By Joe Baur
Months ago I sat down with downtown stakeholders with an interest in seeing the Horseshoe Casino skywalk built. It was clear early on we weren’t there to have our ideas heard. Rather, we were there so our opponents could say they met with us. They went through their presentation, the skywalk unchanged despite calls from residents to drop or significantly alter the plan.
I was hardly surprised. The Mayor of Pittsburgh warned us before we Ohioans voted on the gambling issue that the casino folk would overpromise on revenue. When that revenue came up short, as has been constantly reported, the casino would see it as justification to ask for amenities in order to meet their original goal. Again, a goal that was set before the public was made aware of their plans. Not to be cynical, but anyone who is even remotely familiar with casino dealings know the skywalk and parking garage was a done deal from the beginning. We were told the casino would keep with the urban character of Downtown Cleveland to make the whole idea of turning a cherished piece of Cleveland history, the Higbee Building, into a gaudy casino more palatable.
On Friday, construction began on the skywalk.
Looking back, there’s one part of the meeting that really stuck with me. It wasn’t the presentation or the revelation that a significant player in Downtown development lives in the very exurbs that have historically sucked wealth out of Cleveland. It was their universal agreement that today’s good trends justify tomorrow’s bad decisions.
Of course I’m sure they don’t see it that way.
Repeatedly we were told about downtown’s comeback. “More residents live here than at any point in Cleveland’s history!” The suggestion being that these stakeholders have clearly had downtown’s best interests at heart, and supporting the skywalk was absolutely no different.
Downtown has been on a magnificent upswing. There’s no disputing it. And sure, various organizations have come together to instill positive change in our urban core. But that hardly justifies approving a skywalk that local and national media have questioned along with residents.
Some have hope that future leaders will take the skywalk down. It is, after all, supposedly a reversible project. But here’s how the casino is going to get away with it for the foreseeable future.
Before news hit that the skywalk started construction Friday came terrific news that Heinen’s is coming downtown to the historic Ameritrust complex. The fledgling neighborhood will finally have a major grocery store of its own. This after news that the May Company building will be turned into apartments, and the East Ohio Building is finally moving ahead with apartments of its own.
We’ll also likely see the complete redevelopment of Public Square during the casino skywalk’s inevitable lifetime. Regardless if the skywalk was built or not, these projects were going to happen, bringing more people and vibrancy downtown. And I suspect the skywalk’s political and financial supporters knew that.
In five years, arguments that the skywalk is bad for vibrancy will be watered down, because the area will naturally have more residents and more activity thanks to the aforementioned projects. Of course it won’t happen because of the skywalk, but rather in spite of it.
Experts in urban planning have agreed across the board that skywalks are generally bad for cities, especially single-purpose skywalks like that of the Horseshoe Casino. Rather than listening to these experts, our leaders have opted to satisfy Dan Gilbert’s casino needs, knowing the outcome of the other projects will likely keep Clevelanders happy enough.
Bringing down the skywalk will be difficult. The argument will have to shift to what downtown could have been without the skywalk. Because despite folks like Councilman Cimperman calling us, his constituents, “tempest in teapot,” painting us as some crazy Biblical crowd predicting the end of the world, we know Downtown Cleveland will move on regardless of the skywalk. There’s never been any doubt within the anti-skywalk crowd. We just know Downtown can be better. We know we should be able to look at the history of urban planning mistakes, of which skywalk plays a key role, and not make them again. We know Cleveland has the best chance of grabbing the key Millennial demographic by turning away from outdated policies.
Sadly, our leaders would rather capitalize on the cash cow of the present as the city traditionally has done over several decades. In the meantime, they’ll take credit for a trend that’s happening across the country – Millennials and empty-nesters moving back to the urban core. They’ll say, “I told ya so” when people continue moving downtown despite the skywalk.
Somehow, we’ll have to take solace in the fact that we know Downtown could have been and will be better when our leaders finally listen to young people in this city, and the skywalk comes down. Though this is admittedly difficult when the casino’s current list of casualties consists of the Columbia Building, the Stanley Block, and now the architectural integrity of a Cleveland staple, a place where Clevelanders of all walks of life used to congregate in anticipation of Old St. Nick, the Higbee Building.
