The Intergenerational School is holding a Wine & Cheese Open House (with Student‐Led Tours!), this Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 5:30 pm until 7:00 pm - and I strongly encourage those interested in innovation in education and aging to attend. Read through the whole invitation to learn more about the school - it is astounding, as are the founders... Cathy and Peter Whitehouse. This is the school that I hope to expand in the former Hough Bakeries complex, as the anchor for redevelopment of the surrounding neighborhood, so if you are interested in that project then you are interested in TIS.... I hope to see you there Thursday... be sure to RSVP!

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Sometimes the intersection of politics and policy is comfortable, sometimes uncomfortable, and sometimes you have to "connect the dots." One very uncomfortable "dot connecting" involves President Bill Clinton, philanthropic fundraising, the uranium industry and Clinton's private activity that ran contrary to US foreign policy and reinforced a country, Kazakhstan, with an antipathy to human rights and open media.

The day Ohioans and others around America failed the world and allowed Bush and his clan 4 more years was the saddest of my life, and I was depressed by life after that until I posted the following...

The Mayor of 10-5 is now in the office, as Snag now hosts the Inner Circle. I help make coffee and keep the WiFi live. We're going to feature Gypsy Beans baked goods and items from Hot Sauce, and surprises from all around the REALNEO... feel free to stop by any time from 10 AM to 10 PM and say hi.

Cleveland City Council should rescind its involvement in AMP-Ohio's proposed coal-fired utility in southern Ohio. A fifty year commitment to coal is the wrong direction, for Cleveland Public Power (CPP), its customers and the environment. Instead, CPP should develop a comprehensive plan for energy need and energy sources, that includes efforts to reduce demand through conservation, insulation, wind, solar and other alternative sources.

To help "Cleveland School" Neon Artist Extraordinair Dana Paterson celebrate, show-off and profit from his cover story feature in the Free Times newspaper, this week, the Inner Circle will feature an exhibit of Dana's recent and past work, with installation beginning this Friday, February 8, 2008, when you may meet the artist, from 4-7 PM... the exhibition will have a formal opening next Friday, Fenruary 15th, from 6-9 PM, and will remain on display through the end of the month.

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(Photo by Grace Roulet)

Does banking make you feel like a dog, or are you in a financial dog house? I know the feeling, especially from doing business as an entrepreneur and with real estate development. But, finding a good banker and developing a strong bank relationship offers great windows of opportunity.

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Global warming will bring an end to white Christmas and winter as we've always known in, here in NEO, so during the first real snowstorm of this season, December 16, 2007, I went in search of a visual symbol of NEO, in my neighborhood, strong enough to stand out in white-out conditions, and I came to the Breuer! Not the Breuer Tower, of global controversy, but the Breuer Museum wing of global celebration, design elements of which are featured in the latest additions to the Cleveland Museum of Art, shown on the left here, now evolving form in the hands of Vinoly.

Derek Hess showcased his latest work in a one-night exhibit at Kelly Randall Gallery, in Tremont, December 14, featuring new prints and original illustrations and collages that continue growth and demonstrate innovation in this fine artist's work. His work makes powerful statements in form and message, and Derek's message is stronger and more on-target than ever, in these troubling times.

After what seemed like quite a lapse in postings, Northeast Ohio's original b'logger (billboard logger), Harry "X" Sysack, recently put on-line what he promises is "the truth & the whole truth your overpaid teachers & benighted college professors never teach you". Sysack's line is on the RTA, on his private property where W.25th forms Pearl, and his "truths" begin with "Yo, students" and include "What is Christian America all about? Everybody is fuckin' everybody & everybody is lyin' about how they're fuckin' everybody. All politicians are evil & dishonest...". And, one of my favorites, "All lawyers are legal ho's."

BREWED FRESH DAILY HAS A THREAD which carries  a discussion which I believe it is important for everyone in NEO to read.  The thread is especially important now that the City of Cleveland is looking desperately for immediate cash-back from the taxpayers’ UDAG loans. 

The Cleveland Institute of Art is extraordinarily important to Northeast Ohio and the world for the great artists and designers educated there, and for the great artists and designers who are the educators, and staff. Each year, the work of the diverse CIA faculty is showcased in an exhibition not to be missed... the reception for 2007 was last Friday, December 7, and a great event, as always... perhaps the last ever in the historic Gund Building Reinberger Gallery space, as the CIA moves in total to Euclid Avenue.

As part of the Star Neighborhood Development planning for the Star Complex and surrounding one mile radius, I have been planning the redevelopment of the current Cleveland Institute of Art Gund Building and land, on East Boulevard in Cleveland, shown below (full size image here).

