June 10, 201114 yr Any "Anyone But" campaign is misguided. A bunch of people subscribed to that with regard to Democrats (and specifically Strickland) in the elections this past fall, and that's what got us Kasich. As much as one may dislike a politician, it's more important to support another on his or her own merits, rather than simply because of who they're not.
June 10, 201114 yr Careful what you wish for with the ABC campaign, folks. You are never going to agree with your council rep on every single issue. Joe C is a good man. He has done a lot of good for Cleveland and downtown. The DP registry would not have passed without his efforts. My only concern is that he has bigger aspirations..... but what politician doesn't. I would say the same thing about the ABJ campaign. Just be careful what you wish for. There has been progress under Jackson despite very difficult times. And this is coming from someone who has had some rather heated discussions with the mayor and his administration. That much is obvious by the way he sells out to the highest bidder (I believe Peabody learned that the hard way, and one of the reasons she ultimately turned against Cleveland and left). Certainly the key to the campaign idea of getting them out of office would be "providing there is someone stronger and more capable of taking their place" (thats the biggest issue in Cleveland is the leadership vacume) So really if there was such a campaign, it should be to first recruit a more capable person to run against them, and then campaign against them. Just to get them out of office I agree with you, the opponents could actually be worse (but certainly could be better).
June 10, 201114 yr There's no sense in supporting "anyone but" because "anyone but" can't run for office. Pick somebody. How many people here voted for Jackson's opponent in the last primary? I did, in part because I liked his approach of campaigning in person at transit stations.
June 10, 201114 yr An anybody but campaign can spark the imagination of someone who might want to do it, but thinks the incumbant to strong. But we are getting a bit off topic.
June 10, 201114 yr This might be a little too 1960s, but what if we showed up and tried to peacefully prevent the demolition? Is there no way to get a city wide referendum on this issue?
June 10, 201114 yr (Adding to the previous post) I'm thinking city drummers, live music, anything to get the local media's attention. Make our grievances known.
June 10, 201114 yr Interesting article as it addresses the thoughts you are having CLEJoe. http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/06/10/mills.reclaim.urban.ruins/index.html?hpt=tr_c2 New York City reclaims its ruins By Nicolaus Mills, Special to CNN June 10, 2011 8:11 a.m. EDT ... What makes the High Line so unique as an urban park is that it rises 30 feet above the street on a 1930s elevated freight line that was slated for destruction after the last train ran on it in 1980. Only the action of neighborhood community groups, committed to preservation of what they regarded as a local landmark, saved the High Line. High Line concepts are being considered for other cities across the country. And well they should. For the message the High Line sends is: Treat your urban ruins carefully. They may be more valuable than you think.
June 10, 201114 yr Great cities aren't great because they have good parking. In fact, I'll argue the opposite: cities with little or no street life, limited dynamism and lacking vibrancy usually have too much parking. Most cities I love to visit and want to live have far less parking -- because city officials who govern land use decisions resist the temptation of getting drunk on parking and instead provide healthy, multiple alternatives to access the city. With all the surface parking and structured parking downtown, I fail to see how demolishing more of the city for more parking will create a vibrant urban core. Yes, I'm sure there will be profitable bunkers downtown, but they will be disconnected from each other by large moats of pedestrian-killing parking that kill sidewalk retail in between them. None of this creates the kind of downtown I want to see. If you want to create a great downtown with lots of pedestrians, active storefronts, shrink the footprints of commercial uses to narrow but tall structures, improve their interactivity with the sidewalk, put housing or offices in the upper floors and provide a high-capacity circulatory system. Downtown Cleveland has few of these things, and has less of them as time goes by. So please tell me why I should be a daily (or even weekly) visitor to a downtown of big flashy bunkers surrounded by moats of parking? "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
June 10, 201114 yr It can be marketed as the parking garage district, 2nd largest parking garage district outside of "downtown" Houston!
June 10, 201114 yr I know there are several people from Lakewood on here. Saw this on a bike ride last night. Uploaded with ImageShack.us a couple page links: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Im-hatin-the-idea-of-a-McDonalds-on-Detroit/129706907105584 http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Save-the-Detroit-Theatre/229255040434733
June 10, 201114 yr Read your post. Tredders. Sounds great! So why not Cleveland, too? Is their a date for demolition? Can we plan a rally at the building? Contact folks in local media and tell them to come out. I'm traveling at the moment, but pulled over to respond. How's about we make Cleveland history?
