Nice Piece

Sad I didn't make it out to the Food Truck Convoy, but it looks like a few other people did...

Great event, great turnout, great city, great future.

Grown ups

Glad to see that the folks over in University Circle are playing nice together, like adults.

Density = good.
Housing = good.
New construction on top of a parking lot = good.

Everyone wins.

Gamble

Some very interesting pieces in this article by Steve Litt. As I've stated before, I am an advocate for closing down ALL of the streets in Public Square, not just Ontario as proposed here (but will take the baby steps).

Ideally, he proposes the optimal solution - a merger of the two traffic studies that looks at progressive solutions, not traditional traffic studies. People, pedestrians, cyclists should be our priorities on Public Square, not the car or bus.

Good read, gets you thinking.

Why I wake up

I wake up for you, Cleveland! Seriously though, even when roughed up by the ups and downs of life, I am continually inspired by our community and our city. Tonight's example:

An email to the random info@ account for our organization. It read something along the lines of:

'Dear Sir or Madam, I am an undergraduate student at School X studying urban planning, et cetera. I grew up in a neighborhood of Cleveland, went to high school at a fantastic school in Cleveland, and love your community. I can't wait to come back and learn about all the exciting work going on in Cleveland. What can I do to become involved over summer or over breaks?'

Thanks for your inspiration, Ken.

It's YOUR economy, stupid

Alright to be honest, I hate that phrase (completely over-used & satirized) but I couldn't come up with something clever for a title for this post.

Over the past seven months I've had countless conversations with friends, acquaintances, and strangers about what I do for a living. Although sometimes I have a hard time explaining it, my most common answer is that I work in community and economic development for Ohio City, a neighborhood of Cleveland.

Sometimes I'm greeted by confusion. Other times by comments of support and inquisition. Too often, though, I'm told something along the lines of "Good for you, somebody needs to be doing that." (PS this happened to me tonight)

Well, that phrase is beginning to bother me. Yes, I am grateful to have my job, and yes, I do believe that the work I do has an impact on the community. But even with all my peers in the civic industry behind me, we cannot change Cleveland in the way that the rest of the region can. It is only when as a region we choose to use our resources to change Cleveland's economy that we will. 80 hours a week from me won't do it - you will.

Something there?

Here's a head-scratcher. Supposedly there is bi-partisan interest/support in learning about the new federal program for high speed rail and a midwest connecter running through the northern part of the state.

And Governer Kasich is going to listen to this.

Well, sunuvabitch, I'm shocked to say the least. The 3-C killer? I would be impressed (and saddened, of course, that no one from the rest of the state could partake).

Can you see the light?

Good news: Lorain Carnegie Bridge is getting a transformation that will create another great pedestrian & bike experience crossing the Cuyahoga Valley.

Bad news: the plans are currently stopping at West 20th. Additionally efforts will have to happen to continue the path to Gehring and then to West 25th.

Really great news: the Guardians of Transportation are finally going to get lit up!

Proud to have worked on this and challenged on how to improve it. Always more to be done.

Want to make change?

Do it yourself. The mantra is true in so many areas, and is definitely true in Cleveland.

I am inspired by this story about families of the near west side who are making a tremendous change. So proud that this is my neighborhood, and honored to work with this community professionally.

What's that sound?

The sound of cash.

I love how Forest City enterprises owns (READ: sits on) extremely valuable property in Cleveland, doesn't do much to it, and gains 85million dollars in the process. It's a beautiful business model.

Cheers to this moving forward, though.