Rent Became Whiskey; Life Became Risque

A downtown port deal has been announced, while a whiskey island deal still to be settled. A true plan id eveloping for downtown lake access -- you should be thrilled with this!!! A few years back I was in favor of making Whiskey Island itself a public access park, but that was before there were any good plans for the downtown lakefront. Not anymore --- getting significant development downtown is a big deal. The whole strecth of land from the Rock Hall to the Flats is grossly underutilized and this is a step towards changing that. The next step is to get a new convention center around this area and, heck, why not consider all of this into the Inner-Belt/Shoreway rerouting that is currently being studied? Things like this are notoriously slow-going and usually dissappointing, but I'm optimistic anyway. Jane Campbell seems to have her head in the sand sometimes, but if she can keep nudging the city in this direction all of NE Ohio will benefit greatly.

Somewhat ironically, Cuyahoga county commishioners still seem intent on fighting the city's efforts in these regards, citing petty political differences and complaing that they are not calling the shots. I hate to break it to you guys, but the City of Cleveland is, as they say, "why you are here" and as much as the residents of Independence or Mayfield or Brookpark may want things a certain way, the ultimate judgement on any large civic project is whether or not it works effectively. And the City has the most at stake and the most responsibility. You'd have more say if you were more cooperative. Perhaps Mike White ticked off a lot of people, but by all account Jane Campbell is doing a competent job; you should defer to the CIty.

Oh yeah -- maybe the county commishioners are ticked off that the City has won the political battles for control at Hopkins airport (setting aside the costly practical and financial mistakes). Or they don't like how Cleveland owns a huge patch of land off-the I-271 corridor. This is likely all just a part of a dumb turf battle. If it has to be that way, perhaps they can deal --- the City gives up significant control over the Highland Heights patch of land for more authority regarding Whiskey Island and convention center planning. And all parties get a seat at the table. Maybe this could be the start of something sorely needed in NE Ohio -- cooperation between regional and government authorities for the good of the larger community.