June 12, 201114 yr I haven't seen it posted it yet, but Save Lower Prospect Avenue is continuing their efforts through a petition to the building owners and local civic leaders (especially to Councilman Cimperman) It is available to sign physically (yesterday they were at the arts fests in UC and Gordon Square) and through http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/downtown-is-our-town/
June 13, 201114 yr I've been working with that group and Councilman Cimperman to try and at the very least get together to discuss our grievances. I'm meeting with him Thursday for a previously scheduled meeting on a different matter, but he at least agreed to discuss the idea of a Town Hall type of meeting. I'll try and keep everyone posted! But keep signing that petition and emailing the Councilman.
June 14, 201114 yr Anyone use twitter? If you are not for the Columbia building coming down, contact Dan Gilbert @cavsdan and ask for his help
June 14, 201114 yr Anyone use twitter? If you are not for the Columbia building coming down, contact Dan Gilbert @cavsdan and ask for his help What do you mean ask for his help? He's is already helping to knock it down?
June 14, 201114 yr Anyone use twitter? If you are not for the Columbia building coming down, contact Dan Gilbert @cavsdan and ask for his help What do you mean ask for his help? He's is already helping to knock it down? Give him the opportunity to be the hero of the story. I don't care if he comes out smelling like roses, if we don't lose the building. Right now, there are not many avenues left
June 14, 201114 yr Anyone use twitter? If you are not for the Columbia building coming down, contact Dan Gilbert @cavsdan and ask for his help What do you mean ask for his help? He's is already helping to knock it down? Yeah, that doesn't make sense. Unless, Punch wants us to tweet (not the right avenue) Dan Gilbert so that he knows that we are not happy that the building will be torn down.
June 14, 201114 yr Anyone use twitter? If you are not for the Columbia building coming down, contact Dan Gilbert @cavsdan and ask for his help What do you mean ask for his help? He's is already helping to knock it down? Give him the opportunity to be the hero of the story. I don't care if he comes out smelling like roses, if we don't lose the building. Right now, there are not many avenues left I'm sorry, but that is so far from reality. You don't honestly believe that do you? I think that is unrealistic.
June 14, 201114 yr Well I would think that you should twitter that you would like him to keep his initial word about weaving the casino into the current fabric and not creating a bunker, and mention that are the type of young person that the city is supposed to be trying to attract (and the type the his company would try to attract), and you would appreciate a greater respect for the historical nature and urban fabric of downtown. And that parking blah blah.............................
June 14, 201114 yr Anyone use twitter? If you are not for the Columbia building coming down, contact Dan Gilbert @cavsdan and ask for his help What do you mean ask for his help? He's is already helping to knock it down? Give him the opportunity to be the hero of the story. I don't care if he comes out smelling like roses, if we don't lose the building. Right now, there are not many avenues left I'm sorry, but that is so far from reality. You don't honestly believe that do you? I think that is unrealistic. Will it hurt the Columbia building's chances? Right now, there is a lot of activity on his @cavsdan because of his LeBron tweet. If (big IF) the negotiations with the state were sped up to make this Columbia building story go away, then they are sensitive to how this goes against Dan Gilbert's promises. It can't hurt
June 14, 201114 yr I noticed his feed blowing up because of the 'Bron stuff, too. Perhaps we should send one tweet with the petition and hashtag (#SaveColumbia or #DowntownIsOurTown) and have everyone ONLY RT that tweet? If enough people RT, it could help it trend...
June 14, 201114 yr Then maybe just ask him to keep his promise and outline that promise (as I mentioned)
June 14, 201114 yr Here's what I have... #Cleveland residents want @cavsdan to keep his promise. Save the Columbia Building! @CleCityCouncil @JoeCimperman #DowntownIsOurTown That leaves me with 8 characters left. I can get more out of it if I take out some mentions, but both city council and Councilman Cimperman are active on Twitter and might see it. Another note, besides RTing my tweet (I'm @MildlyRelevant), make sure to use #DowntownIsOurTown in all of your tweets regarding Columbia in order to increase its chance of trending.
June 14, 201114 yr Here's what I have... #Cleveland residents want @cavsdan to keep his promise. Save the Columbia Building! @CleCityCouncil @JoeCimperman #DowntownIsOurTown That leaves me with 8 characters left. I can get more out of it if I take out some mentions, but both city council and Councilman Cimperman are active on Twitter and might see it. Another note, besides RTing my tweet (I'm @MildlyRelevant), make sure to use #DowntownIsOurTown in all of your tweets regarding Columbia in order to increase its chance of trending. What promise?
