KJP

The station is actually in the city of Brook Park, thanks to the land-swap several years ago. Brook Park gave up the IX Center to Cleveland so it could someday tear it down for airport expansion. Brook Park got Cleveland's land between Brookpark Road and I-480, to clean up the strip joints and redevelop the area. The RTA station was part of Cleveland's land that went to Brook Park. KJP

I don't consider a postive either, especially if the all-new bridge was proposed with a longer span than is necessary. If ODOT is proposing a 4,500-foot-long bridge, like the old one, then I don't see the new bridge happening at all. And, you're right, having two interstate bridges south of downtown for the next 40 years is a horrible thought. Not just the fact that the old bridge is an eyesore, but the area south of Jacobs Field will look like a spaghetti junction on steroids. The only other reason why I hope ODOT is doing this is to help make the case for the all-new bridge, because the other two options, while cheaper, are totally unacceptable! KJP

According to this Web page from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (http://www.massturnpike.com/bigdig/background/crb.html) the St. Charles River Bridge cost $100 million. That bridge isn't as high above the river as the Inner Bridge bridge would be above the Cuyahoga River, nor is it as long as the Inner Belt bridge would be. The St. Charles River bridge is 1,432 feet long. However, I am concerned that ODOT is proposing an Inner Belt bridge that is longer than it needs to be. If ODOT aligned the bridge at the east end toward the southern part of the old NS Intermodal Yard, and used fill dirt to extend the hillside west, there's no reason the Inner Belt bridge should be longer than 3,000 feet. The current Inner Belt bridge is about 4,500 feet long. Here is the St. Charles River bridge in Boston.... KJP

If Forest City wants to boost Tower City with consistent, round-the-clock foot traffic, build some high-rise, market-rate housing for crying out loud! Add CWRU's idea for a private, primary-level tech school to the Higbee building and the nexus for an unmatched, interconnected city-within-a-city emerges! It's time for Tower City to earn a new name for itself by realizing some lofty visions. But does Forest City Enterprises see them? KJP

Go to it! I got your back... KJP

Yes, that's the Urban Community school. A nun is the head honcho of the school, and it is currently operated at St. Malachi. But, from what I understand, it doesn't have a faith-based curriculum. They're building the new school because, at their current, smallish location, parents have to put their kids on a waiting list when the child is born. By the time the child is of school age, they should be near the front of the list. There are no plans for a Rapid station next to the school, and the surrounding area is residential, but with very small, decrepit homes and numerous vacant lots. On that score, the area is ripe for "a do-over!" You can also see the site from I-90. KJP

Thanks for posting the article. But curiously, it left out any mention of a number of other catalytic projects.... > Riverview Hope VI project in Ohio City; > Valleyview Hope VI project in Tremont; > Shoreway conversion to Lakefront Boulevard; > new $16 million private, non-paroachial school amid West 48th/53rd, I-90, RTA Red Line and Lorain Avenue (the school is already well along in construction); Can you imagine if a Rapid station were built next to that new school? That neighborhood would blossom! I suspect it already will blossom with homes that accommodate families, but the Rapid station (and some rezonings) would encourage higher-density development. KJP

http://www.akron.com/20050526/wsl5.ASP May 26, 2005 Leader Online Bath residents continue to fight METRO site By Anne Dennée BATH — Calling themselves the Neighbors for Responsible Land Use, a group of Bath residents have officially formed in opposition to METRO Regional Transit Authority’s plans to construct a Park and Ride facility at the intersection of Sourek and Ghent roads. On May 23, the group not only spoke out against METRO’s plans at the Bath Township Board of Trustees meeting, but they also filed an administrative appeal in Summit County Common Pleas Court to the conditional-use permit that was granted to METRO to allow the facility to be constructed at that site. .......

By the way, I don't know how many of you caught this, but an article on oil depletion was the lead story in the Plain Dealer on Sunday. It's a very in-depth article, but doesn't present much new information for those who have been following the peak oil issue for some time. However, for many, this article was a very good introduction. Read the article at: http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/isene/1117394149193950.xml&coll=2 Enter the PD's "Crude Awakening" portal at: http://www.cleveland.com/energy/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1117359235209313.xml&coll=2 This is the opening salvo for the PD, which promises to following the oil/energy issue for long term, through its Crude Awakening series. The San Diego daily also had a major story on peak oil on Sunday. It's great to see the mainstream media starting to follow the peak oil issue. Maybe our TV news (cable, network and local) will start to follow it, but they're usually too lazy to do any research, and would rather do rip-and-read stories on Michael Jacko, J-Lo and....hell no. KJP

First, the increased interest in developing higher-density, urban (or urban-like) forms is happening everywhere. In fact, NEO is behind the curve on this. Most metro areas of any consequence throughout the nation have seen this happening, going back a decade or two. While peak oil is a major force that will be reckoned with (actually, it will reckon with us), most developers I speak with aren't even aware of it. Instead, they seem to be looking at other factors. Foremost is that only 25 percent of all households have school-age children. That percentage is only going to shrink further as the baby boom continues to age. Some among our aging population are seeking smaller homes or condos, smaller or no yards to maintain, easy access to transportation, medical services and shopping. And, of course, many developers are themselves aging baby boomers, so they know what their generation is looking for when it comes to housing and land use design. Also, I think there's a growing realization among developers that the American Dream is a lot more complicated than building a house on a large lot surrounded by a white picket fence. There are, in fact, numerous American Dreams -- for students, single professionals, gays, young and old empty nesters, and even families with 1.5 kids. And, some of this renewed interest in developing mixed-use urban forms comes from a rising disillusionment with suburban development patterns and architecture. Since World War II, these have metamorphasized into an incredibly bland collection of cheap, look-alike structures that sap the soul and dull the human spirit. And, if it couldn't get any worse, they have been arranged on the landscape in such an isolationistic way that they force us to drive everywhere, and thus inhibit spontaneous social interaction, except when we beep our car horns or flip the bird at our neighbors for getting in our way. I think people are steadily waking up to the reality that something isn't working with development patterns of the past 50 years. It's all about quality of life. But I believe people, including developers, are still asleep when it comes to peak oil. When we wake up to that issue, that's when America's wasteful lifestyles of the past half-century will be undergo a serious reevaluation. And, with apologies to Dick Cheney, the American way of life is negotiable. Just like the American Dream, there is no single American way of life. Nor does it stay the same. It is a constantly evolving, diverse thing that is influenced by a myriad of forces, both manmade and natural, and cannot be constrained with a government official's hollow pronouncement. KJP

