KJP

Oh! I even did a word search of the presentation, and nothing came up. Then I remembered his name was on the oil discoveries/production slide. Here is a write up about Buz Ivanhoe: http://www.hubbertpeak.com/ivanhoe/ And, lo and behold, you will also see the same oil discoveries/production chart on that page.

I proposed something similar, except I proposed vacating the short street between the RTA tracks and Ontario (I believe that was either East 4th or Broadway pre-1930). I don't have the rendering here at the office, but I'd like to post it later. Although I'm not sure what this has to do with the convention center?

Tell his professor to flunk him.

It would be, but if you look at the Convention Facilities Authority website, the footprint for a convention center may extend that far (including access roads, ramps and such).... http://www.conventioncleveland.com/ Here's the article I remembered... http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=3814.msg146927#msg146927 Forest City adds to Tower City holdings By STAN BULLARD 6:00 am, December 11, 2006 Forest City Enterprises Inc. continues widening its reach south of Tower City Center in an area near Tower City Amphitheater in the Flats. Land records show the developer paid $2.18 million for three warehouses at 410-607 Stones Levee, which is catty-corner to the amphitheater. More at crainscleveland.com http://www.crainscleveland.com

That's where FCE bought the land, near the amphitheater. Didn't someone post of map of it here

Nice. I was wondering if he was referring to the street Ivanhoe in Collinwood?

Ivanhoe?

http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1169028100300621.xml&coll=2 RTA buying high-tech fare boxes Prepay honor system will be tried Wednesday, January 17, 2007 Sarah Hollander Plain Dealer Reporter New fare boxes and ticket machines and updated passes should speed up boarding time on RTA buses and trains beginning early next year. The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority plans to replace nearly 800 fare boxes and introduce a prepay honor system on some routes as part of a $23 million fare collection upgrade. The board approved two contracts Tuesday for work that should be finished in the summer of 2008. ......... To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: [email protected], 216-999-4816

I got my first laptop in December -- second hand and it doesn't work. Can I get a conditional "welcome to 1996"? Just don't tell me I need to start liking music produced after 1989, OK? I happen to think melody is an important ingredient of music. :|

Easy. Build over Huron Road. Over the surface Tower City parking lots. Over Canal Road. Over the right of way Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad wants to use to reach the former B&O Station. Over the Cuyahoga River. Over Carter Road. Over Tremont. Over, over, over.

