"...but anything that is touched by man, is transformed by man, is by its very nature, design".I was so easily disappointed, and I really didn't want to be. In fact, this was one of those rare occasions (similar to Episode One) where I went into a room expecting to like everything, or at the very least, the vast majority and instead felt worse for the experience. I enjoyed Dwell magazine when IDru McKeownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00296931924454239141noreply@blogger.com0

The post Forclosure Crisis Forum lunch yielded the most fitting of all cookie communiques I have ever received. It was so befitting the conversation that we were sure that someone with a typewriter was in the next room, eavesdropping and predicting.For those of you who can't squint it reads:"The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get less than you settled for."...Cleveland.Oh dear Dru McKeownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00296931924454239141noreply@blogger.com0

 

Sherry wants to thank everybody who came to The Ugly Broad Tavern bearing turkeys, complete Thanksgiving meals, and more. Due to your efforts, Sherry dropped off an envelope with $211 in cash, three turkeys complete with all the trimmings, seventeen boxes, and more than fifteen bags of food to help fill Brookside Center’s shelves during the Thanksgiving holiday.

It was great to catch up with people we hadn’t seen in awhile and to meet a FaceBook friend face to face for the first time. As always, the tacos were scrumptious, and we enjoyed the conversation and camaraderie at our neighborhood bar, The Ugly. Stay tuned, scuttlebutt has it that there will be a redux of the event before Christmas.

To be completely fair and honest I did not attend Dr. Beatley's lecture at CMNH however I was included in the 2 hour workgroup which occurred before the lecture which was more of a Q&A session with Tim Beatley and others involved in the city. Luckily Erie Wire commented on one of my posts and directed me to a podcast of the lecture so I was able to at least listen to his presentation and Dru McKeownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00296931924454239141noreply@blogger.com0

Dear Save Our Land reader:

Each year Brookside Center has a local food drive the week before Thanksgiving. Yes, I know it seems like summer just ended but the beginning of the holiday season is upon us.

Sherry Perry is offering a free taco to anyone who stops by The Ugly Broad at Denison and 39th Street with a food or cash donation today, Wednesday, November 18th.

Here is more detail I posted on my blog: http://www.gloriaferris.net/2009/11/give-and-you-shall-receive/.

Since many of you are BCCA  and BCN members, you may have already received a notice on this event from another source. If you did receive another notice, then please accept my apology, if one is needed.

A blessed  Thanksgiving season to you and yours.

Tim and Gloria Ferris

 

This week heralds the yearly Brookside Center Thanksgiving food drive for my community-Brooklyn Centre as well as Old Brooklyn and Brooklyn. Part of the Westside Ecumenical ministry, Brookside Center helps those most in need in our community by stocking a food pantry, resale shop, and supporting people who need to find resources to help them through rough times. Donations of food or cash  can be dropped off directly to Brookside Center at 3784 Pearl Road.

Or, you can stop by The Ugly Broad Tavern tonight for a taco. And, your question is “what does Taco Night at 3908 Denison Avenue have to do with a local food drive?”  A lot, actually. Bring a food or cash donation  and YOU will receive a FREE taco. If you supplement that taco with a cold beer, some friendly conversation with friends and neighbors, and the good feeling you get  from giving you have the makings of a warm and cozy evening in Cleveland.

As if the last few rounds of fare hikes and service cuts haven’t already crushed RTA and its riders, the proposed round of service cuts for next April will be absolutely devastating.

It’s not just that some routes are being eliminated or cutback and frequency again reduced. If you look at the anticipated service changes, one key component is that several routes that currently serve as direct links to downtown will become feeder routes for rapid stations. This might be more acceptable in a world in which Cleveland had excellent rapid transit coverage with very frequent headways, but we don’t. This means that what is, for many, a one-seat ride downtown will become a two-seat ride, even during rush-hour. Further, because of the way our rail-system was developed more than a half-century ago, we have a single rapid station serving the entire downtown area (the proposed cuts will finally kill the Waterfront line). If you need to get to CSU?.. Or the Warehouse District?.. Tack on another bus ride or a nice walk.

Both service cuts and rate hikes have been detrimental to RTA’s ridership, and it’s a big reason why we got into this death spiral in the first place. Remember, in fact, that the original “fuel surcharge” was spun by RTA as a temporary solution to high fuel prices, according to this PD article from October, 2008:

RTA officials call the increases a fuel surcharge, imposed because of the rising cost of diesel. These higher fares are expected to continue until September 2009. The surcharge could be eliminated if the cost of diesel drops below $3 a gallon or if additional state money is provided. However, it could go up if fuel costs keep rising.

Diesel prices have been under $3 per gallon since about mid-November 2008.

