Cities at the center.

Cleveland City Council's Development, Planning and Sustainability Committee last Tuesday, Jan. 31, signed off on the MRN plan, funded in part from money raised after the city in 2002 established a tax-increment financing, or TIF, district along lower Euclid Avenue. On that last point, Cleveland got a good example last week when East Fourth Street corridor property owner MRN Ltd. announced plans for a $1.65 million update of the popular entertainment district. If you care about the health of the downtowns of U.S. cities - not-so-hot take: you should - there was a bit of encouraging data last week from a security firm called Kastle Systems. [Extracted from the article]