Creative Cleveland - The Ohio City – Downtown Corridor

via Richar Florida

Great article from From the School of Urban Affairs and Planning at Virginia Tech; however many of these ideas are already in place in the city. For example, we have already removed a lane of traffic from Detroit Avenue on the bridge to better accommodate pedestrians and bicyclist. I do agree about the need to find a better use for the abandoned lower level. This is not a new idea, and I believe one day we will find a way to use this space safely, and efficiently while making Cleveland a City of Choice.

The Ohio City – Downtown Corridor

Posted by austin watkins

Cleveland boosts a large amount of interesting and underutilized infrastructure. In its current state these roads and buildings look like any other part of Cleveland. They have character, they have an interesting past, and they can too serve a purpose in a new Cleveland. On a recent trip to New York City, I visited Highline Park, which is a 1.45 mile park built on a section of the former elevated freight railroad of the West Side Line. The park recently opened in 2009 and is not complete, but this type of adaptive reuse would be a great way to redevelop Cleveland’s neighborhood of Ohio City/Near West Side and bring life to the Detroit-Superior Bridge.

First, their are obvious differences between a park being built on historic elevated tracks in NYC’s trendy neighborhoods, such as the Meat Packing District, West Village, and Chelsea. Obviously these neighborhoods are very lively and are lined with multi-million dollar luxury apartments, boutiques, and cafes. However, these neighborhoods were once in decline in NYC and the visionary actions taken turned this area into a highly sought after part of the City.

Cleveland has a unique opportunity to connect downtown and Ohio City to create trendy corridor, lively with art establishments, restaurants, retail, residential, jobs, and a high quality of life. I would propose that Cleveland use the Detroit Avenue/Superior Ave corridor as a pilot for creating a vibrant, pedestrian oriented street, which connects neighborhoods, employment centers, civic and educational institutions with the people.

First, the Detroit-Superior Bridge has a history of temporary uses on the abandoned lower level. In September 2009, the lower levels of the bridge were used as a temporary art installation. “The curious will stroll along the mile-long span, sampling video installations, roots music, drumming, juggling and more. It will feel as if you’re exploring catacombs under a lost city, but actually you are high enough to gaze over the Flats, downtown and the industrial valley.”

The City should actively evaluate the opportunity to redevelop this corridor by making permanent pedestrian and biking improvements to the Detroit-Superior Bridge’s abandoned lower level. Further, it should look at traffic flow along Detroit Avenue and possibly reconfigure the road to exclude one travel lane. The excluded travel lane could be used as pedestrian and bike path, additional sidewalk space, areas for tables and other measures.

This will make the area more pedestrian friendly and calm traffic. Further, the entire corridor is approximately 4-miles. This allows a large amount of people to be able to actively bike and/or walk to work or school in Downtown.Creating a “trendy” corridor in Cleveland is step in the right direction. It may be challenging to attract families back to Cleveland, because of schools, crime, etc. But, attracting Cleveland’s “Creative Class” may be a good start. This corridor would connect some of Cleveland’s best assets, such as the Detroit-Suprior Bridge, Ohio City, Downtown, The Public Square, Cleveland State University, and so on. Just maybe such a corridor would lead to redevelopment of the existing buildings that have so much character. Personally, if I had the opportunity to live in a trendy neighborhood, with an active night-life, eateries, etc and be able to have an interesting walk/bike to downtown at an affordable price, Cleveland would be very attractive to me.

The Economist - Restoring Cleveland

Restoring Cleveland

The hopeful laundry

Jan 7th 2010 | CLEVELAND, OHIO

Micro-projects aim to restore a shattered area

Reuters

Can Cleveland flower again?

FOR decades, they have stood in stark juxtaposition: the manicured landscapes and tranquil grounds, the Van Goghs and Monets displayed in cavernous marble halls; and the abject poverty, crime and joblessness just outside. University Circle is home to Cleveland’s most cherished cultural and public-service gems, institutions built with the wealth of Ohio’s long-gone industrial era of steel and manufacturing: the Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance Hall, Case Western Reserve University and the city’s famous hospital district, centred on the Cleveland Clinic.

But encircling this oasis of gentility, the six surrounding neighbourhoods languish, home to 43,000 mostly black residents living in households where the median income is $18,500. A wave of recent foreclosures and the perennial signifiers of urban decay abound—drugs, crime and intractable unemployment. Despite the millions spent on job-training programmes this ring of impoverished neighbourhoods remains a gloomy gauntlet to be run by the 45,000 workers driving into the area daily, and a safety threat on evening outings to the Cleveland Orchestra.

