I always thought it would be a good idea to extend them to Ohio City.

 

 

Ohio City group will replicate 'ambassadors'

Ohio City Inc., the nonprofit community development group that supports its namesake neighborhood, is partnering with the Downtown Cleveland Alliance to clone the latter's successful “Clean & Safe” program as the West Side neighborhood prepares itself for a landmark year and a blossoming of the retail business district along West 25th Street and Lorain Avenue.

 

Neighborhood property owners in Ohio City last year agreed to create a special improvement district, or SID, and assess themselves a fee to pay for a higher level of security and maintenance than the city of Cleveland provides. Ohio City Inc. will oversee the SID and contract with Downtown Cleveland Alliance to provide the kind of street cleanup, graffiti removal and visible security presence that has improved the image of downtown.

 

“With the level of services they provide downtown, (the decision) was a no-brainer,” said Jeffrey Verespej, director of operations and advocacy at the Ohio City group.

 

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20120305/SUB1/303059992

 

While this isn't technically Tremont....it is right outside of Tremont West...the Nestle Expansion is moving right along:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jjames0408/6821552784/#

While this isn't technically Tremont....it is right outside of Tremont West...the Nestle Expansion is moving right along:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jjames0408/6821552784/#

 

It is considered Ohio City.

I see it is located at 2621 W 25th Street.

 

When I saw the article about this last summer, I assumed it meant the Nestle facilities in Solon. I had no idea this was happening in Cleveland. That make me veddy happy man.

I was at Crop this afternoon (where I saw Ramona Robinson!!! :-P) and took a couple pictures of Market Square Park progress. Looking good, I think it will be really nice.

 

AKA, the park with beautiful trees that are no longer there.

 

Have fun baking in that this summer

 

I see at least one place where a tree is going. Not sure how big the tree will be though.

The blank wall sections of that building next to the park are just crying out for something cool. Something better than brick covered in brick colored paint anyway, which just looks like bad makeup, IMHO.

The blank wall sections of that building next to the park are just crying out for something cool. Something better than brick covered in brick colored paint anyway, which just looks like bad makeup, IMHO.

 

Was thinking the exact same. Almost every building there could use a little tlc.

The blank wall sections of that building next to the park are just crying out for something cool. Something better than brick covered in brick colored paint anyway, which just looks like bad makeup, IMHO.

 

There will be "market murals" there as part of the park project. 

Just sharing some photos (there are three pages worth on Flickr below) of some problematic litter/illegal dumping areas in OC. Mostly near 25th and Detroit and west to 28th near Bounce. The photos do not do justice to the amount of trash actually there. Hopefully these areas, main drags through the neighborhood,  will be targets for spring clean-ups and more sustained attention. If interested in getting involved, please PM me!  Thanks!

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tanyacruz/

Was in Ohio City tonight and was very pleased to see a lot going on. Tons of people were walking around, riding bikes, sitting out on the patios. Great weather! Not only West 25th either. Bridge had nice amount of walkers, and Hecks Cafe and the restaurants on Fulton and bridge were crowded. Nice night!

Historic Bridgeview Cafe to Re-Open After Decades of Darkness

POSTED BY DOUGLAS TRATTNER ON FRI, MAR 23, 2012 AT 4:14 PM

 

"This last week I couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. I've been so excited," says David Hridel, sounding a bit like an expecting father. "I just signed the lease an hour ago and finally have the key."

 

Hridel is talking about the historic Bridgeview Café, the squat green-roofed building on Lorain, just a couple blocks east of the West Side Market. The funky building has been squarely in the sights of many an entrepreneur, but until now, it's been an elusive prey.

 

"It's literally one of my favorite buildings," says Hridel, for years a fixture in the Cleveland bar and dining scene. "I've been trying to track down the owner for years."

 

http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2012/03/23/historic-bridgeview-cafe-to-re-open-after-decades-of-darkness

That's really awesome. I can't wait to see the inside of that space.