Joe Baur is a freelance writer, filmmaker and satirist with a diverse array of interests including travel, adventure, craft beer, health, urban issues, culture and politics. He ranks his allegiances in the order of Cleveland, the state of Ohio and the Rust Belt, and enjoys a fried egg on a variety of meats. Joe has a B.A. in Mass Communication with a focus on production from Miami University. Follow him at http://JoeBaur.com and on Twitter @BaurJoe.
3 Responses to “Why The Skywalk Won”
Evan
I respect Joe Baur’s passion for downtown vibrancy, but I am still unconvinced that the garage connection will be any more of a detriment than the similar skywalk that connects The Q to its premium parking facility, which is actually closer to the heart of the new East Fourth Street pedestrian center than the one going up two blocks to the east.
On any major game day or concert day, folks are crowding the bars and nightlife of this area of downtown Cleveland, not mindlessly traversing back and forth on a connector that goes ONLY to limited Q parking.
I have a hunch that when actual city planners complain that the “limited” skywalks are the most detrimental, they mean the half-baked skywalk “systems” that cities such as Cincinnati unsuccessfully installed.
These were haphazardly and unthinkingly instituted in vein attempts to emulate Minneapolis’s complex, organically created system that — in spite of their potential drain of street life — actually helped its downtown survive during the terrible decades of suburban sprawl and unsightly shopping malls.
Again, in Cleveland’s case, we are talking about a single connection to a limited, premium garage facility. Too much has been made over this. Cleveland really doesn’t have a problem with a real skywalk system to begin with — because it does’t exist here.
I know people will want to wipe the floor with me for saying so, but I think the recent skywalk counter-trend is just as unthinking as the trend that resulted in Cincinnati throwing together its ill-conceived skywalk system (which has since been taken down). We are now conditioned to think any and all skywalks are urban pariahs (even though they can be found everywhere from ancient China to Renaissance Italy),
But that doesn’t have to be the case. I look at it another way: The over-wide, pedestrian-unfriendly Ontario street between the casino parking/welcome center and the casino is so innately dull and lifeless, so full of disparate buildings and styles, a skywlk might actually deflect from this utter “dis-connectivity.” It might even enhance the concept of a “casino district” centralization. I would ask folks to get just a little bit beyond the urban-planning academic rhetoric and soundbits of right now.
In the mean time, nothing is stopping more businesses, restaurants , lodging and housing from developing in downtown Cleveland. The skywalk is a done deal, so lets just make the most of it … by making the least of it.
Derek
Evan is right on. If there was a skywalk that connected the casino to the E 4th district, the Warehouse district, or the Convention Center, this would be a different issue. It’s a system of connected skywalks that is problematic to city vibrancy. This one skywalk connecting one parking garage to the casino will not affect very much at all. If people want to just go to the casino and no where else, they will just walk across the street to the casino, via a crosswalk or skywalk, and then go home the same way without visiting any other place. Anyone who is coming down to visit the casino and the other amenities of downtown will be walking or taking the free trolleys to and from the restaurants/bars and other attractions. The skywalk does not deter anyone from visiting these other areas. Those using the skywalk are the users who would have just crossed the street or taken the casino shuttle and have no desire to visit other parts of the city. I also believe proximity is a huge factor in why this skywalk will have little effect. We are talking about such a small distance of outdoor pedestrian traffic that is lost due to this skywalk; it’s basically less than one block distance. If the skywalk was connecting the casino to parking structures much farther away then it would have a much more detrimental effect. I’d say the indoor connections that RTA/Tower City has with the Q are more detrimental because it funnels people much farther.
The real tangible argument against the skywalk is its defacing of the historic Higbee building facade and the views of the city down Ontario St that will be obstructed due to the skywalk.
William Busta
The viewscape down Ontario to the County Courthouse, as you enter the downtown, expresses (like all cultural landscapes) the values of the community. Poised at an entry to the downtown of Cleveland, the skywalk to the casino indicates, obviously and emphatically, that gambling is more important than civic engagement.