KJP

Does James Ewinger know that RTA is funded primarily by a 1-percent countywide sales tax? He mentioned everything else but that. I hope that was just an oversight.

I wasn't able to attend the meeting since today is deadline day at the paragraph factory. But I was able to interview a number of officials who were there. My understanding is that this is the FIRST TIME that ODOT has undertaken an economic impact study. Also, as part of the impact study, ODOT would show things like how heavy the traffic will be on various streets -- suggesting that is a positive. Extent of vehicular traffic in a particular vicinity may be of importance to retailers, but not to office, light industrial or other non-retail commercial uses. Futhermore, in a downtown/urban-core area, I question how valuable vehicular traffic figures are to retailers, as motorists usually can't just pull into a parking space and walk in after spotting a retailer. Foot traffic is often more important. But ODOT don't do the pedestrian thang.

Here's another thing: Farmland preservation. There's the ethanol issue, eating and, for those who measure things only in dollars and cents, few land uses have as positive a net fiscal impact on the local taxbase as farms. They pay their taxes but require few if any public services in return. Check out this analysis by the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission http://www.regionalconnections.org/documents/pdf/fiscalimpacts.pdf or The Pennsylvania State University http://cax.aers.psu.edu/localgovernment/Landuse.htm Here's another one: in Geauga County and elsewhere, the Amish and Mennonite way of life is under assault from development and traffic. And these folks vote in more elections than most of us.

Cool. But I don't think this administration cares what most of Congress or anyone else outside the NeoCon agenda thinks. It's probably the thinking part that scares them, if not the part that compromises their belief that they are God's chosen caretakers of the globe.

Boy, that's pretty morbid! The way your e-mail started, I was expecting to read something about a hurricane whipping up from Lake Erie -- not a WMD incident.

"If you want go backwards, try standing still, as others are moving forward." --Ken Prendergast

Just in case you haven't heard, there's a conference coming up in several weeks about the Euclid Corridor, redevelopment and the transit, informational and intellectual infrastructure. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend, so I hope a fellow UrbanOhio'er goes so I can hear what happens.... __________________ http://www.uli.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Events_Registration&Template=/Conference/ConferenceDescription.cfm&ConferenceID=1407 Euclid Avenue Conductivity – Education, Research, Development Universities and research centers are no longer islands of intellectual pursuits. They are critical components of a region’s economic future. Cleveland’s vision for an “intellectual highway ” paralleling the Euclid Avenue Transit Corridor is becoming a reality. The prerequisite technology, research and transportation infrastructure investments are underway. Join us to learn about the scale of these public/private investments and the opportunities to leverage them for technology related and mixed-use developments. Wednesday, March 15th 2006 The 4415 Building 4415 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44103 3:30 PM Registration and Badge Pickup 4:00 PM until 5:30 PM Panel Networking Reception and Building Tours will follow. ULI Members: $40 – Nonmembers: $50 YLG and Public Sector: $30 Please note: Registrations made after the March 9th deadline are considered “at the door”. Fees increase by $10 for “at the door” registration. For on-line registration go to: http://www.uli.org/events/index.cfm?id=1407 Please Park & Enter on the West side of the Building. We are meeting in an area currently under development. Please be aware and wear sensible shoes. Moderator: Hunter Morrison Director of the Center for Regional Studies and Urban Development, Youngstown State University Panelists: Lev Gonick, Chief Information Officer Case Western Reserve University Gordon Priemer, President & CEO Heartland Development LLC and Developer of The 4415 Building Jack Boyle, Vice President of Business Affairs & Finance Cleveland State University Russell Berusch, Vice President of Commercial Development, Case Western Reserve University James A. Haviland, Executive Director MidTown Cleveland, Inc. Please note: Registrations made after the March 9th deadline are considered “at the door” Fees increase by $10 for “at the door” registration. Registration limited to: 110 Registration Deadline: Thursday, March 9th 2006 After March 9th call 440 461-4233. http://www.uli.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Events_Registration&Template=/Conference/ConferenceDescription.cfm&ConferenceID=1407

^ 2,000 of them are in Cuyaoga County Jail. It's the most high-density residential area downtown!

