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, the Bruce blog should mention it works part-time with nonprofit organization EcoCity Cleveland).

The ‘completion’ of the new lakefront bikeway—which isn’t so much new as it is reconnected to the near West side via the tunnel connection at W. 65th Street—has generated a lot of hoopla. But, while the path has seen a boost in the number of riders, some grumblings about navigating the downtown portion have reached Bruce blog’s ears. That’s because the work isn’t quite done: The new lakefront bikeway doesn’t have a decent official map. What’s available online from the city does not provide enough detail to show where to go and a lack of on-street signage is no help navigating through downtown (some people are complaining about losing their way). The city spent more than $1 million from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources on planning and held a splashy ribbon cutting with the Mayor in July and had big article in the local daily; the only problem is, most people can’t find their way. Is anyone working on a map?

Cleveland Waterfront Coalition, the nonprofit group that advocated for Northcoast Harbor and against private lakefront development for the last 25 years, has been searching for an identity since winning the fight for a park at Dike 14 and then losing the reigns (to the Dike 14 Committee) to see it through development. Among its current plans are organizing and reasserting itself as watchdog of the lakefront plan.

One issue the group is focusing on is phase II of the Quay 55 project—a proposed, gated community on the lakefront at E. 55th Street. Informally, the project developers have brought the gated proposal to the planning commission. Meanwhile, word has it that Paul Volpe’s firm City Architecture is trying to convince his client that the next Quay 55 can be done without the gates. The very influential Volpe (head of the city’s landmarks commission, board member of RTA, etc.) is also involved in the lakefront plan—he’s one of the consultants. So, how will City Architecture deal with the apparent conflict of interest between a client interested in exclusive rights to the lakefront and fighting for public access?

Ohio Canal Corridor, Cleveland and Cuyahoga county planners and the Port Authority are studying a suggestion that a new river port reutilizing the dock space within the ISG West Side Steel Mill property could create new opportunities for the entire Cuyahoga River Valley, OCC director Tim Donovan wrote in the group’s latest newsletter. Current raw material storage could migrate into this area and ultimately find direct freeway access through a new ramp from a 'new and improved' Innerbelt. Such a situation would relieve current truck routes that spill through Valley neighborhoods, and at the same time open new investment opportunities in the area of the Valley from the proposed Canal Basin Park to the I-490 Bridge. Both Cleveland and the Port Authority have pursued purchase of available dock space from ISG, which has acted interested in the idea.

Thumbs up to Coventry Village for bringing back the Thursday farmer’s market, and for making the time in the evening when people who work can actually use it. While a recent visit found many fewer stalls than the North Union Market at Shaker Square on Saturday mornings, the produce is very good and plentiful. And it helps fill some of the food market void that continues to exist for the neighborhood since the departure of the Food CoOp on Coventry.