Category: Cleveland

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An Open Letter To RTA

This one should get Brad’s attention…

I was recently reading the Cool Cleveland newsletter I get at work and it included a link to Cleveland City Living. One of its most recent posts talks about the free trolleys running downtown Cleveland. I’m glad RTA has made this choice along with the financial support of some businesses in the districts where the trolleys run.

As the post says, “The trolleys were made free by a sponsorship from the Cleveland Convention and Visitors Bureau, Cleveland State University, and the Corner Alley. Now entering their second winter, they are a great asset to downtown residents.”

I consider myself living downtown. It’s not in the heart of the city. It’s just a 10 minute walk to the Warehouse district for me. However, the closest RTA bus stop is on West 25th street. The closest rapid stations are W.25/Lorain and Settler’s Landing. I can see the rapid running through the East Bank. I wonder what the ridership numbers are for the train. I don’t see a lot of people on it especially with the demise of the East Bank.

My problem with the RTA is why isn’t there a stop of some sort down on the West Bank of the Flats. Stonebridge has more than 1,000 residents but yet we don’t have an good access to public transportation. A great idea to merge the Warehouse District, East Bank and the West Bank would include a bus going through the different districts. The Powerhouse complex, Shooters, and several other businesses would profit by having a bus stop. I understand the rapid’s not going to have a stop over here anytime soon because that would take construction. RTA should think about expanding some sort of service to the West Bank in the form of a trolley or circulator service.

I’ve been wanting to blog about this for some time. I took the RTA back from the airport after my recent trip to south Texas. I don’t know if I felt 100% safe the entire ride with some of the people who were also on the train but the experience wasn’t a bad one. I was riding the train just as school got out for the day. The kids were loud and somewhat obnoxious. It probably wasn’t the best time to take the train.

I could have taken the rapid to Tower City then transferred to the Waterfront line which would have dropped me off at Settler’s Landing. That would have taken longer and since I was pressed for time however so I got off at West 25th street. I did have to hoof it back to my place. It wasn’t close. It was probably a 10-15 minute walk. By no way was it far but it wasn’t close either.

Take a look at the downtown RTA map and you’ll see where the service is lacking for yourself.

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Bridge: To Light Or Not To Light?

It’s very strange that the B&O Bridge outside of my window is sometimes lit up and other times not.

The bridge is lit up with a maroon light. The bottom part sometimes is lit up with a blue light. It’s wierd that during the week when there aren’t as many people around, it’s illuminated. During the weekend, only the long part of the bridge is lit up.

I hope someone makes that change. It’s very inconsistent.

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Typical Clevelander’s St. Patrick Day

I can’t take credit for this. I found one person’s supposed schedule on the Internet

St. Patricks Day Itinerary
8:00 snoopy snowcone maker Jamison slushy
9:00 Rapid, look how “wasted” i am
10:30 West Side IA mass at St Colemans
11:31 First pee “Aaaaah”
12:00 Velvet dog/W. 6th/Flannery’s/Clevelander
1:05 Parade begins
1:45 arrive at parade
1:50 move away from guy with big loud green horn
1:50 piper doown
1:55 find bathroom is locked at Subway
2:00 Prodigals @ HOB
2:15 first horrible corned beef sandwich
2:30 I think I can still irish dance
2:45 run into people i don’t like/ don’t remember name
3:00 witness first fight- drunk old man v house of pain/keepin it real
4:00 jamison
4:15 chaser
4:30 bathroom
5:00 Beer muscles need refueling in westpark
5:15 oh yeah, i have a camera-group picture!
5:30 10th bathroom break
6:00 Realize I am more handsome, charming, and funny than ever
6:01 hey,baby, whucher name? I’m Dannyboy
6:30 First drunk dial/tell friends with kids that they suck
7:00 maybe water is a good idea
7:30 guilted into buying raffle tickets
7:45 I’m not slurring my words, am I?
7:45 bathroom
8:15 will eat anything
9:00 realize St. Patricks Day is my own personal groundhog day
9:30 feeling snoozy, I think I’ll just lay down here for a second… zzzzzz

Whoever this guy is, I have to give him credit for an accurate portrayal of what happens in Cleveland March 17th. I hope he doesn’t fall asleep on a curb, I hope its his bed, instead!

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Friday’s Here…

and I’m not dead yet. Nope, I made it through my first week working the vampire-ish shift overnight. Yes, I know, some detractors out there would say I’m whining but when you completely switch your body around going to sleep when you normally get up and vice-versa, it’s a little kick to your system.

St. Patrick’s Day is Monday and look for everyone in Cleveland to turn Irish if only for the day. There’s the parade which is one of the biggest celebrations of St. Patrick’s Day in the United States. St. Patrick’s Day is practically a holiday in Cleveland because everyone takes off work for the day to celebrate being or not being Irish.

Bars will open early. The House Of Blues is opening at 5am. Flannery’s will start the beer flowing at 5:30am along with some great breakfast. That restaurant/bar will be packed and the people who get out of line will have to answer to DeShawn. Believe me, you don’t want to have him on your bad side. Even the Martini bar in my building is pushing their celebration.

It’s always a good time if you can stay away from the fights and the really drunk people. They’re the ones normally who are drinking the green beer at 5am in the morning. All of the TV station morning shows will be at one of the bars broadcasting live.

Make sure you’re wearin’ the green and be safe,

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Howl At The Moon

Apparently they haven’t made these stickers since the late 80’s. But last night, my aunt’s friends got their own “Follow Me To The Moon” stickers to do whatever they would do with them. I had a great time with “The Westfield Group”. I appreciated the invitation. It was also great to have my aunt and uncle stay with me last night, even if they left waaaay early this morning. Robin, I’ll keep your watch in a safe place. If it’s adjusted a little bit it’s only because I wore it a couple of times.