November 28, 2007, renowned architect Carl Stein, FAIA, Principal of elemental architecture, llc, of New York City, shared his valuable understanding about the environment in Northeast Ohio and the world, focusing on the energy of buildings and a specific analysis of the Breuer Cleveland Trust Tower, in downtown Cleveland. This is the only high-rise by revolutionary architect Marcel Breuer, and it is globally appreciated as a masterpiece of modern design and construction... yet it is planned for demolition by Cuyahoga County Commissioners Dimora and Hagan.  Stein worked with Breuer for many years, including when Breuer built the Cleveland Trust Tower, and Stein's conclusion is there is no rational excuse for demolishing the Breuer. As Stein states, "just that Breuer and this building are so important is enough reason to preserve the Breuer"... although Stein gives many other reasons!

Rockefeller / MLK Drive is as beautiful a place to enjoy nature - these days, fall colors - as any place on Earth that has been touched by man.  As I've been thinking about the Native Americans of this land, and Indians of India and America, and the current hostility in this county of past invaders against all others who want to live here too, I was drawn to the Indian Cultural Garden, today, and it was spectacular (full size image here).

I stood there alone, in one of the world's most beautiful places, as commuting suburbanites whizzzed by, and I thought of the last photos I took near here, of the demolition of historic apartment buildings on East Boulevard, that were part of this park's historic fabric and culture, quietly demolished for parking lots, for the whizzzzzing commuters (Full size images: above and below).

It is interesting to reflect on "Cleveland" as a "shrinking city", with 100,000s in declining population, 10,000s of abandoned residential, commercial and industrial lots and buildings covering 1,000s of acres of land, and a failing tax base. Simply put, much of Cleveland is free to the taking, and taxpayers will even pay to get taken by their leaders - the land that is being freed up in this latest Savings and Loan "crisis" is worth $ billions and is being given to the friends of politicians for long term speculation and short term enrichment... what is bad for the poor is very good for the rich, who can buy low (can't beat free, with public subsidy). I'd say all this foreclosure hoopla is as fraudulent as was the housing bubble itself, being pure voodoo economic bullshit media spin to steal from the poor and give to the rich - the "Developed Nations" way and a NEO leadership specialty. I'd like to propose a completely different spin on dealing with our shrinking city crises, which is to give back to the Native Americans what we stole from them in the first place, since we destroyed it and supposedly it is now a burden to we settlers in our cowardly New World.

While looking on Green City Blue Lake for a posting on the Breuer, I came across an interesting article by Marc Lefkowitz called "Warm up to district geothermal in Cleveland", which writes "Representatives from Case, UCI, Cleveland Clinic, city of Cleveland, Flats East Bank and Neighborhood Progress, Inc.— which is considering geothermal district power at its St. Luke’s development—met yesterday (October 22, 2007) at the Cleveland Foundation" to discuss "The economics of district-wide geothermal". It seems these groups are exploring large scale geothermal projects to help meet large energy needs, like for University Hospitals.

The Friends of Art, CWRU staff and the John and Mildred Putnam Sculpture Collection team of Harvey Buchanan and Evelyn Kiefer picked the perfect time and day to hold a reception celebrating the addition of work #45 to the world-class Putnam Sculpture Collection, at University Circle, as David Deming's "Inner Circle" is a work of art that changes dramatically with light in the environment, and sunset is an especially beautiful time to view this work.

University Circle is a community of overlapping circles of interdependent institutions, boards, patrons and public interests that in some way touch every life in the NEO universe, worldwide (well illustrated by the current Cleveland Orchestra tour of Europe). So thoughts of "Inner Circles" within this star-power constellation bring illusions of grand people and designs. So true, as the latest "Inner Circle" added to University Circle is a very sharp and strong sculpture by Cleveland Institute of Art President David Deming, commissioned by the Putnam Sculpture Collection, of Case Western Reserve University... a great collision of worlds.

Star Neighborhood Development is rapidly nearing completion of the first phase of historic renovation and greening of "the finest house on Roxbury" - interior above - a wonderfully designed and constructed, classic 3,000+ square-foot 1906 American Tudor home, in a transitional urban historic neighborhood of East Cleveland, a transitional city bordering dynamic University Circle and Cleveland Heights.

The last two realneo headers are pans of a site I pass often, on my way between the East and West sides, which is bounded by East 105, Wade Park and East Boulevard, in one of the most important historic and cultural neighborhoods in America, where I was shocked to find a group of significant apartment buildings being demolished.

We're close enough to our move in to 1894 Roxbury, in East Cleveland, that we have had our DSL service switched over from Ohio City to East Cleveland. Whereas on Clinton, at W. 45th Street, there were several WiFi signals in the air, my new POP on Roxbury is the only signal in the digital darkness of this corner of East Cleveland.

To register for this meeting with Senator Brown in the Russell Senate Office Building, email Brooke Stoddard at brookecstoddard [at] cs [dot] com.

Committees and Subcommittees that Senator Brown serves on are:
Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry
Subcommittee on Energy, Science and Technology
Subcommittee on Nutrition & Food Assistance
Subcommittee on Production, Income Protection & Price Support
Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs
Subcommittee on Economic Policy
Subcommittee on Security & International Trade
Health, Education, Labor & Pensions
Subcommittee on Employment & Workplace Safety
Subcommittee on Retirement & Aging
Veterans' Affairs

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