KJP

I don't know who the Cleveland Clinic's architects are, but they seem to design their buildings as if in a vacuum. Don't they go to the site of the proposed building to look at what the surrounding architecture is like? Based on the design of the Heart Center, I wouldn't be surprised if the architect looked at the classic-styled building to the west of the site and said "f*ck it, I'm going to design what I want." That is, if he looked at it at all. What an freakin' abortion! Where are the transitions, sense of place and the respect for surroundings? And, as others have pointed out, these are basically suburban buildings placed in an urban environment, with no street interface, further fostering more dead sidewalks. CWRU's residential project, by comparison, embodies features of surrounding buildings -- enough that if someone showed me a picture of it without first explaining where or what it was, I could probably identify it as being somewhere on Cleveland's east side. Seems that Cleveland Clinic's architects either need to go back to design school or seek refunds for the education they never got. KJP

I'd like to see a photo essay of your NYC neighborhood sometime, and I'd like to do one for mine (more than the brief one I did earlier). There aren't many neighborhoods in Ohio like mine where there's 20,000 people living in one square mile. It's one of the few places in this state where you can get along just fine without a car (and might even do better without one!). KJP

mrnyc- Great neighborhood! Living above retail is a great thing. Although I have to walk a couple blocks to stores and restaurants, living above retail is a staple of residential living along the commercial districts in Lakewood. When someone asks where you live, you can just tell them, "I live above Chain Link Addiction" in Madison Village or "I live above Pepper's Italian Cafe" on Detroit Ave., etc. etc. Fortunately, I think a lot of the younger generation are starting to appreciate the conveniences of these kinds of neighborhoods, and the sense of community they create. I noticed that you know that backgrounds of your neighbors, which tells me you have a chance to communicate with them in chance meetings on stairwells, sidewalks, etc. rather than a shallow "wave" through windshields. I know the first and last names of most of my neighbors (unlike several other places in the 'burbs where I've lived). We meet in the elevators, walk to the bus stop or to the corner store together, and once had a paper airplane fight from balcony to balcony! We all look after each other, and some have been in my building since it was built 37 years ago. So, when I go out of town, and need someone trustworthy to look after my pets, all I have to do is walk down the hall... KJP

^ When it happens, you'll know. Rob, you can take a relatively car-free trip to Toronto. Take a taxi to Waterloo, a train to Toledo, an Amtrak Thruway or Greyhound bus to Detroit, take the tunnel bus to the Windsor VIA station, and a train from there! Hey, I didn't say it was easy, just that it could be done....sorta. KJP

I'm pondering "what if the jet express were in addition to the ferry?" Obviously, they wouldn't do this right off the bat, but if the ferry is successful... It would still cost some $25 million to $35 million to rebuild the tracks between Port Stanley and London to 80 mph train speeds. Add another $2 million to $5 million for a transfer station at the Port Stanley dock. A 100-seat, push-pull train would cost about $5 million each x three trains (one held in reserve for maintenance cycles). And I have no idea how much a jet express boat costs, but they would probably need two of them (again, for maintenance cycling). I'll assume $5 million for each. That's a range of $52 million to $65 million -- not bad considering it opens up a 250-mile travel route. KJP

Actually, I was referring to London being served by 14 trains a day vs. Cleveland being served by only four trains a day. But, yes, as recently as last year, all 14 of London's trains went to/from Toronto. If there was a jet express boat from Cleveland to Port Stanley, it could travel the 70-mile distance in less than three hours. Allow an hour for customs and weather-related delays. A train direct from Port Stanley to Toronto could make the run in 2 1/2 hours or even a little less. That's 6 1/2 hours, and they might be able to knock more than a half-hour off that between the boat and train trips to get it down to less than six hours. How's this..... NORTHBOUND (read down) Trip 1 Trip 2 Cleveland dp 700a 430p Port Stanley ar 930a 700p Port Stanley dp 1030a 800p London dp 1100a 830p Toronto ar 1245p 1015p SOUTHBOUND (read down) Trip 3 Trip 4 Toronto dp 730a 500p London dp 915a 645p Port Stanley ar 945a 715p Port Stanley dp 1030a 800p Cleveland ar 100p 1030p Southbound, there could be a shorter layover at Port Stanley because most customs inspections would likely be done upon arrival at Cleveland. The cool thing is that the train would be able to pull up right next to the boat, as the tracks lead right on to the dock at Port Stanley, and you could do two round trips with one boat and two sets of trains. After looking at the fares for the Put-In-Bay Jet Express and VIA Rail Canada, I'm going to "guess" that a round-trip fare of $150 might apply (with an extra bicycle-carrying fee of, say, $5). So, would enough Ohioans choose this way to get to Toronto? KJP

