Opportunity Cost, or Opportunity Lost

Opportunity Cost (from Wikipedia): the cost of something in terms of an opportunity foregone (and the benefits that could be received from that opportunity), or the most valuable foregone alternative.

No, the birthday was not so crazy that I just recovered. I just needed to take a break from thinking for a little while.

I have something to help fill this space – I am going to start publishing the generalities of what the City Planning Commission has adopted or not adopted. You would think this would be made more public by those who profess to “Believe”; however, I only see the really big things that occasionally appear in local papers by the likes of Breckenridge, Gill and Prendergast. I know there a few others, but that is not the point. There should be news on all of the happenings in the city in regards to what is being developed. (This applies to decisions made by the County Planning Commission as well.) This first attempt of reporting will not be a very detailed one since I really did not decide to start doing this until two days ago and I do not have sufficient notes.

Moving on (in order) –
Zoning:

There were four zoning changes made. The most significant (by significant, I mean the one that will affect people the most) was the creation of the Clark Metro Business Revitalization District. The district encompasses West 25^th Street from I-71 to I-90 and Clark Avenue from Fulton Road to Scranton Avenue. This is a good move by the CDC of the densest places in the city. They will be able to create positive sense of place along this corridor as soon as they do something with the adult establishments near the heart of the district. APPROVED

Design Review:

Park Lane Villa Rehabilitation
This is a vacant building in University Circle and next to the beautiful Judson Manor. Previously this was an apartment building that was eventually converted to over 150 units of senior housing; most of the apartments were efficiency type spaces. The rehabilitated building will have 93 modern apartments and a new 8-unit condominium next to it, as well as a parking garage. The building will use historic tax credits for part of its funding and when complete, will be a nice addition to the area. APPROVED

Star Research Building (conceptual approval)
This new 5-story building will be located on near East 100^th Street and Cedar Avenue. This will be the first new construction on the south side of Cedar in many years. The proposed research center will not be a project of the Cleveland Clinic but may be used by some of the Clinic’s researchers. The building is being designed by Westlake, Reed & Leskowsky. APPROVED

Innerbelt Bridge Presentation
The Director of the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission, Paul Alsenas, gave a presentation on the Innerbelt Bridge Design and Location Alternatives. I believe anybody who is reading this already knows what is on the table, so I will not bother with what was said by Paul. He did add, however, a new element into to the fold – at least new to me. This new concept was the reworking of University Road in Tremont from the barely two lane-lane road it is now into a fully functional road that would allow better access and great views to and of the Towpath Trail.

I want to report more on the comments that were made by those in attendance.

The affected CDC’s mostly said what has already been reported; here are some additional comments made to the Commission.

From the Quadrangle: They have hired there own traffic consultant to further research the potential access losses; It is time for the city to step and take a stand on the issues raised

From Tremont: Concerned about impact on church, West 14^th street and any potential home loss (ed. obviously, very uninformed).

From Gateway: Access is paramount. They think that having land that is more developable will hurt their neighborhood

Comments from the players to the Commission:

Bob Brown: Reported on a letter from Craig Hebebrand – ODOT is in the process of reviewing constructionability and management of traffic with national experts to see if the southern alignment is feasible.

Debbie Berry: Concerned with potential freeway closures and vehicle access to downtown. Wonders if the ‘new’ developable land that would appear if the southern alignment were chosen will actually have to be used for new ramp placement.

Linda Henrichson: Says that closure to traffic is bad. The ramps to city streets will work out if the southern alignment is chosen. Concerned with bike and pedestrian right of ways.

Comments from the Commission:

Curry: ODOT has not shown what will be gotten by each action it takes. This should be about Strategy in addition to safety.

Tom Breckenridge of the PD was present and reported on a portion of what was said by those present; however, I saw him leave early, so he missed some important comments. Scott Carpenter from the soon-to-be-open Fire Department Museum gave a brief and heartfelt comment against the northern alignment, as did friend John McGovern. As I prepared for my own comment, there was at least two other residents who spoke against the northern alignment.

My comment (paraphrased):

Assuming the engineering for the southern alignment proves feasible, the commission and ODOT must realize there are many residents among us who feel a year of potential awkward traffic management due to a freeway closure is worth the wait.
There are numerous ways to connections to downtown from all directions that will work as a temporary traffic solution, including I-490. This may even help bolster GCRTA ridership. This is not about your inconvenience. Stop thinking about it that way and think about how it will affect our children

Coming Soon

OK, finals are over.
I am now going to work on the template.
Then I will return to a regular posting schedule of sorts.
Happy birthday to me.

Adding some 'weight' to the location of the new convention center

I hate when people take an elevator up one floor. I have always wished elevators could be programmed not to go one floor up (with exception for those with physical disabilities). That being said:
Reading this article in the Wall Street Journal,"New Buildings Help People Fight Flab," got me to thinking about the location of the proposed Cleveland Convention Center. Although this article is actually focused on the design of buildings and their walkability, I started thinking of the convenience, or perceived convenience, of each proposed location.
I have struggled with which location would be the best for said center - they both have their pluses and minuses. The riverfront site would help in expanding the convention season that currently ends in October due to the weather. Come in on a plane, take the train to Tower City, check in at a hotel, eat, go to conference, never worry about the weather. It would also encourage people to stay off the streets. How would the businesses on East Fourth or the Warehouse District feel about that?
The current location is surrounded by a civic space that compares to no other city, there is plenty of room to grow and it is close to most of downtown. The not so good side of it would be being exposed to the elements.
Keeping this article in mind, I am putting my vote in for rebuilding on the current site. Call it Cleveland's part in keeping people in shape. Damn the weather - if it is raining, people can run.
I would rather have people walking around downtown.

Cross Posting Comment - BFD: Forest City News

Comment cross posted on Brewed Fresh Daily:

First, the “Quiet Crisis” comment was tongue in cheek – Sorry if you did not get the joke.

Mr. Morrison, the IX Center is not a convention center; it is an exposition center that caters well for the groups that use it: manufacturing exhibiters, recreation vehicle and boat lovers, late winter/early spring amusement park enthusiasts, etc. The IX center does not cater to the typical convention, or corporate meetings. There are some meeting spaces there, nut not the kind the come to the current downtown center. The IX center does not have the infrastructure to maintain the amount, and size of the conventions, conferences and corporate meetings that currently come downtown. (By infrastructure, I mean hotels, restaurants, retail and convenient transportation options. Of course there is the area around Bagley Road in Middleburgh Heights, but that is neither Cleveland or convenient.)

Regarding operating losses – there is currently only one center in the country that has an operating surplus on a regular basis. That is The Moscone Center in San Francisco. Every relatively new convention center in the country usually runs in the red. They are built/rebuilt knowing this will happen. It is not about making a profit – you might say it is about marketing the city to those who would not normally come for a visit. It also about supporting the economy (service and tourism) the city decided to take on as manufacturing diminished as one of our primary economies. If we do not build or rebuild a new center, we will have abandoned the progress we have made.

You want to provide funds for CSU (I would love it since I am a student there), then go to the state – they are responsible for that; or change the state constitution. You want to provide funds for Tri-C, then support future levies – I do.

I am still skeptical about the FCE series, but I will read it with an open mind. Perhaps businesses like FCE would be more active in the city and region if residents were aware of how they did things – and thus more appreciative (i.e., Progressive, MBNA, Standard Oil, the list goes on). I don’t know.

