| 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).
Jan. 28-Feb. 11, 2005 Live to fight another day The valiant efforts of cycling advocates convinced the Cleveland Planning Commission to table the final vote on bike lanes in the Euclid Corridor last week. The meeting brought light to why the bike lanes were removed by RTA’s deputy general manager Mike Schipper and the city director of streets maintenance Mark Ricchiuto last September 2004. The pair was under the assumption that the project would need a new environmental impact study if the street had to be widened at the intersections in order to accommodate the lanes. Sources familiar with the project note that the pair based their decision on a Landmarks Commission guideline that suggests that sidewalks should not be less than 12 feet in front of historic buildings. Logic doesn’t support their decision, the source adds, because the bike lanes can be considered additional width between the street and sidewalk. In addition, the landmarks commission set the guideline, but also stated that the city or RTA could appeal that the sidewalks could be less than 12 feet (apparently that flexibility was either ignored or forgotten). In the end, the Planning Commission instructed RTA and the city to meet with Ohio Department of Transportation officials to either work out a design exception as the plan stands or spend a little from the $220 million budget to alter the drawings and take some width from the sidewalks. The latter will avoid the headache of trying to take the position that the plan couldn’t be altered when the evidence and the experts suggest otherwise. Shaker cycling en route The news was met with mixed feelings by critics of bike routes who say they fail to offer the same visibility as bike lanes and, thus, are rather meaningless. Bruce blog has learned that Shaker isn’t ruling out wayfinding signs, a step up from the generic bike route sign—they at least provide cyclists with direction and distance information to destinations. The city is also interested in an off-street paved bike path, presumably an extension from the Shaker Lakes area heading east. The city did not specify the exact location of the path except to say it hopes to connect it to the path around the lakes in Cleveland Heights. Observers note that the proposals are a decent beginning, perhaps a warm-up to planning for a bike lane on Lee Road — an idea that Shaker and Cleveland Heights are rumored to be pursuing in anticipation of the road being resurfaced. With the deadline for the first round of TLC planning grants coming up in mid-February, observers are watching for Shaker’s next move. In addition, it is rumored that the city of Cleveland will submit a few TLC proposals (which are capped at $75,000 and require a 20 percent local match in cash). Bruce blog has learned that one such proposal from the city will be to fund a study of the traffic patterns around the University-Cedar Rapid Station. Since TLC is an attempt to approve transportation options, the study will most likely focus on how to untangle the twisted knot of Cedar Hill/Stokes/MLK and open up the area around the train station, which is crying out for a new beginning.
Gov. to derail high-speed trains? Efforts to develop high-speed rail service in Ohio almost got derailed this week. In a cost-cutting move, Governor Bob Taft split the agency heading up the effort—the Ohio Rail Development Commission—between the Ohio Department of Development and the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). The rail commission—formed 10 years ago with a legislative mandate to develop a high-speed Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati rail line—unveiled plans for that line in November as part of the 860-mile, 32-station Ohio Hub plan (which also would include a Pittsburgh-Cleveland-Toledo-Detroit corridor). Putting the plan in ODOT does not specifically halt the Ohio Hub, but it does give it a small profile in a huge agency, states the Ohio Association of Railroad Passengers. To read more...
Sprawl starts the region’s waterworks With the cost of building new water and sewer lines skyrocketing, one local government agency this week called for a national tax on beer and soft drinks to pay for it, The Plain Dealer reported. Bruce blog wonders, is it equitable for the consumer of a six-pack in Parma or a 2-liter in Glenville to foot the bill for a new water main and sewer in Avon or Aurora? If regional water and sewer costs are rising, perhaps we should investigate the cause of the alarm. We suspect that the reason our regional sewer districts are hard-pressed for cash is that we’re overextending our water and sewer service to accommodate sprawl developments. Paving over wide swaths of open space and farmland with low-density development also leads to more stormwater runoff and the need for larger stormwater receptors and treatment facilities. Bruce blog admits, there would be some poetic justice in making people who buy bottled water pay to improve the region’s water quality. But, it won’t address the source of the rising costs for water and sewerage – sprawl. Cleveland Heights—too much unprotected retail? Donovan Rypkema, principal of Place Economics in Washington, addressed the challenge in keeping neighborhood shopping centers vibrant at last week's annual meeting of FutureHeights. After dispensing with the usual bromides (the need for strong public-private partnerships, etc.) Rypkema offered some pointed remarks for those interested in retaining the character of districts in the Heights and other urban and first-suburban areas. “I can’t recall a place where so many great, historic resources are so unprotected than in Cleveland Heights," he said. You could hear a pin drop in the Cedar-Lee Theater before Rypkema remarked that historic preservation is one answer, but Neighborhood Revitalization Districts might be even more appropriate. Revitalization plans are usually led by merchant associations or community development groups in areas that have experienced serious decline. Rypkema seemed to suggest that it's not too early for the commercial districts in the first suburbs to have a plan to keep its assets in place. Rypkema added that in order to fight commercial gentrification, or the pushing out of independent businesses, the city needs to maintain varied rents and building types; be sensitive to the needs of the market when filling empty spaces; say “it’s never the customer’s fault that they don’t come into the store, it’s always the merchants'”; and that you can’t just form a Special Improvement District and hope that will change everything. Rypkema added that neighborhood centers shouldn’t try to compete with big regional malls. “The difference between Legacy Village and (neighborhood centers) is you have a sense of evolution, of human influence. To judge its health (ask) are there people on the street? That’s the number one indicator.”