Pope, Actually, an average speed of 63 mph is pretty respectable. Compare it to average speeds for Amtrak trains across Ohio, which are about 10 mph less. While Ohio railways, which have Amtrak operations on them, feature welded rails, double-tracks, and advanced signal systems, the route between Windsor and London offers only a single track, much of which is jointed rail and an older signal system. And, you're right, I forgot that Amtrak dropped running a Chicago - Toronto train east of Port Huron, Mich. last year. So the number of total trains between London and Toronto has dropped to 12. There are four round trips a day between Windsor - London -Toronto, 1 round trip between Sarnia - London - Toronto, and a weekday local round trip between London - Kitchener - Toronto. So, on weekends, the number of trains in each direction drops to 10. Go to: http://www.viarail.ca/pdf/forfaits/corr5_b.pdf (for Windsor - London - Toronto schedules) http://www.viarail.ca/pdf/forfaits/corr6_2b.pdf (for Sarnia - London - Toronto schedules) KJP

I may use the service for the novelty of it, especially if there is a bus connection from Port Stanley to the VIA station in London (it has 14 trains a day to/from Toronto at 95 mph top speeds, plus eight trains a day each way to/from Windsor). But, the boat will be slow -- four hours from Cleveland to Port Stanley, not including customs inspections at either end. A boat like the Put-in-Bay Jet Express could probably get you from Cleveland to Port Stanley in half the time. Here is Port Stanley, the largest "city" on the north shore of Lake Erie, which I drove along its entire length in August 2003. The grain tower at right is on the dock that the ferry would use. The tourist railroad uses the remaining segment of the rail line that once went 25 miles north to London, and was once an electrified interurban that carried passengers from lake steamers. It's a very cute town, but there's not much there. _________________________ Here's the London VIA station, the fourth-busiest in all of Canada (a half-hour north of Port Stanley). This new station (built in 2001 at a cost of $7 million) sees 400,000 passengers a year (10 times that of Cleveland's Amtrak station). Yet it serves a city having 300,000 people in the center city and another 100,000 in the suburbs. Of course, having 14 trains a day to Cleveland's four makes a big difference! _________________________ London's station is at the south end of the virbant business district, and is an easy walk to the convention center, numerous hotels, restaurants and a downtown galleria that would make Cleveland, Columbus or Cincinnati brim with pride. Needless to say, if those three Ohio cities had a train station like this, they would be just as proud! I hope there will be connecting bus service between Port Stanley and the London train station (and maybe someday a train between Port Stanley and Toronto!). KJP

You probably could right now. I think the lake is pretty well frozen over. But don't be surprised if your life insurance policy is canceled upon your return (if you return).... KJP

Mayday, Hi neighbor! I thought it might be more interesting if people unfamiliar with the neighborhood checked out some of the places on that list. And, if they stepped into the Hawk, they might find out for themselves. :-o The Chamber is equally a "cultural experience," but since I like a lot of industrial music, I've gone there a few times. If you don't wear something black, they probably won't let you in! Twist used to be trip before they remodeled it, but I can't deal with guys dancing around with their shirts off. I'm not anti-gay (or I wouldn't live around here!), but that place was just a little too much for me.... :oops: KJP

Riverviewer, Another funny thing is that, in order to get a fast train from Cincy to D.C., the route would likely go through Dayton, Columbus, Pittsburgh and possibly to Harrisburg, before turning south to Baltimore and D.C. The reason is topography and enroute population. The only city of any consequence on the existing Amtrak route from Cincy to D.C. is Charleston WV -- enough said. Plus, re-engineering the existing railway for highway-competitive speeds (avg speed of 60-65, means a top train speed of 79-90 mph) would be obscenely expensive. On the route from Cincy to D.C. I'd mentioned above, via Pittsburgh, would take between 9-10 hours, at an average speed of about 80 mph, assuming a top speed of 110 mph. In the meantime, let me suggest driving to Manassas, Virginia (west of D.C.) and catching a Virginia Railway Express commuter train to Union Station. It has a better selection of scheduled departures throughout the day compared to another alternative, driving to Martinsburg/Harper's Ferry WV, or Brunswick/Frederick MD northwest of D.C. and taking the Maryland Rail Commuter (MARC) train into D.C. Here's a link to check out the options for both systems.... http://www.commuterpage.com/rail.htm KJP