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

Great news as this is one of the first things you see entering Ohio City. One less empty building!

Hopefully this points the way for more infill/rehab between the WSM and Lorain Carnegie bridge.

Speaking of which, I hope this is still on topic... When are the improvements to the bridge supposed to begin???

Is any work going on for Mitchell's to move into the old Moda space?  I haven't heard anything about that in a while.

Do we know whats going in the Near West Woodworks building yet?

Is any work going on for Mitchell's to move into the old Moda space?  I haven't heard anything about that in a while.

 

It was pushed back to mid-summer.

Speaking of which, I hope this is still on topic... When are the improvements to the bridge supposed to begin???

 

I am getting a little nervous about this project.  It desperately needs an overhaul.  Looking at ODOT website, the last update was in 2010 and they said work should start the next year.  It's now 2012 and nothing is finalized or even being talked about. Hopefully someone has other info.

Check NOACA's website.

Yikes, time for NOACA to overhaul their terrible website.

 

^^I don't know about the construction schedule, but meetings/planning/approvals for the design went into last summer, so this project is not at all stale.  ODOT's web presence isn't so great either, but this site shows lots of the 2011 activity: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/districts/D12/PlanningEngineering/Pages/Lorain-Carnegie%28HopeMemorial%29BikewayImprovements.aspx

 

And this cleveland.com article provides some fuller context: http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/07/clevelands_lorain-carnegie_bri.html

 

Can't wait for this project.  Should be awesome.

Release of the 2012 Charter One Small Business Grant Competition, this year the program is retail specific.   

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                      Contact:  Virginia Houston

March 26, 2012                                                                                      Ohio City Incorporated

                                                                                                              216.781.3222 x 104

                                                                                               

 

Charter One and Ohio City Incorporated Announce Small Business Grant Program

Charter One Growing Communities 2012 Ohio City Market District Small Business Development Grant Competition now in its second year

CLEVELAND – Small businesses have an opportunity to secure  grants to help their companies grow or launch in the Ohio City Market District through the Ohio City Market District Small Business Development Grant Competition. This competition is a program of the Charter One Growing Communities initiative, a project aimed at boosting economic and neighborhood development in the Ohio City Market District.

 

The competition will award winning small businesses with grants between $5,000 and $20,000 to assist in opening or expanding a business in the Ohio City Market District, the area surrounding the West Side Market. The Market District is home to over 150 small businesses and has recently seen significant growth including the addition of 25 new businesses in the last two years. This year, the competition is limited to new retail businesses looking to call the Ohio City Market District home. Competition winners may utilize funds for the payment of rent in an eligible location for a period of no more than one year, the purchase of equipment necessary for business operation, or interior build out.

 

Charter One has invested over $500,000 in the Market District over the last three years including the Growing Communities initiative and the West Side Market Centennial celebration this year. In 2011, Charter One Growing Communities provided  funds to help launch five businesses including Joy Machines Bike Shop, Campbell’s Sweet Shop, Salty Not Sweet, Urban Orchid and SOHO Kitchen and Bar to open in the neighborhood.

 

“We are truly excited to be a part of the revitalization of Ohio City Market District,” said Ken Marblestone, President of Charter One and RBS Citizens in Ohio.

 

“Ohio City Incorporated and our other community partners have brought forth so many innovative ideas that are really making a difference here. The future is bright for Cleveland neighborhoods,” Marblestone continued.

 

New businesses or expanding businesses can apply for the grants by responding to the Ohio City Market District Small Business Development Competition Grant RFP, along with submitting a short essay, and a business plan. 

 

“The Charter One Growing Communities initiative has catalyzed tremendous growth in the Market District,” said Eric Wobser, Executive Director, Ohio City Incorporated. “We are very excited to launch year two of the Small Business Grant Competition. We have five vacant storefronts left in the Market District and through this program, we hope to have them filled by the end of the year.” 

