| Vol. 1, Issue 4 | 
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| Bruce blog 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).
January 14-28, 2005 harumph@#! Bike lanes dropped from Euclid Corridor after all Barring a last ditch effort or a rally of support, Cleveland (and Ohio) will have to wait a little longer for its first urban bike lanes. It appears that the design for the Euclid Corridor that will be presented to the City Planning Commission for final approval on January 21 has painted shoulders instead of official bike lanes. This after all parties agreed to bike lanes, and after the commission approved local bike lane design guidelines last April expressly for Euclid's bike lanes. The about face happened at what’s being described as a clandestine meeting in September between RTA deputy general manager Mike Schipper and ODOT and city officials including director of road maintenance Mark Ricchiuto. Not invited to the meeting were officials from city planning, including planning director Chris Ronayne, who championed bike lanes in the Euclid Corridor. According to a source at city planning familiar with the project, “it was at this meeting that bike lanes were dropped in favor of a bike route [which] is much less visible than a bike lane.” Apparently, RTA doesn’t want to hold up the project by making changes to some eight intersections that need a 1-2 foot widening in order to keep bike lanes in. Cycling advocates are trying to appeal to (now) chief of staff Ronayne and members of the planning commission including Councilman Joe Cimperman—arguing that a simple change can be made by taking some width from the proposed 11 foot wide sidewalks. (Why sidewalks need to be that wide in Midtown is certainly debatable). Although a striped shoulder and bike route signs are an improvement over current conditions, the symbolic value of bike lanes for a city hungry to burnish an image as a place for progressive-minded folks (not to mention a simple and cheap way to do it) will be sacrificed because some shortsighted technocrats decided. To voice your displeasure at Euclid Corridor losing bike lanes, attend the city planning commission meeting (open to the public) on Friday, January 21 at Cleveland City Hall. Market Square eyed for (un)extreme makeover... Cleveland Public Art is pursuing a plan to redesign Market Square Park (at the northwest corner of W. 25th and Lorain Ave.) with the hope of making the space a little more inviting. CPA is responding to a call from local Ohio City residents who started an email campaign last year to re-landscape the park—a call that caught the attention of Ohio City Near West Development Corp. Bruce blog has learned that OCNW received a $13,000 grant that will be used toward a re-design. The group hopes to involve RTA in the plans (since it’s a major transit hub) and are eyeing the transit operator’s new budget for Transit Waiting Environments (a project to improve the experience of waiting for transit). Given the built-in interest from the community and the local community development corporation, those familiar with the project hope that RTA will launch one of its first TWE projects here.
...unless Coventry Road beats them to it Racing against Market Square Park to be RTA’s first Transit Waiting Environments (TWE) project is a new bus shelter in the works for Coventry Road in Cleveland Heights. Reportedly, the shelter project—which will require a local partner for funding and maintenance—has the backing of Coventry Special Improvement District’s Tommy Fello and City Architecture principal (and former RTA board member) Paul Volpe. Most likely, it will incorporate elements that the TWE rider survey called for, including better information about frequency of service and arrival times at bus stops. Indeed, RTA is interested in making this shelter the first to be equipped with a smaller version of its electronic sign displaying arrival times. Even though RTA purchased 50 of these arrival boards, the project has been held up because of glitches in the radio transmitter technology between buses and signs, a source tells Bruce blog. The source explains that RTA and the technology provider, Siemens, are locked in a battle over who’s responsible for dark spots in the system that are halting transmission.
