That's my own little contribution. :-D

 

The solid yellow line is actually what represents Phase One of study and what would represent Phase Two of study according to the approved grant request's text.

 

Consider the dotted line as my suggestion of a Phase Three. That could mean a couple of things -- continuing a light-rail line to the Tower City Center station via the Detroit-Superior Bridge, or a light-rail line/bus rapid transit route looping through the downtown area.

I am all for this. We can call it the Pink Flamingo Line.

Seriously, this is a very busy corridor.

The Old Brooklyn Neighborhood Services (OBNS) was begining plans last year (before the election) on a master plan for the neighbohood and identified the corridor, particularly the area where Pearl, State and Brodview meet, as an area that has the potential for explosive growth. Once the Tow Pat Trail connects with downtown (via Steelyard) and the Fulton Road Bridge is closed for rebuilding, this area is going ot be jammed. (Of course the bridge closing is upon us shortly and I realize that any potential C/P Transit Corridor is many years away.)

 

The last I heard about the master plan was that OBNS and the CDC that looks after the Archwood-Denison Neighborhood were/are merging and they are getting their ducks in a row before they start up the plan again.

I am surprised that they aren't at least considering running the line all the way to Tower City along the existing ROW.

I suspect they are. The study refers only to new infrastructure. Once a transit right of way is built up to the Ohio City rapid station, the transit service can then access Tower City Center on the existing right of way (assuming it's a rail service). The grant request's text specifically mentions that this new transit infrastructure would allow linkages with the Red, Blue, Green and Silver lines.

 

Here's something else I was thinking about... Building light-rail in this corridor should be much more affordable than rerouting the Red Line via the Euclid Corridor was estimated to be. With the Euclid Corridor, a 1-mile subway was needed to access Euclid Avenue from Tower City.

 

That's not the case with the Cleveland-Parma corridor. It would actually be relatively easy to have a rail service from that corridor access Tower City. That would be the case with a routing via the Detroit-Superior bridge too, since the bridge's lower deck might be used a local equity share to leverage a federal construction grant. How much might that be worth? Who knows -- $20 million? Less/More?

 

Lots of things to consider here.

Looks like it could tie in with ohio city's and stonebridge's trolley/LR service thats been mentioned

 

this would be amazing, i would probably use this instead of driving on a daily basis

wow, this is really shocking!  I look forward to reading/hearing more KJP!

Is there any mention of RTA in the grant request?  Would RTA even listen to Old Brooklyn if the study shows that light rail could be a success?

^ Good points, but this is how the ball keeps rolling.  You end up with good public transit when you start small and other areas realize how much it would help thier economy.  Then you end up with a great development environment full of people fighting to put it in thier backyard (and gladly accepting the tax increase to pay for it).

What's most shocking to me is that this is coming from NOACA: an organization that won't get off the dime on things like commuter rail in the Akron-Cleveland or Lorain-Cleveland corridors.... or on passenger rail service statewide.

What's most shocking to me is that this is coming from NOACA: an organization that won't get off the dime on things like commuter rail in the Akron-Cleveland or Lorain-Cleveland corridors.... or on passenger rail service statewide.

 

Sometimes I think we are a little too harsh on NOACA.  The organization is set up to fail.  The voting members represent so many different interests and they are all trying to get a piece of the pie.  I am not insinuating that we should not push to get a lot more out of NOACA, but how much can you expect when the board president is the commissioner of Medina county.   

I wish NOACA were as enthusiastic about *building* rail projects as they are about studying them.

Still, I'm hoping for the best.

The idea wasn't generated by NOACA or RTA. But NOACA didn't have to approve funding the grant for the transit study. And if stakeholders along the route, including the city of Cleveland, say this is something they ultimately want to build and secure funding for, then RTA officials I've spoken with said they would have to do it. Who knows, it may end up being what's called a turnkey project -- everything is studied, funded and built by non-RTA stakeholders, then the whole thing (except for some or all of the operating funding possibly) is turned over to RTA for them to operate.

 

Also, keep in mind that, as Musky noted, the Old Brooklyn Neighborhood Services (a cosponsor of the grant request) and the Old Brooklyn Community Development Corp. are in the process of merging. The president of the OBCDC board is Maribeth Feke. She's also planning and programming director for RTA. So RTA will be involved.

I am all for this. We can call it the Pink Flamingo Line.

LOL!