Just a reminder that the Inner Belt meeting is tomorrow morning. It is open to the public.

I posted the following message in a string unrelated to Cleveland, and felt this subject deserved its own thread. This is just my idea, so I'd be interested in hearing ideas and discussion by others. ...All of this makes me wonder about the roles of a regional development organization (the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority), a regional transportation agency (the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority), a regional infrastructure agency (the Cuyahoga County Engineer), as well as the role of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency. To me, there's something that says there ought to be a uniting of missions here, but the dots aren't being connected yet in the minds of Greater Cleveland's leaders. Brewing in my mind is a ballot issue that does the following: 1. merges the port authority, the county engineer and the transit authority into a Regional Transportation Development Authority; 2. establishes an elected board; 3. increases the countywide sales tax by 0.5 percent for the RTDA on a renewable or permanent basis, and adds a 20-year bond issue to move the port to the island, get the RTDA some up-front capital/brownfield funding; 4. requires the RTDA to develop within 15 years(?) a 300-mile network of trails, a 60-mile rail rapid transit network, a 60-mile bus rapid transit network, and a 150-mile regional passenger and enhanced freight rail network with capital funding for all these paid for by existing taxes/fees, the approved sales tax/bond issue, plus matching funds from state and federal sources, and expanded operating funding from TIF sources and other development revenues; 5. requires the sum of all transit services to achieve a minimum farebox contribution to 30 percent of total system costs within 10 years and 50 percent within 20 years; 5. requires the RTDA to work with NOACA on developing a regional land use plan to increase development densities in designated station areas, maximize transit ridership, cap growth of vehicle-miles traveled regionwide, promote racial harmony and enhance economic opportunity. Anyone think it will sell?

You can always edit your message

According to one report, commuters can experience greater stress than fighter pilots going into battle or riot policemen. While fighter pilots are trained to manage stress and policemen can do things to fight back, commuters cannot control traffic patterns, weather or other drivers. Statistics * The average commute to work in the U.S. is 50 minutes. Long distance commuters are mostly male. Women make 16 percent of the long distance commutes. * According to a U.S. Census Bureau study, over three million Americans endure daily commutes of 90 minutes or more each way to work and they are among the fastest growing segment of commuters. * There are 128 million workers in the U.S. and of those, 76 percent drive alone to work. Two out of every five long commutes start in rural areas. Impact on Health * In a recent study conducted by the University of California at Irvine, researchers found that the stress of commuting takes a major toll on health. It has direct physiological effects such as raising blood pressure and releasing stress hormones. Long commutes (18 miles one way) may also increase the likelihood of having a heart attack due to exposure to high levels of air pollutants, a risk factor for heart disease. * When stressful situations pile up one after another on a long commute, stress hormones are continually being released in the body; it has no chance to recover. This long-term stress can increase your risk of obesity, insomnia, digestive complaints, heart disease, and depression, according to the Mayo Clinic. * Studies have shown that the demands of commuting through heavy traffic often result in emotional and behavioral deficits upon arrival at home or work. Higher levels of commuting distance, time, and speed are significantly positively correlated with increased systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The prolonged experience of commuting stress is known to suppress immune function and shorten longevity. Even daily spells in traffic as brief as 15 minutes have been linked to significant elevations of blood glucose and cholesterol to declines in blood coagulation time - all factors that are associated with cardiovascular disease. Ways to Reduce Stress * Prepare in advance (the night before) clothes, lunch, and briefcase. Also, get enough sleep and wake up early. * Juggle your work hours. Depending on your company's work policy, try other shifts that fit your lifestyle. If your job allows, work from home a few days a week. Distributed Work Programs are a growing trend. They allow employees to split their time between head office, home office, and other workplaces such as community/client offices. * Share your ride especially with someone whose company you enjoy. Studies show that ride sharing lowers commuter stress significantly. * Utilize your time wisely. Use your CD/tape player to learn a foreign language, improve your spirituality, and work on self-improvement. * Give other motorists the benefit of the doubt. The slow driver in front of you could be returning from the funeral of his/her child. Do a favor for another driver, providing it does not endanger traffic flow. See other drivers as equals. They are not out to get you. Sources: Commuter Resource, Herald Journal Health & Medical Resources Guide, Canada Newswire, Daedalus (Vol. 133, Issue 2). ETSU - State Employee Assistance Program, and Washington and Shady Grove Adventist Hospitals. The Health Tip of the Week is for educational purposes only. For additional information, consult your physician. Please feel free to copy and distribute this health resource.

