Lakefront West Public Meeting - Cleveland, OH

Wednesday, September 27th, 2006
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church West
6928 Detroit Ave.
Cleveland, OH
5:00 pm

As part of ODOT's continuing development of downtown and the inner ring suburbs there will be a public presentation and discussion September 27, 2006 regarding the West Shoreway, specifically Route 2/6/20 between West Blvd. and the Main Ave. Bridge. There have been many ideas bandied about including (but not limited to) taken said West Shoreway and turning it into a boulevard along which Cleveland could attempt to develop a neighborhood (between said boulevard and existing Conrail tracks) which would attempt to tie West Cleveland to Edgewater Park.

Personally, I think the idea is founded on good principles but the execution is far from ideal. Edgewater is extremely isolated from West Cleveland. There is a very nice bike/foot path on West 65th with a very interesting mosaic and of course there is a neighborhood connection on West Blvd. However, between W 65th and the Main Ave. Bridge there isn't much to get over to except for Whiskey Island and Wendy Park (two rather amazing places that are undergoing their own renaissance without any ODOT interference). Between Edgewater and Whiskey Island there is a salt mine, water treatment facility and small grouping of marinas. Not a ton of super exciting things to go visit. Besides, there is a drastic change in topography which when combined with the proximity to the Conrail tracks (former?) and before mentioned industry would allow lots in depth of 120' from the new boulevard. If streets were used to connect the Shoreway to, say, Detroit Ave. Then you would have street frontage of around 120' (which I admit is a guestimate, I haven't measured with a tape measure, YET) which is what? 3 lots?

I agree, there should be more development to tie public access to the lake. There should be a push to pull out the giant parking lots that plague Edgewater and replace them with a more pedestrian friendly connection and create a neighborhood that connects more tightly to it but until I am shown a comprehensive plan, including phasing in of properties and development, I will continuously argue and question the merits of taking a removing and quick and easy connection from the West Side to Cleveland.

Of course, that is the whole point of these public forums. To allow nutjobs like me a voice.

Lakefront West Public Meeting Postcard

Connecting Cleveland-Waterfront District Plan

Waterfront District Plan interactive pdf