KJP

The surface lot on the NW corner of Public Square is owned by Dick Jacobs. Stark hates Jacobs after their costly fight over Crocker Park. I think I'm pretty safe when I say this property will never be part of "Pesht." The only way it might is if Jacobs sells it to someone who may be willing to partner with Stark.

Yep. And I'm thinking about buying a digital video camera that I can get high-resolution still photographs from. Yet I can't afford to spend more than a few hundred dollars (actually, I can't even afford to spend that). But this is an important trip for me, since this may be the only time I ever get over to Europe in my life. And I don't want to spend it juggling my Sony camcorder and my Pentax K-1000 (plus its zoom and wide-angle lenses) while trying to capture the same subject. Any suggestions on what kind of digital video camera I should buy? Is there a place where I could rent one?

Nah, that's OK. I get my insomnia cured just by reading my own articles... I don't doubt the cost. I just didn't realize the scope of what was sought. The last I'd heard, RTA was considering a proof-of-payment system for rail and BRT.

I happen to like St. Louis and some parts of Detroit. Never been to Flint, so I can't say about them.

Interesting. I was aware of some of D.C.'s job growth, but not the extent or the economic sectors where the growth was occurring. I guess if you're not in the health care field, the job opportunities would probably be limited here. But I'll wager that the graphic arts, product design and even filmmaking fields will be a source of noticeable growth in Cleveland in the coming years. And, in a futile attempt to keep this thread on subject, that growth will keep the local restaurant scene strong! (How's that for a blatant attempt?!?!)

That's not going to be the permanent width, will it?

You mean I should bring a camera of some kind? :-o

I'm also going to Paris this spring. It will be the last city on my 17-day trip through England, Wales, Belgium, Germany and France. So I leave for America from Charles de Gaulle Airport with the images of Paris still fresh in my mind.... Not an easy transition. Terrific pics, by the way. So they actually have some nice streetscapes and architecture in Europe?? :wink:

Should've just the let the rain wash it for free!

Note the item about the new fare collection system - $20+ million - Wow! ___________________ Posted at rideRTA.com Media Advisory RTA Board Committees meet Jan. 9 CLEVELAND -- The Board of Trustees of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) will meet in Committee at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 9, at RTA's Main Office, 1240 W. Sixth St. Planning & Development Committee Euclid Corridor Transportation Project: Update on project design, construction, utility and real estate activities. Loop Replacements: Discuss a Request for Proposals (RFP) to replace two separate bus loops – Rocky River and East 118th Street/Wade Park. Operations Committee Interagency Agreement: Discuss an interagency agreement with officials at the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), to participate in their Emergency Response and Preparedness Program. Rapid Recovery: Discuss a contract with ParkWorks to clean the area near the Rapid tracks. Finance Committee Fare Collection System: General overview of a proposed fare collection system, which includes new fareboxes and passenger station ticket vending machines, gates and turnstiles. Estimated cost: $20 million+. The regular Board meeting will be held Jan. 16. # # #

At the risk of sounding like a salesman, a high-rise downtown won't provide a full view of the skyline. It would, however, give a more intimate feel with other skyscrapers. Both would offer wonderful views, IMHO. There's some features on Stonebridge's map showing the phasing of the development that doesn't make sense to me based on what Corna said to me a couple days ago. I have a call into him to get clarification. Anyway, back to the Avenue District!

Why isn't the Cleveland Clinic area part of the district from the outset? Is it because most of it isn't in University Circle? If any institution needs some design-review for its buildings and land-use plans, it's the Cleveland Clinic!

That is a great idea! Too bad the building is too small for a Corner Alley II!

And actually, Nathan Zaremba estimated the number of people living in for-sale units falling in the 3-5 percent range. That was one of my many oversimplifications in the article to keep it under 30 column inches. You might like the next building to open at Stonebridge (in March), and the one that will soon follow that. Ooops -- I let it slip. Keep an eye on next week's Sun paper.

Terrific stuff. My favorite is the interior of the former Witt's store. The decor is quintessential 1920s and I love it. Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong era.

Amtrak served Ypsilanti with a couple of its Chicago - Detroit trains, but discontinued service maybe 15 years ago or so. The interesting thing is that if the Ann Arbor - Detroit commuter rail service gets up and running, Ypsilanti will likely have a station stop on it. I can see the pace of development/development picking up if that happens.

Gee, with the hillside housing, it looks a bit like Cincinnati. But of course there's no other links between Germany and Cincinnati... :wink:

Sorry to take this thread off-topic, but what kind of opportunities were they looking for? I'm not doubting you, as I've heard the same thing from others in certain careers, but I'm interested to learn what we're lacking (makes it easier to correct it).

Yes, Mandeville Place is a Meier project. It's on his website.

