Cuyahoga County Planning Commission Weblog

University Circle Incorporated is shifting its focus to integrate the area into its surrounding neighborhoods by becoming a developer, a neighborhood advocate, and a service provider. They launched a redesigned website today.

Update: a Plain Dealer editorial called it "the path to a stronger city."

The Ohio EPA introduced its new brownfield inventory database. The web-based system is intended to aid in the identification and redevelopment (PDF) of brownfield sites and includes information about cleanup status, infrastructure improvements, historical land uses, and other subjects. Meanwhile, the state's Office of Strategic Research published its 2011 Ohio County Profiles. The document features demographic information gathered from more than 50 sources.

A new study from Enterprise Community Partners "examines the value of parcel-level real estate data for neighborhood stabilization programs in general, and looks specifically at how the Northeast Ohio Community and Neighborhood Data for Organizing system (NEO CANDO) is used in Cleveland."

The new Cleveland Hazecam provides a live image of Cleveland's skyline every 15 minutes. It's intended to increase public awareness of local air quality issues and their health impacts.

Cleveland leaders are seeking public input on ideas for the downtown Malls at Your Changing Cleveland. The new Cleveland Group Plan Commission will hold a design charette on November 30.

Update: Steven Litt described the process.

The Ohio Department of Transportation installed its first three Greater Cleveland traffic cameras as part of its introduction of Intelligent Transportation System technologies. The webcams are available at Buckeye Traffic.

Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People has begun writing about predatory lending and the foreclosure crisis at its new weblog.

Greater Ohio will relaunch the ReBuild Ohio program. The organization will "work to refocus ReBuild Ohio's efforts to address Ohio's growing vacant and abandoned property problem through state-level reforms". Participants discuss related issues at the ReBuild Ohio Vacant Property Forum.

Microsoft introduced a beta version of its new Bing Maps platform. The new features include Streetside (similar to Google Street View), enhanced oblique aerial photography, and integration of Microsoft's Photosynth technology, among other items. The new functionality requires Microsoft's Silverlight plugin.

Cleveland Area History is a new weblog that describes itself as having "an opinionated, vocal, approach to history, preservation, and related issues in the greater Cleveland, Ohio area."

The Cuyahoga County Land Bank's site is now available. It includes information about the land reutilization corporation and its policies for demolition and vacant land, housing, property preservation, and land assembly.

The Cleveland Memory Project scanned and posted the 17 volumes of highway Route Location Studies produced in the 1960s, plus the 1955 Comprehensive Arterial Highway Plan for Cuyahoga County. They detail plans for built and unbuilt sections of the county's freeway system.

Gary Moneysmith interviewed King Hill and Scott Chapin of DigiKnow about the Cleveland Ideas website.

The new Cuyahoga County Community Planning GIS was unveiled at the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission meeting yesterday. Built upon the CEGIS platform, it succeeds our Brownfields GIS application and offers many data layers and spatial analysis tools. We will be working to enhance and improve the application and welcome your suggestions, comments, and questions.

Cleveland Ideas is a new website where citizens can make suggestions for making Northeast Ohio a better place to live and work and vote on ideas offered by others. The strongest concepts will be compiled into a report that will be distributed to area leaders.

Heritage Ohio, a statewide historic preservation and downtown development organization, launched a redesigned website and Ohio Downtown Revitalization, a new weblog.

The Cuyahoga County Office of Sustainability launched a new website today. It features information about the County's climate change initiative.

Cuyahoga County's $420 million wish list for federal stimulus dollars includes gray and green infrastructure projects, green energy initiatives, and social service programs. The State of Ohio is accepting suggestions for stimulus projects at a special website.

Update: this week's Sun Newspapers have more details about the requests made by Euclid and Broadview Heights leaders.

Microsoft's Live Search Maps has been updated to include oblique aerial photography of Geauga County.

(via The Map Room)

Statewide smart growth advocacy organization Greater Ohio recently started a weblog. It's intended to "act as a forum for discussion and commentary on Restoring Prosperity policy proposals & innovative local initiatives."

CityProwl has been updated with new audio walking tours of the Warehouse District, downtown Cleveland's bank lobbies, and Public Square.

University Circle Inc. today opened a new storefront visitors center at Euclid Avenue and Mayfield Road and launched a redesigned website.

In addition to offering driving and public transit directions, Google Maps now includes walking directions.

(via The Map Room)

Walk Score has been updated with new walkability rankings by city and neighborhood. Of the nation's 40 largest cities, the City of Cleveland was ranked as the 14th most walkable. The only Cleveland neighborhood to make the top 100 was downtown, at number 73.

The Cuyahoga County Engineer's Office today announced the launch (PDF) of a beta version of the Cuyahoga Enterprise Geographic Information System, an online countywide GIS application.

Update: the Plan Dealer has more information about the site.

Crib Notes is the new weblog of Plain Dealer real estate reporters Shaheen Samavati and Michelle Jarboe. Its posts are incorporated into Cleveland.com's new real estate news section.

Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority route information was incorporated into Google Transit yesterday. The agency also maintains its own trip planning service.

On Thursday, OneCommunity announced the official launch of a wireless Internet cloud covering most of University Circle and parts of Cleveland Heights and East Cleveland. They also rolled out Linked Communities, a new web portal for the University Circle area.

