A recently-released article in the Boston Herald offers some remarkably similar points to those I made recently on the Cleveland Planning group on Facebook - and have since been deleted - but in the grand scheme of things, this serves the greater good quite well. I'll attempt to reproduce the course my FB discourse took as close to verbatim as possible, because I feel it was very powerful and though some may disagree with the combination of professional and personal and emotional tones - this is just the kind of writing that packs more of a wallop and is certainly more acceptable on a weblog than in actual media. I'll attempt to recreate the body of my original suggestions - which many who were part of the Cleveland Planning group on Facebook read in its entirety, here. Lets comment afterward on the core similarities to the piece in the Herald.  I have to appeal to the better part of human nature on this one - credit those who orginate things creatively!  

For the sake of brevity my comments to Cleveland Planning (those of you part of the group should recall) made the following key points:

•  A systems-thinking, stakeholder-based frame is necessary for a region or city, in order to develop in richly and completely.  Any system you want to enrich and revitalize can be most successful if one takes the approach of developing holistically quality-of-life, and place - outcomes for ALL stakeholders of the system in question.

• Holistic definition of quality of life is best achieved if we take the simple six-sphere model at the top of our realneo weblog (top of page taxonomy) - arts and culture, education, environment, economy, health, and technology.  Progress needs to be facilitated both within and across these domains - picture these as six rings comprising one greater ring, interconnected in hub-and-spoke fashion.  Ingenuity Festival was cited as an example of Arts and Technology intersection - then made richer by working to reduce Carbon Footprint, which I did for two years as a volunteer (in the second year, promised but never given compensation).  Regardless, adding that Environment piece makes the INTEGRATION OF DIVERSE SOURCES to create a greater Whole all the more powerful.  Imagine the power of integrating all six spheres rather than just these three.   This is what was attempted at Ingenuity a few years back.

• Economic Development and Community Development become equated under this holistic frame of quality-of-life-and-place enhancement, and both will take place sustainably, for a sustainable future - should we do so.

• Green infrastructure is absolutely key for this to happen, but it should take into account many of the core concepts we've deliberated as a realneo community for some time now - Traditional Neighborhood Development that supports a healthy and more sustainable pedestrian lifestyle, a smart and energy efficient green infrastructure that combines the best of : solar, wind, biofuel, aquaculture, aeroponics, fuel cell, green building, and local/urban farm technologies.

• In yet another example of the integration of diverse sources to create a greater whole - the civic space is comprised of Nonprofit, For Profit, Government, and Educational sectors.   Smart mapping would behoove us to identify all the key organizations within these spheres, their core competencies, their key needs, etc within each of these previously siloed sectors and then integrate these as best as possible into solutions that bring organizations holistically representing these domains together, bound by common interest and shared vision toward a common good - case in point made on FB: GCBL, Museum of Natural History, CWRU, BAWB, Fairmont Minerals, and Govt officals Paul Alsenas and Andrew Watterson - all uniting to 'Reimagine Cleveland' as a green city on a blue lake. 

And its also difficult if members of your own team are not helping the process. We met with Peter Lawson Jones and the County on generating a local foods proposal, with budget, etc. I was more than happy to contribute to this. But communication with other team members has been sporadic and difficult - not the way true organizational development should be. There has been no way to create a budget or spreadsheeets without surety of the funding models to employ and the true access to and agreement on sources and uses of funds. So this becomes a very frustrating process -and ultimately Norm - unless we agree soon, this is entirely on you. I strongly suggest you get another MBA to do the financials, because I can't under these conditions. I can do the spreadsheet modeling, but not without commitment as to models - Norm, we keep misfiring here. And Peter Lawson Jones and Paul Alsenas, I took your words very much to heart but can't control what others say or do - and certainly can't put numbers together without common understanding of the fundamentals.

I detailed this strategy not just a couple days ago on FB - but also on realneo LONG ago in the Diamond Cross model.

• Technology strategy was defined by these key components: FOSS software solutions to drive the blogsphere and Drupal CMS and the like to elevate local nonprofits and ultimately link them via the common Drupal bond they share

• Using social media creatively with Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, etc for smart and viral marketing outcomes as well as community development outcomes - raising awareness to the best evolving in town AS IT HAPPENS - specific props given to George Nemeth and Thomas Mulready for their savvy and proliferated use of these tools.

• Applying the smartest of educational strategies for our nation's schools - integrating action research, service learning, intergenerational learning, and sustainability into school cirriculum.

So let's look at what was funneled to the Herald:  Is this fair? Has content been similarly siphoned from realneo to other media outlets for profit's sake - is it all connected on a national level this way - major players in town tied into the big media this way?  Inquiring minds want to know.  And why are traffic numbers and success numbers for RealNEO still so miniscule? This goes to the very heart of ethics.

It is also quite dishonorable to discredit a creative source of all this information whilst taking their creativity for profit.

The Herald article heralds this as 'a strategy for smaller cities'  - then Cleveland, and in particular NPI and Bobbi Reichtel are credited for innovative work in this domain:

Other so–called weak–market cities have launched similar efforts, with greater emphasis on environmental sustainability. In 2008 nearby Cleveland’s Neighborhood Progress, Inc. announced a major project, supported by a grant from the Surdna Foundation, exploring the possibility of turning vacant city lots into agricultural and renewable energy sites. Similar plans are under way in Flint, Michigan, which now owns 10 percent of the city’s vacant property through the Genesee County Land Bank.

 A close read realizes that many of these same points are drilled home in the Herald article, with different examples and cases cited. So I have to ask : is it prudent to funnel the information and content of others to other media outlets like this?  Have today's big media journalists really lost their own individual creative spark?  And it it in the community's best interest to stifle the orginator's creativity and reconstitute it in such a manner?    And what about the inventive content placed on here by our other creative realneo compatriots - you can see a lot of it coming through in this Herald piece - Jeff Buster, this is your hometown - comments?   Do entities like realneo and gcbl appear to be at odds when they are actually connected, perhaps?

There are so many theories here - but one thing is certain - I have not only been the target or rascist and misguided attacks - poorly constructed and sad attempts to use Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) and the like to attempt to pin a 'mental illness' label on me, when I am completely forthcoming about past battles with depression and anxiety.   BUT I AM STILL HERE and strong, and still standing - no institution can mess with your mental health if you do not let them.   How exploitative does this stuff really get?  In some cases, if you try to get too loud with this stuff, what do they do?  See if you'll be coaxed into alcoholism, or addiction, or have females play mind tricks... what else do they do in corrupt and more evil places?

It is absolutely imperative one not spread rumors like this to discredit and hurt others - then they claim 'oh you are paranoid' and send folks to say 'we're worried about you'.  If this does not cease immediately I will track to all my prior emails that have captured this horrible civic behavior and the individuals who have particpated in this over time.  

What threat , for God's sake, do I represent to anyone?   I refuse to allow this to happen again. 

I definitely will call out the names soon should this continue.  I will not deter, I will continue to fight in the interest of the members of the community, even those who very well might be still persecuting me.  Enough with claims this is paranoia - people have slipped and I have proof.  You cannot abuse people this way without serious repurcussions at some point.

 I make the same statement I made previously : I still love everyone, despite how difficult this might seem to understand.  But sometimes tough love is in order.   And any individual has the right to defend themselves and their mental sanctity.

 So Shame on those who funneled information and creativity not their own to another channel - the greater good still prevails, but please give credit where credit is due!