KJP

Let me stop you all from posting further thoughts on this until I've had a chance to fill in some details -- which I will do after I've had a chance to eat dinner (!). I spent much of today on the phone with various parties involved in this whole matter, and while I don't want to preempt my article on Thursday, you should know some issues involved here. So give me an hour or so before I can elaborate.

So can MayDay take some credit for bringing you back to Ctown?

^ Or at least bicycle patrols. I wrote an article about five year ago when a North Olmsted bicycle patrol officer caught up to and pulled over a Corvette. Of course, on Lorain Road near the mall, that's probably no great challenge!

^ Excellent points (both MGD and CtownD). I also got the whiney tone from Nancy Lesic -- but she was whiney (and downright nasty) when she worked as Mayor White's spokeswoman.

My 75X bus from work in North Olmsted yesterday afternoon was also standing-room only. I don't ride that route that often, so I hadn't seen the ridership for a couple of weeks. But when one woman got on in Fairview Park, she saw about 10 people were standing and said "oh my." I suspect the rising gas prices were a factor -- at least it was for me!

I'm surprised that area is so wide open at-grade. Why isn't there a tall fence along both sides of that right of way? Do that AND add an overpass, and people will use the overpass.

Also, the top level of the LL parking deck will be for public parking. The top level of the deck's east end will be flush with Main Avenue -- so if you're driving down the hill, it will look like a surface parking from that angle. I suspect Wolstein is less pissed about the parking and more pissed that LL might depress residential sale prices at his development. Sorry chief, but it's called competition. If he really is pissed about the parking, then he needs to pay closer attention to the LL plan -- and give more attention to the Waterfront Line.

^ I was just thinking the same thing.

That's funny - cuz I just got that e-mail of the dead flamingos just the other day! Guess it's been going around

Thanks for the links. Nice to hear these stories are getting told.

Systems built before FTA station platform regulations were issued in 1991 (and refined in Sept. 2005) could be built on curves. Not anymore. I'd like to see a station built southeast of downtown, but where it can attract some high-density development around it -- yet potentially link with the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad and some future regional rail service on the Norfolk Southern line. How'd we get on this subject anyway?? We always seem to deviate here!

It was very hazy this morning. I was probably a few buses behind MayDay this morn on my way to the Landmarks Commission meeting (at least I didn't see anyone taking pics on my bus, but we had standees so I couldn't see the whole bus). Good thing no one takes transit in this town.....

Whether or not this is a bonafide proposal, I'm pretty certain all of you will get kick out of these renderings. The first is the original as supplied by the developer. The second is an enhancement I attempted on Photoshop to make the proposed buildings stand out better....

Good thing they didn't get too ambitious and go for a $1 billion package! I hate Ohio sometimes.

Yes, it sounds like we need to rename the thread. I was at the Landmarks Commission meeting this morning. After the Lighthouse Landing presentation, the developer headed out into the hallway where the broadcast media turned it into an inquisition. They were certain this was a power play to get money out of Wolstein. I still haven't made up my mind. But I was so embarassed to be part of the rest of media which apparently already had made up theirs. Tom Beres stood there asking questions with his arms folded and a disbelieving look on his face. Paul Orlowski was there too, probing for the answer he wanted. Assholes! I had already spoken briefly to Tom Starinsky from the Historic Warehouse District Inc. and learned a little tibdit of info... So as the assholes were winding down their interrogation, I asked the developers: when did you first pitch your proposal to the Historic Warehouse District folks? Their answer: 2000. The developers e-mailed to me some images and documents which I will download when I get home and see what I can post here.

Don't forget that MARC runs frequent service on that line, too (in addition to the parallel line via Jessup). The following routes operate into Chicago Union Station, with the first few lines offering trains as frequently as every 5-10 minutes during rush hours: BNSF Line (to Aurora) Milwaukee District West Line (to Elgin) Milwuakee District North Line (to Fox Lake) Southwest Service (Orland Park/Manhattan) [every 30 minutes during rush hours] North Central Line (to Antioch) [every 30 minutes during rush hours] Heritage Line (to Joliet) [only three trains each way during rush hours] Add to that the 50+ Amtrak trains per day and Union Station is a busy place. I don't know if it has more tracks than Washington Union Station. So I suspect MARC could run some very frequent trains to BWI. BTW, this e-mail is also a description of what other states are doing with rail/transit. Chicago Union Station is one busy place! For those of you not familiar with Chicago's Metra system, check out: http://metrarail.com/System_map/index.html

Thanks so much MayDay. People shots in a downtown maketh my urban soul happy. By the way, this zoom shot with the rising deck of the Detroit-Superior Bridge in the background is just too damn cool....

^ Good points. If they wanted to run real frequent (every 15-20 minutes) electrified commuter rail service right into BWI from DC, they'd probably have to increase the capacity of the Northeast Corridor right of way. But since this was originally four tracks and three tracks are there now, this shouldn't be a huge problem or expense.

I'll try writing this again (since my attempt earlier got erased after receiving an error message)... When I interviewed Victor Shaia last January, he was very reluctant to discuss the project publicly until it was formally submitted to the city for review. He said the plan might be altered by then (it was and in numerous ways). That's pretty typical for most of the serious developers/investors I've come across. To me, that doesn't sound like someone putting forth a trojan-horse development plan to simply wring more money out of Wolstein. If I was merely trying to get $$$ from Wolstein, I'd be issuing press releases frequently about my "development plans" and talking up a storm when the media comes a-calling. But there's only one way we'll find out for certain if this is a serious plan....

Problem is, the development opportunities are very limited at East 30th Street. And the station couldn't be located right at the East 30th intersection since the tracks are on a curve -- creates gaps between the platforms and the trains.

My first attempt at responding failed to survive an error message. When I went back to try posting it again, my message was gone. And it wasn't the first time that's happened on this site.....

No problemo

Here's some possibilities with the East 34th Street station (if it were moved to what would be roughly the East 14th area).... BEFORE AFTER

This is VERY cool http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/honda.php Read this story about the commercial... There are no computer graphics or digital tricks in the film. Everything you see really happened in real time exactly as you see it. The film took 606 takes. On the first 605 takes, something, usually very minor, didn't work. They would then have to set the whole thing up again. The crew spent weeks shooting night and day. By the time it was over, they were ready to change professions. The film cost six million dollars and took three months to complete, including full engineering of the sequence. In addition, it is two minutes long so every time Honda airs the film on British television, they're shelling out enough dough to keep any one of us in clover for a lifetime. However, it is fast becoming the most downloaded advertisement in Internet history. Honda executives figure the ad will soon pay for itself simply in "free viewings" (Honda isn't paying a dime to have you watch this commercial!). When the ad was pitched to senior executives, they signed off on it immediately without any hesitation - including the costs. There are six, and only six, hand-made Honda Accords in the world. To the horror of Honda engineers, the filmmakers disassembled two of them to make the film. Everything you see in the film (aside from the walls, floor, ramp and the complete Honda Accord) is parts from those two cars. The voiceover is Garrison Keillor. When the ad was shown to Honda executives, they liked it and commented on how amazing computer graphics have gotten. They fell off their chairs when they found out it was for real.. Oh, and about those funky windshield wipers. On the new Accords, the windshield wipers have water sensors and are designed to start doing their thing automatically as soon as they become wet. It looks a bit weird in the commercial.

I think we're all with ya. Not sure...maybe a month after the quarter ends? I checked to see if the first-quarter report was out for this year, but it isn't yet.