Disclosure time: I am for rebuilding the convention center.
I see the pros and cons of both sites and will leave it to people who are supposedly smarter then I am to make the decision as to where to build.

Forest City news

I received an email today addressed to not only myself, but also to the writers of Full Cleveland and Urban Paradoxes (at least these were the visible addresses). The email came from the John Kroll, Deputy Business Editor of the Plain Dealer. It reads:

The Plain Dealer will begin a five-part series on the transformation of Forest City Enterprises this Sunday, Nov. 27. We thought local blogs that discuss development issues might like to know.

When the series begins, it will go online at
http://www.cleveland.com/forestcity

We've already begun a blog that will track the company's operations, at
http://www.cleveland.com/weblogs/forestcity

John Kroll
Deputy Business Editor
The Plain Dealer

I must say I am humbled to be in league with the other two blogs. I nmy opinion there are more worthy commentatorsout in the sphere then I. That being said - I checked out the blog. There is not much there as of now, but that is a given since this is only the beggining. Here is one of the blurbs from the Forest City blog posted on Tuesday.

Urban Revival: Forest City's Rise
This Sunday, The Plain Dealer launches a five-part series about Cleveland-based real estate developer Forest City Enterprises Inc. The series charts Forest City's transformation from a suburban developer and home-improvement retailer in Greater Cleveland to one of the country's pre-eminent urban redevelopers.

It's a story of remarkable growth that is inextricably linked to the Ratner family that controls the company, and that also highlights Forest City's complex relationship with its hometown.

As an online companion to the series, The Plain Dealer is also launching this blog devoted to Forest City. It will live on long after the series ends, as a central information bank for the company's developments across the country. Forest City has projects percolating from coast to coast, and we'll post major news here, along with links to media stories, blogs and Web sites about the company in other cities. -- CM

A thought before I go to bed dreaming of turkey and snow.
Is the PD putting this five part series under its Quiet Crisis?

I have nothing against Forest City, I actually remeber going to Frest city hardware on Brookpark Road when I was younger.
I do realize that Cleveland has alway had a problem with irking the big boys in town and thia may include them. However, I do wish FCE would concentrate on more things here other then apartments.

night, night

Happy Thanksgiving

Update - Convention Center/Joint Meeting

I almost forgot to follow up on this.
No action was taken by the Planning Commission on this day. There were, in my lowly opinion, two things I did notice worth bringing up:
1 – There are many cost issues not coming forward on Forest City's Riverfront site; mainly the cost of rebuilding and expanding Carter Road, which would be tunneled through the proposed convention center. As well as any cost associated with the adaptive reuse of the current center, which would have to be part of the project – not like the Scranton Road Peninsula housing that was first proposed then killed off the first time Forest City spoke up.
2 – I may be assuming too much here, but it seemed to me that Hunter Morrison’s, Planning Director of Cleveland before his wife became mayor, gave a very moving (we'll call it a speech, but maybe lecture is a better word) talk rationalizing why the commission should choose reconstruction on the current site as opposed to building new on the other, was a little over the top. It was not bad – I enjoyed it. In fact, everyone enjoyed it. For god’s sake, they applauded him afterwards.

What I got out of it was, well - after being involved in the planning scene in Cleveland for the better part of three years, I have never heard Morrison say squat about any project in the city, not publicly anyhow. Fast forward to now - after the election - and now he is vocal. I am just wondering if he has some desire to get back into City Hall. Maybe it was just me... I don't know.

That was the feeling I got out of it. In no way is this a negative feeling. It would be great for the incoming Jackson administration and would probably put to rest any concerns people may have regarding some of the planning that occurred during Campbell’s administration. (Many people say that the recently passed Waterfront Plan was really Morrison’s all along.

Anyway, I am getting top political.
So now we are told the CFA will be deciding on a final site sometime after the New Year, most likely after the elections.

Innerbelt Project and plan for new "Signature Bridge" over the Cuyahoga

I am back from a very busy week of school stuff. My Urban design class project came out very nice.
I proposed some changes for the West Boulevard corridor from Detroit Avenue to the West Boulevard & West 105th Street intersection. If anybody is interested, drop me line and I will send you the pdf.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

From the NeoBridge site

Start: 11/22/2005 - 11:30am

End: 11/22/2005 - 1:30pm

REALNEO is hosting our November 22nd NEO Excellence Roundtable at the City Club with the Innerbelt Bridge Plan featured as the discussion topic. We will be joined by Cuyahoga County Planning Commission Director Paul Alsenas, and we have invited representative of the Ohio Department of Transportation. One outcome we hope to see from this process is increased support for developing a new "Signature Bridge" for Northeast Ohio. We invite you to attend and participate in these discussions.

Bring on the Cameras

The cameras are coming!
The cameras are coming!
The cameras are coming!
Finally.
I am glad they are coming.
I don't care how they are rationalized (revenue vs. safety).
I don't care what side of the town they are on either. There should be more.
I hate all you bastards that run lights.
And anybody who has a problem with it should not be driving. Paticularly the person who ran into me the summer of 2004. Stupid idiot. (The only accident I have ever been involved with in my 20+ years of driving.)
To all of you state legislators who are continuing to erode the cities home rule status - if you make it illegal for cities to have them I will do everything possible to make sure you never get elected again. Worry about state issues (funding education).
Here are some lovely pictures of the cameras by my house.

Joint Meeting of the City Planning Commission, the Design Review Committee and the Cleveland Landmarks Commission

From the County Planning Blog:

The Cleveland City Planning Commission has made available an assessment of potential Convention Center sites that compares the River Site, Mall West Block Site, and the Mall Lakefront Site.
The proposals will be discussed at a joint meeting of the City Planning Commission, the Design Review Committee and the Cleveland Landmarks Commission on Friday, November 11, 2005 from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. in Room 212 of the Cleveland Convention Center. The Convention Facilities Authority will also hold a Combination Planning and Community Consensus Committee Meeting on Tuesday, November 15th at 6:00 p.m. at the I-X Center.

Check out the first link. This is the most data publically displayed (in an electronic form) for a project I have ever seen.
Good job, finally. Although the Landmarks Commission has been doing an admirable job electronically displaying projects they are hearing for a lttle while now.
I'll be there tomorrow and will report.

LeBron James wallscape

Has anybody seen the new wallscape of LeBron James on the western wall of the Tower City? (I think it is the offices of Sherwin Williams - I cannot think of what building it is. It is the northwest corner of Ontario and Huron.)

On February 4 of this year, ARG/MediaPro of Beachwood, Ohio went before the Cleveland Planning Commission with their plans to put up a large image of King James on said wall. The commission was very excited about it and suggested that they make it bigger then what was proposed. One member suggested that the company research the possibility of attaching a giant hoop James is coming out of to the wall in order to make it appear that the picture for the slam. The final result is a little different then what was proposed, but it still came out pretty good.
The pictures are of the wall as it has always looked, the proposed picture and the almost final product.
I think this is a good thing. It does not matter who it is on the wall, any to cover up some of the boring views of the city, especially wall like this one that thousands of people see everyday.
In my opinion, we need more signage downtown. It gives vibrancy to the city. I am not saying every building should advertising on, just enough to create some life.
Last year there were some temporary 'signs' around the city for Reebok. They were just moving images projected on walls from the back of some vans parked in parking lots. That was very cool, and I bet it cost a fraction of what others have to pay for typical signage.