SAFETEA-LU is the federal six-year surface transportation funding program, last reauthorized by Congress in 2005. SAFETEA-LU stands for Safe Accountable Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users. Why that convoluted name? When Congressman Don Young (R-Alaska) wanted a bill named for his wife, Lu, six staffers spent an afternoon formulating SAFETEA-LU (Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act—A Legacy for Users). To which U.S. Senator John E. Sununu (R-N.H.) said, "I think people are starting to spend more time coming up with a clever acronym than they are worrying about the substance and the impact of the legislation they write." ______________________- As for the Alternatives Analysis program, here is a write-up I distributed at the RTA meeting (something that only policy wonks could love!): West Shore Corridor Alternatives Analysis – Overview The following is background information pertinent to Congressional intent on earmarks and appropriations, the status of the Lorain – Cleveland Commuter rail project as it is currently understood, and potential funding sources for an Alternatives Analysis. Congressional Intent According to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), the incoming 110th Congress will convene on January 4 and is expected to begin work immediately, staying in session throughout January and February. While the current continuing resolution (CR) for FY 2007 runs through February 15, the incoming leadership of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees this week announced their intention to fund programs now under the CR by "passing a year-long joint resolution". They also announced that there will be "no Congressional earmarks in the joint funding resolution" that they will pass. They indicated that they would place a moratorium on all earmarks until a reformed process is put in place. While this affects FY2007 appropriations, we need to look at FY2008 Appropriations, which are suggested in the President’s Budget Report issued in February 2007. Lorain – Cleveland Commuter Rail The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA), the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the Cleveland area examined the feasibility of initiating commuter rail service in a proposed corridor between Cleveland and Lorain County in northeast Ohio. Currently, no commuter rail service operates in the corridor. The proposed corridor is one of seven found to be potentially feasible for commuter rail under Phase I of the Northeast Ohio Commuter Rail Feasibility Study (NEORail) conducted by NOACA. Phase II of the NEORail study was completed several years ago, although no published report is available. Phase II identified four corridors that would constitute the preferred commuter rail system for northeast Ohio. These four corridors were then prioritized for possible phased-in implementation in a two-tiered process. The Lorain-Cleveland route was determined to be one of the feasible routes. West Shore communities have expressed continuing interest in the study of commuter rail and other public transportation improvements in this corridor and are currently engaged in a regional decision-making process necessary to program and fund this proposed project. An Alternatives Analysis is proposed as the follow-up to the system plan developed by NOACA under the NEOrail Study program. SAFETEA-LU authorizes the project as “Lorain – Cleveland Commuter Rail.” There is no appropriation for the authorized project. Funding Sources Federal financial support for alternatives analysis may be derived from the new discretionary Alternative Analysis Program (49 U.S.C. 5339). Other sources include Section 5303 Metropolitan Planning Program (NOACA study funds) and planning programs administered by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). FTA Urbanized Area Formula funds (Section 5307) and flexible funds under the FHWA’s Surface Transportation Program (STP) and the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Program also may be used to support certain planning activities. This would require concurrence and approvals by Cleveland RTA and NOACA. RTA is the designated recipient of formula transit funds to the region. I have concentrated our attention on the Section 5339 Alternatives Analysis Program. Alternative Analysis Program (49 U.S.C. 5339) Alternative Analysis projects are studies conducted as part of the transportation planning process required under sections 5303 and 5304. Beginning in FY2006, funding is provided under section 5339 instead of within the eight percent allowed for projects prior to Final Design and Construction under TEA-21. 1. Total Allocation - SAFETEA-LU authorizes the following amounts for the Alternative Analysis program for fiscal years 2006-2009. In FY 2006 and FY 2007 there are 18 projects authorized for a total of $18,900,000 each year, leaving $6,100,000, which could be allocated to other projects during those years. There are no projects authorized in FY 2008 or FY 2009. It is important to note that these allocations are subject to be changed by subsequent appropriations acts and additional projects may be earmarked during the appropriations process. 2. Program Requirements - The transportation planning process of Alternative Analysis includes (a) An assessment of a wide range of public transportation alternatives, which will address transportation problems within a corridor or subarea; (b) ample information to enable the Secretary to make the findings of project justification and local financial commitment; © the selection of a locally preferred alternative; and (d) the adoption of the locally preferred alternative, which will be part of the long-range transportation plan. The federal government's share of the total cost of a project under this section is 80 percent. The funds will be awarded as separate section 5339 grants. The grant requirements under this program will be comparable to those for section 5309 grants. What this means for the West Shore Corridor project is that an appropriation under the Section 5339 program or other suitable program should be sought depending on what the best approach to Congressional earmarks and funding sources would be. ###

By the way, there is more information about this site at: http://www.conventioncleveland.com/la.html See the fourth bulleted item from the top and click on the graphics at the right side of the page. Too bad the Tower City site will be favored for a convention center and medical mart as long as Jackson is mayor and Forest City Enterprises keeps bankrolling his campaigns.

Now that I have some quiet time after a very long day, I wanted let you know that my presentation this morning before the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority's board of trustees regarding the West Shore Corridor commuter rail project went off very well. RTA GM Joe Calabrese, who is very pro-bus, even suggested that RTA might want to contribute some resources (financial, engineering expertise, etc) to the effort. All board members were present and all stayed for the presentation at the end of a long series of committee meetings. Most board members listened, but Westlake Mayor Dennis Clough (a board member) spoke in support of the project and Valerie McCall (also a board member) from Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's office asked what Cleveland officials were involved. I told her Scott Frantz and another planning commission staffer (whose name I can't remember) attended stakeholder meetings and that Planning Director Bob Brown was on my e-mail notification/news list. Also getting up and speaking at the podium in favor of the project were Cleveland Councilman Kevin Kelley (chair of the Aviation & Transportation Committee), Lorain County Transit GM Tom Ferguson and newly elected state rep Jennifer Brady (West Shore suburbs). I gave all the board members printed copies of my PowerPoint presentation, a backgrounder on alternatives analysis funding and a copy of the sample resolution which All Aboard Ohio is asking all on-line communities to pass. Here is a PDF of the PowerPoint presentation I gave at the RTA board meeting (1.42mb download): http://members.cox.net/kenatsun/West%20Shore%20Corridor-RTA.pdf

