Two girls in pink play idly, making castles or whatnot in the sand volleyball courts tucked between Nuevo Modern Mexican & Tequila Bar and Lake Erie. Bright blue skies and 70-degree temperatures have drawn plenty of folks to the East Ninth Street Pier and Voinovich Park on this September Sunday. Couples relax on the benches, a family takes pictures with the script Cleveland sign and packs of teens wander in search of Pokemon.
On days like this, it’s easy to understand the pull of the shoreline as something more than a place for museums and stadiums. “The lakefront is a lakefront for the people,” says former city planning director and current president of University Circle Inc. Chris Ronayne in this month’s feature “On the Waterfront.”
For years after it was released, I had Ronayne’s 2004 Waterfront District Plan thumbtacked above my desk. I loved the aspirational appeal of a 35 mph boulevard along the West Shoreway, a reimagined Edgewater Park and new places to live, picnic, walk and swim stretching all along the water. Yet, it’s taken almost 12 years for the civic, political and economic tides to come in.
Many Clevelanders are focusing their attention on what’s happening at North Coast Harbor, where developer Richard Pace is preparing to move ahead on apartments and street-level retail near Nuevo. A second phase with more apartments, office space and a school could begin as early as next year if all goes well.
To the west, the $95 million Shoreway project has already spurred residential development in the Gordon Square Arts District, a quick walk from a new-look Edgewater Park.
But to the east, Ronayne and others see the greatest opportunities. It’s where developer Fred Geis has proposed an outlet mall and the Lakefront Greenway project hopes to build trails along North and South Marginal roads to connect neighborhoods.
A bike ride along much of that stretch now feels cut off from the water by Burke Lakefront Airport — it’s more in tune with the cars on the interstate than with the lake. Except for the sheep tending to a vacant lot near East 55th Street, it’s a lonely trek out to the vibrant East 55th Street Marina and its fishing pier, restaurant and expansive views.
But we need to keep riding the wave of innovation if we want the lakefront to work as a shimmering example of who we are as a city. We must make connections to Lake Erie all along the shore — not just in ports along the way — and make the castles we choose to build reflect our aspirations for something greater.