The recession has exacerbated the divide, as has the billion or more dollars poured into expansion projects in the University Circle area in recent years. Four cranes block out the skyline, but the foreground is row upon row of boarded-up houses and shuttered storefronts. The Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals are powerhouses of economic activity, spending a combined $3 billion on goods and services annually. But little of that money stays local.

So what if some of that financial largesse could be deployed within the surrounding city blocks, creating assets and new wealth within the underclass? If it seeped out not via insecure low-wage jobs, but jobs offering living wages and benefits, even entrepreneurial businesses that workers could own? That is the idea behind the Evergreen Co-operative Initiative, an effort aimed at closing this wealth gap by creating 10 green, for-profit businesses that local residents will own and operate.

The Evergreen Co-operative Laundry opened in October 2009 after spending $5.7 million in start-up costs on building and equipment. Ohio Solar Co-operative, a solar-panel installation company, also launched in October. Green City Growers opens later this year and will grow lettuce and herbs on 14 acres of once-abandoned lots, selling produce to nearby hospitals and competing with goods trucked in from Californian farms. Each of the ten projects aims to employ around 50 local workers.

On a cold and rainy December morning, eight workers bustle inside the Evergreen Co-operative Laundry. The staff load dirty bed sheets and towels onto a conveyor belt which runs into an industrial-sized, energy-efficient washer that uses a third of the water of traditional machines.

After the load is washed, Mienyon Smith studiously places the sheets into an enormous roller that irons the damp whites dry. It’s the first time this 31-year-old mother of five has earned more than minimum wage in her life, let alone contemplated the idea of owning a business. After eight years with the company, she could own a stake worth $65,000. “I just plan on being here for a long, long time and being a role model to my kids,” she said, during a break. “I can say I was the first to lay the foundation for Evergreen to be everywhere in the neighbourhoods.”

Seems Brooklyn is beginning to feel Cleveland's pain

First the word Hogo Boss will close their operations in town, then this. Its likely only a matter of time before the PeeDee plant starts downsizing as more and more people go to the interwebs for the information.

American Greetings to consider alternatives to current Brooklyn headquarters - Crain's Cleveland Business

By STAN BULLARD  -  3:03 pm, January 7, 2010 

American Greetings Corp. (NYSE: AG) is undertaking a search for a new corporate headquarters that may take it out of its longtime Brooklyn home. 

Patrice Sadd, an American Greetings spokeswoman, said the company has told the 2,000 employees at its headquarters that it wants to see “what is available” following an income tax hike last year by the city of Brooklyn. 

The suburb last June 1 increased its income tax rate to 2.5% from 2%. 

Ms. Sadd said the search includes “looking at all our options.” 

That opens the door to a potential move outside Northeast Ohio or the state. Other states likely will call on the greeting card maker because of the public disclosure of its site search. 

Asked if a need to upgrade its global headquarters or adapt its size to changing staffing needs supported the drive for a search, Ms. Sadd said the tax issue brought the headquarters issue to a head. 

American Greetings set up shop in Brooklyn in 1956. All told, the global company employs 17,800 associates. 

Ms. Sadd said the company has retained an outside real estate consultant to conduct its search. She would not identify the consultant. 

Brooklyn Mayor Richard H. Balbier said addressing American Greetings' tax complaint would not be easy because the suburb's voters approved the tax hike in an election last May. He said he thinks there are more motives to the greeting card maker's search than the tax issue, such as a substantial amount of unused space at its 1 million-square-foot building. 

The mayor said he did not have a figure for how much income tax the company pays the city yearly. However, Mayor Balbier said losing the company would be a “tremendous loss.” 

“They are our largest employer,” he noted. 

He said he hopes to meet with the company soon.

Shrinking Cities Exhibit Closing

This Friday the Shrinking Cities Exhibition at CUDC and SPACES will be closing. Thanks to all of you who visited the exhibition venues and/or attended the events surrounding the exhibition.

The final event will be this Friday evening, June 8th. Architect Johannes Fiedler will give a gallery talk at SPACES on his piece “Exterritories,” which is included in the “Interventions” part of the exhibition at SPACES.

The talk is at 7pm and is free and open to the public. SPACES is located at 2220 Superior Viaduct. Go to www.cudc.kent.edu/shrink for more on the Shrinking Cities initiative.

Terry Schwarz, Senior Planner

Urban Design Center of Northeast Ohio

820 Prospect Avenue

Cleveland, OH 44115