KJP

They do, if their recent USA maps are to believed.

That site plan I just posted isn't the former CPD HQ. It was posted by the seller of the land at the Northeast corner of Opportunity Corridor and East 79th street. And it's a plan for bringing car-dependent, suburban hell to the inner city.

Cleveland AGA Building to fuel start-ups By Ken Prendergast / February 13, 2024 Like many of Cleveland’s historic but vacant commercial buildings, the former American Gas Association (AGA) laboratory in Cleveland’s St. Clair-Superior neighborhood is about to get renovated for a new use. Unlike many other buildings, this one isn’t being converted into apartments. Instead, its new uses are intended to create long-term jobs and new businesses, especially among young women and minorities. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2024/02/13/cleveland-aga-building-to-fuel-start-ups/

Editorial: To save its coastal rail line, California will need to move it away from the ocean This is the fifth time in three years that train service has been interrupted by hillside erosion in the area, upending people’s commutes, long-distance trips and freight movement along this important route. The track was closed to Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner and Metrolink trains for six months last year. And with climate change fueling more intense storms, coastal erosion and sea level rise, closures of the ocean-side rail line are expected to become a regular occurrence. It’s time for Californians and transportation officials to face the inevitable reality: Saving the coastal line means moving it away from the unstable land of the ocean’s edge. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-02-09/editorial-california-needs-to-save-its-coastal-rail-line-before-its-too-late

CSX has three routes coming north out of Columbus, two of which go to Toledo. If CSX access to Marysville/Honda from the Indianapolis Line can be preserved, it makes sense for CSX to sell the line through Marysville and Dublin to the state, port authority, Amtrak or a private operator like Brightline.

Yes, it absolutely should! That's why the Haslams are pursuing options in addition to renovating the lakefront stadium. BTW, @NorthShore647 I greatly appreciate those wonderful site concepts you put together. The amount of detail and forethought that went into those was impressive!!

Another former dealership on Lorain is in transition too. A truck repair biz wants to open in the former Harley Davidson dealership at the entrance to the RTA station.

Indeed. Still would need to move the remaining railroad track over to the south/west edge of the right of way so that there's one track space separating the railroad traffic from the transit traffic. Unless Amtrak/regional passenger rail is the dominant railroad user remaining.

You mean such beautiful, imaginative urbanity as this?

U.S. Postal Service is a federal corporation so property sales don't go through the General Services Administration. Instead, they are bought and sold as commercial properties, same as any other, once the USPS makes the decision to dispose of a property. Examples: https://www.loopnet.com/search/listings/post-offices/usa/for-sale/ The Haslams have a purchase option on a site that would make a fine NE Ohio distribution to replace the one downtown, although a new location for the delivery unit would be needed. The USPS already has an auxiliary distribution center at the Chevy Plant in Parma on Brookpark Road. So they don't have to be convinced of the value of relocating to that general area. Not say that's what's planned. But could be possible.

There's one going in the Midtown Collaboration Center.

The four-track-wide right of way went to Garfield Heights. They are concerned with liability. If a freight train derails, they don't want it to wipe out a rapid transit train filled with passengers who all have lawyers. They will refuse to allow passenger trains on or immediately next to their tracks unless they are fully indemnified against all accidents at up to $500 million in liability, even those in which are found to be NS's fault. The reason is the "but for" clause. As in, if our train derails, it wouldn't have hurt/killed anyone "but for" the presence of the passenger train.

Interestingly, that line (built as the Cleveland & Pittsburgh RR, or just C&P), had four tracks on it until the 1950s. So there is room to add more tracks if NS can be convinced to move its two tracks over a track space. NS would want some space or a barrier of some kind between the transit tracks and the railroad tracks. It could generate ridership if the ridership was brought to it -- ie: building lakefront high-rises along it north of the tracks and developing the emerging arts district south of the tracks.

Which is what the likes of the Haslams, Sherwin-Williams, Cavaliers, Cleveland-Cliffs, etc. want. They and others have urged me not to write what I was going to write based on my reliable sources and even public records, and instead gave me BS (sometimes including outright lies) to share instead. The Browns and especially Sherwin-Williams were very angry with me for not sharing what they wanted me to share. For the most part, they've cut off all communication with me. But it's not much of a loss considering what they were sharing before. My new partnership with Cleveland Magazine has been interesting. I wrote scoops that affected some of their advertisers who then tried to put pressure on the editorial staff. I was able to share public records with the editors to show the advertisers that they were in fact pursuing a development project. Their advertisers backed off. I don't have that problem with my advertisers because I don't know who my advertisers are until their ads show up on my site. All of it is aggregated through a advertising platform I use -- called Mediavine. Advertisers do choose which sites to put content on, but it's based mostly on a site's analytics. There is a way to specifically place an my site by name. But if they don't like what I'm writing, they can go put it on someone else's site.

I especially like that last picture.

If that happened, we'd need a subway. Come to think of it, we'd need a subway FOR that to happen.

Cool video of how to speed up NEC to world-class HSR and how much it might cost. Entertaining video. Dude also has a great sense of humor.

It would be cool if the selected developer-architect team incorporates some of the design elements from the old school versus the newer one.

A press release rewrite Port of Cleveland OKs $32M in site upgrades By Ken Prendergast / February 10, 2024 Cleveland’s international water port took a significant stride this week toward the future as its board approved the allocation of $32.1 million in federal and state grants to help rehabilitate and modernize a key warehouse and upgrade electrical infrastructure at its General Cargo Terminal. This strategic move will ensure ongoing efficiency of port facilities and prepare the port for upcoming electrification efforts. MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2024/02/10/port-of-cleveland-oks-32m-in-site-upgrades/

The Roche de Boeuf interurban bridge over the Maumee River south of Waterville, OH is coming down.... https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/projects/projects/107405

One of the few things I was able to achieve when I was with All Aboard Ohio was to get Ohio to join MIPRC. I worked with Lorain Republican Jeffrey Armbruster (owner of multiple gas stations in Ohio) to sponsor this legislation and shepherd it through the General Assembly. He got the committee meeting scheduled and I got supportive organizations to testify for its passage. Then a new type of Republican came in -- immature, short-sighted, angry and corrupt -- and destroyed this and other efforts to move Ohio forward in partnership with others.

I was looking all over for that video to post here. Love that vid. Watched it like 10 times. 🤓

Forgot to hit the "post" button on this yesterday.... Cleveland seeks developers for Slavic Village school site By Ken Prendergast / February 9, 2024 A site in Cleveland’s Slavic Village that has hosted school facilities for the last 127 years could host a new use in the coming years depending on the response to a request for qualifications (RFQ) from prospective developers. That RFQ was issued this week by the city of Cleveland’s Department of Community Development, in partnership with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD). MORE: https://neo-trans.blog/2024/02/09/cleveland-seeks-developers-for-slavic-village-school-site/

I saw it. When technology, innovation and ability combine to cause a business model to fade in relevance, the defenders of that model often don't adjust well or at all. I'm sure Advance Publications doesn't like getting scooped by the increasing numbers of small businesses like mine. But the independent newsblog is the future and the big, old, lumbering newspaper is a dinosaur. If I was Advance's advertisers, readers and journalists, I'd be upset too that they've clung to an information resource that isn't being resourceful about providing information anymore.

Follow-up discussion on local media coverage of this story should be here