WCPN's "90.3 at 9" show tomorrow is going to focus on urban housing issues in Cleveland. They've invited several of the folks who are part of the City Club's series on Redeveloping Cleveland. (See our website, http://www.cclandtrust.org/News.html#6/20/2006 for information on the series.)

Location

When I saw last week a preview for the Thursday, June 29, 2006, WVIZ "Ideas" program featured PD Arts and Architecture columnist Steven Litt and Cuyahoga County Planning Director Paul Alsenas discussing the state of ODOT's plans for a new bridge to replace the current I-90 span across the Cuyahoga River, I thought I was having déjà vu. Yes, this was an issue a year ago... even six months ago, but since then ODOT had so thoroughly railroaded the bridge and trench planning process through the public mind-space that it seemed all topics of discussion about this near $billion project had moved completely behind closed doors and forgotten. Well, it seems Litt and Alsenas have very different ideas about that, as they shared in an excellent "Ideas" this week, and as Litt writes at length in today's Plain Dealer. Be sure to read that article... and great work on Ideas, Steven and Paul!!! Read on...

I am really appreciative, this morning. After posting what was certainly the saddest news I can imagine, about the hardship my staff has suffered as a result of a lack of appreciation from my former business associate, Peter Holmes, I opened up this week's CoolCleveland and found that their crew had featured TWO postings from REALNEO. I am very touched and thankful to Thomas and his team for noticing REALNEO and taking an interest in the thoughts posted here - thank you. Please show appreciation back to CoolCleveland... if you are not a member, see what you've been missing... subscribe at CoolCleveland - all free - this is a real NEO must,  and send feedback to CoolCleveland letters at the links below, and supporting the upcoming CoolCleveland/Tech/Ingenuity party at Fat Fish Blue, July 13, and the Ingenuity Festival, as described below... but first, here's the nice write-up about REALNEO from CoolCleveland today, July 5, 2006:

I've seen mentioned on REALNEO and many other sites in town that there is a 1 million MgW solar challenge from the Cleveland Foundation to encourage adoption of solar power in NEO. There is mention of a solar challenge workshop on this later this month, but no details at this link. I know people interested in solar for two very distinct properties I can influence, and I have the attention of some developers as well, but none of those parties will go to workshops, and I believe the best thing would be for a professional to survey the sites and spec solutions (as innovative as possible), so I really don't know where to begin.

In a really fascinating development, the Plain Dealer attempts today to structure a deal whereby Cleveland citizens accept the idea that the former press secretary to the very dubious former Mayor Mike White, highest-level PR-statute Nancy Lesic is now under contract with the President of the Cleveland City Council, for $48,000, while also being PR-statute  to the Port Authority, and the Clev

You may have read in the PD a few days ago that Mark Turner, Case's Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, resigned. I don't think this story has gotten as much press, but it is big news and not just to the Case community; Case has hired a new dean of undergraduate studies... CASE NAMES NEW DEAN FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES

Jeffrey Wolcowitz, who served as associate dean for undergraduate education at Harvard University and as former associate dean and chief planning officer of Harvard College, has been named dean of undergraduate studies at Case Western Reserve University. He begins his new duties August 1.

"My first order of business will be to listen and learn," said Wolcowitz, who has either been a student, faculty member or administrator at Harvard for 30 years. "It is one thing to read about a university and quite another to see its processes and culture in person and begin to participate in them."

The new dean, Wolcowitz, who was a senior lecturer in economics at Harvard, also will hold the title of adjunct professor of economics at Case. To learn more about this, go to: http://blog.case.edu/case-news/2006/06/27/case_western_reserve_university_names_new_dean_for_undergraduate_studies

 

 

 

It is so appropriate that inept developers and Cleveland leaders want to turn Public Square into a private land monopoly, surrounded by other private land monopolies, funded by taxpayers, sucking funding from our weak economy and struggling public schools, as this Disneyfication and WalMarting of downtown Cleveland is the ultimate betrayal of the one progressive, visionary, socially conscious and truly ingenius leader we ever have known, former mayor Tom Johnson, who sits guard over the square and community still today, with a copy of the still unrivaled economic treatise "Progress and Poverty" cast in his hand. No doubt lesser minds and spirits despise this great man and the fair and intelligent understanding he and his policy mentor Henry George had for the human condition of the industrial ages, now spanning over seven generations of failure by those who have followed and betrayed the people of NEO since... will we let corruption win over Johnson? That is the battle of Public Square, now whimpering. Are you ready to take up the fight?

