KJP

Try the belly dancer at a little restaurant on Detroit Avenue, just west of downtown Lakewood. Can't remember the place, but they serve Middle Eastern food. Anyone remember this place??? KJP

I don't think this has been done before, so allow me to take a stab at putting in one place all the housing-based plans that have been announced for downtown Cleveland (and near-downtown) in recent weeks and months. Please correct me if I'm listing something that is incomplete, no longer an active plan or I'm missing including a development project entirely. In no particular order: Flats East Bank Neighborhood Developer: Developers Diversified Realty Corp. Investment/Cost: $225 million Housing Units: 330 rental and for-sale Other Features: 250,000 square feet of entertainment and retail space, including a cinema, grocery store, restaurants, riverfront boardwalk, plazas, offices, structured parking, Waterfront Line rail station, etc. On the Web: http://www.ddr.com/ Images: (courtesy of MayDay) http://www.clevelandskyscrapers.com/flatsprojectsiteplan.jpg http://www.clevelandskyscrapers.com/flatsproject3.jpg Cleveland State University Varsity Village/College Town/Etc. Developer: Mix of private and institutional parties Investment/Cost: N/A Housing Units: 2,600 total (market-rate and student housing) Other Features: sport/athletic facilities, green spaces, retail, RTA transit center, parking structures On the Web: http://www.csuohio.edu/campusmasterplan/overview.html Images: http://www.csuohio.edu/campusmasterplan/images/diagram-devareas2.jpg http://www.csuohio.edu/campusmasterplan/images/varsity.jpg Avenue District (East 12th/13th area north of Superior) Developer: Zaremba Inc. Investment/Cost: $150 million Housing Units: 423 condominiums and townhomes Other Features: coffee shops, galleries On the Web: http://www.zarembahomes.com/ Images: (courtesy of Mr. Good Day and MayDay) CURRENT http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y44/cbongorno/East%2012th%20Street/NorthSideofSt.jpg PROPOSED http://www.clevelandskyscrapers.com/avedist.jpg Lower Euclid/East 4th Street Developer: MRN Ltd., mix of other private developers/investors Investment/Cost: N/A Housing Units: 300 rental, for-sale Other Features: concert clubs, hotels, restaurants, coffee shops, retail, $200 million Euclid Corridor Transitway, nine-story parking garage, etc. On the Web: http://www.mrnltd.com/ Images: http://www.mrnltd.com/images/mrn_collage.jpg Riverview Hope VI - Phases I & II - Ohio City Developer: CMHA, Telesis Corporation Investment/Cost: $180 million Housing Units: 682 market-rate and subsidized rental, for-sale units Other Features: 10,000 square feet of new commercial space, structured parking, greenspaces, etc. On the Web: http://www.cmha.net/index.html Images: http://pages.prodigy.net/karapaul/cmha1.jpg http://pages.prodigy.net/karapaul/cmha2.jpg Battery Park - Detroit/Shoreway Neighborhood Developer: Marous Brothers Investment/Cost: $100 million Housing Units: 330 townhouses, condos and apartments Other Features: community center in old powerhouse, restaurants, retail, greenspace, pedestrian walkway to Edgewater Park and Lakefront Boulevard transit stops, etc. On the Web: http://www.marousbrothers.com/ Images: http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y44/cbongorno/BatteryParkOverview.jpg North Residential Village at CWRU - University Circle Developer: Marous Brothers Investment/Cost: $300 million Housing Units: 700 dormitory rooms, apartments and homes Other Features: plazas, retail, study areas, green spaces, etc. On the Web: http://www.marousbrothers.com/ Images: http://www.marousbrothers.com/Work-In-Progress/WIP%20Images/Case1.jpg Villages of Central Developer: Rysar Properties Corp. Investment/Cost: $100 million? Housing Units: 465 ranches, bungalows, townhomes and colonial single-family homes Other Features: subsidized and market-rate homes in groups and scattered in-fill sites On the Web: http://www.rysar.com/homezone.html Images: http://members.cox.net/neotrans/StJohn'sVillageWest4-S.jpg Arbor Park Village - Central neighborhood Developer: Marous Brothers Investment/Cost: $111 million Housing Units: 200 townhouses and subsidized apartments Other Features: retail plaza, community center, etc. On the Web: http://www.marousbrothers.com/ Images: http://members.cox.net/neotrans/ArborPark1-S.jpg Cleveland Clinic Cardiac Center/Urology institute Developer: ??? Investment/Cost: $450 million (Cardiac