 

Here's your sign for the extension:

 

Really though, I've always hoped for some kind of unique transit connector from downtown to the zoo. If I remember, I read somewhere that the bridge over the zoo is going to be either revamped or radically redesigned. With that and the whisperings of transit investment, I wonder how soon potential urban building investors will start sizing up properties on West 25th.

 

 

http://remax.realtor.com/Prop/1050672192?gate=remax

 

If it does happen, here is a property to move on. Its been on the market for at least 8 months now.

I am all for this. We can call it the Pink Flamingo Line.

LOL!

 

Here's your sign for the extension:

 

Really though, I've always hoped for some kind of unique transit connector from downtown to the zoo. If I remember, I read somewhere that the bridge over the zoo is going to be either revamped or radically redesigned. With that and the whisperings of transit investment, I wonder how soon potential urban building investors will start sizing up properties on West 25th.

 

 

 

That is freaking hilarious

seriously, i like that

Great work, Corner, KJP...  The first question that comes to mind, though, is why they wouldn't run this all the way up 25th to Detroit?  There are quite a few transit-dependent people living at the north end of the route and you'd also connect with the buses on Detroit and the growing Flats population.

^ One of the reasons that was stated in the grant request was that a streetscape was already done for the section of West 25th north of Lorain. That would probably suit the bus-rapid transit concept (just a guess on my part). But I think another reason is that if they go with rail, a rail line could very easily diverge from the Red Line near West 25th, south of Lorain.

I know we're talking hypotheticals here, but if they're doing a surface line, it wouldn't have to physically connect with the Red Line at all.  If they're talking about something similar to the Portland Streetcar or MAX, they could have a clear transfer point at W.25th & Columbus (with an extended Red Line platform that could also serve the proposed new Columbus Rd. housing very well), but they could also run it up to Detroit and have a nice terminus with plazas on both sides (they're already there on the north side of Detroit @ W. 25th).  Hell, W. 25th north of Jay was already designed for streetcars!

Don't force transfers if you don't have to!

Do you think it would be a street level line or elevated?  It would great to see a subway, but that will never happen.  (too bad)

If rail is chosen, it will almost certainly be a surface line. The only question to me is, on what sections can a dedicated rail or bus right of way be provided to separate transit vehicles from car and truck traffic?

The Portland Streetcar shares a right-of-way with private automobiles, but in this way, it's not much different from a bus.  The MAX has its own ROW (the sections I'm familiar with, at least) and therefore moves a lot faster.  I think it would be possible to do a mixture...where there is a shared ROW in less congested, outlying areas and a designated ROW in the more congested areas.  And, of course, synchronized traffic signaling, less frequent stations, etc. etc...

While I much prefer rail to bus, I have difficulty justifying the cost of a rail line in the street when it would not provide much of an upgrade in service over a bus. Am I overlooking anything? 

To make a shared ROW with cars work correctly they should allow only certain hours of the day in which they are allowed to share. . During non-rush hour times share the lanes, during rush hours make them rail exclusive lanes. Place an on board camera on the rail to get license plates of vehicles that violate the laws and impose heavy fines.

I think it would have to be built off 25th by 2000ft or more if needed(maybe between Fulton and 25th) from Ohio city to around Biddulph ave then on top of Pearl Rd to Parma. I think its too narrow on 25th for rail.

 

but, i do have to say it looks great in Toronto,ON, cars share the Right-of-way.

Light rail transit to a suburban mall..this sounds a bit like what Toronto has to that mall in suburban Scarborough.

Would there be room to build a boulevard with the LRT line running through it?

I think it's time for a visual tour of the proposed corridor. It's a fascinating mix of land uses, and even the suburban portions have some pretty decent density, while some urban portions have some significant abandonment, poor streetscape and dead-sidewalk issues (MetroHealth Medical Center is a prime example). The following photos were all taken on April 20, 2006.

 

Let's start at the outer part of the corridor, in the Parmatown Mall vicinity, and work our way north toward downtown on Ridge Road and Pearl/W.25th Street. Mileage shown is the distance to Cleveland's Public Square based on the proposed routing...

 

 

1)  9.5 miles - A half dozen apartment complexes are concentrated just west of Parmatown, between the mall and the Tri-C West Campus...

