🌊 What’s Cleveland’s lakefront actually for?

Good morning, Cleveland! This is The 216 Scoop: Some 65-year-olds are thinking about slowing down. Mama Santa’s is still serving Little Italy like it just got its driver’s license 🚗💨🍕

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John Petkovic & Jude Perez

The restaurant and bar were packed. But it was the lake that provided the main course and nightcap at Patrick S. Parker Community Sailing Center.

Opened in June, the marina and lakefront walkways have transformed what was once a dead zone into a popular destination.

Decades ago, land that makes up this space and nearby Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve and Gordon Park were industrial dumping grounds.

Now, they provide the path forward.

Plans for the lakefront end up sounding like real estate deals… amphitheaters, hotels, shops, townhouses… a golf course?

(The city has prioritized revenue and tax generation in presentations.)

It’s part of a broader story, where grand commercial plans are floated, planned and stalled.

Just think: There have been 17 plans for the lakefront since 1903.

Natural Resource or Real Estate?

The latest develops 50 acres freed up by the Browns departure into a sprawling lifestyle center.

You know the rest.

DiGeronimo Development has a stellar track record for developments, including Valor Acres in Brecksville.

But Lake Erie is our greatest natural resource – and its natural beauty yields more reliable and enduring benefits than treating it as real estate.

Eighty-five percent of the public wants more lake access. And only 2.7 of Cleveland’s 18.5 miles of lakefront are open to the public.

That’s not to say the lake isn’t a moneymaker.

Chicago’s “Forever Open, Clear and Free” 19^th century principle set aside the city’s most priceless land for public use.

It came with a 21^st century payoff:

Chicago’s lakefront underwrote long-term economic vitality by increasing tourism, property values and the retention of businesses.

More than half of restaurants fail in the first five years, which is why you don’t you don’t enter blindly.

No worries, thought Mama Santa Ignazzito, who was working at Joe’s Café in Little Italy when owner Joe Po decided to sell it.

More than experience, she had the Sicilian family recipes – and they still use them at Mama Santa’s.

Opened in 1961, it is celebrating its 65^th anniversary with the spirit of a teenager.

“I worked with her at Joe’s with my grandma when I was about 10,” says current owner Nino Starvaggi. “I’m not ready to retire yet.”

He was there on Saturday, greeting customers and showing them to tables.

One of the area’s most beloved pizza spots, it’s been in the same family for five generations.

His daughter Nancy took our order.

His wife Pina cooks and works the pasta machine, which cranks out Santa’s iconic, thick spaghetti noodle.

The pastas, cavatelli and lasagna haven’t changed since ’61. Neither has the pizza.

“I shouldn’t be telling you all this; you’re going to know how old I am,” says Nino. “Ah, it’s OK – I still like working here.”

Nvidia. SoftBank. OpenAI.

Mmm, the sound of three AI titans teaming up to build ‘the world’s biggest data center’ in Ohio made politicians roll out the pom-poms.

Five months later, Nvidia isn’t as enthusiastic.

In March, the chipmaker offered to cover any shortfalls if ChatGPT defaulted on lease payments.

Now, not so much: Nvidia has scaled its $250 billion figure to $105 billion.

What’s a few billion among tech bros?

Nvidia is already deeply involved in helping customers finance the AI boom – which has led to accusations that it’s engaged in ‘circular financing.’ (As in, we’ll give you money so you can buy our chips and we’ll record it as profit.)

It has made credit markets uneasy about risk — and the costs of insuring Nvidia’s own debt against default have risen sharply.

Similar fears have hit Google parent Alphabet, Amazon and Meta as capital expenditures to build AI infrastructure overwhelm profits.

With investors starting to ask hard questions about risk, Nvidia is trying to mobilize more than $500 billion of outside capital from third parties for the project.

It’s a pragmatic pullback, but also reveals a new risk in the AI money game.

Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve: For most of the 20^th century, Cleveland used its eastern Lake Erie shoreline as a landfill, polluting it with residential trash, even junked cars and decommissioned ships. In 2005, the city embarked on a revitalization of it. Less than 30 years later, this is a home to lush vegetation, 280 species of birds and stellar views.

Wendy Park: The 22-acre site on Whiskey Island rolls outs bands and parties, not to mention a sweet perch to watch the sun go down. It’s also one of Ohio’s top birding locations.

Edgewater Park:  The largest and most transformed lakefront park, it boasts the beach house, enhanced beaches, trails, the fishing pier, boat launches, picnic areas, and neighborhood linkages (including under the Shoreway). Visitation has surged as the park became cleaner, more programmed, and better connected.

Old Coast Guard Station: It sat alone and abandoned for decades – a beloved, battered and graffiti-covered reminder of Cleveland’s glorious past, on the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. The 1,500-foot pier to it has been repaired, and the Foundry is back operating sailing programs at the station. Still a way to go, but progress at this storied spot.

Euclid Beach: The 315-foot observation pier on this 28.5 acres of greenspace is the draw – and a new trail opens next year.

👉 View Listing on Zillow

Insurance premiums have skyrocketed for bars and restaurants anywhere between 35% and 100% in the last five years.

It poses a challenge for all places, and made business untenable at LBM.

Sad news: The Viking-themed bar-restaurant will close on Oct. 10 – nine years after it opened in Lakewood.

 “We can look back and remember so many beautiful moments that took place in our little bar and we’re so grateful to be a part of your lives,” says a statement.

Hail, hail, raise a goblet to LBM.

Team photo for the 1948 World Champion Cleveland Indians.

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82 °F 🌡️ 75 °F | ☁️ (Cloudy) | 24% | 💨 ↑ ≈ 10 mph SW (≈ 9 knots)

85 °F 🌡️ 75 °F | ☁️ (Mostly Cloudy) | 23% | 💨 ↑ ≈ 11 mph WSW (≈ 10 knots)

89 °F 🌡️ 76 °F | ⛅ (Partly Cloudy) | 19% | 💨 ↑ ≈ 10 mph WSW (≈ 9 knots)

_{Please note that weather conditions can change rapidly. For the most up-to-date information, consider checking a reliable local weather service.}

Home vs. Blue Jays, 6:40 PM September 1 (Tuesday)

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Home vs. Tigers, 2:10 PM September 4 (Friday)

Home vs. Tigers, 7:15 PM September 4 (Friday)

Home vs. Tigers, 6:10 PM September 5 (Saturday)

Home vs. Tigers, 1:40 PM September 6 (Sunday)

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