The St. Clair Superior neighborhood welcomed two new businesses recently, a café and a coffee shop, both in former factories, and both indicative of the forces that have been driving development in the area in recent years.

The 30th Street Café opened in Asia Plaza at East 30th and Payne, serving selections from Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese cuisines. Owned by the Hom family, prominent local entrepreneurs, Asia Plaza is a two-story retail center that was once a manufacturing plant.

Across Superior, in a warren of brick buildings once devoted to elevator manufacturing, the aptly named Pulley's Coffeehouse is serving beverages and food from Artefino Café to the growing number of people working there. Now known as Tyler Village, the 1.2-million-square-foot, 25-building, 10-acre complex is one of the largest downtown redevelopment projects in the city's history, according to developer Graystone Properties. It currently houses a charter school, Digiknow, APG Office Furnishings, Analiza Medical Lab, Solutions at Work and an office of the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities, whose clients staff Pulley's.

"Tyler is definitely the biggest development [in the neighborhood], and it's driving a lot of the investment," says Jamar Doyle, project manager for the St. Clair Superior Development Corporation. But he adds that there's a history of entrepreneurship in the local Asian-American community, and points to the almost 40 Asian restaurants now serving the area.

St. Clair Superior Development also plans streetscape improvements next year, with grant money from the Northeast Ohio Area Coordinating Agency.


Source: St. Clair Superior Development Corporation
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

When a Johnny Malloy's sports bar occupied the old Centrum Theatre on Coventry, management "honored" the once-grand movie house by installing an impressive array of video projectors and screens, to show multiple sporting events at once. Johnny Malloy's is now gone, and new occupant Fracas is taking a decidedly different approach.

Owner Phil Romano enlisted the aid of the Cleveland Heights Historical Society and Sherwin Williams to track down the colors the theater sported in the 1920s and '30s, which he describes as salmon pink and grayish green. "Somebody needed to do it right," says Romano, a first-time owner whose cooking resume includes Moxie, Greenbriar, Hyde Park and House of Blues.

Fracas is a gastropub, or as Roman explains, "a restaurant that just happens to have a bar." His menu, which he calls "a finer take on normal comfort and bar foods," will include a duck confit quesadilla, a grouper BLT, short ribs braised in Dogfish Head IPA, and "beer-a-misu," a porter-laced take on the popular Italian dessert.

The expansive bar from the Johnny Malloy's days remains, but all 16 taps now will dispense only local craft crews. Most of the 30 or so options in bottles will be crafts as well. By next spring, Romano plans to be brewing his own on-site.

Fracas will open in early December.


Source: Phil Romano
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

University Circle's Uptown project took a major step forward last week when the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Cleveland board approved plans for a new home, a dramatic, six-faceted, $27 million structure of highly reflective stainless steel and glass to be built at Euclid Avenue and Mayfield Road.

The new building should make quite an impact on visitors to the busy intersection: "Viewed from the exterior, the building will appear as an inventive massing of six geometric facets, some flat, others sloping at various angles, all coming together to create a powerful abstract form," MOCA promises on its web site. "Clad primarily in mirror-finish black Rimex stainless steel, the façade of the new MOCA will reflect its urban surroundings, changing in appearance with differences in light and weather."

The four-story, 34,000-square-foot building will provide MOCA about 40 percent more space than its current home, in the Cleveland Playhouse complex at 8501 Carnegie. The main gallery will be on the 6,000-square-foot top floor, which will be equipped with movable interior walls.

"Flexibility is key to a program that, like ours, embraces aesthetic, conceptual, and cultural diversity, and displays works in a great variety of mediums and genres," says MOCA Director Jill Snyder.

The building was designed by Foreign Office Architects of London, whose team includes Cleveland-based Westlake Reed Leskosky. The MOCA building is FOA's first museum and first American commission. Groundbreaking will occur in December.

Uptown, a $150 million residential and retail development, is a collaboration between private developer MRN Ltd., and University Circle Inc. and area institutions. MRN is the company behind the East Fourth Street restaurant and entertainment district in downtown Cleveland.



Source: MOCA Cleveland
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

For several years, Kim Crow watched as the contracting newspaper business shed people, including many of her friends and colleagues, and laid ever-increasing burdens on those still employed. So relinquishing her duties at the Plain Dealer -- editing three sections, supervising six reporters and, the work she's best known for, writing a fashion column -- was the easy part.

