KJP

MGD, There's been articles in the West Side Sun by David Plata and Crain's Stan Bullard about the project. I haven't followed the project too closely, however.

Here's what we need if we want to get going in short order: > Hold a scoping a meeting to identify key organizers of a new group; > Hold a strategy meeting(s) to identify the organization's name, mission, goals and regular activities (newsletter? website? quarterly/annual meetings? fundraisers?); > Hold organizational meetings to develop a charter/bylaws, funding structure (ie: will there be dues or newsletter subscriptions?), and the founding members of the officers and board; > File nonprofit incorporation documents with the Ohio Secretary of State and apply to the IRS for 501©(3) tax-exempt status (that's a must to get foundation grants and corporate donations); > If the group wants to get going on fundraising, get an existing, nonprofit 501©(3) tax-exempt educational organization to serve as your fiscal agent while your IRS application is pending (it can many months if not years to get IRS action); That's it in a nutshell. All of that can easily take six months or more, depending on the amount of time the initial organizers can devote to starting up an organization.

Very cool. I'd be interested in hearing more about this. Please PM me when you get the chance.

Thanks, but there was more to that wording, that used another letter to make the point.

Thank you, Al. I hope they buried you under one of your highways.

Compared to the way I used to be, I pay far less attention to professional sports (or sports overall). In the past, I would have cried tears of joy if the Browns won the Super Bowl. Today, I suspect I would be merely happy -- but partially mad that it didn't happen when I actually cared about the Browns. To show you how things are with me anymore, I wasn't able to remember the name of the Browns coach the other day. But in the 1980s, I could tell you Sam Rutigliano's or Marty Schottenheimer's won-loss record at any given point, his coaching career, his alma mater, his assistant coaches, etc. etc. I have no idea who Romeo Cornell's (is his last name even spelled right?) assistant coaches are, what his record is, or anything like that. If someone told me that no Cleveland team would win a championship in my lifetime, I could live with that. But if someone told me my city would remain stagnant with a diminished urbanity as it has for the past 50 years, I would move before the year is out.

Consider Copenhagen... In the 1960s, their city fathers decided to intentionally eliminate 2-3 percent of the parking supply each year, replacing it with public spaces and high-density, pedestrian-friendly development. See the document available at: http://www.dpi.wa.gov.au/mediaFiles/walking_21centconf01apaper_gemzoe.pdf Isn't ironic that most big cities have a traffic department but do not have a pedestrian department or a transit department, even though the latter two creates more livable cities than traffic does?

That's the problem. It's a pass-through area. It's almost like a pipeline in that what traffic comes in at one end (near the clinic) is virtually the same as what comes out at the other end (downtown) -- and vice-versa. It has been that way since the 1950s and 60s. In fact, it was more pronounced prior to the 1980s. When I was kid living in the heights in the 1970s, we would go to/return from downtown on either Chester or Carnegie. There was a reason why during the rush hours that at least four of the six lanes on Carnegie were signalled for traffic in one direction. The traffic on that road was THAT heavy. I recall seeing traffic moving stop and go, bumper to bumper as far as the eye could see. The diminishment of downtown and University Circle as the region's only two principal employment centers, and reduction of traffic on Carnegie, means that some of the intermediate segments of this road are better positioned for redevelopment. That may be particularly true for mixed uses, since Carnegie began its transition into a commercial corridor more than 50 years ago. It will take many years for the Euclid Corridor to build out, and even longer for it to spill over in the Carnegie Corridor. That timetable could speed up if the residential areas along and south of Carnegie, Cedar, to Quincy and Woodland are redeveloped. I believe that the intense poverty and abandonment in those areas are what's holding back Carnegie since its decline as a commuter corridor in the past 20 years or so.

I think we're getting into semantics here. My point is that the medical mart would be a specialized "convention center." For two thousand years, cities have been a setting for trading products, materials and ideas. And often those cities traded in things that we're unique to their areas (Istanbul-silks/spices, Rome-wine, Boston-lobster/crabs, New York City-natural resource commodities, Chicago-livestock/crops, Los Angeles-entertainment, etc.). Simply building a convention center is not enough. It has to be different, and the medical aspect (and I submit, the alternative energy aspect too) is a specialization that will meet our specific marketplace. Just having a really cool place to meet isn't going to cut it, not when every other city has one. But this should be discussed further at.... http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=6639.msg66315#msg66315

