Cleveland has been working to reinvent the Rust Belt as the Tech Belt. You’re positioning yourselves to attract the jobs, the businesses and the industries of tomorrow. It’s places like Cleveland that make me absolutely confident that we’re going to win the future.- President Obama
Cleveland needs an updated blueprint for how to connect downtown's new amenities, including a planned casino. Luckily, a blue-ribbon Group Plan Commission assembled by Mayor Frank Jackson is working on just such a vision to make the heart of Greater Cleveland more walkable and inviting to visitors, workers and residents.
Like any proposal, the tentative plan may need tweaks. The full 15-member commission has yet to sign off on it, and Jackson has indicated he wants to see a traffic study on the impact of closing Ontario Street to make Public Square more pedestrian-friendly. But Cleveland can't afford to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reimagine its center and piggyback on more than $1 billion of public and private projects already under way.
Besides creating two large, rectangular spaces at Public Square by closing Ontario, the commission's working groups suggest a walkway connecting existing Malls to the lakefront and courtyards, gardens and a reflecting pool o the Malls atop the new convention center.
The overall effect would be to encourage foot traffic among downtown's emerging centers of energy, including the Warehouse District, East Fourth Street, the medical mart and the Terminal Tower casino.
Shepherded by City Planning Commission Chairman Anthony Coyne and including many downtown stakeholders, some of whom can be expected to contribute to the final cost, the commission has come up with an exciting roadmap while remaining true to the spirit of the original Daniel Burnham Group Plan.
Money remains an obvious issue. But the projected $90 million price tag does not seem insurmountable. One working group continues to look for private sources of capital, including naming rights. Given the large public investment in the convention center and Inner Belt Bridge, the private sector needs to step up. The commission also must find the right entity to maintain and program the new public spaces.
The opportunity is enormous. The vision and the civic willpower appear to be keeping pace.
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