REALNEO for all - Environment

GCLAC meeting offers illuminating insights on Lead Safe Living

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:21:02 -0400

The lastest GCLAC Lead Safe Living meeting this past Monday, July 14, at the Lutheran Ministries building on the west side was an informative and particularly timely session, given the imminent arrival of Ohio Lead Awareness Week, July 21-25. Events have been planned in conjunction with this statewide effort by various collaborators comprising the GCLAC to offer important educational and testing services. All children 6 and under will receive free lead screenings throughout the week and a special press conference, featuring Mayor Eric Brewer of East Cleveland, (among others) will kick things off.

Frog Went a Beggin'

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:06:09 -0400

(Or scraping the bottom of the pond)

Press Conference in recognition of Ohio Lead Awareness Week

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:50:14 -0400

Start: 2008/07/21 - 11:00am

End: 2008/07/21 - 12:00pm

The Greater Cleveland Lead Advisory Council (GCLAC) will be holding a Press Conference in recognition of Ohio Lead Awareness Week, which will take place the week of July 20th – 26th, 2008. Scheduled speakers will address the significant progress made in reducing the number of children affected by lead paint hazards, as well as the importance of continued vigilance and prevention in light of new evidence linking childhood lead exposure to crime, low school-performance, as well as numerous lifelong health problems. Scheduled speakers, representing a City, County, and State unified effort to eliminate the dangers of childhood lead poisoning are:

Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones, Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners
Mayor Frank Jackson, City of Cleveland
Mayor Eric Brewer, City of East Cleveland
State Representative Mike Foley, District 14
Stuart Greenburg, Executive Director, Environmental Health Watch
Nakiaa Robinson, Program Manager, Office of Early Childhood, Invest in Children

REALNEO Conference Room

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 23:36:12 -0400

REALNEO team meeting and fun and games at Eakin/Buster HQ, in Shaker Heights, July 11, 2008...other than insane mosquito infestations this year, it's been a great Summer for backyard planning...

A Star is Born: Community Transformation at the Nexus of Social and Environmental Justice

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:44:49 -0400

Back in January of 2007 I first proposed the application of innovative, sustainably powered aquaponics in tandem with organic farming to uplift underprivileged communities and resolve urban blight. East Cleveland, where we have worked for years now, to facilitate positive change, remains a tremendous opportunity for Urban aquaponics integration, especially given the extraordinary connections falling into place recently toward the Star Neighborhood Vision. A two-year quest to secure financially viable and socially redeeming use for the old Hough Bakeries building has finally manifested, through trial and tribulation, with the likely emergence of multiple schools at the Star Village, as it is now called, on Lakeview in East Cleveland. REALNEO and Star Neighborhood Development founder Norm Roulet deserves kudos for perservering through political turbulence and facilitating the key connections to make this work.

Ingenuity Cool

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:47:07 -0400

Graphics speak louder than words, but, of course, the kids know that!!!

I GRO Cuba to Grow NEO?

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:36:37 -0400

Start: 2008/07/15 - 6:00pm

End: 2008/07/15 - 7:00pm

I thought perhaps I could stump City Fresh's Maurice Small with the question "what county in the world is the leader in urban farming?", but he didn't hesitate responding Cuba. And the July 8, 2008 I GRO EC roundtable concluded we need to plan a best practices mission to Havana. Next Tuesday, July 15, 6-7 PM, come to the Independent Green Republic Of Star Village, at the Star/Hough Bakeries Complex, to help plan our mission to Cuba and discuss other plans for transforming our region through urban farming.

Let Them Eat Fresh, Local, Organic Raspberries and Blackberries They Picked In Their Neighborhood For Free

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:08:10 -0400

Start: 2008/07/08 - 6:00pm

End: 2008/07/08 - 7:00pm

When our neighbor Dr. Pat Blochowiak told us to stop by her garden and pick some raspberries, blackberries and snow peas, I didn't realize the depths of her bounty... or how great blackberries may be. As my kids picked through nature, they chomped down probably $50 worth of the best food in town, when you may find food so good. As I looked at the bowls of berries collected in short time, I felt blessed by my community and nature. Over a fresh berries and whipped organic cream desert, our family celebrated Summer and life in the best way. All that is the certain promise of East Cleveland, with community farming. Help plan that reality with Maurice Small and others as we meet again, today, for what has become an every-other-Tuesday City Fresh I GRO EC brainstorming session, in East Cleveland. This week, we'll meet at the Hough/Star Bakeries complex, and also visit Brown's Market, which we plan to convert into a pilot City Fresh Market.

Lake Erie

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:59:48 -0400

Lake Erie from the Shoreby Club breakwall

What does the future really hold for Lake Erie, in times of global warming?

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:35:06 -0400

I lived for a while in Bay Village, along Lake Erie, and the views, microclimate, and bugs were amazing. When I first moved there, I used to take my dog down to the water, at a little "swimming" area by Columbia Road, until we went swimming there after a storm and then both got sick as dogs, and the dog's fur started falling out. I've stayed ashore, since... and keep my kids away from the lake. Perhaps the water is not entirely unsafe, between rains, but all that shit and worse that flows into the lake, when the storm drains and sewers overflow into the lake, stays in the lake. And what industry and shipping dumps into the lake, stays in the lake... or turns into fish many eat. So is this a good use for the lake? Who cares, much less may make a difference? And what does the future really hold for Lake Erie, in times of global warming?

Question of the Day: How Is Your Victory Garden?

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:40:56 -0400

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!

Prelude to the Storm

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 09:01:35 -0400

Under Mike White's administration, Abram's Creek in the Rocky River watershed was buried to make way for the expansion of Hopkin's Airport. Fourteen million dollars in mitigation funding was allocated to restore the Doan Brook watershed. What happened to the money?

Concrete-Breaking Celebration!

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:26:44 -0400

Start: 2008/07/11 - 10:00am

Friday, July 11, 2008

10:00-11:30 a.m.

The Place: Confluence of West Creek and the Cuyahoga River
6411 Granger Rd./Rt. 17, Independence OH

From West Creek Preservation Committee: Celebrate with us as we kick off the return of West Creek at its confluence with the Cuyahoga River. Witness the start of the demolition as we reclaim the site from its current condition as a vacant warehouse and parking lot to make way for a beautiful 10-acre riverfront park. When completed, West Creek will return to its original meandering flow into the Cuyahoga River with natural wetlands to reduce flooding, clean our drinking water, and restore wildlife habitat. The new park will connect the West Creek Greenway to the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail, provide new access to the creek and river for all, and lead to economic revitalization of this part of Independence.

Project Partners: Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, City of Independence, Cuyahoga County Commissioners, The Trust for Public Land, The George Gund Foundation, NRAC of Cuyahoga County, State of Ohio--Clean Ohio Fund, Ohio EPA, Ohio DOT, Kurtz Bros, Inc., and Independence Excavating.

Special thanks to US Senator George V. Voinovich, US Representative Dennis Kucinich, and State Senator Bob Spada.

Press calls: 216-401-4734

West Creek Preservation Committee

NEO Excellence Roundtable: Urban Farming with Maurice Small

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:35:35 -0400

Start: 2008/06/24 - 6:00pm

End: 2008/06/24 - 7:00pm

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.

First Solar City in Germany: Marburg City Council Approves Law Requiring Solar

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:20:52 -0400

by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 06.22.08