3 Dog Pat

Thanks for the Pics, I have not seen the Gateway since last years Texas game. I am really trying to like it because it is there now, and it looks like at least the first 10 years will be good with the tenants who are there (corporate bars, that don't look corporate). I wonder how it will do after the original leases end. But, I have to say, I hate the Long's sign there. It just reminds me of the cool neighborhood that was lost. Too bad it can't go to some sort of OSU or Columbus historical society.

Patio eating at Lola! Can't wait for the opening

^Donna Summer?

^dumbass moment, all I can think about with that hint is the Roadrunner, but that is more of a "neep! neep!"

I know the Toyota technical center in AA (trust me I REALLY tried to get in there.) It mostly will employ mostly UofM grads with Masters or Doctorate degrees as well as engineers from Asia. The Center for Automotive Research at UofM is really second to none, and that is coming from a proud OSU grad. Here again, it is a few jobs for highly skilled people. Here is a link to what Alabama has been able to do in the past 10 years, 7 billion dollars of investment and 40,000 direct jobs, paying on average about $70,000 per year. More plants are on the way. Think how happy we would be if any of these companies came to Lorain. http://www.edpa.org/pdfs/Automotive%20Industry%20Profile.pdf

The south is not getting struggling rust belt companies looking for cheaper labor, they are getting the powerhouse Asian and European companies. These companies are transforming manufacturing and are building factories that are on the cutting edge of technology. It is the plants up north that are 50 years behind. Asian companies, from my experience, do not like American unions not because of wages, but because of politics. They fear that a strike could happen simply because a union leader had an ax to grind. Obviously this is unfounded, but they have that fear, that is why they will never build north of Marysville. There is a perception outside of automotive that building in the south is some sort of fad that will quickly go away. The only thing that is going away is manufacturing jobs in union areas. So, now, what do we do with a generation of people going to our failing local public schools and will not be able to compete for high tech research and development type jobs. If we let manufacturing slip away from the area, we will continue to separate into the wealthy and the underclass. I am sorry to get so fired up about this, but I had thought with all of the news about GM, Ford, Delphi, and the UAW people would start to realize how much is at stake, especially for North East Ohio.

Potentially bigger partners? Microsoft?

Could be a Forest City in the making. (But I am all doom and gloom)

Beechwood place is expanding

Atlanta is not where the growth is. Mississippi, Alabama, Texas is where all the growth, especially in the industry I know, automotive, is going. When I worked in MS, it was thrown around that the new Nissan plant generated 25,000 jobs and with all of the new supplier plants and the Nissan plant itself it was something like a 3 billion dollar investment. If you want to find a crap load of McMansions around manmade lakes, try Madison County MS. Now, Alabama has the Mercedes plant, and the Hyundai plant. Texas will be home the the new Toyota truck plant, a huge investment. VW and Kia are looking for a plant in the states, guess where they are looking? With Delphi and my company Tower and soon Dana in bankruptcy and asking judges to throw out contracts something will have to give. Either the UAW will be broken, and completely reformed or all automotive manufacturing within the next 20 years will be non-union employees. Literally the fork in the road will happen this week. Stay tuned. The point of my rambling is this: people underestimate the south. If it is allowed to grow unchallenged from communities up north, it will be the heart of manufacturing, and middle class wealth, in the country. And for the record, having Dennis Kucinich leading a march against greedy corporations is not what I consider challenging the south for manufacturing jobs.

Wimwar, Gateway was voted in when White was mayor. He really campaigned hard for it. If it was not for him, it probably would not have passed. Even still it passed in the suburbs, not the city proper.

At what point did the "Public/Private partnership" break down, who walked away first? (I would like to see if he mentions BP moving) How much of a distraction was the Browns leaving? What led to the sour relationship with Plain Dealer, and all of Cleveland media? What is up with Forest City, why won't they develop Scranton? Why in the hell did you unqualified people into vital positions in city government. Specifically airport and finance?