For me, it is a relief just to know there was once a visionary leader of my home town, as that gives me hope we may be progressive again, some day. And that Johnson left us a roadmap, in his autobiography "My Story", and foundations for progress, in the work of his mentor, George, allows all who care to learn from experience past, before we allow those who don't care for the masses to further destroy this place before the next seven generations.

To begin putting the future in perspective, revisit 1879, consider the great enigma of our times, progress and poverty, and consider where current NEO strategies to give land monopolies and tax exepmtion to the privileged fit in with your vision of a great city for all people. Do you want a community putting privilege before poverty. Consider, from the Chapter on modern life below, "Political Economy, as at present taught, does not explain the persistence of poverty amid advancing wealth in a manner that accords with the deep-seated perceptions of man; that the unquestionable truths that it does teach are unrelated and disjointed; that it has failed to make progress in popular thought - must be due, it seems to me, not to any inability in the science when properly pursued, but to some false step in its premises, or overlooked factor in its estimates. And as such mistakes are generally concealed by the respect paid to authority, I propose in this inquiry to take nothing for granted. I propose to beg no question, to shrink from no conclusion, but to follow truth wherever it may lead. If the conclusions that we reach run counter to our prejudices, let us not flinch; if they challenge institutions that have long been deemed wise and natural, let us not turn back."

 

One need only read the introduction to greatest Cleveland Mayor ever Tom Johnson's autobiography to realize this was a special person. Beyond his bringing progressive thought and practice to Cleveland and America's other great cities, back when Cleveland was "great" in proportion, he knew that streetcars could become supertrains, running 100s of miles per hour on magnets, without wheels, as is the case today in more sophisticated places than here - he built a working prototype, in 1906, in his basement, and had General Electric interested to put the technology to use but they failed to make good. So, just as Charles Brush first demonstrated the wind turbine in Cleveland, Tom Johnson first demonstrated the supertrain in Cleveland, and in neither case have progress-seceding leaders succeeded to do good with such competitive advantages. We've also failed to since address the prime enigma which Johnson confronted in his political leadership, the association of progress and poverty. Read about a great leader below, and read his autobiography on-line at Cleveland Memory, and think how your leaders of today compare.

Part business guru, part standup commedian, Guy Kawasaki has a knack for making complex things very simple while making you laugh along the way. I first met him when he spoke at the Innovest Venture Capital Conference years ago.

eBay was probably my first experience with social computing -- if you can really call it that. eBay is a community of buyers and sellers that for the most part control the environment (what the buy and sell). Like Realneo, eBay users have a profile and choose what personal information to reveal, they post pictures, and writing (though in the form of descriptions of things they are selling). After several years of using eBay on and off to buy and sell, I feel like I don't really understand how eBay is working in an economic sense. Maybe you have some insights? Please post them!

Located next to A. J. Rocco's, the coolest coffeehouse and microbar in downtown Cleveland, in the Caxton Building, at 810 Huron Road, Prospect Music is a compact explosion of instruments and good old fashion small business vibe, still attracting the big international talent when it's in town... where do you find your musical voice, superstar

For the past two years I've loved having an office in the Caxton Building, because there are a few cool local businesses there keeping Cleveland real - A. J. Roccos, Wilberts, Camera City, Gerrard Optical and of course Prospect Music. I was a Prospect Music customer 20+ years ago, searching for a musical voice - I haven't found it yet (I think my calling is drums... still need to try for real) - so I'm glad there is a music store in town that makes a beginner feel like everyone can be a star. Of course, owner Michael Rubin knows about stars, being one himself, all through life and now with top rated jazz band Blue Lunch, and Prospect Music is definitely the only place in town for local and international stars, as you will see if you visit the store and their guest book, featuring legends from John Coltrane to Joe Walsh... so many of the greatest musicians in history have signed in and said thanks...who may you join on your way to the big stage or inner peace of musical glory? Mayor Jackson knows, as he shops here for his family regularly.