You got me all riled up for nuthin'?! Use them there emoticons pardner, like :wink: or :wave: or :drunk:

Wolstein needs a surface parking lot for a high-density development? And one next to a station on a rail transit line? I don't understand that. While Shaia's proposed development may weaken the price points for Wolstein's residential component, it will strengthen the retail/restaurant component. Furthermore, Shaia's property east of West 10th Street remaining as a surface parking lot is not consistent with the Warehouse District's masterplan. Instead, what Shaia is proposing is almost exactly like what's in the WHD's masterplan for that site. Competition's a bitch.

Good idea. Let's devastate the city and subsidize the automobile even more. Better idea: read the book "The High Cost of Free Parking" by Donald Shoup. A must for anyone interested in the vitality of cities AND suburbs. Go to: http://www.planning.org/bookservice/highcost.htm

^ Hence my idea for the Come Home To Cleveland company that using a marketing campaign to reel in those living in the suburbs or in other cities, then works with local, urban-savvy realtors to find urban places that fit their lifestyles, transportation needs etc. See the thread at: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=7198.msg76597#msg76597

:shoot:

Cleveland has two hospitals right on the edge of downtown -- St. Vincent Charity Hospital is the closest, being 1-mile from Public Square. Next closest is Lutheran Hospital, on West 25th in Ohio City. It's about 1.2 miles from Public Square.

^ I think that's why I really like that area from a visual perspective. But it also is stuck in time socially as well. I knew a woman from Jackson who, like other women there, got married fresh out of high school and started raising a family right away. Her husband was physically abusive and he refused to let her work, instead telling her to stay home with the kids. She was a bright lady who divorced him and moved to Cleveland to get a college education and a career. Ironically, her kids followed her here. Sorry for the tangential story there. I really liked those pictures, though. If I ever wanted to be a hermit, I'd pick an area like that, and live on a plot of lot just outside one of those quaint towns.

I live in Lakewood, which is about as urban as suburban can get. But I guess my address qualifies me as a suburbanite, even though I live three blocks from the Cleveland city limits. Things that draw me downtown are meetings and festivals. Which, if you think about it, that's been a notable function of the hearts of cities for hundreds, if not thousands of years. While I'm downtown, I often do a little bit of shopping and walking around. Problem is, in some of the areas I visit for meetings, there is very little mixed use (read all retail, but especially niche retail that doesn't exist in the 'burbs) along the sidewalks for me to browse. So I often end up heading straight for the car, bus or rapid for the ride back out.

Anyone want to know why oil prices have been rising dramatically in the last two years? This chart from the very cautious U.S. Energy Information Administration (part of the U.S. Dept. of Energy) says a lot.... http://www.theoildrum.com/uploads/12/monthly_total_jan06.jpg Production typically matches consumption 1:1. While demand for oil continues to rise at rates similar to those before 2004, production has not kept up. In fact, this chart shows production leveling off. Could production start to decline? Yes, and very soon. Consider this next graphic and the information at the bottom of it... http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/NA-AH703_MEXOIL_20060208202012.gif If Ghawar is past its peak, then world oil production is past its peak. Many of these huge, older fields are being kept up by injecting sea water, CO2 and NO into them. The United Arab Emrites did the same thing in the 1980s and 90s and their major oil field's production didn't just wane as it got older -- it collapsed. Of course, this weekend's attacks in Nigeria, the U.S.'s fifth-largest oil supplier will cause some havoc in the oil markets this week. Don't be surprised to see prices spike at your local gas station soon. Fill your tanks before Tuesday, IMO.

