Cleveland!

https://www.clevescene.com/bes...-and-places-42734594

https://www.atlasobscura.com/t...to-do/cleveland-ohio

This'll keep Steve busy for a while...

It’s surprising how many of those places we’ve already visited, although it would take a long time to explore the entire Cleveland Metropark system. It’s huge and bits of it pop up all over northern Ohio.

Thanks!

The Frozen Cleveland Lighthouse went up for sale earlier this year, or at least I think it’s the same one.

I briefly toyed with the idea of buying it and setting it up as an AirBnb, but the absence of power, sewer, and water made that deal unattractive even as it would justify a tax deductible boat.

It sold for $468K - God knows why.

I haven’t seen the Sidaway Bridge and it’s not likely I ever will as the article says the only way to see it is from the commuter train. I view that as good as it’s nothing to be proud of.

Not so the dozen or so abandoned draw bridges that dot the landscape downtown. I got beat up on Facebook when I suggested that they should either be cleaned up and painted as artwork (Green! Blue! Yellow!) or torn down and sold for scrap. Sherwin Williams maintains their headquarters here and with the right sort of encouragement would certainly help out. Ditto the two derelict 10 story factory buildings that have been empty since the 60’s, befouling the skyline and rather defining how the locals feel about the place. I find this baffling but have stopped posting as I really don’t have a dog in the fight.

Good news is that I got a PM from a guy who is on one of the city committees and there is progress! The old Westinghouse factory - the one with the commanding view of the lake - has been sold and the new owners have applied for permits to convert it to condos! Only took 60 years and there is a lot of resistance from the locals (Traffic! Gentrification! History!) but it looks like a happening thing.

The old motorcycle factory is less sure, even as it dominates the new “Opportunity Corridor” parkway constructed a few years ago. It’s a fine four lane parkway that takes you from the interstate to the East end of downtown and it been fairly successful. Both Cleveland Clinic (“The hospital that ate Cleveland”) and Case Western University have benefited despite the bombed out factory alongside.

But it too is in permitting for condos and I view this as good. It’s high time CLE stopped wallowing in the past and embraced the future.

I may sign back on to that Facebook group and rile them up some more. At least it gets them talking. The pitiful hand-wringing accomplishes nothing.