At least compared to opening a store.

Crow recently unveiled Evie Lou -- "A contemporary boutique that embraces personal style and fantastic fit across the size spectrum" -- in Tremont. The journey from clothing pundit to clothing retailer was longer and more frustrating than she'd anticipated. Loan rejections took months, she says, and some small ones that were approved still haven't come through. High credit-card limits, from years as a sort-of professional shopper, kept her afloat.

But it was worth it; even the surprises have been encouraging. For example, she'd anticipated more evening business, when the nearby restaurants and galleries are hopping. Instead, she's been far busier during the day, "and that's great because it's the neighborhood supporting me."

She's a one-woman operation for now, but hopes to hire an employee soon. Not just anyone, however; this person will have to share Crow's commitment to the "size spectrum" portion of the store's mission statement. She is spending about 15 percent of her buying budget on plus sizes, an amount almost unheard of in boutiques. It's something of an experiment, she admits.

"Every day I hear someone say, 'I'm not buying anything until I lose 20 pounds," Crow says. "In the dressing room there is so much more going on than just 'That's a cute top.' Women bring all their baggage in there with them. There's a lot of psychology to it."

And fodder for her new writing outlet, the Evie Lou blog.


Source: Kim Crow
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

When Dobama Theatre was forced out of its longtime Coventry Road home in 2005, it marked the end of a nearly 40-year tradition of live theater in the Coventry Village neighborhood. But the recent drought will end next year when the Ensemble Theatre takes over a portion of the
old Coventry School building for classes and shows. Last week, Cleveland Heights Planning Commission approved their request for a zoning variance.

Ensemble, now in its 31st season, was founded in Cleveland Heights in 1979 and had performed at the old Civic until 2003. The company moved its performances to the Cleveland PlayHouse, at 8500 Euclid, but remained based in Cleveland Heights. Managing director Martin Cosentino said recently that the company is pleased to be returning home to its roots.

Coventry School, at 2843 Washington Blvd., has been vacant since 2007, aside from a short period when University Hospitals leased it for employee training. The city's approval of Ensemble's use allows performances for up to 150, plus classes and summer camps, from February through August. At press time, Ensemble's web site did not indicate any performances at Coventry for the three productions already announced for the 2010-2011 season, and Cosentino could not be reached.


Source: City of Cleveland Heights
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

Wendy Park on Whiskey Island might be Northeast Ohio's greatest greenspace success story. Less than 10 years ago, precious few Clevelanders had ever visited the site, which sits right where the Cuyahoga River meets Lake Erie. Nigh on impossible to get to, and offering little more than volleyball courts, there just wasn't much point. Steady improvements under county ownership have pushed annual visits from about 7,000 in 2006 to more than 200,000 today, and the work is not nearly over.

Last week, ParkWorks, county officials and landscape architects from San Francisco-based Conger Moss Guillard presented three versions of a Wendy Park master plan at a public forum. "I think they'll pull elements from all three that people like," says Justin Glanville of ParkWorks, "and sort of make a Frankenstein version."

The common traits among the plans are beach improvements, restored marsh area and use of solar panels wherever possible. Easier access will be achieved through a pedestrian and bicycle bridge, from the west side of the river and over the railroad tracks. On December 2, the county commissioners are expected to approve a contract with architect Miguel Rosales of Boston.

"This is an incredibly important space," says Paul Alsenas, director of the county planning commission. "There is no other place like it along our shoreline in Cuyahoga County.

Carol Thaler, the planning commission's program officer, adds that public input has shaped this project from the start. "It's a very important statement for the county," she says.

To view and comment on CMG's plans for Wendy Park, visit ParkWorks' web site.



Source: ParkWorks
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

The recession would seem to provide businesses with a ready and compelling excuse not to consider investing in something like solar power. But Cleveland-based Kalman & Pabst Photo Group looked at it another way: There are substantial federal and state tax incentives available for investing in the green technology, and they probably won't last forever.

K&P, a commercial photo studio whose clients include Progressive and Arhaus, recently hired Bold Alternatives, of Orange, to install 130-plus solar panels atop its building on Perkins near East 40th. The bill came to just over $200,000, says K&P co-owner Bob Pabst, but a 50-percent rebate from the state and 30-percent federal tax credit brought K&P's out-of-pocket cost down to about $40,000.

