The Observation Deck

People who use the Clifton freeway to travel through Lakewood to points East should be pleased to learn that the repaving project has started.

When completed the project will make the trip through Lakewood faster, smoother and safer.

Those of you who had hoped for the return of a quiet tree line boulevard of fine homes and upscale apartments will have to wait. The hunt is on for the money to do more but remember this: cash cows give milk they don't drink it.

Are they going to at least use concrete in front of the bus stops. I think in a matter of a year or two the weight of all the stopping buses will buckle that re-tar stuff. Same goes with the weight of all the parked cars. Really the whole thing should be torn up and replaced with concrete. Alas I suppose that would cost to much.

Let's not forget that there are plenty of Lakewoodites who also use the "Clifton Freeway" to commute to our jobs in Cleveland ...

Or does that make us traitors because we don't work within Lakewood's city limits?

c. dawson wrote:Let's not forget that there are plenty of Lakewoodites who also use the "Clifton Freeway" to commute to our jobs in Cleveland ...

Or does that make us traitors because we don't work within Lakewood's city limits?

What should have priority? Lakewood as a liveable City or Lakewood as cut through?

Clifton was once a true boulevard that offered green space, a quiet street that was lined by gracious homes and desireable apartments. In the quest for a faster commute that street was destroyed. For the sake of a faster commute Clifton Park was torn apart. Those actions did little to shorten the commute times. Thoese actions did a lot of damage to a street that was home to thousands.

The destruction of quiet neighborhoods made some sense before I-90 was built. Now that I-90 is an option the restoration of Clifton Boulevard to its former status as a park like boulevard seems sensible to me.

We have an opportunity to restore a street at the cost of 4 minutes of commuting time. Why not take that opportunity before more damage is done?

Apartments that once had waiting lists now have space to spare. Homes that sold in days now can't be sold at all. All those apartments planned for the flats or downtown make more sense along Clifton Boulevard. If the City sets the stage I think the market will respond.

It seems a lot to gain for 4 minutes of your time.

Bill Call wrote: What should have priority? Lakewood as a liveable City or Lakewood as cut through?

For many both those things are the same. A majority of Lakewood residents do not work in Lakewood. For them, livable means easy access to quick routes to work.

Easy access to downtown and highways is what attracts alot of people to Lakewood and is what keeps alot of people from wanting to live in the Heights.

Not everything is so my way or the highway

And Bill, seriously, are you trying to blame the housing slump on the fact that Clifton allows an easy commute?

I think Bill should refer to the story of Pandora's Box. Once opened, it can't be closed. The exodus from Cleveland has been going on for 50 years ... and there has long been an exodus from Lakewood, too, though nowhere near the same size or scale. And it's not due to Clifton being a route that commuters take. Frankly, I know people who commute on Detroit and Lorain, and not I-90.

I'm sorry that this is not a wonderful time to live in Bill ... if you could find a Wayback Machine, go to it. But yes, I prefer commuting via Clifton because it actually IS more direct and faster than I-90. And I prefer shaving time off of my commute, so I can spend MORE time in Lakewood, in my lovely home, working on it to improve its value and my neighborhood's overall charm. I'd love if my wife and I could work in Lakewood as well, but no, our jobs are in Cleveland. But they allow us to afford living in Lakewood. Frankly, I think it'd be great if Clifton could be turned into grand boulevard with a tree-lined median ... think that'll stop commuters from Lakewood, Rocky River, and points west (and actually, the folks I know who live in Bay, Westlake, and Avon prefer using I-90, not Clifton)? Actually, no. I think I-90 has caused more damage to Lakewood and the inner ring suburbs than Clifton has, or Lakeshore Boulevard on the east side.

Commuters are always gonna use Clifton. Until you put up walls around Lakewood, it's going to stay that way. And you'd be surprised how many of those same commuters often stop IN Lakewood, to pick up something at a grocery store or restaurant or drug store on their way home. But I guess that doesn't count. We don't want those dirty, stinking commuters in our pure city! Even if they do spend money here. Nor those traitors who live in Lakewood but work elsewhere! We don't want any of them, either!!!

Oh wait, I'm one of them ... darn, I guess I best get back to self-loathing.

Bryan Schwegler wrote: And Bill, seriously, are you trying to blame the housing slump on the fact that Clifton allows an easy commute?

No, Im just saying that cities need to compete for residents. Offering small changes in traffic patterns, doing small things to increase the beauty and liveablity of a street seem easy ways of of doing it.

Who would have thought that a proposal to restore a street to its historic role would have created such a stir.

