KJP

So how 'bout that snowstorm! :-D

Cleveland City Council passed a substitute taxi ordinance this evening. It gives the city's administration one of three options to deal with the taxi cab situation at Hopkins Airport 1. Through normal bidding procedures -- The director of Port Control can recommend a taxi cab company for five years (renewable for another five years) as the sole vendor for trips outbound from the airports, subject to approval by the Board of Control and the Equal Opportunity commission. 2. Authorize the director of Port Control to limit cabs by permit with fees paid to the city. 3. Authorizes the hiring of an independent taxi management concessionaire to manage permits and taxi dispatching at the airport. The three-optioned ordinance passed 10-8. It was the most contentious council meeting I've attended since I started covering Cleveland for Sun since September of last year. A very hot-button issue with lots at stake. Councilman Dolan feared that taxi companies which no longer picked up at the airport would go out of business. Others noted that all taxi companies can still take customers to the airport. Councilman Kelley said that, among the many citywide taxi issues, the logical place to start tackling them was at the airport.

^ Well, if anything, Ohio's General Assembly is consistent -- consistently inept in addressing the state's needs. Let's see, we're 46th in the nation in new job growth, so let's table one of the proven remedies for it. You legislators are frickin' brilliant.

Nice letter!

Stay tuned on Lighthouse Landing, or see it's thread there (or the Flats East Bank thread).

A much better article than mine. Congrats to Stan!

(continued from above) Maybe Stark can provide more details like some he shared near the end of this article (population estimates, etc.)... _________________ This is a national publication out of Atlanta: http://www.shoppingcenterbusiness.com/articles/SEP06/story16.shtml Feature Article, September 2006 Cleveland’s Warehouse District Gets A Lift Stark Enterprises pitches development plan that will take Cleveland’s Warehouse District to the next level. Susan H. Fishman Cleveland’s historic Warehouse District has been a work in progress for about 10 to 15 years. It began with the conversion of historic warehouse buildings into loft living and working spaces on the upper floors and has grown to include cafes, restaurants, coffeehouses and clubs along its streetscape. But the Warehouse District is missing two key components to be a sustainable and ultimately successful urban neighborhood, says Bob Stark of Stark Enterprises, who is spearheading an initiative to take the Warehouse District to the next level.

From: http://www.gcmba.net/calendardesc.aspx?rid=48 Commercial Lunch Date: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 Time: 11:30-1:30 Location: Union Club Speaker: Bob Stark, Stark Enterprises Registration: 11:30, Lunch: 12:00 Members $30.00, Non Members $40.00, Students $25.00 Print the Luncheon Registration Form http://www.gcmba.net/LuncheonRegForm.pdf

Looks like this building is ready for revival... http://www.loopnet.com/xNet/MainSite/Listing/Profile/ProfileSE.aspx?LID=14783234&linkcode=10850&sourcecode=1lww2t006a00001 Anyone have more details?

Here's an interesting read from earlier this fall. CB Richard Ellis staff discuss local retail, industrial, multi-family residential and office markets and prospects for new development. http://www.rebusinessonline.com/article_archive/brokeroutlook/ohio.shtml

That's a bummer. I could never trust a cab driver to show up on time to get me to the airport. Thus, I've never taken a cab to/from the airport. I've always taken the bus to the rapid from the Gold Coast, driven to one of the nearby rapid stations, or just driven all the way to the airport (did that once when I had to pick up someone in Berea for a 6:30 a.m. flight).

Seems the Dispatch should be one receiving the report from Schumann, the summary of which I posted a few messages back.

Since the rapid runs until 1 a.m., I assume that your limitation is the direct (but non-late night) circulator bus connection to the Ohio City station. But if you catch the 326 bus over to Tower City, that should make things a lot easier for you. Have you looked at that as an option?

The zoo expanded west under Fulton Road.

That sounds like a whole separate string!

I didn't see any difference.... We didn't get even get a trace of accumulation here in NEO. Hard to get into the Christmas spirit without some snow. Might as well as be on Lake Emerald, Fla.