"There's a lot of people that can't do this," Pabst says, referring to the still-significant cost and the recession. "But we could." He and his partner, Jan Kalman, are committed to employing as many sustainable methods as possible. The 30.8 kW installation will cover 20-25 percent of the photo studio's monthly electricity use, on average.

Other companies that K&P talked to promised less than half as much, Pabst says. Bold Alternatives, however, offered new technology: microinverters. In a typical solar array, all the panels connect to one central inverter, which converts the energy from DC to AC. But the system Bold built for K&P has a microconverter for each panel, a setup that maximizes efficiency by switching on if even a sliver of the panel is illuminated.

Kimberly Dyer of Bold Alternatives says that the manufacturer, Enphase Energy of California, informed her that the K&P job is the largest such installation in Ohio.


Source: Kalman & Pabst Photo Group
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

It's taken several months, but Vicky Poole says she's finally getting a handle on what will grow well in a mall. Herbs, for one thing.

Poole is co-owner of Gardens Under Glass, the innovative urban hydroponic farm, market and experiment under the magnificent glass ceilings of Galleria at Erieview on East 9th Street. The growing began last winter. Poole recently added the Re-Source Center, selling related products from local vendors, some of whom, like A Piece of Cleveland, specialize in the reuse of old materials. The Re-Source Center itself "reuses" a space once occupied by a greeting card and candy store that vacated the Galleria long ago.

But farming remains Poole's focus. "I work on this around the clock," she says, with no hint of complaint. "It's quite a chore to keep track of the bugs and the growing conditions and all the things that go along with growing food."

The effort is worth it, she says, if it helps to promote local farming, nutrition and sustainable practices.

She's exploring the possibility of shifting to a non-profit model, which would suit her long-term vision of building comprehensive farming and sustainability education center around the crops. "The space is very conducive to demonstrations and instructions," she says.

But for now she needs to rely on good old-fashioned sales, and that's where the herbs come in. She's hoping to develop a steady customer base for the basil, tarragon and many others already available, as well as the oils and vinegars featuring her dried pepper seeds that are planned. Lots of people admire, Poole says; not many buy. She's hoping that changes as awareness of the benefits of locally grown produce, and her unique business, spreads.

"There's not one person who comes into this building who doesn't look around and say, 'My God, what a beautiful space,'" Poole says. But too often they focus more on what it once was, a vibrant retail mall, than on what it's becoming and could be. "Let's see what we can turn it into," she adds, "before the demise of another downtown building."


Source: Gardens Under Glass
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

What can we do with what we already have? That simple question drives two movements that are rapidly gaining momentum and reshaping Cleveland: urban farming and deconstruction -- because, for better or worse, land and condemned buildings are plentiful. In the same glass-half-full spirit, some local artists are turning to items that would otherwise have ended up in landfills to change perceptions about "trash," and perhaps spawn a new industry.

As the playful name hints, Pop-Up Gift Shop will open only briefly, from November 18 through December 19, at 2242 Euclid Ave., in Trinity Commons. The store will feature "handmade, reasonably priced, whimsical, interesting gifts crafted with an emphasis on reuse from local artists" -- like jewelry made from copper wire and liquor bottles, oil paintings on old Styrofoam, nightlights with shades made from artificial sweetener packets, and windchimes and ornaments from old bicycle parts, to name just a few.

The idea came when reuse artists Nicole McGee and Trish Supples met Dean Tracy Lind of Trinity Cathedral at the Sustainability Summit. McGee and Supples were looking for ways to promote "upcycling" -- McGee, for example, crafts colorful, decorative flowers out of old floor tiles -- and Lind had a storefront in need of an entrepreneur. Pop-Up was born.

"We were able to find a ton of artists" to participate, says Supples. And not all have tried this before. "Some established artists are taking this as a challenge to try reuse or upcycling."

On her web site, PlentyUnderfoot.com, McGee explains: "My creations are an extension of my view of the world -- that beauty and potential lie dormant all around us. Finding beauty underfoot is only one part of the process. Looking comes first. The waste stream of consumer culture is full of creative potential. Throw away less and create more!"


Source: Trish Supples
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

Hundreds of Northeast Ohioans bike to work downtown. Many more surely would, but for the challenges that present themselves upon arrival -- like parking and, well, sweating. But next year the city will have an answer to those deterrents: The Bike Rack, set to open next spring in the ground level of the parking garage at East 4th and High streets, between Harry Buffalo restaurant and Quicken Loans Arena. Ground was broken there in late October.