I've lived here quite a while and I can't recall that Clifton was ever a street of elegant homes and attractive apartments, other than a couple of homes in Cleveland. Was this age of bucolic comfort before the invention of the automobile?

Presently the Lakewood codified ordinance states that "No person shall operate or drive any vehicle or combination of vehicles having a net weight of 4,000 pounds or over, designed or used for the transportation of goods, wares or merchandise, upon Clifton Boulevard except while receiving goods or making deliveries along Clifton Boulevard and then only by entering and leaving by the nearest intersecting street."

If we eliminate the clause "designed or used for the transportation of goods, wares or merchandise" and added an exception for public and school transport vehicles we could at least eliminate the oversized noncommercial vehicles dashing through town and contributing to a more rapid deterioration of the road surface.

Bill Call wrote:Who would have thought that a proposal to restore a street to its historic role would have created such a stir.

Bill, it's your ability to so elegantly hyperbolize and twist the truth that creates the stir, not necessarily the topic at hand.

Will Brown wrote:I've lived here quite a while and I can't recall that Clifton was ever a street of elegant homes and attractive apartments, other than a couple of homes in Cleveland. Was this age of bucolic comfort before the invention of the automobile?

Wheeell Browwn...looooowwk intwoo mhy eyesss...

Cleeefton Bullyvard was woncce a queen among bullyvards..stahhtly homes, qwiiieet apartmintts, puublic art and streetscaped sydevalks...yeess, yesss, yess it was yessss...it wasss I reememberrr nowww yess, yesss.

I looked into your eyes, but saw nothing.

I think you are confusing Clifton with some other street. The homes and apartments that are there now are the same ones that have been there since Hector was a pup, and it is still not an elegant neighborhood. I don't count cars, but the traffic today seems no worse than it was before the road through Clifton Park opened. If anything, traffic on West Clifton and Sloan and Detroit is improved.

Perhaps when you return to reality you can explain why and how you propose to exclude the people of Rocky River, Ohio, and the rest of Lakewood, from a state highway (its still SR 2, isn't it?) to "benefit" the people who live on Clifton. If so, I want my money back!

And once you build your fence around Clifton, perhaps you could shut down I90 and turn it into a parking lot, for Lakewood residents only, of course. After all, isn't the shortage of parking one of Lakewood's many problems?

Will Brown wrote:And once you build your fence around Clifton, perhaps you could shut down I90 and turn it into a parking lot, for Lakewood residents only, of course. After all, isn't the shortage of parking one of Lakewood's many problems?

The current plan is to add streetscaping to the center lane in place of the asphalt. The configuration would be similar to what exists in Westlake on Hilliard Avenue, Crocker Road and other areas. The general idea is to provide more green space. The added green space will reduce summer temperatures along the road and act as a natural sound barrier to lessen the amount of noise generated by the traffic.

Some plans also call for flowers, public art and street lights with a more historical look.

It is possible that traffic circles could be added but that is not in the current plans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_circle

http://www.trafficcalming.org/trafficcircles.html

Traffic circles offer a way to enhance the beauty of a street, moderate congestion, reduce accidents and smooth out the flow of traffic.

I am not sure why an effort to enhance the beauty and liveablity of street would cause such intense opposition but there it is.

I once suggested to someone that it should be easy to get a group of people to agree to a good idea. The someone said to me "Are you kidding? I helped run a little league team and we couldn't even agree on what color T-shirts to buy."

Of course I guess one persons good idea is another persons Berlin Wall.

No Idea why this came as a "Blank" message first time?

Hemel Hempstead's Magic Roudabout

"At the junction of each road with the roundabout a mini-roundabout is present and subject to the normal clockwise direction of travel for all traffic. Between these mini-roundabouts however traffic is permitted to travel clockwise or anti-clockwise around the larger roundabout, the expectation being that drivers would choose the shorter route with less stationary traffic."

A little bird has told me:

1. There is some action going on behind the scenes for a really nice project.

2. There is some unexpected opposition from a Cleveland political leader.

My own interpretation is that a renewed Clifton Boulevard would compete with dowtown housing developments and it's all about downtown.

I personally think there is a quiet campaign to limit housing development in Lakewood because development here makes more sense than development downtown. I'm really not conspiracy theorist (really, no really) but....

I think Jim O is half right about developers and their behind the scene efforts in Lakewood. I say half right because its not about talking down the City to buy cheap it's about talking down the City to keep anything from being built.

Overall, Lakewood is doing quite well but in this market we can't afford to stand still.