3 Dog Pat

'eh I've seen better construction workers

IMHO Lillian Kuri, the former director of Cleveland Public Art, has been one of the strongest forces for positive change in the community over the past decade.

Does that include the theater district? In what district will 668 be?

Mr. Cimperman acknowledged that the Warehouse District, which began a transformation over 20 years ago from an ignored commercial district to a place with about 3,000 residents living in rehabbed historic buildings and a few dozen restaurants and bars, needs to stay fresh. -from the Warehouse Dist. streetscape thread I just wanted to check the scoreboard, is downtown at 10,000 residents yet? 3,000 in the warehouse district. Reserve Square, Statler, Avenue dist, + public housing = 2000? Gateway + E. 4th = 1000? CSU + Asiatown = 1000? Anyone have accurate numbers, or a more educated guess?

Johnny's, Crop, Metropolitan, & Starbucks are on that block right? I could see them using the extra sidewalk to put in even larger patio dining options

Thanks for the info W.28th! I get what they are saying about the river, but that is not to say we can't walk and chew gum at the same time. Lets do both! In regards to the interest from outside of the region and country, I wonder if Cleveland is considered the worn down house on a good block. A gem that just needs a good re-hab. (can you tell I have been house hunting)

^Dude, grab a cup of coffee, or a shot of whiskey. You are really flying off the handle this morning. Saying that there is a longer distance to Ohio vs. another part of New York is not an insult, or an attack. It is a fact.

Would you people ever accept a long term planning process? Does everything we do have to be done in ten years?

Who is moving here?

I agree with you kingfish, I doubt many of the people who dreamed up derivatives or who gave out NINJA loans were in any local chapter. But if card check becomes law, it will hurt non-right to work states, in my opinion.

Just one comment about the pacing of the street. By having one place open every 6 months or so, it re-energizes the street with newness. I always thought Clevelanders will try something once, check it out, if they like it the place will be hopping for a while, then fade away. Remember Dave and Busters on the west side when they opened? It was something like an hour wait to get in. If all parts of E. 4th opened with House of Blues, it would be old news by now. That is my humble opinion. I think Maron not only did it right, what they did was nearly revolutionary. Good for them!

There was probably such a run on forclosed houses last year, that the average price was unusually low. Now it is returning to normal. Maybe the worst is past us?

one thing i find to be interesting is that many anti-union folks also are on the anti-government bandwagon Well taking a braod, blunt view of this, government employees are in unions. These workers can not strike by law, so on its surface it ishard to see what benefit they get by being in a union. The anti-gov/anti-union people see it this way. Union members pay dues, a percentage of thier salary. The union can form political action committees and give money to candidates, typically democrats. The more employees on the federal payroll, and the more money they make the larger the "kickback" is to the Democrats. Remember the controversy over whether or not the TSA screeners would become federal employees or not? Well, it came down to Republicans not wanting more people on the federal payroll, in a government union that always gave thier money to the Democratic party.

I grew up union

Due to my years of functional alcohalic bartending, let me suggest taverns near your proposed apartments. A couple of them may be a bit out of the way, but they are my faves. Usually there will be good regulars there and you can quiz them about the neighborhood. Tremont Place Lofts The Treehouse Perry Payne Apartments Bridgeview Apartments Johnny's Little Bar and Grille Residences at Stonebridge Harbor Inn? Maybe? Bier Mart on W.25th otherwise Residences at 668 Moriarities A private condo for rent in Warehouse district (Johnny's) another in Cleveland Heights (Nighttown) and another in Little Italy (Barking Spider - bonus point for finding this one) Murray Hill Condos (pending availability-- but let's throw it in the list for now) (Barking Spider again) A private condo for rent in Ohio City -- located accross from West Side Market Great Lakes Brewery - Ask to see the bullet holes behind the bar. It is a very interesting story

Unions really have to figure out how to best serve its members, because in 2009, unions need people more than people need unions. (unless it is a government employee union, or baseball union, then you are strong) I worked for an automotive supplier, and roughly half our plants were union, half were not. When I would walk into a new plant I could tell within 1 minute if it was union or nonunion. In nonunion plants the employees were smiling on the job. The union always would hammer into the people how bad they are being treated, how bad the company was, how sub par the equipment was, etc., because that was the culture. In general presidents were elected based on popularity, and his friends would get stewarding positions, and people who ran against him would be shunned. There were lots of times I tried to get skilled welders more money so we would not loose them, but if one of the welders was not a friend of the President at that plant, the union would block it. If the president was one of the skilled welders, it would fly through that plant. I was at a new plant and there was a union drive. The union promised a raise, which is illegal, and in some cases not true. They also asked everyone to fill out a card so they could send them more information at home. Then the union, steelworks in this case, took those cards to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to say these were card checks and applied to have these cards recognized as a vote. (This is the card check legislation which is going to pass Congress) Once the workers found out, they were livid. Yes, the company did have meeting with employees on why unions were bad. They showed graphs of non union plants, and pay raises over 20 years, and the union plants, how unions will never bargin away automatic deductions of dues coming out of a paycheck, etc. When it came down to a vote, the NLRB came to the plant and called each employee one at a time to a meeting room where there was a union official, a company official and members of the NLRB (who are members of a gov't union). The union objected to 25 of the 140 employees. Which IIRC was the maximum percentage. They did not have to give a reason. The employee lost the ability to vote, but would have to live with the results. The 25 were generally the most vocally anti-union. The company objected to one employee, and had to give a reason why. Turns out he worked for the steel workers union before being hired on. We later found out there were 3 employees who worked at the plant who were working for the steelworkers to bring in the union. When the votes were counted only 2 people (I suppose the two on union payroll) voted for the union. That is a long story to say: 1. Card check is bad 2. Unions have to offer something better than "we are going to take big bad corporation down a notch"

^Would gentle curving of the street help or hurt? A cool curving, not a suburban cul-de-sac curving

hey group, there is a thread talking about buying short term in Cleveland, but I wanted to ask esteemed participants from all over the state. The conversation was talking about the costs involved with renting vs. buying and the time needed to make it a cost justification. Anyone want to walk me through the variables? I am looking to buy in New Orleans, but I know me. Given half a chance, I'll probably move back to Chicago within 5 years. I was told with the $8,000 tax credit this year, you could reasable buy a place and sell it in three years and still make out. The houses I am looking at will be roughly $200K I look forward to being schooled, and hopefully this will be a good resouce for other UOers.

maybe Fit works is moving and expanding?

Sounds like 1Cleveland, now 1Community.

Pizza place, the Bruel place just announced and Black Finn, maybe?

Group please correct me if I am wrong, but I thought I remember that the national termials building had mostly hits, but some misses in terms of layout. IIRC, due to its rehab from a warehouse, some of the units have windows that are oddly high or low. Also, the hallways are wood floors which looks great, but may be noisy. Either way, check out the specific apartment, and note the noise as you are walking towards it. (And as a serial rentor, ALWAYS go to the tub and check water pressure. I can't stress that enough for any rental property you look at. Garbage disposal in the sink, also a must :) )

(Paging MTS, Paging MTS!) Well, since MTS is not here, I will say it. Best Location in the Nation. A slogan born from a description of the area at the mouth of the Cuyahoga by surveyor George Washington. I think the way the lakefront and the river front can be seamlessly connected here is unusual for larger cities.

This is potentially one of the great waterfronts in the world," said Eckstut, whose firm has planned and directed acclaimed waterside development in Baltimore and New York City. If this was just this guy buttering up the clients and the general public, consider me buttered

X, the way we get exited on this board about bike lanes and planter designs, I am sure there is going to be plenty to be exited about over the next few years