These days, it seems that everyone is singing Pittsburgh's praises. Our Rust Belt neighbor to the east recently scored a Google corporate office. And last year, perennial Cleveland-basher Forbes Magazine named Pittsburgh the country's most livable city. Ouch. Clearly Pittsburgh is doing something right. Simply put: That city is light years ahead of Cleveland when it comes to bike-friendliness -- and bike-friendly cities are more attractive to young professionals, the creative-class folks who hold the keys to economic prosperity.
 

When Jim Catanese opened Catanese Classic Seafood three years ago, he knew the building at 1600 Merwin Avenue in the Flats needed major TLC. Yet the metal bulkheading along the Cuyahoga River was in far worse shape than he thought. And the worst part was near his freezer, where thousands of pounds of fish are stored.

"It was collapsing into the river," Catanase told an audience at last week's forum on the Flats, which was convened by Ward 3 Councilman Joe Cimperman and attended by area stakeholders. "This was more than we could handle individually."

Fortunately, with the help of Cimperman and the city of Cleveland, Catanese was able to obtain low-interest financing to repair the bulkheads. He hopes that the project, which will start this summer, will also bring back an historic use of the riverside property. "We'll be able to offload fishing boats again," he said.

The Cuyahoga shipping channel is lined on each side with these bulkheads, a 100-year-old, man-made containment system that keeps the soil from the riverbank from eroding into the river while also keeping the river within its banks during times of flooding.

Unfortunately, many of these bulkheads are now deteriorating, and they are expensive to repair. Catanese expects to borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars, a price that many owners can't afford, he says. Maintenance of the bulkheads is necessary to ensure the channel remains navigable for shipping. Activity along the waterfront is a $1.8 billion economic engine for Northeast Ohio.

At the forum, Catanese voiced a common concern in the Flats: the need for improved infrastructure. Currently, more than $2 billion worth of development is planned or underway in areas adjacent to the river. Forum speakers said that much of the Flats' infrastructure, including roads and bridges, is in need of an overhaul.

One of the area's biggest infrastructure projects will require major federal assistance. Franklin Road Hill above Irishtown Bend is threatening to collapse into the Cuyahoga River, and stabilizing it will cost between $80 and $200 million.

For years, the Flats' redevelopment has languished amidst conflicts between competing interests. While the area has evolved into a mixed-use neighborhood of industry, recreation, housing and entertainment, neighbors haven't always been friendly.

The planning effort that is now underway, which is funded by a $20,000 grant from the Cleveland and Gund Foundations and includes major stakeholders, has the potential to link major projects, balance conflicting interests and attract additional support.


Source: Jim Catanese
Writer: Lee Chilcote

When Mayor Jackson promoted Andrew Watterson from sustainability programs manager to Chief of Sustainability, a cabinet-level position, he illustrated in very certain terms his commitment to sustainability. Watterson will have his work cut out for him. Recently, the City kicked off Sustainable Cleveland 2019, an ambitious 10-year initiative to leverage sustainability as an engine for economic growth while distinguishing Cleveland as a "Green City on a Blue Lake."

No brakes are being applied now on the new Bike Rack parking station in Downtown Cleveland. The City of Cleveland is overseeing the transformation of a city-owned parking garage at East 4th Street and Huron Road, expected to be completed this spring.

A search for a bike station operation manager was announced last month by Downtown Cleveland Alliance (DCA), and the position was offered, but the name of the applicant has not yet been identified. DCA says it was in search of an entrepreneurial-spirited individual to manage the Bike Rack and make it a self-sustaining business. The goal is for the Bike Rack to eventually be owned and operated by the manager without DCA involvement. In addition to the full-time operation manager, the Bike Rack will initially employ two part-time staffers.

More than just a place to park your two-wheeler, the Bike Rack will offer lockers, bicycle repair services, bike rental and an information center. The garage will be open 24/7 and will have room for at least 50 bikes, according to Josh Taylor, marketing and public relations manager for DCA. If this first venture into bike parking is as successful as experts predict, other stations will likely open around the city in the future, Taylor adds.


SOURCE: Josh Taylor
WRITER: Diane DiPiero

It may seem like the massive and sometimes controversial Innerbelt Bridge project has been in the works since Elliot Ness called Cleveland home, but design planning is reaching its final stages. Tremont residents and others with questions or concerns about what this behemoth will look like, particularly where it touches down on city streets, should not miss the Ohio Department of Transportation's next public meeting.