 

 

 

2)  9.4 miles - RTA's new Parmatown Transit Center, under construction across Day Drive from the mall

 

 

 

3)  9.3 miles - RTA passengers wait out in the elements on Day Drive at Parmatown

 

 

 

4)  9.1 miles - Byers Field, on Day Drive between Parmatown and Parma Community General Hospital. When football games and other big events are held here, parking and traffic is pretty horrible

 

 

 

5)  8.9 miles - Some outlot mixed uses along Ridge Road, between Day Drive and Ridgewood. This is across Ridge from the hospital

 

 

 

6)  8.9 miles - Parma Community General Hospital -- a fairly urban-looking medical campus for the 'burbs

 

 

 

7)  8.8 miles - Parma City Hall at the corner of Ridge and Ridgewood. Ridgewood was the southern endpoint of Cleveland Railway Co. streetcar line No. 40, which was abandoned in 1928 south of Brookpark Road (Route 16 streetcar line on Pearl was abandoned in 1947 north of Brookpark Road).

 

 

 

8 )  8.1 miles - This is an interesting traffic circle (OK, sort of circle) where Canterbury, Chestnut Hills Ackley, Wainstead and, of course, Ridge Road all come together. The traffic circle is paved with brick, just as it was when streetcars came through here

 

 

 

9)  7.6 miles - Numerous small apartment buildings line this part of Ridge Road in Parma, plus churches and mom-and-pop shops. But the business district is still farther north

 

 

 

10)  7.3 miles - This is one of Parma's "Main Street"-style business districts, on Ridge at Snow Road. There's drug stores, offices, library and an old theater -- all "on the sidewalk" -- and surrounded by small-lot single- and multi-family uses

 

 

 

11)  7.0 miles - Some more of the Ridge Road business district, between Snow and Pearl roads

 

 

 

12)  7.0 miles - Just one of the local draws along Ridge Road -- a bowling alley in Parma? Who-da-thunk-it?

 

 

 

13)  6.8 miles - The infamous intersection of Pearl and Ridge roads, looking south on Pearl toward Ridge. It is among the county's 20 busiest intersections

 

 

 

14)  6.2 miles - Pearlbrook Shopping Center, at Pearl and Brookpark roads -- hence the name. Stereotypical early (1940s-1960s) suburban sprawl

 

 

 

15)  6.0 miles - Crossing the great divide on Pearl -- I-480 and the CSX mainline near the Cleveland-Parma boundary (actually Brookpark Road is the legal boundary, but the highway and tracks form a more substantial physical boundary)

 

 

 

16)  5.6 miles - Part of the business district on Pearl Road in the southern part of Old Brooklyn

 

 

 

17)  4.7 miles - Near the heart of Old Brooklyn on Pearl is an RTA bus garage, with Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, School, Convent and Party Center immediately behind it

 

 

 

18)  4.4 miles - "Downtown" Old Brooklyn, where three busy streets -- State, Broadview and Memphis -- all converge into Pearl. Part of the old Deaconess Hospital, now MetroHealth South Campus, can be seen in the background

 

 

 

19)  4.2 miles - Intersection of Pearl and Broadview during afternoon rush

 

 

 

20)  4.2 miles - Transit scene in downtown Old Brooklyn

 

 

 

21)  4.0 miles - The Brooklyn-Brighton Bridge over the Big Creek Valley, looking north. The main entrance to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is at the left -- the access road is called Wildlife Way

 

 

 

22)  3.5 miles - Brooklyn Centre, where traffic often gets gridlocked and would require signal preemption for any improved transit service (bus or rail). A first phase of this signal system could actually come later this year, but for emergency vehicles (the incremental cost of similarly equipping transit vehicles would be pretty low)....

 

 

 

23)  3.4 miles - More bumper-to-bumper stuff. Brick building at right behind the white sign is an 1880s fire station, now home to architectural firm Arkinetics

 

 

 

24)  3.1 miles - General landscape around the interchange between Pearl (which becomes West 25th in this area) and Interstate 71

 

 

 

25)  2.9 miles - MetroHealth Medical Center's campus, employing 6,000 people and annually sees 800,000+ visitors. Unfortunately, it doesn't mesh well at all with its urban surroundings along West 25th Street

 

 

 

26)  2.8 miles - West 25th, past MetroHealth -- a wasted opportunity!

 

 

 

27)  2.7 miles - This view gives a little better explanation why the medical campus doesn't related well with it surroundings. It sits like a fortress, isolated from the street, preventing the neighborhood from being enriched by the hospital's presence

 

 

 

28)  2.4 miles - Some terrific but faded architecture is awaiting an injection of new life from a transit corridor project!

