KJP

Franklin Castle is on the north side of Franklin Boulevard, in the West 30s. It's a huge stone house built in the 1800s. Lovely building. Marty Gelfand is Congressman Dennis Kucinich's staff counsel. Marty happily shares all information about the growing support for West Shore commuter rail to his boss.

I just found a website for the cheap Chinatown buses, and I see that Cleveland isn't the only city in Ohio serving as a destination point.... http://www.nychinatown.org/directory/m_bus.html#ohio TL Travel Bus. 1 bus daily. pickup/dropoff: NYC, 96 Canal St. (at Eldridge St.) to Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati 347-203-2209 (NY), 917-288-6888 Five Stars Travel. 1 bus daily, Sat-Thurs. From NYC: 21 Allen St ticket office. to Youngstown, OH. to Canton-Akron, OH. to Cleveland, OH. Asia Plaza, 2999 30th St note: little, to no english spoken. 212-625-1925 (NY), 917-578-5861 (cell)

It's funny how everyone outside (and many inside) of metro Cleveland think of us as a smoky industrial town, when our manufacturing component represents only 25 percent of the employment base. That's not too far different from many other major cities. And, as a reporter, I've come to be aware of many manufacturing companies that are involved in sustainable practices and products. Perhaps its because most of the "dirty" manufacturers have left for nations where the environmental regulations are slim and/or none?

Yeah, at least I'm pimping my own digs.

Collinwood is very tight, as the CSX intermodal terminal there is already near capacity.

Glad to hear about the Higbee's building. I was noticing yesterday how sorry the building was looking.

True, Lakewood is very similar to Cleveland Heights in many ways. But we have a better lakefront! And at Pier W, the food is better than average, but often not worth the price, IMHO. You're paying for the view. After dinner, wander out on the overlook deck to get a better view. If it's a windy night, hang on to the railing! The gusts there are ferocious!!

If the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad has its way, there will be rail access from downtown to Steelyard Commons and southward. The CVSR has acquired from New Jersey Transit some 1950s-era Rail Diesel Cars (at least one of which has been refurbished). Their concept is to use these cars for events for smaller groups, as well as for a possible shuttle train service between downtown and the north end of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I don't know how often it might run, and I suspect CVSR doesn't yet know for certain either. But I would bet something running hourly is possible. Gotta get the OK from CSX to use their tracks north of Independence -- and that's the tough issue to crack.

Last I heard is that the developer was having a hard time getting hoteliers to sign leases for the project. Worse, that was reinforcing Calabrese's belief that getting TOD to happen around rapid stations would be a slim opportunity. So was the BS that happened with the plan to develop housing around the Ohio City station (you'll remember that the Duck Island residents fought it because it was too dense. Hey you idiots -- you live a mile from Public Square, and that's not Medina's public square!).

ECTP Construction Update (E. 81st - E. 86th Street) The interesections of East 82nd, East 84th and East 85th Streets, north of Euclid Avenue, will be closed for pavement removal, beginning Tuesday, Oct. 24. Please follow all posted detour traffic signs. All eastbound and westbound pedestrian traffic will be detoured at East 81st and East 86th Streets. RTA bus routes will not be impacted. For more information, please contact the Project Office at 216-771-4144.

Well... Come Home to Cleveland!

