Fall Color in Cleveland, Ohio

Submitted by Jeff Buster on Sat, 10/17/2009 - 11:26.

Ignoring the broken window theory has its advantages.   The creeper can grow on a building that has been empty for a decade or more.  This 10.14.09 image is on Quincy Ave at Woodhill in Cleveland Ohio. 

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Welcome to the Opportunity Corridor

I've spent many hours exploring the Opportunity Corridor district, which would have be a target for historic redevelopment if it hadn't been blighted with intent by the Cleveland Foundation, UCI and Clinic to build their freeway extension - this building is going to be demolished for sure... Isn't it connected to the RTA facility there? Who owns this and heve any building inspectors been by lately?

Anthrax Ronn and Action Jacksn at work.

Four more years!!!!

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we have such real opportunity

 for sustainability and green living in this city but the power and the money are too stupid to see it.

what a shame.

Its north of the RTA

Its north of the RTA facility, its not in the path of the corridor.

That building and those directly across the street on Quincy are all abandoned, I am tired of tracking down owners and histories, get me the addresses and I may find some energy.

I am very familiar with the entire area and nothing that is being proposed is that threatening, it just simply is not.

The area has housing and solid blocks of them and none are being threatened by either the Opportunity Corridor or Fairfaixes Opportunity Triangle.

In fact they would benefit by both, sorry that’s my observation.

I however do not see much value connecting beyond Woodland, it seems to me that Woodland is wide enough to handle the traffic from I-480. I do not think a winding road through and around the rail lines will do much for anyone.

However widening East 105th and extending it to Woodland would. Then what has been proposed for redeveloping that section at the base of the hill is a very good idea.

To be honest the resources should be all focused on that, not six SII zones, only that one for 2010!

Not that complex is it, focusing resources and attention are detriments of success. That opposed to spreading them out all over the place, that produces dispersed attention and resources and in fact can be completely devoid of any measurable success!

Here is a link to

 

Page three has the picture, it defines the corridor to Woodland.  If you want take the street view and look at every single parcel, then check the addresses and check the county records and then call the owner and ask the owners what they think….do not take their role and voice their concerns and opinions for them. They may not share your sentiments and if you do take the role of advocates, then make bloody sure you actually do have their best interests at heart!

Here is the satellite image of the area;

I am fed up of both the fantasies that will never be realized and the nightmares as well that will never play out.

Focus one area each year you dumb asses! Have bloody competitions for the funds, if you think spreading it all out all over the city is better that’s because you are dumb!

Then you have all these people that seem to think that UDAG money is social service money….study public finance already. Those fund are seed money that must go to projects that can generate taxes that fund the other programs. They are one time events that must generate sustainable events that are cyclical and fungible, as that they keep generating.

Here is a link to Fairfax’s vision and I think it is the best and should be fully funded for 2010!

 

Right on the fringe - exepct it to be demolished.

That building is in the zone of the OpCor, so it could be taken... especially as a deal with the owners, which seem to be our corrupt incompetent local government, would be easy for ODOT to arrange. Unlike for the County Juvi Prison across the tracks, where government PAID private developers a huge over-profit, I'm sure the public will get ripped-off on this transaction.

I expect this land will be used for access and staging for construction of the new driveway to the Clinic - this will not be a project where they try to have a small development footprint - they want to clear 1,000 acres as flat as possible - everything they can conceivably demo in the busty OpCor zone.

And they will need lots of land to work around the tight 105 funnel into the real Opportunist Zone of the Clinics new ass end, already full of Clinic bullshit.

I wouldn't have a problem with a project like this is it was not planned by the corrupt leaders behind this - the Cleveland Foundation et al - none of them have performed well in the past and they are failing with this project now.

I've seen them in action lately, presenting to "the community", and they truly suck... one and all.

Blow by blow reviews will be forthcoming.

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my favorite building

PARCEL #126-12-001

PRIMARY OWNER: Bd Of Education

PROPERTY ADDRESS: 10600 Quincy Ave, Cleveland, OH 44104

TAX MAILING ADDRESS: Attn: Treasurer BE-Cleveland Board Of Education, 1380 E 6th St, Cleveland, OH 44114

LEGAL DESCRIPTION: EXEMPT PROPERTY (BOARD OF EDUCATION OWNED)

This magnificent shell of a building outfitted with insulation (more than the bricks provide), thermal windows and hydroponics, mushroom growing and canning facilities... a place to teach kids about extending the growing season.

