Cleveland's Tomorrow is Here Today

Cleveland's Tomorrow is Here Today

Having had 36 hours to reflect on Sunday night's historic NBA Finals Championship win by the Cleveland Cavaliers, several things struck us.  First, we went slightly off Cleveland waterfront format when we rode the Cavs wave but we did our best to graft some Cuyahoga River and Lake Erie DNA onto our Twitter posts

Read More

Ignite will happen, just not on June 25th!

Ignite will happen, just not on June 25th!

What has been a FABULOUS outcome of this process is the recognition and feedback from individuals and Cleveland stakeholders that there is a need and a huge appetite for an event like Ignite and we are already planning for: 1) a music event later this summer and 2) Ignite 2017.

Read More

Infrastructure Week on the Cuyahoga River (Ride-along with St. Ed's Crew)

Infrastructure Week on the Cuyahoga River (Ride-along with St. Ed's Crew)

Riding along the Cuyahoga River gives one a better sense of the infrastructure grid that serves as a catalyst for the local and regional economy. See that steel bulkhead, see that dock, see that bridge, see those pipes & wires? Yeah, that's infrastructure and it matters!

Read More

27 Pics From Our Earth Day Stroll Along the Cuyahoga River

27 Pics From Our Earth Day Stroll Along the Cuyahoga River

46 years after the first Earth Day, we took a stroll along Cleveland's Cuyahoga River to see how much has changed since it served as a launching point for the environmental movement.

Read More

Is Waterfront Development Paying Off For Cleveland & Cuyahoga County?

A panel discussion will be held at Lakewood Public Library tonight giving several waterfront & neighborhood stakeholders an opportunity to weigh in on how waterfront development is paying off for Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. The Plain Dealer's Steven Litt will moderate the discussion with the Greater Cleveland Partnership, Cleveland Metroparks, Campus District Inc. and Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization. Details on the forum are in Steve's recent Plain Dealer article: http://www.cleveland.com/architecture/index.ssf/2016/02/free_panel_discussion_tuesday.html

Ask 50 people what "paying off" means to them and you'll probably get 50 different answers: Improved property values, enhanced quality of life, increased tax receipts, space to relax, creation of jobs, improved health, leveraging local history as a branding element for tourism, increasing waterfront access for residents, and attracting new residents all come to mind. Some organizations have even attempted to quantify the value of green-spaces: in a 2013 study the Trust for Public Land found Cleveland Metroparks generates $855M annually for the local economy. https://www.tpl.org/clevelandeconbenefits

A great summary by seeyourwords.com of a 2014 waterfront forum at the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs

A great summary by seeyourwords.com of a 2014 waterfront forum at the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs

If we were to come up with just ONE answer to the "payoff" question we think it's found in the above See Your Words graphic recording from a 2014 waterfront forum at CSU's Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs. Do you see it? "People want to be connected to our water". Indeed, the reason Moses Cleaveland and his team of surveyors chose Cleveland as the capital of the Western Reserve was its location on Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River.

We're a little envious at the successes Waterfront Toronto and Pittsburgh's Riverlife have fostered so thought we'd share some of our favorite "developments" that have helped connect Greater Cleveland's residents to THEIR water:

That's a few of our faves - clearly in-process projects like The Foundry, a new rowing & sailing training facility on the east side of Columbus Road, Canal Basin Park's 20 acre redevelopment and Cumberland Development's 20 acre mixed-use development project at North Coast Harbor will add to the vitality of Cleveland's waterfront.

There will be many projects discussed during tonight's waterfront forum and we've got one fave that we feel delivers on a number of levels - Irishtown Bend.

For now that's a brief wrap of Cleveland's waterfront scene. Check out our Twitter feed tonight for details during tonight's 7-8:30 pm waterfront meeting: https://twitter.com/sharetheriver

Keeping the River Open for Business (Cuyahoga River Dredging)

The Cuyahoga River is a fairly shallow body of water until it enters the wider & deeper commercial navigation channel where the change in river flow rate deposits large amounts of sediment. Twice a year the US Army Corps of Engineers dredges the Cuyahoga River in order to maintain a 26 foot deep channel for freighter traffic. Earlier this summer we captured their contractor, Ryba Marine Construction, hard at work along the ArcelorMittal docks.

The dredging crane's “clam bucket” takes 15 cubic yard bites out of the riverbed and deposits the sediment into a scow (a hollowed out barge). Once full, the scow holds 1,500 cubic yards of sediment, enough to fill 150 dump trucks. The total weight? Two million tons! More on this process here: http://www.portofcleveland.com/enewsletter-june-2013-along-the-water/

Early this spring the Port of Cleveland deployed a bed load interceptor upriver in Independence and it's hoped this will reduce the amount of sediment making its way into the navigation channel, reducing the frequency of future dredging operations.

Wizbang! at Flats East Bank

Has the time arrived for Cleveland to start thinking about its own version of a Coney Island or Navy Pier on the waterfront? Wizbang!'s pop-up circus at the Flats East Bank is fleshing out that idea on the banks of the Cuyahoga River. Wizbang's Danielle Tilk shares a few thoughts on Pinch and Squeal's evolution and their plans for the future.

Their final show of the weekend is Sunday at 1 p.m. Ticket info here: http://wzbang.brownpapertickets.com/