Atlantic Station - what Steel Yard Commons wishes it could be.

Found in Planning Livable Communities:
Atlantic Station open to the public last month and looks to be a huge succes. I think Steelyard Commons would have had much more positive feedback if it were modeled after the Atlanta project. They had the same problem we had - closed steel yard, vacant land - but they have turned it into a much more sustainable project. They have IKEA as a main retail tenent, as opposed to sprawlmart, so that may be a plus for them. The thing is, even if they had a wall-to-wallmart, Atlantic Station is adding a significant amount of housing to the new neighborhood. So, any possible loss to retailers in the surrounding neighborhoods due to loss of pedestrian traffic will be countered by the new residents.
If you look at the picture, you may think it is similar in land size (and shape) as to SYC. In fact, both are to have about 1 million square feet of retail; however, Atl Stn will add about 5,000 units of housing (I know, no low income housing - but many units will be labled 'affordable'), and abot 6 million square feet of office space. Everything will be constructed using smart growth policies.
The Atlantic Journal-Constitution states:

"To support the goal of being a pleasant place to walk, the retail district is laid out in a grid pattern, with wide sidewalks and narrow streets passing brick buildings lined with glass windows that let people gaze inside the shops. Parking is in underground decks, so streets should be mostly free of vehicles."
and
"While the place has all the signs of wealth, it also meets a goal of providing room for the working classes. Nearly 300 rental apartments and condos — one-fifth of all those built — were reserved for residents who earn the wages of office clerks, teachers and police officers. And the IKEA home furnishings store and Dillard's department store are filled with wallet-friendly items."
and
"The site paid about $300,000 a year in property taxes when it was a steel mill. This year, it will pay about $8 million, and payments are expected to reach up to $25 million a year in 2010. And those figures do not include new sales taxes to be generated by the retail district and hotel."
I liked this under the FAQ section of the Atl Stn Site:
Do I need a car at Atlantic Station? Only if you like having something to wash on the weekends. Everything you need will be within walking distance, from groceries, to work out facilities, to such a wide range of restaurants, that you'll never be bored with what’s for dinner. Need to get somewhere outside Atlantic Station? Just hop on our trolley and catch a ride to the MARTA Arts Center station.

Very Nice.
I wonder if Mitchell Schneider of First Interstate has some plans in store for expanding the SYC to include office space or residential units. I wonder if he even looked at Atlanta as a model - doesn't look like it.

World Town Planner Day

November 8, 2005, marks the 56th worldwide celebration of World Town Planning Day (WTPD), a special day to recognize how urban, rural, and regional planning help to create healthy and vibrant communities. On November 7, the student chapter of the American Planning Association at Cleveland State University will will hold an open house celebrating the planning achievements had by various organizations throughout the region in Glickman-Milller Hall at the Maxine Goodman-Levin College of Urban Affairs. The event will be held from 12:00 until 6:00 PM. The College of Urban Affairs is located on 1717 Euclid Avenue, Downtown Cleveland.

Come view plans from the City of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, GCRTA, Ecocity Cleveland, Cleveland Public Art, HNTB, East Fourth Street Neighborhood and many others on Monday, November 7 from 12:00 to 6:00 PM in the Maxine Goodman-Levin College of Urban Affairs, located at 1717 Euclid Ave. in the atrium area. There will be a bake sale fundraiser on-site, with coffee and beverages available to purchase.

Founded in 1949 by the late Professor Carlos Maria della Paolera of the University of Buenos Aires, WTPD is currently celebrated in about 30 countries on four continents as a way to promote awareness and support for community planning. Within the United States, the American Planning Association (APA) and its professional institute, the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), sponsor celebrations to highlight how planning helps create communities of lasting value where people have better choices about how they work and live.

"World Town Planning Day is one day each year when the planning movement calls attention to the role of planning in making great communities throughout the world," said APA Executive Director Paul Farmer, AICP. "To help publicize the importance of planning across the country, APA members work in their communities, regions, and states to organize special activities and events."

APA and AICP have promoted excellence in the field of planning for more than 80 years. WTPD is one example of APA's commitment to promoting planning as a way for engaged citizens, along with civic leaders, business interests and other stakeholders, to play a meaningful role in creating communities that enrich people's lives.

"Believe in Cleveland" - or something like that

Be Leav’n Cleveland!

The more I think about this, the more I do not like it. I was intrigued when I first heard about it and I fell that there was good intention behind it – although conception and execution have lacked creativity.

Conception – The play on words are painfully obvious to me. It’s as bad as when we first heard about the Cavaliers new home – Gund Arena. You would think having an advertising company as a partner, there would have been more thought about this, or at least had some study groups respond… maybe they did – don’t know.

Execution – Where is it? It has been a little while now and I have barely seen or heard anything about it. I have a button, bumper sticker and t-shirt from the last Brain Gain event – I will probably use the t-shirt for a stocking stuffer for some poor soul. The pin in is on the wall of my cubicle at school and I am not sure what to do with the bumper sticker since my car is leased. This cannot be the extent of their plan, can it?

I admit, I saw one commercial on TV around one in the morning about two weeks ago. It wasn't that great. On the Believe page, the sponsors include about 11 radio stations. I listen to maybe six or seven of them depending on my mood and the time of day. I have never heard any of the ads listed. I have not seen anything in print, except for the Pd itself. There have been a few in there.

I think it they need to rethink this plan.

Atlanta just unveiled a new logo and slogan. From the Southern Voice:

On Monday, Mayor Shirley Franklin and city officials unveiled a new logo, the first part of a $4.5 million campaign designed to highlight what makes Atlanta stand out from other U.S. cities.

The logo contains the letters “ATL” inside a red and white swirling circle. The circle represents three themes selected to draw tourists and businesses to the city: opportunity, optimism and openness.

Probably won't win awards, but you can tell they put some thought (and money) into it. I wonder what Stern and the PD are spending on this program. (I also find it interesting that Stern is not putting there name in with the sponsors.)

I have an idea for a slogan. It is used, but it was good. Remember the slogan that used to be on our license plates – “The Heart of it All.” (news) I always liked that. That was way better then the current “Birthplace of Flight.” God that’s stupid. Is this how we want to be known by the rest of the region and state? Same thing with “Believe,” – I am not a marketer, but I feel there has to be a better way to do this. So consider this my official claim for the unused license plate slogan: “Cleveland – The Heart of it All!”

The Balloon has Popped

After all of the excitement regarding Cleveland being one of the most livable cities in the world, (I am sure everybody has seen all of the newspaper articles and television spots touting it, right?) it now appears that it has nothing to do with our cultural assets, as the Mayor has espoused recently in the PD.

CoolTown Studios tells us Richard Florida, the author of the 2002 best-seller The Rise of the Creative Class, has released his current list of the top 15 cities for creative types. It is in the current issue of Fast Company.

15 hot cities for creative types

Yesterday I re-introduced Richard Florida, and as promised, here's his most current list, as featured in the November issue of Fast Company, of the hottest cities for creative types like yourself.