It did at the start of it, but got into discussing the many projects in the pipeline for the region, with most focused on downtown. Did you watch the whole thing? KJP

Push Underway To Keep OfficeMax In Town 05-27-2005 6:42 AM (Cleveland, OH) -- Northeast Ohio leaders are trying to craft proposals to keep OfficeMax's local headquarters open. The office supply company has been based in Shaker Heights, but could leave the region in a consolidation with parent company Boise Cascade. Cleveland city officials say possible sites for the combined companies' headquarters are in Ohio and Illinois, where Boise is based. They're supporting Shaker Heights' push to keep the existing 600 jobs, with the possibility of another 500 to 600 workers moving to the area. Boise Cascade officials say there are no immediate plans to consolidate its corporate jobs, but a streamlining process is necessary to shore up the bottom line. For more info, click the link Copyright 2005 Metro Networks Communications Inc., A Westwood One Company

The drawings shown on the Channel 3 webcast depicted an eight-story building (I actually paused the webcast and counted the floors -- pretty sad, eh?). <--don't answer that. KJP

Battery Park appears to be a go. Riverview isn't on the back burner -- Phase I can proceed without as much density if the $15 million can't be found to stabilize the hillside. But efforts are in high gear to locate the funding. And, as for the DFAS Center, Crain's Cleveland Business had a good article this week that stated the big challenges (read: futile?) in trying to keep the center downtown. In a nutshell, the article quoted Defense Department documents that said part of the rationale for the relocated federal jobs is to put them on secure military bases where someone can't park a car bomb next to the building and snuff out countless lives. Unless we can replicate the same kind of building that the FBI built downtown, kiss the DFAS bye bye. KJP

Good news item. 'Bout time the local broadcast news actually broadcasted some news! KJP

Detroit Avenue isn't a terribly wide street, so there's not much room to create bus-only lanes. I'd rather see Detroit Avenue (as well as Superior Avenue) traffic signals be retrofitted with transit prioritization features. That would not only improve the on-time performance of the #326 buses, but might also improve ridership by reducing travel times. Put a west-side BRT on Clifton as a supplement to the Lakefront Boulevard project, and/or add a BRT to the middle of I-90 between West 41st and Warren Road. BTW, Punch, the reduction in travel time does have a transit component in the rankings of projects. But the folks at the Federal Transit Administration and Federal Highway Administration place a higher ranking on a transit project that reduces the vehicle-miles traveled by cars/light trucks on parallel roads while similarly reducing greenhouse gases. KJP

It could. But let's wait and see and give these folks a chance. Isn't it ironic? The state, with all its policies, programs and subsidies that promote urban sprawl at the expense of existing neighborhoods and publicly funded infrastructure, is now causing local leaders to take steps toward creating what has reined in urban sprawl in other metro areas? While the cooperation is intended to cope with reduced funding from the state, if the shared city services end up saving these municipalities some money, I'd like to see the savings used as the first steps in creating a revenue sharing program. My preference for such a policy would be to help pay for land assembly and remediation for redevelopment that individual cities might otherwise not be able to afford. KJP

Thanks. Now I recall it. That's the project at the south end of Tremont, near I-490, if I'm thinking of the same one. I can ask one of the Cleveland reporters in our office who's been covering that development. KJP

I'm not familiar with Valleyview. Is this another phase of the CMHA project or something else? Got any info on it? KJP

Here's my thoughts, expressed visually, about linking Tower City to a rebuilt Convention Center beneath Public Square and using the perimeter of Key Tower's underground parking garage. The solid red lines are representative of Cleveland's "Great Indoors" (everything from arcades, to atriums, to overhead enclosed walkways, to underground passageways). The dotted red lines are proposed underground/indoor passageways and walkways. This shows Downtown Cleveland already has a significant "Great Indoors" which, when linked and prominently marked for the public, could be a way to make downtown more habitable in the worst that our bitter, lengthy winters can throw at us. If anyone finds errors in this map, please point them out to me and I'll make adjustments. KJP

That's a terrific transit-oriented redevelopment in Denver! I wasn't aware of it before. Thanks for sharing that. KJP

Ah. KJP

He's a class act. And he still works at RTA. KJP

How did we get from Westgate to University Circle? And, don't tell me "by bus"! KJP

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1117013569110440.xml&coll=2 Mayors seek to cut costs via regional cooperation Wednesday, May 25, 2005 Thomas Ott Plain Dealer Reporter Cuyahoga County mayors will study far-reaching ways that their cities can work together and make the most of their shrinking supply of cash. The Cuyahoga County Mayors and City Managers Association has formed a regionalism committee that hopes to make recommendations in as little as six months. Leaders do not yet see city mergers or formation of an all-powerful county government, but they say consolidation of fire departments is possible, if not likely. Trash pickup and road work are also fertile territory, said Parma Heights Mayor Martin Zanotti and Pepper Pike Mayor Bruce Akers, who head the 12-member committee. .......