It was terrific to see Cleveland Foundation President Ronn Richard write an opinion column in the Plain Dealer today expressing his vision for developing an alternative energy industry in Northeast Ohio. This has been a topic of considerable discussion in Cleveland for two years, going back to several excellent Tuesdays@REI, back in the day, and more recently wind has become a visible promise on the horizon of Cleveland, with the installation of a turbine in front of the Great Lakes Science Center.

Ronn clarifies below what are his objectives for wind in NEO, which is not just to take as much of the region off the traditional electric grid as possible, but to build alternative energy technologies here, as a workforce and industrial development for the future. There is not doubt that is an excellent strategy with strong support in the region, and absolutely no opposition.

At the end of his column, Ronn writes "We're pressing for a move to advanced energy as an imperative for national security, local economic security and a healthier planet. Won't you join us?... Call Richard Stuebi at the Cleveland Foundation to get involved: 216-685-2011." There is also an opportunity to hear Mr. Stuebi speak at Case tomorrow - see http://realneo.us/SURES-RICHARD-STUEBI.

I took the picture at the top of this posting from Ronn Richard's office at the Cleveland Foundation, several months ago, and he spoke with complete confidence in his ability to make the alternative energy industry a strength of this region, so I am completely confident this will occur - those interested in that outcome should read Ronn's complete column below and follow through on his request - contact the Cleveland Foundation and get involved!

How would you describe (Rocket From The Tombs) show to someone that has never seen you playing live?

It is truly one of the great rock experiences you will have. We wouldn't bother otherwise. The people in this band do not belong together. Touring with this band has been the most miserable experience of my life. The only reason I do it is because what we do on stage is so satisfyingly hot.

RFTT have been described as one of the godfathers of punk, a kind of a bridge between the Stooges, hard rock and a more arty sound. What's your opinion about that?

RFTT was, in my opinion, not a punk band. We were a logical step along the progression and evolution of rock music. Our roots seem very obvious. People say the music is so angry you must be rebellious. Yeah, I don't know. It seems to me, as I remember it, what we were angry about was ordinariness. The mainstream rock bands who played in all the clubs were SO ordinary and unambitious, were satisfied with so little when there so much that could be done. That's what I remember. That doesn't seem too punk to me. But I'm not a chicken-hawker either.

What kind of reaction from the crowd did you get while touring? Which kind of feedback from your performances?

Audiences were stunned and extremely happy.

- David Thomas, of Rocket From The Tombs, Pere Ubu, and Cleveland

These quotes, from the liner notes from the 2004 RFTT Rocket Redux release of luminary Cleveland-honed, UK-based David Thomas, founder of globally significant Rocket From The Tombs (RFTT) and Pere Ubu, offer Clevelanders just a hint of what is in store for them tonight, July 26, 2006, at the Beachland Ballroom - the first show of RFTT's 2006 fast-track blast across the USA...in other words:

In trying to keep up with what's happening in Cleveland regarding the development of green technologies, I've never been able to find anything that tracks it on a local basis. 
Chris Varley at TechFutures  is likely the most prolific local blogger covering cleantech and posts often about the promise of clean/green tech and a bit about the burgeoning and growing movement here in NEO. 

Please visit this blog post for comments regarding the current situation with gang violence in our region and steps being taken by local activists and civic organizations to address this threat to the safety and quality of life in our region.

I had the pleasure of joining a group of East Cleveland residents of Ward 2 (the neighborhood nearest to University Circle), hosted by Ward 2 Councilwoman Barbara Thomas, where she gave citizens the opportunity to discuss their issues and seek insight and solutions - one of the things I love about East Cleveland is this small-town form of government... you need to experience it. One topic was trash, and that led to recycling, and I know realneo members love that! So... who wants to plan some more recycling?

