Cleveland.com is reporting that the developer of the downtown Cleveland casino is looking to acquire a parking garage from the city:

The developer of a casino in Cleveland’s historic Higbee building has offered the city $21 million for the nearby Gateway North parking garage.

It’s a proposal that officials said Wednesday would benefit both sides by helping the cash-strapped city get out from under a garage that is described as seldom used while putting the developer a giant step closer to having a parking plan that could accommodate up to 5 million annual visitors.

Officials at Rock Ohio Caesars say that the casino-goers’ experience begins when they park their car. And Rock Ohio Caesars wants to wow them. But officials add that having a seamless parking plan is important for securing financing for the $350 million project.

This seems to make a ton of sense. It won’t matter for high rollers arriving in a limousine, but for visitors parking their cars, the experience needs to be positive from the beginning.

Also, let’s hope the casino operators don’t make the same mistakes that were made in Pittsburgh. The parking needs to be affordable!

When the GOP swept into power in states like Ohio and Wisconsin, many pundits speculated that this would be terrible news for President Obama and Democrats in 2012. Yet they didn’t take into account some of the radical changes and cuts that would be passed by these governors, and now we’re seeing that Governors like John Kasich might be the best asset for Obama and the Democrats next year if these poll numbers hold up..

In Ohio, Republican Gov. John Kasich’s approval rating stood at just 30 percent last week, according to a Quinnipiac University poll. Earlier in the month — even before Kasich detailed a budget featuring cuts to Medicaid, local governments and more — the University of Cincinnati had that number at 40 percent. Both surveys showed nearly half of voters disapproved of Kasich.

Kasich has plenty of problems. First, he’s very abrasive. Then, he declared war on the unions in Ohio, including the police and firefighters unions that traditionally support Republicans. Now he’s paying the price.

Just when you think Dennis Kucinich has some common sense, you have him saying ridiculous things again. His latest loony statement has him suggesting that President Obama’s Libya strikes might be an impeachable offense. Good grief . . .

Politico has an interesting tidbit on how some are hoping to draft Drew Carey to run for the US Senate from Ohio to take on Sherrod Brown in 2012. Carey made some noise recently when he produced a series of videos with Reason, a libertarian think tank, on how to fix Cleveland.

Despite the idiotic decision by new Governor John Kasich to reject $400 million of federal money for a high-speed rail project that would have connected Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, a new proposal that’s part of President Obama’s new high-speed rail initiative just might work in Ohio.

Ohio may yet get on track with President Obama’s newly announced $53 billion initiative to build a nationwide high speed rail network.

A bipartisan group of northern Ohio Congress members met Thursday with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to discuss building a high speed rail line along Lake Erie that would link Cleveland with Chicago, Detroit, Toledo and Buffalo, and also include routes to Youngstown and Pittsburgh. Building a line along the lake is a top tier part of Obama’s rail program.

Bainbridge Township GOP Rep. Steve LaTourette said he plans to work with Republicans and Democrats from Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan “to see if there’s a way we can help restore some of what the President’s vision is on high speed rail in our part of the world.”

Though newly elected Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich rejected $400 million in federal funds to build a different train line between Cleveland and Cincinnati, LaTourette believes Kasich might be more receptive to the lakeshore route. He said it also might be possible to secure funds for the project so “the state of Ohio would not have to be the political subdivision that gets the money and does the work.”

Kasich indicated he would be willing to consider it if Steve LaTourette was behind it.

And that’s really the key here, and this will have a huge impact in Congress as well. Even Republicans like LaTourette support this, so you might just see a bi-partisan effort to support the President on this one.