 

 

 

29)  2.3 miles - Ditto for the famous Aragon Ballroom, now closed but often the subject of renovation plans. This was where the big bands and swing bands would swoon your parents or grandparents back in the day

 

 

 

30)  2.2 miles - West 25th and Clark Avenue. This is how dense most major intersections in Cleveland used to look, before they were demolished for gas stations, parking lots or were left to fall down or be burned down. In fact, the white building at left was gutted by fire a few years ago, but the neighborhood fought to restore it rather than raze it

 

 

 

31)  1.9 miles - Ugliness near the West 25th / I-90 interchange. This was a densely developed neighborhood, and was the subject of a famous photograph taken during the Blizzard of 1913 that has been posted elsewhere on this site. Perhaps a transit corridor can restore some of that lost density and vibrancy

 

 

 

32)  1.3 miles - Looking south from the intersection of West 25th and Columbus Road, taken from the bridge over the Red Line tracks. The larger bridge south is over the Norfolk Southern tracks from Lorain to Painesville and the Flats Industrial Railroad

 

 

 

33)  1.3 miles - Looking northerly from the same spot as above, toward the heart of Ohio City and West Side Market

 

 

 

34)  1.3 miles - Looking due north along the Red Line, from the West 25th Street overpass. The Ohio City/Lorain Avenue station is in the background

 

 

 

That's all for the tour. Hope you enjoyed the trip!

Reminds me a lot of parts of North High Street in Columbus.... varying widths and architecture... but it looks like LRT or Streetcars could run either along the curbs or in the median.

All aboard! Rail line from Cleveland to Lorain urged

Friday, April 21, 2006

Carl Matzelle

Plain Dealer Reporter

 

EDIT:  Article removed - no link and no longer on cleveland.com

Lakewood Mayor Tom George said he would support the plan, but Rocky River Mayor William Knoble said he is "dead-set against it."

 

"We just got the number of trains through our city reduced to a palatable level," he said. "RTA's doing a good job."

 

So, if the proposed schedule shows eight trips each way (16 total "crossings") a day, how does that really disrupt traffic flow to an unpalatable level? I could see his point if these were 250 car freight trains that would shut down intersections for five minutes at a stretch, but I imagine these trains wouldn't be any longer (initially, I suppose) than four or five cars. That would only disrupt traffic flow for a matter of seconds, not to mention giving Rocky River a new mode of intercity transit.

 

For something whose "negative" impact on a city would be negligible, it's surprising to him use such strong language as "dead-set against" this idea.

I live on Willowdale, in the mid 80's i waited inside the fire house for my school bus.

What the hell is this? The reporter didn't even interview me! And the guy this reporter interviewed at ORDC -- his name isn't Don Dawson -- it's Don Damron! Now I'm probably going to get in trouble at work!

seriously?  that's messed up!

Excellent series KJP!  That really gives us a good idea of the context along the route.  Anything south of Old Brooklyn is unfamiliar to me. 

 

For those of you who are not familiar with the last picture, looking northeast towards the West 25th Street Station, the propsed Riverview Hope VI project features a midrise row of apartments along the right side of the photo, from where KJP is standing all the way to the station.  I'd love to see this happen and perhaps for a transfer point to be built at the site of the photo, in conjunction with the transit route we're discussing. 

 

Also, in response to Noozers comment, I think a curbside alignment would be best along this route.

^^Very messed up.

 

A similar proposal five years ago stalled in its tracks. A study concluded that a north shore line was one of the best options in Northeast Ohio, but it warned that the service might not attract enough riders to justify the hundreds of millions of dollars it would cost.

 

The "hundreds of millions of dollars" quote is also terribly misleading.  Is the writer talking about capital expenditures?  Day-to-day operating costs?  If they're not going to explain it clearly, then leave it out.  It gives the impression that this is a massive public works project, when later in the article it mentions that a small start-up cost could get a temporary service going.

 

 

who is this Carl Matzelle, an intern?

I don't know, but I called the reporter today to complain about him not calling me or seeing if it was OK to use my name in quoting my report. He said he found out yesterday about the report I wrote and that he wanted to get something in the PD before deadline yesterday. He apologized for the situation. Then I got a call from the Elyria Chronicle Telegram (at least that reporter called me!) and I had to hand that call off to the executive director of All Aboard Ohio (the parent organization of NEOtrans).

