A funny thing happened on my lunch break yesterday. I was walking along the riverfront, near the Settler’s Landing RTA station, when I came across a strange creature. A tourist—backpack, sneakers, glasses and all—stopped and asked me for directions. He didn’t really know where he was going. He just wanted to get on a train and go somewhere.
Of course, I thought I could help. Plenty of people have come to visit me in this great town, and I’ve never run out of places to show them (at least not in a 48-hour period). I started running down the list: He’d been to the Rock Hall, University Circle, Little Italy, Coventry (or, as he called it, “Something Heights”). He wasn’t hungry, so the West Side Market was out. He’d been downtown, and obviously wasn’t impressed. Now he was on a greater quest.
“I just want to see, you know, where people actually live,” he said.
Oh dear.
Neighborhoods. We have plenty of those, right? But were there any, besides those he’d already seen, that he could walk around? Or find on a train?
My first thought was Tremont. Great neighborhood — art galleries, coffee shops and a cute little park. He’d love it. And it passes for a place where people actually live. But how to get there? Despite the fact that our public transit system was recently named the Best on the Continent, it doesn’t go many places. The closest RTA stop to Tremont is at West 25th Street, not exactly a short jaunt from Lincoln Park.
I had no idea what to tell the poor guy. He seemed to have Cleveland confused with a functioning, walkable city. Feebly pointing in the direction of Public Square, I instructed him to catch the next train to Tower City, switch to the red line, and ask for help there.
Here in the Paris of the Rust Belt, that’s apparently the best we can do. — Lisa Rab
This article appears in Oct 3-9, 2007.
You’ve neglected to mention Shaker Square. Shaker Square offers plenty of good restaurants and it’s a great place to walk around. Also you can get there by either the blue or green line
I’ll keep it short:
A transit system is more than trains. Have you ever seen those things that are big and long like a train, but instead are on rubber wheels and drive in the road, and say “RTA” on the side. Its called a Bus, try them out sometime.
Community Circulators – the smaller shuttlebus style vehicles – they actually DO circulate around communities. In this case, the 807 picks up at the West 25th Rapid station. It may not be a direct train stop but it gets you to/from Tremont.
Believe it or not, people in Cleveland utilize them and shockingly so do some tourists. It amazes me that journalists will write some anecdotal story without taking time to research the facts. Don’t blame RTA for your being ignorant about their services. Do your homework – http://www.riderta.org
^The RTA site is http://www.riderta.com.
Lisa, do you know much about Cleveland? The redline takes you to two of the cities most interesting and vibrant neighborhoods–Little Italy and Ohio City. And the Blue and Green lines take you to one of the most densely populated areas between of NYC and Chicago–Shaker Square. Did you forget that the Green line runs all the way down Shaker Blvd through Shaker Heights? The redline also takes you near the southeast portion of Lakewood and through Detroit-Shoreway and West Park. Lisa, why so much useless and baseless negativity?
Yes Lisa, seems to me your the one thats flawed. This article was a waste of space.
Interestingly, people sometimes visit the West Side Market even when they’re not ravenous. Oh, and as a note, Lisa. See those buildings running down W. 25th and Fulton and Bridge, etc.? Those establishments are businesses … in close proximity to the Ohio City rapid station … and strangely enough, some of them sell items other than food. And by my count, there are 44 rapid stops (which will relatively soon be supplemented with a nice collection of BRT stops, as well). Now, I wouldn’t throw tourists down just anywhere in that mix, but the EcoVillage station seems worthwhile … if he’s already got his backpack on, a stroll through the Eco Village/Gordon Square District seems worthwhile. And what about Shaker Square?! Not to mention that he could, as others have mentioned, hop a bus to Tremont … or Asiatown … or Edgewater … in about the same amount of time as most train trips. It appears like his biggest mistake wasn’t running into someone familiar with the transit system; instead, he ran into a member of the snide, self-congratulatory and defeatist local media. But kudos on giving him a taste of something unique to Cleveland … exposure to a pathos that nothing is ever good enough, even when the American Public Transportation Association says otherwise. Keep up the good work, and keep spreading the love.