I wrote one post saying any large project like this has to have a rail and transit component. Second post last July with an update and a bit about how it worked in St. Paul.
Here we are a year later and apparently the first meeting about the Opportunity Corridor has finally been held. Yes things move slowly in NE Ohio. To be fair, this has been a wild and crazy year economically so I would imagine that could have played a part in the delay as well.
The PD and Karen Farkas report on the Corridor idea here. And here is the ODOT page outlining the issue. Farkas’ take on it is that this Corridor idea offers so much possibility that an unusual step was taken to set up a steering committee of public and private members to over see the ideas. Here is a list of the committee members(pdf form). Besides City Planning Department members and Mayor Jackson, Vickie Eaton from the Fairfax Renaissance Development Corp and Ward 12 Councilman Tony Brancatelli are on the list. That gives me comfort, because I can’t see either of them, based on past actions, going along with a plan that makes no sense. However, I’ll have to call and ask them about a rail component and public transportation component.
In a way this idea really ties in (for me, anyway) with the ‘what do we do now that we’ve had the foreclosure/abandoned housing crisis to move forward’ issue raised at the Levin Forum the other day.
It’s still the core issue (again, in my mind, yours too?) that we have less population now than we did fifty years ago, so why not do as much redevelopment and planning with that idea in mind. Saying that means The O Corridor could be a major step towards answering that question in Ward 12.
From the PD/Farkas article, is a great quote by two other Cleveland Council People:
Council members Phyllis Cleveland and Mamie Mitchell said the development has to extend beyond the corridor into their communities.
….In my community they say it is an ‘Opportunity for whom?’ ” said Cleveland. “My focus is that this will equally benefit the neighborhoods. I need to know the commitment to make that happen is there.”
What are your thoughts? Peace out – 3C
3 responses so far ↓
1 monika // May 17, 2009 at 7:35 pm
I had to stop by and see what you’re up to. It’s been a long time-no talk. How are you doing?
How is your market doing? Our re market has picked up, thank goodness.
Hope you are well.
Moni
monikas last blog post..$8,000Tax Credit news and Google Scraping…what a week it was
2 susan miller // Jan 27, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Hi Carole,
You mention rail in these OC posts. Now that there is a new rail discussion going on in Ohio – 3C, I think that’s what it’s called – what’s the budget for that opportunity – to take a train from Cleveland to Cincinnati? The OC budget continues to swell – now over $375 million with no end in sight.
3 Carole Cohen // Jan 27, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Hi Susan, and it’s true, money is always the biggest factor in moving forward, especially in this recessionary time. We can argue that moving forward could get us out of the economic woes Ohio is mired in (the Economic Impact Study said for every 1.0o spent, 1.80 would be created – not bad if true. You can read the extensive Impact Study, but here is a link to a summary and the entire Study provided by the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission.
http://www.miprc.org/Advocacy/TheOhioHub/tabid/89/Default.aspx
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