By Joe Baur
A few months ago, Jon Stahl and his idea for a Cleveland SkyLift tickled the imagination and ire of Clevelanders.
The skylift is billed as an aerial cable car system that connects you to Cleveland’s waterfront so we can enjoy and explore our city. Some fell in love with the idea, others laughed it out of the proverbial room. But everyone has seemed to agree that it will never happen. In other words, this town has seen more grandiose plans come and go than there are parking spots in the Warehouse District.
Stahl, however, showed himself to be serious when he purchased a gondola dressed in Cleveland SkyLift colors and took it around town talking to any media outlet that would listen. In an interview with WKYC, Stahl said, “We call it ‘transportainment.’ We have transportation and we have entertainment. And we think getting around the waterfront you should take in everything Cleveland has to offer.”
Therein lies the problem many, myself included, have with Stahl’s vision. That is, what appears to be a lack of understanding of transportation in Cleveland.
Fact is Cleveland is already connected to the waterfront via transportation. RTA recently reopened their Waterfront Line fulltime to give Clevelanders access to some of the amenities Stahl frequently lists, like Browns Stadium, the Science Center and the Rock Hall. Sure there are some gaps, such as the SkyLift’s proposed route to better connect Downtown to Wendy Park, but there are solutions much more affordable and universally beneficial than an estimated $200 million tram system.
I admire Stahl and his partners’ passion for doing something for Cleveland, and I appreciate his willingness to reach out to experts in designing the route and seeing his dream come to fruition. But part of the problem, as I see it, is that Stahl is coming from the perspective of the exurban Clevelander. He lives in Kirtland, drives to work and drives home. His understanding of transportation and life in Cleveland is inherently limited.
That said, I’m not one to dismiss anyone who wants to think big in Cleveland. I’d rather help direct that passion toward something tried and tested to be universally beneficially for our most important customer — residents. How about the Cleveland Streetcar?
The Cleveland Streetcar is a little known non-profit around town that is pushing a plan that claims to save RTA and Clevelanders money in the long run. With their plan, which includes eliminating select bus routes for streetcars, they estimate up to a 54 percent reduction in operating costs, saving RTA $19 million in operating costs, and spending just $11 million to operate the streetcar. That’s a cool $8 million in net savings.
I’ll be the first to admit that I lack the industry knowledge to verify these numbers. But they’re numbers and plans worth considering. Not to mention planned and operating streetcars in Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Atlanta have already brought in millions in economic development.
These are tested ideas that Cleveland badly needs to consider. And while some may say the Cleveland SkyLift is a private idea, they’re looking to take a considerable chunk out of public land and airspace. So rather than thinking up a tourist playground that will do little for city residents, I hope Stahl and his colleagues reach out to the Cleveland Streetcar folks. Together, perhaps they can do something incredible for a city that deserves the same.
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.
4 Responses to “Cleveland SkyLift: Downtown Dream Or Nightmare?”
Howard
I’ll admit that plans for the sky lift system are as vague as they are lofty, but not nearly as much as this extremely grassroots effort for a streetcar system, which I would hope you’d know is also under the more common name light rail.
Where have you been in the last 20 years when The Health Line — originally a subway proposal, then a light rail, then a BRT– was conceived and came to fruition? That was our one wad that was shot to boost mass transit WITHIN the city core. Considering the bang for the buck, it’s a respectable effort. It’s also a miraculous effort considering this area’s knee-jerk response to ANY mass transit inititative.
In fact, The Healthline BRT is considering one of the most fruitful mass transit efforts in America. And it has almost every on of the trolley attributes listed in the trolley-proposal website you mentioned.
More importantly, actual studies (not wishful-thinking websites) have stressed that the return on the dollar for Cleveland’s BRT easily eclipses Portland’s light rail/trolley system because of the latter’s utter high costs.
Kansas City and Cincinnati have built or are building their systems in transportation voids. Building a comparable system — which would have to include outlying neighborhoods to even make sense, would simply be redundant.
Hey, I love rail, too. The utter theatricality should be the end-all. But I have to face the facts: The Healthline makes the most sense for Cleveland because of its strong linear focus. Motorized trolleys already cover the secondary routes from the downtown mass-transit hub; good luck convincing Clevelanders to invest more taxes just to call the wheels steel rather than rubber.
Considering Cleveland has had a genuine heavy-rail mass transit system since the 1930s, has had the first rail connection to the airport of any American city and has the only gold-rated BRT system in this country — with cities from Europe, Asia and the Middle East researching our success — Cleveland should not be imitating tired light-rail/trolley systems in Kansas City.
Our focus should be encouraging development and use along existing rail and BRT access. By all means, hop on the RTA trolleys; they’re FREE. And if someone wants to build a NON-redundant skywalk, all the better.
Howard
Sorry; I meant “sky LIFT” (don’t wish to strike a nerve).
jeff
This is not a good idea. It is ugly. It is an eyesore on the waterfront. It is a gimmick that will fail. It will make Cleveland a laughing stock. The main question is, who will ride this? there is no need for anyone to ride it. it’s like Springfield getting an monorail. there is no point to this monstrosity. Also, the building of this will hinder plans for development in the future. stop wasting money on BS projects and focus on something real.
Howard
That’s virtually the same commentary people always give new ideas. I read something like that when St. Louis built its iconic arch, which transformed one of the most blah skylines of any American city into one of the most recognizable.
A skylift is in fact used for mass transit in New York. Visitors uses sky lifts regularly; hence, their presence in virtually every theme park in America.
The creators here are simply taking it one step further. I fail to see how tourists and visitors traversing in the air would be more unsightly than piles of ore on the lakeshore. Someone thinking outside the box. You’re clearly not. We’ve been doing Cleveland your way for too long. Doesn’t work.