WHO ASKED FOR THIS NEW FREEWAY, ANYWAY??

As promised in the previous posting, I am continuing my comments about the proposed destruction of the Broadway Mills Building and the Central Viaduct fragments alongside it. Posted with this is another photo, this time a close-up, showing just two of the six expertly carved medallions on the Broadway Mills Building. Also, today, I'd like to ask a question that I don't think anyone's asked: Whose idea was it, anyway, to "improve" the Innerbelt? I know that I wasn't asked, and I never heard about anyone being asked. Do we really need to "improve" the Innerbelt, in the first place? Or, is this just another bureaucratic-invented project created to give expensive jobs to construction companies?? This project, to me, has the same foul 'smell' as the Euclid Corridor Project [what exactly is 'wrong' with public transit on Euclid Avenue, anyway?]. Is anyone aware of what freeway construction has done to Los Angeles? I think that it's the Innerbelt that should be demolished. What about replacing it with something similar to that 'boulevard' plan suggested for the West Shoreway? Bottom line: Cleveland has had far, far, far too much history destroyed in the name of 'Progress' (or 'Improvement'). Destroying our History is too large a price to pay. Period.

MORE LOCAL HISTORY TO BE LOST FOR FREEWAYS???

With this post is a photo of a building built as a flour-mill in 1894, designed by architect John N. Richardson. Historically, it is known as the Broadway Mills building. It is located in Cleveland, Ohio, near the Cuyahoga River industrial-valley and, more pertinently, very near a freeway. Plans are now afoot to "re-do" that freeway. Details just lately being revealed include -- what else?? -- the "need" to DESTROY nearby buildings, including the Broadway Mills building. Although the image with this posting does not really show details, there are medallions made of either stone or terra-cotta, along an upper floor, that depict grains, plus there are two more medallions that provide the year of construction. Cleveland architecture has suffered greatly because of freeways. We've lost irreplaceable Euclid Avenue mansions, and both the Brooklyn Centre and Tremont historic neighborhoods have been bisected -- just to mention a very few examples. An attempt by the Cleveland Landmarks Commission to landmark this building is presently being made. Meanwhile, certain local activists are already getting media publicity on this, and related, freeway plans. Freeway projects need to consider the damage they may cause to a community's history. It's a 'bigger picture' than just this one building that really matters. Look for a couple more postings, with other photos, of this building, soon.