June 14, 201114 yr He promised to weave the casino into the existing fabric of the city... Unfortunately that's too wordy. I'm hoping he'll hear the parental tone of "you know what you did!"
June 14, 201114 yr He promised to weave the casino into the existing fabric of the city... Unfortunately that's too wordy. I'm hoping he'll hear the parental tone of "you know what you did!" Yeah he did. But its semantics at this point. Call him at his office. Write him at his office. I would be surprised if you got any response via twitter/facebook. Also if you're going to tweet this, tweet Quicken Loans. You young people have so much to learn.
June 14, 201114 yr He promised to weave the casino into the existing fabric of the city... Unfortunately that's too wordy. I'm hoping he'll hear the parental tone of "you know what you did!" Yeah he did. But its semantics at this point. Call him at his office. Write him at his office. I would be surprised if you got any response via twitter/facebook. Also if you're going to tweet this, tweet Quicken Loans. He's responded to fans via Twitter in the past. I would be more surprised to get a response at his office. It's easier to reach people with social media these days. Can't exactly write up or call an athlete, can you? But you can tweet them and get a response. You young people have so much to learn. Yes... It's the young people who typically have much to learn about social media. ;)
June 14, 201114 yr He promised to weave the casino into the existing fabric of the city... Unfortunately that's too wordy. I'm hoping he'll hear the parental tone of "you know what you did!" Yeah he did. But its semantics at this point. Call him at his office. Write him at his office. I would be surprised if you got any response via twitter/facebook. Also if you're going to tweet this, tweet Quicken Loans. He's responded to fans via Twitter in the past. I would be more surprised to get a response at his office. It's easier to reach people with social media these days. Can't exactly write up or call an athlete, can you? But you can tweet them and get a response. You young people have so much to learn. Yes... It's the young people who typically have much to learn about social media. ;) Sweety I could run circles around you in the social media wars! Exactly. Just ask Punch. He needs help as indicated below!
June 14, 201114 yr Hey Folks! Just sent out... #Cleveland wants @cavsdan to keep his promise. Save the Columbia Building! @CleCityCouncil @JoeCimperman #DowntownIsOurTown" via @MildlyRelevant. I got rid of "residents" to leave room in case people want to leave their own short comment before the RT... Hope it helps! Spread the word and hopefully we'll get their attention or at the very least, the attention of fellow Clevelanders!
June 14, 201114 yr MTS does not think it is a good idea noted moving on I'm not being a self defeatist or trying to be Debbie Downer. Many company's use social media as an outreach tool; an extension of their (online) Customer Service or Marketing Departments. If QuickenLoans or Harrah's CORPORATE have that? If yes, knock your selves out. If not, now serious will a tweet be taken? You 25-39 year olds are the Casino's target audience. but the 40 somethings are the folks with stable income $$$. You need to approach this from realistic stand point, not a soapbox/heat of the moment thought. What is goal? Who is your audience? What is your solution? What is the costs?
June 15, 201113 yr Just a random curiosity -- who here thinks (and how many if so) the members of our city council, the mayor, planning commission and other staffers of these persons have read Jane Jacobs (in particular the urban planning bible, "Death and Life of Great American Cities")? I know we UOians share a mindset on issues of dense livable communities in our downtowns, but it seems like the reading list for any Urban Studies 101 class in this country would include books that basically say "put pedestrians first" and "preserve old buildings" yet not only do we not get that direction in our cities, but in many cases we get the opposite. In fact, to me it seems as though the seldom occurrence when we hear our leaders discuss "walkability" or "preservation to anchor future development" are part of some new initiative --- as though the idea was just recently conceived by top urbanists.
