Today, the Cleveland Coalition announces the release of its report, “Crooked River Gaming: Weaving the New Casino into Cleveland’s Existing Urban Fabric.”

Read the report HERE

Within the next couple weeks, we will also be launching a new project concerning open government and transparency, “The Cuyahoga County Transparency Project.” Please check back to our site for more information about that and other projects.

The Transparency Action Plan (TAP) Summit will be informed by the principle that meaningful public involvement requires access to information. This principle applies at every level from neighborhood block groups all the way to national and international politics.

The Cleveland Coalition and our partners are committed to facilitating a well-informed, outcome-oriented planning session on the topic of county-level transparency. Advancing this issue requires effective leadership both inside and outside governmental institutions. Our coalition intends to provide meaningful leadership to augment work already being advanced by the Cuyahoga County Executive and Council.

The Transparency Action Plan (TAP) Summit will convene representatives from every major sector whose collaboration and productive exchange of ideas and information is essential to the health of our community. These groups include governmental officials, business leaders, legal professionals, IT professionals, nonprofit practitioners, and community activists.

Over the course of two days, participants will be educated about best practices across the country and the world in the area of transparency, the exciting work already underway at the county level, and current opportunities at the county level for innovation. The bulk of the summit will include planning and design phases during which participants will be tasked with developing a plan for advancing transparent practices and policies in our community.

As the name suggests, the Transparency Action Plan (TAP) Summit is a planning event, and as such will serve as the beginning for a path of dynamic, innovative public participation in the months and years ahead. Please join us July 29-30, 2011 to help articulate a strategy for moving our community forward, and establishing Cuyahoga County as a national leader in the area of government transparency and public engagement.

REGISTRATION AND MORE INFORMATION AVAILABLE AT: TAPSummit.org

The Advisory Board of the Cleveland Coalition reconvened on Sunday to discuss a path of advocacy re the Landmarks Commission’s vote to approve casino designs. The board’s driving commitment is to ensure the casino designs submitted by KA, Inc. and Rock Gaming fulfill everyone’s shared interest in enhancing Cleveland’s existing urban fabric.

The Cleveland Coalition published a report in April (“Crooked River Gaming”) that articulates the design elements we seek for the casino. These recommendations were developed by over 300 Cleveland Coalition members who attended our City Club casino panel discussion and Levin Forum design workshop last year. This report has been and will continue to be a guide for our advocacy.

We seek a meeting with representatives from KA, Inc and Rock Gaming, as well as other community groups with a shared interest in the values we uphold for urban vitality and connectivity.

Please check back to our site for updates on the Landmark’s Commission vote on demolishing the Columbia Building.

Landmark Commission Should Postpone Approval of Demolition of the Historic Columbia Building

Cleveland, OH – May 24, 2011 – The Cleveland Coalition is concerned that the current proposal for a valet parking facility and parking garage does not live up to Rock Ventures’ commitment to integrate the new casino with the existing urban fabric. The Coalition therefore requests that the Landmarks Commission postpone approval of the plan in order to allow sufficient time to consider alternative design proposals. When Rock Ventures initiated planning for the new casino, it assured Clevelanders that the project would be conducted with respect for its downtown setting, and that its design would enhance its surroundings. Rock’s Len Komoroski, quoting Dan Gilbert, stated “The ultimate measure of our success will not be just how well the casino does, but how it impacts downtown.”

Over the course of several months in 2010, the Cleveland Coalition gathered input from national and local experts as well as engaged citizens. The recommendations from these sessions were published in a report released in April 2011. The Cleveland Coalition believes that the designs recently approved by the City Planning Commission (which will be considered by the Cleveland Landmarks Commission on Thursday, May 26, 2011), could have serious negative impacts on the City’s existing urban fabric. More importantly, the plans fail to capture the Casino’s potential to actually enhance the existing urban fabric.

The renderings for the parking facility submitted by Rock demonstrate a willingness to trade irreplaceable aspects of downtown’s urban character in exchange for a short-term gain for the casino project. Lower Prospect Avenue is currently one of downtown’s best-scaled streets and a critical connection between East 4th Street and the casino. The current proposal would create obstacles to the area’s walkability, isolating the block from downtown’s street network. The designs would place several lanes of parking garage traffic directly adjacent to East 2nd Street, creating a more than 80-foot wide obstacle to pedestrians. A wide garage entrance would also be created on the Ontario Street side. In addition, the plan proposes channeling foot traffic into an elevated walkway that would obstruct vistas and terminate with a puncture of the historic Higbee Building. Moreover, the plan asks the public to accept demolition of the landmark Columbia Building, and isolation of the historic Stanley Block, by obliterating its urban context.

Connective elements are not minor issues. Our City is collectively exploring these design goals and beginning to put them into practice through Mayor Jackson’s Group Plan Commission. The Group Plan Commission’s recommendations are primarily focused on creating and improving connectivity. During the Coalition’s first event designed to explore the issue of connecting the new casino with Cleveland’s existing urban fabric, nationally respected casino architect David Schwarz explained, “You always want to build what no one else is building. You want to be new and different. What we concluded was that what’s new and different in Las Vegas was true urbanism. If you really want to create a new environment, it would be an open city, where… pedestrianism and social interaction were valued and created rather than dismissed and discouraged.”

The Cleveland Coalition does not oppose the construction of a garage for the casino, but we think that the proposal can be improved through further design iterations. If Rock and its design team are willing to devote resources to improving their concepts, the facility could provide the casino’s parking requirements while enhancing downtown’s urban fabric. Members of the Landmarks Commission are not stuck between Rock Ventures and a hard place. With a little time and effort, a quality design can be achieved that benefits both downtown Cleveland and the casino. Citizens and those who represent them should take a good hard look at this proposal and ask themselves whether the design adequately connects the casino with the existing urban fabric.

The Cleveland Coalition is a civic organization of Clevelanders working to create and sustain a more vibrant, healthy and connected community by building civic imagination, community participation and leadership capacity. We welcome your thoughts and suggestions. Please visit us at www.clevelandcoaltion.org.

By Laura Johnston

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Optimistic Clevelanders envision a new kind of casino, one that entices families with video games, ushers gamblers onto rooftop patios and offers a shuttle for free tours of downtown.

The suggestions, compiled by the nonprofit Cleveland Coalition and released Thursday, come from 200 experts and concerned citizens who met last year to brainstorm designs for the downtown project.

“We could be a national model if the organizers are willing to look at a new approach,” said coalition member Jason Bristol. “We’d really like to see the casino give back to its host city.”

Article continues here.