Center), $60 million (Urology institute) Square footage: 970,000 (Cardiac Center), 200,000 (Urology institute) Other Features: The two buildings are rising next to each other on Euclid On the Web: http://www.clevelandclinic.org/ Images: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=3261.0;attach=485;image Stonebridge - Phase 5 Developer: The K&D Group Inc. Investment/Cost: ? Housing Units: 108 for-sale and rental in new 12-story building Other Features: Renovation of former restaurant space in 180-year-old building as retail/offices; 150-car parking garage On the Web: http://www.condosatstonebridge.com/index.asp Images: http://www.propertiesmag.com/current/2005-08/s1.jpg http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=3883.0;attach=637;image Cuyahoga County Administrative Headquarters Developer: ? Investment/Cost: $100 million+ Square footage: unknown, but will require space for about 2,000 workers Other Features: Could include renovation or demolition & replacement of 28-story Ameritrust tower; 100-year-old Cleveland Trust rotunda to be renovated as public space On the Web: http://www.cuyahogacounty.us/home/default.asp Images: (courtesy of Urbanlife http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b102/urbanlife/IMG_1231.jpg +++++++++++++++++ IN LIMBO/PENDING/MAYBE +++++++++++++++++ Courthouse Plaza Location: East end of Detroit-Superior Veterans Memorial Viaduct, adjacent to Federal Courthourse Tower Developer: Turner Construction Investment/Cost: $30 million-$50 million? Housing Units: unknown Features: proposed with for-sale units, penthouses, fitness center, walkway to Tower City Center and to Settlers Landing/Waterfront Line station Status: Appears to be awaiting new financing (Madison Capital Group is financial advisor) On the Web: http://www.chplaza.com/ (use "red" and "rose" as the username/password) Images: (courtesy of MayDay) http://members.cox.net/peepersken/CourthousePlaza2.jpg 515 Euclid Avenue Location: um, 515 Euclid Avenue! Developer: None, Desman & Assoc. is the prime architect and engineer Investment/Cost: $30 million-$50 million? Housing Units: 240 Features: 524-space parking garage with 11,000 square feet of grade-level commercial retail (completed), proposed to be topped by a 19-story luxury condominium tower, with a 20,000 square foot ballroom. Status: Unknown On the Web: http://www.desman.com/hotproperty/task,view/id,59/Itemid,168/ Images: (Courtesy of Desman & Assoc.) http://members.cox.net/peepersken/Euclid_515Euclid.jpg District Park Location: between Warehouse District (West 9th St.) and Flats East Bank (West 10th St.) Developer: Marous Investment/Cost: $100 million for all three buildings Housing Units: 363 Features: Three condominium towers of 10, 12 and 15-20 stories, 450-car parking garage below the towers Status: Suspended due to escalating construction material costs On the Web: http://www.districtpark.com/ Images: (Courtesy of MayDay) http://members.cox.net/peepersken/DistrictParkModel2.jpg http://members.cox.net/peepersken/DistrictParkModel3.jpg http://www.actionbasedonline.com/A339/graphics/DistrictParkRendering.jpg Lakefront (no "product name" yet) Location: Port Authority properties north and west of Cleveland Browns Stadium Developer: Robert L. Stark Enterprises Investment/Cost: unknown Housing Units: unknown Features: Relocation of port facilities to newly constructed island north of Whiskey Island; vacated port land measuring about 100 acres would be redeveloped with mixed uses Status: conceptual On the Web: http://www.starkenterprises.com/ http://www.portofcleveland.com/ Images: Courtesy of Bialosky & Partners Architects http://members.cox.net/kenatsun/StarkPhase1S.jpg http://members.cox.net/kenatsun/starkoverview1S.jpg Images: (Courtesy of City Planning Commission's "Connecting Cleveland" report) The proposed island on which the port would relocate, using a new geotechnical process that could speed up the fill process to within two years and at much lower cost http://members.cox.net/neotrans/lakefrontplan1S.jpg The city's (Connecting Cleveland plan) vision for redeveloping the downtown lakefront, which differs from Stark's vision http://members.cox.net/neotrans/lakefrontplan3S.jpg I'm sure I'm leaving out a few things, but those are the biggies in downtown and nearby. Feel free to suggest additions, subtractions and corrections. I'll edit this listing as we go along, and note the changes in future messages in this string. KJP