Up until 1981, Cincinnati had two overnight trains each way to/from Washington D.C. (for four total). There is a proposal brewing that would bring daily service back to Cincinnati, rather than the current three-day-a-week operation. I tend to have a hard time sleeping on the train, even when there's a sleeping car. When I used to drink, I would have about six beers (a third of my usual!) before going to bed and then I would get a good night's sleep. After I quit drinking, I visited Canada and worried about getting sleep on the overnight train from Toronto to Montreal. But the tracks were so smooth (they're designed for regular 95 mph cruising speeds), but my train plodded along at a mere 70 mph. I slept like a baby. Plus, the new Renaissance cars VIA has are wonderful. Real wood in the sleeping compartment, extra-thick blankets and pillows, subdued lighting, plus chocolates and other bedtime goodies. I'll post a picture sometime. Rob, I think the railroads had to abandon the tracks that they did before they could grow their business again.. Perhaps they might have gone too far, but the experience of the last 15 years says no. They had to get their costs under control to make themselves competitive again, not only to shippers and investors, but to lenders. Without lenders, the railroads' chances of keeping their remaining infrastructure in a state of good repair was wishful thinking. Now, they are enjoying the fuits of the tough decisions they made after the rail industry was deregulated in 1980. They couldn't never have gotten to this point without reducing their cost of capital. Did you know that U.S. railroads are carrying more freight (in ton-miles, the shipping industry standard of volume) today than at any time in their history? Yet, they're are doing it with less track, less fuel and fewer employees, but with larger rail cars, more powerful locomotives, and more hi-tech signaling and tracking systems. Few people are aware of what they've been able to do, and without governmental subsidy ever since Conrail took its last federal nickel in the early 1980s. KJP

That attitude you speak of was pretty prevalent across-the-board in the railroad freight industry up until about 5-10 years ago. The first ones to start changing their minds were the short lines (like the Indiana & Ohio RR), then the regionals (like Ohio Central) and now, the Class 1's are starting to realize the passenger train isn't the enemy. The reason? Rail freight traffic congestion. You would think that's a reason for them not to embrace passenger rail. On the contrary. The private railroads are near to, or have already exhausted the amount of private capital they can access to rapidly increase the capacity of their rail lines. They've long resisted seeking government loans and grants (except when survival was paramount--see Amtrak and Conrail in the 1970s) for fear of getting the government involved in their business. Now, survival is no longer an issue; continued growth is. Class 1 railroads like Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific and Burlington Northern-Santa Fe are willing to run commuter and intercity passenger services because they allow freight railroads to tap a federal funding source for adding tracks to their clogged mainlines, eliminating dangerous grade crossings and adding or improving computer-aided dispatching/signalling technologies. There is no similar federal program for freight rail improvements except for a complicated, low-interest loan program that's proven to be pretty useless. Now, freight railroads are taking the next logical step. As long as there is a subsidy to protect against financial losses from operating passenger trains, freight railroads have even bid on passenger rail service contracts from commuter rail authorities and state DOTs. UP and BN-SF both bid on operating Illinois DOT-funded services in Illinois (but Amtrak won the bid back), NS has approached North Carolina DOT about possibly bidding out its Amtrak-operated Charlotte-Raleigh service. State-supported services in Missouri, Washington/Oregon, California and elsewhere may be next. It's a different time. I can only wonder what's coming around the bend. KJP

Mine is of Amtrak's Acela Express. I got up that morning in March 2002, decided to go for a drive (heading east, I was thinking about maybe Pittsburgh), but I kept going and five hours later I ended up at the BWI Airport rail station on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor! Here is the original picture and a couple of others I took that day.... I got back home by 10 p.m. And, to think, the spirits did it all in one day..... KJP