U.S. but a middling sustainability champion Countries from Northern and Central Europe and South America dominated the top spots in the 2005 index of environmental sustainability, which ranks nations on their success at such tasks as maintaining or improving air and water quality, maximizing biodiversity and cooperating with other countries on environmental problems, the New York Times reports. Finland, Norway and Uruguay held the top three spots in the ranking, prepared by researchers at Yale and Columbia Universities. The United States ranked 45th of the 146 countries studied, behind such countries as Japan, Botswana and the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, and most of Western Europe. Read the article on TruthOut.org
Action alerts Show your support for revitalizing
cities and towns The tax credit will encourage private investment in historic properties, generate additional jobs and stimulate economic development within existing communities. Additionally, this credit should spur greater investments in smaller commercial projects and Main Street commercial properties of older neighborhoods—particularly where there is a critical need for community revitalization. Click here for talking points to make the case for the "state investment tax credit." Click here for information on contacting your State Senator about co-sponsoring the bill. Ask your Senator to please contact Senator Schuring's office at 614-466-0626 by Friday, February 11, 2005. Be sure to share with your Senator how the proposed tax credit would work in your community. Senate bill threatens natural
areas protection NEO, you are the one
Calendar February 17 February 24
Reader letters There are a lot of us who are discussing the closed-door
manner in which the bike lanes were eliminated from the [Euclid
Corridor] project—PUT THEM BACK. Please do not respond with
PR. You guys said you were going to put them in—do it. Adjust
the sidewalks if you have to, but keep your word. We are upset.
This just goes to prove that perspective that RTA is looking down
a tunnel of transportation, rather than stepping back and looking
at the whole picture. I would argue that the end condition of the [Euclid Corridor Project with a bike route] will be worse than the current condition, because at least cars can now change lanes to avoid a car-bike conflict. Not so after the project is completed and there's only one lane for general traffic. All road users will be squeezed together as the proposed shoulder narrows significantly at 18 intersections — the very places where conflicts are already most likely. Losing the progressive symbolism of real bike lanes
is annoying, but the real horror of the proposal is that it's just
less safe for bicycling than present conditions (this after a 100%
rebuild and hundreds of millions spent). It's also the ONLY viable
nonmotorized corridor between downtown, University Circle and the
suburbs beyond. Putting bike route signs on this redesigned road
is an empty gesture that borders on cynical. I was born on Church Ave. and have lived here
for 33 years. I am troubled by the view that my neighborhood is
little more than an investment market. Houses are not always homes.
Maybe you should look into how many of the people who have become
“urban pioneers” are cashing out when the property value
margin makes them enough of a profit on their "investment."
From my walks, I see a constant cycle of "for sale by owner"
signs and people frequently move out not that long after they moved
in. Imagine in downtown Cleveland a vibrant tree-lined neighborhood where you could have a home with a nice yard, raise a family, walk to work, and play without going to the suburbs for shopping options. Develop the business opportunities in the growing sustainable energy industries like fuel cells, wind-turbines, solar panels, biotech, bio-chemical, and other high-tech markets in Cleveland. And provide exciting recreational activities for fun and health, (sitting down as a spectator does not count) and you will fill the city of Cleveland with educated and prosperous people. Imagine young people, like my son, wanting to move
back to Cleveland from Denver or my niece from Boston. They left
Cleveland because they wanted to live in an exciting, vibrant and
“happening” city. Can we bring them back? A new convention
center or gambling casino won’t lure him home.
Corrections The efforts by the Ohio Rail Development Commission is to develop a high-speed passenger (and improved freight rail system), not necessarily a bullet train. UCI bought The Triangle from Cleveland in 1987. Case purchased it from UCI recently. A source familiar with the deal says that a mixed-use, pedestrian friendly development was a condition of the sale.
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