There has to be one 'dream' project that everyone on UO wishes they could undertake in Cleveland.  From knocking down the Ford plant near the airport and creating a master plan/ terminal design for CLE or converting it into a wind turbine factory...to taking a vacant block downtown and building a boutique hotel or condo, we all have projects we would start tomorrow if we had some $$$.

 

Since moving to Ohio City, my daily runs consist of daydreaming about what could be and luckily not running into cars-although it'd be nice to actually have the problem in downtown Cleveland after 6pm...

 

Anyways here's a few things that I think would be fun to develop :clap: :

 

-Create B&B's and hostels in Ohio City.  The charm in this neighborhood-narrow streets, min. frontage housing, 19th century architecture-is quite unique and could provide tourists with an alternative to the hustle and bustle of downtown! 

-Buy the Halle's complex and May Co. and return them to their former glory!  Oh, the empty lot next to Union Club and the God awful Sterling Building needs to be redeveloped to accentuate Halle's.

-If port authority moves from west of Browns Stadium, that could turn into Cleveland's version of Amsterdam's Borneo Sporenburg. (maybe long term since there's a lot near the "center" to be developed)

-I think in order to fully appreciate the Burnham malls, we need to surround it with highrise residential/hotels!Without density, how can one appreciate/understand the Group Plan concept?

 

Ok well that's more than 1 but it's just to get the juices flowing.  I'm sure we're all looking forward to hearing about what all of us crazy UO's think about when eating, sleeping, reading, walking, working, etc...

 

 

I'd build a casino in the Flats.

I would build the *trumpets sound* RandoTower @ Cleveland.  It would be Cleveland's version of the towers that would go up in awesome cities everywhere.  Cincy would probably get multiple for that much greater, but that's another discussion.

 

The left over money from constructing the tower would go towards some sort of park/art fund for the city.

Cle,

 

Did you know that we've got 3 B&Bs in Ohio City?

 

Off the top of my head (bc i really should be working) I'd put

-1/3 into venture capital for new companies to start up downtown

-1/3 into endowed private schools for certain inner city neighborhoods

-1/6 into capital improvements (parks, green space, flats pedestrian bridge) for downtown

-1/6 into helping turn CSU into a residential campus

This is a neat topic, something I think about all the time. I'll throw out a few off the top of my head:

 

#1 Buy Lakeview Terrace from CMHA and tear it down. Next week.

#2 The ECP would become a light-rail line. I would run a spur up E. 18th st. north and connect it with the waterfront line and form our own 'loop'.

#3 Cleveland Browns Stadium would get a retractable roof so we could land a final 4 and super bowl.

#4 If I had any cash left, I would fund the placement of the remaining hulett ore unloader next to the Mather and....

#5 Get the last leg of the Towpath Trail finished into downtown.

 

Honorable Mention:

 

*Fixing up the beautiful B&O freight terminal in the flats

*A fund to help inner-city/inner-ring Catholic schools survive

*A football stadium for CSU (and a MAC-level FB program)

*Getting some more cops hired and targeted at problem areas

 

I'll stop there..... :-D

 

^I should've added that I would focus almost exclusively on the projects that would act as catalysts for more development, and avoid (for the most part) single, stand-alone projects; I would leave those to other private developers. that's why I resisted listing Scranton Peninsula development, though I would strongly support a light-rail line through SP connected to the West Bank, and ultimately to the Waterfont line and Tower City.

 

*The Cleveland-Lorain Rail Project

Man, there's so much to list! Again, I'll stop here.

I too think I would spend the money to make things more appealing to developers.  My plan would use every bit of 1 billion dollars.  To me, Cleveland seems disconnected for what I think is it's biggest untapped resource, Lake Erie.  It seems to me that you need to make an effort just to get to the lakefront, it isn't something that the city lays out in front of you to visit, enjoy.

