What will it take? The closure of a vital shipping lane? The destruction of an aged pipe that carries as much as 11.6 million gallons of sewage and storm water runoff a day?
What will it take to goad public officials to deal with the risks to public health, safety and commerce posed by a hillside sliding toward big trouble, inch by inexorable inch? (go to article)
Despite extreme turmoil at the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority, the beleaguered agency is doing at least one thing right.
The port’s real estate director, Eric Johnson, has led the formulation of a strong new plan to transform 100 acres of downtown waterfront from industrial shipping to an urban neighborhood with parks, offices and a continuous public promenade.
The plan, approved Friday by the Cleveland City Planning Commission (with important caveats), gives new focus to the city’s quest to make better use of a downtown lakefront dominated by the shipping industry and severed from the business core by railroads… (go to article)
In the world of architecture and urban design, images can have enormous powers of persuasion.
This explains why several groups of citizen activists enlisted the aid of Kent State University’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative to create a rendering of what a bike lane and pedestrian path might look like on the proposed new Interstate 90 bridge over the Cuyahoga River.
The Ohio Department of Transportation has refused for years to consider a bike lane on the bridge, now projected to cost $450 million, contending it’s cheaper and more feasible to provide alternate bike routes on surface streets to other spans, including the Lorain-Carnegie (Hope Memorial) Bridge… (go to article)
I would really like someone to help me out here. How has concern for the natural environment become defined by political affiliations? Why is climate change considered a “Liberal Myth“? What makes it political enough to polarize society? Is the realization that our actions may have consequences limited to politics and political pundits?
The recent hacked emails of the Climatic Research Unit (whose link is sadly down) have been repeated and dissected to use as “spin” which devalues any information may actually have been included. Arguably this seems to be being accomplished for primarily political reasons (in the US). It makes me a little sad honestly… (go to article)
CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cleveland Planning Commission this morning voted 5-2 to approve plans to develop 100 acres of lakefront land now by used for port operations.
The vote followed a presentation by the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority on a vision for promenades, parks, houses and shops for the land north of Browns Stadium.
“This allows us to move forward,” said port real estate chief, Eric Johnson after a debate of more than two hours on details of the plan… (go to article)
The Cleveland Institute of Art has fully funded the first phase of its expansion, now that some key tax credits have been sold to support the project.
The art institute’s $55 million project is well under way in University Circle, where workers are renovating the historic Joseph McCullough Center for the Visual Arts. Restoring that building, a former Ford Model T factory at 11610 Euclid Ave., is the first part of an expansion meant to bring the institute under one roof.
U.S. Bank Community Development Corp. recently bought tax credits awarded for the project, injecting nearly $17 million into the renovation. The institute had been counting on that investment to supplement its fundraising, which has brought in $23 million so far… (go to article)
The Ohio Department of Transportation plans to build a new, $450 million I-90 bridge through downtown Cleveland. Although all of us should be able to use it, the existing plans do not include pedestrian and cyclist access. We need your help to change this.
Thirty highway bridges across the U.S. have safe and attractive bike and pedestrian amenities on them. It can happen in Cleveland with your input.
Let your public officials know you support access for all on the new bridge. Here are three ways you can help… (go to article)
Cleveland is currently the second most active city in the nation on SustainLane’s Local Action Challenge. With a whopping 284 points, we are beat only by Colorado Springs (which currently has 686 points).
SustainLane is hosting the Hopenhagen Local Action Challenge to empower people to be more environmentally responsible on the local level. Cities set up their own challenges and residents take pictures of themselves completing the challenges for points and prizes… (go to article)
The I Will Stay If… campaign was embraced by Clevelanders on the Thursday before Thanksgiving, and I was lucky enough to be able to attend the party. While we don’t have the photos up yet (we’re working on it!), I want to share a quick summary the night.
Cleveland organizer Genna Petrolla lined up three remarkable speakers who also happen to be doing remarkable things for the City. They didn’t give long, boring speeches that condescended to young people (as occasionally happens): rather, they demonstrated vision, engagement, and a deep understanding of the community where they work… (go to article)
One in four Cleveland households will see no benefit from the proposed new Innerbelt bridge because they don’t have cars. And, as research from some transportation advocates has found, the situation is even worse in the neighborhoods on either side of the proposed span.
On the Tremont side, according to NEO CANDO (a census database maintained by Case Western Reserve University), nearly 30 percent of households don’t have cars, as Green City Blue Lake’s Brad Chase discovered. And on the other side — the Central neighborhood, one of Cleveland’s poorest — nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of households lack access to a car, and therefore will see no benefit from the half-billion dollar bridge for which ODOT currently seeks approval… (go to article)
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cuyahoga County commissioners this morning approved $181 million in bonds to finance the juvenile justice center and other projects.