MGD probably would like Johnny Mango's on Fulton at Bridge in Ohio City. A few doors south on Fulton is another restaurant that's worth going to, just for the crepes. I can't remember the name of the place, but I seem to recall it's a French bistro. I'm a sucker for Italian food, which I consider candy for adults. My favorite, affordable Italian restaurants are Maria's Roman Room and Pepper's Cafe, both on Detroit Road in eastern Lakewood. There's also Bruno's on West 41st, just south of I-90 (they'll wash or even detail your car while you eat). On the East Side, just about anyplace in Little Italy will do, but I'm partial to Trattoria On the Hill, or Mama Santa's for pizza. If you like opera, you'll like the live singer at La Dolce Vita. Here's a listing of most restaurants (even fast food...) in the area: http://www.cellartastings.com/en/restaurant-guide/oh/cleveland KJP

I was thinking about why some cities having underground walkways also have a vibrant street life, while other cities don't. I think it has to do more with the way the buildings along streets are designed. Cities that have buildings with lots of sidewalk level retail, restaurants and other businesses, or just lots of glass and light, attract pedestrians. Cities that have lots of buildings with blank walls and/or private lobbies, plus parking garages that access buildings without much street access discourage pedestrians. Adding underground walkways don't seem to detract from the former, or compensate for the latter. I do think there's something to be said about designing walkways in the same way the street-levels of buildings are designed. Designing walkways that are barren and have no activity centers along the way create a sense of isolation and make people feel unsafe. Thus, having newstands, splashy water fountains, skylights and a food stand or coffee/bagel/sandwich kiosk along the way is at least as important as having closed-circuit security cameras and emergency phones (which may make pedestrians wonder if there is a safety problem in the walkway). There needs to be multiple entry/exit points along the way, so the walkway doesn't keep people below ground. That was something I noticed about Toronto's PATH, which always has a stairwell, elevator or ramp in sight, no matter where you are on the network. Plus, a walkway shouldn't serve to replace the sidewalks above, but augment them. Walkways should provide pedestrians with something they can get on the sidewalks above, such as a faster route to their destination, or a safer crossing of a busy street. A walkway from Tower City to the Convention Center would provide that by cutting across the street grid, and that portion is probably the most heavily trafficked in the downtown core. KJP

Umm, Toronto has 16 miles (yes, miles) of underground walkways linking attractions in their downtown core. See http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/path/ -- and boy, that's really killed their street life(!). We Clevelanders like to think we're a tough lot, but how many people do you see wandering downtown's streets in winter? I talk with people from outside Greater Cleveland an awful lot. Some of these folks won't set foot in Cleveland in winter because they have an image, accurate or not, that's it's a windy, frigid wasteland. Speaking of which, do you know why they have handrails along the sidewalk on the East 9th Street side of the Federal Building? You got it -- when the building was built, the handrails were added so pedestrians could hang on to them when walking in the gales that blow in off Lake Erie. I've had to use them, and didn't like it. I don't want walkways to be judged solely on some isolated merit, but in a larger context of striking a compromise between the two convention center proposals. The walkway would link Tower City to the rebuilt convention center, Key Tower/Marriott and to the rest of downtown. And, if Clevelanders don't need walkways, why do so many pedestrians from Tower City use the walkway (even in good weather) to reach Gateway when there's equally direct sidewalks to get them to Gund Arena or Jacobs Field? Imagine if there was a walkway that cut across (and below) Public Square's intersections. It would be a much faster, more direct and safer walk, regardless of weather. Other cities having terrific passageways include Seattle, Atlanta, Cincinnati and Akron. And, while you note that New York City doesn't have a designated underground network of walkways, there are passages between buildings and subway stations that a seasoned New Yorker knows how to use to avoid going outside, to travel a pretty good distance indoors. Ditto with Chicago. I just think it's a worthwhile compromise to link Tower City and more hotels into the convention center without having to build a new hotel or, for that matter, a new convention center! KJP