In no particular order:

Sacramento, CA - WIne is big, the downtown is coming around, and outdoor recreation abounds.
Phoenix, AZ - Artists like its free spirit, biotech is booming downtown, and yes, few rainy days.
Salt Lake City, UT - Mormons are big on enterpreneurship, really big. Not so much on diversity though.
San Antonio, TX - It's affordable and culturally rich, but it's diversity isn't known for collaborating.
Raleigh-Durham, NC - Three major universities are a major reason why the creative class population is at nearly 40%.
San Diego, CA - The perfect weather, biotech explosion and burgeoning downtown are fast making this city perhaps too desirable as far as housing prices go.
Portland, OR - One of the country's best models for urban planning, and more microbreweries per capita than any other city.
Madison, WI - Progressive, biotech, incredible quality of life - perennial 'best place to live'.
Tucson, AZ - Tech company leaders are attracted in droves (fifth-fastest growing in high-tech) to its desert beauty, recreation and affordability, but the city is fighting sprawl.
Colorado Springs, CO - The military presence provides a steady supply of jobs, the mountain recreation keeps workers there.
Dublin, Ireland - (Pictured) Bono helped do for Dublin what REM did for Athens - it's the place to be.
Helsinki, Finland - Beautiful, tons of recreation, safe and a high-tech magnet.
Montreal, Quebec - The creative industry thrives here, with more set and sound-stage space than any North American city, in a historic European setting.
Sydney, Australia The 'San Francisco down under', whose population represents 180 countries, 140 languages, 300 biotech companies and 20 beaches.
Vancouver, BC The hollywood of the video game industry and often referred to as the most livable city in the world.

What are we going to do now? Maybe we should make our own list. How about “Top ten cities that wish they were Cleveland.” On the other hand, “Top Ten List that have/do not have Cleveland in them” sounds good too.

Brain Gain Observations

I went to the Brain Gain event last night held in the Community Room at the Plain Dealer. I have wanted to go to one of these for a while now and finally had the chance. Good times were had by all – free booze and food will do that. You can view my pictures here. (A lovely picture of George and Tim.)

Here are pictures from Cleveland.com’s Ryan Cornell. I liked this t-shirt made using a quote from Chris Ronayne. “This is not your daddy’s Cleveland.” That is a much better tagline then “Be Leavin’ Cleveland” “Believe in Cleveland.”

I was particularly interested in hearing comments from Mayor Campbell and especially Council President Jackson. I am very much not knowing whom I will vote for next month. Campbell is the more polished speaker of the two, but you have to like the fact that Jackson knows what he does not know and is not afraid to show it. This tells me that he would most likely find the most qualified people to do the things that need to be done – as opposed to micro managing. I am not saying that is how I perceive the current administration, but comparatively speaking, it could be perceived as such.

I was turned off by his response to me when I asked him face to face a question related to planning. On one hand, “he knows what he does not know” – on the other, he pretty much said straight out that he did not think much of how things were done in the planning department. I was surprised by this because I had just spoken with somebody who I respect and trust who told me that Jackson often speaks with him about planning related issues in a positive light.

Despite the current mayor’s flaws, and we all know she has them no matter what side of the fence you are on, she has done much toward planning a better future for the city – and that is something that appeals directly to me.

Now do I vote thinking of how the outcome will directly affect me and my future, or do I vote thinking about the future of the city, and region, as a whole? I may have just answered my own question.

Convenetion Center Follies

Tuesday evening the CFA held a public meeting to have the public share there thoughts about the two locations for the proposed new/rebuilt convention center. I was not able to go due to a midterm in public finance – real exciting topic. I, like many people in the region, was able to read the PD’s description of the happenings the next day. It was ok, but it did not give me a real feeling of what happened.

So now, I would like to publicly thank Chas Rich for his detailed blog (feed) of what happened that night. Since he was not under the constraints of space or had to deal with an editor, we were allowed - as readers who may not have attended - to have a better grasp of what happened on Tuesday evening. Thank you for providing us with these details.

I now have to disagree with some of Chas’ closing statements – particularly:

You would think facts like this would stop a city and people cold.

The inventory of U.S. exhibition space has increased by 30 percent - up to 85 million square feet - in the past five years, according to Hacker's group.

About 80 centers are under construction or being substantially renovated, he said.

St. Louis and Pittsburgh recently opened new centers. A new center is scheduled to open in Erie, Pa., in 2007.

Expansion projects are under way at centers in Chicago, Cincinnati and Kansas City. And Detroit and Indianapolis are considering expansions.

And Cleveland wants to join the party.

It is these reasons Chas stated, that we need to build/rebuild the center we currently have. I may not be able to eloquently explain the economic reasons to back up my belief, but I know for a fact that in order for downtown to prosper, the city must have a convention center that outshines those in other cities. How do I know this?

I drove a taxi for three years. I watched as each of those years business from convention and conferences dropped. I had passengers in my cab tell me how much they liked coming to Cleveland but hated having to be in a center where they could not get WiFi or decent cellur coverage when inside the building.

I talked with truck drivers who hated dealing with the limited dock space that is provided now. One driver told me that he lost a coin toss with another driver over who would deliver in Cleveland and who would deliver in Detroit for a trade show.

I actually had a trade show operator (at least that is what he said he was) tell me that unless the city upgraded its center, he would do whatever it took to not have his trade show come here again. (Not sure if he ever followed through on that.)

It is for these reasons and those stated by Chas that we need to do this - not the only reasons. Otherwise, the few trade shows and conventions that still come here will indeed decide to go somewhere else.

I hope everyone realizes that convention centers are not in the money-making business. They are solely in operation to bring people into the city so they can spend there money on the amenities they have.

October Blog Meetup

I went to my first Cleveland Weblogger Meetup the other night. I did not get there until well after nine, (I have stats class on Wednesday nights at Metro Hospital. The class starts earlier then other night classes at CSU and is a bit closer to home) so I found it a bit difficult to figure out exactly what was being discussed. I eventually realized there was nothing in particular being discussed at all... or more specifically, everything that could possibly be discussed at one time was being done as inefficiently as possible.
Nonetheless, it was nice to put faces with words and I did enjoy myself.

I did get the sense that they were trying to accomplish something as a group that would give the group recognition. I hope they/we can figure something out. I have been trying to do the same thing with the Student APA (feed) group at school for two years, so I can commensurate with some of the bloggers feelings… or at least their beer-induced concerns.

I did like the Food Bank volunteering idea and the possibility of self-organizing. I think we should talk with Norm Roulet, or at the very least look at what he has done with Realneo. I think, from what I was able to comprehend, that this is something that is feasible and could most likely be done with only a minimal amount of resources.

I brought my camera, but left it in the car. I’ll have pictures next time.

Akron Beacon Journal reports, "Towpath Trail on road to completion in Flats"

How is it that the people in Akron got the scoop on this before Cleveland.com.
According to Google News, this was published six hours ago by the Beacon Journal - this hapopened yesterday by the way - and there is nothing anywhere on the Cleveland site, nor is there anything on the city's press release site. Typical!
Well here is the article for all of you non-Akron news reading folks.

Posted on Tue, Oct. 18, 2005

Towpath Trail on road to completion in Flats

Legislation a huge financial boost to northern end

By Bob Downing

Beacon Journal staff writer

The Cleveland City Council on Monday approved legislation that provides a major financial boost to complete the northern end of the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail.

The legislation provides $10.4 million from property taxes on the new Steelyard Commons retail development that will go to build the six miles of trail through Cleveland's industrial Flats area.

