Mark Oprea
Cleveland Scene
Cleveland, OH, United States
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Past articles by Mark:
Without Local Historic Landmark Status, Outlook of Cleveland's Greyhound Station Could Be Grim
When Downtown's Greyhound bus station was sold earlier this, the $1.72 million transaction occurred amidst a flourishing time for center city building conversions. Cleveland was recently cited on a national list of cities leading the conversion of office buildings into residential units. → Read More
Bibb Appoints Two Transit Riders to RTA Board
After years of advocacy from transit boosters imploring local officials to put transit riders on the RTA board, Cleveland mayor Justin Bibb has done just that. The assignment by Mayor Bibb places Calley Mersmann, the city's first senior strategist of transit and mobility, and Jeff Sleasman, a biomed tech executive, in a prime position to influence future decision making at RTA. → Read More
Cleveland Has Doubled Down on Collections of Unpaid City Income Taxes
The letters from the Cleveland Division of Taxation began arriving en masse late last year to those who owe back taxes, or haven't filed at all in recent years, and haven't stopped. While the city continues to try and rope back suburban office workers to their former Downtown offices, the city has been amping up efforts to collect as much unpaid income tax as it can. → Read More
Loren Naji Sues INTRO Developer and Panzica Construction After His 3,000-Pound Sculpture Disappeared From Ohio City
Artist Loren Naji's first foray into artistic time capsules was intended to be his longest-lasting work yet. Called "They Have Landed," the 3,000-pound, hollow sphere made from 192 layers of plywood took the multidisciplinary sculptor and abstract painter a year and half to build. → Read More
RTA Launches 'Microtransit' Experiment In Solon to Bring Riders 'To The Front Door' of Jobs
The first-mile, last-mile pilot program has a new shuttle dropping riders off directly at nearby employers → Read More
Impossible Art, a Gen Z-Run Creative Experiment, Aims to Liven Up Hingetown Arts Scene
The glass-wrapped storefront on the corner of West 29th and Detroit Avenue has long been a sort of retail front door to Ohio City's Hingetown enclave, housing, in recent years, home goods, cyclist gear, and a Lululemon pop-up. Starting this Friday, it's going to be home to something entirely different. → Read More
Euclid Beach Mobile Home Residents Fret About Future After Plans Announced to Boot Them, Turn Land Into Park
It was 2008 when Connie Fredericy and her husband David moved into the Euclid Beach Mobile Home Park, drawn both by the community and the proximity to the water. Fredericy had been living in a home on Wendell Avenue, on Cleveland's east side, and cleaning offices for a living. → Read More
West Side Market Nonprofit Board Announced, Master Plan Unveiled
A consultant laid out many suggestions that have been tossed around for years → Read More
The Tea Lab Closes Its Downtown Location at the 5th Street Arcades
The Tea Lab, a mainstay for fans of loose leaf and all things tea, announced Tuesday afternoon that it is permanently closing its downtown location in the 5th Street Arcades. The company, which opened up its postcard-sized, 200-square-foot storefront in 2014, will still operate its Lakewood counterpart. → Read More
Jury Sides With Backyard Pizza Oven Owners in Cleveland Heights Lawsuit
It took the jury less than a half hour to decide that Paul Schambs' oven on Grandview was not a public nuisance → Read More
As REI Delays Beachwood Union Election, Disgruntled Employees Continue To Call Out Union Busting
About half of the 55 workers were excluded from a potential union vote → Read More
North Collinwood CDC Puts the Historic La Salle Theatre Up for Sale
In 1917, shortly after the close of World War I, Italian-born architect Nicola Petti was hired to design 11 theaters to be built in the Cleveland area. They were to be spectacular buildings in the Neo-Classical Revival style popular at the time, an aesthetic to capture Cleveland's growing population of families. → Read More
Dodging Strike, Cleveland Snowplowers, Laborers Win Wage Increase In New Contract With City
Teamsters 507 claims overdue win for essential workers → Read More
Neighbor's Battle Over Cleveland Heights Couple's Backyard Pizza Oven Goes to Trial This Week — and Sets a Street on Edge
It was soon after Paul Schambs starting dating and fell for Mary Lynne Newsome that he actualized his longtime idea of building a wood-fired pizza oven in his backyard. After some months of planning and assemblage, Schambs, a craftsman by trade in his early 60s, completed the project in May 2017. → Read More
Clevelanders For Public Transit Challenge City, Cuyahoga County Leaders: Go Carless for a Week
The seven-day test coincides with a rally on Public Square and calls for better funding for transit → Read More
Study Says Downtown Cleveland Among Slowest Recovering in Country in Covid Aftermath, But DCA Disputes Data
The report puts Downtown Cleveland second to last among 62 urban metros → Read More
University Circle Inc. Selects Arizona Nonprofit Exec As New President
As Chris Ronayne was ceremoniously sworn in as Cuyahoga County executive last weekend, his former employer announced the next person to take his seat. Kate Borders, director of the Downtown Tempe Authority in Arizona, will become the president of University Circle, Inc., and start in June. → Read More
Downtown Cleveland Has Seven Subway Restaurants In a One-Mile Radius. Why Is That?
There are three every other block on Euclid Avenue, to start somewhere. Three every block north on Superior, one in the Warehouse District, and the shell of another in Tower City's restaurant graveyard. → Read More
Search for Next CMSD CEO Begins With Common Public Sentiment: We Want Someone Like Eric Gordon
What particular qualities should the CEO of an urban school system of 37,000 students possess? What values should he or she champion? → Read More
Cleveland Extends E-Scooter Hours Until 11 P.M. — Finally and Mercifully
Attention: Those who've yearned to skip the car and take a Bird home from a Cavs/Guardians game, dinner, or as a connector from RTA after work, you now have that opportunity at a more reasonable hour. Starting next week, on Jan. 27, Clevelanders will be able to activate the Bird, Lime and LINK e-scooters parked around town all the way until 11 p.m. → Read More