"The lion's share of the design work is already committed," says Chris Garland, executive director of Tremont West Development Corporation, which has worked with ODOT on this project for several years. What remains are "the more subtle aspects," like placement of lighting and the type fencing to be used on the Abbey Road bridge, which will remain the neighborhood's connection to downtown.

Design options, and a survey, have been posted online. But Garland stresses the importance of attending the meeting, December 13, 5-8 p.m., at Pilgrim Church Fellowship Hall, 2592 W. 14th St. Various design options will be displayed, and ODOT officials will be on hand to answer questions. "Just because you don't see something [in a design] doesn't mean it won't be included," he notes. His message to residents has been, "The most important thing is to show up."




Source: Tremont West
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

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

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

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

Scott Colosimo had a dream to produce a stripped-down '60s-inspired motorcycle that looks like a million bucks but costs less than $5,000. Guess what? He pulled it off, launching a growing company called Cleveland CycleWerks.

Last summer, planners in the Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown areas spent two intense months assembling a consortium of 21 public- and private-sector entities and applying for a new type of grant available from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Now the real work begins.

Last week HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan visited the Cleveland-based offices of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) to announce that the consortium had been awarded $4.25 million dollars available through the Sustainable Communities Initiative. The initiative is part of the Obama administration's Partnership for Sustainable Communities, which seeks to coordinate the efforts of HUD, the EPA and the U.S. Department of Transportation in helping cities rebuild. The Northeast Ohio Consortium for a Regional Plan for Sustainable Development, as the 21-member group is called, was one of 45 chosen for a grant.

The money will allow the consortium to set up and oversee a private nonprofit that will explore ways in which the 12 counties — and nearly 500 municipalities — of the Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown regions can work together, according to Sara Maier, senior planner for NOACA. The three-year study "will give us a tool box of what we can do as a region moving forward," Maier explains. Issues like housing, sustainability, transportation and economic competitiveness, she adds, "don't stop at county lines."

As for the longterm goal, the application stated it thusly: "We envision a "Green City on a Blue Lake.' Over the last decade many factors have converged to make now the optimal time for the 12 counties, four [metropolitan planning organizations] and more than 480 governments in Northeast Ohio to unite for the purpose of planning for sustainable development. It is over the last decade that we have come to accept the reality that our economy is truly regional."

Participants hailing from Cleveland include officials from NOACA, Cuyahoga County, the City of Cleveland, Cleveland State University's Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority and the Fund for Our Economic Future (which organized the application effort).

Consortium members have also pledged more than $2 million in matching grants, exceeding the HUD requirement.




Source: NOACA
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

With just six miles remaining, and following a route that was created some 177 years ago, the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail finally is nearing completion. Terminating at the Flats' new Canal Basin Park, the Towpath Trail will connect cyclists and pedestrians to Cleveland's historic neighborhoods. And when it comes to attracting the highly mobile talent class, access to bike paths is no longer an amenity -- it's a necessity

Remember the on-again, off-again Cleveland-Ontario ferry proposal? It's back — the idea, at least. Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority CEO William Friedman, who took the helm in June, has commissioned a fresh assessment.

"There is very substantial trade that already exists between Ontario and the United States," Friedman said in the Port's newsletter. "Cleveland has the potential to become a gateway for shipping and passenger travel to and from Canada."

Proponents have long argued that a lake crossing between Cleveland and Ontario would save hours of driving time for commercial transport. The value of trade between Ohio and the Canadian province is estimated at $88 million per day, according to The Free Press of London, Ontario.

One longstanding obstacle to a ferry plan was the lack of a partner on the north side of the lake. The logical choice was Port Stanley, but its owner, the Canadian government, wouldn't hear of it. But in September, the surrounding municipality, Central Elgin, acquired the Port Stanley Harbour lands. In a news release, Mayor Tom Marks explained on reason why — tourism: "We have a magnificent opportunity to develop the harbour properties in a way that guides economic development both in the community and in the municipality as a whole."

In an interview, Friedman sees similar potential benefits for Cleveland. "[Tourism has] always been part of the thinking," he says. "But the business model is such that you really can't get the tourism without the freight [component]. The freight is what makes it pencil out."

Friedman has hired shipping consultant Stuart Theis to reestablish the necessary contacts and take other steps toward updating previously completed feasibility studies. Many details must be worked out, Friedman notes.

"I am pretty bullish on the feasibility," he says, "but there's a lot more to it than that to get there."