``It's good news and really, really big news,'' said Tim Donovan of Ohio Canal Corridor, a grass-roots group in Cleveland.

The $10.4 million, which Donovan said represents the largest local contribution to building the Towpath Trail, will enable agencies to qualify for an additional $30 million in federal and state grants.

The taxes on the development that includes a new Wal-Mart Supercenter enable the city to match $6.4 million in federal funds just granted for trail construction.

The price tag for the Towpath Trail construction in Cleveland is projected at $40 million. Completing the trail may take up to eight years, Donovan said.

The tax also will enable the city to match federal funds to start building the proposed Canal Basin Park that would be the northern terminus of the trail.

Cleveland has received an added $3 million federal grant for the new park that lies under the Detroit-Superior Bridge.

The northern end of the trail now begins at Harvard Avenue in Cleveland. At present, 70 miles of the trail have been built in Cuyahoga, Summit, Stark and Tuscarawas counties.

The trail is seen as a key element of the 110-mile Ohio & Erie Canal National Heritage Canalway, which runs from Cleveland through Akron and Canton to New Philadelphia.

From "Planning Livable Communities" Blog

There is probably no need for Planners to consider this for Cleveland's downtown; however, this may be the way to help struggling neighborhoods within the city, as well as the the older, inner-ring suburbs - by encouraging pedestrian activity instead of vehicular.
I suppose the fast-food industry would put up a big fight to keep things as they have been.

Drive-Through? Not Downtown

The Lincolnwood, Ill. Plan Commission has wisely recommended against drive-through windows in its downtown business district, even via special permit. Such facilities have a negative impact on creating a pedestrian-friendly streetscape, officials concluded - and not only because they encourage people to stay in their vehicles.

“The facilities require additional curb cuts for driveways that cross sidewalks to provide access to the site,” Village Planner James Cox told the Lincolnwood Review. “This not only creates additional vehicle conflict points with pedestrians, but it also breaks holes in the continuous building facade of the downtown street, creating open gaps and a streetscape which is less appealing to pedestrians.”

Ah, lucky Lincolnwood, to have planners who understand the importance of aesthetics in creating a walker-friendly streetscape. There’s a lot more to it than simply assuring the presence of well-maintained sidewalks.

From "The Writing on the Wal" Blog

MARK YOUR CALENDARS…

YOU’VE READ THE BLOG, NOW SEE THE MOVIE!

Robert Greenwald’s, Wal Mart — The High Cost Of Low Price will be showing at 7 p.m. on Sunday, 13 November at the Workman’s Circle: 1980 South Green Road in South Euclid. Admission is free. Click through to reserve a seat.

As if we didn't know...

Just a follow up on the previous post.
Here are some of the reasons Vancouver made it to the very top of the EIU list of most livable cities in the world. As qouted from CoolTown Studios:

Vancouver thrives by dispelling planning myths

Vancouver is often labeled as one of the most livable cities in North America, the latest honor being labeled as the world's best city to live in by the Economic Intelligence Unit, as referenced by CNN yesterday.

What are its keys to success? Larry Beasley, the city's highly regarded co-director of planning, says it's because Vancouver is counterintuitive in this Smart City Radio interview. Here's the myths of planning most cities follow, and how Vancouver innovates against them:

Myth - Cities need freeways to bring people to and from the downtown. Have you ever tried driving into Vancouver? There are no freeways. See myth #2...

Myth - City downtowns are for offices and workers. 85,000 people live downtown, that's about ten times larger than city downtowns like Charlotte and St. Louis. This means less of a dependence on freeways for commuting - 10% of the city population walks to work.

Myth - Residents need cars. Over the last fifteen years, the downtown population more than doubled, yet there are now fewer cars coming into the city.

Myth - Density has negative impacts. The city encouraged well-designed 'density' to create a more walkable environment, infusing a greater amount of culture and diversity, and eliminating surface parking lots.

Poverty v. Most Livable City - Bloggers, Speak Up!

I am still alive.
I have spent the last three weeks in conference hell in three different cities, but I am home now.
As previously mentioned, there is much going on in my world right now (family, school-learning, school-teaching, school-GAing, among other things) so the amount of writing I would normally like to do will be put on hold until some of these other things are finished… that would be sometime in December.

I really wanted to comment on an issue I have not read much in other NEO Blogs… or maybe I just have not noticed it. As many of you know, the City of Cleveland was recently awarded the distinction of being the most livable city in the country (along with Pittsburgh) and one of the most livable in the world by the folks at the Economic Intelligence Unit, the publishers of the uber-cool magazine, The Economist.
(Something I have been telling people for years, by the way – mostly out of town visitors I would talk with when I drove a cab. On a side note, I have had a least four different instances were I was driving passengers visiting from New York City around town and they would tell me how much they loved coming to Cleveland. Each of those times they told me in there own that one of the reasons they loved to visit here was because anything they could do in NYC they could do here in Cleveland for half the amount of money.)
According to CNN, “The EIU study assessed nearly 40 indicators in five broad categories -- stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.”
This has been the talk of the Neo-Blogosphere all week as well as those outside the area. (here and here)

Now let’s go back a year and think about what was plastered all over the front page of the PD and written about almost weekly. Do you remember? I’ll give you a one-word hint – poverty. Ring a bell? Cleveland was supposedly the poorest big city in the country according to misinterpreted data by the Census Bureau.

Ok, now we will go back a little more then a week - October 6 to be exact - The PD published a 228-word “article” by Emily Hamlin on the findings of the EIU. WOW! You would think with all of the “Believe in Cleveland” hype going on (or lack of), there would have an something written everyday promoting this; but there has not. It is really sad.

Now about the issue I mentioned in the beginning. Why has nobody else brought this up? There are clearly more qualified and well-written bloggers out there that have the audience to make this into something, but I have not seen anything.

Who am I?

Where am I?
Right now, I am in Buffalo for an APA Leadership Conference. I will be here until Saturday.

Where have I been?
Like I said previously, school has started and I do not have as much time as I had in the summer to do this.
Yesterday, I was on the mall with a few dozen other people to see the final version of the Waterfront Plan. You can see my pictures of it here.

Where am I going?
If you have read the introduction to this, you would know.
However, my life took a completely unexpected, temporary detour.
Last week, Dennis Keating of MGLCUA went to his physician and found out he had to have a quadruple bypass. (He has undergone the surgery and is currently recovering.)
Last Friday, Norm Krumholz (professor and former Planning Director for the city of Cleveland) asked me to come to his office – I thought I was going to get into trouble for sending to many emails to the other students. After explaining to me the situation with Keating, he then says after consulting with a few others in the college, they would like for me to fill in for Keating in his Undergraduate Introduction to Urban Planning class.
WOW!
I was so very much taken aback by this.
Yesterday was my first full class. I spent the first hour talking about the legal basis of planning and the second hour talking about the comprehensive planning process.
So, this is what I will do twice a week for at least a month - on top of the family, school and other things I do.

Stay tuned for some pictures from Buffalo.

Pictures from Urban Design Class

The new Cuyahoga County Office Building,
originally uploaded by jsmuscatello.

