Today 8/3/2008, Chris Ronayne gets a front page editorial [1] on the Forum page of the Plain Dealer. Chris lives in Cleveland and drives to work every day. I know his commute, because I made a similar commute when I worked at Metrohealth Hospital in the eighties.* My drive time? Ten minutes from University Circle to Metrohealth Hospital. Sure, sometimes, it was 15-20 minutes, if traffic held me up, or, if it took forever to get out of the parking lot, but I literally made the commute every day with my eyes closed. It scared me so much to realize that I was driving in a trance, that I committed myself to public transportation.
Driving is hypnotic. Are we all so hypnotized that we don't realize the reality? Why did we invest in the Euclid Corridor to just duplicate the effort in a superhighway for the rich folk? Parallels astound me. Also, in the Plain Dealer today, the Travel section highlights the stops along NEO's real Opportunity Corridor--the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Ohio and Erie Canal. [2] What should be a major stop on the trail? Metrohealth Hospital--also featured in the editorial pages of today's paper.
So, what's the real opportunity?
The easy answer?--Make both employment hubs liveable and walkable and appealing destination neighborhoods for the nearby families that depend on the health services and the employees, who work at both the Clinic and University Hospitals and Metrohealth.
The predictable NEO reaction?--
Pour more concrete.(*why did I live in University Circle?--I was young and wanted some place fun-- close to arts and music. Also, I originally thought I would be working at CWRU's campus not at Metro.)
Links:
[1] http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1217665933316100.xml&coll=2
[2] http://blog.cleveland.com/travel/2008/08/inns_along_ohios_towpath_trail.html