Cleveland Heights moves to green up it's zoning code

From Green City, Blue Lake

Cleveland Heights is an inner ring suburb just east of Cleveland very close to University Circle.

With its new mixed-use zoning designation and new maximums for parking lots, Cleveland Heights looks to set the stage for more infill development—an act to strengthen its traditional, pedestrian friendly districts. New developments can preserve green space instead of parking; by not requiring a minimum number of parking spots tied to retail square footage formula, the city can alter land-use patterns and break the mold on the worst aspects of big development—the one size fits all solution of paving over lots of open space for a too-large parking lot to fit only the busiest day of shopping in the year.

The city is to be commended for encouraging more biking, especially for those short trips which can be avoided by “requiring conveniently placed, well-designed bike parking for new uses and long-term. Covered bike parking with locker and shower facilities will be required for offices, university buildings and hospitals exceeding 25,000 square feet.”

Bike parking has been consistently cited as the biggest impediment to increased trips made by bike, so the security of knowing there will always be a place to lock up is a good first start (the city would make an even stronger case by developing a bike parking design guideline so that its clear which bike racks are of high quality, and to spell out placement, lighting, security and shelter options).

Sounds off hand to be really great but it's not a done deal.

"The Planning Commission will hold public hearings on the proposed sustainability zoning at 7 p.m. on March 14 and April 11 in Council Chambers at City Hall, 40 Severance Circle. City Council will host a public hearing at 7 p.m. March 26 at the Community Center, 1 Monticello Blvd. The Planning Commission will forward a recommendation to City Council, which is expected to approve the amendments at a regular meeting April 16."

Here are the actual proposed updates

This post is not actively supporting these proposals. If it were up to me, almost all zoning would not exist. (one can still have basic safety-fire regulation) However, if one is to mandate zoning it would be much more logical to allow logical mixed use density and cap the amount of allowed parking, rather than force parking minimums like most zoning codes do. The general thinking here seems right.

Street Art Project In Cleveland Plays On Local History

From a distance, the main focus of the Art Collective, known as Cleveland SGS has been to document historic signs, and the unrecognised locals that make the city unique.

A recent project, took things a step further by covering a large building's windows with cryptic signs that reference a forgotten part of Cleveland's past.

From Vandalog: Cleveland SGS pays tribute to a neighborhood icon

The widely held belief is that this area, didn't have much of a past, or any prospects, until the Cleveland Foundation and The Cleveland Clinic, came along. The signs bring back the much more complex story of a highly successful local entrepreneur and a decades long fight to save his property.

From the Wikipedia

Winston Earl Willis (b. October 21, 1939) is a formerly successful American real estate developer who first came to local prominence in Cleveland, Ohio during the early 1960s. At the time, one of the most successful business owner/operators in the country, he created and controlled a corporation, University Circle Properties Development, Inc. (UCPD, Inc.) that owned one of the most strategic and valuable real estate parcels in Cleveland and was the largest employer of blacks in that part of the country. Under his solely-owned UCPD corporation at East 105th and Euclid, upwards of 23 successful businesses were running simultaneously and exhibiting tremendous success.

Winston was quick to see the opportunity to create businesses in the area near University Circle.

The acquired experience of having operated several successful small businesses led to a quick assessment of the local college community that would prove to have been very shrewd. After securing a lease on a building that was previously an automobile dealership showroom, 19-year-old Willis opened The Jazz Temple, a liquor-less coffeehouse/night club, to immediate success. Situated on a small triangular lot on Mayfield Road near Euclid Avenue and adjacent to the Western Reserve University campus, his institutional neighbors were the Cleveland Museum of Art, University Hospital, and Severance Hall, home of the Cleveland Orchestra. The club also bordered the ethnic enclave known as Murray Hill/Little Italy.

Willis approached such legendary jazz artists as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Dizzie Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, Cannonball Adderley, The Ramsey Lewis Trio, and Dinah Washington and convinced them to come to Cleveland to appear at his club. Not only did they appear and perform before standing-room-only crowds, but such notable acts at the trendy establishment also attracted visits from Malcolm X, and Stokely Carmichael, and booked performances from other notables such as comedians Red Foxx, Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor and Dick Gregory. The popular night spot, frequently referred to as “the Jazz Mecca”, was hugely successful and became a regular hang-out for college students from throughout and around the State of Ohio. But that success was short lived. As is typical of jazz establishments – there was much race-mixing and numerous interracial couples in attendance. This triggered community wide resentment in the racially polarized community, and after months of threats and intimidation, a vanguard of vengeful racists planted a bomb in the club, thereby ending the brief history of one of the most successful jazz spots of the region.