Part of the delay in getting this proof of payment system operational is to have enough RTA police on hand. The hiring of some 50 (if I remember the figure right) additional officers takes time. One of the reasons why RTA does some of the things it does is because there's no transit rider coalition, riders union or some other association representing riders. Officially, RTA contends that no such association is needed, as RTA has the citizens advisory board. But the only reason why RTA has an advisory board is because federal law says so -- with members approved by the RTA board. Since the RTA board and staff seldom seeks input from the advisory board, or that the advisory board seldom comes up with innovative ideas and even more rarely confronts RTA on many issues, this is largely a worthless relationship. It's not even dysfunctional. Yet some staff at RTA like the idea of an association of RTA riders and other stakeholders. They wished it would exist to challenge RTA and hold their feet to the fire on the things they are doing or not doing. Here's my suggestion: Hold a scoping/strategy meeting of RTA riders in the near future whether there is a need for such an organized constituency, why there is a need and, if so, how best to structure it. Should it be an informal organization? A nonprofit corporation? Or should be a "subsidiary" of an existing nonprofit organization, such as EcoCity Cleveland, All Aboard Ohio, etc. Take a moment to look at what other formal transit coalitions are doing: In St. Louis, check out Citizens for Modern Transit. This is one of the premier TCs in the nation, with an annual budget of about $1 million. They have developed successful relationships with foundations and corporate funders, and led the campaign 15 years ago to build the first light-rail in the city, a system whose expansion is continuing -- http://www.cmt-stl.org In the Greater Milwaukee area, check out Southeastern Wisconsin Coalition for Transit NOW (or, simply, Transit NOW). This organization has been around almost as long as CMT, but is more diverse in what it is seeking -- the Milwaukee Connector transit line (bus or LRT), Chicago commuter rail extension from Kenosha to Milwaukee, Milwaukee-Madison high-speed rail extension, and oversight of a couple of freeway reconstruction projects -- http://www.transitnow.org/ Consider meeting in the near future to discuss these options. Having gone through advocacy organization start-ups before, with brainstorming, strategizing and implementation, I'd be happy to help out whatever way I can.

It's OK if you want to post the whole thing.

Interesting news from DC. Thanks for the news tip. I'll check it out.

^ Mama mia!

This is such a non-issue, I can't even begin to validate it with a comment about the value of hosting a Super Bowl. And shame on the PD for instigating a meaningless discussion that has nothing to do with issues that, when adequately addressed, will actually make Cleveland a better place.

^ You should know that you have the best avatar here

I'm commenting more on the PD giving this such high-profile coverage. They must be really hurting for stories of substance. Although, that would mean that more of their reporters would actually have to go out and research some issues rather than wait for news to come to them! As for the convention center, that's another me-too economic development game. If Cleveland wants to offer something more competitive and unique, instead of the latest franchise in a nationwide chain of convention centers, then we need to do something different that caters to our local market. That's why I like the "medical merchandise mart concept." It's a growing field, we have globally competitive medical facilities here, it's high-technology and it's a high-paying sector. It's not sexy or media-frenzied like a Super Bowl, but it would be the Super Bowl of medical technologies/practices, and held here virtually every day of the year -- except perhaps on Sundays! :wink: And, by the way, we should consider a similar mart, exchange place or idea incubator for alternative fuels and energy technologies. How appropriate would it be to have that in the town where Standard Oil was founded?!? I know, not sexy enough either, like other "cure-all" solutions, such as a casino, sports stadiums or a we-got-one-too convention center. None of these make Cleveland a special place. To me, it's a suburban-like development approach for improving U.S. downtowns. Yeah, the buildings may be bigger and the area more pedestrian-oriented than the suburbs. But just as each suburb has pretty much the same features as another, so are downtown morphing into this cookie-cutter approach for them.

To spend $200 million for a dome on top of your stadium for such rare Super Bowl appearances and for such limited NET benefits (after costs of security and city services are taken into account) is clearly not worth it. Time to move on people. Nothing to see here...

Thanks. I wondered why that looked like something that belonged atop a residential conversion.

"Gee, isn't Brokeback Mountain an arts flick?" --typical suburban resident

Is that building with the new, white "penthouse" on top the May Co. building? If so, what's the penthouse? It looks like what a developer usually adds when making a conversion to residential.

Uh, yeah, maybe in Youngstown that's true, but not in cities elsewhere in the nation. In fact, it's becoming pretty commonplace.

Nice plug for rail near the end, and he makes the sound point that our nation's transportation system and land uses are designed for $20/barrel oil -- not $65+ oil. This is worth sharing with others. KJP ______________ http://www.tidepool.org/original_content.cfm?articleid=184962 Tidepool Originals: VOICES What Peak Oil Means to Every American Declaring energy independence by TOM UDALL | posted 02.02.06 In 1970, oil production within the United States peaked -- reached its maximum production rate -- at not much more than 10 million barrels of oil per day. That means since 1970, oil production in this country has been declining, and we now import 58 percent of the oil we use. The sheer scale of the American appetite for petroleum is difficult to grasp: Per capita, each of us consumes about 20 pounds of petroleum products each day. With demand rising and production that we can control falling, our dependence on imported oil has become an economic, diplomatic and security nightmare. We now send $25 million an hour abroad to pay for foreign oil, and some of that money is diverted to the same jihadi terrorists we are spending additional billions to fight. For these and other reasons, Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) and I founded the Congressional Peak Oil Caucus in October 2005.

You also notice on that page that nine out of 10 snowiest winters in Cleveland have occurred in just the last 30 years? Or, that in the last three winters, we've had 305 inches of snow? Normal seasonal snowfall is just over 60 inches, if I remember right.

Ha ha! I'm a weather freak, too. But from the looks of things, our chances for heavy snow are petering out here in Cleveland. We seem to be staying in the warmer sector of the storm longer, and a dry slot appears to be forming to our south, moving almost due north. Oh well. We had less than 5 inches of snow in Cleveland in January, but had more than 25 in December and November (total) -- more than double our average for those months. Overall, the snowfall for the season is about normal. If you like snow, you should have been here in Cleveland last year -- 118 inches, shattering the old record by nearly 17 inches. Scroll down to near the bottom of this page... http://www.erh.noaa.gov/cle/climate/cle/records/cletop10snow.html

^ Inquiring minds want to know about those bigger plans what "the near future" means! Urbanlife, thanks for the description.