 

I found out that Lorain County Commissioner Betty Blair liked my report on the West Shore Greenway and was sending it out to as many people as possible. While that is flattering, they didn't realize the complications it would cause me at Sun.

 

This whole mess has caused me some problems at work. If I'm doing something in the public eye, other than writing for Sun, I need to get clearance first. I had to explain to my editor, executive editor and general manager in a memo that the publicity wasn't my choice or at my instigation. Since I'm covering the District 10 congressional race, I had to call all of the candidates to explain that I'm not doing something in cahoots with Kucinich. And when I called Kucinich, I had to explain that I wasn't trying to do something to undermine him.

 

What a mess. I didn't get a hell of a lot work done today either cuz I was spending most of the time doing damage control! Friggin' media....

Sorry for your hassles.  But it was a great job and I'm glad the quality of your work is getting headway on this important rail project (as you know, in Cleveland, that's a feat in itself!)  ... Sadly, what you're telling us kinda sounds par for the course when it comes to the Pee Dee.

Am glad people are talking about this corridor as it’s an important one… But rail to Parma’s a toughie.  It’s such a long corridor that a surface-all-the-way option, even with the junction w/ the Red Line for the 1.4 mile hop over the river may be too slow to improve enough over the current buses to make  a difference.  And believe me, the Red Line tie in is the only logical route.  Aside from BRT, which I think is a waste of time, it makes no sense to run a surface line all the way through crowded/busy Ohio City/Market Sq, which, though direct, will only slow the line even more.  The only thing that would make sense for that route would be to ramp into a tunnel after passing over the Red Line; then under Ohio City on W. 25th to a direct tie into the existing D-S subway.  From there, I don’t see why we would compound the ancient mistake of not extending the subway a few thousand feet to Public Square rather than go to the expense (and traffic disruption) of ramping back up to street level – but that’s me, and since the W. 25 subway, even such a mile long one, will never happen, the conversation is moot.

 

One option to increase the speed of the Parma line could be, this:

- Red Line to W. 25 branching off to the surface

- Light rail down W. 25 to the Metro Health/hospital campus

- jog over to the Parma freeway for a non-stop run, south to I- 480 (or the N-S tracks)

- west over I-480 (or the N-S tracks) to Pearl

- up to Pearl left turning south down the Pearl median south into Parma (local stops but separated like Shaker and Van Aken; stops/crossing streets say every .3 miles, w/ some occasional ped bridges.

 

In my mind, this makes the most sense although (and I see you guys frowning already) we know that these off to the side ROW’s are similar to what we have now on our low patronized Rapid… But in a medium density town like ours (and others like it; particularly those that are in no-growth mode like Cleveland)  I think history has proven you’ve got to give up something in terms of door-to-door service to achieve the kind of speed that can compete w/ cars (and remember, unlike Dual Hub, the Parma route has the aforementioned competing freeway to challenge rail.

-

 

Is elevated rail an absolute negative?  I am sure there are newer, more modern ways of elevating rail to make it more pleasing to the landscape than the behemoth railways of NYC or Chicago (even though I like the urban feel they give).  Corridors such as the Parma or even the Clifton area could really benefit from this(IMO).

I think for most cities, el's are a no-no, even w/ the more pleasant concrete "T" construction, some, I've seen, w/ cylindrical support posts, even planters hanging from them.  They still offer visual clutter, shadows (often moving) and a degree of noise over streetscapes.  Chicago made the brilliant move, over a century ago, of placing it's L trains directly over or adjacent to alleys traveling parallel to the main traffic arteries meaning you could 'hide' the L's behind the streetscape building line.  But Chicago is also more unusual than Cleveland and most big cities in that it is totally flat with extremely large blocks meaning incredibly deep lots.  This offers wider alleyways with more room to play around with.  Of course, Chicago's Ls are old, so old that, I wouldn't surprised that Chicago's growth (as it is a comparatively young city compared to its Eastern counterparts) was designed with, and grew along with, the expansion of the elevated rail lines.

 

Cleveland, with its smaller blocks already built up corridors, hillier terrain, esp the Big Creek/Metroparks valley and, of course, the Flats, is more of a challenge to els, not to mention the fact that we have always lacked Chicago's density in most corridors (the Lakewood Gold Coast being the major exception).