Every quote from Joe Calabrese seems to emphasis the fact that the agency’s hands are tied, and that cuts and hikes are the only possible means of balancing the budget. We shouldn’t accept this at face value.

Last week I asked why RTA can’t move to a tiered system of fare pricing. Columbus, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and numerous other agencies across the country already use it. Do we have anyone who can put together a fancy financing deal to buy the agency some time, like they’re doing in Chicago? A year or two might be enough time to divert some of the expected casino windfall over to transit service. Even if we can eventually establish a better source of funding or pry some cash from the statehouse, re-expanding service will be difficult to justify because ridership will experience another negative shock and many will ask why we ought to provide funding for a service that nobody uses anymore (many are already asking this question).

If you never use RTA and you’re still reading, you might be thinking, who cares?.. why should I care? Consider these two facts: first, strong cities have strong transit systems. Even under-the-radar cities like Dallas and Houston are fast on pace to have more comprehensive and useful transit service than Cleveland. And second, think about cities you’d like to visit; when you’re there, it’s likely you’ll use public transit to get around. Ed made a great point along these lines on a recent trip to Barcelona. Transit service doesn’t directly impact every person in Cleveland, but it is an integral part of any city.
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Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon’s project, “Measuring the Economic Impact of Greenspace” and gtech: “To transition environmental liabilities into community based economic development opportunities”

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cellphone photoLast Thursday at the Case Medical Library Douglas Farr gave a brief lecture on smartly planned neighborhoods. I typically don't like to use words such as "green" or "sustainable" as they impose an aura of misplaced and misleading marketing that devalues the true intent, instead I would like to offer that Mr. Farr presented case studies and experiments in smarter urban planning Dru McKeownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00296931924454239141noreply@blogger.com1

In Part I, I told you about the emergence of the first killer app of open fabrication (formerly known as open source digital fabrication).

In Part II, I showed you that it works.

Now, Part III – Cliché Time

The train has left the station. It’s Game On!

Though leaves are falling and that Arctic wind is close…things just get hotter and hotter…

Now, a mere three months removed from Part II, not only am I using my open source 3d printers to print 3d objects, I’m also manufacturing parts to improve these machines and I’m shipping these parts all over the world.

And, there is a good article (with a silly title) and accompanying video on the WSJ homepage today about the resurgence of Making. (If you watch the video intro carefully you’ll even see MakerGear whiz by) From first print to WSJ cameo in three months…it’s happening, happening fast and happening everywhere. Well, except for Cleveland…

Where have all the makers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the makers gone
Long time ago…

Maybe we can start to change this at Cleveland Startup Weekend. I have one more ticket to the event and I’d like to take a local maker. Let’s spark a local resurgence…tap into this wave of innovative energy…Surfs Up, Dude.

Let me know if you want to Hang Five at #SWCLE.

Press play to hear the Hawaii Five-0 theme.

Rick
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Green Urbanism: the Global Shift Towards Sustainable and Resilient CitiesFriday, November 13th, 2009Cleveland Museum of Natural History1 Wade Oval Drive University Circle Cleveland OH 44106-17677.30 pmDr. Timothy BeatleyCo-sponsored with the Cleveland Council on World Affairs Dr. Timothy Beatley of the Department of Urban and Environmental Planning, School of Architecture at the Dru McKeownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00296931924454239141noreply@blogger.com2

Looking forward to Startup Weekend Cleveland Nov. 20-22. It is going to be a fun-can-do-action-packed event. Get your tixs: http://cleveland.startupweekend.org/tickets

Can’t make the whole event? Buy a Sunday Night Demo Ticket for only $20 and join us Sunday evening around 5pm for drinks and final presentations.
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Here is my comment on the Crain’s Investment News article which addresses the suit my friend Alan Mooney has filed with FINRA against FSC.

I know Alan Mooney personally, and feel that there is a need for some amplification of the situation surrounding him. Alan wrote the contract he used with FSC and did not sign or use FSC contracts. Alan wrote The Money Foundation contract which governs the down line reps who have Alan Mooney as their OSJ. Alan’s contract had language far beyond anything in the industry outlining ownership in regards to client information and intellectual property rights of reps. Alan also had a special contract as a Super OSJ meant to protect him from FSC recruiting his down line. A provision in the contract included a one year separation clause before FSC could recruit or retain any of Alan’s down lines. These unique 1997 contracts had been announced in national phone calls with over 600 reps listening when Jim Wisner signed the contract. 20,000 reps have learned about the signing of the contracts through seminar mailings and talks by Alan. Thousands of reps all over the United States who have attended Alan’s seminars have heard Alan talk about true independence.

