KJP

Blackwell said his company, which also built and owns Ridge Park Square in Brooklyn and Westwood Town Center in Rocky River, will be performing due diligence on the three-acre parcel this summer. Uh, OK. It ashtonishes me that a developer would continue to own a property while they build more stuff that reduces the value of their existing portfolio. Memo to all those who, for whatever reason, don't already know this: the metro area isn't growing in population or wealth. Thus any new retail square footage added to the existing inventory forces a reduction in retail activity somewhere else. Even though a zero-sum equation is one of the simplest forms of math there is, it apparently is too complicated for certain developers to figure out in recognizing the impacts from their investments. That's assuming they care, of course. But this developer is one whom I thought would care, given their existing portfolio.

^ Finally! An article that recognizes that smarter land use is at least as important as better transit, if not moreso, in reducing our oil appetite.

The W appears to be Woolpert Consultants logo. Which would make sense since URS consultants is also listed, as it what appears to be Cleveland's city logo.

That looks like a really great, vibrant ethnic neighborhood. I absolutely love it! Now I know one of the places I'm going to visit the next time I'm in NYC. I see that MTA would rather have taggers paint its stations than have its own crews do the honors. And that's some grit along the way, like what I would have expected during the Robert Moses era.

It wouldn't hurt to write to Mayor George, but I would certainly find out who your councilperson is and write to them. Emphasize that this project will allow the West Shore communities to tap into more pots of federal funding to add even better safety devices at road crossings and to create quiet zones to limit train horns. It's time to turn the rail line from a local liability into a community asset. Remind him/her that Lakewood is a streetcar suburb, and that commuter rail can be its 21st-century transportation lifeblood to pump new life into the city's central business district along Detroit Avenue and the surrounding neighborhoods. For my own personal tale, I don't usually ride the 3/26 or the circulator west on Detroit Avenue (instead I use those routes to head to the rapid stations at West Boulevard or West 117th). But recently I used both buses to head west, and my God those things are SLOW. I watched with amazement as a cyclist outdistanced us along Detroit Avenue. That cannot continue to be the only transit resource for Lakewood's principal business district. It may make for a nice feeder to something faster, like the rail service, but the buses can't be the best we can do for our high-density suburb and for the city's largest employers (Lakewood Hospital, UTU, Kaiser Permanente and others in Lakewood's CBD).

No, it's not just you. See my comments and those that followed several posts back in this thread.

Thanks, but it isn't willpower that usually causes an alcoholic to quit drinking. It's often the fear of an early death. I'm pretty sure I would have been dead in five years at the increasing rate I was drinking. I never thought of that one. Great choice!

Perhaps if Jane was still in office, this wouldn't even be an issue.

I don't think that's the case anymore, and where it still is, the opposition is dramatically lessening. There's an increasingly larger cadre of pro-rail folks working to address concerns and to learn what people want so we can turn this rail line into a community asset. On my scorecard, I count only two mayoral opponents -- one of them just resigned after being indicted and I just met with the other who may be willing to support commuter rail if it won't break the deal with NS that limits the freight train traffic. Of the Cleveland councilmen, I have found no opposition and, in the case of Jay Westbrook (Cudell neighborhood), outright support. Ditto from Cudell Improvement Inc.'s Executive Director Anita Brindza. Catholic Community Action, based in Cudell and one of Kucinich's prime constituencies, contacted me to find out how they can help the cause. We're not quite there yet, but we're getting there. There's no question that the energy for this is coming from Lorain County, but there are others who are pushing hard, including a few of us here in Lakewood (one of them is Lakewood Mayor Tom George's right-hand man). And, there are some events being planned for later this summer that, if they happen, are going to wake up some people as to how much support there really is -- on both sides of the county line (and even into Erie County).

I'll bet the rendering MayDay posted is probably more recent, since it is the one being used right now as part of their sales pitch. The rendering I posted was from a year ago, when the project was officially announced. As to it complementing Lighthouse Landing, I say that because it's seems a natural progression or stepping up of building heights from the river. You've got what looks to be 4-5 story buildings, then a 14-story building, followed by LL's 18-story first phase and then their 22-story second phase. And, the way the buildings might be situated, the views from each don't appear to be blocked by the others.

There's no way to know. The only way it will happen is if the people who are supporting and promoting it are tenacious enough to build the energy and keep it going. That lack of enduring energy has killed many a good idea. And, although I'm not an oddsmaker, I will say I'm very encouraged by the outpouring of support for the idea. Even those who were opposed or even lukewarm to the idea are now supporting, or at least willing to support the regional rail service once a full description of the proposal is presented to them. There literally is something for everybody in this cornucopia basket -- increased safety, quiet zones, enhanced property values near the rail line (more $ for schools), bike paths, transit oriented development, reduced demand for surface parking lot in commercial and downtown areas and, oh by the way, the rising cost of driving that second or third car that sits idle for 90-95 percent of the day. With the gas prices, the availability of low-cost rail cars and locomotives, plus a rail line that's lightly used through some of the densely populated neighborhoods between New York and Chicago -- the timing couldn't be much better.