But because Ohio Auditor Mary Taylor has yet to certify the county’s books for 2007 or 2008, the county will likely pay tens of thousands of dollars more in interest to borrow the money.
The lack of certified audits means investors could view the county as a riskier customer, and so, charge a higher interest rate… (go to article)
CLEVELAND, Ohio — One Cuyahoga County commissioner believes Mayor Frank Jackson should lower his $20 million asking price for city-owned land coveted for a medical merchandise mart and new convention center.
Peter Lawson Jones said this week that potentially hazardous conditions found at Public Auditorium must be considered as county and city officials renegotiate a deal for the property.
Executives with private developer MMPI, the county’s partner on the $425 million project, said last month that they no longer plan to use the 87-year-old building to house meeting rooms… (go to article)
The city of Cleveland is seeking $219 million to permanently fix a crumbling slope above the Cuyahoga River that threatens the waterway’s vital shipping traffic, a major sewer line, two roads and several buildings along West 25th Street.
The slow-motion landslide in the Irishtown Bend area has been under way for decades, but several spots along Riverbed Street have grown markedly worse since 2006. The collapsing bank – parts of which have slumped 18 inches in the last seven months — has forced the street’s closure and installation of an emergency sewer bypass pipe in case the main line ruptures… (go to article)
by julie whyte, 4th year b.s. architecture
Disbelief. Anger. Determination. This can’t be happening. How could they do this to us? What can we do? These were my initial reactions upon hearing the dreaded news that the May 4th Initiative would be taking over the first floor Architecture/ Interior Design computer lab.
This reaction may seem extreme to some, but we as Architecture and Interior Design students know how imperative the computer lab is to our education. AutoCAD, Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, Autodesk Maya, Virtual Environment, Photoshop CS3, Ecotect- these are just a handful of computer programs that the computer lab provides for students that allow them to complete class work. Although some students may have these programs on their own computers, many students cannot afford to equip their computers with all these expensive programs… (go to article)
How quickly we forget.
It was only seven years ago that Jane Campbell, then Cleveland’s mayor, announced plans to turn a 170-space parking lot on Mall C into a park with grass, trees and benches.
Now there’s a serious possibility the park, which commands a terrific view of Lake Erie, could become a casualty of the plan to build the nation’s first medical mart.
MMPI Inc. of Chicago wants to build the medical mart — a year-round showroom for medical devices — at the north end of the Mall… (go to article)
The first issue of Volume 4 is out now! Find it posted around the college, on your studio desk, and here.
Get ready for round two of t r a c e at the beginning of next semester! To contribute, email us! tracekent@gmail.com… (go to article)
In the morning the glass walls gleam and reflect the pink sunrise. Seamless steel beams reach up and up, looking like the arms of eager school children squealing to answer the question first. Each rooftop holds up the sky with broad shoulders or piercing spires. These are towers of inspiration and evidence of the sheer imagination that is born in nature but only successfully recreated on the streets of a versatile city. City streets hold an immensity that is as all-consuming as the relief of cold fresh air. The infinite amount of movement is invigorating… (go to article)
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Don’t expect any new faces on the nine-member board that has overseen one of the most tumultuous years in the history of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority.
That was the message Tuesday from Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, who will pass on an opportunity to reform the troubled agency. Instead, Jackson plans to reappoint board Chairman Steven Williams and member Rose Rodriguez-Bardwell… (go to article)
ELYRIA, Ohio — A 2-year-old effort to build wind turbines in Lake Erie is spreading beyond Cuyahoga County.
The Great Lakes Energy Development Task Force, chaired by Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason, has created a non-profit development corporation that it hopes will get the support of county governments from Ashtabula to Toledo — and the construction of hundreds of wind turbines over the next couple of decades.
Lorain County Commissioners on Tuesday became the first to commit to supporting the new non-profit, Lake Erie Energy Development Corp., or LEEDCo… (go to article)
CLEVELAND, Ohio — A new Social Security Administration building could open soon on the site of a former lumberyard on Cleveland’s West Side.
The 11,000-square-foot building started rising last spring at West 73rd Street and Lorain Avenue. Developers say construction is nearly finished, and employees from the Social Security Administration’s office at 2519 Detroit Ave. could move into the building this month or early next year.
The $3 million project was backed by KeyBank, which provided developer West Second Street Associates with a $2.16 million construction loan and a $2.25 million mortgage. Key cut the borrowing costs for the developer by using New Markets Tax Credits, federal income tax credits that are meant to encourage investment in low-income communities… (go to article)
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