ClevelandDesignCity

Now that everyone has vented — again — and perhaps done a little public negotiating, it is time to focus once more on what’s really important: designing and building a medical mart and convention center complex that can boost Greater Cleveland’s economic future. And doing so in a way that acknowledges the public’s huge investment in the project and its stake in what stands on the city’s waterfront.

That means the partners in what has to be a close collaboration among Cuyahoga County, the city of Cleveland and private developer Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. all need to dial down the rhetoric and stop pointing fingers.

Is the condition of Public Auditorium far more deteriorated than either MMPI assumed likely or top city officials realized? Would upgrading it cost more than the project’s budget can bear? If, as it appears, the answer to all those questions is “yes,” that’s disappointing. It would have been great to reuse the grand, old hall… (go to article)