Modeled on bike stations in Europe and a growing number of American cities, The Bike Rack will offer bike commuters secure parking, lockers and facilities for showering and changing. The site will also rent bicycles, and the staff will include a technician who can help with repairs.

Kevin Cronin of Cleveland Bikes, which worked with the Jackson administration to develop the project, says that long-term goals include establishing relationships with hotels and promoting bike tours, to tap into the expanding bicycle tourism market.

"These are the things that open up when you have these sorts of facilities," he says. He also hopes that the project will raise awareness of biking among residents, and galvanize the bike community to rally for more bike-friendly infrastructure. A similar station in Chicago has been so popular, Cronin says, that plans for a second are under way.

The Downtown Cleveland Alliance will administer the site, and recently posted the job of operations manager. Cleveland Public Art is overseeing the design of the façade.




Source: Cleveland Bikes
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

Cleveland's slow but steady transformation from national leader in job loss and foreclosures to national model for urban farming took another major step forward last week in the Kinsman neighborhood. That's where federal, state and city officials introduced the Cleveland Urban Agriculture Incubator Pilot Project.

Six acres of land at East 83rd and Gill, donated from the City Land Bank, will be turned into a farm, thanks to $100,000 grants from the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the City of Cleveland, and $740,000 from the Ohio State University Extension, via the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It's the first urban farm to receive funding through the USDA's Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, now in its second year.

The goals of the incubator are to promote entrepreneurship and access to fresh produce in an area that sorely needs both. If successful, the model will be replicated in other neighborhoods.

The OSU Extension will use half an acre of the land to train aspiring farmers. The remaining land will be leased in quarter-acre plots, beginning next spring.

The project grew in part out of the Urban Agriculture Innovation Zone established by Burten, Bell, Carter Development, Inc., which serves the area, according to BBC programs manager Sherita Mullins. BBC will recruit farmers from the community.

The state funds come from Gov. Strickland's Ohio Neighborhood Harvest initiative, which seeks to bring produce to the "food deserts" found in many low-income urban communities, and to boost local economies. Currently only about 3 percent of the estimated $43 billion that Ohioans spend on food annually goes to Ohio farms.




Source: Burten Bell Carter Development
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

Mike Graley, a wine buyer for Heinen's for 20 years, is applying his expertise to a new venture, Battery Park Wine Bar, a.k.a. YOLO Wine Bar in Battery Park. YOLO stands for "You Only Live Once," which Graley says is the theme of his unpretentious, contemporary joint, in the former Eveready plant in Detroit Shoreway's Battery Park neighborhood.

This "not-so-typical wine bar," as Graley describes it, will carry well over 100 varieties, all sold at just $12 above retail -- unlike the more typical double retail. The same price structure will be used in the adjacent retail shop. Graley is talking to some Ohio wineries about carrying their labels.

The menu will feature "medium plates" of beef and lamb sliders, truffle mac and cheese, pork and veal meatballs, Ohio City Pasta and a variety of fries, plus cheese, meat and olive boards and salads.

The wine bar will be the first business to open in the Powerhouse, as the old Eveready plant is now known. The Powerhouse is in the heart of the Battery Park residential community, developed by Vintage Development Group. "It shows that redevelopment of the lakefront is a huge asset," says Jeff Ramsey, executive director of the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organzation. The Waterfront District Plan will greatly increase pedestrian and bicycle access to the lake by 2014.

YOLO Wine Bar is scheduled to open November 15. For updates send an e-mail to info@batteryparkwinebar.com.



Source: Mike Graley
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

How is it possible that hip Tremont has gone all this time without a vintage shop? Whatever the explanation, the oversight has been remedied with the opening of Deering Vintage at 2678 W. 14th St. (formerly Kelly Randall Gallery).

"It just seems like an exciting place to be right now," says owner Cynthia Deering, who owned Suite Lorain, at West 69th and Lorain, for 20 years before selling in March. Development in Detroit Shoreway to the north had resulted in Lorain becoming a little too rough for Deering's comfort.

Open just a few weeks, Deering says she already has repeat customers, especially among young neighborhood residents who appreciate having a green shopping option nearby.

"Business has never been better in my industry," due largely to the recession, Deering notes. "People really want to save money."

