A 262,000-square-foot, 11-story luxury apartment building is not only the newest addition to the skyline, but the first of its kind in downtown Cleveland—meeting demand for both high-end off-campus student housing and affordable urban apartments for the young professional crowd.
 
Enter the Edge on Euclid (1750 Euclid Ave.), which sits just adjacent to Cleveland State University and Playhouse Square. Along with close proximity to campus and culture, the building also offers a quick commute to schools like Case Western Reserve in University Circle and a central location for recent graduates just launching their careers in Cleveland.

As we head into summer's unofficial kick-off this Memorial Day weekend, Fresh Water takes a closer look at what "Arts & Culture on the Square" will bring to everyone's favorite downtown greenspace.
 

Welcome to the inaugural edition of "Over The River," a monthly calendar of exciting activities taking place throughout the area. Have a fun event you want to share with your fellow Clevelanders? Send us your freshest happenings.

Click here for our May listing, which is full up with a confluence of art and poetry, live mural painting and even a Frog Bride.

An image roundup from points across the 216 full up with Santas and skaters and sparkling holiday finery as captured by Fresh Water's managing photographer Bob Perkoski.

This week marks Fresh Water's sixth birthday and to celebrate, managing photographer Bob Perkoski visually catalogs a few things that came along after our humble inception.
 

Cuyahoga County's population utilizes arts and culture in a variety of ways, from museums and theaters to smaller community festivals and neighborhood events. Recently released findings from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture (CAC) show just how connected residents are to the region's arts offerings.
 
CAC's 2015 Report from the Community shares stories of county residents impacted by the 210 organizations CAC funded in 2015. Self-reported data from these groups revealed more than $383 million arts-related expenditures county-wide, including upwards of $158 million in salaries to 10,000 employees.
 
Other key statistics from the report include:
 
* 50 percent of CAC-supported programs had free admission in 2015
 
* Nearly 6.9 million people were served by arts programming last year, including 1.5 million children
 
"The report provides good evidence of the story we're telling," says Karen Gahl-Mills, CEO and executive director of CAC. "Arts and culture is having a huge impact on Cuyahoga County."
 
Nor are culture lovers only visiting conventional venues like the ballet or a gallery, notes Gahl-Mills. Nature and science organizations, community gardens and other non-traditional entities are attracting crowds through their own arts-infused efforts.
 
"It's not just big institutions; we're shining a light on smaller organizations," Gahl-Mills says. "There's extraordinary variety."
 
This year's report also relates the experiences of community members impacted by arts and culture. One featured resident is Patty Edmonson, an employee at the Cleveland History Center, who returned to the region to curate the center's 13,000 dresses and 40,000 textile objects.
 
"Residents are the ones who benefit from the dollars we invest," says Gahl-Mills. "We use tax dollars to support the arts, so we need dialogue with the public to understand what work we can do."
 
This summer, CAC has been visiting festivals and events to get further feedback from the community. The undertaking includes "street teams" going out to barbershops and farmer's markets and asking folks what inspires them about the arts. Gahl-Mills says public funding for the arts is a key facet in making Cuyahoga County a vibrant, attractive place to live.
 
"People care about the arts and we need to hear from them," she says. "The more we know, the better grantmaker we can be." 

A whirlwind tour of Cleveland with zip lines, sailboats, and bicycles; uptown, downtown and midtown - all packed into a wee two and a half minutes!

Three programs in Northeast Ohio that attract high school students from across the globe offer an intense and realistic preview of life in a college arts program.

On Saturday, April 9, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., the Warren A. Sill Fund (WASF) will host "Spring out of Hibernation," at the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, 1309 Euclid Ave. Two hundred attendees are expected to celebrate the launch of the Fund’s early education program and its past scholarship recipients.Tickets are $35 and can be purchased here.
 
The WASF board of directors will unveil an innovative partnership with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) and the Children’s Museum of Cleveland (CMC) that will provide quality extra-classroom experiences to 20 underprivileged pre-kindergarten students at Euclid Park Elementary, 17914 Euclid Ave.
 
“Cleveland Metropolitan School District and Euclid Park PreK-8 School are excited that we were given the opportunity to join this incredible partnership. Through the generosity of The Warren A. Sill Fund, our PreK students will benefit greatly from hands-on, inquiry-based learning through the Children’s Museum of Cleveland,” Qianna Tidmore of CMSD’s Office of Early Childhood Education said in a release.
 
“The Fund’s greatest quality is its ability to dream – beyond the tragedy of Warren’s passing and now beyond the parameters of traditional education philanthropy,” Tyler Allchin, chair and cofounder of WASF added.

“In partnership with two tremendous institutions, the Fund has the opportunity to deliver an extraordinary return on a strategic investment in Cleveland’s PreK population,” said Allchin in the release.

