Angie Schmitt
Recent Posts
5 Reasons NOT to Kick the Buses Off Public Square
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The overhaul of Public Square is done and it looks fantastic and everyone is very excited. But among all the excitement some people are pushing for the reversal of one of the major compromises that made the project possible. … Continue reading →
The Case for Overhauling Transportation in NE Ohio
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A new report from the Century Foundation used Cleveland as an example of a how not to do transportation. I thought it was worth highlighting in full. TCF’s Beth Osborne writes: Figure 4 shows the region in 1948 and in … Continue reading →
What Would a Real Urban Policy Look Like for Ohio?
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Ohio’s cities are in bad shape. A recent economic distress study placed three of the state’s cities, Cleveland, Toledo and Cincinnati in the top 10 most distressed in the nation, using indicators like job growth, unemployment and educational attainment as … Continue reading →
Evaluating the Actual Design of the Opportunity Corridor
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Ever since the state said it was going to award close to $300 million in borrowed turnpike money to the Opportunity Corridor, a project Cleveland's planning and development leaders had been pushing for more than a decade, it's been sort of a mad scramble to get shovels in the ground.
Project leaders now have the final federal approvals that they need to begin construction. In a few weeks they're going to put sections 2 and 3 -- the actual new road portion -- out to bid on a quickie design-build contract that gives the engineering firm a good deal of leverage over the design details. And that will be the end of it as far as that goes, I believe. $331 million in spending will turn into a road that will be part of Cleveland's landscape for decades. Pretty much all the leaders involved ceased discussing the design details of the the road months and months ago and have turned their attention toward the development they hope will follow.
The Cleveland Clinic Just Doesn’t Get it
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Disappointing but not entirely surprising news from the Cleveland Clinic. Cleveland’s largest employer recently announced that it is closing Lakewood Hospital, in the cozy inner ring suburb, as it expands operations in sprawling Avon. This seems to be fitting with the nonprofit’s model of building a new hospital at every interchange opened in the sprawling hinterlands while winding down its hospital locations in the more populous areas of the region. All these hospitals, despite being entirely inaccessible outside of a private vehicle, are LEED certified for their “green” building practices.
The ...