Another St. Patrick’s Day.

To be honest, driving down the Shoreway this morning the skies looked more like what one saw around Halloween than St. Patrick’s Day. In fact, for a few moments walking around Wade Lagoon at University Circle some snow briefly fell. This was kind of ironic with the laws around there blooming with blue Glory of the Snow flowers. As the media has already reported, we are about two weeks ahead of schedule with the spring flowers with what was a record warm winter and March we had until now. The next two weeks are supposed be well, normal, even a slightly below with one low this week being 25 degrees (just great for any magnolias in bloom). I hope this summer isn’t a going to be string of 90 degree days as a result.

It’s been at least five years since I’ve marched in a St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Yes, I have actually done that a lot in the past, for political candidates such as Sherrod Brown, Tim McCormack, or the late Judge Peter M. Sikora if I remember properly. The weather always was unpredictable, but usually with rain. My feet are so glad that I didn’t have to even think about doing that today, though thanks to a suggestion from a guy I know from Cleveland Height’s , I wound up late this afternoon going to Muldoon’s. This was on the way home from the Cleveland Orchestra matinee and it was everything I expected, packed is an understatement. So, I can say for once I did the St. Patty’s Day thing, and will be more likely go to a restaurant called Chez Francois to celebrate Bastille Day as a result. But I digress.

Actually, between the busy Irish Pub today and the fish fry at St. Mary’s of Collinwood Friday, it is nice to see that places in Collinwood are drawing so many people. That’s kind of encouraging.

Anyway, Happy St. Patrick’s Day from Mad Man On A Great Lake.

Photographs taken by James Valentino.

Just Some Thoughts.

It’s been awhile since I have written on this blog. Every time I think of something to do on this something else happens; and I can’t always use my cat meowing for me to get into the living room as an excuse. Well, so goes life, one has to work, take care of things, see doctors, and then well…do something fun that means not being on this computer.

And, I am on this computer, it is working on a few other things. Hey, it’s not like I am working on something for the City of Cleveland or Cleveland State University.

There will be a Writer’s Conference in my area soon that I am thinking about attending, having missed the one last year since it was snowing then. However, if the weather is like it is today, I should have no trouble driving up the Euclid Creek Reservation to get to that thing. I also saw when the next American Planning Association Workshop will be held this year, in Willoughby which would be very nice for me.

Of course, these fall now in the categories of ‘hobbies’ versus actual careers.

Anyway, since my eyes were not dilated by five I did manage to attend the Neighborhood Watch meeting. I did my duty, one has to at least put a presence at some of these things no matter how painful they tend to be. Councilman Polensek was not there, being in DC with so many of his colleagues for that annual conference, but some running for offices this cycle did stop by. I stayed for Terrence Upchurch to speak since he is a pretty good guy but then got the heck out of there. It is quite hard doing things like that after work, even though today I just happened to spent most of my morning at the doctors. You have to feel that you are contributing something positive, and getting something back in return, for clubs, organizations, even social clubs. It’s really hard for me to see how I fit in such things to be honest.

Yet, this is still a good neighborhood, if we only had a real development corporation again. I also managed to mail in my absentee ballot a few days ago. Yes, voting matters, and I hope that levy gets renewed and my candidates, such as President Joseph Biden and I must admit Sherrod Brown despite everything, get re-elected in November. My idealism isn’t entirely squashed; nor many others.

I think it will be a beautiful sunset.

Another Quick Little Post.

To my utter surprise, this blog has had 52 views this month and I haven’t been able to do a single thing. So, here is a new post of little importance.

Seriously, unless I have time to do this at midnight during the week there is no time for me to work on this and find a real topic to work on. After all, I found out only the day after it was over that there was a Waterfront Summit on February 8th. I am still waiting for the Cleveland Planning Commission to reply to the email I sent them regarding this. Odds are I can forget about it.