Stephen Manka has installed public art throughout the city. His subtle methods, however, reveal myriad connections between Clevelanders, their spaces and their history.

Ever since Parnell’s Irish Pub opened three years ago in Playhouse Square at 1415 Euclid Ave., it has been a hotspot for the working crowd, serving up perfect pours of Guinness Stout and a selection of 90 whiskeys and bourbons. The pub has been so popular that owner Declan Synnott decided it needed more room, so he bought the vacant restaurant space next door and began building an 800-square-foot addition in January, which is expected to open later this month.

“It turns out business is better than I thought it would be,” Synnott says. “What we really need now is just more space so people can be more comfortable.”

The original Parnell’s Pub opened in Cleveland Heights in 1995 after Synnott moved to the city from his native Dublin, Ireland. He opened his second location in Playhouse Square in March 2013 to take advantage of the area’s nightlife scene. The upcoming extension, Synnott suggests, takes influence from the recent development on Euclid Avenue.

The renovations, which were carried out by Turner Construction, were funded by Synnott and Playhouse Square.His wife, Liz, did the interior design, the majority of which features repurposed items. For example, the extension includes a 250-square-foot private room with an 18-foot-long U-shaped table made from old church pews. Light pendants fashioned from old bourbon-barrel wood and sconces made from the barrel’s aluminum wrap illuminate the space. They also rescued barn doors from an old downtown firefighter training facility, which they are using to section off the room.

Parnell’s is slated to host live bands and folk sessions in the new space by September.

Adding three new employees and space for about 45 additional patrons, Synnott is sure adding the new space was a no-brainer, especially because he estimates as many as 4,000 people on any given night descend on the district’s five block radius.

“It’s nice being shoulder-to-shoulder,” Synnott says, “but I want my patrons to be, first of all, comfortable, you know? That’s the atmosphere we’ve projected since we started [in Cleveland Heights] 19 years ago: a place to go after a hard day’s work.”

While Synnott planned for a St. Patrick’s Day finish, city permit delays – due to construction projects for the RNC – pushed completion to a late March opening, but Synnott, who’s awaiting his second child, isn’t too bothered by missing the St. Patrick’s Day goal.

“Would I like the space done? Yeah, of course,” he says. “But one day ain’t going to make us or break us.”

Joe Calabrese, CEO and General Manager of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) advocated for more transit funding in testimony on Feb. 16 at the Statehouse.

"RTA is the largest public transportation agency in Ohio. My employees, who reside in 16 of Ohio counties, serve approximately 50 million customers each year in Cuyahoga and several neighboring counties," said Calabrese in his address.

"Public transit in Ohio is a $900 million industry that supports many manufacturers, suppliers and jobs.

Public transit gets workers to work, students to school, connects important destinations, drives economic development and provides mobility to many Ohioans who have no other mobility option due to economic realities or disabilities."

Read his comments in their entirety here.
 

A lot has happened this year in Cleveland. From new businesses to innovative ideas,  Fresh Water looks back at the top 10 stories of 2015.

Bike Cleveland has teamed up with the Cuyahoga County Department of Sustainability to secure 250 bikes for a bike sharing program in time for the Republican National Convention next July. The move is part of a larger countywide initiative.
 
"Over five years we need 700 bikes in 70 stations," explains Mike Foley, executive director of Cuyahoga County's Department of Sustainability.
 
In order to get started on that tall order, last month the team identified CycleHop-SoBi as the preferred vendor for the new bike share system. Negotiations are ongoing, although Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) awarded the county $357,000 in federal funding to bring the plan to fruition. With 20 percent in matching funds, the group has $446,000 available to purchase the bikes.
 
"The federal government requires us to own these things at least for their usable life," explains Foley, "which is deemed five years." The program in its entirety will cost more, he adds, and will depend on a private-public partnership that relies on business and other private sponsors adopting stations and systems. Downtown will be the initial focus area for the first wave of bike stations.
 
The CycleHop-SoBi brand is a collaboration of two entities.
 
"CycleHop operates the system,"explains Foley. "SoBi manufactures the bikes," which he describes as sturdy and equipped with GPS systems. "Heaven forbid a bike is stolen or not returned," he says, "they'll be able to find it. It also helps figure out routes. They call it a smart bike. We were impressed with technology."
 
The bikes can also be locked anywhere.
 
"You don't have to go to a SoBi bike station," says Foley. "You can lock it up at regular bike stop and go get your coffee."
 
The versatility doesn't stop there. Although still tentative, Foley sees the program having flexible membership options, with yearly, monthly and weekly fee structures available, as well as an hourly rental system for one-time users.
 
As the program expands to reach that 700 number, Foley sees it reaching across the county.
 
"There are suburban communities that I know are interested in this. Cleveland Heights is chomping at the bit to be part of it," he says, adding that Lakewood has also expressed interest.
 
"We want this to be larger than just the city of Cleveland."