I love RTA. However, now is the time for leadership change. Joe Calabrese (RTA CEO) and his staff have to go. Public opinion of RTA is at an all-time low and with another wave of cuts in service and price increases, people would like to see a change in leadership which could actually benefit the RTA and the region as a whole.

Some new ideas are needed and a new CEO with a true vision for RTA is desperately needed (something Joe Calabrese is totally against. If he had his way, he would pave over all the rails and run buses on them). We need someone who realizes that expansion of our rail system is desperately needed and would increase ridership. Example being, expansion to the Chagrin-Highlands development at Harvard & Richmond to take advantage of all the jobs being created there. How about rail past Windermere to go out to Euclid and the Cuyahoga County line. Western expansion to Westlake for another example. There are plenty of people in the western suburbs who would much rather take a train to downtown Cleveland than drive. The possibilities go on and on.

It would also let RTA be accessible to people in areas where RTA provides little or no service. Studies have shown that people in the middle and upper class areas tend to ride public transportation just as much as lower class people. RTA is not just for the disenfranchised. It's for everyone who wants to take advantage of public transportation and save money.

Northern Ohio has little in common, economically, politically or philosophically, with central and southern parts of the states. I'm not bashing, it's just reality. We have more in common with Erie, Buffalo and Detroit, than Cinci and Columbus. So from south of Canton can be the great state of South Ohio and we'll be the great state of North Ohio...works for the Carolinas and Dakotas. Look how well the Virginia get along.

Cities in NEOhio should make it a law that any privately owned parking lot must be used a certain amount of days. If its not, its the owner's responsibility to removed the unused portion and replace w/ greenscape (i.e. if 20% of a parking lot is unused for less than 60 days 20% will become green).

Utilize the North Coast to host a world-class triathlon. Possibly beginning and ending at Burke Lakefront, it can be a way to promote many different areas of the city and suburbs. The city already has experience with the CVS marathon, this will take it to the next level.

Cleveland needs a great pier for swimming situated downtown. It will attract people, visitors, retail, and food vendors. And it will rock, if it's well-designed.

Here are some examples:

http://www.archicentral.com/copenhagen-harbour-bath-denmark-plot-4079/

http://www.archdaily.com/2899/kastrup-sea-bath-white-arkitekter-ab/

http://www.dwell.com/articles/dunkin-danish.html

http://ryspace.posterous.com/cleveland-needs-one-of-these

Career Gear is the men's equivalent of "Dress for Success" for women. We need to also support men in trying to get a job. They are in 6 cities, Cleveland should try to get this started so we are ready when this city starts it's turn around!

In addition to moving artifacts from NASA's on site visitors center to the Great Lakes Science Center, the city and Forest City Enterprises should look into allowing for rotating displays at the airport and tower city center. Tower City should look into giving low cost space near the food court for a gift shop and could have displays in the atrium near the food court. The airport could have a similar gift shop in the "mall" area and displays setup throughout the concourses. This would be a great way to give extra attention to our local NASA facilities to visitors and locals alike.

There are not that many IMAX theaters in the state and the Great Lake's Science Center's is devoted to documentaries and science programming.

It seems to me that putting a commercial venue next to the new aquarium, or the Playhouse District, or in Tower City, or any number of other places could be a good year-round attraction.

I say that Cleveland needs to light up more of its buildings especially the more prominent ones. Add some life to the skyline and show that its up all night. It adds security from more lighting and will make it more welcoming and being even more attractive. This with the lighted bridges would make the city look more vibrant and give it a more unique image.

Light up the skyline, its beautiful and the city and business should showcase it.

Maybe as citizen of the region we could start a campaign called "One For All and All For One" in which we could come together and discuss regionalization, The best ways to approach it and the pros and cons. This could take the fear out of the process and lead to some innovative ideas.

The Cleveland Public School system should look at the best private schools in the area and restructure their system to model what is working for them. Also, they could start a program that teaches the parents how to support the school system and their children's education.

Cleveland has lots of empty, run down houses that could be given to Cleveland newcomers who would promise to fix up the houses and live in them for at least 5 years, like homesteaders of the past. People would have to be self employed and work from home- people like artists, writers, or technology types who do not need to find a job when they get here. With an influx of creative, innovative people the city would begin to grow and develope a reputation as a good place to move to.

I'm all for city recycling pickup in Cleveland, or strategically placed community recycling bins in residential areas. I'm not going to claim that this would help keep the streets clean, but it sure would be a nice thing to have for those of us who like to recycle. It would be even nicer if there was an incentive program of some sort, but first things first...

