August Fluker News Today

Cleveland planning commissioners approved plans for three new buildings at the Cleveland Clinic, but challenged the institution to do better in designing public spaces.

The approval means the Rock Hall is on schedule for the groundbreaking of the expansion and renovation late this summer or early fall.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's proposed expansion toys with the museum's iconic record player view from above, according to plans reviewed by the Cleveland City Planning Commission. It also enhances green space as a public park, while doing much of the expansion below ground.

The project is part of the “Innovation District,” an effort to create jobs in research and health care technology. But planning commission members are calling for more consideration of how Fairfax residents will be able to access and engage with the innovation taking place there.

Improvements for the sidewalks around access to Bedrock's retail center entrances on Public Square, Prospect Avenue and its May Co. apartments are designed to make the area feel more connected and pedestrian-friendly.

The developers of the Stokes West project received key approvals on Friday, July 1, after spending three months in limbo.

In Cleveland, the debate over whether the holdings of nonprofit hospitals should be exempt from property tax are informed by the racism and redlining.

For years, hospitals and public policy wonks have been engaged in an ongoing debate over whether nonprofit hospitals provide adequate benefits to the community to make the tax breaks they receive a good deal for taxpayers. That debate is further complicated by the history of racist policies like redlining that still affect Clevelanders today.

While applauding the project, city review bodies urged the company and its consultants to pay more attention to the pedestrian experience.

The 253-unit proposal on Stokes Boulevard met with dramatically different responses from a city design-review committee and the Cleveland City Planning Commission. Members of the commission pushed the developers to preserve the only remaining building on the block, a stretch of rowhouses that have been sitting vacant since late 2017.