The Ohio Hub Study isn't at the level yet where they would start identifying specific locations for stations, only general areas where they might be located (ie: downtown Cincinnati, North Cincinnati, etc). See map below. However, in the mid-1990s, a consultant for the Ohio Rail Development Commission did a preliminary review of potential station sites along the 3-C Corridor. The consultant suggested a suburban station on the north side of Cincinnati should be located in the vicinity of Conrail's (now NS's) Sharonville Yard, located north of Route 126. The yard isn't used much anymore, and may avail some land. In fact, there was a separate Conrail access track to the west of the current mainline that could be used for a passenger-only track with a station on that. The abandoned track is visible in the picture shown in the earlier message in this string, with the right of way running through the red "Draft" text in the image. Anyway here's the map, which available from the following page on ORDC's website: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/ohiorail/Programs/Passenger/Ohio%20Hub%20Page.htm KJP

All the more reason for FCE to build market-rate, high-rise housing around Tower City Center! KJP

http://www.thebulletin.org/article.php?art_ofn=mj05cavallo Oil: Caveat empty By Alfred J. Cavallo May/June 2005 pp. 16-18 (vol. 61, no. 03) © 2005 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists Without any press conferences, grand announcements, or hyperbolic advertising campaigns, the Exxon Mobil Corporation, one of the world's largest publicly owned petroleum companies, has quietly joined the ranks of those who are predicting an impending plateau in non-OPEC oil production. Their report, The Outlook for Energy: A 2030 View, forecasts a peak in just five years. In the past, many who expressed such concerns were dismissed as eager catastrophists, peddling the latest Malthusian prophecy of the impending collapse of fossil-fueled civilization. Their reliance on private oil-reserve data that is unverifiable by other analysts, and their use of models that ignore political and economic factors, have led to frequent erroneous pronouncements. They were countered by the extreme optimists, who believed that we would never need to think about such problems and that the markets would take care of everything. Up to now, those who worried about limited petroleum supplies have been at best ignored, and at worst openly ridiculed.

See my post at http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php?topic=1782.msg34736#msg34736 for a way to possibly link up downtown destinations by reworking the convention center plan. KJP

Which Sharonville idea? For a 3-C station/service? KJP

There is a public purpose for getting CVSR service to Tower City Center, even if it's geared toward transportation to/from the national park at the slow travel speeds you mention. Remember that the Cuyahoga Valley National Park is the third-most visited park in the nation which, for the time being, means getting there mostly by car. But, the environmental problems of auto-centric access to other popular national parks (Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, etc) has been well documented. Do you think those parks would jump at the chance to have a rail serving it to reduce smog, restrict parking lots that have toxic water running off its pavement, and the like? Of course they would, and that's why Grand Canyon restored a rail line from Williams AZ (links to Amtrak) to the South Rim to help deal with some of these problems. That's a rail line that serves but a small part of a huge national park. Here in Northeast Ohio, we have a rail line that runs the length of another large national park, with multiple stations serving multiple historic and natural sites -- all within walking distance of stations. Add to that the parallel Canal Corridor Trail and the CVSR's bike-carrying capabilities, and you've got the beginnings of creating a park that has superior access by environmentally friendly modes. Then, at the northern end, you link the park's trains and trails to the main transit hub in a major city. With that, you can introduce a whole urban population -- especially for children but not exclusively for them -- to the wilderness and to historic locations that ultimately founded the basis for economic growth in Northeast Ohio. That's got to be an eye-opener for urban youth, many of whom sadly never venture beyond their neighborhoods. If that isn't a public purpose that warrants public funding, I don't know what is. I don't if this is a problem or an asset, but it's almost impossible to put a price tag on that kind of benefit. It's a problem because some governmental types will want to see a qualitative cost-benefit analysis. But it's an asset because if something is so priceless, then it's got to have a tremendous value. And I think that's exactly what a CVSR link to Tower City will deliver. KJP

Interesting. That crossing is on the proposed routing for 3-C Corridor (Cleveland - Columbus - Cincinnati via Dayton) passenger rail service, as envisioned in the Ohio Hub Study. That grade separation project would count toward the state's share of helping to start the 3-C service, since projects like this would be needed to start a safe, fast passenger service anyway. And, by the way, Sharonville is proposed to be a suburban station stop for the 3-C route. KJP