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Now This Makes Me Downright Mad!

You’ve read my article about the new businesses coming to my building. 2020 Martini Cafe Lounge, the Mocha Fusion Coffee Lounge and Market on the Square will all open Friday for business.

The owner, Twyla Garrett’s success story is one any Clevelander or anyone from Northeast Ohio should be proud of.

Just today, Kimberly Gill interviewed her on NewsChannel 5 at Noon. This morning, the Plain Dealer featured her new business and story in the Business section.

This is where my anger comes into play. Read the article and then continue down the page and browse through the comments. One of them you’ll read is from me. I’ve never posted on cleveland.com before but I couldn’t help but put my two cents in on this subject. Brad, I hope you’ll weigh in on the subject as well with your comments. The same request goes for anyone else who’d like to banish the negativity that some people spread around Cleveland.

So what do we have to do to get rid of this sort of problem, support the people who work to change Cleveland with their money, intelligence and sweat. The entertainment complex opens in the old Cantina del Rio this Friday night at 7pm. Stop by and at least have a coffee!

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Bruce & Jennie’s Visit



I’m stealing some of the content (i.e., the words from Jennie’s Blog). Why should I repeat what she’s already written?

It was great to see Jennie & Bruce come down. It was their turn to visit. I’d been up there most recently. When they arrived, they got the grand tour of my apartment, we hung out, discussing politics, ways to change the world (for the better) and how to get rich quick. Honestly, none of those discussions took place but it makes for good blog material.

After we agreed on everything, we headed out with my friends to a local Japanese Hibachi restaurant. Then we checked out the “soft open” of a new establishment in my building.

Jennie claims she and Bruce planned it to be a quick trip “because we are certain that if we stay to long the mystery will wear off and you will be sick of us.”

That wouldn’t happen, they are two of the best and fun people out there,

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Coming Soon…

Or should it be opening soon??

A new multi-purpose business is opening in my building. I don’t have the exact names of all of the places but it’s a martini bar, coffeehouse, and a convenience store.

I just toured the place moments ago and met the owner, Twyla. She’s done a great job of putting together a business that should cater to people living on the west bank of the Flats.

Those of you who know me know I don’t drink caffeine so the coffeehouse, Mocha (I think) is off limits. There’s a breakfast bar and a pizza oven that’s accessible through the mouth of a giant mask (New Orleans style) artwork on the wall.

The martini bar has fiber optic lights in it that light up at night. Twyla tells me she drilled all of the holes in the bar herself before installing the optics. The furnishings throughout the place are modern just like the structure of the building remodel.

However, the building was once the home of Cantina del Rio when the west bank was still hopping. Things have changed since then, T.G.I.Fridays has closed down. Shooters, Christies, Howl at the Moon are still here anchoring the west bank. I can’t forget about the Flat Iron, which technically is on the east bank. It’s still a good place to eat. There’s also McCarthy’s and the Harbor Inn which have both been around for years.

So this is growth, Cleveland. Get behind it and relish what someone who is a native Clevelander who’s come back to her hometown and is giving back to her city with the opening of a new business that offers far more than food, drinks and coffee. There are groceries, concierge, services, even lottery tickets.

Oh, Twyla promises me they will have 1% milk. That’s a must for me.

Grand opening is around the 20th… be sure to check it out,

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Seriously, Cleveland, How Are You?

Seriously, Cleveland, How Are You?

The Onion

Seriously, Cleveland, How Are You?

Hello again, Cleveland! It’s me, Bob Seger. You may recall me from the rock-and-roll concert last night. First off, let me say that it was such an…

The Michiganer reaches out to Buckeyes. Check out Bob Seger’s supposed message to Cleveland via the ONION. It’s a funny read. Is there a Kohl’s coming to Steelyard Commons?

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Good Radio Gone Bad

While I’m on the topic of radio…

Anyone who knows me knows I’m a music fanatic. That’s probably putting things lightly. I have a bit of an obession trying to guess songs in the first couple of notes and then naming the artist and even the year, that’s especially the rule for oldies.

Majic 105.7 has gone from one of the nation’s best oldies stations to the 2008 version of WDOK 102.1.

Gone are the days when it actually sounded like an oldies station. I’m talking jock talk/song/jingle/song/jock talk and so on. The songs were fun, mostly upbeat and just made you feel good about yourself. Gone are Ravenna Miceli (who’s now doing traffic updates), Scott Howitt, the man who could even rhyme “orange”.

It’s become “blah” music. That seems to be the rule for radio stations around the country. The “mom and pop” ownership is gone only to be replaced by the corporate giants. The deejays who knew the music and loved it are gone. The jocks who remain don’t say much and don’t have much of a personality.

It’s sad. I always thought WMJI and WMMS were Cleveland. Just like WKDD was always Akron. You can’t say 96.5 WKDD anymore. It’s 98.1 or something like that, years after the switch I still can’t find it on the radio dial. I think growing up 98.1 was a religious station.

Corporate researchers can’t figure out why people are buying up Sirius and XM radios and turning off the commercial radio stations. I’ll muddle through the commercials (even one for Consolidated Resorts) if it’s worth me to wait for the personalities and the music they play.

Deejaying is an art and it’s been lost for the most part. No more cart machines. All of the jingles, music and commercials are now on a computer. Radio today just isn’t the radio I loved of yesterday.