| Vol. 1, Issue 4 | 
 |
|
| 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).
March 22-29, 2004 How much bike/ped access is enough for Case, Lewis? Case is kicking into high gear its efforts to court that dynamic duo of international architecture superstar Frank Gehry, the designer of the funked out Peter B. Lewis Case/Weatherhead building, and Lewis, who’s dangling a wad of cash like raw meat in a gambit to have Gehry remake Case. Needless to say, Case’s head honchos are sitting up and paying attention to what Lewis has to say about the campus and its future. A source close to the project tells Bruce blog that the school’s Transportation Management Initiative group, charged with creating better access to the campus, is waking from its long hibernation. The muckity mucks at Case met with the heads of TMI recently to discuss parking, redundancy of transit service (i.e., the three or more circulators going from Case to the Heights), and the issue of making Case more cyclist and pedestrian friendly. The group wants to show Lewis that Case is taking steps toward the latter, according to the source. That may include initiatives like the Circle-Heights Bike Network, a fledgling idea hatched by EcoCity Cleveland and supported by a group of citizens hoping to connect the Heights and University Circle through initiatives like bike lanes coming up Edgehill Road or wayfinding signs, which the group is currently working on with the assistance of Cleveland Institute of Art. If it involves millions of dollars in development, you can bet that University Circle will make the effort to put up at least the window dressing of bike/ped access and facilities.
Detroit-Superior Bridge—stuck in a time warp Just when you thought the book was shut on the Detroit-Superior Bridge saga, a dramatic sequel is being introduced. Two weeks ago, project bids came in to the county some $140,000 over budget. While project coordinators responded by seeking out new funds and assure Bruce blog that the gap will be financed on time to meet spring implementation, the news has sprung the jackals. Opponents of the bridge plan are crawling out of the woodwork to contest the design of the bike lane on the north side of the bridge—the dedicated lane that travels under the arch. The design was approved by the city and the county engineer, but that hasn’t stopped opponents, particularly the Flats trucking industry, from continuing to rail against it. Opponents are also taking a look at the designation of a bike facility on the south side of the bridge. Since it was already determined that not enough pavement exists for an official bike lane, cycling advocates hope that the city will experiment with a new and improved bike pavement marking called a “Sharrow.” Sharrows are used in Denver and other progressive
cities to signal to car drivers that bikes have a right to the road
and that sharing the road is good for all involved. The same advocates
are hoping the city will consider the Sharrow for the entire Lakefront
Bikeway, which includes the Detroit-Superior Bridge. Why mixed-use development matters, part II The March 15 edition of Crain’s Cleveland Business reports that Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell is courting big box retailers Target and Wal-Mart. Campbell is interested in capturing the estimated $1.3 billion in retail purchases bleeding out of Cleveland to the suburban shopping malls. That estimate comes from a much-ballyhooed report by the Iowa-based Oster Research Group which touts Cleveland’s urban retail potential and identifies locations for big box retailers in the city. Making the list in the Oster report is E. 55th and Euclid Avenue. The article quotes a source from CB Richard Ellis who doubts that there would be enough available land in desirable locations (rooftops + household income is what developers look for). In the case of Midtown, there is enough land—the executive at CB Richard Ellis says big box retailers need 15 acres, but the grocery anchored malls such as four-story, 611,500 sq.ft. University Square in University Heights (which includes Target, Tops, Kaufmans and more) was built on a 12-acre footprint, and that includes outlying buildings. With the Oster market study identifying the Hough/Fairfax/downtown and near east side neighborhood as a potential development site, the question becomes not where, but how to make a big box power center appropriate to an urban area. For starters, if an urban retail center is the goal, it can learn from the likes of University Square, which is built to a higher density (vertically, thus, taking up less land). The mistake at University Square was not that it was built to the street, but that there are no entrances on the street— it is a half-hearted attempt at acknowledging that some people still walk Larger lessons can be culled from the trendy “lifestyle retail” centers. These are shopping centers like Legacy Village which mimic the traditional pedestrian street mall experience, usually out in the suburbs. In the case of Euclid Avenue and Midtown, all the amenities and charm of being in an urban area are there, by definition, without having to simulate them. “A key component of creating lifestyle retail is bringing in a mix of uses such as residential development, office space, hotels, churches, or municipal facilities to create a hub of activity,” according to an article in February’s Urban Land, the magazine of the Urban Land Institute. The key is to identify people in the market area by their interests and find retailers that mesh with the surrounding neighborhood, the article insists. Developers might consider themselves lucky that so many of these elements are already in place on Euclid, and focus on the stated goals for Euclid Corridor: A desired infusion of biotech workers, bike commuters, a spiffy new street including beefed up transit pumping thousands of people through the area once again. Meshing that with few existing destinations— Gallucci’s, the big churches, etc.—and a predominantly African-American neighborhood creates a market profile challenge for the development in Midtown. The reward for the creative developer will be a new center for Midtown that captures what all these suburban lifestyle centers so desperately want: A genuine experience.
Calendar events March 24 March 29 Through April 16 Activist alerts Share your opinion of bike
lanes in Euclid Corridor with ODOT Cycling advocates responded by pointing to an option in the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials guide which was absent from ODOT's manual. The advocates’ move was seen as instrumental in getting ODOT to retreat from its position, even though the lanes are not yet back in the design. If you want to see bike lanes included in the Euclid Corridor project, consider writing a letter to the director of ODOT District 12 and copying Mayor Campbell (addresses below). Cycling advocates note that the City of Cleveland is actively defending the bike lanes, and that RTA is at least neutral (simply want to keep the project moving forward). ODOT officials are the only ones who have advocated the removal of bike lanes from the Euclid Corridor. Send letters to: copy to: To email a comment or a tip to Bruce blog Receive email updates of the Bruce blog |
|
Blog Archives 2003 Archives 1/4-1/10 1/11-1/17 1/18-1/24 1/25-1/31 2/1-2/7 2/8-2/14 2/15-2/22 2/22-2/28 2/29-3/6 3/7-3/13 3/14-3/22 Other blogs Other Web sites Artists' sites |
Once Upon a Rustbelt | Party Center | Raw Materials | Subscribe | Urban Underpants