CBC

lol that's ALL the media has focused on for the last 2-months. I was just back in CLE to visit family 2 weeks ago. If it weren't for the national media I would have never known what a depressing place I had just visited. Is your family still in Bay? That's depressing out there, mainly because it's dry :) Whoa is Cuyahoga County with our 9.1% unemployment rate vs Miami-Dade County's 11.3% unemployment rate. Actually if you add the trend line for all of the US you see that Cuyahoga county is average. We missed the boom caused by housing in the 2000's but once that went bust we were right back to being average. We are the control group I guess....But I guess we had the employment that LeBron brought so maybe our rate will climb again (tounge in cheek) http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=usunemployment&met=unemployment_rate&idim=county:CN390350&dl=en&hl=en&q=unemployment+cuyahoga+county+oh#met=unemployment_rate&idim=county:CN390350:CN120860

This is a sports thread, there is no room for logic here :) Mostly I am pissed that we got played by Chris Bosh. He was the catalyst. Best analysis yet form the slate.com blog of them watching the "special" JL: It's like he's having an affair and he just gave the Tiger Woods speech rather than the David Letterman one.

Thank you LeBron. If I read socio-economic depressed state/city/region in one more article I might cry.

This article nails it. He nails it to the wall like Martin Luther....Best perspective piece yet. I am out of here for the day have a merry Lebron filled evening. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/jack_mccallum/07/08/lebron.free.agency/index.html?eref=sihp LeBron's TV spectacle a fitting end to outlandish free-agent process Jack McCallum>INSIDE THE NBA In those anxious, heart-stopping moments before LeBron James addresses the nation on the state of the war in Afghanistan, I'd like to ... wait a minute [this is where Jon Stewart puts the fake phone to his ear] ... I've just been informed that the King's special is not about Afghanistan. It is about his deciding in which American city he will pursue his dream -- our dream, really, the dream of our collective nation, or more like the dream of the world, that's it, the whole world, the universe, that dream. Which is to play basketball, make a lot of money, and, dammit, just maybe change humankind for the better.

Whaaaat? :?

One thankful person in this whole media Hurricane of Lebron is Mike Vick. Normally his latest expoits would have him on the front page of the sports section for weeks. God, I am actually going to have to root for Dwight Howard, I never thought I would see that day....

It's 90+, I was running. I am pretty sure that it was caused by lack of oxygen and influenced by running past the place where it all began at St. V/St. M in Akron.

Do superstars even do local endorsements anymore? MTS do Jeter or any of the other Yankees do any endorsements that aren't national?

Some random thoughts I had while running in this oppresive heat. David Stern would stroke out if he did this but LeBron could have really had a lot of fun with this hour long special. First he could start by apologizing to America about the whole free agency debacle, saying along the lines that it seemed like a good idea at the time (08 Olympics) but it really ended up being asinine. He then could go on about how he did really consider other teams and disolve into a series of skits. The Nike puppets in LA, a Brady Bunch sequence in Miami with him sharing a room with Bosh and Wade. Maybe the roster sequence from Major league in NY, "This guy is dead." "Cross him off then" etc etc. And then wrap it up with a Dallas-esqe dream sequence ending where he wakes up and stays in Cleveland.

Very true. Gilbert isn't going to pull a Knicks salary cap move or a Cavs ver.2002 where they tank a season hoping to get the top draft pick. He already secured Byron Scott. That is an upgrade over Mike Brown strictly in winning attitude and understanding the nature of the 7 game series when the playoffs roll around.

Who advises him on this sh!t? Hour long special? Seriuosly. Put up or shut up, son. If you leave Cleveland the last 90 seconds you played here were spent looking around ingnoring your coach calling for a timeout. Then you would go on national TV to tell the CLE fans you were leaving? That takes some cajones. Excellent legacy. Also is Chris Bosh always this flaky? I never followed him much before.

I have been following the blog on SI.com...It's just not the same as watching.

I <3 Bell's Two Hearted Ale....

Spain-Germany just started.....Not sure who to root for.Just hope it's a close game.

AJ I agree, the coaching situation in Chicago takes them out of the running.

Can't wait to see you in Cleveland next year Bosh, it should be fun. Cleveland fans like to throw things. Gilbert should do a play money promo and the fans can shower him with all the money he left on the table by not taking the sign and trade.

Agree to disagree on most points. Just one clarification, my definition of city at this point basically includes any existing city or suburb. Not just the city proper. Jolly good game chap!

Really? I never knew that annoyance was deadly?