Here is the photoset of pictures I am taking for my Urban Design Seminar class on Saturdays.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/muscatello/sets/924865/

Make It an Island

Finally, there is somebody making sense with what to do about rebuilding New Orleans. Former secretary of the interior, Bruce Babbit, wrote an Op-Ed for the New York Times suggesting that after some careful and thorough planning, NO should be made into an island. The article states”:

AFTER the victims are interred and public officials held to account for the destruction of a great American city, Congress must determine what to rebuild and what to abandon to the encroaching waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

New Orleans will survive only as an island surrounded by miles of open water. It will take a national effort, led by our best scientists, engineers and city planners, to achieve even this reduced vision of an American Venice. We must take the time to redesign the city to function as an island, with an island infrastructure, including relocated streets, highways and utilities. The island will need higher, stronger seawalls and levees sufficient to withstand new threats, including the rising sea levels and bigger hurricanes spawned in warming Atlantic waters.

Sea levels are likely to rise two to three feet in this century. Coastal maps drawn from consensus estimates show that virtually all of the delta lands south of Baton Rouge and below Interstate 10 - some 5,000 square miles - will be submerged by the end of this century.

State and local officials are understandably in denial about the impending loss of so much Louisiana land and heritage. The depth of their paralysis is underlined by a recent program to collect discarded Christmas trees from New Orleans to stack on barrier islands against the tides.

In recent years state agencies assembled a $14 billion project called Coastal 2050. One of its proposals was to cut gaps in the Mississippi River levees, which would provide outlets for the river to deposit some of its sediment onshore to help rebuild the delta. This idea may help in a few areas, but it will do little to offset the vastly larger forces of a rising sea.

Other proposals in the package include building coastal barriers, plugging delta channels dredged by oil companies and re-vegetating barrier islands. But overall the Coastal 2050 projects have as much chance of success as King Canute commanding the tides to recede.

Congress should resist the urge to appropriate huge sums for piecemeal reconstruction efforts. Restoration of the city and the delta will be a national effort, and it should be guided by a national plan. Congress should charge a commission of our best scientists, engineers and planners to asses the alternatives, draw up a regional land plan and recommend a realistic course of action.

Bruce Babbitt, a former secretary of the interior, is the author of the forthcoming "Cities in the Wilderness."

I like many others across the country, am confused about how to proceed with restoring NO to its former self – or even if we should at all. I strongly feel that no matter how well built any new levee system is, it will only be a matter of time before the inevitable happens again. Will it be worth it to spend all of our resources rebuilding the city the same way it is now? I am thinking the decisions about the reconstruction of New Orleans v2.0 should be done by qualified people throughout the whole country and not state and city officials.

A Few Random Toughts

Random Thoughts

Staying busy because of school, so here are a few thoughts based on recent happenings and observations.

$2,000 debit cards:
This is one of the stupidest things I have heard recently. That is, giving people who (for the most part) have been living in poverty a majority of their lives, $2,000 to use as they wish. Why are they in poverty? I’m sure there are a number of reasons: education, training, ignorance are just to name a few. This is not the point.
We are giving them up to $2,000 (depending on family size and whether or not they had any insurance coverage) to spend on whatever it is they need to make there lives more comfortable as a result of the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina, right?
That does not make sense.
I have spoken to many others who agree.
There is nothing wrong with providing assistance to those in need. But if they are in the position they’re in now due to the fact that they don’t know how to manage their resources – don’t you think this will make things worse?
This may not be the case for many of the people… maybe most of the people. However, if 20,000 people are using this card for beer, cigarettes, trading, etc., then that is way too much… 5,000 people is too much.
Solution: Provide the survivors with $2,000 in vouchers good for housing, clothes, limited groceries (not steaks or name brand, fancy-packaged processed foods) from the local farmers markets (thus helping more then one entity), childcare – things like that.

Quicken and DFAS:
Almost 1000 new jobs coming to Downtown Cleveland is a very nice thing to hear these days. And with the Redroom Revolution project reveled by BFD, my gut feeling tells me this is only the beginning.
Very exciting times indeed.

Class Separation:
I went to my daughter’s open house last night at Chagrin Falls Middle School. Nice place. I was amazed at the diversity that was present in the school. I do not understand why everyone is concerned.
There were countless colors of blonde hair there. Granted, they where mostly the same style – shoulder-ish length, bangs; I did not realize blonde came in so many shades.
In no particular order, I spotted Champagne Blonde, Dark Cool Blonde, Medium Golden Blonde, Strawberry Blonde, Dishwater Blonde, Ultra Light Natural Blonde, Rich Golden Blonde, Dark Ash Blonde, Extra Light Natural Blonde, Golden Blonde, Ultra Soft Baby Blonde, Rich Golden Blonde and, everyone’s favorite, Bleach Blonde.
Seriously though, it was very scary seeing that many white people in one place like that. The only other-than-white persons seen where two faculty members: a Chinese woman who taught, er… Chinese, and young man of Middle Eastern descent who taught concert band.

As a future leader in the City of Cleveland and/or Cuyahoga County, I promise this is something I will work very hard on changing. Something must be done about the class/race/socioeconomic separation that is so prevalent in this region. The rest of the cities in the county want the water and sewer system, the lakefront, the orchestra, the international airport – all of the positive things the city has. But they do not want any of the “problems.” Especially since they have caused most of the problems. This isn’t just about education, it is the extremely unfair way that affordable housing is centralized in Cleveland… and this has been done on the knees of the Cuyahoga “County” Metropolitan Housing Association. How is it that a county run agency is so focused on putting those in need of affordable housing mostly in the city?

Enough of my ranting.
Have a nice weekend.

Sand Mandala Painting of Tibet

Sand Mandala Painting of Tibet,
originally uploaded by jsmuscatello.

Here is the photoset from the last day of iNGENUiTY 05.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/muscatello/40314244/in/set-885934/
Plus a few pics of the family near City Hall as we wait for the Thunderbirds to do their thing.

iNGENUiTY 05 - Friday Night

Olivia's favorite,
originally uploaded by jsmuscatello.

Here are more photos from the Arts and Technology Festival from Friday night.
I am not going on Saturday, but will be there on Sunday.

iNGENUiTY 2005 - Thursday

Traffic Jam 12,
originally uploaded by jsmuscatello.

Enjoy some photos from the first night of the Art and Technology Festival.
These are mostly photos from Traffic Jam.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/muscatello/sets/869700/

Where Was I?

Random thoughts:

I will not be posting as much since classes have started.
I have Statistics and Finance.
I have been amazed, devastated, shocked and (place appropriate adjective here) about the destruction from Katrina.
I have always been a news junkie in one way or another. This is different then other events, though. When 9/11 happened, I watched as much as the next person did; however, after a couple of days the news just regurgitated the same thing over and over.
Now, every time I turn on the news or refresh a web site, things keep getting worse.

I told Noelle that I had a bad feeling about this storm right after it hit Florida. Last night I told her that if order is not restore in some way soon, I could realistically see people attacking those that are trying to help. I also told her that I would not be surprised if somebody started shooting at the helicopters above. Then this morning, she sent me this: Superdome evacuation disrupted after shots fired at helicopter. Simply amazing.

Go here, here, here, here or here to see some amazing before and after satellite photos of New Orleans from Globalsecurity.org.

At least the POTUS’s cronies are going to make a bunch of money out this. The EPA has waived the “the requirement to sell “summer gasoline” which contains a lower volatility limit…” and “…also allowing the use of diesel fuel which exceeds 500 ppm sulfur content.”
So it is ok to create more pollution – cheaply – in order to satisfy the rest of the country’s thirst for gas. I think they should have left the requirement alone and the users should change their driving and spending habits. Call it a sacrifice; it’s the least the rest of the country could do.
At least the waiver is last only until September 15. Something tells me that it will be extended.