 

My plan would be to redirect how the shoreway crosses over the Cuyahoga river. Move the bridge so it heads more to the North over the river, then drop down quickly around W10th and follow along the railroad tracks.  Next, build a park OVER the RR tracks and the Shoreway between W10th and E9th.  The park would go all the way to the lakefront where there would be a beach and maybe a marina closer to the mouth of the river.  The Mall would connect directly to this park.  My thought is that this would connect downtown to the Stadium, Rock Hall, Science Center in addition to being a great place for people who live downtown to just relax. Seems to me that there aren't many parks where kids can go play and people can just blow off steam.  I think Developers would go crazy trying to build condo's and high rises near the park.  Airport would be a problem for the East Side though.

 

 

BTW, what's the deal in NE Ohio with putting stadiums so close to airports?  CB Stadium and the Akron Rubber Bowl are right next to airports. 

Zipsrifle,

 

Is that you Charlie Frye??  ;)

1.  Bring in development of enterprises/businesses that are sustainable

 

2.  Improve public transit and make it routine for most people

 

3.  Establish renewable energy sources such as wind power

 

4.  Turn Tower City into a viable retail space that people want to go to.  When we looked condos downtown it was depressing that such a grand retail space and May Co./Higbees didn't exist downtown. 

if i had a billion dollars i would create hyper density residential all over the near east side of cleveland just outside of downtown. id try and bring in architects who actually knew what they were doing and could replicate the type of built environment that once existed in the area. unlike most on here i would not try to gentrify with 300k condos.....these would be affordable housing/apartment units. i would pitch the development to local/national businesses and RTA in hopes there could be mixed use retail and a potential rail line.

 

encourage biotech or tech start-ups around the area to move into the areas where old industry are

 

rehab, restrore, and reuse old buildings throughout the city and fill in gaps with infill built right

 

depending on how much money things cost...if i could put a 1,000 footer (mixed business/residential/hotel) on public square id do it too

 

i would be very ambitious and try to stretch the money as far as it can go

cle2032,

 

Thank you for starting this discussion.  It is important to have dreams so when opportunities arise, we have suggestions.  I am so tired of the constant negative thoughts about anything that might be creative or progressive.  Without dreaming about "what if", we find ourselves continually falling into the constant trap about how creative ideas won't work.

"unlike most on here i would not try to gentrify with 300k condos.....these would be affordable housing/apartment units."

 

What forum do you frequent? I ask because I don't recall "most on here" stating that $300K condos were the end-all be-all. I know you like to project your issues on others but at least speak the truth when you do it.

OK, here's what I would do with $1 billion (some aren't very sexy, but whatever):

 

> Create a $100 million interest-bearing political action fund so I could make elected officials say "yes sir" to me when I propose various projects and ask them to secure funding for them (yeah, I'm worried the $1 billion would disappear real fast with all those pols' hands out, but I'll just have to be judicious!).

 

> Create a $100 million revolving low-interest loan fund for new business start-ups and build well-equipped business incubators in neighborhoods where new businesses can get a foothold rent-free for two years. I'd kick them out if they don't make their loan payments during any three-month period!

 

> Provide a non-federal share (say 20 percent) of funding to shore up the decaying bulkheads along the Cuyahoga River to help secure the river as a navigable waterway, promote green bulkheads and boost prospects for mixed-use development along the riverbanks. I believe the estimated cost of the bulkhead repairs is at least $500 million, so we're talking another $100 million outlay.

 

> Then I'd take $300 million to pay half of the infrastructure and train equipment investments for a four-route commuter rail system (downtown Cleveland to Lorain, Aurora, Painesville and Akron-Canton) for the region. I'd use my political action fund to get the pols to pony up the other half.

 

> I'd put $200 million into an interest-bearing fund so the proceeds can pay a majority of the operating costs for the above system.

 

> Another $100 million would go building a downtown light-rail loop as an extension of the Waterfront Line along East 17th Street and East 14th. That should cover about 75% of the capital costs. RTA and the city can come up with the rest from TIFs.