Lakewood's historical architecture (a very brief glimpse): Lakewood's great skyline views: Plus, Lakewood's own skyline.... Lakewood's professional sports: OK, so it's not professional sports. But where downtown can you rent an apartment and enjoy some of the best high school football in the state from your own balcony or your building's roof? You can on Madison Avenue. And downtown Cleveland's sports venues are just a 15-minute trip east on the #55 bus or Red Line train... Lakewood's theaters: The Phantasy Theater (a movie theater turned concert club on Detroit Avenue)... Beck Center for the Arts... And we still have the Detroit movie theater. Lakewood's up-scale restaurants: Pier W (in Winton Place - taller than any residential building downtown!) Swingos on the Lake (in the Carlyle) http://www.swingos.com/ Plus a few other restaurants that are borderline fine dining. Lakewood's nightlife: The entire Madison Avenue has numerous clubs, many of which are cozy little taverns. But there are larger, more thematic places along the "Madison Walk" -- so named for the birthday ritual of having one free drink at every establishment along Madison. If you can do them all (30+) in a day, congratulations! You've just completed the Madison Walk. At the northwest corner of the city are a collection of clubs, including the Riverwood Cafe, Around the Corner and others. In the northeast corner along Detroit Avenue are a number of concert clubs. In addition to the Phantasy Theater are the 5 O'clock Club, the Hi-Fi Club, The Chamber.... ...and mixed in among these venues is the Virginia Marti College.... Oh, and by the way, Lakewood has a pretty decent school district, too.

IX Center site, even if the building were knocked down, would be a difficult site to serve with rail. It would require all trains serving it to back in and out of the site, and CSX would have to use NS tracks to access it, potentially putting CSX at a competitive disadvantage. Also, construction of access tracks into the site would require depressing the Berea Freeway so that the access tracks could have a grade-separated crossing of the roadway. It's a very complicated, difficult to access site.

http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/inside_edge.asp Indiana Considered For CSX Intermodal Facility Facility Could Mean Large Number of Jobs Inside INdiana Business has learned that CSX Corporation has narrowed its search to Indiana and Ohio for a major intermodal facility. The company says the site would likely require several hundred acres. An intermodal facility is where cargo from trucks and trains is switched or is joined with trains that are then headed to the same location. CSX says an increase in imports from east and west coast ports is fueling the need for a new facility in the Midwest. The company recently visited one of the sites it is considering in North Baltimore, Ohio to meet with the village council and residents. Intermodal facilities have the potential to bring large numbers of jobs to an area. CSX Spokesman Garrick Francis says vendors often locate in the same area to be closer to the facility. Francis didn't give a timetable on when the company is expected to select a site nor did he say which Indiana cities are being considered. On Wednesday, Inside INdiana Business reported that LaPorte County officials are in negotiations with Norfolk Southern Corp. for an intermodal facility in northwest Indiana.

I just got back from the West Shore Corridor Regional Rail stakeholders meeting, which was held at Lorain County Community College. It was an excellent meeting. The law directors of Bay Village, Lakewood and Rocky River met to determine that their bosses (the mayors) want to pursue commuter rail and want their communities' joint agreement with Norfolk Southern (which limits freight train traffic) to be protected. They are now scheduling a meeting with NS to determine how that can be accomplished and if the agreement needs to be amended to include commuter rail while keeping freight rail traffic where it is. We also had a good presentation from a Chicago-based real estate consultant, Stephen Friedman, who showed us how they are doing transit-oriented development and how it can be used as a financing mechanism for adding or expanding rail transit service. There was some good discussion, and for many folks, it was their first exposure to the idea of transit oriented development, let alone using it as a capital funding mechanism. And it's always good to learn from those in other cities how they do things. We also had a representative of the United Transportation Union. If that name rings a bell, it's a major national union headquartered in downtown Lakewood, in the Lakewood Center North building. While the increased number of union jobs from the commuter service is important to them, an even bigger benefit to the UTU is that their headquarters would gain a station site. They believe it will be a huge benefit to have people come in from out of town, take the Red Line from the airport and transfer to the commuter rail service to downtown Lakewood and their back door. And it's also a matter of pride. The UTU can now say their headquarters is served by trains run by their people. And the UTU has a lot of political clout -- especially with some guy named Kucinich.

I'd never heard of this before. We were so eager to demolish what we had already built. We still are to a lesser degree. But back then, demolition seemed to be the order of the day. I like the transit line though, and one proposal was close to being built. It would been routed up Cedar Hill, to Euclid Heights Blvd, Coventry, then generally east along Mayfield or just south of it into Severance Center. The reason it wasn't built is because Cleveland Heights thought the $16 million cost was too much.