Perhaps poaching is a better word? The purpose the current method of infrastructure cost allocation is socialization in the name of growth with the theory that positives of the additional residents and business would outweigh the cost of the subsidization. When the net growth of a region is static the costs of socializing infrastructure falls on the existing residents/businesses raising their costs with no benefit.These costs are in addition to the fixed costs they are already paying for their infrastructure that was designed to support more residents.The less people you have paying, the higher the rates are. Which in turn drives more people away again raising costs. It's a vicious cycle. The perverse thing about the current system is the cities should be able to offer lower overall costs based on density ie infrastructure costs are divided by a higher number of payers but can't because they are straddled with excess fixed costs and the additional cost of socializing the outward expansion. While those who are directly receiving an overwhelming majority of the benefits from the new infrastructure are paying a tiny portion. The price signals are wacky. The other thing that seems to happen is that "growth" or at least as defined here as new construction is "sexy" but maintenance is not. ODOT is great at this. They are installing 5 miles of sound barrier walls along I-77 where they are widening it but the sound barrier walls along I-71 between the turnpike and W 150th are literally crumbling and falling down. Which seriously looks like sh!t. I am sure that the stimulus money was the main reason that the I-77 project is being built but the point is that ODOT wants to build new and better that's why that project was put on the table for the funds instead of the replacement project.

Nothing like a little pressure on that first assignment....Good luck :)

If people were willing to live and let live--which I am--you would be right. That does not appear to be the case, however. Many on these boards, and elsewhere where people with a similarly pro-urban mindset congregate, openly and unapologetically promote legal institutional reforms that would shift power and resources away from the suburbs, whether based on animus against the aesthetic, environmental concerns, or a belief that the suburbs get "too much" in the way of resources now so it is only "fair" that they lose it as soon as the Urbanist Party takes power. "Suburbia is not for me" is different than "suburbia delenda est." The problem that I have with the current model is that cards are stacked against the established cities. The infrastructure issues that outward expansion create are almost always payed for under some for of socialization. Think gas tax and waterdistrict rates, even gas and electric socialize most of the costs expansion over the whole region. The developers are on the hook for their direct costs ie. utilities in the development proper and maybe a connection charge but the cost to meet the growth in the region (ie the new transmission line in Geagua County) falls on all of the region. The current structure really hides the cost of the new devlopment to the homeowner/business owner. The developer recoups his cost in the sale price of the house but the cost to support the development falls on everyone in the region/state. The argument for this model is that it promotes growth, but is really growth if you merely stealing business/residents from a city 10 miles away? It seems that growth should be in addition to what is already there not simply moving it.

I'm having trouble envisioning what you're positing as comparable properties in terms of living space. In the suburbs, $250,000 gets you more living space *and* a better school system without having to shell out more for private school. In the city, $250,000 gets you less space, you *still* pay the taxes for the urban public school system, and you're probably going to have to factor in private school tuition on top of that. Gramayre, I am basing this on what I have seen in Cleveland and the suburbs.$250k buys you a lot of house in Cleveland unless you are right on the Gold coast or buying into a new construction. Cleveland is a bit of a different animal. The city proper is actually in the lower half on tax rates compared to the rest of the county. And the housing prices are lower allowing some additional room for tuition all other things being equal . The inner rings have good to decent public schools so the housing prices are a little bit higher than the city proper but are repressed by the tax rate. The outer rings have good schools and lower tax rates (for now) but the housing prices are a step higher for a similiar sized house in a development. This may be a result of all the feifdoms in Cleveland but that is what my observations are based on. Feel free to pick these apart but like I said this just my observation after many hours looking at realtor.com. I'll pull some examples later if I have some time.

As far as I can tell the growth of the suburbs come down to two things, the notion that new is better and the cost of "percieved safety". I think the cost of city vs suburb vs exurb in Ohio is pretty much leveled out by market forces in Ohio. Price per sqft of land maybe cheaper in the burbs. But I think total cost per sqft of livable space for the average buyer once you factor in taxes, utilities and private school tutition is pretty close. At least what is availible to the middle class.

http://maps.ers.usda.gov/foodatlas/foodenv5.aspx Check it out. USDA put together this interactive atlas at the county level. You can look up all sorts of metrics such as number of Fast Food per Population plus some socio-economic statistics too. My favorite is "gals of soft drinks" consumed. What is with that area around Fremont? Almost all of Ohio is average except the counties around Fremont.

That is what drives me crazy about my neighbor. Parking isn't limited on our street. During the day we get some overflow from the library but at night there are barely any cars on the street. That crazy f*ck will call the cops to have you ticketed if you leave your car there for more than 24 hours. I have a garage full of crap and we seldom use the back drive because our gate is a pain but I realize that if I am parking on the street it's due to my lack of planning or laziness and not anybody else's problem.