During my interview with Zaremba, when we talked about a skyscraper condo tower, Nathan got up and went to the other room to get a picture of something he'd like to build downtown someday. He returned with a picture of Mandeville Place, a 43-story condo tower planned for downtown Philadelphia....

http://www.sunnews.com/news/2007/part1/0104/WZAREMBA2.htm Housing puts downtown closer to a turnaround By Ken Prendergast Staff Writer Jan. 4, 2007 Second of two parts: a greater role for the Avenue District According to a 2005 Brookings Institution report, "Turning Around Downtown: 12 Steps to Revitalization," downtown Cleveland has only two or three more steps to go to be a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly urban place. The Brookings' report says the 12 steps are: • Capture the vision of what downtown should be. • Develop a strategic plan. • Forge a healthy public/private partnership. • Have zoning and planning controls in place to foster walkable land-use patterns. • Establish business improvement districts. • Create a development organization to provide incentives to private developers. • Create an urban entertainment district. • Develop a rental housing market. • Pioneer an affordability strategy. • Seek for-sale housing. • Develop a retail strategy to serve local needs. • Re-create a strong office market. "A 24-hour population is what brings downtowns back," said Nathan Zaremba, developer of the Avenue District in downtown Cleveland. "There's no reason why it can't happen here." • Small fish makes big waves Zaremba modestly considers himself a small fish among development whales. Larger, more vocal real estate developers have their own plans for downtown, like Scott Wolstein and his Flats East Bank project or Bob Stark's Warehouse District/lakefront plans. They've gotten more media attention than Zaremba's, even though his $250 million development has broken ground. The others haven't yet. "I'm a big cheerleader of Stark and Wolstein," Zaremba said. "It's easier for me to attract more tenants if there are others beating the drum for downtown." And the Brookings' report says having "more" downtown is better. It creates its own momentum, plus more pedestrian traffic, vibrancy and safety. Having more car-dependent development in the suburbs creates car traffic and pollution and, ultimately, stifles development, causing people and jobs to sprawl farther and farther away, the report said. • Turning dirt Zaremba's contribution to downtown Cleveland represents Step 10 in Brookings' 12-step process. The Avenue District will have 426 housing units, all for-sale, and be located among several blocks between East 12th and 13th streets, and Superior and St. Clair avenues. Ground was broken in September for the first phase of the Avenue District. Utility relocation work is under way, with foundation work approved by the city to start in February. The block between Superior and Rockwell east of East 13th will have two- and three-story townhouses, plus 3½-story lofts. The first townhouses will be ready for occupancy in August. North of St. Clair, between East 12th and 13th, will have loft condominium buildings as tall as 10 stories, with commercial spaces on their ground floors and a parking deck behind. The first building will open in August 2008. Sale prices range from the mid-$100,000s to $3 million penthouses. Zaremba said one block of townhouses has sold out. Loft condo pre-sales are above his targets. • Downtown rules "Building in a city is 100 times more complex than building on farmland," he said. "You have to relate to the surroundings, provide a pleasant street experience and work with a lot of people." Zaremba says Cleveland has professional city planners with whom working is a pleasure. "The city couldn't have been more helpful," he said. "But you can't do things in a vacuum and spring it on the city. You need to meet with stakeholders from day one and get input from people." • Where the Avenue may take Zaremba Zaremba Homes Inc. is joining with MRN Ltd. to build the high-density College Town at Euclid Avenue and Mayfield Road. MRN is the lead developer in the $76 million revitalization of lower Euclid-East Fourth Street that includes a mix of rental and for-sale housing. Downtown Cleveland has surpassed 10,000 residents, but less than 5 percent are living in for-sale housing. Zaremba estimated that, as the number of downtown homeowners increases to more than 8,000, change will become more evident. That could include 30-story condo towers. "If we can establish the for-sale market downtown, and I'm confident there is one, we can do that (tower)," he said. "A big issue is keeping downtown affordable. You have to keep the supply up. We'll need bigger buildings because land will get more expensive." Also, he told a story about a man from the suburbs who bought an Avenue District townhouse. The buyer also is bringing his company and its 40 jobs downtown. Although the man didn't want to be identified for the article, Zaremba said that, if the same situations happens 10 times each year, it could result in new downtown office buildings every few years. "Then, (downtown) retail is no longer forced and the office market is then rejuvenated," he said. "It's important for our region to have a healthy downtown. The public sector has done its job with the stadiums and the Euclid Corridor. Now, it's time for developers to do theirs." © 2007 Sun Newspapers Go to The Sun News www.sunnews.com home page

