Steven Litt – Architecture Critic, Cleveland Plain Dealer

Dear Colleagues:

It’s always a pleasure to welcome back to the Public Affairs Discussion Lunch Steve Litt of The Plain Dealer. Steve’s trenchant analysis of art, architecture and urban design has covered the significant developments in the Cleveland region for the past twenty years, and there is a lot to discuss about our University Circle area right now. New buildings have been recently completed: the Seidman Center of UH and new CARES tower of the Stokes Medical Center. Others are in construction: the Museum of Contemporary Art and the surrounding Triangle complex. Others have been announced: the planned student center and the Cleveland Institute of Art’s expanded Euclid Avenue facility.

The questions about local development are not limited to esthetics. The Triangle projects, creation of the Maltz Center for the Performing Arts in the historic Temple-Tifereth Israel builiding, and plans for a new pedestrian bridge and RTA station all seek to make University Circle a larger, more coherent, more accessible and more lively area. Will it work? What are the challenges? This is a topic that affects our daily lives and everyone will have opinions.

Very best regards,
Joe White
Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies

About Our Guest…

Steven Litt joined The Plain Dealer as its art and architecture critic in 1991, after having held the same position since 1984 at The News and Observer in Raleigh, N.C. He speaks frequently on architecture and planning in Cleveland, and is a frequent guest on public radio, WPCN 90.3FM and television, WVIZ. He is also a regular contributor to ARTnews and other national publications. Litt holds a bachelor’s degree in art from Brown University and a master’s degree from the Columbia University School of Journalism, where he now chairs the development committee of the school’s Alumni Board. Since 2004 he has been named Best Critic in Ohio twice by the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists and three times by the Cleveland Press Club. In 2010, Litt was awarded the Robert Bergman Prize of the Cleveland Arts Prize, given to community leaders dedicated to a democratic vision of the arts.

Where We Meet

This year the Friday Public Affairs Lunch will convene each Friday when classes are in session in the Dampeer Room of Kelvin Smith Library from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm. The Dampeer Room is on the second floor of the library. If you get off the elevators, turn right, pass the first bank of tables, and turn right again.

Parking Possibilities

The most convenient parking is the lot underneath Severance Hall. We regret that it is not free. From that lot there is an elevator up to street level (labeled as for the Thwing Center); it is less than 50 yards from that exit to the library entrance. There is also on-street parking on both East Drive and Bellflower. Both are fairly short walks from the library.

Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

December 9: Outsourcing and Offshoring Legal Services.  Cassandra Burke Robertson, Associate Professor of Law