 

The competition begins today and runs through May 21, 2012.  Applications must be received by 5 PM on May 21, 2012 in order to be eligible.  Grant applications will be judged on their merits by a grant selection committee, and winners and grant amounts will be announced the week of June 11, 2012. The RFP is available online at www.ohiocity.org or by contacting Ohio City Incorporated.

 

Ohio City Incorporated is the community development corporation dedicated to developing, preserving and promoting Ohio City as a desirable place to live, work, study and play. 

 

Charter One Growing Communities invests in job creation and neighborhood development in the Ohio City Market District. It partners with Ohio City Incorporated, the City of Cleveland, Cleveland Councilman Joe Cimperman, Cleveland Public Art, Neighborhood Progress Inc., The Refugee Response and others to support and launch new ideas and programs to benefit the neighborhood and its residents. 

 

Applications can be downloaded here: http://ohiocity.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=169:news&catid=38:news-items

David Ellison leaves a comment on page 2.

Ohio City homeless housing plan stirs heated debate: Michael K. McIntryre's Tipoff

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland City Councilmen Joe Cimperman and Matt Zone say they fully support a plan to create housing on Lorain Avenue to support homeless men who are fighting addiction.

 

The Cleveland Housing Network has an option to purchase the property, a closed-down Hollywood Video store, and has submitted an application to the Ohio Housing Finance Authority for funding for the project.

"It's just smart housing, smart public policy," said Zone.

 

"But you have certain people who say Ohio City has been the dumping ground of too much social service agencies serving vulnerable populations," he said. "This gets right to the root of NIMBYism. [NIMBY is an acronym for Not In My Backyard.] People want to talk out of both sides of their mouth."

 

http://www.cleveland.com/tipoff/index.ssf/2012/03/ohio_city_homeless_housing_pla.html

Ellison sounds pretty reasonable to me. This process sounds really shady when you read about where the money is going.

Impossible to know from that useless article.  I know it's more exciting to report about provocative yahoo board postings, but some actual information about the project (beyond the bare basics posted here earlier), the review process, and the flow of money would have been useful.  Don't know if it was just an incredibly lazy reporter or cheap, declining newspaper/web site unwilling to support serious journalism, but seriously annoying either way.  /rant.

I saw this on facebook just now.

 

Posted by David Ellison

 

Each project that CHN and EDEN have proposed in their Housing First Initiative has escalated in price, providing greater tax credit benefits each time to the bankers and money-shufflers involved while providing no commensurate escalation in homeless benefits. OCI happens to be a neighborhood Community Development Corporation whose board is elected by its neighborhood membership. The board members and their voting records are our business.

 

The physical form of the building proposed has nothing to do with the opposition, and despite its proposed AZEK brackets and cantilevered overhangs, is not much better design than the Hollywood Video building it will replace. Each efficiency apartment will cost $170,000 to create, at 100% public expense, and the financing allows the developer to own the building free and clear, with no investment on their own part, at the moment the doors open. The project has been promised tax abatement for 15 years with a likely 15 year extension. It will remove a property that produces $26,000/year in property taxes from the tax rolls.

 

If anyone on this list can justify the councilman asking the police and the United States Attorney to keep an eye on me and my neighbors for speaking out against this plan, please do. If anyone can justify tortious interference against my ability to practice architecture in my neighborhood for not supporting this use of our tax dollars at this location, please do.

 

We can do a lot better job helping people who are mentally disabled and chronically homeless than this. This particular project was rotten at its inception - it compromised the integrity of the KSU Urban Design Collaborative, it has never made good financial sense, and it has been as corrosive to our community as anything I have ever seen in Ohio City.

Yikes, time for NOACA to overhaul their terrible website.

 

 

the contract for the upgrade has been awarded, should be done in a few months.