Right across the bridge from E105 rapid stop. Near John Hay HS and Vel's Purple Oasis (10837 Frank Avenue)... I dream that every time I go by. Unfortunately my entrepreneurial get up and go has got up and gone.

It would also make a great location for a brewery since Baldwin is right there. Ah... dreamin' on a cloudy afternoon. I also love the Woodhill Homes - if CMHA wanted to sell them to a developer they would make fabulous small apartments for young folks just out of college. They sort of remind me of base housing - very Bauhaus. And the 1939 terra cotta plaques by Edris Eckhardt are wonderful. This housing development still has the original clotheslines! It is really beautiful.

The few blocks in that neighborhood are green and well kept. It is quiet and sheltered since Quincy dead ends there, but it is transit friendly.

I would also love to see some guerrilla gardeners plant some of that Virginia Creeper so that it would grow to cover the fence on the bridge making it a green tunnel in summer and a orange red tunnel in fall. Why not?

Is the BOE fined for this

How is it possible the Board of Education is allowed to let this property fall into this condition, blighting the community?

How do the citizens seize this building from the BOE?

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They would be idiots not to

They would be idiots not to address that building as part of the corridor. It could be reused or demolished what other options are there. I have affection for that building not that much affection for the ones across the street from it, but those have some potential as well…but we have too much potential in the city it’s been said enough to make your head swim.

Oh I do not know…focusing might help.

If they insist on the corridor then it should be done in sections, focusing on each.

 

I’m glad you mentioned the federal housing…does it need to have an in ground pool?

 

 

They could rehabilitate the old housing projects and then make them open for rent to anyone. Those projects are riddled with corruption, trust me they are and its something nobody will talk about. Ever hear of the race card…..addressing that would be that in a version with 52 cards.

 

The need to take that area into consideration, section by section block by block. Building by building and if they can save the buildings they need to, but rehabilitation can go way deeper into resources than demolishing. But demolishing leaves no opportunity for revenue, a rehabilitated building will generate taxes. At least it should if they do not give it all away which they seem to be doing more often than not.

Do federal housing project pay property taxes? If the fed wants to subsidizes then they should take that into consideration paying property taxes and doing that would be funding education…think about that.

Should they talk about it all publicly? Watch how much the ramshackle old building become worth as much 100X more when they do…. You cannot just take homes eminent domain is not easy in this city it never has been. It rarely happens and the judges are very sympathetic to the existing owner and even more if you have an attorney that has been smooching with them over the years.

I would say that RTA should give up its prime space in the warehouse district and take that building. Sell the building they are in now and then use the money to rehab that building. Then they should study the tracks study them real close….build on the tracks and around the stations. If I take the train from my corner it does not get me to university circle! If it took me into the circle I would use it, many would.

Its looks like they have

Its looks like they have lots of space for access and staging, the entire east side of the tracks has been graded and leveled. That was done while the JJC was being built which is no longer languishing.

Hey Norman…they are listening! Things have been written on this site that have affected public policy and the media, they use this site, they monitor this site.

For years the CCF has been accused of not addressing the area that surrounds them has that changed?

Look at this parcel 119-17-033 it pays $1,222,611.22 a year in property taxes. It’s not the only location that the CCF owns that is per profit and legitimately pays taxes, both on the land and also on its income.

 

I know many people that live within that area that work at the Clinic, try to find one person that lost land to the Clinic or one that was forced off property. They make cash offers and never ever have used eminent domain.

If they were really sharp they would begin using robotic garages and also consider using variable staging on work shifts. When I addressed that with them they took offense to the idea of scheduling staff to optimize parking utilization. But when I addressed it as multifaceted in that it would reduce shift change disruption then their eyes widened. They know that they have parking problems, they also know that they have some problems with shift changes. The shift over lap and that messes up the optimization as with respects to parking occupancy rates. Its full when second shift begins because first shift cannot leave until the second shift gets there. So the result is having enough to hold first shift and second, but after first is gone the garages and lots are half empty. If the shifts staged threw over time then it would resolve that, reduce the transition disruptions between shifts and also increase the overall occupancy of parking spaces.

I want the Clinic to be investing in the area…I also want them to reduce and consolidate their footprint, they have to many parking lots.