(Apologies if this is repeating someone else's idea, but I was unable to find a similar post.)

Fireworks put toxins into the air reducing both air and water quality. Laser light shows use electricity but are green in comparison. Get rid of the heavy metals, smoke, noise and blown off fingers and instead encourage community leaders (and the Indians) to celebrate with laser light shows, music and clean air and water.

"WASHINGTON - General Electric Corp. will set about researching, developing and making wind turbines and other green technology at a facility in Van Buren Township, Wayne County, congressional sources said late today. As many as 1,200 jobs are expected to be created."

There is no reason the same cannot be done in Cleveland. Leadership simply needs to court the manufacturers to tax-free incentives to offset the costs of the unions, which is the biggest reason manufacturing is not returning to Cleveland. With tax incentives, and the use of the lake for shipping, the wind turbine can easily be the new automobile in terms of jobs. Use those manufacturing facilities, use the lake. Partner with the universities (Case already has a wind energy department). Whether you care about green energy or not, the sheer size of the components limit their production to the USA. Cleveland can take the lead. Gaining jobs is probably the one thing that can make all the ideas on this site become a reality.

How about building a pedestrian bridge from Muny Lot, crossing over the shoreway, to Burke Airport. That way, RTA can take advantage of the Waterfront Line and people can easily cross the shoreway to get to events at Burke Airport, i.e. The National Air Show. This way, thousands of people don't have to illegally park and walk a country mile just to get the events at Burke. They can simply ride the Waterfront Line, walk across the bridge and be at the action in an instant.

Cleveland needs a world class aquarium.

There are several proposals that have been publicized in the last week and my group, the Great Lakes Aquarium of Cleveland Initiative, has been working behind the scenes with public officials and civic leaders over the past year to bring a long overdue World Class Aquarium to the Cleveland lakefront.

Our architectural advisor worked on the Georgia Aquarium and is a Virginia Beach Aquarium Board member overseeing their new "Aquarium District". I was meeting with Virginia Beach Aquarium management when the Jacob's plan was announced. The immediate reaction - it is too small and commercially non-viable.

The Virginia Beach Aquarium has two buildings of 100,000 and 50,000 sq. feet and is undergoing a $25 million renovation and construction of its new Restless Planet exhibit.

The economic impact of a World Class Cleveland lakefront aquarium could be dramatic running as high as $100 million annually. It would create quality jobs, help fill hotels and restaurants, provide educational opportunities and greatly enhance Greater Clevelanders' quality of life. Aquariums have been proposed under Mayors George Voinovich, Mike White and others. It is a top ranked idea on www.clevelandideas.com and Greater Clevelanders have demonstrated an overwhelming support for one.

The prime site is Dock 32 north of the Science Center. A 100,000 plus square foot facility with room to grow would serve to complete and anchor our Inner-Harbor development complex and spur development. However, it must be a joint public/private effort partnering with our universities and emphasizing it's educational programs to win valuable grants and be successful. It should also take advantage of "Green Technology" to earn available tax credits. The site must be finalized before any viable designs can be proposed.

With the push for regionalism a lakefront aquarium is a "no-brainer". We have the talent and resources right here in Cleveland to make it happen and it is long overdue. With the Port Authority planning to relocate and currently working on a master plan for the lakefront with the architectural firm, Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut & Kuhn of New York, now is the time for Clevelanders to make their voices heard and get it done.

Support is growing and overwhelmingly positive. Those who would like more information or are interested in supporting the Great Lakes Aquarium of Cleveland Initiative can contact me at: info@northcoastaquarium.com.

Organize a tour of Cleveland landmarks hidden by time, privacy or security issues. The Salt mines, Silver Grille, Society tower view, rail tunnels etc.

Work with neighborhood development corps, groups like the western reserve historical society and ethnic associations such as the west side Irish American club to reuse churches slated for closure. These ethnic churches could remain open and include artifacts on how the helped shaped the neghborhoods and the ethnic groups that resided there. On weekends, local neighborhood development corps

could host farmers markets to sell the produce from community gardens. And regular church tours could be held

to raise funds for the groups involved and allow people to appreciate their architecture.