According to the Organization of American Historians, land grants were provided in aid of 18,738 miles of railroad routes. At their peak in 1916 (after the land grants had ended by 1900), the railroads had built 254,000 route miles. What percent of the total route mileage was aided by land grants?

I was checking out the area where my new right of way for I-90 would go, and if a straight shot linking I-77 to I-90 were built, it would require taking and demolishing a lot more buildings (and larger ones) than would otherwise be necessary if a slight curve were designed into the new alignment. See below (scroll right)... This spares the Jane Addams High School, the Cedar Estates High Rise (which is being renovated), Cleveland Eye Clinic and Central Cadillac. However, it requires the demolition of a recreation center (I propose to have this rebuilt over the highway) and numerous low-level public housing buildings (which are very old, obsolete and should be replaced with mixed-income, mixed-use development where the Central Interchange now gobbles up the south end of downtown and blocks the Central neighborhood from downtown).

Someone sure had fun with that!

Did we miss this one? http://planning.city.cleveland.oh.us/bza/agendalist.htm# 9:30 Ward 19 Calendar No. 06-198: 10717 Detroit Avenue Dona Brady 11 Notices Helmut F. Schroeder, Trustee for the Gregory Alexander Trust, owner, and Deborah J. Gray, prospective tenant, appeal to change the use of an existing one-story masonry building to an art auction house with a 30 car accessory parking lot and affiliated retail use, proposed to be situated on a 53’ x 191’ parcel, located in a Residence Office District on the south side of Detroit Avenue at 10717 Detroit Avenue; subject to the limitations of a Residence Office District, an art house is not permitted and under the provisions of Section 359.01, the substitution of a nonconforming use requires the Board of Zoning Appeals approval; and an ornamental fence between five and six feet in height is proposed for security purposes where a fence in the required front yard, a ten foot specific setback, may not exceed four feet in height, as stated in Section 358.04(a) of the Codified Ordinances.(Filed 9-21-06)

I was too distracted by the sculpture to notice what was behind it! Talk about metaphorical. That era was often presented publicy as a classy time, but only because the social injustices were kept in the background.

If intercity rail to other cities is to happen, then the only downtown station site it can serve anymore is on the lakefront. Tower City is out, thanks to the construction of the federal courthouse tower. I too am concerned about creating a massive vacancy downtown from building a convention center at Tower City. If someone from the city, county or Forest City had a viable plan in place for the existing convention center, then I might feel more at ease. And, to answer your question MTS, the behind-the-scenes idea right now is to finance construction of the convention center via gambling profits. If we don't get a casino, then we probably won't be able to afford a new/rebuilt convention center anyway.

That store isn't in Lakewood. It's in Cleveland. And there's still a strong chance it may end up at I-90 and West 117th. But everything is up in the air since the announcement of Giant Eagle acquiring those 18 Tops stores. BizBiz, you must live farther west on Clifton, such as in the area of Warren/Bunts? That's not a very mixed-use area, not until you get south of the tracks. Then I would call it the Detroit Road corridor. And, yes, that's a very active area at most hours of the day or night.

If your tires are a little worn, replacing them is a good idea no matter what. Snow tires are unnecessary though, like others have said. If you don't think you'll need your car/vehicle much, consider comparing the costs of parking downtown vs. keeping it at a suburban self-storage place. If your downtown residential place has decent prices on long-term parking, then you'll be fine. If not, consider your options.

Not a very thorough article from an otherwise good reporter. Perhaps he wasn't aware of why an island was being considered rather than merely adding to the existing shore as has been done in the past. Here's a link to an article I wrote for the Stark/Pesht series in January that dealt with the Lake Erie island and port relocation issues... http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=6727.msg70057#msg70057