What is really nice to see is the generous outpouring of help for those who are now homeless.
Craigslist.com has a section dedicated to those who are in need of help and those who are giving.

Millenium Park - water

Millenium Park - water,
originally uploaded by jsmuscatello.

I just came back from Chicago - thus the lack of posts.
Millenium Park was beautiful.
Now I am getting ready for classes to start this week.
Enjoy the rest of my photos from Chicago from here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/muscatello/sets/820964/
There are only a few - I was there on business, not fun.

You Get What You Pay For!

One day, not so long ago, my wife went to Mark’s Discount for some goodies and comes home with a new toilet seat and cover. We needed one, as the former was not living up to its duties.
She was very excited about this particular toilet seat because it had only cost her $4.00.
You see, she is very thrifty and given our current income (me being poor as a student… because I am one), this was the find of the year.
I had made fun of her for buying such a not-so-heavy seat; it was small, but it was cushy. So I installed it and was happy to be the first one to christen it.
Not more then two weeks later, I was at the friendly neighborhood Home Depot buying a new sturdier and not-so-light toilet seat.

It comes down to this – You get what you pay for.

Now the CFA, with urging from the county commissioners, et al, is being asked change much of what they wanted in a new convention center. I m not going to rehash what has already been said in hundreds of forums, I just thought that this was going to be the next big project that would make a visible statement about how the city gets things done.
But what do I know?
Lord knows I am not the only person who thought of having a portion of the cost financed through the Port. I am sure the report from Turner took into consideration the substantial savings from historic tax credits – although I have not heard about it.
Yep, what do I know? I’m just an overly optimistic planning student.
Maybe there is a way to get more bang for the buck, it’s just going to be smaller, and cushier.

Quote of the Day

I would like to post more then once every five days. However, I was very busy co-chairing my high school reunion. That was this past weekend and now it is over... for the most part.
Within the next few days there will be more about that here, including photos.
So, I anticipate I will have a little more time to devote to this blog. However, with classes starting this Saturday, it will probably not be much more time then what I can do now.

I am creating this post using the new M$ Word plug-in by Google for Blogger. This is great for somebody like me since I must use some sort of word processor before actually posting. Let’s see how this works.

** UPDATE **
The posting of this worked well. I did have a picture that I added to the post in Word, but it did not load through the plug-in. I recommend it anyway.

*****

I was amused by the article on Drive-In Theaters by Michael Sangiacomo in the Sunday PD, not that the article itself was amusing; in fact, it was nice to read this article. I did not know we had the third highest amount of drive-ins in the country.
The part that was amusing was the very last quote in the article from Rich Reding, who runs the Lynn Drive-in in Strasburg, Ohio.

His quote:
"My dream is that someday we'll tear down a Wal-Mart to make room for a drive-in theater."

Sometimes I Feel We Cannot Win... Another Blow to Our Region

From Crains Cleveland Business:

Monday August 15, 2005
OfficeMax picks suburban Chicago

By Jay Miller

11:17 am, August 15, 2005

Office supply company OfficeMax Inc. has decided to stay in the Chicago suburbs and will not move its headquarters to Northeast Ohio.

The decision is expected to cost the regional economy more than 600 jobs that now are at the headquarters of the company’s office superstore division in Shaker Heights.

“I understand that the decision was based on business factors out of our control,” said Shaker Heights Mayor Judy Rawson. The mayor said the move will cost the city of Shaker Heights and its school district between $600,000 and $700,000 a year in tax revenue.

OfficeMax, in a news release this morning, said the “headquarters consolidation will integrate retail and contract functions and is expected to strengthen operational efficiencies, enhance collaboration among departments, and reduce costs over time.”

Boise Cascade Corp. in 2003 bought the Shaker Heights company and last year took OfficeMax Inc. as its corporate name. OfficeMax now is based in Itasca, Ill. The news release stated that an exact location in suburban Chicago has not yet been determined.

OfficeMax spokesman Bill Bonner said the company will vacate the Shaker Heights office building that was the headquarters of the original OfficeMax.

Mr. Bonner said senior department managers were beginning today to evaluate staffing needs to determine how many of the Shaker Heights employees will be offered jobs in Illinois. He said the headquarters staff eventually could number 1,500, which is more than the company now employs in its Shaker Heights and Itasca offices.

Mr. Bonner said he did not know what the company’s lease obligations were in Shaker Heights.

Consolidation of the two merged companies’ headquarters staffs was foreseen when the merger took place two years ago, but the merged company did not begin its site selection process in earnest until earlier this year. At the outset, the Chicago region was the front-runner. But a concerted effort by the cities of Shaker Heights, Cleveland and Team NEO, the regional economic development organization, kept the region in the running.

Sam Duncan, president and CEO of OfficeMax, suggested as much in a statement in the news release.

“While our review resulted in the selection of Illinois, the decision was a difficult one,” he said. “We specifically want to acknowledge the efforts of the city of Cleveland, the city of Shaker Heights, Cuyahoga County, the state of Ohio and Team NEO and express our sincere appreciation for their coordinated approach.”

Robert Farley, president of Team NEO, was disappointed with the outcome but believes the local effort made a significant impact on the real estate professionals involved in the process, which tells him that the next similar opportunity that comes around is winnable.

“(OfficeMax) certainly looked at all the numbers, but there are a lot of personal preference issues involved,” he said, when it comes to choosing a headquarters location.

Finally... "Bush Signs $286.4 Billion Highway Bill in Illinois"

From the AP News Wire:

Bush Signs $286.4 Billion Highway Bill in Illinois

By Nedra Pickler Associated Press Writer
Published: Aug 10, 2005

MONTGOMERY, Ill. (AP) - President Bush, saying it will help economic growth, on Wednesday signed a whopping $286.4 billion transportation bill that lawmakers lined with plenty of cash for some 6,000 pet projects back home.

With fanfare, Bush signed the more than 1,000-page highway bill into law at a plant operated by Caterpillar Inc., which makes road-building equipment. For the president, it was his second trip away from his Texas ranch this week to highlight recently passed legislation.

"If we want people working in America, we got to make sure our highways and roads are modern," Bush said. "We've got to bring up this transportation system into the 21st century."

"I mean, you can't expect your farmers to be able to get goods to market if we don't have a good road system," he said. "You can't expect to get these Caterpillar products all around the United States if we don't have a good road system."

The House and Senate voted overwhelmingly to pass the six-year highway and mass transit legislation just before heading home for a summer break. They left Washington carrying promises of new highway and bridge projects, rail and bus facilities, and bike paths and recreational trails they secured for their states and districts.

The president left Texas during a downpour and ended up speaking under a bright sun at the plant where a crane sported a sign saying "Improving Highway Safety for America." The Chicago suburb is represented by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., who introduced Bush at the event.

"I'm here to sign the highway bill because I believe by signing this bill, when it's fully implemented, there's going to be more demand for the machines you make here," Bush said, adding that a piece of Caterpillar equipment is used at his ranch.

"Because there's more demand for the machines you make here," he said, "there are going to be more jobs created around places like this facility."