The Northeast Ohio Rideshare program has been expanded to encompass bicycle commuters seeking riding companions through the new OhioBikeBuddies program. Interested participants are encouraged to check the site frequently as its database grows.

Update: WCPN offers additional details.

Yesterday, Google Maps added Street View coverage for much of Cuyahoga County and a portion of Medina County. The feature offers 360° panoramic views of streetfronts across the County.

Steven Litt says that the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority's planned move "is the kind of big, farsighted planning initiative that could dramatically change the city's future for the better." The Port Authority has begun planning for an international trade district surrounding the new port facilites, and the move also creates the opportunity for redeveloping the Port's existing facilities. He warns, however, that "an Oklahoma-style land rush on the lakefront could bleed the core business district of vital energy". The Port Authority launched a new website with information about the plans.

The website for the Regional Economic Revenue Study has been updated with a series of video interviews with Myron Orfield about regional planning and revenue sharing.

(via Advance Northeast Ohio)

Great Lakes Urban Exchange is a new "multi-media documentary, networking, and creative research effort" intended to "tell new stories about Great Lakes cities and bring the people who love them together." Co-founders Abby Wilson and Sarah Szurpicki recently appeared on Smart City Radio. Meanwhile, former Cleveland Tech Czar Michael DeAloia recently launched The Cool History of Cleveland, a new weblog focusing on local history.

(via GreenCityBlueLake and Cool Cleveland)

Last week, Bill Callahan launched Foreclosing Cleveland, a new weblog focused on the foreclosure crisis in Cleveland. It's intended to "document this ongoing civic disaster, its perpetrators, its consequences, and the efforts of Cleveland's people to overcome them."

PlanningNewsVote is a new social bookmarking site based on the Digg model. Users are encouraged to register and to submit, vote, and comment on planning news stories.

As the Cleveland Metroparks celebrate their 90th anniversary, the Plain Dealer looked back at the history of the park district. The Metroparks posted eight "Parkways to the Past" historic audio tours at their new weblog.

Our website now includes a new section on Whiskey Island. It features information about the goals and plans for the lakefront peninsula, as well as photographs, directions, and contact information.

Plain Dealer art and architecture critic Steven Litt started a weblog at Cleveland.com titled Architecture and the Urban Landscape. He says that "commentaries online will dovetail with our coverage in the pages of newspaper, while also veering in other directions."

Merchandise Mart Properties added additional material to their website for the proposed Cleveland medical mart, including video of Chris Kennedy presenting the concept.

Preservation Ohio launched the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit Resource Center, "a one-stop location for information on the newest financial incentive for renovation and restoration of historic buildings in Ohio." The presentation (PDF) from last month's Northeast Ohio Historic Tax Credit training seminar is also available online.

Steven Litt reviews the exhibit Open: New Designs for Public Space, an exhibit on the work of Foreign Office Architects, and the Uptown Launch Pad, all on display at MOCA. "The shows suggest that Cleveland -- a poor, shrinking city suffering from low self-esteem -- could become more lively and cosmopolitan if it emulates or surpasses the examples on view." He also notes that MOCA has started a new weblog.

Trulia Hindsight displays an animated map of residential properties, color coded by year of construction. The map for Greater Cleveland shows the outward migration of residential construction.

(via information aesthetics)

The second edition of the Ohio Coastal Atlas is now available online. Prepared by the ODNR Office of Coastal Management, it's intended to provide decision makers in northern Ohio with a complete picture of Ohio's coastal resources. The 2005 first edition is also online.

More than 250 Northeast Ohio civic leaders attended this morning's official unveiling of the Advance Northeast Ohio plan. The four-pronged action plan is aimed at improving the regional economy. The plan's website also launched, and the frequently-updated site features the action plan, news, multimedia, and information on initiatives for 2007.

A Chagrin Falls resident created Preserve Chagrin Falls and started a petition to gauge the level of concern in the community about proposed changes to the Village's zoning code that he says could lead to a rise in mansionization and teardowns.

Planetizen recently launched Interchange, a new weblog that will strive to "provide exposure to new ideas, encourage discourse that cuts across disciplinary boundaries, and bring together allied professionals."

Cyburbia now features the PlanningWiki, intended to be a "general user-contributed encyclopedia, glossary, reference and resource guide, directory, and compendium of best practice that to planning, urbanism, and the built environment." Planners are encouraged to add and edit the wiki's articles.

The first annual Cleveland Design Competition officially launched today. The initial competition will focus on designs for the Irishtown Bend area on the Cuyahoga River's west bank. The registration deadline is April 16, and the submission deadline is May 1. Updates will be available via the Competition's weblog.

Yesterday marked the launch of OhioRideshare, a website dedicated to connecting commuters with potential carpool partners (PDF). The site serves 13 Northeast Ohio counties and is a joint project of NOACA, AMATS, and the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments.

The Cuyahoga River Community Planning Organization has launched a new website. It includes information about their three main programs, the Cuyahoga River Remedial Action Plan, the Cuyahoga American Heritage River Initiative, and CLEERTEC, as well as other information, including presentations from the Cuyahoga River Connections symposium held in October.

(via GreenCityBlueLake)