How many sports bars do we need downtown? But I guess that's what might work for that spot until the county offices take the Ameritrust tower (one way or another) and bring more customers closer to the restaurant.

Glad to hear it, er, hear about it!

Yep. The Lake Shore Limited carries as many people as some corridor routes with multiple-daily trains. It's just the media making assumptions based on facts that they don't have. (And don't use that damn cliche about what happens when someone makes an assumption!)

I have no choice but to wait until Friday. Tuesdays are the drop-dead deadline day for each week's Sun Newspapers. Too bad the PD is going to have this story before I will. But if the PD has the story in its Saturday paper, then I will go ahead and write the story for Sun since Saturday is the PD's lowest circulation paper of the week.

Kempton and Tai said any legislation that is passed should take into account past investments by states, so that those that did step up to fund Amtrak in the past are not penalized. They said one way to do that would be to provide them with a more generous match in the beginning. Glad to see they're keeping that provision. Noozer, in this new bill, are you aware of how far back are state investments eligible as contributions to leverage federal funds? For those who don't know, Ohio has spent tens of millions of dollars on most of the Ohio Hub corridors to build road-rail overpasses/underpasses. Those should count toward the state's share to leverage federal funds once the Ohio Hub is funding eligible.

Thanks for the descriptions, MGD. I still we need to form a business to conduct these kinds of tours for relocating employees or new-hires from outside of Northeast Ohio. Geez, we could probably thrive just on the new-hires at the Cleveland Clinic!

That's huge. And the cool thing is, with our reporter for that area on vacation, I get to cover it (unless my editor gives me something else to do!!).

Interesting blog on the Ohio Hub and even more interesting are the many comments that followed: http://activerain.com/blogsview/34707/The-Cleveland-Hub-Initiative The woman who wrote this is a realtor at Howard Hanna in Cleveland. She contacted All Aboard and I will follow up with her. I hope to get her recruited to the advocacy effort.

Sounds to me like Lighthouse Landing has been incorporated into Wolstein's plan. Nancy Lesic (Wolstein's PR guru) told me that the development team hadn't decided whether to make LL office or keep it as two residential towers. Sounds like they're splitting the difference??

Here's a link to more information about the Lakefront Bypass (including links to view the full report): http://www.ecocitycleveland.org/ecologicaldesign/blue/rail_bypass_sum.html Not sure about Cincinnati, but Cleveland had a number of local passenger trains (as opposed to expresses) that originated in outlying areas (Ashtabula, Norwalk, Akron, Alliance and Youngstown), made stops at virtually every station along the route and arrived in downtown Cleveland before 9 a.m. They then departed downtown between 4-6 p.m. and headed back to the outlying area from whence they came. In addition to the E-L commuter to Youngstown, Pennsylvania Railroad had a Cleveland - Alliance train via Bedford, Macedonia, Hudson and Ravenna that lasted until 1964. As for the lakefront intermodal hub, RTA paid for a study of it in the mid-1990s. I have a copy of the report with renderings in it, but this first image is what was proposed. The images following were done by the city, showing different levels of a combined intermodal hub and convention center, starting from the track level and going upward. Looking east.... Track level.... Main concourse level.... Street level.... Looking north toward the lake and the tracks, basically where the rendering circa 1900 (shown earlier) was looking...

Yes, they would.

Yes, I have one, as well as a conceptual proposal by the city for the convention center/intermodal station over the tracks. I'll see if I can find it sometime, but I wouldn't post it here to make futile attempt to get this thread back on topic.