SPECIAL REPORT: THE REMAKING OF WEST 25TH

 

West 25th Street: The awakening of a sleeping giant

4:30 am, April 2, 2012

 

The whole special report can be found HERE. http://www.crainscleveland.com/section/W25th

 

Stories: Read about the driving forces behind the Market District's transformation and the businesses that have been part of the revitalization; the development of Ohio City's neighborhoods; and what still needs to be done and what's on tap.

 

Gallery: In photos, compare images of a bustling present-day West 25th with photos from days long since past, and get a look inside some of the neighborhood's home renovations. On video, hear business owners talk about the uniqueness of the Market District, while longtime West Side Market vendors discuss how the neighborhood has changed.

 

Map: More than 20 businesses have opened in the Market District in the last 18 months. Learn more about some of these businesses, and why they located on West 25th.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.crainscleveland.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120402/FREE/120339981/1075/TOC&Profile=1075

Lot of retread on Crain's for those that have been watching OCI's savvy and crazy quick revitalization of the district. Regardless, check out the pictures! There's a lot of them ... dating back to the market before West Side Market and construction of the current Market. Two things that were really interesting for me ... aerial photographs in 1949 that showed a surprisingly large number of and surface lots and undeveloped parcels. Still looks pretty dense but had assumed that the nabe had been even denser; judging from photos from the 10s-30s, it looks like some really cool buildings had already been demoed as of the late 40s. I'd always assumed that the vast majority of the de-densification of Cleveland had occurred in the 60s and 70s.

 

Also was fascinated by photos around the district from 1998 ... frankly looking pretty bombed out. I moved to Cleveland in 2002, and I'm amazed by how much revitalization work must have taken place just in those few years. Just a visual reminder of how much has happened on the Near West Side in just the past 15 years.

Where are the pictures?

^ http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20120402/W25THGALLERY/120329830/1237/W25thGallery

Market Avenue's new streetscape has done wonders for it.

Thanks!  You can see how bad things really got at one point, and how much things have improved. I have some pictures on my computer from 1974 and the 80's that show how bad it was.

Those pictures of W25th again reveal the fact that even while buildings may be (temporarily) vacant, they hold the potentials of the future.  Great articles by Crains.

Yea - The Safety Ambassabors started today in the OC.  As I was walking to work today, I saw them scrubbing the sidewalk at 25th & Jay! :clap:

This is another great and much needed step for OC.

^Nice... thx for the photos.

Also was fascinated by photos around the district

I noticed that they used this photo I took back in'82. They must've pulled it off of UO, since it's the only place I ever posted it.

 

It is a new day in Ohio City. As mentioned clean and safe services for the new special improvement district in Ohio City began today. It will be all hands on deck with a lot of help from our partners at the DCA over the next 1-2 weeks until the Ohio City Market District reaches a level of Clean standard that can be maintained. At that point the specifically assigned permanent Market District Ambassadors will take over.

Awesome!!!!

Additionally a couple of comments on previous posts.

 

I find it hard to understand how one or two businesses closing somehow slows the "momentum", in an area where over 30 businesses have opened in the past two years. Businesses close in Cleveland, its suburbs, and every other area all the time for a great many reasons. We will not get into the details of the circumstances regarding the closing of Garage Bar and Dragonfly, but these things do happen. Additionally, I read elsewhere a statement that the ownership group of Barley House had made a deal for theses spaces. That statement is false. There is a deal close to being in place, and when it is appropriate, those plans will be announced.

