When people wonder what is the value of a local daily newspaper, I must point to the story of Shaw High School Band, which was invited to China to perform but could not afford to do that. The Plain Dealer article "Bang a Drum, Proudly", by Connie Schulz, raised enough attention and funding to get them there, from where they just returned in triumph (nicely covered in the PD here, today)... a $500,000 whirlwind phenomenon all occurring in less than 6 months!

Now that my family has land that we may use for a while, we are growing our own food... and enough for many other families, it seems. One $1.07 packet of radish seeds planted in May is already many pounds of crisp, bright, beautiful, healthy fresh veggies... and eating my first fresh radish of my life taught me radishes are actually delicious. Same for Kale, and all the varieties of lettuce covering our farmland... really fresh pesto is to die for... can't wait for the carrots and shallots!

Two weeks ago, City Fresh's Maurice Small met with friends in East Cleveland to discuss City Fresh, urban farming, and how we may convert a typical urban convenient store, Brown's Market, into a pilot City Fresh local foods market. During our discussions, Maurice mentioned that a dedicated urban farmer may earn more than $30,000 per year from sales of food grown on one typical urban lot (say 1/10th an acre). That being the case, and considering our ever-growing need and realigning demand for locally grown food, and the fact food may be grown locally as cost effectively as elsewhere in the world, it occurred to me that the highest and best use for most of the land now cleared, abandoned, blighted and wasted in our urban neighborhoods is for urban farming. So that is a use we are now planning to be core to redevelopment of the Star Neighborhood. Intrigued? Discuss and plan for this reality with Maurice and friends this Tuesday, from 6-7 PM, at that house on Roxbury, in East Cleveland. Please RSVP if you plan to attend.

Here is a good account of the alternative newspaper sale from John Ettorre on Working with Words. It helps fill out the details of the story:

Not only does the PD take on golf, Page 1 - front and center But Scene pitches in (sorry) with a story on the changing face of highschool baseball.

Maurice Small is the most economically and ecologically sensible planner I know.

Joe Stanley, Sudhir Kade and I have been brainstorming with City Fresh's Maurice Small about "I GRO EC" - Independent Green Republic Of East Cleveland. City Fresh already operates a Fresh Stop at Huron Road Hospital - which Maurice reports is doing great - and is active in community farming in East Cleveland. Recently, we've been discussing City Fresh having an involvement converting Brown's Convenient store into a pilot City Fresh Market, which could offer a paradigm-shifting model for bringing local food, farming and their economies into very needy urban neighborhoods, in very innovative and important ways.

James Levin (seated) with the Brew Crew at Carnegie Hall - photo by Sandy Kish

Solar Cup 2008......

The Solar Cup Program

Solar Cup is a seven-month program that begins in the fall, in which high school teams totaling about 900 students build and race solar-powered boats at Lake Skinner, in Temecula Valley, learning about conservation of natural resources, electrical and mechanical engineering, problem solving and much more.

Having recently attended the Greater Cleveland Lead Advisory Council (GCLAC) Annual Meeting, which focused on Challenges and Affordable Solutions in Lead Poisoning and Urban Redevelopment, I feel re-invigorated by the energy and culture of collaboration driven to rectify a debilitating lead toxicity problem that is particularly profound in underprivileged communities like East Cleveland.  Held in the welcoming confines of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, a full breakfast was served while the various parties collaborating on this critical social justice, health justice, and environmental justice issue were recognized for their considerable efforts.  Following this introductory, Keynote Speaker David E. Jacobs (pictured) of the National Center for Healthy Housing delivered a stirring oratory which sharply illuminated a drastically underfunded and undersupported health concern and epidemic. 

East Cleveland does not have a historical society like Westlake or a popular annual home tour like Ohio City, but it should. So for now, I am founding the online East Cleveland Historical Society on Realneo. Please feel free to join. There is no membership fee. Membership only requires that you share your knowledge and research.

Awhile back, Roldo mentioned that the newspaper still has relevance. Today, this article proves it.
Strongsville senior reels in science fair award Tuesday, May 20, 2008

This was sent to me by a very dear friend....  Sorry it is so long, but it is well worth the time...

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What In The World Is Going On?

 

Join your neighborhood community ARTS center for costume-making, dance & music that will be presented for thousands at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Parade the Circle Celebration! Special guest artist, Trinidad Carnaval artist, Michael Guy James, leads the group, and is joined by artists from around the world and around the corner--including the Passport Project Global Dance & Music Collective.

 

If these are average Clevelanders, living in older urban neighborhoods like around University Circle their entire lives, they have been lead poisoned, perhaps severely. Thursday morning, May 22nd, join 100s of NEOs leaders concerned with our community's health, intelligence, safety and economy meeting at the Cleveland Natural History Museum for a free breakfast, keynote discussion and breakout sessions about lead poisoning and urban redevelopment. I guarantee you will leave this brief event with a completely realigned understanding of the core barriers to the success of our urban neighborhoods, leading to better planning for a healthy, effective region in the future.

Hopefully after this week I will be able to put my sweaters and other wool clothes away until next fall. I have a large pile of items ready to go to the dry cleaner but I know the perchloroethelene most dry cleaners use is bad for the environment and bad for my family. What are the alternatives? I have already reduced the number of dry clean only garments in my wardrobe, but many vintage items require dry cleaning.

