KJP

Welcome to Cleveland @daybreaker!

BTW, a little historical context.... When the city of Cleveland got the railroads to grade-separate their mainlines through the city in the 1910s, the Nickel Plate RR asked the cities of East Cleveland and Lakewood if they also wanted its tracks grade-separated through their communities. While East Cleveland said yes, Lakewood said no because they thought it would divide the city.

And the test subject shall be the former Royal Castle. Maybe. Someday. Saved by zero.....

Sounds like the approximate distance of League Park to Public Square. And back when League Park first opened, the density, layout, transit, mixed-use etc. of legacy US cities like Cleveland probably had more in common with European cities than their present-day versions. When we decide to build cities a certain way, that's what we get. Our cities are the result of collective choices, but often inspired by thought leaders like the Habsburgs or General Motors.

The Arch at St. Michael gets underway By Ken Prendergast / August 23, 2024 Renovation work for The Arch at St. Michael is a day old. The funding program to pay for the renovations is 50 years old. And the Gothic Revival beauty located in Cleveland’s South Tremont neighborhood that will gain new life from the work is 118 years old. Combined, the milestones involved a lot of celebrating. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2024/08/23/the-arch-at-st-michael-gets-underway/

Let's first try to be able to operate the existing rail system

My last meal there was on MLK day in 2020 and I thought the food (steak and mashed taters) was very tasty. Hope a new proprietor can make a go of it, perhaps it might be wise using a name other than Nighttown so customers don't expect the old-school jazz spot.

Stella Maris buys Flats site to expand By Ken Prendergast / August 22, 2024 After nearly eight years on and off the market, a small parcel at 2208-2210 Superior Viaduct at the west edge of Cleveland’s Flats District has sold to a growing stakeholder in the neighborhood. Addiction treatment center Stella Maris Inc. acquired the property last week and proposes to renovate an historic building on the site to expand the scope of its services. The site was twice proposed for a residential tower but neither advanced past the conceptual stage. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2024/08/22/stella-maris-buys-flats-site-to-expand/

GM just announced a $4.4 billion quarterly profit and more than 1,000 layoffs. A worker who was laid off via security denying him entry to the office summed it up: "We are nothing but numbers to them, fat to be trimmed off in the pursuit of the almighty dollar. We were not even given the common decency to say goodbye, just thrown onto the curb like useless trash." Profit: https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/general-motors/2024/07/23/gm-37-percent-gain-q2-pretax-profits/74504739007/ Loss: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/gm-lays-off-over-1000-salaried-software-services-employees-cnbc-reports-2024-08-19/

I hate to go down the license plate path again, but there seems to be a bunch of out-of-state plates in town lately. In fact, while going into Cleveland on Clifton to pick up my son from school, I was driving behind a car from Arizona, next to a car from New York (Buffalo Bills bumper sticker) that was behind a car from Pennsylvania. I noticed that while we passed a parked car from Connecticut.

One picture is (hasn't been built yet but am hopeful it will). The other (the Muny Lot shot) is only partially subject to proposed, long-range plans. The third is an optional site for the county's courthouse. None of those plans take into the account the number parking spaces that are critical to the current stadium lease and would have been critical to the next stadium lease -- which is a big reason why the Haslams looked elsewhere. I removed the “Want Cleveland to stop losing? Then offer a better product!” comment because I was certain it would take this thread off topic. I would be happy to discuss this in a more appropriate thread, however. I never ceases to amaze how emotional an issue the Browns/Haslams/stadium is. But I certainly can't complain. 😉

A football stadium and its 20,000 parking spaces are something you WANT to lose to a suburb. It is by its very nature anti-urban. If we can't think of a better use for prime, downtown lakefront land than a 60,000-seat facility that occupies 31 acres and thousands of parking spaces that occupy more than 500 acres and are significantly used only a dozen times per year, than we have failed to offer a quality urban product that competes with its suburbs and other legacy metros. When you look at these pictures, remember that the city, per its lease with the Browns are required to have a certain number of parking spaces available within a certain distance of the stadium. If these lots are to be developed, then structured parking decks (at $30,000+ per parking space) must be provided or something else has to be demolished for parking lots. Guys, let the stadium go to Brook Park for the sake of a more livable and enjoyable downtown. Who knows, it might someday offer the same or better urbanity and quality of public services than what I currently enjoy in my densely developed, 24-hour, mixed-use neighborhood! 500+ acres of downtown parking lots....

Whoa!

No info on whether the truck driver was charged.

It's not our NFL team. Not sure what to say about the rest of your out-of-proportion kneejerk reaction to my limited comment except: have a nice day.

Making the rounds on Facecrook (click to enlarge)....

Market District Lofts in Ohio City to expand By Ken Prendergast / August 21, 2024 On most other plots of land, adding 17 homes to it would be noticeable from the street. But if a proposed expansion of the Market District Lofts in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood happens, it might be the most below-the-radar residential development in the urban core since The Residences at The Guardian condominiums opened downtown. And the same developer is involved in both. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2024/08/21/market-district-lofts-in-ohio-city-to-expand/

What was Queens before the subway was built? Answer: Point is, we can develop areas how we see fit, when someone with money is willing to invest. Having 20,000 parking spaces in downtown for the stadium is a void that needs to be filled along with the facility that demands its presence of that parking 10 days a year. If that's a Haslam talking point, then they're greater urbanists for what we're giving them credit. I don't expect the city to come up with an alternative analysis for the stadium/parking land until after the Browns are gone. The city simply is not going to do that before they leave.

No, public transit works best where every rail station or busy bus intersection is a dense node of mixed uses. Every station or bus hub is it's own little downtown. Too often, Americans cities are downtowns with vertical office parks surrounded by parking lots and blighted streetcar-era neighborhoods and then car-dependent suburbs. A Brook Park mixed-use transit node next to the airport would be significantly more attractive and useful than just an auto plant and the scars of two former auto plants. But I don't understand why the Haslams aren't interested in a direct pedestrian connection between the airport and their proposed development. Seems to be a missed opportunity.

This is the only graphic I have for the most recent plan to develop Lot 44

Downtown property owner penalized for tax credit double-dipping By Ken Prendergast / August 20, 2024 A U.S. Tax Court judge in Washington D.C. has agreed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in disallowing a $22.6 million tax deduction claimed by Corning Place Ohio, LLC for not building a 34-story vertical addition on top of its 19th-century Garfield Building, 1965 E. 6th St., in Downtown Cleveland. Senior Judge Albert George Lauber also sustained the IRS commissioner’s imposition of a 40 percent penalty for a “gross valuation misstatement” in seeking the deduction. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2024/08/20/downtown-property-owner-penalized-for-tax-credit-double-dipping/

That may be the largest below-the-radar project in recent cleveland history.

Getting rid of the stadium is the best way to increase the use of the lakefront. It's a space hog as is the parking for it. Can we not envision higher and better uses than these? BTW, ODOT agreed to redesign the Shoreway because it's outdated design fails to meet basic modern highway engineering standards, especially the proximity of two interchanges so close to each other. A boulevard is the best way to solve this glaring design failure.