The City of Cleveland has extended the lease for the I-X (Convention) Center until, with options, until 2039.

Does this mean there won't be a new convention center and medical mart? Naw. 

Council passed legislation recently at the behest of the Jackson administration. 

these pups are about as cute as they can get... except for my sleepy pup who just lifted her head with a look that says "what did you just type over there?!?"

I've been messing around with some ideas for a favicon for REALNEO -- the little icon that shows up next to the URL in your browser, or when you bookmark the site, etc. Don't know about anyone else, but I'd really like to see REALNEO with its own icon instead of the standard Drupal raindrop.

I haven't gotten far yet, but I do believe I've hunted down the two fonts used in the logo, (heretofore a mystery, as far as I can tell.)

An old logo I found:

{C}

Do you notice how the Plain Dealer is so quick to praise Sen. George Voinovich and typically so quick to kick Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

In an editorial today, the Plain Dealer went out of its way to praise Sen. Voinovich, who apparently woke up late to the crisis in the auto industry.

Gosh, gee we have to do something about this crashing crisis.

The Medical Mart being pitched to us is an old idea, an old failed idea. Ask Baltimore.

Cleveland has been excited about the unique development of a Medical Mart here for some time. The movers and shakers have been pushing for the concept and Cuyahoga County Commissioners Tim Hagan and Jimmy Dimora have voted us a sales tax to fund it.

A four minute video from a couple of days ago that made my day...

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvG2XptIEJk

When do we stop giving away millions of dollars to profitable corporations and developers who should be supporting themselves?

I see in the Plain Dealer yesterday (why we still need newspapers) that the State of Ohio will give Eaton Corp. $6 million toward building a new headquarters in the Chagrin Highland’s development.

Ed Hauser was a marathon master of ceremonies who composed his strategies and tactics like a popular big band leader. He used stanzas of law: our rights, motivating us to attend his Citizen’s Vision preservation and improvement events. These “concerts” were held at government public hearings and protest rallies.

Happened to look at Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher’s official site and it made me wonder why Peggy Zone Fisher’s profile and photo are linked there. Did we elect Lee’s wife, too? I don’t think so. That made me think a bit more after I was told some rather high-faulting ticket prices were being asked for the annual fund-raising dinner for Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio. So I look at the Diversity Center and learn its director is none other than Peggy Zone Fisher. Guess who’s the Diversity honoree of the year? Now, come on, think. Well, Lt. Gov.

Detroit is already way out on the massive pension fund “bridge” loaned to them by their employees… all of the “Big 3” are BILLIONS under-funded in their union pension accounts and have been for years.

Tell Sen. George Voinovich that he must cooperate with President-elect Barack Obama come January.He also owes the President-elect an apology.

Republican Voinovich made an outrageous and disrespectful attack on Obama near the end of the recent presidential campaign. Voinovich apparently thought he could scare Ohioans into voting for his party’s candidate, Sen. John McCain.

Saving Buffalo’s Untold Beauty by Nicolai Ourousoff

Wouldn't it be nice to read "Saving Cleveland's Untold Beauty"?

Ed Hauser died suddenly November 14, 2008. Northeast Ohio has lost its most ardent, studied and tenacious citizen activist. Information regarding funeral arrangements will be in the Plain Dealer tomorrow.

While in New Hampshire I visited a dog racetrack in Hinsdale - Southern New Hampshire right on the border of the state that just outlawed greyhound racing. Inside the closed-for-the season track a handful of people gathered around poker and craps tables in dingy surroundings. But my sister and I were not looking for a game, we were looking for Fast Friends.

The other day Phillip Morris (online PD)
was bemoaning the lack of leadership in Cleveland. I think on the same day I ran across some tidbit that intimated that Chris Ronayne might run for mayor of Cleveland next time around. I thought to myself, “Well, here we go with more of the same.”

Several years ago, it is said, Cleveland Clinic CEO Cosgrove developed a plan to create a Medical Mart in Cleveland, as a place to centralize much of the commerce between medical device and product supply and demand. This story, still developing, will certainly be one of the great turning points in Cleveland history, as it has raised taxes and spent significant public time, trust and resources on what appear to be whims on promises, which are not appearing very sound... especially under today's shifting and certainly catastrophic economic and social times - not to overlook the fact we must completely overhaul all aspects of health care, supply and demand.

"At this point, with this economy, it doesn't make sense," she said of more shopping centers.

The Commission on Cuyahoga County Government reform’s final report is not worth the paper it was printed. No surprise there.

My reading of the skimpy 10-page report – that includes acknowledgements and structure charts – is that it was a big waste of time.

If any architects are reading this blog, here's a survey for you: Checking the Pulse of the Architecture Industry from Archinect. I'll be interested to read the results in a future Archinect newsletter.