Tremont West Development Corporation is pushing a plan to reconfigure W. 14th Street, which for decades has been a busy thoroughfare for residents and commuters, into a more pedestrian- and bike-friendly street that will spur business growth. Under the proposal, the current configuration of two lanes in each direction (plus parking in some places) would be reconfigured to one lane in each direction plus a turning lane. This would create a dedicated parking lane and bike lane.

According to Cory Riordan, Executive Director of Tremont West, the proposal was warmly received by residents and stakeholders at a recent community forum. The next steps are to further refine the plan, respond to feedback and seek funding. Riordan wants to see the project done before the I-90 ramp reopens in 2016.

"Now's the time," he says. "There's an opportunity to reconfigure the street prior to the opening, have traffic calming measures in place and create a new experience."

W. 14th is an uncharacteristically wide street for Tremont. Additionally, it serves as a gateway to the community, yet the majority of businesses are located along Professor Avenue or other side streets. Finally, the street can be both confusing for drivers and hazardous for pedestrians. Riordan believes there's a win-win-win opportunity for drivers, cyclists, pedestrians and businesses.

"We have a crosswalk at St. Augustine Church, but when people drive 50 miles per hour down the road, it's not a very safe crosswalk," he quips. "The bike community has expressed how dangerous they feel W. 14th is."

Depending on the final plan and available funding, there might be opportunities for streetscape enhancements including public art, decorative crosswalks, curb bump-outs and reconfiguration of the Steelyard Commons roundabout.

The good news is that Tremont has seen a transformation of W. 14th Street in recent years from a place considered hard to do business in to a sought-after location. As Professor Avenue storefronts have filled up, W. 14th storefronts have become more valuable. Riordan believes that's a sign of things to come and sees the potential for even more commercial growth along that street.


Source: Cory Riordan
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Larchmere Boulevard might just be Cleveland’s best-kept secret. This classic commercial strip has never earned the attention of Coventry, W. 25th Street or East 4th Street, but it offers one of the best examples of a “complete” neighborhood in the region, chock full of retail and residential within a walkable, transit-friendly neighborhood.

Fresh Water Cleveland is one of 22 publications run by Issue Media Group. Week in and week out, our sister sites cover all the latest news in urban innovation and development. This is the first in a new monthly series that will aggregate top news stories from around our network and profile "What’s Next" for cities.

Since 2001, Cleveland Public Theatre's Big Box program has been fostering original work by independent Northeast Ohio artists by providing access to CPT's resources. Next up for the program is "La Femme," which runs in the James Levin Theatre this weekend. Here's slideshow preview.

Winter shows no signs of abating with the impending arrival of another Polar Vortex and more of that white, fluffy stuff.
 
But have no fear! The Kurents are here. These mythical fuzzy creatures from Slovenia will be out in force this weekend at the second annual Cleveland Kurentovanje, an all-ages festival that seeks to ward off winter with a fun parade and day-long party.

"We have 10 fuzzy Kurents this year, six of which are waiting for us in customs right now," says Michael Fleming, Executive Director of St. Clair Superior Development, the nonprofit agency spearheading improvement efforts in the area, who expects a good crowd. "There's a lot of excitement this year."

Fleming and his co-organizers ordered the outfits directly from the city of Ptuj in Slovenia, which, in case you don't know, is the capitol of all things Kurentovanje.

Cleveland Kurentovanje takes place this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Slovenian National Home on St. Clair, with an after-party set for Sterle's Country House. The parade steps off at noon from St. Vitus Church, and will feature fuzzy Kurents, marching bands from area schools, floats from area businesses, and a DJ Kishka float. Family-friendly activities will take place in the basement of the Slovenian National Home, and kids can also march in the parade.

There will be plenty on tap at the Slovenian National Home, including krofe and sausage sandwiches, wine, beer, music, dance and crafting stations for kids.

Fleming says the Slovenian National Home on St. Clair and Sterle's on East 55th have become focal points for redevelopment activity in the area. The National Home has attracted new tenants including the Slovenian Genealogical Society, a dance studio and a bakery. Sterle's has reinvented itself with additional live music geared towards a younger crowd and an outdoor beer garden, yet it has retained the beer-and-schnitzel atmosphere that has worked for the past half century.


Source: Michael Fleming
Writer: Lee Chilcote

It’s no secret that "destination" development is happening all across Cleveland. But thanks to the diligent work of community development corporations (CDCs), there also is a renewed focus on improving livability for the residents who call their neighborhoods home.