Here's a few more from my collection.... OK, not a train station, but I couldn't resist this Market Street scene in Akron circa 1915 Akron's Union Station, circa 1908 (that's what the postage stamp cancellation was dated on the reverse side of this). This station was demolished for the boxy 1950s-style station that still stands today, but hasn't been used as a train station since 1971. The lesser of Canton's two stations, at least in terms of traffic volume, was the B&O depot west of downtown, shown here about 1920. It served the line to Cleveland via Akron. This was Canton's more substantial station, the PRR station, located just south of downtown on Market Street. It was demolished in the 1970s for the Amtrak standardized station which replaced it. Now, that too is part of history. A street scene of Canton's Public Square in 1911, where the Cleveland - Akron - Canton - New Philadelphia electric interurban stopped to pick up passengers. See, it's a station! On to Cincinnati (You can see I'm doing these alphabetically!)... This was Cincinnati's Grand Central Station, proving that New York City and Chicago weren't the only cities having Grand Centrals. This beauty was demolished after Cincinnati Union Terminal was built in the early 1930s. Speaking of Cincinnati Union Terminal, here's a nice interior view. The station still stands (most of it anyway), but the passenger trains are gone (most of them anyway). Fostoria's B&O station in 1915, on B&O's Chicago - Akron - Youngstown Pittsburgh - Washington DC mainline (still a mainline but only the part east of Pittsburgh still has passenger trains on it). Galion's Erie Railroad station (not be confused with Galion's Big Four station, which stilll stands). This station was a little farther south, shown here about 1905. This station and its Chicago - Lima - Akron - Youngstown - Jamestown NY - Binghamton - New York City mainline was removed west of Akron. And, for all intents, is a streak of rust west of Hornell NY. One of my favorites postcards... Not only is the Garrettsville depot gone, but so is the railroad. This busy, double-tracked Cleveland - Pittsburgh mainline hosted Ohio's last commuter train, between Cleveland, Solon, Aurora, Warren and Youngstown, ending in 1977. This station was still served until that time and was demolished soon thereafter. The tracks east of Aurora were removed in 1982 after the steel industry collapsed in the Mahoning Valley. Loudonville's (east of Mansfield) depot in about 1908, on the mainline of the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne and Chicago, later absorbed by the Pennsylvania Railroad for its New York City - Chicago main. Speaking of Mansfield, this was its B&O station, on the line between Newark, Mt. Vernon, Willard and Sandusky. Much of this line has been removed. Most towns having multiple railroad lines also had as many stations. Not Marion. It had the fortune of all three of its railroad lines coming together at the same location, and thus allowed it to have a Union Station (something that few small towns could boast). Serving Marion Union Depot in 1912 were the Erie, Big Four, and C&O. Although this is the Cleveland and Pittsburgh railroad, it was on a branch southward along the Ohio River from the C&P's mainline via East Liverpool that linked its namesake cities. The C&P was absorbed into the Pennsylvania Railroad in the early 1900s. This rail line still exists, but the station does not. Note the two milk containers sitting on the platform, ready for shipment on the passenger train's baggage car. Toledo's forgotten station -- for the Ann Arbor Railroad, seen here in 1913. Instead, when many people think of Toledo's old station, they think of this one, below. This beauty fell into disrepair, and was a style not appreciated as America became preoccupied with all things modern. It was demolished as a "community embarrassment" in the 1940s..... ...For the current station, shown here when it was still new in the 1950s. And I figured some of you Toledoans would enjoy this postcard view of Toledo from the since-removed Pennsylvania RR tracks across the river. One of my favorites postcards is this one of Wooster's Pennsylvania RR depot and park in 1911, on the New York City - Chicago mainline. Shows that stations weren't just buildings, but important places in each town where people went to take a breather and watch the nation's commerce roar through town. Again in Wooster, this time in 1913. This station is different from the one above. So I assume it replaced the other depot. Until the next time, when I get some time to resize more scanned postcards and post them to a hosting service....

