The Observation Deck

In Downtown Cleveland:

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ss ... er_default

These "loans" are rarely paid back.

Here's the sticky wicket with things like this (at least IMHO):

For Lakewood to really succeed, Cleveland needs to succeed.
For Cleveland to really succeed, Lakewood does not have to succeed.
For Cuyahoga County to succeed, I believe they just need Cleveland to succeed. Everything else will follow.

Things like sprucing up Playhouse Square really matters to Cleveland metro as a whole. Many people want to be connected to a vibrant core of a city in some way, shape or form.

So, sprucing up Cleveland helps Cuyahoga County one way or another. If a family settles in Lakewood or Shaker Heights, does it matter to them? Actually, does it even matter if they settle in Akron as long as they spend money in Cuyahoga County?

The only people we have to really fight for Lakewood are the Mayor and council. What exactly are they doing right now to promote Lakewood?

Matthew Lee wrote:Here's the sticky wicket with things like this (at least IMHO):

For Lakewood to really succeed, Cleveland needs to succeed.
For Cleveland to really succeed, Lakewood does not have to succeed.
For Cuyahoga County to succeed, I believe they just need Cleveland to succeed. Everything else will follow.

Matthew

I have never bought into the concept that Lakewood needs Cleveland to succeed.

If we took Lakewood and residents into the middle of Iowa would would be a perfectly
healthy city, and sustainable in size.

If Cleveland had upheld their part of the deal, it would have been nice. But Lakewoodites
can work from many places in and around here, and a growing number work from home.
With 51,000 people it is enough to support stores, hospitals, schools, etc.

Matthew Lee wrote:The only people we have to really fight for Lakewood are the Mayor and council. What exactly are they doing right now to promote Lakewood?

I only know of one group that consistently advertised outside of Cuyahoga County and it
was a privately owned effort.

.

While I love Lakewood and think it is THE best city to raise children in, it is, IMHO, inextricably tied to Cleveland. Move it Iowa and I no longer have access to major league zoos, art museums, baseball, airport, concert venues, football, Metroparks, Lake Erie, etc.

There is no way moving Lakewood to another non-metropolis, makes it as good at city. At least in my opinion.

Honestly, Lakewood needs to work with Cleveland and not be so antagonistic. If Cleveland fails, Lakewood fails. At least in my mind.

Matthew Lee wrote:Things like sprucing up Playhouse Square really matters to Cleveland metro as a whole. Many people want to be connected to a vibrant core of a city in some way, shape or form.

Playhouse Square is a publically financed Disneyland On Euclid Avenue. After $1 billion in public investment Euclid Avenue is a ghost street straddled by empty office buildings and abandoned retail shops.

If a business can't survive without a subsidy it is not an asset it is a liability.

If all the that public investment brought jobs to downtown Cleveland and increased the demand for office space and housing then MAYBE the investment was worth it. However, all of the efforts at downtown development are little more than citizen resettlement programs.

The downtown vacancy rate has never been higher and the County is building a new County subsidized office building to be occupied by businesses who currently rent space in privately owned office buildings. How much sense does that make?

The taxpayer subsidized developer builds a taxpayer subsidized downtown apartment that is advertised to residents of Lakewood's Gold Coast as a better place to live. The resident of the Gold Coast then moves to the taxpayer subsidized downtown development. Our regional leaders call this "smart planning".

Of course the Plain Dealer never tires of mentioning all of those downtown restaurants and how important they are to keeping Downtown Cleveland a lively place to visit. OK. So they empty Lakewood and Parma and Fairview. How does this help the region?
There is only so much restaurant business to go around.

How does it help the region when Tri-C builds its new campus on the borders of Lorain County. How does it help the region when the Cleveland Clinic abandons communities like Lakewood?

If our community institutions are leaving town why should the people stay behind?

It's time to start supporting the communities where people actually live instead of trying to dismantle those communities in the hopes of reinventing Downtown.

More people live within a five minute walk of Clifton and W 117th than live in all of Downtown Cleveland and there isn't even $1 of financial help available to that neighborhood. How does that help the region?

For 40 years the development mantra has been Forget The Neighborhoods - Downtown!!!!

How has that worked out?

Hi Bill,

Could you provide some statistics as opposed to throwing out sentences? In this thread, you say more people live in a five minute walk Clifton/117 than in all downtown Cleveland.

In another thread (viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11815&start=15) you say:

"There are more people living within a 10 minute walk of that corner than all of downtown".

Which is it? And do you have numbers?

Not saying you are wrong, but always good to have actual numbers and statistics then just throwing out sentences.

Matthew Lee wrote:Hi Bill,

Could you provide some statistics as opposed to throwing out sentences? In this thread, you say more people live in a five minute walk Clifton/117 than in all downtown Cleveland.

In another thread (viewtopic.php?f=7&t=11815&start=15) you say:

"There are more people living within a 10 minute walk of that corner than all of downtown".

Which is it? And do you have numbers?

Not saying you are wrong, but always good to have actual numbers and statistics then just throwing out sentences.

Thanks for paying attention.

Both statements are true.

The population of Downtown Cleveland is about 9,098:

http://www.metrotrends.org/spotlight/index.cfm

There are about 10,000 people living within a 5 minute walk and 15,000 plus within a 10 minute walk:

http://www.city-data.com/city/Lakewood-Ohio.html

Of course I walk fast.

Thanks, Bill. Appreciate the info.