily, Sat-Thurs. From NYC: 21 Allen St ticket office. to Youngstown, OH. to Canton-Akron, OH. to Cleveland, OH. Asia Plaza, 2999 30th St note: little, to no english spoken. 212-625-1925 (NY), 917-578-5861 (cell)

No GM positions for this guy!

Draft mission statement: Urban Ohio's mission is to promote a greater understanding, appreciation and advancement of Ohio's urban areas by educating the public and decision makers on the past, present and potential assets that make them special places in which to live, work and play. Then we will need a statement of goals and a strategy. As for the goals, expanding on the mission statement is typically the way to go. Something like: Goals of Urban Ohio To promote a greater understanding, appreciation and advancement of Ohio's urban areas, Urban Ohio will: > Educate the public and decision-makers on the benefits of urban lifestyles as a healthy, exciting and energizing alternative to suburban sprawl; > Advocate for land use patterns, building design and the provision of built and natural environments that enhance the urban lifestyle; > Ensure the preservation of historic and architecturally significant structures that uplift the human spirit, provide an understanding of the urban areas' unique personalities; > Promote transportation facilities and services that support urban land use patterns and its lifestyle; > Others? As for strategies, this is where we get into specific activities, like tours, website features, and so on. But I've run out of time and have to get some where, so hopefully this will spur more ideas and discussion.

And that doesn't include parking!

They do. Last year when those suburbanites were tagging in the city and saying "it's a ghetto anyway" -- they were caught because a security guard at GLBC was watching a closed circuit monitor and saw the kids tag the brewery's garage door. The guard called the cops who responded in less than two minutes (nice job CPD!). But I don't know if the camera was pointed in the wrong direction and didn't catch the carjacking, or the guard wasn't watching the monitors when it happened. Either way, carjackings are pretty routine in the Second District. The only difference with this latest one was that it happened at a more notable, popular location. Sadly, that makes it more newsworthy.

Occupancy has risen from 45 percent to 85 percent?? Boy, what does that tell you about the former owner! And I heard people telling me that the neighborhood surrounding Shaker Square was going down the tubes and was taking the square with it. Now, it seems that this death sentence was premature. I think it shows what happens when a quality owner steps in. The sheer density of that neighborhood should be sufficient to sustain Shaker Square with only its walk-in trade. Add to that the rapid and the parking, there's no reason Shaker Square should fade as long the neighborhood housing vacancy rates are kept in check.

I agree with most of the comments here, but I think RTA has to do a little more marketing of their properties so that they emerge from all the other properties to build on in the city (primarily those in the Land Bank). And some conceptual site plans for each station-area property wouldn't hurt either. After all, the CDCs have their masterplans which they ask developers to comform to. I realize RTA has its TOD planning guidelines. That's the essential nitty gritty. But sometimes having a conceptual site plan sparks a gleam in the eye of a prospective developer. Never settle for "good enough" because it seldom ever is.

BTW, I can't begin to tell you how huge that is. Lorain County has agreed to be the sponsor of the West Shore Corridor alternatives analysis. Without them stepping forward, there would be no project. With a sponsor, this has become a legitimate project. Thank you Betty Blair, Jim Cordes and everyone else in Lorain County who has stepped up to the plate.

This is technically part of the Stonebridge development. And when I asked Corna in January about a rumor that a non-gambling entertainment complex would take the place of the casino, he pleaded innocent. He also said that Jeff Jacobs hasn't given up on the casino, and that Stonebridge would proceed with or without a casino.

I wasn't able to attend, but someone told me that GM Joe said "We need to look at TOD on our existing rail system because rail expansions won't happen in my lifetime." He also regurgitated the unsubstantiated stat that new rail construction costs "$100 million per mile." Some might cost that much, but others will likely cost much less. See the Columbus streetcar project, with its several miles of routing and estimated price tag of $80 million or so. Even the Waterfront Line, the cost for which included the huge Settlers Landing park, was $72 million for 2.2 miles. I wish he would allow himself to be educated about rail.

OK, here's one I did a while ago (I even posted in on UO about a year or two ago). It uses a "trunk line" to reduce construction costs to about $100 billion yet produces many city-pair travel markets. The trunk line and the red branches would be engineered for 200-mph IC3 or LGV technologies. The blue lines would be diesel or hybrid powered trains would operate at anywhere from 79 to 125 mph. As for running true high-speed trains through the Alleghenies, consider these images from Europe... A 205-mph IC3 on the new Koln-Frankfurt line...

What's my idea high-speed rail network? One that exists in the USA.

I'm surprised the piece didn't at least refer to walking/cycling. But Strickland's ODOT transition report sure did.

Correct.

Go get 'em, Map Boy! Yes, it's planned as part of the West Shoreway/Lakefront West project.

The Planning Commission and ODOT will hold a retreat tomorrow (Friday) starting at 8:30 a.m. in City Hall's fifth-floor conference room. The purpose is to try to reach a consensus on the Inner Belt project. Since the press was invited, I assume that others can attend as well.

I was told that the Planning Commission and ODOT will hold a retreat tomorrow (Friday) starting at 8:30 a.m. in City Hall's fifth-floor conference room. The purpose is to try to reach a consenus on the Inner Belt project. Since the press was invited, I assume that others can attend as well.

