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.

Location

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.

 The Whitehouse.gov website has provided an advance copy of the prepared remarks of President Obama's Back to School speech, which has some parents in an uproar. I embedded the player for the speech below, and will put it in our calendar...

Location

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. 

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.

Cleveland Peace Show

2009 Cleveland Peace Show

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.

Thought provoking video here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqw7kXG0kxU

The Social Sciences Department of the Cleveland Public Library is facilitating a non-fiction book club.  Our discussion will be held on Thursday, September 10, 2009 at 12:00 PM in the Social Sciences Department.  We will discuss the book entitled, "Teacher Man," by Frank McCourt.  Frank McCourt's critically acclaimed, Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller is about how his 20-year teaching career in the public schools of New York City shaped his

In both areas of Cleveland's West Side where I've lived, I knew there were chickens and roosters nearby (some I saw, and some I heard), but I haven't come across any fowl life on the East Side of Cleveland, or in East Cleveland. I wonder if there are any other chickens in my part of town? There certainly were chckens on every property back when this was farmland, 100+ years ago.

I am very excited that Cleveland Public Library is participating in the National Endowment for the Humanities Picturing America program.  I have always felt more comfortable explaining concepts visually and, lo and behold, today--a wonderful man contacted me today with a visual explanation of Web 3.0.  Enjoy.  Transform.

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

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

CPAC invites you to join us at From Rust Belt to Artist Belt II (RBAB2) on Thursday, Sept. 17th, and Friday, Sept. 18th, 2009, in Cleveland's Gordon Square Arts District.  During this two-day event you will have an opportunity to see artist-based community development firsthand and explore the neighborhood’s institutions, including Cleveland Public Theatre, 78th Street Studios, the historic Arcade and the newly renovated Capitol Theatre.