 

Also, in regards to the Permanent Supportive Housing project proposed on the corner of Lorain Avenue and Fulton Road: Just to be clear there were countless community meetings held regarding this proposal including every block club in the Ohio City community, as well as 7 organized tours of other operable PSH facilities to which all were invited. At the end of the day, some people will use any argument they can to shoot something down they don't agree with. The notion that this project would be moving forward simply because of conspiracy theories and kickbacks is patently false. It was supported by staff and the board because these are very well run facilities, because we feel in a rapidly changing Ohio City it is important to preserve a place for people of all income levels and socioeconomic conditions, and because we wish to change the context of Lorain Avenue from an autocentric thoroughfare to a pedestrian friendly environment. This particuarly property is an autocentric single story building anchored by a 20,000 square foot parking lot at one of the key intersections in Ohio City. No matter what business occupies this space it will always have a negative impact on the pedestrian environment of this Neighborhood. And if there is one lesson that we have learned in Cleveland over the past several decades it is that catering to an autocentric lifestyle in the urban environemtn and physically altering the landscape to do that will lead to disinvestment. Given the debt on the property from a previous redevelopment and the low cost of living (and thus its rents) in Cleveland, there is no feasible market rate development for this intersection that will produce a 4 story mixed use building, built to the street, that supplies upper floor residential apartments, and lower level retail, and office space.  Additionally the "development fee" for this project is to be utlized to go towards creating a new pedestrian plaza directly across the street changing Fulton and Lorain Roads to a 4 point intersection back from its current 6 point configuration. In one swoop we can completely and radically change what is currently one of the least pedestrian friendly environments on the West Side and make it one of the more friendly intersections.

 

Additionally these facilities are closed to only supply services to their residents not to the greater whole. The operators also make every effort possible to bring in the homeless and disadvantaged from the Neighborhood they are in as opposed to those outside the Neighborhood. So in no way do these places "attract" a larger homeless population. To passersby this will look like nothing more than a new miexed use apartment building, because that is what it is. Tax credits for these projects are awarded on April 11th and we will all find out whether or not this project moves forward, but we felt everyone should know where we stand.

You lost me a little there, but that's due mostly due to my exhaustion, not your writing style.

 

My view is that (Greater) Cleveland has a knack of catering to low income people at the expense of tax paying populace. Look at the problems with that w25 section 8 tower, or the susidized apartments along the lake in Euclid and Wickliffe (or one of those other W suburbs). Like it or not, low income equals a rise in crime, and that's the kind of $hit Ohio City doesn't need. Why pitch in obstacles to a neighborhood that is transforming for the better.

Why pick one of your brightest neighborhoods for this project?  Put it somewhere else.  There is plenty of unused/vacant/abandoned areas in the CLE.

I think these facilities are usually pretty well run.  I like the idea of putting one (and only one) in each of Cleveland's neighborhoods and suburbs.

I have a hunch it is akin to forced busing in which it's a feel-good policy that looks good on paper (to assuage guilt, promote social justice, improve the lives of the poor by putting them in income earning communities), yet ignores the real and obvious ramifications. Same mistakes, different eras.

FWIW, I've worked directly next door to a permanent supportive housing building run by the same people for the past 7 years. It's a well-maintained property, residents are quiet and I haven't heard of a single incidence of crime committed in the neighborhood by anyone living there. Honestly, if I hadn't seen it on a map of their properties, I wouldn't even know that the tenants being served were the chronically homeless.

 

Based on that experience, I think some of the anxiety about this project will dissipate if it's ultimately built. If anything, I think this type of facility makes a place feel safer, not less safe, because it reduces the volume of homeless people living on the street or overcrowding our shelters. And the renderings to date really do look like an incredible improvement for a property that hasn't contributed much to the street in quite a long time. I know we'll all approach this from different angles, but I'd be a yay vote for this project.

If "autocentric" is an issue, then the autocentric, vibe-killing strip mall at SE corner of W25th and Lorain should be Ohio City's #1 focus.

 

I also agree that CLE often goes out of its way to serve the have nots to the detriment of the haves and progress. Why subsidized housing has the best view of downtown in the city, I can't fathom.

Right across the street from that high rise I saw a gun-drawn drug deal a few years back - thankfully my one and only -  and still continue to exercise great caution in the area as a result, regardless of the area's relative safety.

those damn poor people get all the perks.