I have dumb question (or idea) about the Convention Center... Why couldn't the $80 million proposed for the construction of a new convention center hotel instead be used to link a rebuilt convention center to Tower City Center with an wide, airy and attractive underground pedestrian walkway beneath Public Square? While I plead ignorance as to what such a walkway would cost to build, if there was any sizable amount of money left over, perhaps it could be used to expand the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel into the corner of Prospect and Superior? Why should we have to build a totally new hotel when vacancies at existing hotels are more than 40 percent? Wouldn't it make more sense to link them and get a catalytic project to make downtown an all-weather destination? This way, it would be possible to provide all-weather pedestrian connections all the way from Gund Arena, Tower City, linking four hotels (Renaissance, Ritz, Marriott at Key, and Sheraton), via a restructured underground parking garage for Key, through the rebuilt Convention Center and north to the attractions at North Coast Harbor. And if folks are worried about losing street-level pedestrian activity....what activity??? Such an all-weather pedestrian linkage might instead create a critical mass of activity downtown, much the way Toronto's PATH walkways have done. And, walkways cannot end up feeling like claustrophobic tunnels, but have shops along them, water fountains, skylights, public art, live musicians, etc etc. Seems to me this would be a way keep Forest City Enterprises happy, should Tower City not be chosen as the site for the Convention Center. And, then push FCE toward building high-rise market-rate housing around Tower City, and turn the Higbee Co. store into a technology school for children. Who knows, with all this, maybe lots more people will want to live downtown, visit downtown and even send their kids to school downtown....even in the middle of a bitter Cleveland winter! KJP

Let's hope this happens. My fingers are crossed in a big way! KJP

Not necessarily. Check out this low-res satellite view of the site from Google.... I believe there is a turning lane from Ontario south to Huron west that shortcuts the hard right turn, but would that be terribly missed? There are so many options with that site, and housing would probably be the best use for it. KJP

Those are added reasons why a 30-story apartment or condo tower would be the "highest and best use" of that site. Imagine that tower picture I posted not as offices or a hotel, but market-rate residential. Turn that thumbs down to thumbs up...we're in agreement here! KJP

^ Great point! Consider the small parcel of "land" at the corner of Huron and Ontario, where the brick face of the Guildhall Building looks out over Ontario. When the Terminal Group was built, that was supposed to be another office building. In the late 1980s, another office building was proposed to be built there (see below). Why can't this be market-rate housing instead? There's parking below, and enclosed walkways to Gateway, Tower City, Rapid transit etc etc. Add to this the school that CWRU proposes for the Higbee building. Of all the mixed uses that Tower City has, one thing it lacks is housing. What a great site for housing! KJP

Looks like the Battery Park project is a go for this summer. The West Side Sun News has the story in this week's paper. KJP

I spoke to Joe Mazzola of Ohio City Near West Development Corp during the Ohio City Home Tour over the weekend, and he seemed to believe the project was still on. I walked by the site on Saturday evening, and saw a "coming soon"-type sign on West 28th. But, of course, that doesn't mean anything...District Park had a sign too (and gee, it was much bigger...!). KJP

Glad to see the county choose that site. It will actually help alleviate some of the sting from the loss of the DFAS Center, just up East 9th. Even if Cleveland/federal officials can pull a rabbit out of the hat and keep those jobs in town, it probably won't be on East 9th. I don't have an opinion on whether the ol' Ameritrust Tower should be demolished for a new one, or given a new facade. All I care about is that the old Cleveland Trust rotunda is returned to its historic slendor, and anothing f*cking surface parking lot doesn't emerge from the dust of this project. Designing quick-in-and-out parking in a crowded urban setting, without resorting to an open-air surface parking lot, is not rocket science. But it does take some creativity -- something that's often in short supply in the county government. But they did get the Ameritrust site selection right. The blind squirrel has found the acorn! KJP

Yes, all downtown land north of the tracks has been reclaimed. There are old pictures that show the railroad tracks hugging the shoreline. But don't take my word for it. Here's a picture from the 1890s, showing the downtown lakefront. In the background are the old Lakeside Hospitals, between what is now East 9th and East 12th streets.... KJP

