KJP

Here's my take... If Forest City wants a better convention center (and, for that matter, a non-duplication of multiple public facilities downtown), then link up what we already have by improving Public Square (including all-weather pedestrian linkages). Public Square can and should be the keystone to all that's being considered: * better convention center (best to rebuild what we have than build new behind Tower City while leaving the existing facility vacant) * pedestrian promenade over the tracks/Shoreway to North Coast Harbor, including a North Coast Transportation Center * retractable roof over Browns Stadium (privately financed) * improved Public Square, including an all-weather, traffic-free pedestrian link between Tower City (plus Gateway) and a rebuilt convention center Consider the critical mass that can be unleased by unlocking Public Square. Consider also the wasted space that would result if don't better utilize Public Square, put a convention center behind Tower City and leave Browns Stadium the way it is... * Browns Stadium remains a cold, quiet, white elephant on valuable lakefront land; * The existing convention center is left to sit vacant and face an uncertain future; * Public Square remains a windswept, monolithic place only for people to pass through, often in fast-moving vehicles; * North Coast Harbor stay cut off from downtown, as the only pedestrian linkages are along windy, noisy steet bridges with zero sidewalk life; * Tower City sits in the corner, isolated from the rest of downtown. To me, Public Square's redesign must be part of a package, including the convention center, North Coast-Downtown promenade and Browns Stadium roof. I hope people see we already have the pearls downtown to make something truly special. We just need to string them together to create more from the sum of those parts. Public Square is the key.

If Stark follows the Warehouse District's masterplan, the number of units in the "powerblock" could easily tip 600 (that doesn't include the parcel NW of the West 3rd/St. Clair intersection that's part of this). Look for a similar number of units in the block east of East 9th. So delete that 300 number for Stark and replace it with at least 600 for the so-called first phase (which we're all assuming that it would be). And potentially could be 1,200 units for the area bounded by West 9th, St. Clair, West 3rd and Superior. Should we add Lighthouse Landing to this? If so, that's another 228 units in the mix (instead of Wolstein keeping that property as a freaking parking lot!).

Here's a little map I drew for the Sun News article, roughly showing the Flats West Bank development area (and comparing it in size to the East Bank development area)....

How many housing units were added downtown since 2000? And I assume that the 6,000 population is just in the downtown area, not in all of District 3 (which I also assume goes all the way down to South Broadway?).

I believe the city considers downtown as being within the boundaries of the river, lake and Inner Belt. Until the next census tract data comes out, a good way to figure out current and future housing is to take the number of housing units and multiply by them 1.5 people. Steve Strnisha says the Flats East Bank project will likely have about 500 residents in its 340 units. That works out to about 1.47 people per unit. Strnisha also said downtown has about 10,000 residents (including the 2K in county jail). He believes downtown will see start to reach the point of critical mass when the population hits 15,000. It shouldn't take long to reach that.

I live one block from Fry and I never before heard a peep about an arson until I read this article. Let alone three homes set afire. I'll have to stroll by and take a look. Glad to hear the Cleveland Clinic is pressing ahead with its building. I hope it's more than just a one-story, suburban-style building with a parking in front. Put the damn lot in back, or maybe on the side.

The zeroing out of Small Starts/Very Small Starts is ridiculous. Let's see ... gas prices are rising, global warming is rising, people are flocking to transit and rediscovering cities... Dammit let's put a stop to such foolishness!! What did the voters think they elected us for? To save the nation? Silly voters! :ass:

Interesting stuff, MyTwoSense. I don't doubt the influx of downtown residents and their incomes will cause things to change. With retail-savvy folks like Stark ready to invest downtown, I think we'll see some retailers downtown that we've never seen there, or possibly anywhere in Northeast Ohio (or maybe even anywhere in the state).

We can debate the ranking of these businesses (ie: I don't consider Hard Rock Cafe anything special, but I see you left out Gucci from your argument). But my point was that Cleveland is not among the top places retailers want to be. When I travel around the country and go to a chain restaurant or retailer, I seek out a map/roster that shows cities where they have other locations. Too often, Cleveland is not on the map/roster. That's why I took issue with your earlier statement.

No renderings yet (at least that they're willing to make available publicly). The development area includes the expanse of parking lots -- in other words, structured parking replaces surface lots where possible. Right now, the development is still conceptual. And if there are any hard details, they weren't willing to share them because of the discussions still ongoing with existing property owners. Here's one little tidbit -- Corna told me the Tenk building on Center Street has already been bought. But when I double-checked with the auditor's website, it still showed the property owned by some guy with the last name Tenk. I didn't feel comfortable with that so I didn't put the tidbit in the paper. The transaction date may have been post-dated, but still....

Ha Ha. You snooze, you lose. :sleep:

Oh shit, purple curtains, here we come! :-o

Don't apologize. If someone can walk and chew gum at the same time, way to go!

