In coverage of truly depressing news in our region, the Cleveland Plan Dealer today reports "Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port authority passes on grant for Dike 14 preservation". The Plan Dealer reports:

"It is more prudent to allow for the Dike 14 planning to mature along the time frames anticipated for the lakefront projects as a whole," wrote port attorney Joel Pentz in a letter to a group of environmental agencies working to rescue and preserve the area as a wildlife refuge.

Pentz is absolutely correct. The Port Authority is working with these same environmental groups to plan the relocation and development of facilities so disruptive to the local environment and Lake Erie that it would be entirely foolish to spend a penny on any environmental initiatives within miles of the planned port relocation - especially along the lakefront. If we are seriously allowing over 1/2 billion dollars to be spent reconfiguring our lakefront for container traffic, do not spend a penny on anything not container port related around there until done - for the next 30 years or so.

An anthem for Real NEO today, from the day - vintage Gang of Four performing Anthrax in 1980 - my first year in college - one of the great bands and songs of then and all time. I think the love many of us may feel for this corrosive, punk town is like a case of Anthrax, and that's something I don't want to catch. Read the lyrics below from our context in NEO... concluding "I don't think we're saying there's anything wrong with love, we just don't think that what goes on between two people should be shrouded with mystery." That's REALNEO! Listen, read, and surprise yourself with great music.

Gang of Four: Anthrax

In an article in today's Cleveland Plan (Plain) Dealer titled "Issue 3 will hurt businesses near casinos, group of restaurants, bars says", it is written "The Ohio Licensed Beverage Association commissioned the study by four professors from Hiram College to blow holes in Issue 3, the constitutional amendment on the Nov.

Check out www.naginforcouncil.com/ for more information on Rick Nagin's campaign for Ward 14, to volunteer and to read his endorsements.

The Senate Finance Committee is expected to vote on amendments to add a choice of a public health insurance option to Max Baucus's bill on Tuesday. Even though your Senators aren't on the Senate Finance Committee, it's urgent that you call your Senators right now and tell them where you stand on a public health insurance option.

Since June, 2003, bio-defense industry world-leader Ronald B. (Ronn) Richard has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Cleveland Foundation, the nation's oldest community foundation. Since January, 2005, Richard has also served as a Director of Emergent BioSolutions Inc., a leading biopharmaceutical company whose marketed product is BioThrax(R) (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed), the only FDA-licensed vaccine available for pre-exposure protection against anthrax infection - www.emergentbiosolutions.com.

A song for the day to our failed and disgraced leadership of Northeast Ohio, and those who want to be... "The Dope Show", by Canton native-son Marilyn Manson:

There's lots of pretty, pretty ones
Who want to get you high
But all the pretty, pretty ones
Will leave you low
And blow your mind

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.

Series Theme: Engineering & Technology: Growing Your Own Best Workforce

Speaker: Jack H. Schron, President, Jergens Inc.
Title: Taking the Lead: The Role of Industry in Workforce Development

Registration begins at 7:00 a.m. Earn 1 Continuing Professional Development hour.

Program Sponsorships available.

Location

Series Theme: Engineering & Technology: Growing Your Own Best Workforce

Speaker: Dr. Roy A. Church, President, Lorain County Community College
Title: Specialized Talent Development for the Technology Industry: The Role of the Two-Year College

Registration begins at 7:00 a.m. Earn 1 Continuing Professional Development hour.

Program Sponsorships available.

Location

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.

I've spent several years now developing theoretical pieces toward a sustainable future and now seek to apply the theory to effect pragmatic positive change for our region.

This program will draw on the proven expertise of local beauty salon owners. Participants will hear the business histories of our speakers, learn what worked and what didn’t, and obtain free resources that can increase their chances of running an enduring and profitable beauty salon business. This program is meant to be informal, with a lengthy question and answer section following each presentation.

The program will take place on September 26th, from 1:00-2:30 PM at the Cleveland Public Library, Hough Branch located at 1566 Crawford Road.

For more information contact: Stephanie Tyus @ 216.623.6997 or Aaron Mason @ 216.623.2927

Max Eternity - After an entire summer of heated discussions and culture clashes at town hall meetings created by the government as a forum to discuss healthcare reform in America, the specter of Southern white supremacy tied-at-the-hip with a particular slice of the blue collar white, working and middle class, erupted in sea of vitriol; putting on full display the racist slant that a portion of America's collective has of the current state of affairs in the United States and its current president--a bi-racial, black man named Barack Obama.

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.