Feel the Heat

Taken from the interior of the Capitol Theatre in sunny Detroit Shoreway/Cleveland there are a couple decisions that should be called into question.

First off, naming the lobby after a construction company isn't a bad idea, heck it may mean the craftsmanship in that particular locale is rather fine but when the length of the name starts to interfere with some other built in condition (in this case a big ol' sprinkler head) you should probably start rethinking about the branding.

I don't really know which is more egregious. Making the name of the lobby so dang huge in comparison to the soffit on which it sits or making the decision to just ignore the fact that the sprinkler head looks like another "o" in lobby. The Marous Brothers Construction Looby. I don't know what that is. I do know that I am concerned about the thinking on what is good finish quality at this point, on what is acceptable and what is just good enough to "get by".

Heck, spring for a concealed head or something. I mean, it has your NAME on it. Right there. In BIG friggin' letters.

Screw walking, take the F**King bus!

It never fails to amaze me, when public ways are intruded upon with a complete disregard for what the purpose or use of the public way was in first place. The following are examples of a strange predicament that has occurred during the installation of the Euclid Corridor project.

Placement of street furniture and bus stop accoutrement has made it impossible for the city to plow the copious amounts of snow from not only around the bus stop, but also the walkway past it. Here the plow operator just gave up after forming a nice little barricade directly in the pathway.
Here the sidewalk plow was able to snake around some of the light posts, which are cleverly organized to randomly occur along the sidewalk path. It probably makes using a wheelchair more fun and challenging!
The plow person probably took one look at this gauntlet and quit. The random sporadic orientation of the various posts may be some strange commentary on the correlation between the urban environment and the forest but I doubt it. I know I enjoyed twisting the hell out of my ankle though. I would have walked in the street but my mother taught me that people belong on the sidewalk, vehicles belong in the street. Those of us at SBS are very courteous and obedient.
The public goes through the station instead of attempt to circumvent it. (there is hardly any walkway room to go around anyway). The benches (out in the elements) are fantastic low hurdles and the single solitary trash can creates a fantastic dialogue with the strange signage thing that blocks the view from inside the station (but not the wind!).
I want someone to tell me why a bike rack is located here. Who the heck is going to park their bike at this location? This photo is taken from under a bridge, the rack is in a complete blind spot. Probably one of the least safe feeling places around. I can't imagine anyone locking their bike up to take the bus going east (away from University Circle) down Euclid. I suppose it is a safer place to put your bike if you get a flat... The poor fire hydrant stands guard.

To summarize:
- In Cleveland it snows. Probably a lot. When you locate things on public walkways you may hinder more than just pedestrian traffic, you may completely impede the ability to keep the walkway passable.
- Putting things in public way is generally a poor idea and should be seriously considered before undertaking. That being said try to coordinate whatever you HAVE to put in the public way so as to avoid a convoluted mess such as the above.

I wish this were an isolated incident but I assure you it is not. This happens quite a few times along the new Corridor's path along Euclid. Enough that it seems almost deliberate.

...but most of the time things stay just as sucky.

("things change" is the art/impedance to the plowing from the first picture)

Google Map Location

One of these things does not belong...

Despite the expected accolades from the typical (seemingly uninterested) parties one should start to question the validity or recreating/reinventing an urban streetscape without attempting to solve the continued issued of updating and streamlining infrastructure. This particular photo is a little late being taken over the summer when the Euclid Corridor was having it's sidewalk installed around East 9th and Euclid. Next to the Porta-john are two of the many above ground electrical cabinets which pepper and infringe upon the sidewalk adding to the massively uncoordinated hodgepodge of obsticles pedestrian are expected to avoid. One wonders from where did these sudden metal stalewarts emerge? Well, most of them used to be located within underground vaults, out of site and out of the way. Perhaps (admittidly) a little more difficult to access for maintenance and no doubt more expensive but I am curious what inherent statement is being proclaimed. Either Cleveland doesn't give a shit about it's appearance or Cleveland is too imcompetant to coordinate a streetscape project that involves ONE STREET. Not a huge city masterplan, not a neighborhood redevelopment plan but one freakin' street.

Even Public Square, that celebrated "image" of the city, arguably Cleveland's front door (if one were to take public transportation to get downtown or park in the copious adjacent surface parking) is randomly peppered with unattractive metal cabinets, usually positioned in such a way as to form a cohesive chokepoint with lamp posts.

Some may be concerned that SBS is overly sensitive about this but to be honest SBS is relatively sick of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio's management insulting good taste, competence and logic by continuously rushing to poor decisions or simply not caring. It says nothing positive for our region or inhabitants if this is us "putting our best foot forward". In fact it makes us look like a bunch of unsophisticated asses.

Exhaust vent design element

At first glance I assumed that a Dalek was hiding or trapped behind this simple wooden fence assembly (remember their biggest downfall was that they couldn't climb stairs) but upon further inspection it became evident that this particular structure was an exhaust vent for some mechanical unit.

The word of the day for this particular example is going to be 'coordination'. I don't particularly know how one could miss a structure of this size in the middle of the plaza (even during CD phase) and I sure can't figure out when the engineer who placed it here lost all sense of aesthetic sensibility or which contractor shrugged his shoulders and said "Sure, whatever." during construction but someone should have noticed this, asked about it and resolved the issue.

I will update with a zip code when I figure out where this is.