 

CORRECTION NOTE: I referred to a “Parma Freeway” when I meant, the Jennings Freeway—obviously, I hold urban freeways in such high esteem, I forget their names.  :wink:

 

MODIFICATION TO PROPOSAL:  In my scenario of having the “Parma Branch” swing out from Pearl/W.25 for a non-stop Metro General Hosp to Pear-Brook shopping Center run along an Jennings Fwy-I-480 routing.  I’d modify that to have one Station at Broadview Road  to promote wider distribution. 

 

ALSO: Pearl-Brook is where we could go TOD crazy:  a major multimodal station with a terminus for Parma buses, a stop for Brookpark’s #98 to interface w/ the Pink (Flamingo) Line.  Here we could build I-480 exit ramps feeding directly into a Pink Line park ‘n ride, with high rise apartments, hotels, expanded Pearl-Brook retail, etc…  THINK BIG.

 

MODIFICATION #2 – if you really want to get nuts, you can add a branch spur from the line diverging east/south at Metro Gen that would stay on W. 25 over the Big Creek/Metropark’s Zoo bridge ending at the south end just north of downtown Old Brooklyn.  You could extend such a line down into the valley with a loop all the way around the Zoo’s main exhibits.  Such a branch-off line would only run M-Sats during daytime hours (and only on Sats during the summer Zoo season), otherwise, riders can ride the #79s up to their terminals at Metro General.  And if they wanted to go into Ohio City beyond the Red Line Stop to, say, Lutheran Medical Hosp or the Detroit/Stonebridge area, they could hop an extended Ohio City/Tremont Community Circulator, as all regular through bus routes north of Metro Gen would be eliminated.

 

Keep in mind that Old Brooklyn Neighborhood Service is conducting this study, so that any transit routing would need to serve Old Brooklyn. And the two main traffic generators in the area are the zoo and MetroHealth (both its main campus and its "new" south campus -- AKA Deaconess Hospital).

 

The two traffic congested areas are on Pearl south of I-71 through Brooklyn Centre to "downtown" Old Brooklyn and the other on Ridge south of Pearl. Other than using signal preemption for transit, I don't know how you make transit vehicles move more quickly through the Brooklyn Centre area. But Ridge south of Pearl is a pretty wide right of way. You might be able to offer a dedicated transit right of way here.

Fair points.

great news and awesome coverage kjp.

 

my bit of an idea is leaning towards improving west side transit at the tricky northern w25th terminus of this line. i'd suggest running the pink flamingo line down lorain a ways and up w45th or w65th to detroit and then back on detroit to tc. a w25th spur could come later and make for a nice loop of the nabe. going a little further west at the outset would trade some ridership (via w25th) for promoting redevelopment and desirability of living in the near westside area. kind of a westside version of the green line.

 

anyway, everyone keep us posted on this. the old brooklyn nabe assoc sinking money into it means they are serious as a heart attack about it and thats excellent news. i do hope they give fixed rail a serious look as in the future they will get great pressure from rta to do the brt thing. kjp, maybe that new firm rta recently hired for tod development planning can help obns plan too?

 

This is all well and good, but isn't it a damn shame that we're the ONLY metro area, already w/ rail, where we don't have (and haven't had since that jerk Al Porter derailed the subway), any kind of comprehensive plan for rail?  A city where it comes to agitation of well-intentioned neighborhood groups, or activitist-consultants like KJP since the transit agency is anti rail, constantly negative on the future of the metro area and who lives way out in an urban sprawl burb where he never has to personally deal w/ rail, himself...

^aaargh, true dat. a comprehensive plan is sorely needed. but good news is rta just hired someone to do some of that, at least for tod development. so we'll see.

well at least they corrected the misleading and typically negative peedee remark about it costing "hundreds of millions of dollars" in the chronicle article.

 

yet a shame most of the cuyahoga politicians quoted are trying to have it both ways and cage their bets instead of taking the bull by the horns and making a stand, which is what a project like this needs. the spotlight is on this important topic yet again, but where is the leadership??? don't forget sherrod brown came out in support of the original noaca study, but caved in to dennis kucinich's disapproval of letting it happen the last time. so where is sherrod on this today? silent?

 

i guess they all would rather just sit around and wring their hands and complain about rising gasoline prices and do nothing.

 

If Lakewood's mayor supports the concept, why would Kucinich be so against it?