June 16, 201113 yr Look at this persons sketch/rendering of what that block could look like if it wasnt for the garage. http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/254256_221025717921642_100000426475058_786499_5317024_n.jpg http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.218073438225520
June 16, 201113 yr I just returned from the Lakewood public meeting on the potential demolition of the Detroit Theatre so that McDonalds can move their Sloane location there. First let me say how wonderful it is to live in a place where the citizens are so actively engaged. But it saddens me that we continue to tick off one historic structure after another in favor of sprawl car oriented crap. The meeting was packed with a good 150 people in attendance. There were 5 "suits" representing McDonalds at the meeting. One of the men said that they needed to move the Sloane Avenue location because their business was growing and that they needed to accommodate that growth. However, another suit said about 45 minutes later into the discussion that they needed a location on Detroit to accommodate passer by traffic and that was the only way that they could grow/remain viable. I really wanted to call him out on that right there, but the conversation quickly shifted. Regardless, McDonalds is acting a bit shaky in their real intentions. There were many cries that one building after another in Lakewood gets the wrecking ball in favor of modern car designs. Lakewood leaders often cited that they have the ultimate tool in approving in design. However, it is what it is, there's no way you can make a McDonalds that wants a parking lot and a drive through pretty. It's sprawl car oriented crap no matter how much thought goes into it. Considering the average shelf life for a McDonalds franchise is a decade or two, before they tear down and rebuild, or move locations, destroying the Detroit Theatre for a structure that will only be there at most 15 years is an affront to the City and its residents.
June 16, 201113 yr Thats too bad WestBLVD. Everything Ive read sounds like the mayor isnt really against it. So Im sure that doesnt help matters. Sickening situation.
June 16, 201113 yr Would an old fashioned boycott help at all? Making it clear that so long as they intend to take down the theater, Clevealnders will encourage one another to avoid McDonalds and go to Burger King, Wendys or whatever.
June 16, 201113 yr I have a feeling that the people that would be doing the boycotting are not really the people that patronize McDonalds anyways.
June 16, 201113 yr Lakewood leaders seemed to show minimal interest in saving the building. Many in attendance asked about declaring it a historic landmark so that it can't be demolished. Their response, "that can't be legislated, it takes a volunteer group to organize and dedicate it." The whole audience sort of chuckled and one man of course yelled out the obvious, "umm, we're a group of about a 100 volunteers who are all here to see that this building doesn't come down." I think there might be a grass roots campaign to get it listed as a landmark, however there was a bit of opposition concerning whether it's historic or not, but all agreed that no McDonalds should be put there. With this building, I don't think time is on our side. I could see McDonalds pouncing on this purchase in the very near term. Other concerns brought up was that this new location is so close to a school, which is promoting obesity and unhealthy choices to all the students passing by it everyday. Lakewood is a very active community. I think for starters just having a boycott of their current Sloane Avenue location would get the message across, but it's not as if the people who were attending the meeting would ever step foot near one of those establishments to begin with.
June 16, 201113 yr Maybe post some fliers surrounding the current Sloane location and contact local media to do a story on it. They won't want to have any media showcasing angry protestors!
June 16, 201113 yr Heres the story from the Cleve.com Lakewood residents express concerns about potential McDonald's move to Detroit Theatre property Published: Wednesday, June 15, 2011, 9:25 PM Updated: Wednesday, June 15, 2011, 9:33 PM City administrators made it clear that the site is privately owned, has been for sale for years and is zoned for commercial use. They also made it clear that if McDonald's wants the property, they can not prevent them from acquiring it. "That's not the role of (City) Council or the administration in this instance," said Law Director and former Ward 1 councilmember Kevin Butler. http://www.cleveland.com/sunpostherald/index.ssf/2011/06/lakewood_residents_express_con.html
June 16, 201113 yr I can't bear to read the comments on any internet news site. However, the tear it down and build something new mentality definitely runs rampant for many in this country. Keeping the facade of this structure the same and building a McDonalds inside of it was out of the question from the reps at the meeting. They need their typical cookie cutter design in this location. It's really a shame because the buildings of this era are so architecturally pleasing and offer almost any adaptive reuse (a la the Columbia building) but because of the god dang car, we have to rip it out and start with a new model. The commercial on bottom, residential on top model was so successful, because it made perfect sense. You could go through countless iterations of restaurant, office space, doctors office, clothing store, convenience store, and everything in between through the decades. But now most new establishments want their own free standing structure built identical to every other in the nation, and when they go out of business 5-10 years down the road, they want the building demolished. It really is easy to see how after a decade or two so many of older architecturally pleasing buildings bite the dust. Too many people say, "well it was vacant for a few years so this is good for the economy." Eventually Detroit Avenue looks like Brookpark Rd and downtown Cleveland looks like Strongsville. Most of the sentiment I got from the meeting was that people did not want this type of STRUCTURE in their town. If the McDonalds kept the theatre's front facade and built their restaurant inside of it, most would not have a problem. Panera, Moe's, and Jimmy John's all built into the fabric of the city, why can't McDonalds do the same?
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