KJP

Dan, Could you follow through on your second idea? City Discussion might be a good place for it.

Love your little graphics, Musky.

That's up about a cent from the year before.

I love how the Cleveland television media this past weekend was making a big deal over "GET READY FOR SNOW COMING IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS!" Um, it's January. It's Cleveland. DUH! Most places got only a dusting and many others got nothing. Watching the forecast over the weekend on the Weather Channel and visiting www.noaa.gov, it was clear to me this media hyperbole had no substance. So if you want a better forecast, stay away from the local buffoons. That includes our city service departments. It will save them some salt. By the way, I don't have any winter-time photos yet. It doesn't look any different out there than it does in late November.....

Nice pics. Thanks. That Ann Arbor RR station in Howell, MI is a bit of a puzzle. It looks newer than 1872, looks like a bank and looks to be nowhere near a railroad track. Love to hear more about it.

Well said.

Wimwar, does that mean the new condos where Sammy's is located will have a restaurant on top, or did you mean that Wolstein's Flats East Bank will have a restaurant on top of one of its buildings? Thanks.

More good news: CB Richard Ellis is reporting that Class A office space vacancies downtown have fallen below 10 percent for the first time since 2001. See the rest of the 4th Quarter 2006 report (mostly positive news) here: http://gkc2.cbrichardellis.com/GlobalMarketReports/us/cleveland4q06ofcdt.pdf

Oh man....

I'm still employed!

That would be Mike Schipper, RTA's Deputy General Manager for Engineering & Project Management. He is a major-league asshole (personality-wise) whose philosophies seem to come from the Albert Porter School of Disemboweling Cities.

Let me chime in on this one. I can tell you after talking to Mitchell Schneider (and several other developers who have spent a lifetime building in the suburbs and are now investing in the city) that he does not seem to grasp the idea that a development should be designed differently for the city. He knows only one way to build, so he built what he knew. Developers generally don't learn how to build stuff by reading cool books like "The Creative Class" or "Transit Villages in the 21st Century" or "The Next American Metropolis." They usually don't have time to read entire books (I was blown away when Stark told me he had never heard of Richard Florida -- a few months later he said he read "The Creative Class" on a flight to Europe). Developers learn by experience and observation -- from their own development experiences and by observing the experiences of other developers. A few might even learn by attending seminars. So when Mitchell Schneider builds something like Steelyard Commons, he may learn some things. If the parking lots are seldom full but the stores are busy with customers who arrived by walking, bicycles, RTA buses and, someday, an extension of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, he will have experienced something new. He may even learn that the next time he builds something in the city that more emphasis should be placed on multi-modal transportation access. That would allow a smaller footprint for his next development, which might be wedged in between existing, pedestrian-oriented neighborhoods. He may even come to the stunning realization that mixing residential, office and retail on the same property will improve his bottom line and that of his tenants. Then, with his next development, he might learn the importance of designing a positive street experience by having more retail spaces face the sidewalk, and having the right kinds of tenants at street corners to ensure activity at all hours and to offer convenient services to persons waiting for buses or streetcars. Stark continues to make the same kind of evolution that Mitch Schneider might make. Fortunately or unfortunately, Stark's thinking evolved with projects in the suburbs (it would have been nice to have his learning investments in the city, but the city would be speckled with more suburban-style centers like Steelyard Commons or Ryser's [formerly!] Target store on West 117th). Other developers will make the evolution with experience as well, though some faster than others. Having said that, I'm not sure if the Jacobs Group will ever "get it" at the rate they're going!

When I used to walk down Cove Avenue in Lakewood to go to a store on Detroit (the store since closed), I was amazed to hear all the different languages spoken. One summer evening, the front porches were filled with people and I estimated that I heard a dozen different languages spoken. Just this evening, while doing laundry in the basement of my building, I met a Russian woman named Rita. She emigrated from Russia seven years ago with her family. Her English was quite good, and she said she likes it here. As for other parts of Cleveland where immigrants are clustering... There is a large Albanian enclave in the area of East 55th and St. Clair. There are two large areas of Vietnamese -- just east of Detroit Avenue and West 65th, and along Lorain Avenue in the West 110th Street area. A significant Arabic community is along Lorain Avenue west of West 110th out to Kamm's Corners. One of the fastest growing ethnic groups in Cleveland are Hispanics from a number of different nations. Just about the entire west side of the city of Cleveland is home to them. We are fortunate at Sun Newspapers to have a reporter, David Plata, who is fluent in Spanish. He covers much of the city's west side. I understand there is also a growing Caribbean population (especially Jamaican) in the Broadway - Miles - Harvard area, between East 93rd and Lee. And, of course, there's Chinatown-Asiantown area just east of downtown.