I live on the fifth-floor of a mid-rise condominium, three streets south of the Gold Coast (where buildings range in height from two stories to 30). My building was built the same year I was (1967), and we're both starting to show our age. In the basement is a parking garage and a laundry room. On the top floor is an indoor swimming pool, sun deck, party room and one penthouse. Out front of my building is Clifton, which sees a bus every 4-7 minutes during rush hours, and every 20 minutes off peak, with service from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. A 5-minute walk south is Detroit Avenue, which has a bus every 5 minutes during rush hours and every 10 minutes off-peak, with hourly service from midnight to 5 a.m. Within a 15-minute walk of my building are the following basic services and amenities: > the Rapid station (frequent service to Hopkins Airport, with community circulators from my neighborhood to the station every 20 minutes from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m.); > three grocery stores (one of which is strictly organic foods); > two inns (Day's Inn, Travelodge); > four banks; > post office; > four churches; > two coffee houses; > three large drug stores (two of which are open 24 hours); > one college (Virginia Marti College of Fashion and Art, which also has a nice art gallery storefront); > two video stores (not including those in grocery or drug stores); > several doctor/medical offices, > three convenience stores (one is open 24 hours); > lots of funky stores (Clifton Web, Flower Child, and others); > a couple of laundromats/dry cleaners; > six fast-food restaurants; > 17 restaurants, of which several are open 24 hours (Pier W, Swingos on the Lake, Warter's Edge Deli, Gold Coast Cafe, Clifton Diner, Papa Nick's Pizza, Tick Tock Tavern, It's It Deli & Cafe, Kluck's Seafood, Truffles desserts, Diana's Deli, Friends Restaurant & Deli, Pizza Hut (should it be under fast food?), Shore Restaurant, Maria's Roman Room, Pepper's Italian Cafe, and some Chinese take-out joint I've yet to visit), with more restaurants coming as two car dealerships are giving way to the mixed-use Rockport Square; > Seven live-music taverns/clubs: Blind Lemon (rock), Phantasy Theater and Nightclub (concert club), The Chamber (goth/industrial), Symposium (dance club), Twist (gay dance club), Pepper Joe's (blues/rock), Hi-Fi Club (rock); > Six "neighborhood-style" pubs: Five o'Clock Bar, Remix Lounge, Good Luck Tavern, Bassa Vitta Lounge, The Hawk, Elm's Bar; > A wide variety of ethnic persons live in my building and the surrounding neighborhood. In the summer, from my balcony, I can hear parties in which Arabic techno music is played, disagreements in Hungarian are made, and greetings in oriental are relayed. > Plus, there's the annual Clifton Arts Festival, held the first weekend of each June, in which the seven-lane-wide Clifton Boulevard is closed to traffic for several blocks and turned into a huge art gallery, food bazaar and live music venue. They also close Lake Avenue for the Cleveland Marathon (runners from around the world pass by in both directions, but the Kenyans always win) for one day each May. > Oh, and a 15-minute bicycle ride takes you to Edgewater Park to the east, or Lakewood Park to the west.... Mine truly is a great, urban neighborhood. I really love it here (it was even better during the 2003 blackout when strangers got together for cookouts, fireworks, and star-gazing!). I've lived here for eight years and will stay even if I buy a new place. Below are some pictures of my neighborhood..... KJP _________________________ That's my condo building in the background, as viewed from the test run of a commuter train in 1997... _________________________ Gold Coast high-rises, viewed from the party room on the top floor of my building.... _________________________ This pic gives a good overview of where I live. My building is three blocks south of the Lake Erie shoreline..... _________________________ The Phantasy Theater, just south of me, on Detroit Avenue (there's a grouping of a half-dozen live-music clubs there).... _________________________ A short crawl from the Phantasy is the Hi-Fi Club.... _________________________ An exhibitor at The Clifton Arts and Street Festival, held each year three blocks east of me.... _________________________ This is a restaurant at the Winton Place high-rise, hence the name Pier W, which has a great view of downtown.... _________________________ Windy nights can provide some great time-exposure views. This one was taken from my balcony, looking toward downtown Cleveland.... _________________________ I leave you with this view of my neighborhood, which is between downtown Lakewood and downtown Cleveland. This view was taken from the 15th floor of Lakewood Center North in downtown Lakewood.... That's all folks.