What is a "Green Roof" and what does it look like?

At the house on Roxbury, the green roof is where the raccoons still live.

Passport Project is thrilled to announce that we have been selected to host a group of Women Leaders from Korea on Tuesday, May 6 th from 2:00 - 3:30pm . This project consists of six visitors (accompanied by two State Department Interpreters) who are invited to the U.S. under the auspices of the State Department's International Visitor Leadership Program (http://exchanges.state.gov/education/ivp/overview.htm) , and will spend three weeks traveling around to different U.S. cities, Cleveland being one of them.

So I am just back from 14 days in Japan.  Interesting to be on the sidelines as 3,000 Japanese police protect the olympic toarch from what I thought would be a calm, reserved crowd.  Dont get me wrong, I was not in Nagano, I was in Shibuya / Tokyo.. but it got a lot of attention.  Pro and anti China student groups and observers literally throwing punches, 70 year old Japanese men going to jail for throwing tomatoes in the face of the police protecting the toarch... etc.  It was akin to what I saw in the USA when the toarch came thru California.

April 10, 2008, Heights Observer Volume 1, Number 1 hit the streets with the lead story "Why Citizen Journalism?". Contributing writer Michael Wellman observes "The interaction of two primary themes has largely been responsible for the growth of citizen based journalism: dissatisfaction with the content of traditional media and advancements in technology", and "“A common goal of citizen journalists is to recapture journalism as a truly democratic practice that is thoroughly rooted in -- and thus directly serves -- the real lives and interests of citizens.” (see mcgillreport.org/largemouth.htm)." Wellman also writes of the emergence of "hyper-local" journalism, enabled by Observer Newspapers and preached by Lakewood Observer founder Jim O'Bryan... for good reason.

The circumstances certainly were different but in 1967 Carl Stokes also had a black minister problem.

It wasn’t as explosive as presidential candidate Barack Obama’s differences with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. However, it was fraught with the tension of an unwanted attachment during a hotly contested and historic political campaign.

 

This is a 2.0 Mb Powerpoint Slideshow on the current building boom in Dubai that a friend sent to me. I think that it is very educational: Please "Click" Here for the Slideshow (it will take a little time to download & start...)

As we begin a new Spring - a new beginning - what are you doing to green your republic?

The Center for Science and Mathematics Education invites you to join us for Science is Fun! Family Day, from 10:00a.m.-4:00p.m., in Nord Hall 310 at Case Western Reserve University.

Introducing Immersion Presents: Expedition to Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. View broadcasts from the largest California national marine sanctuary. Join us for hands-on science fun, friendly competitions, and cool science demonstrations throughout the day!

I would not be alarmed. We may continue to get a break on the pie in the sky dreams of the "quick and dirty delivery system - Opportunity Corridor"  for University Circle, Inc. (UCI) and Cleveland Clinic as well as the "curbcuts for developer's - West Shoreway" due to this news:

"It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic,

When: 6-7:30 p.m.
Where: Neighborhood High Schools--Collinwood HS, East HS, East Tech HS, Glenville HS, JFK HS, Lincoln-West HS, John Marshall HS, Rhodes HS, South HS  and specialty high schools Max Hayes HS, John Hay HS, Martin Luther King HS.

Winner of the 2006 TED [Technology, Entertainment Design] Prize, the motto of Sinclair’s group, Architecture for Humanity, "design like you give a damn" sums up his design vision. With projects ranging from designing mobile health clinics combating HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa to establishing mine clearance programs and building playgrounds in the Balkans his mission is to create sustainable and innovative living standards for the masses.

Last night, I woke up as I do on many nights to a bad dream.  A dear friend was trapped in a windowless cell, but he would not see the tunnel afforded him under the bunk of his bed.  I tried to show it to him, but I had to confess that looking down the narrow tunnel afforded me no comfort.  I woke up with chest pains.  Fear for myself and fear for my friend.  Do we stay in our cells, because of our fear of the unknown?  We choose the hell we know over the unknown?  Phillip Morris' column today reminds me of my bad dream. 

When can we all wake up?

In today's hard times, we can all feel that hand on the neck - Phillip Morris

Plain Dealer Columnist
Thursday, April 03, 2008

I remember the first time I witnessed a killing. I was 6. The poor guy had his neck snapped in two. But he was a stubborn brawler. He refused to go down without a loud and bitter ruckus.

Cuyahoga County owns the University Square Plaza parking garage.  The garage is managed/operated by Inland Management.  Many of the concrete pre-stressed double T planks have failure cracks both at their ends, and all the RAMP planks, like the ones in the photo above, have cracks longitudinally along the outer unsupported edges of the T.  Notice how the gray-colored caulking between the edges of adjacent double T planks is stretched and webbed.  That means the edges of the planks are moving away from one another.  They are moving away from one another because the edges are sagging down.  You can feel the sag as a bumpety bump when you drive up or down the ramp. 

24)  Lead Outreach and Training
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requests proposals for the
National Community-Based Lead Outreach and Training Grant Program.
This grant will support the partnership of national organizations