OPEN THWARTS RIP-OFF

So you have a “good idea” do you, and you’re worried someone will rip it off. 

For several years, I worked and lived in Louisiana, so I still keep touch with friends. Lou Burnett, an old newspaper man, writes an excellent newsletter on what is happening, especially in the northwest part of the state, around Shreveport.

Date: Wednesday, March 1

Time: 5:00 P.M. - 6:45 P.M.

Place: Myers University, Chester Campus

3921 Chester Avenue, Cleveland, OH

African American community leaders came together at Myers University to make new connections, share an appreciation of Cleveland's rich history of African American cultural institutions and long standing leadership contributions to the history of American innovation and entrepreneurship.

 
    At the meeting ODOT held on 2/21/06 at the Myers University Club to discuss the Midtown trench and its on and off ramps, I noticed one behavior that struck me as emblematic of ODOT’s relationship with the public.  I know that people speaking at meetings or calling in to talk shows  will begin with thanking the “sponsor”,  so to speak, but at Tuesday’s meeting the majority of audience members who lined up to comment or ask questions began with drawn out thank- you’s to the various members of ODOT for coming to Cleveland, for having the meeting etc. etc.  My classes in “social relations” were years ago, but it seems to me that the typical audience behavior at Myers suggested people who viewed themselves as supplicants, placating the authorities first in the hopes that whatever they wanted to ask or state might at least be allowed utterance.  Now I am not naïve, and I know ODOT is in the power position here, but ultimately the taxpayers can bring about change in the balance of this relationship by letting their elected officials know that the people who make the final decisions are not really listening to the public but rather just allowing them to “vent”.

You call yourself a Clevelander?!? You'd do yourself well to check-out the newest release from Cleveland's own the NewLouReeds.  The  liner notes say it all.  Recorded at cleveland's own Exit Stencil Recordings

The County's Blue Ribbon Task Force officially ended today, and we began the process of implementing the County's new economic development strategy. The County is taking an important step to support a new approach to economic development in our region: economic development that is privately-led and publicly supported.

Join us today for Midtown Wednesdays to learn about Cleveland's rich history and bright future supporting African American culture.  
Date: February 22 

Betsey,

It didn't dawn on me until after I had finished commenting regarding the network map that I had blown the main point.

The reason names are critical in a network map is because trust cannot be anonymous. 

"building trust" - we hear it at all the meetings, we hear it from Jack, from Valdis, from Norm, from Ed, from Tom, from George, from Berlin, from William - but you can't build trust with anonymity.  We need names and faces - lots of them - like in high school - to connect to and listen too.   Then trust will come.

Here is yet another version of the Midtown Innovation Map. Colors have been added for a visually interesting affect.

Software designer, Valdis Krebs, likens these portraits of communities to works of art. Snapshots of social relationships.

In 1915 a pair of Oberlin graduates, Russell and Rowena Woodham Jelliffe, established a place where people of different races, creeds and religions could seek cultural excellence together. The location later became known as Karamu House. Join us to celebrate Cleveland's rich history of African American institutions continuing to strengthen culture and history.

Be a part of envisioning a new African American Cultural Center and brainstorming new ways of sharing knowledge and resources for a dynamic entrepreneurial place in NEO.

Thank you for the comments and insights. All maps should be considered open community contributions and resources. We can post Maps with Names every week. Let us know what would be most valuable to you. If you have questions, contact myself (betseymerkel [at] aol [dot] com) or Dennis Coughlin (denniscoughlin [at] i-open [dot] org) for a copy.

The latest issue of Business Week highlights social network analysis and points to the work of our colleague Valdis Krebs. Read more.  As we have been saying for some time, Valdis (a CSU grad) is an international expert on a remarkably important field for Northeast Ohio: innovation.

 When is the last time you saw a job application like this?

 

CAREER POSITION  

 CONSTRUCTION LABORER

We are an

Unequal Opportunity Employer

 

The Studio Incubator is not the entire piece of the puzzle needed for a Film Industry here, but it is a start. First we have to recognize the Industry is not here, and then we move forward with the potential. So here, I will chart the progress of the Studio Incubator.

Click on the link below to take a look at the Midtown Innovation Map so far. Different weeks are represented by different colored nodes. Here is the color code: New Names added Forum 01.11.06 = maroon; New Names added Forum 01.25.06 = green; New Names added Forum 02-08-06 = blue.

To begin, this week's session includes several updates and quick takes of information.

Rich Brhel, Dir. of Library, Myers University, reminds us of Myers' historical place in Cleveland history since 1848. Rich continues and provides a quick clip about the Ohio Memory Project a cool repository of Cleveland history.

Midtown Wednesdays forums are a place for people to gather and exchange ideas. Here is last week's social network map of the people who contributed a completed short survey (click on the JPG below.)

"Computer games have now been with us for over 30 years. The Atari 2600 is nearly 25 years old. Civilization is now nearly 10 years old. Yet, many Americans fail to recognize these complex achievements as more than fads or child's play. Ask most people what they think about video games, and many will respond that they're a waste of time..."

 

What does it take to build tomorrow's innovation zone?

An environment with diversity, creativity and endless opportunities to participate in new business mediums.

I was listening to the tape of the Dalai Lama presentation on compassion. Initially the organizers wanted him to do the presentation about emptiness, which is one of the central concepts in Buddhism, but then they decided that it would be a very complicated topic. I spent some time thinking, why it is important to reach emptiness.

I  will confess up front - I don’t know the deep background. Nevertheless, I was struck by a comment attributed to Fanny Lewis, Cleveland City Councilwoman, in today’s CPD article on locating the Myers U. fieldhouse.  It seems that Myers U wants to locate its fieldhouse on the same piece of land that Lewis has been promoting for  a jail to house nonviolent criminals.  Ms. Lewis is quoted as saying, “We have more men in prison than we have in college so there’s a need.”  This may, very unfortunately, be true; but aren’t we hearing from all sides that education, from pre-school on is a huge problem in Cleveland; that to compete locally, nationally and globally, we have to provide better education to everyone. If we want to reverse this proportion, shouldn’t we be favoring the school’s needs?   The fieldhouse for a school should be as close as possible to the main campus. Cleveland does not lack for empty space.  In seven years of searching for a place to build this type of jail in Cuyahoga County, is the location on Chester at 49th the only viable alternative?

Cleveland's WIRE-Net is one of five programs cited in this national report on innovative city partnerships. The report came out this week. The report is available here. The press release is available here.

 

Thank you, Ed, for your detailed analysis, without which the average citizen, even one who is interested in ODOT’s I-90 upgrade, may just read the Plain Dealer reports and never question the propriety of  where we, the public, stand at this point in the process. As you have pointed out, ODOT is not following its own Planning Development Process.  Even without reading the many paged PDP manual, which is available online at ODOT’s site, a little logical thinking would suggest that something is amiss if the public comment  period ends after, and the economic impact studies are not completed before, ODOT has selected the engineering firm to work on possible bridge designs for its preferred alignment (All emphases above and following are mine.)

 

I just received an email from "Citizen" Ed Hauser, the man who saved Whiskey Island, which he sent to 100s of community leaders and members of the press and government, which challenges the process that is being followed in determining the fate for Cleveland's I-90 bridge, Inner-belt trench, and ultimately the entire look and feel of our city.