Also see my message at: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=7669.msg78638#msg78638 The metaphor in that message applies equally to this discussion as well

This whole region needs to be reminded (informed?) through a comprehensive campaign that we all live in the same building together. That building is called Greater Cleveland. It doesn't make sense to keep adding on to that building we're having virtually no luck attracting more tenants, while older parts of the building are literally falling apart and nearly empty. If we are to add more tenants, we need to do major renovations to the older parts of the building and make sure the newer parts are well maintained. Then we'll have a better shot at attracting more tenants. This metaphor applies equally to the other discussion about the I-90 interchange in Avon at http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=7670.msg78619#msg78619

Maybe development (er, economic dislocation) needs to be strangled, Mr. Twining. If I were running the city of Cleveland and the First Suburbs Consortium, I draw a line in the sand right now. File a lawsuit under the U.S. Clean Air Act, or cite NOACA's Statement of Principles, or simply threaten to withhold Cleveland water to any suburb whose representative on the NOACA board votes to approve the Avon interchange. It's time to put an end to this madness. By the way, here's NOACA’s Statement of Principles, which the board made its use mandatory in deliberations by its governing board, its advisory committees and staff. These principles specifically require NOACA to:  Comply with ISTEA and the Clean Air Act;  Enhance the natural environment and quality of life of the NOACA region by minimizing the adverse impacts of incremental transportation investments on the environment and existing communities (italics added), requesting staff to identify the anticipated impacts of the proposed projects;  Support the planning activities of counties and communities within the region by having staff consult with these agencies when evaluating incremental transportation investments;  Solicit all funding that is available for the region and use it prudently on the transportation needs of the region;  Maximize the efficiency of the existing transportation system by requesting staff to identify and evaluate transportation systems management (TSM) alternatives;  Encourage the use of public transportation;  Ensure that decisions regarding TIP amendments are fully informed and deliberated by requiring that all necessary information regarding proposed amendments be provided to the staff for evaluation;  Encourage efficient, compact land use development that facilitates mobility, saves infrastructure costs, preserves environmentally-sensitive and agricultural lands and enhances the economic viability of existing communities in the region; and  Ensure that transportation investments enhance racial and cultural harmony.

All of these projects and concepts are formalized to some degree by the city, CDCs, RTA, Congress and so on. But consolidating the Rapid lines in the OC Boulevard median is just an idea that exists in my over-active imagination and which hasn't been formalized yet by any public body. I hope to change that, and it needs to start with RTA. So if you want to see these things happen, get the word out to RTA, to Cleveland City Council representatives, to the CDCs and so on. RTA has a lot of stuff on their plate, and the only thing that will get their attention is noise (harmonies are better!). Will RTA seek this? Right now, there's no way to know. Only if they can be convinced that simply offering bus service on the OC Boulevard is not beneficial to them. I think I've shown that, because it creates an oversupply of transit service in the area -- already served by two parallel rail Rapid transit lines that are not performing well. I contend that there already is an oversupply of transit there, given the abandonment which that area has seen. So what do you do? Like a business, you use someone else's money to reduce your capital costs, your operating costs and increase your revenues.... > Use ODOT funding to create your right of way (the OC Boulevard median). > Develop TODs at west-side stations by recognizing that those station parking lots are untapped cash machines. Use federal CMAQ funds (through NOACA) to build parking decks to avail land for development. > That development will generate parking/real estate revenues for RTA. > Use those revenues to float bonds to raise funding up-front for the local share of the OC Boulevard rail facility construction costs. Leverage federal funding for the remainder (at least a 50/50 matching basis). > Sell the abandoned portions of the Blue/Green and Red lines to reimburse part of the capital costs, or to undertake other transit capital investments. > Work with the city, the CDCs, the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority and developers to develop the areas around stations with walkable neighborhoods, which in turn would be surrounded with light/heavy industrial uses. Add all that up, and RTA has just reduced its operating cost centers, replaced two 70- to 80-year-old rail transit routes with one brand-new route, created potent ridership/revenue generators in the Forgotten Triangle (as well as at the West Side stations), enhanced the connectivity of transit routes and turned an economic dead zone into a highly accessible magnet for jobs, housing, shopping and upward economic mobility. I don't think I can state it more plainly than that.