So anyway, as you might guess, the major power players like the universities, foundations and The Cleveland Clinic conspired to take his properties away.

Having found no support in the courts from a campaign of fines and other harassment. Winston turned desperately to putting up billboards.

I like the way, this project subtly brings up this injustice without being just angry and bombastic. It's a tribute to the man.

More about the project on Cleveland SGS

More

Some Shots of Case Western's Frank Gehry Designed, Peter B Lewis Building

Sort of by the grace of god, Pittsburgh's major college and art museum complex ended up within the city, while Cleveland's ended up right on the city's edge and just across the city line. For the most part, I think the motivation to build a clean, new place away from the dirty industrial core was similar to Pittsburgh's except, in our case, the bulk of really heavy industry was never in the city itself--but outside in the huge complexes along the Mon and Ohio Valleys.

A high percent of visitors to Cleveland spend some time in the area called University Circle, home to or bordering on such major institutions as The Cleveland Clinic, The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Botanical Garden, The Children's Museum Of Cleveland, The Cleveland Institute Of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Severance Hall, The Cleveland Institute Of Music and Case Western Reserve University--many of them housed in beautiful and often uniquely designed buildings, some of which are icons of modernist design.

The good aspect of lots of good modernism is it's sensitivity to the landscape--the bad part is often it's total ignorance and insensitivity to human needs and human scale. Architecture must be judged on both the aesthetic value of how it looks, but on the social level of how it works, as a place for people to live and interact.

I can't fully judge, University Circle having spent too little time in and around it in the surrounding neighborhoods. We did walk around Little Italy which is close by.

The area around the museums is windy which obviously works well for cars. However, at least in nice weather, there are wonderfully landscaped wide walkways and lots of maps making it a great place to walk from place to place.

Here are images of the new Peter B Lewis Building, home to Case Western's Weatherhead School of Management. From the exterior, I have a very good impression of this building, although the huge Peter B Lewis name sloping over the front entrance is pretty overwhelming. Would love to have been a fly in some of those design meetings with Gehry.

Yinz Cleveburgh and Random Art Links (May 7-12)

Another dump of stuff on topics from culture to economic development in the Cleveburgh region in no particular order. A bit of sports cannot be avoided.

Canton

The Canton Museum Of Art celebrates it's 75th aniversary by starting a new tradition.

Worthy of a post. (Anyone in or near Canton, Ohio wanna contribute to the blog?)

The Canton Museum sounds pretty sweet--and is collaborating sometimes with The Butler, in Youngstown.

Akron

The University Of Akron's University Park Alliance, could be a model for town & gown relationships. (Don't know too much about this, but will follow up) The huge schools in the region often remind one of Ben shouting; "Do you know who I am?!! Yes, we know who you are, perhaps you should get to know your towns better and not assume they are of no value.

Pittsburgh

Penguins/ Canadians goes to game 7 in Pittsburgh! Two of the strongest fan bases and traditions in Hockey.

Cold Night and another "rebuilding season", empties PNC Park.

The Onion suggests "Fan Euthanasia Night".

"I haven't seen so many people so relaxed and generally happy to be at a Pirates game in a long time." An estimated 200,000 Pirates fans who were unable to get tickets to the game reportedly listened to its radio broadcast while idling their cars inside closed garages." That's what I'm doing--they ain't gettin my money. (Well, as a taxpayer, I guess they already have.)

Major CMU Pow Wow in DC. (D.C. is the other arm of our megaregion) I haven't watched this video yet.

Erie

Edinboro University and some corporations in Northwest, PA have a contest called Inovation Erie. (Sorry, Deadline passed---that's why we need more posters and better regional information flow)

"People are inventing the future everyday, and some of them are in northwest Pennsylvania. If you're one of them, there’s a chance to take an idea you have for a product and begin the process of making an idea reality.

InnovationErie: Design Competition offers an opportunity to compete for prizes which provide not only monetary rewards, but chances to advance ideas through the use of contest prizes including prototyping, business plan development, logo design, etc.

The contest is open to all individuals, 18 and over, who reside in Northwestern Pennsylvania. The contest begins by submitting an electronic application by midnight, May 10, 2010. Entries will be reviewed by competition judges who will select semi-finalists. Semi-finalists will exhibit works at the Erie Art Museum where they'll compete for prizes as well as Best of Show, an award selected by the public.

About InnovationErie

A collaborative effort among professionals in the science, art, manufacturing, engineering and design (SAM & ED) industries, InnovationErie: Design Competition is a product design competition allowing people to showcase their product ideas, with the possibility of taking them to the next level: the marketplace. The competition seeks ideas for products that can be manufactured in the Erie region."