 

> For my last $100 million, I'd use it to relocate the Inner Belt through the Cedar Estates and relocate its residents into a mixed-income neighborhood where the Central Interchange now lays. Then ODOT could do the rest of the Inner Belt generally within its existing footprint.

 

I didn't include other projects like moving the port because I think's that going to happen anyway. Other housing and high-rise development projects could be catalyzed by the prior investments I noted.

I would give 25% to the Catholic school system for schools in Cleveland proper, the remaining 75% I would give to start a charter school system that focused on the children without the politics of the public school system

KJP, you're our sense of reason! 

I'd start a new newspaper!  Especially since the front page story for July 30 was about the drive-in!  Where do we live?!?!

My "dream project" for Cleveland has already been fulfilled with the completion of Steelyard Commons.

http://www.steelyardcommons.com

No particular order, probably my own place to live first.

 

1) Buy up all the land between Payne ave and Rockwell ave. Build something urban warehouse asian-ish neighborhood.

2) Build my own lavish place to live. Something like Tudor city, and I live in the Tudor up top.

3) Build a new museum for the trolleys and the Crawford museum, under one roof. Somewhere in this new neighborhood, with an appearance hearken back to Lorain Carnegie Bridge.

4) Build something like the new dorms at case for Cleveland state fronting Payne ave.

5) Build a streetcar system down Payne. No idea where it would go from there, maybe working its way to university circle via wade park ave, or making its way to terminal tower via Huron rd.

6) Make a dedicated separated bike path down Payne ave.

7) Make 2 parking garages on Payne ave, one across from dave’s the other somewhere centrally located between the railroad bridge and E55th.

8) Infill urbanize payne ave between innerbelt and e55th

9) Land cap over innerbelt on payne ave.

10) Uncover and re-naturalize giddings brook, make it pseudo doan brook-ish.

 

^You like Payne?

 

My idea:

 

I would move the Innerbelt, as KJP said, through Cedar Estates.  I would also bring the Cuyahoga Valley National Park all the way up to the new southern edge of downtown exposed by that move, up to and including the valley wall, and ending at West 3rd St.  Then I would prep the site of the Innerbelt and the land to it's south, including moving the Post Office.  I'd connect the park to downtown and the neighborhoods surrounding it with an extensive system of bikepaths routed for commuting as well as recreation in the park.  All that together constitutes my biggest idea for Cleveland.

I would EITHER start several community outreach centers, using compassionate counselors to:

 

1. Help less fortunate residents get work and improve their quality of life. This could involve internet training, resume preparation, financial information seminars to help people get out of debt, job search assistance, and even college selection and application assistance. The goal would be to help residents who wouldn't normally have a chance at getting better work get better work by providing free training and education in new skill sets.

 

2. Provide social counselors to educate residents who are new parents (child parenting seminars, lamaze classes, etc) and would like help in becoming a better prepared parent.

 

3. Provide connections with drug addiction counselors, who can walk with them and help them to overcome their addictions, providing them with assistance in obtaining free mental health, housing if necessary, education, etc.

 

3. Help keep kids off the streets with outreach programs to provide activities for younger people, including youth sports leagues, after school art (painting, drawing, sculpting, photography, etc) and theater programs, college and career counseling for high school students, etc.

 

None of these programs would involve monetary assistance. I would, in fact, love to drastically reduce the whole welfare program and focus on much more education and job assistance.

 

 

OR .. I would set aside the $1 bil for a massive college scholarship program. To qualify, the potential student would need to:

1. have been a resident of the city of Cleveland for at least a year before applying for the program. Proper proof would be necessary.

2. provide additional proof of residency in the city of Cleveland for the full 2 or 4 years of their education (associates or bachelors degree programs only) on a quarter or semester basis (whichever applies).

3. attend a 2 or 4 year school located within the city of Cleveland.

The scholarships would cover full tuition costs (not including books, housing, etc). The scholarship would also not provide any assistance in getting into the college itself. It would only provide financial assistance.