I am going to opening night at Comiskey....er, US Cellular field

I think my popularity on this site will slip, but I can think of one area where a highway fits into a city (granted a suburb) quite nicely. My hometown of Euclid. To the immediate north of the freeway is residential housing, to the immediate south is industry, light to heavy. Euclid has 4 exits within the city proper, (E. 200, E.222, E. 260/Babbit, Euclid Ave.)and two more nearly on the border (E. 185th, and Lloyd Rd) The industrial base of Euclid benefited from its easy access to the freeway and the rail lines that run parallel to it. It kept many of those industries such as Lincoln Electric and Argo Tech from leaving. Those industries payed taxes to keep Euclid "a city of superior services", which kept many residents from abandoning the city for the lush prospects of Mentor :) I know freeways are not popular on this board, but I wanted to suggest at least one that was a benefit for a community. Anyone feel like challenging that argument, or suggest another area that benefited from a highway?

I remember Fred Nance as very intertwined in the White Administration. My fear of Mayor Jackson is rooted there. Mike White came in a lot of energy, great ideas, a top notch staff, and a little cronyism. As the years past, the the energy lessened, so did the ideas, Mayor White turned on many of his staff, and all that was left was cronyism. I am happy with the present, but I am dreading the future. Please Frank, PLEASE prove me wrong!!!

As for the Chicago Blue and Red lines..... They existed before the freeways were put in, but not that far away from the city. When the Ryan and the Kennedy freeways were put in, the transit lines were put in as an extension. OK, back to the subject

Good job Frank!

^I think they can then say "we were trying to undervalue our persent property becasue we wanted to make this super project" "If there is eminent domain, we will have lost our opportunity to go forward with our never mentioned before super project, so we are really going to need a boat load of cash" God love 'em for trying

Area stores battle red tape to open doors Dave Mosher Posted: 3/29/06 Hundreds of plastic-wrapped compact discs, vinyl records and cassette tapes - filling wooden bins - wait for eager customers inside Singing Dog record store. From ABBA to ZZ Top, shoppers can find just about anything related to music they might be looking for, including posters, clothing and other memorabilia. From the store's location just inside the shadow of the towering South Campus Gateway, customers can look 50 feet across the street and see the spot where owner Jim Dawson first opened his store - more than 25 years ago. After Campus Partners asked him to move his store, Dawson said he had to struggle through piles of paperwork, sit through months of university-area and city meetings for approval, and pull together hundreds of thousands of dollars to reopen his record store. But Dawson is not alone in his hardship. Business owners throughout the university area go through similar ordeals when attempting to turn business concepts into realities and draw a living from one of the largest student populations in the United States. MORE: http://www.thelantern.com

^There are more illeagals in Chicago, hell in Cleveland for that matter, than I ever saw in Mississippi

No unions, low taxes, lax regulation (in other words, low wages, no benefits, poor public services, and little environmental/worker/consumer protection). The South is winning the race to the bottom. Congratulations. I work in automotive. Last year I worked at a new plant in Mississippi and now I work at a plant in Chicago that is just a few months older. The colleages in MS made $2 more per hour than the union colleages in Chicago. The plant in MS was ISO 14001 certified (enviromental), our Chicago plant is not. Everyone who worked at our plant down there went to at least a month of training, paid for by the state of Mississippi. The stereotype of Southern work conditions is not true, and it is a serious threat to retaining our manufacturing base. BTW the same could be said about western Ohio , Indiana, and all points south.

Isn't there some sort of dog type whistle that would scare birds

This project has been such a great catalyst for the street and the entire city. Great bang for the buck already.

^Is it just me, or has Charter One done more for the city since they were bought out by out of towners than when they were when they were HQed here?

I thought the plane that went into the Pentagon actually crashed into the ground and the building itself did not bear the full force of the impact. For my two cents, since I stamp and weld metal all day, the explanation of why the buildings collapsed made complete sense. To bad it made all the sense in hindsight.