A potentially, great idea here. Notice how many colleges are in or not far from Erie, and yet very little seems to gel. Why is that? What can be done or should be done about it? Why is it only open to residents of "Northwest PA" (and how do you define that)? Would it be that bad if someone from Akron, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Morgantown, State College, or even Philly won? Isn't it a goal to come up with a great design or product to create "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs"? Is it any wonder why this contest doesn't get wider attention?

Regional

Cool Cleveland has a detailed piece on The Cleveburgh Tech Belt--something that honestly already exists, but that most of us are not too aware of.

"Northeast Ohio and Southwest Pennsylvania together constitute one of the 20 megapolitans Lang and Nelson have identified. They call this region the “Steel Corridor,” a name that evokes its proud past but unfortunately does not point to a promising or particularly innovative and prosperous future. In 2007 Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan (OH-17) his counterpart in Pennsylvania, Congressman Jason Altmire (PA-04), tired of the continuing reference to the industrial past, coined the term “Tech Belt” and, in October 2007, convened the first “Tech Belt Summit,” inviting the region’s business and civic leaders to meet at Youngstown State University and begin to explore the shared future of this region.

The Tech Belt is, indeed, an impressively large region. Lang and Nelson note that our megapolitan region is home to 7.1 million people. It is larger than Ohio’s other megapolitan, the “Ohio Valley,” anchored by Columbus and Cincinnati (5.3 million) and is approximately the same scale as the “Carolina Piedmont,” anchored by Charlotte and Raleigh (7.0 million), the “Georgia Piedmont,” surrounding Atlanta (6.9 million), the “Florida Corridor,” linking Tampa and Orlando (7.8 million) and the “Greater Metroplex” of Dallas-Ft. Worth and Oklahoma City (7.9 million)."

Burgh Diaspora gives his thoughts on the Tech Belt and other regional initiatives.

Cleveland

Huge, important decisions about Cleveland's Downtown and the University Circle area and allegedly they want your input. (Sorry for not covering this well--- I don't live in Cleveland and wish someone there would contribute to this blog)

Today--Show up folks.

On Wed 5/12, WCPN’s Around Noon host Dee Perry will engage local college students in a panel discussion on ways to improve University Circle. Hear what young creatives have to say about the neighborhood and hear fresh ideas for improvement. 5PM @ Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Aud.

University Circle is a temporary home for more than 10,000 university and college students. The evening’s discussion will focus on the students’ current experiences in University Circle and whether their plans involve remaining in the area following graduation. They’ll also discuss the changes they’d recommend to businesses and community leaders to make the landscape of the neighborhood and Northeast Ohio region more attractive to them and their friends as a place to plant permanent roots.

“The students who are drawn here for educational purposes represent a very creative population,” says Perry. “It’s also a population that doesn’t often get a chance to share their thoughts in an open forum. I hope the interaction will be an enriching experience for the Circle Neighbors audience and the panelists.”

Participants will include students representing Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Cleveland Institute of Art. The event is a presentation of Circle Neighbors, coordinated by The Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, in collaboration with the Cleveland Botanical Garden, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, The Women’s Committee of The Cleveland Orchestra, MOCA, and the Western Reserve Historical Society.

Those interested in attending the discussion should visit the Womens Council Web site and click the RSVP button on the home page or call 216-707-2527."

As one can see town/ gown relations are finally a big topic.

Hands around your ankles Clevelanders, here it comes again. Progressive Field, will be getting some kind of major facelift.

"Progressive Field, first known as Jacobs Field, was built in the early 1990s primarily from revenue from the County’s sin taxes, which raised some $266 million for the stadium and arena. It opened in 1994. The County had to add revenues to the project because of cost overruns. In addition to the “sin” taxes each year the County has had to pay some $10 million on bonds let by Cuyahoga County to cover additional costs. These payments have cost taxpayers more than $100 million thus far and they continue to be paid. The stadium alone cost $176 million to build. It now has a seat capacity of 45,199.

The team is worth, according to a Forbes magazine compilation of MLB teams worth, $391 million. Dolan paid Jacobs $323 million for the team in 2000. Forbes says gross revenues of the team last year were $170 million. The team is 21st of the 30 teams in gross revenues. Gate receipts were $37 million, according to this listing."

That's all for now.

If you have thoughts, events, insight or images you want to share about art, music, film, urban design, architecture, transit or history in the Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Youngstown, Erie, Morgantown, Akron, Canton region--Cleveburgh, email me diggingpitt@gmail.com. We can hook you up to post.

This is not Hyper Local media, but regional media seeking local viewpoints.