Waterfront Development Community Dialogue part 3

Cleveland Waterfront Community Meeting
Thursday, August 13, 2009
St. Ignatius High School, Father Sullivan Gym, 1911 West 30th Street, Cleveland, Oh 44113
5.30 - 8pm

There has been quite a bit of brouhaha regarding the plan to develop Cleveland's waterfront between West 9th and East 9th Street (you know, that huge chuck of land around the football stadium where the Cleveland Port Authority does stuff). These plans (and other variations) have been the main topic of "revitalizing Cleveland" for quite some time now but it appears that this plan, in some variant, may be pushing forward as the Port Authority swears that they are indeed going to be moving to East 55th Street.

To be completely honest, being able to get to the Lake through downtown doesn't really get me too excited since I can already do it via Voinovich Park. I wouldn't mind some more little neighborhoods to visit and some places to eat right on the lake would be a nice amenity to have.

My greatest concern is that any development will price itself right out of the hands of the sort of boutique shops, restaurants and residents that would make the neighborhood INTERESTING. There isn't much to do about that though, these interjected little communities go through their own cycles and unless there is a very strong willed community group watching out for their own good this little area could turn into another one of those ridiculously sterile tourist traps that probably make enough money to justify their existence but really don't do much for the betterment of the city. They may attract some people from out of town but probably not enough to get out of towners interested enough to franchise or move to Cleveland.

Of course the good news is that the Waterfront Plan is slated to move rather slowly so it may actually grow organically enough to develop as a neighborhood should, instead of all at once which typically leads to catastrophic failure as the novelty wears off.

Regardless, the proposal is interesting and looks quite a bit more cohesive than the 2004 plan which may have worked on a much smaller scale (think 2 city blocks) but was too broad stroke for such a large geographical area. This should be an intriguing series of events.

Find out more at the Port of Cleveland website.