TMH

I think we should look at this as part of the transformation of the southern part of downtown. With the proposed new casino south of Tower City, the entire area will be different with a new focus. Personally I would rather see MORE parking garages because they diminish the value of the many surface parking lots and will only make development of those surface lots more profitable. Right now none of the surface parking lot owners want to sell for development because they are making too much money. Every great city solves this problem by building multi-story parking garages which diminish the money the surface lot owners make.

As one who walks past those buildings almost everyday on my way to Fitworks, I honestly will not miss those dilapidated and abandoned buildings - especially when I am walking at night. If there was a viable alternative project fighting for those buildings, I would have a different opinion, but the owners of those buildings have let them deteriorate to the point that no one will commit any serious money for redevelopment. To see new development in that immediate area is welcomed by this downtown resident. Let's not forget, this is phase I and with phase II the entire area will be transformed.

Actually, East 4th was not abandoned and vacant. I remember the Rathskeller, Bruegger Bagels, etc. and I enjoyed frequenting these places. East 4th is a transformation. The Medical mart is a transformation despite the need to tear down several buildings including gutting the entire "historic" convention center, and my personal favorite the Sportsman Bar. I propose that what is happening on Ontario and Prospect is also a transformation. I totally understand the desire to renovate buildings like the one on East 6th and Rockwell (across from the school administration building), but I simply see little use for the one or two buildings we are talking about tearing down for the construction of almost one BILLION dollars of construction.

I know my comments are going to upset a lot of people given the direction of this thread, but the truth is, the southeast corner of Ontario and Prospect is the first thing a visitor sees coming from the interstate into downtown on Ontario and it is an EYE SORE! It is vacant and rundown with no prospects of being occupied in my lifetime. I am completely against tearing down a building simply to make a surface parking lot. Look at what a disaster that has been in the Warehouse District. But at some point we have to let go of the old to make way for the new. If we never did that, there would be no Key Tower, BP Building (Huntington Bank?), 5/3rd building, Galeria, etc.

Thank you for the friendly and supportive comments. I get very frustrated with the PD's constant negativity. I think it is very destructive for our community.

We could have news reports of "Lake Erie Dead Again", but it would be sensationalism and not reporting the facts. I am tired of sensationalism. I want real solutions.

When we talk about the water quality in Lake Erie we have to remember that the lake is very large almost ocean-like. Where you are in the lake has a lot to do with the water quality. I have a cottage on the lake near Geneva Beach State Park and the water is extremely clean. There is little algae and the bacteria count as posted by the State Agency that conducts those test is always very low. Most times the water bacteria count is lower than what you would expect in a public pool or (!!!) a hotel pool. People talk about the "Dead Zone" in Lake Erie, but it is a fraction of the size of the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Having said all of this, I hate the fact that runoff continues to add pollutants to the lake! With over 12 million people living around Lake Erie, I often wonder, what practical solution exists? :wtf:

Food trucks can't yet park on downtown Cleveland streets, but Cuyahoga County is open for business. On Friday, Dim and Den Sum -- purveyors of fish tacos and pork BLTs -- will serve office crowds from a small Ontario Street parking lot, behind the county administration building. The truck will be open 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., said county spokeswoman Nicole Dailey Jones. And in future lunch hours, other Cleveland food trucks may feature daily specials from the lot. http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga-county/index.ssf/2011/04/cuyahoga_county_to_open_parking_lot_for_food_truck.html

Should every neighborhood have a "downtown"? That depends on how you define a neighborhood. In recent years I think the notion of a neighborhood has been diluted. It is now considered nothing more than a large collection of homes. Any large housing development is now called a neighborhood. Applebey's - "your neighborhood bar". To me a neighborhood is something like Cedar/Fairmount, Ohio City, Little Italy, Tremont, Coventry, etc. All of these places have a "downtown" surrounded by housing. I think that in the "olden days" neighborhoods were like small towns located within the larger city.

David, as one who moved to Cleveland from Clearwater, Florida, I will say that the beach there is spectacular. In my opinion October was the best month because the water was warm and the temperatures were moderate. Here in Cleveland, I will put Mentor Headlands beach up against any beach. It is 1 mile long by 500 ft. wide and all sand - Absolutely beautiful! Two of my other favorite beaches on Lake Erie are Cedar Point and the Sand Dunes in Erie, PA.

My bad.

To Rockandroller: I went to the parking lot at the northwest corner of West 3rd and St. Clair and I talked to the parking lot attendant. I explained your problem with a panhandler and he was unaware. I suggest you point out this person to the attendant the next time you are intimidated. In all honesty the parking lot attendant and his helper were less than friendly, but at least they can help you next time you have a problem. Good luck.

To Rockandroller: I feel terrible that you are experiencing harassment by a panhandler in that parking lot (northwest corner of West 3rd and St. Clair). I live right across the street at the Grand Arcade and my wife walks by there all the time. I would hate to think that she and others are in any danger. If you can post the time of day he is there, we will talk to the Downtown Cleveland Alliance and alert them to this potential problem.

The sad thing is, it only takes one idiot to do this. I don't know how you can prevent things like this from happening?

