I am a former Clevelander that will most likely return in a couple of years.  I have been reading this site for a while and decided to give my ideas for making downtown Cleveland a better place.

 

1)  Convince the Cleveland Clinic to move all of their administrative offices to a new signature building on public square rather than to the old TRW headquarters in the suburbs.

 

2)  Build the convention ctr behind tower city.

 

3)  Build a trolley museum/train station at the North end of Mall"c" extending over the RR tracks.  This would help to complete the original "Group Plan".  Trolley cars could run on the WFL through the museum. 

 

4)  The WFL should be turned into a "Downtown Loop" by extending South on E9th St,  West across the Lorain-Carnegie bridge, down W25th St, North into the west bank of the Flats, East on Center St, through Stonebridge, across the Center St bridge and back to the original WF line.

 

5)  Use the old convention center on Mall"B" for a new Cleveland World Trade and Technology Center.

 

6)  Build the new federal office bldg on Mall "B" where the county administrative offices currently are.

 

7)  A new Children's Museum/Theater on the parking lot at E17th?? and Euclid Ave.  Partners in this project could be CSU, Tri-C, Cleveland schools and Playhouse Square Inc.  Maybe PBL would even like it!

 

8)  A new WF line extending East as in the "Lakefront Plan" and extending West from NC Harbor over the Main Ave bridge and along the proposed Lake Front Blvd to Clifton Ave.

 

9)  Extend a Rapid Line South from the W25th St station through residential areas.  Imagine the potential for TOD at this station and at all other stations located at points where the rapid lines intersect the previously mentioned "Downtown Loop".

 

10)  I would like to see space for a new neighborhood South of gateway that can only exist if the innerbelt bridge is moved South.  ODOT says that the new bridge can not be built South of the existing bridge because it would cut through neighborhoods in Tremont. Why couldn't the new bridge be built North of the current bridge on the West end and South of the current bridge on the East end?  The new bridge could cross over the old bridge as it also crosses the river.  This part of the new bridge would obviously be higher than the old bridge and could, therefore, be the cable-stay portion.

 

We all spend alot of time reading and sharing our ideas, but we could do so much more if we presented a plan of our ideal city.  City leaders, and more recently, developers say they want to stop the "brain drain".  What if a plan for this ideal city was presented to city leaders, developers and the media and it was endorsed by all of the various "Young Professionals" organizations within the city?  The people that city leaders say they are hoping to attract to the area should be the very people telling them how to do it.  I think if these various groups speak-up in a unified manner, their opinion would carry a great deal of clout with local leaders.

 

"What ifs" should be in City Discussion.  P&C is for proposed or under construction projects.

 

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

Homey...those are some GREAT ideas!  We need to think of a way to make these ideas more public (other than this site).....maybe people and potential developers might take heed!

Hey Homey,

(I am sure I will be corrected if I am wrong, but)

I think ODOT is saying that if the bridge is bult with a curve, then people could not drive 65mph on it.  That is the reason ODOT is screwing the city (with our elected leaders help)

by "by build on mall X" you don't mean literally, do you?

When I said "build the new federal office bldg on Mall B", I was referring to the West side of the mall where the county administration bldg is (the county is moving out of this building),  The current convention ctr is on the East side of Mall "B"- this is where I would like to see the proposed "Cleveland World Trade Center".  Maybe you aren't aware of Mall "A", "B" and "C" in Cleveland being grassy plazas surrounded mostly by government bldgs? The North end of Mall "C" overlooking the lake is one of the proposed sites for the new convention ctr- this is where I would like to see the Trolley Museum/Train Station.

Oh man.

Homey, Yeah I'm pretty sure Pope is well aware of the layout of the malls and its ancillary Group Plan government buildings. He probably is also aware that most of the convention center is underneath the malls, and less to the east side of it. That's Public Auditorium, which is but a small and lesser-used part of the overall convention center.

Thanks for the clarification.  With that said, I'm not sure if my ideas for this area make sense- oh well.