While I can't remember the research firm, it authored a report in the mid-1990s which showed that metro areas having excessive sprawl (defined as having outward metro development even as the central city declined in population), performed poorly economically compared to metro areas that had less of a sprawl proplem. If I remember correctly, metro areas that kept their sprawl relatively in check had several times greater GDP and individual wealth per resident than regions that couldn't. It ranked various cities, and I recall metro areas like Detroit and Cleveland among the "top" five that performed the worst, while urban areas like Portland and I think Raleigh-Durham performing the best. KJP

Breaking News! On Tuesday Jan. 25, Ohio Gov. Bob Taft notified the Ohio Rail Development Commission, informing him that the ORDC will remain intact for the remaining two years of Gov. Taft's term in office. Gov. Taft had proposed, for the second time in two years, to break up the ORDC. It was a cost-cutting move, to help stem a multi-billion-dollar state deficit, even though the ORDC's budget is less than $30 million per year. Opposition from a number of community leaders, citizens and other rail advocates (who support the Ohio Hub plan), as well as from railroads (who like one-stop-shopping at ORDC for development assistance programs), helped to prevent ORDC's break up. Members and sponsors of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association should continue to press Gov. Taft and state legislators for funding to ensure the ORDC's progress on the Ohio Hub System is not impeded. Regards, Kenneth Prendergast Midwest High Speed Rail Association Ohio Office 12029 Clifton Blvd., Suite 505 Cleveland, OH 44107-2189 (216) 288-4883 cell (216) 986-6064 office [email protected]

Let me dry up that wet blanket. All three of those projects have a substantial funding commitment in place -- the local shares are all, or mostly all, in place for each, with $230 million in ODOT funding committed to the Inner Belt project (with it ranked highly enough for additional funds in subsequent years), $50 million in ODOT funding to the Lakefront Boulevard project (also ranked highly enough for additional funding in subsequent years), and finally, $82 million from the Federal Transit Administration and $50 million from ODOT for the Euclid Corridor Transitway. All three of these projects are "go" -- the only questions remaining are: 1. the final form of the Lakefront Boulevard (will it be a 50 mph freeway on the west side or a 35 mph boulevard throughout?), and 2. the final form of the Inner Belt (will the Inner Belt have more or less entrance ramps, an inconic Cuyahoga Valley span, and a new alignment south of downtown to generate signficiant additional revenues for ODOT). The Euclid Corridor Transitway is done with final engineering and has started construction, though modifications may continue to be made. As for concentrating on which Inner Belt exit to take vs. enjoying the scenery, remember that some of us drive the Inner Belt so often that this isn't an issue for us, plus not everyone drives alone, others drive/walk/ride the city streets and would like a stunning new feature added to the skyline, and if the Inner Belt bridge has a bike/walking path on its north side, you can take time to enjoy more of the city's sights, not just our pretty, green highway signs. :-D KJP

X- When did the grocery store in Reserve Square close? You were using past-tense when referring to it. I hadn't heard it closed. KJP

I agree. I get tired of all these circumnagivations around the basic, statewide problems of an unconstitutional school funding situation, policies that promote exurban development and wealth dispersal away from older cities, etc. Casinos won't solve them. It's an escapist "solution" for a politician who is unwilling (or unable) to do the heavy political lifting. Either our elected officials we send to Columbus will solve these problems, or they won't and we'll find someone else who will. Or, if neither occurs, Ohio's national standing will continue to slide. Casinos won't stop that from happening. KJP

That makes two of us!

AaronClark: Could you open the PDF at the link I provided? Some people said they've had problems with it. Bear in mind, it is a 740K download, so for those who have dial-up, it could take a few minutes. X: That part is fact. The director, Paul Alsenas, is the one to blame for turning me onto this idea, but his vision was geared more for riverfront development, plus the iconic Inner Belt bridge. The Cuyahoga County Planning Commission developed a PowerPoint presentation about it just last month. The 5 MB document is available from their website or can be downloaded by clicking on this link: http://cpc.cuyahogacounty.us/docs/innerbeltbridge.pdf They have some other interesting documents available for download from their site, too. KJP

Michelle at ODOT said they would call the church to have them put a sign on the door, saying the meeting was postponed and moved. But, you're right. ODOT distributed in December a postcard, announcing the Jan. 20 meeting. But I never got any notice that it was postponed. You'd think they'd notify the media so we could get the word out? Silly me... KJP