Way out of my price range. As a former member of the middle class, I'll have to be content with looking in the windows. I hope they don't mind!

Try this on for size... Here's a gallery of construction photos of the new Sound Transit light-rail line in Seattle. The extent of construction is pretty impressive! http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/photogalleries/localnews1375/1.html

Good to see that. Interesting that the ABJ had the story and not the PD. Guess the news was just too positive about Cleveland!

Just came across this. Sounds like an interesting paper by Schumann of LTK Engineering Services which compared the transit systems of Sacramento, CA and Columbus, OH. The original text was found a little more than halfway down the page at... http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm121.htm Comparing Transit Service Performance: Sacramento and Columbus A study by Schumann (2005) compares transit system performance in two similar size cities. The Sacramento Regional Transit District (www.sacrt.com) began building a Light Rail Transit system in 1985, while the Central Ohio Transit Authority (www.cota.com) Columbus failed in its efforts establish a similar system in Columbus, Ohio and so only offers bus transit. During the following 17 years, transit service and ridership increased significantly in Sacramento, but declined in Columbus, while operating costs per passenger-mile increased much more in Columbus than in Sacramento, as indicated in the table below (see the table more than halfway down the page at http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm121.htm ). In addition, voters appear more willing to support dedicated funding for transit systems that include rail transit service. In 1988, a year after the first rail line began operations, Sacramento country voters approved a referendum which provided sales tax funding to operate and expand the transit system. The article’s author argues that Sacramento’s first rail “starter” line gained public support for continual transit service improvements. Out of four Columbus area transit funding referenda between 1986 and 1995, only one passed. As a result of funding shortfalls the transit system has raised fares and reduced service, which helps explain the decline in transit ridership. The author argues that, had Columbus had a rail line in the 1980s there would probably have been more support for public transit funding, leading to a more attractive system and higher ridership now. ###

Here's the site. It includes two parcels, both owned by J. Christopher Enterprises (one of Ferchill's companies)....

It's just south/southeast of the Lorain/Carnegie bridge. I'm working on a map of the site now. And, yes, this thread should probably be combined with the Ferchill thread you found.

While there are bars, taverns, clubs etc. spread throughout the city, there's several concentrations of them.... > along Detroit, between West 117th and Fry Avenue. Many of these offer live music, or like the Phantasy Theater which is a concert club that also has a bar. Some are mainstream, others aren't -- like the chamber, which has goth and industrial. The good thing is, you can always check out one of these clubs from the sidewalk, either by the clientele coming in/out or by the music you can hear. But if you like live music and a brew, this is a good area to check out. > along Madison, between Madison Park and Bunts, is an area referred to as Madison Village. It has different types of small bars and taverns in a concentrated area. This is a good place to sample a wider range of places. There's also some good restaurants in this area. Everybody loves Angelos Pizza, but I think their sauce is too sweet. > along Madison, between Warren and Hilliard, offer a little less of a concentration of bars, but still good. One of my favorites is Mars Bar -- named after Mars Avenue. I have a coworker who lives on Mars. We kid him about that. Mars Bar has nice decor and good people. One time I was in there, two guys in kilts who were playing the bagpipes while walking down the street came in and started playing requests! > along Detroit, in an area called the West End, several popular places are there, including the Riverwood Cafe, Around the Corner, Harry Buffalo -- part of a local chain, and a couple other little spots. Riverwood has live music, as does the 'Corner which also has all kinds of stuff from poetry readings to the Cornhole Tournament (don't ask). That's a few samples. And yes, there's lots of immigrants here. Walk down Cove Avenue from Detroit to Clifton in the summertime. A few years ago, while coming back from Pepper's Cafe (tiny little Italian bistro), I swear I heard a half-dozen different languages being uttered from front porches. I also hear Arabic dance music in the neighborhood when parties are held outdoors. And there are people in my building conversing and arguing in Hungarian, Slovak -- you name it. If I ever move from here (I've lived in this building for 10 years now), it will be a tough decision and a sad day.

Which article are you responding to? The one about John Carroll's expansion?