That contract was honored by FSC for over 11 years until Mark Schlafly arrived on the scene, and for sure, Joby Gruber, Jim Wisner & John Bell Keeble would flip over how rotten things are at FSC today! FSC not only solicited Alan’s down lines but offered big bucks to top producers in Alan’s group to sell Alan out. In fact, in a phone call September 3, 2009, Mr. Schlafly promised Alan this would not happen anymore. Within 5 minutes of Mr. Schlafly’s disconnecting with Alan, he called Alan’s biggest producing rep. He not only solicited the rep but offered to backdate the money offer by 7 months.

There were hundreds of OSJ managers present when Alan offered to buy FSC in October 2008. Over a hundred OSJ’s had given Alan a Letter of Intent (LOI) to help buy out FSC. Within days after that meeting in Atlanta lots of rep’s with FSC were threatened by an AIG New York attorney to stop or else. The threats were in writing. Mr. Schlafly then had a national phone call with all FSC reps and threatened reps could not leave FSC because FSC owned their client information. Alan then posted on an FSC MFA ONLY blog a copy of AIG attorney Noah Sorkin’s letter to the SEC stating that at AIG the reps own that information. This exposed Mr. Schlafly and outted him as either dishonest or incompetent, and no matter what is correct, he was wrong in his threats.

Only Alan Mooney had the courage to stand and tell the truth on these issues–the guts to try and defend all the reps at FSC. There was no financial advantage for him. He could have stayed silent and shared the information only with his down line think tank- the Money Foundation. Most of the people following Alan are deeply moral and very spiritual people (many are Ordained Ministers). Some people jokingly have called us his apostles. We the so- called apostles of doing what is right, being independent and part of his think-tank, know the truth and know Alan tells it like it is! We know Alan as a Christian man of deep faith who has written books on Ethics for Success for stock brokers; a man knighted Sir Alan Mooney by order of the Pope for his work with inner city kids and street people.

The following week after Mr. Schlafly’s call, Schlafly clumsily had to retract saying “he didn’t know about the AIG attorney’s letter to the SEC”, but he still threatened “the use of negative response letters and months of holding reps up if they try to move”.

Alan is a holy man who stood up alone for the independent reps at FSC and those he stood up for should show their support for him now. Unfortunately, not all people are warriors, but those of us who value independence and ethical behavior know that now is the time to stand with this man. He personally paid for and brought his attorney to that meeting in the fall of 2008 for the benefit of all the other OSJ’s in what he believed was the beginning of how together they could help FSC remain a beacon for independent reps in the financial world.

Further, the person calling only OSJ’s (not their downlines) at FSC is an attorney’s son and is conducting a survey, and nothing more. Those who claim otherwise are not being truthful. People who are threatened by truly moral leaders always try to defame them. Alan is a man who freely shares knowledge, expertise, and best practices to make the financial world a better place. Simply, Alan is a good man done very wrong.

Independent Reps everywhere should take heed of this lawsuit because who owns the relationship with your clients, who owns your intellectual property, who has duties to whom, and who calls the shots in your business, in your professional practice—it is all at stake.

Read the full article here.

You can access the new channel here.

Here’s a glimpse of the Strategic Doing workshop we held at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls on June 10, 2009.

Strategic Doing is a disciplined process that enables loosely joined networks to do complex thinking together quickly. This complex thinking is critical to civic innovation.

Strategic Doing in South Central Idaho from Ed Morrison on Vimeo.

and
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Research from Purdue’s Department of Child Development and Family Studies just released. In the paper, the authors provide a detailed description of how problem gambling impacts families…

[T]he negative financial consequences of problem gambling can occur quickly and can result in extensive financial consequences for other people. The financial damage that a problem gambler can cause in minutes would typically take a substance abuser weeks or even years to create the same financial damage to a family. Hence, the consequences of gambling can be abrupt and devastating…

Although there is limited research on the impact of parental problem gambling on children, the current research findings indicate that children’s lives are profoundly impacted by a parent’s problem gambling behaviors (Darbyshire, Oster, & Carrig, 2001a; Franklin & Thorns, 1989; Jacobs et al., 1989; Lesieur & Rothschild, 1989; Lorenz, 1987).

Summary here: Families Suffer From Problem Gambling

A 2005 study from the University of Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions notes that proximity to casions matters…

Individuals who live within 10 miles of a casino or in a disadvantaged neighborhood are more likely to experience problem gambling, according to new research from the University at Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions (RIA).