Today here on Cleveland it actually feels like winter in what has been fortunately a pretty mild one. However, it can still be unpredictable with lake effect bands. For example, this morning, I decided that I had to go down to Tallmadge Oho for that Writer’s Group meeting and to my surprise the freeways were nice and clean in Euclid Ohio. However, as I drove past the Cedar Road exit ramp on I-271 the snow flurries began to pick up. By the time my car reached Chagrin Boulevard there were white out conditions and the car in front of me even put their emergency lights on. So, I struggled to get off at Harvard, managed to reach the Richmond Road intersection, and drove twenty miles an hour north till about Fairmount Boulevard where, all of a sudden, the snow lifted and the roads became somewhat clear. By the time I got back on the freeway at Brainard, I could see patches of blue sky mixing in with the clouds to the north. Right now, as I look out my window, it is overcast but no snow flakes. It will be in the 50s by Wednesday.

A Quick Little Post.

What really can be said on a Sunday January day in Cleveland?

Between work and the things to do around the house, and getting better after my third respiratory illness, I really cannot say that I have paid attention to what is going on around North Collinwood let alone Cleveland, especially when there are better blogs, and real media outlets (to an extant) that have the time to pick up on things such as the new phase of the perennial saga of investing again in Downtown versus the rest of the city as Cleveland.com wrote about yesterday. This debate has gone on for decades and with every tax dollar still spent on paying for Progressive Field (once upon a time called Jacob’s Field) or what was the Medical Mart Building, one wonders if maybe providing more dollars for hiring more police and EMS workers or the upcoming repaving of East 140th St. would provide more bang for the buck and spur more investment in the city as a whole. But, this has been discussed so many times before.

So far, the opening of the Meijer Store at East 105th and Cedar hasn’t made the traffic on that street worse because well, it is already crowded with vehicles. I do hope it is a success and the new construction south of the Clinic towards Quincy is a good thing. Now, if the city of Cleveland can get the salt trucks down there a lot faster during a snow shower at rush hour that would be something…

Soon, it will be February.

The number three best Botanical Garden in the Nation is in NE Ohio…but not in Cleveland.

I remember being very impressed years ago with this botanical garden in Youngstown that was hosting a planning and zoning workshop I went to there. It’s called the Fellows Riverside Gardens and I was really impressed by the grounds and facilities. They had a lot of nice flowers blooming there! In fact, I even wrote a post at the time for this blog years back I believe. But, when I saw on Cleveland.com that a botanical garden in NE Ohio was ranked third in the nation, I immediately wondered if it was our own Cleveland Botanical Gardens at University Circle. As it turned out, it was in fact the one in Youngstown. That is good to hear, after all Fellows was really nice to visit and I hope it helps the staff there with fundraising. However, it is a shame about this city’s own.

It is rather a shame how the Cleveland Botanical Gardens is now in a state of limbo in regards to its position here in NE Ohio. After all, it’s now just a satellite property of the Holden Arboretum of Kirtland, Ohio, albeit a lot busier than their other property (the Leach Research Station) out in Madison. It shouldn’t have been this way.

Sometime, when the days get warmer, and longer, and I am 100 percent well, I might just take a drive down the Ohio Turnpike once again and take a look.

Another Year With Mad Man On A Great Lake.

It’s hard to sit in front of a computer when you are busying coughing in the bathroom as I have since last Wednesday. Suddenly, we are in another year and things are a lot quieter now around here than they were at midnight. For some reason a lot of people like to set off firecrackers, and I suspect one ore two shot guns in their back yard….and not at anyone I’m glad to say. 

Last year, the blog had 1,101 views, down from 1,273 views from 2022 but it was to be expected. I’m still surprised that I still have this going on to be honest. Once I get better, perhaps, I will spend more time on this again. 

Well, happy 2024 from Mad Man on a Great Lake.

Another Christmas

The weather is a whole lot better than it was last year when it was 14 degrees Fahrenheit here in Cleveland. It only dawned on me yesterday, when I was out for Christmas Eve in Mentor, that I stayed home a year ago because of the weather. Now, instead of one busy Christmas Day I had a hectic Christmas Eve but it all worked out and I even took a walk up the street this morning to enjoy the weather. By New Year’s things will be back to to normal but still highs in the thirties and no snow storms is still quite good for here.

So far, things seemed rather quiet around East 185th. I walked up the street and was happy to see everything closed for the holidays, on purpose. There was a time that everything was closed on a holiday but as we all know (especially on Thanksgiving) that is certainly not the case. It was a nice day to celebrate Christmas with people you know (or barely know) and no longer having to worry about buying gifts for another ten months. Now, we all have to figure out how to pay off the bills for those that were just bought. However, that is something to figure out next year.