From Trains Magazine... In Salt Lake City, mass transit is a priority Print | Email | Contact Us January 3, 2007 SALT LAKE CITY - The Salt Lake County Council and county mayors endorsed a list of mass-transit projects in December 2006 that will be funded through a quarter-cent sales-tax hike that voters approved in November. Over the next 10 years. a network of commuter rail and light-rail transit lines will span the Salt Lake Valley, the Deseret Morning News newspaper reported. Officials approved funding for four projects, three of which are mass transit. In total, $2.5 billion will be spent on commuter rail, TRAX light-rail lines to West Valley and South Jordan, and on repairs to Interstate 80. Officials with the Utah Transit Authority said that funding those projects also would free other dollars to build TRAX light-rail lines to Salt Lake City International Airport and to Draper, Utah. TRAX already runs a north-south line from the capital city southward. The West Valley line will require $700 million to build, with the sales-tax money coverin g $450 million of that cost. The South Jordan line will be about $750 million, which will all come from the sales-tax increase. Commuter rail will cost about $1.3 billion to build, with all of the cost covered by the sales tax. The first segment of the commuter rail system, to be called FrontRunner and operate between Salt Lake City and Pleasant View, just north of Ogden, began construction in 2005 and is scheduled for completion in 2008. UTA general manager John Inglish promised the agency would build all four TRAX lines and commuter rail in the next seven to 10 years. "This means we have a lot of work to do, and we're committed to it," Mike Allegra, chief capital-development officer for UTA told the News. When built, the transit lines will put 70 percent of county residents within three miles of a TRAX station, he told the News. ###

I love what Sun's production department did to the rendering of the Avenue District on the front of the West Side Sun. The way the rendering was supposed to look is on the front of the Brooklyn Sun Journal. I guess it's hard to proof the paper through one's eyelids.

And it's been on CNN, MSNBC and everywhere else.

Good info for Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo, Dayton and Cleveland which are considering downtown streetcars. Lots of comments follow... http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasblog/2007/01/ding_ding_ding_went_the_trolle.aspx#more Ding, ding, ding went the trolley Perhaps you noticed a cartoon today in the Democrat-Gazette. It poked a little fun at the low ridership of the River Rail streetcar. Keith Jones, executive director of Central Arkansas Transit, certainly noticed. He sent a letter around to various folks noting the relatively high ridership of the trolley compared with bus routes and noting that the Democrat-Gazette puts newspaper boxes at several stops, which must mean something, right? His letter is on the jump. Readers' thoughts? UPDATE: The Argenta News blog notes that it has been bulldogging this issue for a good while, most recently yesterday, and calling for months for a monthly pass for trolley users. The Argenta blogger believes the streetcar is more tourist attraction than transit. And another reader wonders about the lack of marketing, pointing to Portland as a city that promotes its rail transit, sells advertising and otherwise seems to be making it work. MEMO FROM KEITH JONES The 2006 ridership for River Rail Streetcar has just been tabulated at 121,500. Considering the low ridership during the extremely hot August, and the slowdown in summer tourism due to the high gas prices, I am very pleased with the ridership. The two streetcars (we only put the third car out on peak Saturdays and for other special events) would be in the top tier of our highest ridership bus routes. That is why T. Boone Pickens, who made and makes millions by filling up our cars with gasoline, in his talk to the Little Rock Regional Chamber last month, said "you ought to be building more rail". Since the streetcar opened in November 2004, more than $260 million in private and public projects have been started within two blocks of the line. Most of these developments will open for business in 2007, generating even higher ridership. The opening of the extension to the Clinton Library and Heifer International will add at least 2,000 riders per month. We recently learned that from National Archives officials that River Rail will be the first light rail line of any type to serve a presidential library. As more and more attractions come on line, and as more people move to the two downtowns, ridership trends will continue upward. Many conventions coming here 2007 are buying "convention passes" and promoting the streetcar to their groups as a way to get around the two downtowns. We are working on some options for the Board to consider for multiple-ride or monthly passes for local users, as we are getting more and more requests for that. Two weeks ago, even though we operated a free bus shuttle that carried thousands to the recent sellout of the Tran Siberian Orchestra concert at Alltel Arena, more than 300 riders paid the streetcar fare to ride it to the event. The River Rail line continues to get great publicity around the nation. It is featured in the new book "Street Smart", was mentioned in a Washington Post article last week concerning the efforts of that city to build a similar line, and is scheduled to be in, of all things, Southern Living magazine, in a few months! The yellow and red cars have become an icon, and are used in countless print and electronic ads promoting businesses and events in the two downtowns. Delegations from Lancaster PA and St. Charles, Mo are the most recent visitors here on "study missions" to learn how we got the streetcar line built. When the County, Little Rock, and North Little Rock asked CATA to build a streetcar line back in 1996, the Board and staff had plenty of questions, conducted studies with lots of public participation and input, and came up with a very successful project. It was built at one of the lowest cost-per-mile figures of any light rail project in the past 20 years. By the way, without commenting on any editorial opinion you may have noticed today, a statewide daily newspaper places its vending boxes on several of the River Rail platforms. Their circulation department must know something. ###