Hotel Bruce

Welcome to the Bruce blog—a weekly update on news, events and issues affecting life in Cleveland. Reporting as it happens on transit, development, planning, environment and arts & culture.

Basically, we write about creative ideas forming, talk to the people who have an inside track on the issues, and sometimes offer a commentary of our own. (For disclosure purposes, Bruce blog is a local, independent writer who also works part-time with nonprofit organization EcoCity Cleveland. The opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of EcoCity or any other organization).

Back on October 5, Bruce blog was the first publication to report that Market 25, the experimental retail space that housed independent arts and crafts vendors and prepared food stalls in the Fries & Schuele building, would shutter its doors. Bruce blog spoke with nonprofit development corporation Ohio City Near West this week about why the experiment didn’t last, and about the possible future for the space.

First, Market 25 was always supposed to function as an incubator with the successful ideas spinning off and opening their own retail storefronts. Out of the 20 or so vendors who rented space, two of the more popular entrepreneurs did just that—Le Oui Oui Café and Kimo’s Sushi Shop have rented storefronts on Fulton just south of Bridge Ave. and are thriving on their own.

As for the rest of the vendors, they voted to pull the plug on the market because of poor sales back in August, even while negotiations were underway to secure a locally owned retail specialty foods tenant to anchor the market. That is still a possibility, but for now, Market 25 will close on December 31st at the latest, with Seshart Chocolatiers and Anahita's Palace staying open through Christmas, says OCNW Community Development Director Laura Noble. The building owners are negotiating with potential prospects to reopen in the space this Spring, she says.

Noble ended any rumor that Gap, Inc. was ever approached about opening a Gap at Market 25 (they weren’t and they won’t). When asked to comment on the potential of an Urban Outfitters leasing Market 25, she said the company was approached back when rumors surfaced that they were looking on Coventry Road, but the company rejected the idea, sending a form letter. Noble doubts that W. 25th has sufficient population volume or demographics to support a clothing store like the Gap anyway.

“Our target remains specialty food and complementary products,” Noble writes via email. “It is the current strength of the Market District and needs to be augmented to establish the area as an ethnic culinary district.

“There are 15 different specialty food shops in the three block area now—not including the West Side Market. However, that concentration is not sufficiently evident to the general public. We are interested in any retailers who will add character and quality to the retail mix in Market Square.”

Ohio House is considering a bill that would codify land-use zoning in rural townships, which currently are not required to have zoning if they're unincorporated.

The opportunity here for smart growth advocates would be a set of model zoning codes that promote denser forms of development than what is currently being built in these exurban areas. That includes conservation zoning whereby more homes are clustered on a parcel of land and less forest or farmland is plowed under as a result. Or riparian zoning where less haphazard building happens near fragile watersheds. The challenge will be to ensure that the zoning can hold up and that with the advent of zoning the legal challenges don’t mount up.

The key could come through policy recommendations on where to build followed by state incentives such as capital to build in Priority Development Areas or growth zones and conversely incentives for Priority Conservation Zones. That idea as well as a regional land-use planning body is being promoted by the Ohio Balanced Growth Task Force, a statewide agency working on linking land use planning to the health of watersheds. Among the recommendations that the task force is expected to have in its final report, due this month, is a study that measures the impact to water quality from developing in a watershed.

Rumor has it that RTA is considering extending the Euclid Corridor Transportation Project gas/electric hybrid buses to the #55 Route, which goes through the Warehouse district. The proposed route could go onto a newly boulevarded Shoreway west and could serve the near west side communities on the north edge, such as Detroit-Shoreway and Lakewood.

Greening the City
Cleveland City Council will hold a special session to hear testimony of some of the city's top environmental and sustainability leaders on Tuesday 9:30 a.m. at City Hall, 600 Lakeside Ave. Council is interested in hearing about ways that the city can be more green and competitive through sustainability initiatives such as ecological restoration, green building, renewable energy and even a cabinet-level sustainability director. The session is open to the public—go pack the house and let council know there's support for a sustainable Cleveland.

Is anyone Car Free in Cleveland?
Meetup.com is an online service that helps people with common interests connect in the real world. Howard Dean’s presidential campaign made Meet-Ups popular as thousands of people around the country got offline and klatched in living rooms and coffee houses. A group including Bruce blog is trying to start a Car free in Cleveland Meet-Up. The first Car free in Cleveland Meet-Up was supposed to happen this Tuesday, December 16 at Arabica in University Circle, but was cancelled due to low attendance. If you’re interested in how to free yourself from the shackles of your gas guzzling lifestyle and want to connect with some free wheeling folks who do too, log on and type ‘Car free’ in the search. Car free Meet-Ups will take place once a month somewhere in the city (at the location that receives the most votes) once people get hip to this.

Circle-Heights bikers ready to hop & shop
On Saturday, December 20, from 2-4 p.m. the Friends of the Circle Heights Bike Network will have a unique event called the Holiday Hop & Shop. Open to all, participants will visit a commercial district in the Heights or University Circle and note the location and condition of existing bicycle parking. Where no bike racks exist, participants are encouraged to suggest bike parking. The results will be gathered by the bike advocacy group. While in the commercial district, support your local merchants with your holiday shopping dollars. To sign up and to receive forms for the evaluation, call 216-961-5020 or email.