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).

The perception that Cleveland and its leaders are sinking under the weight of a terrible economy doesn’t always jibe with reality. Cleveland’s leaders are cultivating positive change in the midst of the crises. True leaders plan during down economies. That’s when ideas need to incubate, and then grow once the economy recovers. Even when the economy affects people’s lives and painful decisions are made including laying off police and fire fighters, the planning—and the progress—for the future continues.

If there’s one thing Mayor Campbell seems to yearn for its the creation of a more livable Cleveland. It turns out that the Campbell Administration is making quiet progress toward that goal. Unheralded in the screed of negative press is a success story of new, infill housing development in the city of Cleveland.

The federal funding programs that ushered in change for housing development in Cleveland came under Mike White’s watch. They include the Low Income Tax Credit and the Community Reinvestment Act. The latter was particularly pivotal as White put Society Bank on the hook to invest millions in the inner city in exchange for approving its merger with Key Bank.

Today, Campbell’s community development director Linda Hudacek tells a story of positive change: 4,100 new housing units built and 9,200 units renovated in the city of Cleveland since the end of 2002. More units of for sale housing were added in Cleveland than at any other time since the Korean War (in the 1950s), says Hudacek. The recent reappraisal of housing property values found Cleveland’s increasing by 20 percent. Permitting, long the blame for lack of new development, has been streamlined to two weeks, and land transfers are down to an average of 105 days, according to Hudacek.

Cleveland was the 2nd largest market in 2002 for new housing in the 8-county Northeast Ohio area. Incentives are driving demand: A land-bank lot costs $100 and the 15-year, 100% tax abatement (on the future improvements) and a $10,000 second mortgage at zero percent interest are bringing the developers into the city in flocks. Some knock the tax incentives as artificial—it’s not market-based, they say, and once they run out, so will the demand. But, the fact remains, until that time, development and positive change will continue in Cleveland.

The second leg of Campbell’s livability agenda is the creation of green space in the city. Some feel that Campbell’s best chance for reelection (after economic development and pumping up the volume of residents in the city) rests with the creation of a city beautiful. At the heart of it all is a call for the creation of major, new parks. Others believe that the discussion about parks is just the Campbell Administration tilting at windmills. No matter where one falls on the subject, the planning for the creation of parks promises to take center stage in 2004. Planning so far has mirrored the Campbell Administration’s fortunes—ups and downs punctuated by lots of promise and promises.

The most recent is the conflagration over the plan for Dike 14, an 88-acre spit of land at the end of MLK Boulevard. Created from contaminated dredge soils from the Cuyahoga River and harbor, Dike 14 is part of Campbell’s ill-fated Two Parks in Two Years promise made back in 2000. The plan for Dike 14 calls for it to be closed off from more dredge disposal and converted to a nature preserve and bird sanctuary. In December, however, it was rumored that the Port Authority was considering opening Dike 14 again for dumping because it is supposedly running out of space at Dike 12, which is just north of Burke Airport. Environmentalists mounted an aggressive campaign to protest reopening Dike 14 and to hold the city to its promise of a park. The city’s environmental nonprofits are likely going to prevent the city from making an egregious error. After the firestorm of protest, the city is moving to squelch any more concerns and show that it was serious about Dike 14 becoming a park.

The same week the suggestions surfaced, the city of Cleveland applied for an Ohio Coastal Management grant from the state to study the soil at Dike 14 for contamination, as well as the legal issues involved in making it a park, and to create funds for planning and consideration of what the site will become. Surely, detractors will point at Dike 14 as another example of the Campbell Administration not showing leadership, but for environmental groups and everyone else, its an opportunity to bring legitimacy and meaning to a transparent planning process.

Speaking of public process gone awry (and then righting itself?), the feud between the city and the county over the deal to make Whiskey Island into a park apparently didn't spoil the pot. After the much-publicized battle to control its fate, Whiskey Island will become a home to both the Port’s ore unloading operation and will serve the public interest as a park on the lakefront (which the city supports as the other bookend on its Two Parks in Two Years pledge).

Bruce blog has reviewed a neat proposal that calls for recasting the eastern half of Whiskey Island as an ecological themepark. The conceptual design created for Cuyahoga County by Cleveland architecture/planning firm schmidt copeland parker stevens touches on all of the latest ecological/sustainability concepts. The firm describes the proposal as a ‘community-use environmental treasure and center for outdoor living.’ The Whiskey Island park even has a theme—“Off the Grid”—and development including a green-built ‘Eco-House’ (visitor’s center) and a public wharf that houses bike rentals, ticket sales for events, and a commons area. Everything built on the island will be a demonstration of renewable (i.e. off the grid) technologies such as geothermal heating and cooling, a ‘living machine’ treating waste- and lake water, solar and wind power generation, and use of recycled materials.

The natural highlights in the proposal include an ecological restoration of the eastern half of the island using native plantings, creating multi-use trails, bird and butterfly habitat, outdoor labs, and an observation deck. The architects also envision a wetland area bordering the marina on the ‘bay’ that separates the eastern and western half (the proposed home of Port operations for unloading ore pellets). Current limited access to the island is addressed with a proposed pedestrian bridge from the east bank of the Flats directly to the island (which poses some logistical problems such as building it with enough clearance so that ships can pass underneath. Alternatively, the pedestrian path might be built on the freight rail bridge). Other access includes a water taxi and a proposed link from the RTA’s Waterfront line.

No word yet on the cost to create the park at Whiskey Island. However, in 2000, schmidt copeland parker stevens proposed a similar restoration/park/recreation center to the 55-acre Shaker Boulevard median for the city of Beachwood with a price tag of $7 million. Considering the scope of the project, it’s reasonable to expect the Whiskey Island Eco-park to cost considerably more. But, with the recent buzz surrounding green building and ecological design in Cleveland, it’s a very timely proposal.

The wi-fi trend is hitting Cleveland like a Goldberg smackdown. If a local group has its way, we'll be able to go anywhere with our computers and work (oh, joy). The goal of digital activists at OneCleveland is to create new hotspots for wi-fi, which is free internet connectivity without the need for wires or cords. You've probably heard all about this by now, but according to a recent check on the group's Web site, "Tower City is now completely wi-fi’d, and is now the largest urban shopping space of its kind in the United States (to receive wi-fi). Also, just recently, free wireless Web access is available along the Euclid Avenue Corridor from “Square to Square” (that is, Public Square to Playhouse Square). Other places already with wi-fi access include the Playhouse Square District, University Circle, Cleveland State University, and some Cleveland Public Library branches. Also, Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood is dedicated to bringing wi-fi technology to its historic home. Read more...

Party with cig
The cig: Creative Impetus Gallery (2512 Church Ave., near the intersection of West 25th and Detroit Ave. in Ohio City) will celebrate its 3rd anniversary with a closing show, silent auction, and New Year’s celebration on Wednesday, December 31st, from 8 p.m. until the new year. The event is free and open to the public. This show will feature the unique paintings and stained glass of Bruce Buchanan and the delicate weavings of Miriam Norris. The cig is a non-profit community arts space dedicated to promoting the work of
new and up-and-coming artists, as well as to making the arts accessible to all members of the community. The cig show represents both artists’ first professional exhibition.
Weekend hours (through Sunday, January 4th) are 1– 5 p.m. The cig can be reached at (216) 861-3062, via email, or on the Web.