If they embrace the use of a robotic garage, then they could also embrace it at all levels from manufacturing servicing and supporting of them.

Demolition by alienation and disinvestment

The problems in the areas around the Clinic are similar to the problems in my neighborhood - all areas surrounding "Greater University Circle"  - blight and demolition by disinvestment and economic isolation by over-powerful institutional forces - Case, University Hospitals and The Cleveland Clinic. Add poor infrastructure planning, maintenance and neglect, barrier-building institutional architecture, anti-social urban planning, and let's not forget racism, white-flight, pollution and toxicity - the Clinic has benefited greatly from the outcomes of all this, in great flexibility planning its campus and access to nearly limitless cheap land, facilities and raw labor in the areas now blighted... and near complete control over all regional planning and all levels of government, including White House access for many administrations.

They could have done great things for the city, and surrounding neighborhoods, but did not.

All planning for what is now called "Greater University Circle" is centered around parking and access - $ billions of our dollars to solve their facility problems, caused by poor leadership not creating a sustainable environment for their workforce.

Pathetic planning over all time, there - I believe Cosgrove will fully admit that... I've heard him say about the same.

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clinic and public transport

I attended ODOT's 21st Century Transportation chit chat a couple years ago. It was almost a 4 hour ordeal as I recall, and I remember that EVERYONE who wished to speak was allowed to be heard - amazing!

An employee of the Cleveland Clinic spoke and suggested that employers (CCF was the one she mentioned specifically) might give bonuses to employees like her who used public transit to commute to work. Her case was strong. She said that instead of spending millions to accommodate the cars driven by individuals who work there, they could purchase RTA passes for workers who would take the bus or the train. Since she already gets to work that way, she is saving the Clinic money - they don't have to build a parking space for her. This they might see as a huge savings, but no - no recompense is given to employees who use the rail or the healthline to commute to the Clinic's main campus.

I have long wondered why people coming from the airport or points southwest could not use the rapid to get to the Clinic. It is a short walk from the bottom of the hill - Cedar Rapid stop to the Clinic. Soon there will be a a sexy new station there. Does the Clinic not promote walking (three or four blocks) for health?

They could build less parking - better utilize the parking they already have and reduce air pollution. But no. Now maybe some folks would need a car to use while they are "at work". CityWheels could supply a fleet of cars for car sharing. I believe that Citywheels has already proposed this to both the Clinic and UH with a proposal that saves both institutions money. Hasn't happened yet as far as I know. It is hard to change those old motorcity ways I guess. Now if they find a new procedure that saves lives, these guys seem eager to implement it.

Surgery on their surrounds - yeah baby, let's cut away. It's entirely possible as many who post here know to treat the problem with medicine or even diet and exercise, but that scalpel is so much more sexy and the procedures more costly - the scalpel almost always wins.

Well, i see Susan found the

Well, i see Susan found the identity of the Building.  It was called the Woodhill-Quincy building and was where I first reported when I was hired by the Cleveland Board of Education.  I'm with Susan the Woodhill apartments on the side of the hill there are beautiful.  Some of those winding streets have some great views, landscapings, and uniqueness that none of the new construction in town can hold a candle.  It is so sad that in this town developers, construction jobs, banks and ODOT have the upper hand. Such an old model and a failing one at that. 

interesting

 

That’s interesting so it was actually administration building, when did they abandon it?

I agree the Mt Carmel area is charming, but it is in decline. I would suggest…actually beg the powers that be to please do not build any crap on Woodland. The top of the hill has great view of the city.          

 

A nice triangle shaped park with a great view of the city, the homes on Mt Carmel could be moved across to the other side of Woodland as infill. That would help the project on the other side, fill in empty spaces on east 111th-114th.

 

Between Woodland and Mt Carmel could be cleared and made a park.  

The same could be done with the area north of Quincy and West of Woodhill, thats directly across from the old school board administration building, it also could be made park.  Those building are all aboned and the roofs are caving in.

Guess what this actually links two areas that are SII zones and with the Opportunity corridor.

That could have a real nice bike trail all the way from MLK to the circle.

 

 

Woodhill is actually East 93rd and from Woodland to Quincy does not need to be four lanes, it could be narrowed down to two lanes and planted with large trees.

The small amount of industry between Woodhill/ Mt Overlook/Mt Carmel and Baldwin could be relocated and the location cleared and made park.