So a partially demolished building will front Euclid Avenue for at least a year. WHAT THE HELL??

Firebird98, welcome aboard and thanks for your post to get this thread back on topic! Unfortunately, I don't have answers to your questions. Hopefully someone else here does, and can thus help keep this thread on topic!

Thanks, Gildone! Your letter hit all the right points. If others would like to send communications, please get those letters and e-mails to RTA Board President George Dixon before Jan. 16 (this Tuesday). CONTACT INFO: George F. Dixon III President, Board of Trustees Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority 1240 W. Sixth St. Cleveland, Ohio 44113 Direct phone calls and e-mail to: Board Secretary 216-566-5187, [email protected]

Damn! I missed it! Didn't even notice until you posted that....

It's OK to wish wistfully for things, even if the person never does a thing about it. I suspect people fall into three basic groups with lots of gray areas between them -- those who are active advocates for what they wish for, those who wish for things but have other priorities in their daily lives, and those who have no wishes for their communities, state, nation or world because they are living their own lives. I'll leave it to others to guess what percentages of people fall into each oversimplified category.

Groundbreaking New Analysis: Public Transportation Saves $6,200 Per Household, 1.4 Billion Gallons of Gasoline WASHINGTON, DC - Today, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) released a groundbreaking new study finding that public transportation use saves 1.4 billion gallons of gasoline every year, and can reduce household expenses by $6,200 - more than the average household pays for food in a year. "This should be a wake-up call as Congress and the President discuss how America can move towards energy independence," said APTA President William W. Millar. "Public transportation provides Americans with greater freedom, access, opportunity and choice. Ridership is up over 25 percent since 1995, because Americans knew instinctively that it saves money and gasoline. Now we know exactly how much." The study, "Public Transportation and Petroleum Savings in the U.S.: Reducing Dependence on Oil," was prepared for APTA by ICF International. It finds that: § Public transportation usage reduces U.S. gasoline consumption by 1.4 billion gallons each year - or the equivalent of 108 million cars filling up, almost 300,000 each day. These savings result from the efficiency of carrying multiple passengers in each vehicle; the reduction in traffic congestion from fewer automobiles on the roads; and the varied sources of energy for public transportation. If twice as many Americans had the choice of taking public transportation, these gasoline savings would at least double to 2.8 billion gallons each year. § Households that are likely to use public transportation on a given day save over $6,200 every year, compared to a household with no access to public transportation service. These households have two workers, one car and are within three-quarters of a mile of public transportation. "Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch?" Millar said. "According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average U.S. household spends $5,781 on food - and people who are likely to take public transportation can easily save more than that in a year." "As the new Congress begins working on energy legislation, we call on them to make sure that public transportation plays a central role in reducing our dependence on foreign oil," Millar said. The full report is available online at www.apta.com and www.publictransportation.org.

Magyar just likes to challenge others to cause change so he won't have to.

NEWS ADVISORY: WHO: Cleveland City Council’s City Planning Committee, Public Service Committee and Aviation and Transportation Committee WHAT: This is the second joint committee hearing held on the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) Innerbelt project. This hearing will allow ODOT to respond to concerns raised by business and community leaders and residents pertaining to ODOT’s Innerbelt project proposal and to answer questions Cleveland City Council has regarding alternatives to the proposed plan. WHEN: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 at 10:00 am WHERE: Cleveland City Council’s Committee Room WHY: “Council had the opportunity to hear the community’s concerns relating to the Innerbelt project in November. Additionally, Council has its own concerns, particularly when it comes to ODOT’s failure to address economic development issues in the materials supplied to Council in preparation for this meeting,” said Councilman Joe Cimperman, Ward 13. “In holding this hearing, Council is working to keep ODOT accountable to the taxpayers. We hope that this will be an opportunity to find consensus that will yield positive results.” ###

Actually, that's very relevant for this thread. In fact, I'll argue that the model legislation, if adopted by Congress and the Ohio Legislature could be one of the most important changes to transportation policy in a long time.

I couldn't tell ya. I never paid attention to city seals.

Mine too! Except mine are headlines and catchy photo captions.

If lease revenues were used to pay off debts or operating expenses, then yes, that would be a fair analogy. But if the lease revenues are used to increase the state's capacity for job creation and additional tax revenues, then your analogy doesn't work.