An innovative art installation that transformed empty homes in Columbus into day-long art galleries is coming to Slavic Village.

Rooms to Let: CLE will take place Saturday, May 17 on Forman Avenue. The event promises not only temporary art installations that transform vacant homes into interpretive displays, but also a block party and street tour featuring live music on porches and activities for the whole family.

Ben Campbell, Commercial Development Officer with Slavic Village Development, says he got inspired to bring Rooms to Let to Cleveland after seeing the impact it made in Columbus. He also loves the idea of hiring mostly local artists to help transform the houses. So he partnered with other SVD staff, Zygote Press and Rooms to Let: Columbus to bring the project to vacancy-pocked Slavic Village.

Rooms to Let isn't just an art show in an empty house; the project transforms the house itself into an art installation, transforming telltale signs of abandonment like broken drywall into symbols of fortitude, loss and renewal.

"Among the 11 installations created by 28 artists, visitors will find fabric pushing out of holes in walls, kitchen images painted on the walls of a demolished kitchen and a giant hole in a floor exposing a message on floor joists," Jim Weiker wrote last year in a Columbus Dispatch article. "Structural issues that would have been major flaws in a gallery have been seized upon as artistic opportunities."

Several curators -- Westleigh Harper and Michael Horton of MAKER design studio, Barbara Bachtell of Broadway School of Music & the Arts and artist Scott Pickering -- will select specific artists interested in transforming the abandoned and foreclosed homes. The houses are located in the area surrounding the Slavic Village Recovery project, and they're all slated for eventual rehabilitation.

"Given the larger context of Slavic Village’s unique history and the national attention received in the wake of the American foreclosure crisis, Rooms to Let: Cleveland creates an opportunity to see one of Cleveland’s most historic neighborhoods in new light," touts the project's Facebook page.

Rooms to Let: CLE is supported by a Cuyahoga Arts and Culture project grant.


Source: Ben Campbell
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Jonathon Sawyer, the award-winning chef behind Greenhouse Tavern and Noodlecat, is opening a new restaurant with his wife Amelia. The venue, to be called Trentina, will feature cuisine from the Trento region of northern Italy, where Amelia's family is from. It will open in the former Sergio's space in University Circle in the coming months.

Sawyer describes Trentina as a "passion project" that will allow him to pay tribute to his wife's heritage while introducing the cuisine of Northern Italy to a wider audience.

"I always had an affinity with 'the Boot,' as it were," he says. "When I started Bar Cento, it was really a Roman restaurant in the style of the street mongers of Rome. I didn’t want to repeat that, but I knew my wife’s family had tie-ins with Trento."
 
He traveled there and fell in love. "We subsequently returned -- more than 100 days in past four years, in fact. The thing I keep coming back to is how similar the growing seasons are in Trento and the Cuyahoga Valley. The indigenous people are very similar to the ethnic backgrounds of a lot of Clevelanders; there's Austrian, Swiss, Slovenian… so much more so than just straight-up Italian."

To help fund the restaurant and pay for some extras like a pasta extruder, wood-burning grill and double-sided hearth, Sawyer launched a Kickstarter campaign. The original goal was $21,999, but the project already has exceeded that amount by nearly $10,000 with 18 days still left to go.

So Sawyer set a new, loftier goal: "We want to be the most-funded hospitality Kickstarter campaign in Ohio, whatever that is," he jokes.

Sawyer certainly has earned his fan club, but the campaign rewards also don't hurt. For $100, you can take a cooking class that normally would cost $150. Three hundred bucks buys a cocktail named after you, while $600 gets you meals shipped to your home for six months. The list goes on and on, all the way up to dinner at your house for 20 of "your foodiest friends and family," cooked by the chef himself ($500).

Trentina will offer fine dining with showy tableside service like polenta seared over burning embers. Sawyer says, "For us, it will be the first time we'll be able to accurately portray cuisine with ingredients from just outside our back door."


Source: Jonathon Sawyer
Writer: Lee Chilcote

The historic Terminal Tower offices of the Van Sweringen brothers, the duo that built the iconic skyscraper and the streetcar suburb of Shaker Heights, will soon be occupied by a women-owned consulting firm that helps businesses and organizations embrace a more sustainable future.

BrownFlynn is relocating from Highland Heights to the tower's 36th floor. The firm, which provides sustainability consulting, communications and training, needs more space. The 7,000-square-foot office, boasting panoramic views of the city and located a few flights below the Observation Deck, will be completely renovated by the end of April.