Create a festival in a similar manor to the one held years ago to showcase the technology, arts and culture being developed here in Cleveland and in other Great Lakes cities. We could use this as a catalyst to impliment many of the ideas already on the table and introduced here along with new ones, like rebuilding a near east or west side neighborhood with purely sustainable homes similar to how homes were build (but later torn down) for the original festival. We could show off out medical industry, advanced manufacturing industy, advanced in water quality, new technology like the guy in Toledo with the 100mpg engine, have cultural exhibits including the orchestra, great lakes theatre festival, plenty of possibilities.

Create a large pendulum and place in front of Science Center. Swinging pendulum would show the movement of the earth during the day. The whole structure could be made in Cleveland due to our extensive network of machine shops.

Build a monorail system down Interstate 71 connecting cleveland, columbus, and cincinatti. A state of the art monorail could boost local tourism, cut down on traffic, create jobs, and make ohio's three major cities more accessable.

Check this link out: http://www.thehighline.org/. This is a wonderful idead that would work well here in Cleveland.

A $25 dollar per business owner event at the convention center lead by a few people with knowledge of the business world not pen pusher but people who care, are capable of recognizing opportunities and can help keep strong existing small and large business along with helping those with new young ideas.

In these troubled economic times, both people and businesses are doing whatever they can to save money. In the same spirit of giving rent free space to new businesses. Vouchers for airline tickets with destinations in Cleveland could do a lot to bump tourism, possibly when paired with a Medical Mart, Sports Package, or hopefully in the future Eco-Tourism. It could also help business with travel expenses, and spur on new business travel. Even if it gets everyone that had to leave to come home every now and then. I believe the economic effects could be seen in hotels, businesses, conference centers, and even in additional airline tickets.

We should commission artists to create a miniature model of the entire city. Right now, Chicago just unveiled a scale model representing over all of the Loop and surrounding areas, that's being displayed in their architecture foundation.

One thing we could do is have a large scale model of downtown Cleveland, and have smaller models depicting downtown Cleveland at various states from it's founding in 1796 to today. We could even put the massive display in Tower City, the new Convention Center or in the Higbee's building

I drive through MLK regularly and am surprised that with all the cultural gardens & green areas to enjoy that it seems like you have to drive the full expanse of MLK to near University Circle before you can find a place to park. Why not have a few more mini-lots like we have in the Metroparks so that people can get out and enjoy different areas of the park... unload their bikes and take a ride, etc?

Have city team with catholic schools to share in the burden of helping pay a portion of catholic school tuition for fire and policemen with school-age children. Catholic Schools in Westpark and other areas will be hurt by the overturning of the ban on city workers living outside the city, and neighborhoods could deteriorate as city workers flee to the burbs, largely because enrolling their children in quality suburban public schools can save them $7k/year per child in tuition expenses. Offsetting that with an incentive could remove the primary impetus for city workers to leave the city.

Form an area-wide citizen coalition to force government at the state and federal level to restart the flow of revenue to the region, and get to work on repairing our dangerously crumbling infrastructure. All the great ideas posted here will be for naught if the city is falling down.

We know that Steel has become a bit player in our local economy over the last 25 years, but there is the chance one day it will all be gone. So as we do with Hale Farm and Village, we should come up with a steel/industrial version of Hale Farm that will preserve our steel heritage and show future generations what the steel making process was like, the equipment used as an educational and tourist destination.

This will take some philanthropy to get going and sustaining. Think of the excitement and possibilities. When a tall ship is in town it creates quite a draw. This would be a great idea for youth groups, convention entertainment. The ship would act as a goodwill ambassador as it travels and participates in other tall ship events in the Great Lakes. Not too much travel because we want to show off our ship in town. The ship would be an authentic replication of a cargo freight sailing ship that visited the Cleveland harbor back in the days of sale. Just think of how it would look tied up by the Mather. Example of freight handling then and now (sort of now)

The drive down Lakeside between those areas are horrible, as the street needs repair. It can make the street more attractive for those who are looking to develop on Lakeside within those areas.

The parking lots floor the stadium on Deck 20 and West 3rd should be fixed (i.e. paved) to give Browns fans a better parking experience. Those lots don't appear to parking-friendly, and improving them would make the areas surrounding the stadium look better.

The building should be transformed into a mix of business, retail, and living space. There would be easy access to the Shoreway through E. 55th, and it's not too far from downtown. It has been vacant for many years, and despite attempts for development (The Goodrich-Kirtland Park 2020 Citywide Plan introduced in 2006), nothing has been mentioned regarding development. This building should be preserved to help boost the city a bit.

Windy City, Mile-High City, The Big Easy, Sin City, The Big Apple, City of Brotherly Love...