The funny thing is we have TODs all around and don't even realize it. Most were built from the 1890s into the 1930s. Most of you have heard their names -- Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights, East Cleveland, Glenville, Collinwood, Slavic Village, Old Brooklyn, Edgewater, Cudell, West Park, Lakewood, ...or Short North, Clintonville, parts of Bexley, Upper Arlington, Grandview Heights, ...or Oakwood, parts of Kettering, Northridge, ...or Clifton, Mt. Auburn, Walnut Hills, Evanston, Norwood, Reading, Lockland, Elmwood Place, Cumminsville, Fairmount... And, of course, the most well known TODs but long since damaged: Downtown Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron, Youngstown, Canton... There are several threads here dealing specifically with TOD: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=4859.0 http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=1666.0 http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=3885.0 http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=1789.0 Plus a couple of articles I wrote on TOD for Sun are here: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=1977.0 That should keep you busy!

Me neither. One thing also surprises me is how few people know what the hell a wind turbine is. When they ask what a wind turbine is, I reply "It's just a turbine driven by the wind." What's a turbine? they ask. Um, OK, a turbine is like a motor, but instead of using energy, it generates it. The more accurate description is that it's a rotary machine that captures the kinetic energy of a liquid or gas (like water or air). I guess no one knows what a sawmill or a windmill is anymore (or a hydroelectric power plant for crying out loud). Stop watching American Idol, OK folks? And switch over to freakin' the Discovery Channel :-(

That, by the way, represents a five-year loss of $43.7 billion! Take note also that while America's airlines are saddled with losses, Europe's airlines are making small profits. I suspect an important reason for that is European airlines don't have to serve short-haul markets (less than 300 miles) whereas U.S. airlines do in order to preserve feeder traffic. Instead, in Europe, their short-haul flights are actually fast trains linked to airports, downtowns and small towns. Few things are as efficient as an airliner that cruises at 30,000+ feet. Conversely, when an airliner ascends and descends, that is when it burns most of its fuel. Thus, short-haul flights that spend only a few minutes at the optimum altitude are incredibly expensive. That was the case even before the price of oil started rising several years ago. Now, if U.S. airlines were smart, they'd be politically supporting a major investment program in high-speed rail. The future of the airline industry may depend on it.

That's too bad. Do things change in Columbus that slowly? Ducking for cover now....

Does that also include IKEA? Armani Exchange? FAO Schwarz? Burberry? Gucci? DoubleTree Hotel? Plus, wasn't it just a year or two ago that the metro area got its first Cheesecake Factory? Trader Joe's? H&M? A few others I'm not thinking of right now.... Fact is, we're not a first-tier (NYC, LAX, CHI) or even second-tier city anymore (BOS, PHL, WDC, DAL, SFO, DET). Maybe that will change someday, but let's do the hard work first, then congratulate ourselves.

It was even worse in the years between WWII and the start of Amtrak. Government at all levels poured nearly $1 trillion into roads and zip on railroads. Thus, from WWII to the present, total government spending on roads was $3 trillion and about $50 billion on railroads. I think the amazing story here is that we have any railroads left at all in this country with public policy so distorted in favor of pavement-based transport. But those who don't bother to look at such figures say the decline of railroads was due to the free market. If that's a free market, then I'm 6-foot-10, muscular and have a full head of hair.

^ Hey, that's my job to harp on them about that (but thanks for the back up X)! Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend since we don't have trains between Cleveland and Columbus (at least ones that you can legally ride!). I will be at a meeting in Cleveland on that very subject on Saturday. A fellow UrbanOhioan from Columbus will be at the meeting, too. I hope to attend next year's.

Thanks. I also wrote articles on the MetroHealth Senior Wellness Center, the details of the CPP electrical workers contract, a short on RTA's new zoo bus route, and a few others things that are escaping my memory. Later this summer (July? August?), I'd like to do a round-up of all that's happening downtown development-wise. Could be a nice advertising piece. At some point however, I'd like to see Sun start a new paper just for downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods. I'd call it the Center City Sun. For now, Sun's brass will stick with their Weekend insert in the center of the paper, which has some downtown entertainment stuff in there. With downtown's population (and incomes) rising fast and are due to rise faster in the coming years, I think the Center City Sun will be inevitable. It just makes too much sense not to do it.

^ Actually, it had more to do with rising domestic inventories of crude oil and unleaded gasonline.

^ I don't see the correlation.

Given how lightly used Prospect is behind Terminal Tower, why not divert traffic to that street? A similar situation exists, though not quite the same, on Rockwell. If you make the urban core more pedestrian friendly and high density, than the need for as much vehicular traffic that we have at present won't be needed any more. Geez, look at cities where pedestrians dominate the streets. Even a city like Tokyo has much more pedestrian traffic than vehicular traffic.

When I get home from work, I will post a graphic I made for the article. Thanks for posting the article and for your the comments. One other thing I forgot to mention in the article is that the developers want the city to put the overhead utility wires, now on poles, below ground. That, plus the improvements to Wendy Park, constitute the "subsidy/public assistance" the developers are seeking.