Did I just see that the 4:00 news on WOIO is being sponsored by the Cuyahoga County Commissioners? Our tax dollars are being spent trying to buy back our love or their reporters' favor or what exactly?

Give yourself a thoughtful, beautiful, stimulating, uniquely American gift.  Visit the Westmoreland Museum in Greenburg, PA to see Painting in the United States: 1943-1949.  The exhibit runs Sunday, June 29, 2008-Sunday, October 19, 2008.

Here's an excellent discussion on the economic gardening google group regarding Scott Shane's comment in the BusinessWeek article, The Entrepreneurship Myth, in conjunction to his 2007 publication, The Illusions of Entrepreneurship.

(Note: Scott acted as academic advisor and was co-director with Ed Morrison while our team - now know as The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) - was at the Center for Regional Economic Issues (REI) at Case from 2003-2005.)

Chris Gibbons, Economic Gardening, leads off the conversation with this comment:

"This jumps to the "400 level" course in entrepreneurship...a lot of subtleties in the business as this level.

I would agree that just entrepreneurship across the board has little payout and you might well be better off getting a job at a corporation. The slight flaw in that argument though, is that a growth company also had to start up somewhere...they don't just appear full grown.

The Coit Road Farmers Market is one of the most endearing places in real NEO. Hidden away in a near-dead industrial graveyard of East Cleveland, with the curb-appeal of a brownfield, it is not a place one goes without intent. So it amazes me that just about every time I go there I see someone I know. I guess I know some pretty smart people.

Travis Bradford thinks that the solar energy industry is going to change the world ... and soon. The founder and president of the Prometheus Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to accelerating the deployment of sustainable technology, Bradford is author of Solar Revolution: The Economic Transformation of the Global Energy Industry, which confidently predicts solar energy will become a dominate energy source over the next 10 years.

He spoke recently with the editors of HardAssetsInvestor.com.

 The city of Akron deserves a Green Light Award for moving us into the future. They (and note this is a city, not even a park system) are eliminating ODOT's roadside mowing by using low growing, low maintenance plantings. It's no surprise that Cleveland is being left in the dust and the rust when our neighbor, from the same struggling area, is actively finding and implementing new solutions.

I am passing along this note from Susan Altshuler about the upcoming I-Open Leadership Retreat:

Hi Everyone:

I wanted to make sure you knew about the next I-Open training session coming up...

Public Art is site specific, so designing public art for a five-mile site - a bus line - must be quite a challenge. Now, as the "Euclid Corridor" "Silver Line" "HealthLine" street improvements, light fixtures, bus stops, signage, green spaces, trees, grass and technologies are becoming apparent, I think much of what has been assembled works for most of the sites I've seen... despite basically wiping out the city, and costing over a $billion, retooling of an existing bus line. Whether the infrastructure and facilities will prove very functional, I have my doubts... we'll know after the first winter of full service. But the form of the bus station, designed by Robert P. Madison International, and light fixture shown in this picture of the East 9th Street and Euclid Avenue "Breuer Stop" works astoundingly well for this important site... one of the most important on the line. In this case, it appears the art was well conceived for the surroundings.

I believe I found out today at the supermarket just how nasty this Presidential campaign will be.

This story in today's New York Times detailing corruption - exposed by blogger Karen Gadbois - in "re-building" New Orleans  warms my heart. 

Two skate parks with similar problems: vandalism and graffiti:  one may have found a creative - literally - solution. While Solon is considering closing its skate park,  Akron is looking to the offenders themselves for an answer - they get to paint their park.

The results of a study on violence in the Cleveland public schools, commissioned by the Cleveland Municipal School District, has their leadership and the Cleveland Plain Dealer finally focusing on lead poisoning as a cause of failure of our schools and school children. In an article in today's PD, "Cleveland schools struggle with finding and helping potentially violent students, study reports", a researcher from the American Institutes for Research in Washington, D.C., which performed the CMSD study on violence in our schools, is quoted saying "Cleveland's plight is unique because of an unusually high rate of lead poisoning - from paint in aging houses - that can affect behavior and academic performance." CMSD Board Member Louise Dempsey is quoted in the article as saying "I'm very pleased to see a lot of this stuff out in the open," she said. "Let's not kid ourselves, we've got to be honest if we're going to solve the problem." I'm pleased to see this getting CMSD Board-level attention.

My colleague has generously donated the use of her technology to our kids in the neigborhood*--a karaoke machine.  Today, we tried to belt out some High School musical tunes, Hannah Montana and then Motown, but it was uniformly painful. 

Pity the poor smokers.

The latest calculations out of County Auditor Frank Russo’s office show that cigarette smokers have contributed $28 million to the Arts & Culture Tax (at least this one was voted upon). That’s since February. And that's a lot of money.

Fannie Lewis didn’t have a degree from Harvard University but her common sense wisdom could often exceed the judgments of the Ivy League learned.

What is wrong with this picture?  (Extra credit to any one who can identify the location)  Hint: Back to school!

Irven Lewis provides the movement score, performed by the lithe and punchy Natalie James to let us hear the poignant words of Bridget Gray.

The medical mart/convention center deal is much worse than anyone knows.

Square Sanders & Dempsey’s managing partner Fred Nance gave a smooth, if shifty, accounting of what we can expect.

Regions with a more open civic process — thicker collaborative networks — are more agile, responsive and competitive. They will learn faster and spot opportunities faster.

In a complex world, transparency and civility become key strategic assets for a simple reason: speed.

From an esteemed colleague--some good news:

If you know of anyone that graduated from CMSD in 2008 there are full scholarships available to them to attend Tri-C.  The link below will take you to the site.  Below there is some extra information.  There is an informational session on August 16 (information below).

Maybe RTA should be a private business. It might get treated better by Democrats.

Squire & Sanders’ Fred Nance asked today for another public subsidy of $50 million for the Medical Mart. He wants an added 2 percent bed tax to go for the deal. He said Tim Hagan, Jimmy Dimora and Peter Lawson Jones could do that without a vote of taxpayers. Isn’t that convenient.

well, would you lookee here..

It appears the Rocky River Nature Center has already been dedicated to a most deserving person, Harold Wallin, who was truly the founder of Metroparks Outdoor Education programs including the old Trailside Museum and Rocky River Nature Center.