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 Ohio Association of Railroad Passengers penned a study for EcoCity Cleveland and The Waterfront Coalition to determine the effectiveness of removing 50 freight trains per day from Cleveland’s lakefront (diverting them instead through the Rockport Yard near I-480). While the plan would open up some land and more development options on the lakefront (and allow for better ship passage through the mouth of the Cuyahoga), the one-time capital cost to build up the track to allow for the diversion would be nearly $59 million to more than $133 million, estimates Ken Prendergast of the OARP. Norfolk Southern, which runs most of the freight trains on the lakefront line, would only see minimal savings in operations and time of delivery—the biggest savings may be $324,000 a year in diesel fuel expenses. It probably isn't enough to make it a pressing concern for the rail carrier, who "is content to continue operating its through freight trains via its lakefront route," Prendergast writes. Barring an investment from NS, the bypass would have to tap into federal grants and agencies such as Congestion Mitigation/Air Quality, the Federal Railroad Administration, and the Army Corps. of Engineers. How much exactly the city would benefit by removing freight trains from the lakefront is the key to whether this proposal has legs.

Private property rights advocates are putting the full court press on the Ohio General Assembly to pass H.B. 218 which would effectively give control of any shore in Ohio to developers—right up to the low-water line. The Northeast Ohio Watershed Council, a consortium of sixteen environmental groups, sent a letter to Columbus this week opposing the bill. The letter reads: "Currently, Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) makes sure that shore structures do not negatively impact rights of the public and or private property owners along the shoreline. If H.B. 218 passed, ODNR could no longer provide this protection to property owners.

H.B. 218 would eliminate Ohio's Coastal Zone Management Program.
Removing the regulation of coastal erosion areas/zones means that Ohio
would no longer be meeting the federal requirements of the Federal
Coastal Zone Management Program. This means that Ohio would lose its
federal funding, essentially de-funding the Coastal Management Program in Ohio. House Bill 218 is a radical step backwards for Ohio public policy."

RTA’s Rack and Roll program—the bike racks on buses—reported it’s first crime statistic casualty. A Cleveland man reported that he had his bike stolen off the front of a bus stopped at a traffic light on Public Square. The crime occurred two Saturday nights ago. RTA responded by helping the man search for the bike (it still hasn't been recovered), and offering compensation of free monthly passes. Bike advocates advise hobbling your bike with a lock through the frame and wheel before putting a bike on a bus rack. On the brighter side, RTA has outfitted half of its buses with bike racks, with a goal of 100 percent sometime in the future.

Coventry Road reconstruction and grand reopening celebration has hit a roadblock. The village merchant's association was promoting a big reopening celebration for September 5-7 with a street festival, food, live music, and participating groups such as Friends of the Circle-Heights Bike Network planning a group ride (to survey streets for improvement). Because of construction delays, the grand reopening is being pushed back at least a month. But, the bike network, a new volunteer citizen group pushing for street improvements for bicycling in the Heights and University Circle, plans to go ahead with it’s survey of road hazard ride, on Saturday, Sept. 6 from 2-4 p.m. (meeting at the Coventry Elementary Parking lot at 1:45 p.m. Full disclosure: Bruce blog is participating in the group). For more information, email.

One woman's fight to change a parking law that went into effect in Lakewood in 1951 has encountered the strict orthodoxy of municipal government. Many Lakewood residents are inconvenienced by a law that 'prescribes parking time limits' and allows police to ticket ‘offenders’ who leave their car in the same spot on any city street for more than 24 hours. But Ruth Albertelli recently appealed one of these tickets to the city, stating in a letter to the mayor and council that she uses public transit and doesn't drive everyday—so why should she have to move her car every night? Albertelli lives off the main drag, so commuters aren't affected. Thus far, she has not received an explanation from the city other than it hasn’t changed the law because of concerns over abandoned cars. Albertelli would like a change to allow cars to remain in the same spot for at least 72 hours.

Last week's power outtage made Bruce blog and many, many others think about our dependence on the power grid. Sitting under the stars and the descending Perseids and seeing the happy-faced untethered souls strolling by was quite a nice site. Imagine the weightlessness, the pride in hearth and homeland they would feel walking back to their homes outfitted to harvest the sun's own power. A delicate balancing act might form around the amount of sun collected and converted and the daily dose of electronic leisure consumed.