Merry Christmas from Mad Man On A Great Lake.

The Daily Nuisance, A Quick Little Post.

Everyday, to get the the job that pays the bills and Christmas presents for people I barely know, I have to drive down East 105th St. past the Cleveland Clinic and the construction going on at the north end of what is called “The Opportunity Corridor” but still is called East 105th up to the traffic light at Quincy Avenue. Anyway, work has been going on for years, everyone knows it. In fact, I written on this blog post in the past about some of the activity, like the Meijer store (in a post that’s already over two years old) on the corner of East 105th and Cedar and what is emerging as the ‘Innovation District’ in Fairfax, so go figure. I drive through it every day during the week, and sometimes wound up late because of the traffic jams starting at the Euclid traffic light.

Last week NEOtrans put something on its site regarding this as well. East 105th: What difference a decade makes has some nice before and after photos to be sure and many people out there will find it informative since many folks in NE Ohio never get over there except for the hospital. Ken Pendergast writes a good article I admit. However, when you look at what has gone on with the Cole Eye Center expansion, the Circle Square Project, the slow but steady development of CWRU’s West Quad campus, and just on the other side of MLK all construction that went on with the Louis Stokes VA Medical Center, this is more of a development of the West end of University Circle with the new route hooking up to I-490 just spurring on further investment on top of what was already put in. Admittedly, this is in my opinion a better bang for the taxpayer’s buck than say the Midtown Corridor but still something that encompasses more than a few research office buildings and a grocery story south of the Clinic. 

Christmas is tomorrow ladies and gentlemen.

December in Cleveland

A rainy December day in Cleveland Ohio. At least it isn’t a snow storm, or the weather the East Coast is getting now. It’s supposed to clear up a little by this afternoon and so for this time of year one really cannot complain.

      The Towpath Trail looking south towards Peninsula, the Cuyahoga River to the right.

Yesterday, instead of going to a political ‘holiday party’, I decided to do something I haven’t done in months; go down to Peninsula and hike on the towpath trail. Despite the muddy patches, it was rather busy with runners and cyclists and I managed to get in a good workout finally. In fact, it was a beautiful day to be outside, which is the main reason why I didn’t drive down to a converted brick warehouse to be in a room with a lot of people I really don’t know. Besides, with the four parties this week (if you call them that) I had to go to, it was enough.

In fact, the Ward 8 Holiday Party at the La Salle Theater Wednesday evening was quite nice. Of course, half the people there were next year’s candidates trying to get our endorsement (and most likely were going to be at the party yesterday as well) so again I didn’t miss much. However, despite this, and also feeling that the event I went to at Muldoon’s Thursday was more an obligation than a fun thing to do, it is rather important for someone to go to community events at least to support the clubs and organizations. 

              The Towpath Trail looking north.

Soon, it will be another year.

Photographs by James Valentino.

A Quick Little Post.

East 185th and Cherokee seen from inside Gus’s Diner East 185th.

I was asked by someone Friday if I was going to do something on this blog so here it is. To be honest, I don’t know what would be a good topic that would not be at the same time divisive…or taken up by another blog.

While almost all the snow has melted, definitely here in my neighborhood, it is now like early March, cloudy with fog and drizzle earlier in the day. Still, it’s a far cry from the wind chills in teens that we had Tuesday night (and most likely zapped all the power in my car battery the next morning). In fact, the highs for the week will be in the upper thirties to low to mid forties; more like St. Patrick’s Day than soon to be Christmas, but I sure will take it.

I will also take the fact that I can now drive down East 185th St. to get on the freeway to go to the job in the morning again. Walking up to the corner Saturday morning, I was happy to see no more road crews or barrels. This will help the businesses on the street that’s for sure. However, the waitress at Gus’ wondered this morning when will there be decorations on the street. I actually wonder who would be responsible for that. After all, there was a merchant’s association on the street but then again we also at one time had a real development corporation here that took care of such things too. At least things are quiet in this neighborhood, or so it seems.

I just saw my stats and, so far, five people have viewed this blog this month. Not bad considering so far I have been writing nothing but gibberish.

Photograph by James Valentino.