 

So who are you following into Prospect Music and down the road to music stardom or karmic bliss? Escape wonkdom and visit Prospect Music... see a few of your friends who have signed in here...

Day One and Two: Thursday, June 29th & Friday, June 30th

 

Open Source Economic Development: New Practices and Tools for Economic Development. Open Source Economic Development is a new approach to economic development that shows you how to develop the open networks that drive innovation in a two-day curriculum.

Location

Strap on your goggles...It's a whole new game!

Presented with the generous support of Cleveland State University Nance College of Business Administration

'Non profits are not working together', is a statement I hear almost on a daily basis.  I actually don't agree with this statement.  I think this problem has been changing in the last 5 years in NEO.  There are many non-profits who have come together (without force from funders to collaborate).  I think the non-profit community has done a bad job in highlighting these collaborations to the community at large.

 

On Friday, June 9th, John Osher shared some thoughts about starting a business and being a successful entrepreneur with the Ohio Venture Association, based on his life experience.

Prior to Mr. Osher's presentation, Michael Weider of Gauntlet Technology Systems gave a Five-Minute Forum presentation on his company's patented technology that is designed to keep impaired individuals from starting their vehicles and to prevent vehicle theft.

Last week, I had a chance to catch up with Constant Systems' Aiden Audouy for a report on their progress for basing some operations of this exciting biotech company in Northeast Ohio (see scenario here). The news for Constant Systems world-wide is all great, offering incredible opportunity in the coming months and years for NEO, may we close Constant Systems. Read on...

 

 

 

 

One of the defenses of the paint and lead industries against litigation over lead poisoning is the paint companies claim there is no way to identify which paint company made which lead paint - they claim is is all one big public nuisance and deny any responsibility.

 The following story with its links ran in CASE Daily (Case's online newpaper) today. Do feel like you have entrepreneurial genes? I think I do! Please post your thoughts
"Do genes influence who will be entrepreneurs?"

ABC News (Reuters), June 5, 2006
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2041245

The Northeast Ohio Area Coordination Agency's (NOACA) 7th Annual Summit, "Exploring Our Region's Potential," will be held Friday, June 9, 2006. The Summit will focus on transportation, economic development, and air and water quality issues in Northeast Ohio. Lee Fisher (D) and Representative Tom Raga (R), candidates for lieutenant governor, will present their plans for economic development in Ohio and the region. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. The Summit begins at 9:30 a.m. and runs to about 2 p.m.

Location

This Friday's meeting of the Ohio Venture Association is likely to be a sellout so make your reservations now!

The Union Club
1211 Euclid Ave.
Cleveland, Ohio
Map and Driving Directions
(free parking at The Union Club - enter garage off E. 12th St.) Price: Member: $25 with reservation/$35 without reservation
Non-member: $40 with reservation/$50 without reservation
Register online using our secure registration form.
    

John Osher never went to class on a sunny day. In fact, he struggled through seven years of undergraduate work at three separate universities before graduating from Boston University with a degree in Psychology. John has never been hired to work for any company, nor has he ever been elected or appointed to any office of any kind. And yet, he has proven to be one of America's most successful entrepreneurs over the past twenty years. He did it simply by short circuiting the system, by starting all of his own businesses and appointing himself President since the age of five. Now that he is older, he prefers to appoint himself Chairman.

Location

 

While Congress debates energy and gas saving strategies, they should consider one to help North East Ohio residents adopt personal energy and cost saving strategies, by reducing fuel demand,  traffic congestion and promoting improved health.  Congress can help America get out of their car and onto a bike.  Cycling can be an important component in a national energy strategy.   

Measures have been taken to greenify the Ingenuity Festival of Art and Technology. In particular, recycling bins have been donated to us by the City of Cleveland and we are excited to be environmentally conscious in our efforts.

 A while back this issue came up on Realneo. Over at Bytes from Lev, he has a good explanation of what is at stake:

http://blog.case.edu/lsg8/2006/05/28/why_netneutrality_matters_to_cleveland_and_the_nation