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Dear Cleveland Cavaliers,

As you well know, 100,000,000s of people look up to you as community leaders and role models - these are responsibilities you accept as sports and public figures who are intentionally "in the news", for profit.

Severe Particulate Matter 2.5 Hourly Reading in Cleveland at 8:00 AM on 09/23/09 - see current here

There is clear evidence the leadership of Northeast Ohio has failed to create an environment encouraging world-class monitoring, analysis, research, notification and controls of pollution created in our region of Ohio, and the consequences on residents and society. As a result, the people of this region have suffered significant health consequences, including early death, and impaired learning ability, crippling our schools and workforce, and society and the regional economy have suffered greatly. As much of our pollution is exported beyond our region, our failure to be world-class addressing pollution here causes harm world-wide.

When my friend Kieth called and asked me to come over, last Thursday night, I could tell by his voice something was very wrong. When I arrived, he looked in shock - he told me his youngest son's mother had called to say their child had shot a mail carrier in Maple Heights.

The Cleveland Tenants Organization, Bridging the Gap and The Homeless Service Agency Network will be hosting the third installment of its Housing 101 program, "Housing Formerly Incarcerated Persons" (FIPs).

This class, following two very successful classes held earlier this year, was created in order to address the difficulty legal professionals, frontline social workers and case mangers experience in finding permanent housing for their formerly incarcerated clients.

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It recently came to my attention that one of the most serious sources of pollution in Cuyahoga County is literally in my back yard. Less than two kilometers upwind from my home are the coal and natural gas fired external boilers at the power plant shown above, at University Hospitals, operated by Medical Center Company (MCCo), polluting the surrounding neighborhoods since the 1930s.

For the 30+ years of my life spent in Northeast Ohio, in childhood and as an adult, University Circle has been at the center of my universe. What Place is at the Center of Your Universe?

Thanks to REALNEO's lmcshane for pointing out one of the most interesting developments in the American "sustainability movement" ever - what appears to be Chicago's real news source, The Chicago Reader, broke the news, September 4, 2009, that "The Green Mayor's Green Policy Maker Leaves for Vancouver". This is the story of former Cleveland and Chicago area sustainability guru Sadhu Johnston, now set to become the deputy city manager of Vancouver.

The Real Coop Local Food and Info proposal submitted to Cuyahoga County, for new economic and workforce development in Northeast Ohio, is designed to create 1,000s of new jobs in Northeast Ohio in career fields as diverse as journalism, communications, engineering, building trades, farming, food processing, warehousing and transportation.

South African Boerboel and Cane Corso

If nothing else, today proved to me the power of magic realism.  Nelson Cintron is a good man, a kind man and a man gifted with the power to transform.  He is not a perfect man, but like all of us, when he tries, he can perform magic. 

How will reform help county government become more efficient?
How will council members be elected?
How will health and human services be affected?
The push to reform Cuyahoga County government is on and so is the debate over what the restructuring should look like. Competing reform plans are slated to appear on the November ballot. On September 17, a panel of representative from each of the reform proposals will inform you about reform.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Registration and Reception, 5:45 p.m.
Program 6:30-8:30 p.m.

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In an effort to un-depress myself, I am trying to conjure in my mind the most charming places in NEO to go to when you want to watch people and feel hopeful about life.  Now, I know I can go to the middle of a forest somewhere and meditate, but I need to hear laughter and watch boats bobbing on the water. 

Why is it so hard to make it happen here in NEO?  Do you have a favorite place to share???  Please post your thoughts here.

Recently--it was determined that Zack Reed could not use the terminology "RE-ELECT" in his campaign literature.

Here is the language on a similar advisory issued in 1999 over Avon Lake campaign literature:

http://elc.ohio.gov/AdvisoryOpinion/99ELC-05.pdf

After reading the story in today's Cleveland.com, "Owner of razed Cleveland warehouse still fighting city, Precision Environmental over lost vehicles", about a second Frank Giglio in Cleveland - this one on the East Side - named Michael Ayers, who had his property condemned, stolen and destroyed under the direction of the Cleveland Building and Housing Department...

As Jeff Buster reported on REALNEO, this summer there was some severe weather activity in the Shaker Heights area, where  my parents live, that took down a huge number of huge trees.

Enter your photographic vision--See Levin College Forum for details.

What happens to Mr. Wiggin's Garden?  Mr. Wiggins died this year.

Anne Trubek for Good Magazine - Civic leaders and artists are coming up with some interesting ideas, and often the line between the two groups is blurred. The perfectly-named Unreal Estate Agency in Detroit is aimed at showcasing “new types of urban practices (architecturally, artistically, institutionally, everyday life, etc) that came into existence, creating a new value system in Detroit,” including helping people purchase and rehab a home for under $5,000.

Ramadan is the month during which Muslims fast from dawn to sunset every day.  Iftar is the meal eaten after sunset when the fast is broken.

CAIR Ohio--The Council on American-Islamic Relations Cleveland Chapter
cordially invites you to attend our:

6th Annual Sharing
Ramadan Iftar Dinner

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Registration 6:00 p.m.

Cleveland State University
Joseph Cole Center
3100 Chester Ave.
Cleveland OH 44114

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"O mio babbino caro" - Gianni Schicchi - Puccini - performed by Amy Irvine (August 9, 2009)

Many beautiful worlds collided the evening of Sunday, August 9, 2009, at "OPERA IN THE ITALIAN CULTURAL GARDEN", a free outdoor evening concert of favorite Italian opera classics, beautifully performed by Opera Per Tutti (Opera For All), held in the spectacular Italian Cultural Garden, in one of the greatest public parks in the world, The Cleveland Cultural Gardens, presented by the Italian Cultural Garden Foundation, Northern Ohio Opera League, and the Cleveland Cultural Garden Federation.