Good ideas, everyone, although jpop, I'll note that you wouldn't have to create the college scholarship program ... Cleveland is already home to the nation's oldest and largest college access program in Cleveland Scholarships Program. You would just need to infuse your billion into that organization.

 

I play this game all the time ... it's amazing that my brain will take time to consider what I would do with lottery winnings when I don't play the lottery.

 

At any rate, my answers change all the time, but here's the current list:

 

-One-sixth toward launching co-housing projects that are theme-based (e.g. residents coming together in green in-fill, residents sharing a community school, a village of working artists, an urban alternative to the traditional nursing home or gated retirement community, etc.), attentive to the needs of existing residents and that connect areas that are currently thriving but isolated. The largest of these would be my dream development, Salvage City, a dense block of rehabs and new construction from materials salvaged from demolished buildings in Cleveland ... think ReadyMade magazine manifest in an entire neighborhood. The construction of it would also serve as a public Do It Yourself workshop series.

 

- One-sixth toward integrating "web" social services into each of the co-housing neighborhoods. That is coordinating workforce development, housing, education, etc. to benefit the existing residents of the investment neighborhoods, as well as programming that builds social capital among all residents in the neighborhood, such as pot lucks and block parties. 

 

- One-sixth toward massive expansion of Emerging Cleveland, providing customized tours of all the city's exciting new projects to both locals and newly arrived transplants. Building in strategies for encouraging in-migration to the city proper, as well as increased engagement in civic affairs and a higher willingness to consume within the city.

 

- One-sixth toward high-visibility neighborhood-based public art and arts-based beautification efforts that highlight and preserve the distinct character of each neighborhood and directly engages neighborhood residents in planning, designing and constructing the art.

 

- One-sixth toward assisting artists in developing markets for their work outside of Cleveland, particularly increasing opportunities for mass production, integration into home furnishing products, etc.

 

- One-sixth toward marketing and recruiting of artists throughout the United States (see http://www.paducaharts.com/ and http://www.pennavenuearts.org/video_f1.html for examples), specifically communicating all of the resources available to artists: market development (see the item above), health insurance assistance, grants, business training, networking, professional development, promotional opportunities and affordable space.

Ugh. I forgot one of my key programs ... a demand-side approach to increasing investments in alternative transportation infrastructure. While I think it's great to see investments in bicycle lanes, the Towpath, etc., I think some of these projects would move faster if there was a much higher concentration of people using bicycles, etc. So I would invest one-seventh of my money (change all my one-sixths to one-sevenths) in providing heavy discounts on bicycles and kayaks to residents of Cleveland, with particular incentives for residents of Ward 13. The goal would be to encourage the purchase of at least 5,000 bicycles and 1,000 kayaks by 2010. Discounted equipment would be coordinated through the Ohio City Bike Co-op and the Cleveland Rowing Foundation. I would have GPS tags embedded in the equipment (to prevent resale of the items and to provide an opportunity to research spatially where and when people are using this equipment to better inform decision makers about infrastructure decisions).

Kayak transportation?  Love it!

we could have used Kayak transporation services yesterday.  Especially the folks near W. 117

Haha. Yes. Kayak transportation. Open up some connectivity with Ohio City, Tremont and Duck Island, build in some docking stations, storage facilities and kayak-friendly mixed-use along the riverfront and lakefront and voila! I think that would be a highly visible distinction for the city of Cleveland, particularly as we rebrand ourselves as a green community.

Milan of Midwest, Amsterdam of Midwest, keep the nicknames comin!  :|

$1 billion? I'd purchase a number of growing tech start-ups and move them from California to Euclid Avenue!

I choose payne becuase its an east west route that actually goes to an up and up neighborhood, that is pretty desolate, that isnt a major traffic route, and that is wide enough that I could in theroy shrink the width to put a serperated bike path on.

take over the huntington building and restart the dirigible industry.