Reading today's posts illustrates my previous comments about the difference between an urban and suburban perspective. I have lived downtown for over 7 years with my wife. Neither one of us has ever experienced a crime. We walk everywhere at anytime. Initially we did have a problem with the panhandling. Two things have happened. First, it seems to be less prevalent in the last year or so. Secondly, we actually got to know some of them. Surprisingly, they are not all bad people and very few (if any) are homeless!! Do any of the downtown residents know Ronald and Henry? They used to be in the Warehouse District all the time. Several of the local businesses provided them with opportunities to earn some extra money. During one of those "jobs" I was asked to assist and to my surprise, they were OK. To this day we still communicate in a civil way whenever we see each other. They say they cannot be in the Warehouse District (my neighborhood) anymore because "THEY" won't let them. I am not sure what that means, but I am OK with that. I do not give any panhandler money, we give our donations to the Cosgrove Center which provides breakfast and lunch to anyone for free. It is true that many of panhandlers are not nice people. But I think in an urban environment, you adjust. I don't know how to bridge that difference in perception between an urban vs. suburban perspective. I don't mean that someone who lives in the suburbs can not have an urban perspective, but there is a difference when you live downtown everyday. Downtown is great!

You obviously do not know about all of the problems in Central Park in the past and today. The bigger issue is that we (Cleveland) are not the same size as NYC and we do not have the URBAN base. We have Malls and parks. We cannot get people to come downtown instead of going to their local Olive Garden because they are frightened when they see anything that looks like an urban environment! I wish it wasn't that way, but read the PD and you see how the entire perspective is biased. Any design for Pubic Square must take this into account.

With your proposed design I will guess that you do not live in downtown Cleveland. Currently, people are afraid to walk through Public Square, an area which is very safe and my wife and I have NEVER experienced anything threatening. At every point through Public Square, you are never more than 75 feet from traffic and people. People no longer sleep all night (and claim their space) in the park. You are proposing a larger open field (park) which will only accommodate more people "camping out" right in the center of downtown!! You might disagree, but as soon as the city tries to limit the ""homeless"" population, everyone in the suburbs will complain. We have to stop thinking about a suburban mall or park and start thinking about a city (urban) space. As a downtown resident, I want suburbanites to stop suggesting park designs with secluded spaces and park benches which only provide places for all of the people that scare suburbanites away. Stop suggesting designs that accommodate "bums", to sleep and all of the suburbanites to lament how terrible downtown is.

This question has no thread, it pertains to a technical question about the formatting of the discussion threads. I am using this thread to comment about it because it demonstrates the formatting issue. Why do some of these threads have no formatting and all comments scroll off the page on my computer. This never happened before. I can no longer read the discussion without constantly scrolling to the right. How can I fix that. As I am typing this, my comment is scrolling to the right, almost indefinitely. Sorry for the question, but for some of us less savvy tech people, is there a solution? Thanks

To I Went West: I do not want to get into a "my town is better than yours" argument, but I just returned home to Cleveland from Seattle, (Seattle to Chicago UA732, then Chicago to Cleveland UA570). I have been flying to Seattle almost once a month for the last 14 years. Without getting into specifics I strongly prefer Cleveland. My point with this post has to do with my cab ride from the airport to my condo downtown. The cab driver heard that I just returned from Seattle and he told me that after graduating from CSU he was considering moving there. After we talked it was apparent that it had to do with the constant glorifying of Seattle and denigrating of Cleveland by the media. When the conversation ended it was apparent that he loved it here in Cleveland and his family was happy. Here was a young man who appeared to be an immigrant from Africa. I am basing that judgment from his accent and he told me he spoke 7 languages. He told me he constantly hears on TV and radio how places like Seattle are so great and filled with opportunities, and Cleveland "Sucks". He was shocked to hear that the greater Cleveland Area had a lower unemployment rate than Seattle as of the latest Dec. unemployment postings by the government. http://www.bls.gov/web/metro/laummtrk.htm To improve our population numbers, we somehow have to get the truth about our region out to the public.

To HHS78, there is a saying - "The darkest hour is just before the dawn." I live in Cleveland and the census results are certainly not what I would have liked to see. However, there is a "strange" feeling in Cleveland. People are starting to look to the future with anticipation, instead of dread. We see a change in the local economy, moving away from total reliance on manufacturing to a broadening which is being fueled by Biotech/medical, software development, etc. We are witnessing an incredible growth in population for many of our neighborhoods which would have been unheard of 30 years ago. Cleveland never had a significant population downtown, but now it is over 12000! The national housing bubble has burst and I truly think that the Great Lakes and Midwest will begin to catch up. In Cincinnati I know similar changes are taking place. I lived in Cincinnati many years ago. I got my Masters from UC and it is a great city. "The darkest hour is always just before the dawn."

I recommend Hanna.

I know this is an ignorant question, but can someone please tell me how I can make the dialogue of these strands fit the normal page size? I never had this problem before, but now many of the discussion strands seem to be "out of wack". I apologize for my ignorance

It's funny to me that they count Tampa-St. Pete as one metropolitan area, but do not combine Cleveland and Akron. Tampa and St. Pete are separated by a large body of water (Tampa Bay) and the commute time is probably comparable between the two sets of cities.

I strongly recommend Osteria for a fantastic Italian dinner. It is a very small, intimate restaurant with a "big city" feel. It is located downtown on St. Clair Ave. near XOs. To enter you walk down several stairs and the restaurant is slightly below street level. The food is great!

My wife and I ate there a couple of weeks ago and we found the food to be surprisingly good. Based on our experience, I would rate Zdara as one of the better restaurants in WD. The staff were courteous and professional. It is true that there were very few people there, but that does not generally bother us.