S'alright!

Here's my take: We didn't change overnight from a densely developed, mixed-use, walkable, streetcar city to an metro area where the principal development pattern is sprawling, exclusionary, subdivided, unwalkable, car-dependent exurban. We first transitioned to inner-ring suburbs where densities were reduced, there was some mixed-use, some density, transit accessible primarily in rush hours, but more residential-only and commercial-only areas. That transition from one land use form to another took decades. I similarly expect that it will take decades for us to re-learn how to design and build cities again. The first steps are happening now, and that is an admission that the city's retail needs are underserved. Developers are building what they know how to build. Most of these developers aren't youngsters. They've been developing one way their entire lives. That fact that some are willing to dabble in new things is an evolutionary step in the right direction. Sorry to say folks, but this transition is going to take a lot of time, and no one knows where the transition will take us.

Despite MTS' lack of using the magic word, here's the site plan overview, then a cropped close-up of the first phase.... I left this one a little larger, so scroll right:

Another on the Guv's budget -- the Ohio Rail Development Commission's budget would be doubled, from $2 million per year to $4 million. This, of course, assumes the budget is approved by the General Assembly. So please contact your state legislators and ask that they support this -- as well as an increase in transit funding which had been reduced from $40 million in 2000 to just $16.3 million in 2007. Even, that $40 million is far below the amounts of surrounding states. Here's how to find out who your state legislators are: http://www.house.state.oh.us/jsps/Representatives.jsp http://www.senate.state.oh.us/senators/

Remember, Deech. We're all urban geeks here. So the background and visuals (geez, I'm starting to sound like a CIA spook) are pretty familiar to us. For those unfamiliar, MayDay's got some good stuff on his www.clevelandskyscrapers.com or a google search will turn up more info. I was in my second go-around at college when all this went down. I was real excited when the buildings on Public Square were being demolished for the tower, and then the merger happened. A lot Clevelanders were pretty bummed out. It was also the time that Progressive Insurance decided against putting up their signature skyscraper, the new Landmark office tower fizzled and Nieman Marcus decided not to build. Up until that point, from the 1960s to 1990, we had a pretty good run of building 'scrapers downtown.

I didn't understand a f*cking thing he said.

Mailman School of Public Health? What's their slogan -- "neither rain, sleet nor dark of night will keep us from delivering a healthy education?" Otherwise, good article!

For Immediate Release: Contact: Keith Dailey Wednesday, February 21, 2007 614 644-0957/614 506-4949 [email protected] Strickland Announces Transportation, Public Safety Budgets for Next Biennium Columbus, Ohio – Ohio Governor Ted Strickland today presented his budget for the Ohio Department of Transportation and the Ohio Department of Public Safety to the Ohio General Assembly. Strickland’s total recommended transportation budget for fiscal years 2008 and 2009 biennium are $3.9 and $3.8 billion respectively. “I believe this budget defines and funds our transportation and public safety priorities in a fiscally responsible way,” Strickland said. “This budget represents the challenges, opportunities, priorities and realities we currently face.” Ohio Department of Transportation Strickland’s budget for the Department of Transportation calls for a top-to-bottom reassessment of major new construction projects and criteria used to choose those projects, set by the Transportation Review Advisory Council, to ensure the department is on solid financial footing and that the state is a more reliable partner to local communities. The reassessment will include a review of how to maximize the Department of Transportation’s use of federal dollars. “Our transportation policy must renew and revitalize our cities and towns, connect our isolated economies to national markets, and maintain the pristine nature of Ohio’s rural areas,” Strickland said. “The investments we make in our roads, highways and state infrastructure should contribute to job creation.” During this review, efforts will be made to be as minimally disruptive as possible to the Department of Transportation’s new construction schedule for the next two years. The Department of Transportation makes up 80 percent of the total budget with total appropriations of about $3.2 billion in fiscal year 2008 and over $3.1 billion in fiscal year 2009. Ohio Department of Public Safety Most significantly in the Department of Public Safety, the Ohio State Highway Patrol is facing a $29 million shortfall in 2009 because the patrol will no longer be receiving a share of the gas tax. In order to keep the patrol from facing a $29 million deficit, Strickland will propose a change in the gasoline shrinkage and evaporation allowance. “Safety is a top priority of this administration, and our state troopers work with our counties and municipalities to keep Ohio as safe as possible,” Strickland said. “We must not weaken the troopers strong presence on our highways, and we must provide them with the resources they need to keep Ohioans safe.” The Ohio gasoline shrinkage and evaporation allowance, which exists to offset the costs to petroleum companies for evaporation at the pump, was to be raised to 3.0 percent in this biennium, but it will be lowered to 1.0 percent, which is the national median for the last fully compiled set of data from 2001. This change in the allowance will generate $38 million. Consumers should not pay the price for this change. The portion of the shrinkage and evaporation allowance transmitted to retailer will not change, so Ohioans should be protected at the pump from any added costs. The Department of Public Safety budget represents 18 percent of the total budget with appropriations of $685 million in fiscal year 2008 and $690 million in fiscal year 2009. For the complete transportation budget bill please visit: http://www.obm.ohio.gov/