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

Of all the possible investments that are needed here in Northeast Ohio’s Cuyahoga County and in Cleveland,  the County Commissioners have chosen – in secret meetings and without the vote of the public – to spend over $900,000,000.00 (even more for a possible 60 year contract) in a scheme whose only acknowledged public benefit is amorphous “trickle down”.   

 

If you owned a $40,500.000.00 parking structure,  would these images concern you?  (by the way, if you live in Cuyahoga County, you DO OWN IT)

There is a need for the thoughtful people of Northeast Ohio to speak up loud and clear - sound an alarm - about environmental issues here, and our impact here on environmental issues worldwide.  We should do this in our everyday life, and we should participate in community efforts to speak in harmony about saving planet Earth. One way to shout-out that "This is a state of global emergency" is to become an "Alarmist". As posted on REALNEO here, for this April 11, at 11 AM local time, for one minute, and each 11th of the month thereafter, at 11 AM,  Alarmists declare, "We need to set off the world's alarms. Join in. It could be the alarm on your phone, in your home, in your car. You could gather some friends to make some noise. Organise a flash mob. Schedule a company fire drill. Borrow a vintage air raid siren... Be creative. Raise the alarm." So, people of REALNEO, how should we sound the first Alarmism minute?

 What is it about Buddhists that encourages their intense involvement in politics?  

School design has been on my mind. Here is a thumbnail of an almost perfect Cleveland school.  Benjamin Franklin School

I recently received a copy of Ouroboros, the magazine that chronicles winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize. The Sidwell School in Washington DC has been recognized this year.  Also, see GreenCityBlueLake for a recent post on Green Schools.  Today, I was impressed by Harrison Elementary in Lakewood's walk-friendly Birdtown.

  With all the public noise she's been exposed to  in NEO,  and with all the Dirty Dealer's un-ethical public noise about what was private, to see her today with her smile was an affirmation.

I attended the KennedyConCenter meeting this morning - held before the scheduled meeting of the Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners.  

Each of the last two winters, Cleveland Plain Dealer writer Kevin O'Brien wrote that it sometimes snows in Cleveland so there is no global warming. His latest scientific position on this is posted on Cleveland.com here (and included below). O'Brien is such a strange writer I cannot tell if he is kidding, but in the interest of good public information it seems important for all people to consider what O'Brien published in the Plain Dealer and discuss if it is intelligent, misleading, incorrect or perhaps true. Who has an informed position on global warming and what O'Brien writes below?

  

Typical for the Dirty Dealer, they make a joke out of accounting for the public’s money on the March 11, 2008 editorial page. 

Tonight I saw the hot new mockumentary The Green Chain at the film fest.   The best part is that we used our 'private screening' tickets from Pat and Dan Conway's gig tonight to get past the ticket taker then re-appropriated our access rights to see this mockumentary that got started around the same time slot.   To wrong the right... I offer up a nice plug:

Join us Thurs. April 3, 5:30PM - 7:30PM, Webtego for Midtown Brews with Meet The Bloggers. Live Broadcast and Chat.

One day a florist goes to a barber for a haircut. After the cut he asked about his bill and the barber replies, 'I cannot accept money from you. I'm doing community service this week.' The florist was pleased and left the shop. When the barber goes to open his shop the next morning there is a 'thank you' card and a dozen roses waiting for him at his door.

 One of the few organizations in   Cleveland that seems to have truly meritorious objectives is The Cleveland Council on World Affairs.