"Clearly, we're committed to the city and want to be part of its vibrancy," says principal Margie Flynn. "We're committed to sustainability and want to make sure we're walking the talk in what we're doing. And the essence of sustainability is really historic preservation."

Flynn says her employees, many of whom live in the city, are very excited about being downtown. The office gives BrownFlynn room to grow, and the firm can welcome out-of-town guests via RTA's Red Line, which stops in Tower City.

"The space has a tremendous amount of natural light," Flynn comments. "We're going to adapt the space as a very open, collaborative work environment."

Vocon is helping to design the space, while Forest City, which owns the Terminal Tower and has been a major player in corporate sustainability nationwide, will facilitate renovations. Instead of reusing the massive corner offices as private suites, as the Vans once did, the principals plan to convert these spaces into open offices to encourage collaboration and stimulate creative thinking.

"The most important thing is to have a very open inviting environment for our team," says Flynn, adding that BrownFlynn could grow from 14 to 21 employees in the coming years to keep up with growing demand for its services.

BrownFlynn secured a job creation grant from the City of Cleveland to help facilitate the move.


Source: Margie Flynn
Writer: Lee Chilcote

In Cleveland, you might recognize the work of Think Media Studios from the Cavs intro videos that they produce. The award-winning Mayfield Heights company also has produced videos for Ohio State University sports teams and companies like Nestle, Progressive Insurance and Parker-Hannifin.
 
But Think Media owner Brian Glazen recently achieved his ultimate goal of establishing a reputation as a filmmaker. His film Fishing Without Nets, a feature about Somali pirates, examined from the perspective of the pirates, went to the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and won the U.S. Dramatic Directing Award. The movie was adapted from a 2012 short film version that also won a jury prize at Sundance.
 
Glazen, a Chagrin Falls native, worked in the film industry in Los Angeles for 10 years before returning to Cleveland in 2003. “When I moved back to Cleveland and started Think Media Studios, I wanted to get into original film work,” he explains. Glazen and his team spent 70 days in Kenya shooting the film using many first-time actors.
 
Glazen wants to continue to build up Cleveland’s reputation for turning out quality movies. “Cleveland’s not the first thing that comes to mind in the film industry,” he says. “But here we are playing Hollywood in our own backyard.”
 
While Think Media Studios continues to produce quality videos for sports teams and businesses, Glazen currently is in talks to shoot two movies and a television show. It’s all still top-secret, but the television project is slated to shoot in Cleveland this summer.
 
“My goal is to have a [film] production company with the work we do in Cleveland,” Glazen says. “We want to tap into original content that we could actually sell and still do the work we do for our clients.”

 
Source: Brian Glazen
Writer: Karin Connelly

When they’re not working their day jobs, Josh Womack and Cameron Amigo are stand-up comedians. While his talents can leave them rolling in the aisles during an open mic night, Amigo was finding that friends were coming to him for help writing those dreaded best man speeches. In demand was advice on how to give that perfect wedding speech that is at once humorous and light, but sentimental and genuine.

After attending eight weddings in three months in spring of 2012, and helping a few friends with their speeches, Womack and Amigo started Laugh Staff the following year. The company writes personalized best man, maid of honor and other speeches.
 
Laugh Staff offers four different speech packages, from "punching up" a customer’s pre-written speech to creating a custom speech from scratch. Womack sends a questionnaire to get all the details about the bride and groom. “We get all the background information before we start typing,” explains Womack. “Every couple has a different story. In 24 to 48 hours, we have a completed speech.”
 
Laugh Staff has a dozen comedians from around the country, and even the world, signed on to write speeches. Womack and Amigo hand pick the comedians based on speeches written as an application. “If people are going to pay money for it, it has to be funny,” Womack says. “If it makes you laugh out loud, if it makes the customer think, no way could I think of this on my own. That’s what we look for.”
 
Womack admits that he's written a majority of the 70 speeches Laugh Staff has sold.
 
Laugh Staff has been commissioned to write speeches for other occasions as well, such as retirement parties and farewell speeches. “A couple of people have reached out and asked us to write their online dating profiles,” says Womack. He’s taken the gig. “If you want someone to actually read it, the content has to be somewhat engaging.”
 
Womack would like to expand into corporate speeches, and even perhaps help a couple of politicians out. Laugh Staff is a win-win situation in Womack’s eyes. “I get a lot of joy in sitting down and writing a speech,” he says. “For the best man and maid of honor, the speech is just something they want to get off their to-do list. It gives them peace of mind that they have something.”

 
Source: Josh Womack
Writer: Karin Connelly