Early in its history, Cleveland earned the nickname 'The Forest City' - inspired by Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville's tour through the United States for his 19th century book 'Democracy in America' ("...one goes without transition from the wilds into a city street, from the most savage scenes to the most smiling pictures of civilized life...").

The name was popularized by early Clevelanders Timothy Smead and former Mayor William Case whose city-wide tree planting campaign fimly established the City's reputation.

Through its history, the City of Cleveland has undertaken ambitious projects to plant/save trees and complete tree censuses... the Emerald Necklace/Metroparks system, the lakefront parks, and Cuyahoga Valley National Park are one-of-a-kind in the region... neighborhoods are green and leafy, nearly every city street is lined with trees and shaded by its canopies... local institutions work towards making Cleveland a 'Green City on a Blue Lake'... and urban designers envision the naturalizing of vacant properties around the City...

Its time to implement an ambitious planting project in every neighborhood and to re-forest the City's vacant blocks. Regaining Cleveland's reputation as a forested metropolis on the shores of a great lake associates the City with natural beauty, cleanliness, active lifestyles, stately streetscapes and is compatible with its push for 'green' commerce and a sustainable future.

I've had 100s of cities pitch to me to bring my conventions to their town. The cities that stand out are the ones with an identity that the people, businesses, and community identify with. Cleveland is the Rock & Roll City. We have the Rock Hall, fantastic music venues, and people who are proud of our roots in music. But, how do we show it? When people arrive at Hopkins, do they know where they are? In Austin (the Live Music Capital of the World) they have live music at the airport, open door jam bars lining the streets, and they live their identity out in the open. How cool would it be to be walking downtown and hear Rock Hall-inducted artists playing through speakers lining the sidewalks or to see small exhibit installations from the Rock Hall in window-fronts throughout the city. These are just top-of-mind ideas, but music and Rock-n-Roll are easy ideas to theme around. Let's find our identity and stick to it. Then, we'll be more than just another great city with all the same stuff as everyone else. Seems like pretty great timing with the talk of Convention Center and Med Mart in the air...

Eliminate RITA. Our cities are receiving 2% income tax plus 2% property tax. Where is all this money going? Rocky River, Westlake and other cities have so much extra cash that they built monstrous rec centers. What does city govt know about running rec centers?

-Overtaxed

Bring back what many once called the "the most beautiful street in the world" along Euclid Avenue between CSU and University Circle, infamously called "Millionaires Row" in its heyday.

However, this time the owners must agree not to tear their homes down - as the wealthy industrialists did so no one else could enjoy the same level of housing. One owner had his home torn down on the day of his funeral. Once the idea caught on, every Row family did the same. When did keeping up with the Jones family mean tearing your own home down? Well, anyone would agree, it's a great, unique story, perhaps never repeated in history.

How do you do this? With incentives, the new and old monied millionaires of the Cleveland area and with the right pitch, the world, will step forward to re-connect with history. The best approach is to ask the millionaires what they want, and then give it to them! Simple formula. We guess it may involve free land, similar streets/lighting from the era, good security, low taxes and financing. In exchange the city can demand attention to detail so each home matches its former twin (the blue prints hopefully were kept by the architects?), and of course, NO TEARING DOWN THIS TIME!

The city attracts new investment - including folks from all over the world based on the chance to make history, a new tourist attraction, a polished image (think of the city brochures!), new convention business, new companies/jobs as the rich recognize the great value of the area, new high quality development, other area mid-level development that brings more residents downtown, improved real estate values for everybody else and thus tax revenues for Cleveland, and the best part, it jettisons slumlords who have accomplished nothing forever!

This project in concert with the 490 exit/boulevard to the Cleveland Clinic/University Circle, and Cleveland Central Park (the jewel heart of the Metroparks system), will spur massive residential, retail and commercial development in the current wasteland corridor of the city.

From a former Cleveland Booster living elsewhere but still loving Cleveland.

Medical/information technology convergence for economic rebirth

Since the Flats died we no longer have lake front restaurants that are water accessible. Lets create an area on the Cleveland Water front or river front that specifically caters to boat traffic in addition to land traffic. Waterfronts that have these types of venues always seem to attract crowds because of the water dimension. It is very popular to participate in water activities. When done correctly, the water front is a draw. We have seen this with examples such as the Flats in their better days, Captain Franks on the East 9th street pier, Jim's steak house in the flats. Our examples are a little lean but think about all the other cities that have well developed water accessible areas. They quickly become magnets.