Deering Vintage carries men's and women's clothes and accessories, and some home items and furniture.



Source: Cythia Deering
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

It's not a sports championship, but in some ways it's just as big. Last week a consortium of some of the wealthiest banks and foundations in the world announced that Cleveland would receive major support for innovative developments that will create hundreds of new jobs where they're needed most.

The Integration Initiative, by the New York-based Living Cities philanthropic collaborative, will pump almost $15 million in grants, loans and targeted investments into Cleveland. One of five cities chosen, Cleveland impressed the evaluators with plans to leverage the buying power of institutions in and around University Circle -- which spend some $3 billion annually on goods and services -- into new businesses and jobs. And not just any businesses, but innovative, green operations that provide their workers with more than just paychecks.

Some of the funding will be used to start or relocate businesses in the growing Heath-Tech Corridor between University Circle and Cleveland State. Other funds will expand the Evergreen Cooperatives network of employee-owned businesses, all of which meet the institutions' procurement needs in new ways, and satisfy Living Cities' demand for "game-changing" new strategies.

Evergreen Cooperative Laundry, for example, uses far less water than competitors, allowing the institutions to reduce their carbon footprints. The laundry currently employs 28, and will expand to 50. Ohio Solar Cooperative employs 25 -- already exceeding expectations -- and will hire another 50 over the next three years. The Green City Growers hydroponic greenhouse will employ 45 when it opens on East 55th Street later this year.

All Evergreen businesses allow workers to build equity in the company and share in profits. "An 8-, 9- 10-dollar-an-hour job is not really enough to change someone's life," says Lillian Kuri of the Cleveland Foundation, which coordinated the applications to Living Cities. "The ability for wealth creation is absolutely essential to changing neighborhoods."

Five more co-ops are in the pipeline, Kuri says. Two will launch "soon," the other three over the next one to two years.

Many of the foundations that make up Living Cities will be familiar to NPR listeners: the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, to name a few. Member banks include Bank of America, Deutche Bank and J.P. Morgan Chase. Cleveland Foundation is an affiliate member.



Source: Cleveland Foundation
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

Northeast Ohio could reap more than half the benefit of newly announced state tax credits intended to spark development. Key Community Development New Markets and Northeast Ohio Development Fund, both based in Cuyahoga County, were awarded $3 million and $2 million, respectively, in credits through the Ohio New Markets Tax Credits. All told, $10 million in credits were distributed to four funds in this first round of grants.

The credits are modeled after and supplement a federal program and are administered by the Ohio Department of Development. "By encouraging investments in areas of Ohio that need it most, we are ensuring future economic development opportunities and increased potential for new jobs," Director Lisa Patt-McDaniel said in a statement. "The Ohio New Markets Tax Credit program is one of the first of its kind in the country, and we are eager to see the new developments that come from this program."

Northeast Ohio Development Fund -- a joint venture between the Port of Cleveland, Ariel Ventures and Cohen & Co. accountants -- has identified several potential beneficiaries of the credits, according to the state, including the proposed Cleveland Aquarium, the Midtown Tech Park and the planned University Circle hotel.

Among the entities that Key may support are the Allen Theatre, which needs renovations, and Cleveland-based Ohio Solar Cooperative, an innovative, employee-owned company that leases and installs solar panels. Clients to date include the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University, the City of Cleveland, and the Cleveland Housing Network.

Ohio Solar is part of the Evergreen Cooperatives network, which may benefit in other ways from the credits. Another recipient of the credits, Finance Fund, based in Franklin County, has listed the Green City Growers Cooperative, Evergreen Medical Recycling and Evergreen Record Retention Cooperative and companies it may support.



Source: Ohio Department of Development
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

The location search tool on the Ohio Film Office's new web site is a fun way to peruse some of the most scenic sites in the state. Choosing category "Industrial," subcategory "Factories/Plants/Mills," and region "Northern" will lead you to dozens of photos of the Flats, in all its Rust Belt glory. You don't have to be a filmmaker to enjoy it; the scenes almost start to write themselves.

But producers and directors are the intended users of the site, which was launched earlier this month in hopes of luring more production work to the state. "Ohio can work as a backdrop for any place or time period a producer is looking to capture," says Jeremy Henthorn, director of the Ohio Film Office.