Here's why freight traffic is booming, even in stagnant Cleveland... > Most of the traffic is passing through Cleveland; > These railroad lines were extremely well engineered a century ago as fast, high-capacity rail corridors; > As part of the 1999 split of Conrail, CSX and NS took Conrail rights of way converging on Cleveland and created two parallel Chicago - East Coast mainlines out of them; > CSX and NS took those two mainlines (which pass within spitting distance of each other at Berea and cross each other near the Harvard/Broadway intersection) and poured hundreds of millions of dollars into them, adding extra main tracks, computer-aided signal systems, etc. > Railroads have reduced crew sizes, increased the efficiencies of rail yards, increased the sizes of rail cars to handle up to 125 tons per car, added lots of cool technologies and now carry more freight tonnage than at any time in their history with the fewest employees in more than 100 years; > International trade has grown exponentially; > Trucking companies cannot hire drivers fast enough, so the trucking firms are putting more of their drivers to work shuttling trailers and containers between shippers and rail yards; > Ships hauling time-sensitive ocean-going container traffic don't go through the Panama Canal (many newer ships can't fit through the canal anyway!). So they off-load their containers at a port on one coast, ship them across country by rail, and load them back onto a ship on the opposite coast; > Because of the way rail lines through Cleveland were engineered way back when, and because of the investments CSX and NS have made since 1999 to those lines, they are the highest-capacity, highest-speed rail freight corridors for east-west traffic. If you go to the Station Restaurant on Depot Street in Berea and have lunch, don't be surprised if you see at least 10 trains in a hour, and possibly as many as 15 (except on Mondays, when traffic is less because fewer shipments are on the rails because Sunday came the day before). It is nothing short of astonishing how much freight traffic is out there. It has gotten to the point that railroads are literally having to turn away business and choose their customers. Also, no other east-west railroads east of the Mississippi River have the capacity to handle the massive quantities of hazardous materials as do the rail lines through Cleveland. The only other that comes close is the CSX main through Akron, Youngstown and Pittsburgh. All the others have been downgraded to single-track routes (Pennsylvania RR through Canton), never were more than single-tracked (B&O through Cincinnati), while the rest have been abandoned altogether (Erie RR through Akron and Pennsylvania RR west of Columbus). To rectify this would cost many hundreds of millions of dollars, and serve only to make Cleveland's danger someone else's. And, by the way, while we rightfully admire Europeans' passenger rail systems, if you ask a European freight railroad official, they admire America's freight railroads and seek their advice. Because European railroads mix their freight and passenger traffic, they are unable to operate the large (by length and weight) freight trains that we have, and don't have the regulatory freedoms that the U.S. freight industry enjoys. The market shares for freight shipped by rail in the U.S. vs European Union bear this out. In the U.S., freight tonnage shipped by rail is 35-40 percent of the total market (much more on certain corridors, like Chicago - New York City). In Europe, rail freight's market share is barely 15 percent of the total freight market. Let me give you another example. The total freight tonnage on Interstate 80/90 between Chicago and New York City (combined routes west of Cleveland, of course) is about 150 million gross tons per year. For Norfolk Southern and CSX on their Chicago - New York City routes, their total freight tonnage is 200 million gross tons, or nearly 60 percent of that market. Go to Berea sometime and watch all the container trains go by. You'll be watching the "Panama Canal Bypass" in action. Or, you'll see lots of general freights, many carrying hazardous materials. Remember that each of those rail cars is doing the job of three trucks. If we make it harder for the railroads to handle the freight in a cost-effective way, trucks are exactly where that freight will go. Sorry for the run-on message.... KJP

a leg? KJP

If living next to NS is such a horrible thought, then the developers shouldn't build there. I always get perturbed when residents complaint about noise from living next to railroad tracks. In 99 percent of the cases, the resident moved to the nuisance. Most of these railroad lines have been around since the 19th century. I don't know too many people who were born and raised in the house they now live before the railroad line was built next to them. That study I wrote for EcoCity Cleveland and the Cleveland Waterfront Coalition was done before freight train traffic grew exponentially in the last couple of years. It was about 50 a day along the lakefront in 2003; now it's probably at 70 or more. I don't think NS is going to want to rid itself of its lakefront tracks, even if they reroute all of their through freight traffic to a bypass route. They couldn't risk losing that corridor as a relief valve in case of traffic congestion, in case of an emergency, or if routine maintenance takes a track out of service temporarily. There's just way too many freight trains anymore. KJP

http://www.cleveland.com/business/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/business/1116063372191140.xml&coll=2&thispage=1 News is another blow to struggling Galleria Saturday, May 14, 2005 Henry J. Gomez Plain Dealer Reporter Just two months ago, selling his successful New York City restaurant and moving to Cleveland seemed like a great idea to Moha Orchid, who fell in love with Lake Erie while visiting friends. But now the chef, who owns and operates Soup and Stew in the food court at the Galleria at Erieview, looks around the quiet mall and wonders if he made a smart investment. ...