AP-ES-08-10-05 1157EDT

Regardless of what everyone else thinks, this was needed three years ago. And I personally think Bush would have done better in the election had he been able to get this signed into law then. All he had to do was call it what it is... a massive jobs bill. (pork and all).
Just think of the jobs this will provide for the Cleveland region: Innerbelt, West Shoreway Boulevard, Various transit hubs, and so on. many jobs spread out over many years. The payrol taxes alone will be a benifit for the city.
Now we need to make sure ANY current and future, local and state administrations don't screw it up.

Anne Canby of the Surface Transportation Policy Project responds on the enactment by saying:

Much has changed since Congress initiated debate on the new transportation law more than three years ago. Energy supplies are more uncertain, gasoline costs are much higher and rising, and there is a greater urgency to connect our national energy, health, environmental and transportation policies. Despite some improvements in the safety area, Congress largely ignored these broader issues, leaving state and local leaders to address them on their own. Adding to the challenge, the huge increase in Congressional project earmarks reduces the resources that will be available to state and local leaders to respond to these national issues.

It is now up to our governors, mayors, county executives and other elected officials to make better transportation choices for transit, walking, bicycling, freight movement, and land use and development, mindful of these broader national challenges. The STPP Coalition calls on state and local leaders to act decisively and fill this void.

Now we have a mission.

The Eminent Domain Bandwagon

It appears Ohio State Senator, Senator Kim Zurz (28^th District) has jumped on the anti-eminent domain bandwagon. She has started a personal blog called “Private Ownership and Public Good.” (http://ohioeminentdomain.blogspot.com/) She ends her opening post by stating:

The use of eminent domain for private development is not new to Ohioans - the examples of Norwood, Ohio and Lakewood, Ohio, though different, demonstrate how little citizens can do in the face of eminent domain.

It is common knowledge that the citizens of Lakewood went above and beyond the call of citizen response. Or has she forgotten that a certain mayor lost her job over the proposed Westend project.

Why are these politicians wasting our resources on something like this instead of dealing with more important issues in Ohio, like school funding? Don’t get me wrong, I am not belittling the issue of takings and eminent domain. People just need to realize that they still have the ultimate say in whether or not any entity can just come up to your property, offer you X amount of dollars and follow you out your door with a bulldozer. That is not going to happen.

The Supreme Court only made it clear that Economic Development is a legitimate, valid “public use” of eminent domain. It does not give any government or other entity more of a say in what happens to your property. It is actually upholding the rights of the local government decided long ago.

Justice Stevens, author of the opinion states, "The City has carefully formulated an economic development plan that it believes will provide appreciable benefits to the community, including — but by no means limited to — new jobs and increased tax revenue." Stevens cited that the "comprehensive character of the plan, [and] the thorough deliberation that preceded its adoption" led the Court to determine that the "... takings challenged here satisfy the public use requirement of the Fifth Amendment."

From a press release by the American Planning Association:

APA Executive Director and CEO, Paul Farmer, AICP stated, "The court's decision reaffirms that cities and planners have a responsibility to ensure the power of eminent domain is used thoughtfully and consistently with implementation of a community's comprehensive development plan. The court's decision not to second-guess the local government's determinations of 'public use' ensures that carefully thought-out community plans will not be hindered by a higher standard of judicial review."

In a response to various media, Farmer stated:

APA has written much on the Kelo case and decision. I won't repeat all those arguments and insights here. There are extensive resources on Kelo and the other Supreme Court cases available on the APA website. I will, however, attempt to set the record straight on some vital facts:

No new powers were created as a result of the decision.
The decision simply upheld existing legal precedent dating back 100 years and reaffirmed many times in the last 50 years. The justices reaffirmed that economic development qualifies as a "public use" under the Fifth Amendment. No city in America can do anything after Kelo that they couldn't do before the ruling. The petitioners were the ones asking for new powers, namely the ability to have local eminent domain decisions subject to review by federal judges.

Citizens are not more vulnerable to the use of eminent domain in light of the Kelo decision.
Just the opposite is true. Cities will be under more scrutiny than ever. Officials should welcome this spotlight and continue to pursue eminent domain in only the rarest circumstances.

State laws and constitutions governing eminent domain were not overturned.
In my home state of Illinois, state law would have prevented the situation in Kelo from ever arising. Many states have eminent domain standards stricter than those under review in Kelo. The decision did nothing to change, amend, or undermine these laws. We are certainly going to see similar restrictions introduced in other states.

The Court affirmed that a thorough and engaged planning process protects the values of citizens and their community.
The most important aspect of the decision in Kelo is the fact that the Court specifically noted that communities are granted deference in the determination of public use based primarily on the fact that an open, participatory, and comprehensive planning process was involved. Planning is the appropriate forum for public debate and decision-making. Good plans outline the collective vision of a community. The Court explicitly challenged backroom deals and made it very clear that the ruling would have been different had the private entity initiated the project requiring exercise of eminent domain.

CFA News Update

From the CFA listserv:

The August 9th meeting of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Convention Facilities Authority has been canceled. 
The next Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Convention Facilities Authority meeting will be on Tuesday, September 13, 2005, time and location to be announced.

Issue 3 Fails!

As of midnight:

ISSUE #3 - CLEVELAND CSD PROPOSED TAX LEVY (ADDITIONAL)

(With 463 of 463 precincts counted)

FOR THE TAX LEVY 15008 35.32%

AGAINST THE TAX LEVY 27485 64.68%

There was no chance of it passing anyway. It will not pass in November. The state might as well take over the system now and get it over with.

If you must know or even care, I voted against it.
Not that you need an explanation, but I am an unemployed, full time graduate student with four kids who owns his house (well, the bank lets me think that anyway). None of my children go to the CPS and they never will. In addition, I cannot not afford the additional taxes.

However, none of this matters. There must be a concerted effort made to change the way the system is run. That includes, but is not limited to, opening up the books from the yearly audits, changing the way teachers are paid and realizing that the constitution states the state is responsible for our children’s education (as opposed to extracurricular activities) and must find an equitable way fund the individual systems.
‘Nuff said.

From the Cleveland Townhall Blog

I try to get my information from both sides of the circle. Regardless, here was an interesting post.

Well Said

By jpalmer on Miscellaneous

(Hat tip: USMC Weazel)

COWS

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it amazing that our government can track a cow born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she sleeps in the state of Washington, and then track her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country. Maybe we should give them all a cow.

CONSTITUTION

They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq. Why don’t we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it’s worked for over 200 years, and we’re not using it anymore.

TEN COMMANDMENTS

The real reason that we can’t have the Ten Commandments in a Courthouse? You cannot post “Thou Shalt Not Steal,” “Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery”, and “Thou Shall Not Lie” in a building full of lawyers, judges, and politicians! It creates a hostile work environment!

And last but not least . .

George Carlin said it best about Martha Stewart . “Boy, I feel a lot safer now that she’s behind bars. O.J. Simpson and Kobe Bryant are still walking around; Osama bin Laden too, but they take the one woman in America willing to cook, clean, and work in the yard, and haul her %&@ off to jail.”

CFA News

I have from a very reliable source that there are big changes in store for the CFA. Most likely these changes will be coming from the County Commissioners. Apparently, they are not happy with some of the financial issues that have been made known to them. Additionally, the Mayor has also been seeing red lately, literally and figuratively.

The next meeting is Tuesday, August 9 at 9:30 in Room 211

Until then (and after), keep an eye on this table.

More to come….