KJP

Your camping analogy doesn't make sense. Of course they're going to drink something they already paid for. But if the retail price of beer was doubled or even tripled, they might not have even bought the beer, or as much of it. They might not have gone camping, because what's the point of going camping without getting sloshed in the woods. Here's what I know from hanging out at the oil AND transportation forums.... If you take total populations of the five most populous EU nations (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom), it comes to 308 million. That's just a shade more than the U.S.'s population. Yet their combined oil consumption is half of the U.S.'s. Their GDP per capita is 80 percent of the U.S.'s. So why do they use half the oil compared to Americans? Much higher fuel taxes, better land use planning, and greater investment in transit, rail and pedestrian/biking facilities. To ignore the impact of price on supply/demand is to suggest a flat-earth approach to basic economics.

The alley shot was awesome. Nice to see you guys down there in Cincy got a "training snow."

Update: the RTA board on Tuesday is expected to take up the same West Shore Corridor resolution which Cleveland City Council passed last week. By the way, I just realized I never posted a map here of the rail corridor and POTENTIAL commuter rail stops....

Those urban highways were not part of the original Eisenhower system, hence the reason for their exclusion (same reason as I stated for the exclusion of I-75 to Miami). I did one for the West Shore Corridor project I'm working on (see below). Also, see http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=6001.0 for more information.

But your statements ignore the prior conversation. It was based on increasing the gas tax to encourage more people to make smarter, more sustainable choices that move the economy in a comparable direction. Ratcheting up the gas tax 20 cents per year over, say 10 years, would allow that transition. Of course, the other alternative is to phase out federal subsidies for the oil industry amounting to $200 billion to $300 billion. If the oil industry paid for those and passed those on to the consumer (rather than taxpayers footing the bill every April 15), the cost of gasoline would rise by $2 to $3 per gallon (some estimates place this cost much higher because it includes environmental and military costs of keeping oil shipping routes safe in politically unstable parts of the world). See: http://www.icta.org/doc/RPG%20security%20update.pdf http://www.iags.org/costofoil.html http://www.progress.org/gasoline.htm

Too often, people see a change like being more energy efficient as an economic loss. That's because they are unable or unwilling to see what economic activity will replace it.

I love this stuff. I just get to enjoy looking at it. I live in a mid-rise condo building with an underground heated parking garage. So I don't have to shovel or clean off my car. Instead, I went for a walk last night down the middle of seven-lane Clifton Boulevard. At least I think it was the middle because no pavement was visible. There was very little traffic, and the wind was howling. At 5 a.m. this morning, I was awakened by my metal balcony vibrating loudly in the wind. Weather Channel's guy here in Cleveland was reporting gusts in the mid-40s in the pre-dawn hours. I peeked out the window and it just looked like a thick, fast-moving fog. Pretty awesome. I love it when Mother Nature put humans in their place.

Interesting stuff. So the largest single real estate development in California history (is that really correct?) is being built at a subway station? With no freeway nearby? Who would have thought that in a California a decade or so ago?

TGV breaks its own, 17-year-old record -- 553 km/h is 345.6 mph! The fastest train speed in the U.S. was 183.85 mph -- a Budd RDC car retrofitted with jet engines hit the speed in western Ohio. That record speed for us is the regular cruising speed for high-speed trains in Europe and the Pacific Rim. _________________ February 14, 2007 05:54 AM LGV Est: world record exploded ------------------ The LGV Est, that will connect Paris to Strasbourg in the future, broke the former record of 515,3 km/h establied in 1990. With a new record established this morning *553 km/h*, SNCF and Alstom take advantage of such advertising for their companies but also give a rendez-vous : "See you in april !" SNCF and Alstom have the project to go to 570 km/h with their new technologies. Fans of high speed trains already trust that to go over 600 km/h is possible considering this morning record but president of Alstom temperates "we will not put in danger people working on our project, we will go as far as the technology can." Story to follow in next months. Here's some photos of the new line on which this speed record was reached: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=441135

Try these numbers: 216-579-0634 (Market info) 216-579-6800 (Market cafe)

If this is the building I'm thinking of, I can't understand why anyone would want to demolish it. What a great old building! OK, so it would cost more to renovate it than build new... Maybe because what we build today is cheap, as in flimsy and architecturally uninspired. Is there a way to quantify the uplifting aspects of architecture and a sense of history? If there is, I doubt that demolishing this building and replacing it with schlock will be less expensive.

Here's some photos submitted to Cleveland.com -- some real great shots in there! http://www.cleveland.com/news/photos/gallery.ssf?cgi-bin/view_gallery.cgi/cleve/view_gallery.ata?g_id=5743

Yep, that one's a boo-boo. That dot at the junction of I-80 and I-79 should be Mercer, PA. I-79 should be extended through to I-90, where Erie's dot should be. But was I-79 proposed during the Eisenhower era to go all the way to Erie? Either way, the Erie dot is in the wrong place.

When asked to comment on ODOT's shift in transportation policy, former ODOT Director Gordon Proctor said --

I didn't see a thread on this subject -- unbelievable! Of all the transportation modes, none are as fuel-efficient, beneficial to human health and, for that matter, to the health of our urban areas as walking. Yet we often make it difficult, if not impossible to walk in some communities, let alone to conduct most of our daily activities within walking distances... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070212182617.htm Source: University of Washington Date: February 13, 2007 Habitat Matters: 'Walkable' Communities May Make Elders Healthier Science Daily — Some of a neighborhood's features -- the length of its blocks, how many grocery stores or restaurants are nearby -- may be more than selling points for real estate agents. A new study suggests such factors may work to beat back obesity in older people by increasing a neighborhood's "walkability."