Not your grandaddy's neighborhood...or is it? Developing tightly knit neighborhoods around spruced up transit stops is the subject of an recent article by Sun Newspaper’s staff writer, Ken Prendergast. The article does an excellent job explaining how Cleveland, with its mass transit infrastructure, is starting to see signs of Transit Oriented Development (TOD). An emerging trend in real estate development, TOD aspires to “bring transit riders step[ing] into a narrow, brick street lined with bright, inviting shops and intimate cafes”—all within walking distance of a train or bus stop. Experts quoted in the article note that the market (even in Cleveland) of empty-nesters, singles, gays, students and weary commuters interested in TOD is larger than that seeking the traditional single family homes in the suburbs. Click here to read the full article. Urban living is hot...even in the 'burbs Detroit is also picking up on the TOD trend—even discovering that it works in suburbs that lack a traditional town center. A recent article in the Detroit News reports on an urban-style development in the suburbs. It’s an attempt to reshape traditionally car-oriented suburbs like Plymouth by carving out a space where people can live or walk, ride a bike to and interact free of cars. Click to read the article. University Circle showing signs of waking up University Circle, Inc. has purchased The Triangle, the apartment complex and strip center at the southeast corner of Mayfield Road and Euclid Avenue, from the city of Cleveland. UCI paid $1 for the property under the condition that they redevelop it according to the city’s 1961 University-Euclid Urban Renewal Plan. No doubt, the nonprofit UCI will look to Peter Lewis’ latest comments about creating some vibrancy on Euclid as its compass. With the city of Cleveland being sued by Hessler Street residents who are complaining about the proposed high-rise development at Mayfield and Ford, UCI and Case may be hedging their bets that the prime real estate development might be just across the street.
Unhealthy state of affairs After barnstorming the state in search of answers on how to slow urban sprawl and create incentives to develop in smart (i.e. resource efficient) ways, state representative (Rep.) Larry Wolpert’s subcommittee on growth and land use went out with a wimper. The 8-member group failed to produce a report on their findings before the session ended. Refusing to let the moment pass, however, Wolpert wrote out a list of his personal recommendations. And some, like the idea of sharing tax revenue on large-scale regional projects, are right on the mark. Others, including Urban Homestead Zones where people moving back to the city get school vouchers, fail to solve the urban school crisis. If, however, Cleveland city council considered reducing tax abatements for those urban homesteaders, the impact of new residents on the urban core would be significant. Either way, observers note, without the weight (or reinstatement of) the whole committee chances are slim that legislation will fly in the new session of the general assembly. Read the Plain Dealer article.
Is Ohio ready for a bullet train? The Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC) a nonprofit based in Chicago but working on sustainable development throughout the Midwest, published an item about a recent hearing in Columbus on the long-sought after high-speed rail network with Cleveland as the hub. "A viable transportation network is key to any city's success," according to Jesse Auerbach, special projects coordinator at ELPC. "With our highways and airports increasingly crowded, high-speed rail is a way to move people quickly, comfortably and safely. That translates directly into jobs and business opportunities for Ohio." ELPC projects that the network would carry 2 to 3 million passengers per year and cover all operating costs entirely through ticket sales. The network is projected to create over 14,000 new jobs and increase property values by billions of dollars. Click here to send a fax to your Congressman and Senators urging them to support funding for high-speed rail.
Calendar January 15 January 17 January 19 January 19 January 19 January 21
Reader letters So, if CDCs
ought to focus their agenda more on economic development than affordable
housing, I'd like to know what plans for economic development
do Joe Mazzola and Ohio City Near West have for the near future?
How many new jobs do they plan to create on the near west side?
Joe? I loved reading Hotel Bruce. It has energy & soul.
What a combination. As a creative environmentalist/conservationist who
loves urban living, Hotel Bruce is a delight! You make Cleveland
quite enticing. Hotel Bruce gets better all the time. Thank you for
staying on top of the Euclid Corridor. I enjoyed reading "Midtown
Reclaims its Funk" (Vol. 1, Issue 2). I agree that unconventional/interesting
development in this town is lacking—especially in our Midtown
Corridor area. All the old nodal points are in severe decline and
need an injection of new blood, in the way of new/interesting/different
development, money, housing, and urban landscaping to make it visually
appealing. Check out Amersfoort,
Holland. I used to live there, and love the Dutch emphasis on
planning and design...integrating old and new and always fresh in
perspective.
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