Nice pics of the Nashville station. Hopefully we can do something similar here in Greater Cleveland soon.

The angle isn't right for the office building. The taller building shown above looks to be east or possibly southeast of the transient dock along the river. The office building is north or northwest of the FEB development area. Plus the building shown above has balconies and looks residential. EDIT: I just checked another rendering, and you can see the taller building in it (which is actually northeast of the transient dock). I didn't realize that building was going to be that big (sure would be nicely complemented by Shaia's Lighthouse Landing!)

Still, that's for the courts to deal with, not the media, IMHO. Publicizing it may boost a media outet's ratings/readership, but I think some things are more important than that to the community. Just report what's going on without giving some punks some musical air time that might encourage others to follow suit.

^ That's great to see. And glad the feds are involved. Need the manpower. But why would the PD want the gang's rap recordings? The last thing these guys need is to have their publicized and glamourized, and their crime spree memorialized. At Sun, I've come across this kind of "crime momento" stuff before, and I just don't see the need to give it any limelight. That's just what these losers want.

In the rendering, the 14-story or so building in the background almost looks like one of the condo buildings proposed by Kassouf... I wasn't aware that Wolstein was proposing any buildings that tall. Hmmm.

How do I know the name Jennifer Wray? Wasn't she just hired for some new position somewhere? Mind getting foggy here....

That's often true of the large, so-called Class 1 railroads. But regional railroads and short-line railroads are still very interested in car-load and even less-than-carload deliveries. That's also the same year that Congress passed and Woodrow Wilson signed the nation's first federal-aid highway act... And, while what you say is true about the total route miles of railroad, the total number of track-miles for railroads continued to increase until 1928 as the railroad companies added more tracks to existing lines.

An orange jumpsuit (aka The Jailhouse Toga)

The homophobes would say that "the Slovenians didn't choose to be Slovenian." I suspect that's the origin of the term "alternative lifestyle" comes from -- those who use the term believe it's a lifestyle chosen.

Both are horrible, but to single out only cigarettes is the fallacy of the smoke-free workplace advocacy crowd. How many cigarettes can fit in a car's exhaust pipe(s)? How many exhaust pipes do we have in this country? How many in the world? I'm sorry -- weren't we discussing our favorite places in town?

I've said this before, too, and I'll say it again -- we need a core city newspaper (preferably an Internet-based one). I'd love to start one, but I'd need a daddy-warbucks to get it started since I'm flat boke. I even know several other reporters who'd be willing to write for it and tell the public all that's going on and all the things we already have. But, gotta have a sugar daddy!

From the School of Hard Knocks and their continuing education program called Life: Al-co-hol-ism = an addiction to alcohol where you drink increasingly greater amounts just to feel "normal" After numerous times of trying to moderate my drinking over 20 years, I ended up only drinking more. I quit several times but went into depressions. So finally, I quit drinking on July 20, 2003, did the 12 steps, went to AA, and so on. I've been sober ever since. However, I have yet to quit smoking (well, I've quit numerous times but none for more than a few years) nor have I dumped the Diet Coke. Those are next on my things to do.

OK folks, here's a wild one ... a solar-powered steam locomotive! http://solarsteamtrain.com/cms/

Best Coffee Shop I'm not a big fan of coffee shops or coffee, but I do like sitting out in front of Rocco's on Huron and taking in the street life. Best Restaurant (food) Sorry, I know it's not cool around here to go for chain restaurants, but I really like the Flo's Filet at Longhorn's Steakhouse. Best Restaurant (atmosphere) Pepper's Cafe. It's a tiny (28-seat) Italian restaurant on Detroit Avenue in Lakewood that plays Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Louie Prima and all the Italian-American singers and standards from the 50s and 60s. Best Diner Clifton Diner (just because it's the only one I ever go to) Best Bar Even when I drank, I didn't go to bars. Tough to afford 20 beers at bar prices. Best Shop Wings Hobby Shop. Best selection of railroad and transit books in Northeast Ohio. Best Neighborhood Little Italy Best Bus or Rapid Line Green Line, east of Shaker Square. Love looking at mansions from the windows of a train. Best Summer Event Watching numerous cities' Fourth of July Fireworks from the roof of my building. Best Abandoned Building Gospel Press in Tremont