Brewed Fresh Daily

Article/puff piece on residential living in downtown Cleveland. The great piece was in the "Forum" section, by PD technology writer and blogger Chris Seper. This piece has some great recommendations for encouraging people to live downtown -- well it would if the whole damn piece was on the site. For some reason -- presumably a technical glitch -- most of the article is not online. I disagree with some of the larger recommendations (foreclosing the East Bank of the Flats for condos), but the smaller livability issues are more doable and practical (cheap parking permits for residents). There are plenty of other things that could be done, but this is a good starting point for ideas. Sadly, I doubt the city will actually try them.

Casinos don't make communities. Nestled in Cleveland's downtown, where developers would build casinos and convention centers, new families are growing, college graduates are settling into their first apartments and jet-setting yuppies are sipping mojitos in downtown bars. Some want to invigorate the downtown by adding new buildings. What it really needs is more feet in the street - both coming from the growing number of apartments filling the landscape and from cash-flush customers patronizing downtown businesses. No One Big Idea is going to make downtown Cleveland hum. I lived in the city's Warehouse District for two years and realized that small ideas must be stacked to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with grand innovations. The city needs everything from pizza to new party centers to get itself going. And everyone - from politicians to property managers - can pitch in. The following list may not be completely realistic. But consider these ideas for a few moments; they could squirt some verve into a downtown in need of bodies, life and community...