Study Ties Risk Of Problem Gambling With Proximity To Casinos

As Robert Goodman writes in The Luck Business:

To move away from the culture of chance and toward policies that promote genuine economic development will mean going beyond the hype of magic bullet cures and focusing instead on incremental, long-term policies. We should seek to better understand and correct the economic circumstances that have forced state and local governments to consider gambling in the first place. This process will require patience, careful analysis, and honest discussion among leaders and their constituents. The reward will be not only the protection of our economy, but a shift from the pathologies of hope to the creation of real hope.

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A major competitive opportunity has been staring Cleveland in the face for at least five years, and no one at the Greater Cleveland Partnership seems to get it.

The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage

Instead, I wonder, how much time and money the GCP has spent over the past five years trying to get a casino in Cleveland?

Now that Cleveland has its casino, I’m sure we will see the Cleveland economy soar right along with Detroit, Louisiana and Mississippi (all of which went all in for casinos as an economic development strategy).
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Trophy Wife and I are hitting the beaches of Europe. No, I will not post pictures, but I can assure you Trophy Wife is even hotter than Betty Sutton and Maureen Kyle, and that should impress you.
I'm not bringing my computer. Political Science 216 will return in August.

James Renner is not going away quietly, much to the horror of the corporate powers that own Scene Magazine and also would-be Governor Kevin Coughlin. And much to my delight, I might add.
JR, while you are at it, even though it’s unrelated, get Rebecca Meiser her old job back too.
Here’s his press release:

Former Cleveland Scene Investigative Journalist James Renner files wrongful termination suit

Seeks declaratory judgment that story about State Senate Kevin Coughlin’s alleged extramarital affair and felony criminal investigation regarding election fraud was not defamatory.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Brian R. Hester, Esq. (513) 360-4027 or brian@hester-law.com

Cleveland- Attorney Brian R. Hester today announced the filing of James Renner v. CEGW, Inc. (d.b.a. Times-Shamrock Communications), et al., Cuyahoga Cnty. C.P. Case No CV-09-694122. Mr. Renner has worked for the last five years at Cleveland Scene, and then prior to its 2008 merger with Scene, the Cleveland Free Times as an award-winning investigative journalist.
Renner alleges he was wrongfully terminated after sending an e-mail to Times-Shamrock CEO Matt Haggerty informing Haggerty of the chilling effect in the newsroom Haggerty’s decision not to publish a non-defamatory story about State Senator Kevin Coughlin (R-Cuyahoga Falls) would have. The suit contends that to fire a journalist under such circumstances violates public policy.
Renner also alleges that his Employee Handbook specifically encouraged employees, like Renner, to inform senior management in a “frank and full” manner whenever a decision by management impacts an employee’s work. These policies, coupled with oral representations by Cleveland Scene management made regarding job security, constitute enforceable promises that Times-Shamrocks breached in firing him, Renner alleges. Renner is seeking back pay, reinstatement, and punitive damages against Times-Shamrock.
The suit asks for no monetary damages from State Senator Coughlin, but asks the court to find that a story that Renner wrote about Senator Coughlin which led to his termination is not defamatory under Ohio law. The story…reports that Coughlin was investigated by the Summit County Board of Elections for allegedly illegally altering petitions for candidates to the Summit County Republican Central Committee in 2007—a felony under Ohio law.
The story also alleged that Senator Coughlin had an affair beginning in 2004 with a female campaign worker, and that he used his campaign committee funds to take his alleged paramour and another campaign staffer to OSU football games, pay his alleged paramour a salary from his campaign (the only person paid a salary from Coughlin’s State Senate committee), and for hotel liaisons in Columbus and Cuyahoga Falls. When interviewed by Renner, the suit alleges that the alleged paramour refused comment. When asked about the alleged 2004 affair, Renner alleged State Senator Coughlin replied, “I don’t have any extra-marital affair going on.”
“Ever since my client was asked by Cleveland Scene’s management to look into allegations that State Senator Coughlin had an extramarital affair, Coughlin has been threatening suit if any story about any extramarital affair was published. He’s told his political supporters that my client has engaged ‘in a pattern of’ defaming him. We are simply asking the Court to adjudicate those claims in a court of law that Senator Coughlin has been litigating in the court of public opinion,” said Renner’s attorney, Brian Hester.

Erick Trickey at Cleveland Magazine has done some actual reporting on the Sexiest Politician contest.

As voting trends became clear, The Professor speculated that Plusquellic's supporters were flocking to his site, using the contest as a proxy war in Akron's mayoral recall campaign. But an Akron reporter I talked to recently thinks the surge for Plusquellic was authentic. Female reporters in Akron often gush about the mayor's good looks, he says: "He's got movie-star presence."

I guess I can see that. The mayor has sort of a Sinatra thing going in this picture, don't you think?

ET also has some thoughts on the 2010 Sexiest Reporter contest. Yes, it's not too soon.