The site also provides information on tax incentives available to productions that shoot here, and a data base of experienced crew. Need a Steadicam operator in Cleveland? A special effects coordinator willing to travel around the state? The data base also accept registrations from Ohioans looking for work.

In September the Plain Dealer reported that in its first year, the state's film tax credit has attracted nine productions that will spend a combined $33 million. They include 25 Hill, about a soap-box derby driver whose father dies in Afghanistan, which shot in Akron, and Unstoppable, the Denzel Washington action movie that opens November 12.




Source: Ohio Department of Development
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

Thomas Paine would be proud. At a time when it seems like every new idea is first floated online, Plain Dealer architecture critic Steven Litt has chosen good old-fashioned paper as the primary vehicle for his impassioned paean to beautiful surroundings, Designing a Better Cleveland.

"To the extent that Cleveland fails to make the most of public and private investments in buildings, highways, bridges, streets, parks and waterfronts, it will waste opportunities, fail to compete effectively with its peers and damage its economy," Litt writes in the introduction. "Everyone, in other words, has a stake in good design."

Litt calls the slim, gorgeously designed booklet "a mini-primer on the ways in which citizens, developers, planners and designers can raise standards of civic design in Cleveland." But it's clearly also meant to inspire.

"Economists may disagree over whether excellent architecture and urban amenities such as streetscapes, bike trails and waterfront parks are a cause or consequence of economic vitality," he writes. "Regardless, it never makes sense to spend a dollar on mediocrity when the same dollar can buy excellence. The reality is that great design demands greater effort -- on the part of clients, designers, government agencies and citizens. Cleveland continues to be plagued by a chronic sense of low self-esteem and by the notion that trying to improve the city through better design isn't worth the effort.

"THIS VOLUME REJECTS THAT VIEW."

The book grew out of Spectrum: the Lockwood Thompson Dialogues at the Cleveland Public Library, and was facilitated by Cleveland Public Art.

Since the book's inroduction in the PD, Cleveland Public Art has received nearly 200 calls requesting copies, according to executive director Gregory Peckham. "That seems like a good benchmark when it comes to the interest of the public about the subject of civic design," Peckham notes.

Designing a Better Cleveland is also available online as a PDF.



Source: Plain Dealer
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority officials recently revealed that they are reconsidering long-stalled plans for a ferry between Ohio and Ontario. Last week, they announced another international transit plan, this time for container service.

The Port and Great Lakes Feeder Lines of Burlington, Ontario are discussing a deal that would make Cleveland the first city on the lakes with regular container service to and from Canada. The Cleveland-Montreal connection could begin as early as spring 2011. The new business would not require upgrades to existing Port facilities.

"This is an exciting economic opportunity for the port, the region and the state," says Port CEO William Friedman in a statement. "Simply put, Cleveland would be the first city on the Great Lakes that will have a pin on the global map when it comes to container service."

Great Lakes Feeder Lines launched in 2008 with one ship providing service between Halifax, Montreal and Toronto. The company now has two ships, which can take containers from trans-Atlantic ships and carry them across the lakes.



Source: Port of Cleveland
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

Bike-riding in the Cleveland area is up 50 percent since 2006, according to a recent survey by the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA). Cleveland Heights is hoping to push the figure even higher in next year's survey with the addition of "sharrows" on city roads.

"Sharrow" is short for "share-the-road arrows," which are painted onto road surfaces. "You use them when you don't have enough room for a bike lane," explains Richard Wong, the city's director of planning and development. Sharrows are intended to remind bicyclists where they should ride -- with the flow of vehicular traffic, not against -- and to encourage drivers to share the road.

"They'll help reduce tension between bicyclists and motorists," says Nick Matthew of the Cleveland Heights Bicycle Coalition, which gathered more than 500 signatures on a petition urging the city to become one of the first in Northeast Ohio to adopt sharrows. Cleveland was the first, on Franklin Avenue.

Last week, just two months after the petition was presented to the city, sharrows were painted last week on Euclid Heights Boulevard, between Taylor and Coventry. (West of Coventry, where on-street parking is legal some hours, the city will install yellow "Share the Road" signs.) By next year, Wong says, the city plans to paint sharrows on Coventry, Lee and Fairmount.

Cleveland Heights ranks in the top 10 percent nationally for bicycle commuting by residents, according to data from the 2000 Census.



Source: Cleveland Heights Bicycle Coalition
Writer: Frank W. Lewis