Look again where Toledo's dot is. I-71 and I-77 are going to it. But that part of I-75 was a late addition to the system originally identified in the 1956 law. Partly. He recognized it had military and commercial importance. The official name for the federal act which created the interstate system was the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956. A greater influence on Eisenhower was his experience with the German Autobahn at the end of WWII. He also insisted that interstate highways not go into U.S. cities, but instead go around them as the Autobahns did. Near the end of his administration in 1960, he was riding in his limousine through the streets of D.C. when he came upon a gash in the city of ripped out neighborhoods. He asked an aide what was being built. "That's your Interstate highway system sir," the aide said. Eisenhower was mortified.

Yay!!

Cleveland Hopkins Airport is open, but some flights are canceled and most of the rest are delayed. The storm should be done by about midday Wednesday and I suspect you'll be able to get back OK. You may have more trouble landing at Newark on-time, because the East Coast is getting this storm tonight and tomorrow, but not as bad as we're getting it. As always, check with your airline.

I had to call this storm something, so I'm calling it the St. Valentines Day Snowstorm. Calling it some foul language is another option, of course. Here's a press release from Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's office (has a nice photo at the link)... _____________ http://www.city.cleveland.oh.us/pdf/press/20070213131.pdf February 13, 2007 – Mayor Frank Jackson is urging residents to stay off the roadways due to the winter storm. City recreation centers will remain open until their regular hours. Men’s and Women’s shelters are prepared to accommodate anyone seeking shelter. For health and medical emergencies please call 9-1-1 and for other emergencies residents can dial 2-1-1 for assistance. The following tips can help you stay safe during extreme cold conditions: • Keep walkways free of ice and snow. If you are not used to strenuous exercise and/or have heart problems, check with a doctor before shoveling snow. • Don’t turn off the heat to save on utility bills. Hypothermia, a condition in which the body’s temperature drops below normal, can be fatal. • Replace rubber tips on canes, walkers, and crutches. Home health care stores sell “ice picks” that fit on the ends of canes and walkers to provide extra traction. • Understand your prescription drugs. Be aware that some medicines make people more susceptible to cold. Ask your doctor if you should be taking extra precautions. • Choose portable heaters carefully. All heaters should be kept at least three feet from furniture and draperies to decrease risk of fire. Also, beware that heaters that use liquid fuel can cause carbon monoxide poisoning. For more information about space heaters contact the U.S. Product Safety Commission by phone at (800) 638-2772 or online at http://www.cpsc.gov. • Set your water heater below 125 degrees. This will both save on utility bills and prevent scalding injuries, while keeping water warm enough for washing. • Don’t let your pipes freeze. Check pipes to make sure they are insulated. Make sure you know how to shut off the water, if necessary. • Check on your fragile neighbors and relatives. Offer to assist them with groceries and other basic needs that require outside trips. • Have an emergency plan. Keep phone numbers for doctors and family members next to the phone, where they can be found easily. Keep three days’ supply of food on hand, in case you become ill and can’t go out. Be sure you have at least one telephone that does not need to be plugged into an electrical outlet; cordless phones won’t work in a power outage. Mayor Jackson sent all non-essential employees home today at 3pm due to the winter storm. He also advised all government agencies to send their employees home and is encouraging businesses to do the same. -30-

The service that ended in 2003 didn't just affect Elyria. The service, called the Pennsylvanian and which operated from Chicago to Philadelphia via Toledo, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, was restructured as a Pittsburgh - Philadelphia - New York City service. The Pennsylvanian west of Pittsburgh depended on mail and package express shipments. Amtrak exited that business nationwide, terminating a number of trains which depended on it (including Amtrak's Three Rivers service from Chicago to New York City which stopped at stations in the Ohio cities of Fostoria, Akron and Youngstown).

from cleveland.com School of the Arts supporters announce plan to replace building Planning for a new Cleveland School of the Arts and Technology building in University Circle begins this week, a fund-raising group announced. Friends of Cleveland School of the Arts and the district will work together to replace the 80-year-old school on Stearns Road, which serves grades six through twelve. The new building would accommodate students in every grade level, Friends board president Sam Johnson said in a news release... more at: http://www.cleveland.com

Export? Don't you mean import?

Perhaps he was confusing that with Elyria, which lost a daytime Amtrak train service in 2003. But Elyria still has two other daily, but nocturnal Amtrak services. Lorain hasn't seen a regularly scheduled passenger train service since 1964.

There should be enough office expansion coming on line that Jacobs, Stark and Wolstein can each have a significant office presence at their properties/developments. The leasing agents for each developer probably don't have much wiggle room with respect to lease rates to compete with each other since rents aren't very healthy. Where the developers can compete with each other is with amenities. I suspect that Wolstein and Stark will be able to offer better amenities, unless Jacobs offers a taller building with multiple uses layered within it. Of course, Jacobs has the benefit of Stark's project next door, so he may wait to see what amenities Stark's first phase will offer. Kind of ironic, since Stark and Jacobs hate each other's guts.