A vision of downtown, highway By Ken Prendergast Write of Way About 10 years after moving away from Greater Cleveland, a 30-something-year-old is returning to meet old friends at an Indians baseball game. He drives toward downtown, approaching the Inner Belt highway. Ahead, there is a new addition to the skyline, but it's not a building in the traditional sense. It looks like a monument, shaped like a pylon. Soon, the man realizes he's driving straight toward the bright, inviting pylon. It's at the midpoint of a new Inner Belt bridge spanning the Cuyahoga River. Cables cascade downward to support the bridge from the white pylon that's as tall as a 25-story building. That height doesn't include the pylon's legs, which extend another 100 feet below the bridge to the flood plain below. Attached to the north side of the new span is something else. It's a 16-foot-wide path for pedestrians and bicycles, which are safely isolated from the fast-moving vehicular traffic by a concrete barrier topped by a sturdy, wrought-iron fence. Several persons standing next to their bicycles are taking pictures of the downtown skyline or aiming their lenses skyward at the towering pylon. The path links Tremont and Ohio City to yet another addition that has resulted from the new bridge. Even though it's been a decade since the young man was in Cleveland, he remembers the Inner Belt passing within spitting distance of Jacobs Field. It doesn't anymore. Instead, the Inner Belt bridge curves away, farther south than the old span. Between Jacobs Field and the highway is a new neighborhood whose brick and masonry buildings blot out the lower levels of the ballpark. As the Inner Belt's vehicular lanes descend, the pedestrian and bicycle path ascends to meet the new neighborhood. Halfway across the bridge, eastbound traffic splits on either side of a concrete divider. The three inner lanes are marked for through traffic, with the outer two lanes destined for exits to Ontario and East 9th streets. The young man stays to the left, following prior instructions. While baseball game-bound traffic slows on the right side of the divider, cars, trucks and buses sail by safely on the inner lanes. Game-bound traffic moves well, but the young man's car is moving even faster, underneath Ontario and East 9th streets. Decorative retaining walls climb up from the highway, as the eastbound and westbound lanes start spreading apart. Rising up from between them are lanes to and from Interstate 77 that add a fourth lane to the Inner Belt. But the young man isn't staying on the Inner Belt. Instead, he exits right and upward to a one-way road paralleling the highway. Another so-called "marginal road" is on the other side of the interstate. New buildings line the marginal roads' sidewalks, with pedestrians making use of them. A left turn at Community College Avenue takes the young man into the new downtown neighborhood, where a triangular-shaped park marks the split of Community College Avenue into East 14th and 18th streets. But, another street, a landscaped boulevard to the left, is the young man's route. He turns, heading west and, after passing another triangular-shaped park in a well-populated neighborhood, finds a parking deck only one block away from Jacobs Field. At a restaurant, on the ground floor of a townhouse collection where his friends live, he joins them for dinner. Later, at the ballpark, discussion of the stunning new landscape on the south side of downtown is a recurring theme among the young man, his friends and other spectators. He learns all the changes were a late-addition to the billion-dollar Inner Belt project, and almost was left out. The Ohio Department of Transportation was open to the idea, but late lobbying by the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission and, ultimately, by city officials who make the land-use decisions, made it happen. At the end of the baseball game, the young man and his friends wander into the new neighborhood, across Carnegie Avenue from Jacobs Field, to visit the bright, busy shops and cafes. In the distance, the pylon towering over the Inner Belt is bathed in red, white and blue light. He learns it will take on green and red hues in December. The new icon draws him and others to walk out on the bridge to absorb the awesome sight. He reconsiders his move from Greater Cleveland. If you want to see what this could look like, download a presentation I've posted at http://members.cox.net/kenatsun/InnerBelt.pdf on the Internet. Tell Cleveland Mayor Jane Campell and City Council what you think of the idea. And, be sure to attend some upcoming public meetings. An open house is scheduled from 4:30-8:30 p.m. Feb. 24, at the Visiting Nurses Association offices, 2500 East 22nd Street. For more information, contact Michelle Proctor, ODOT public affairs, at (216) 584-2005. There also will be an Inner Belt Advisory Committee Meeting at 9 a.m. Feb. 24, to be held at the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, 1299 Superior Ave., downtown. For more information, contact ODOT Inner Belt planner Craig Hebebrand at (216) 581-2100. END

That, and the splash fountain plus the remaining portion of the pier that doubled as a place for fishing and as a dock for passenger boats. But, you'd have to know the park's history to know what that big circular concrete thing is next to the pier. Most would never know it was a fountain for people to play in (it also had a splash tower in the middle of it). KJP