Putting the pieces together to form a comprehensive GIS map of our region is a formidable task but as i mentioned earlier - very possible with the proper resources, planning, collaboration, and expertise.  The open source proposals for East Cleveland will be exciting opportunities to do this innovatively on a smaller scale with cutting edge technology.  Demonstrating transformational outcomes delivered with a novel approach and toolset could open the eyes of many to the greater opportunities open source provides.

While researching Lewis Thomas' essay collection entitled "Lives of a Cell", I came across the following article from July 2004 Technology Review.

Conincidence?  I think not.  Lewis Thomas laid the groundwork for much of James Lovelock's "Gaia" philososphy which theorisizes mother earth as massive superorganism seeking homeostasis.

The following article should prove interesting fodder for realNEO/Tribe folks as social networks provide holarchic transfer of knowledge,  thereby enabling a knowledge economy or a spontaneous dodgeball game in the E. 5th alley...

Social Lives of a Cell Phone

New wireless services will maximize your connections to others and minimize your need to plan ahead

The following story appears in the Summer 06 issue of Ohio Canal Corridor's newsletter .

Walworth Run – The Next Branch for the Towpath Trail?

It was back in 1996 when Ohio Canal Corridor led a planning charette in the ClarkMetro neighborhood that looked for a new vision for Train Avenue.  The daylong event was one of a half-dozen plans that were hatched throughout the city.  Others included a new park in Tremont where West 7 Street and West 10 Street merge along Railway Avenue and a park honoring surveyors in the Warehouse District between West 6 Street and West 9 Street/ just south of the Shoreway Ramp.  The exercises culminated in a booklet titled:  Green Spaces/People Places and was a component of the Lila Wallace/ Reader’s Digest funded park initiative under the direction of ParkWorks.

Ohio Canal Corridor immediately afterwards included Train Avenue in its annual RiverSweep program with the intent that this idea of a trail connection to the Towpath would not be lost, but rather that the neighborhood, through its represented Community Development Corporation, would awake to its potential. Thankfully, Clark-Metro has done just that. Last year, they teamed with a number of adjoining CDCs to submit a request to NOACA for funding under its Transportation for Livable Communities Initiative (TLCI) . Though they were unsuccessful, they regrouped and resubmitted again this year and were awarded $64,000 towards a $80,000 study that would explore a trail alignment and provide some estimated construction costs, identify benefits and spin-off development opportunities, and list potential funding sources. NPI contributed $12,000 towards the project and Ohio Canal Corridor (OECA) along with a number of stakeholder CDCs (Clark-Metro, Stockyards Development and Tremont West) have each added $1,000. As it stands, the planning will begin in 2007 and conclude in 2008.  Public input will be required and sought.  If you are interested in this project, please contact Abe Bruckman at Clark-Metro: 216-741-9500.

Additional ideas for Train Ave / Walworth Run can be found at
CSU's Levin College of Urban Affairs

Master of Urban Planning, Design, and Development (MUPDD)
PDD 611 Planning Capstone, Spring 2004
Train Avenue/Walworth Run Corridor

The Course Description contains the following information about Train Ave / Walworth Run

The corridor runs approximately two miles from W. 65th St. eastward to the Cuyahoga River. In the western end, the corridor is located directly to the south of the I-90 interstate; in its eastern third, the corridor study site turns northward toward the Cuyahoga River. Train Ave. is so-named for its proximity to several rail lines that run in the corridor. These railways were placed in the area in the late 19th and early 20th century as the west side neighborhoods of Cleveland developed. The trains were located in a natural ravine, which contained Walworth Run, a small tributary stream that emptied into the Cuyahoga River. Walworth Run was a valley riparian corridor containing several ponds, and drew early settlers, livestock businesses and slaughterhouses. The stream was gradually culverted and eventually buried underground, becoming part of the city's growing sewer system during the early 20th century.

Live music, Morrison dancers, hula hooping roller skaters, art, dogs, ice cream, ethnic and gourmet food -- The Taste of Tremont had it all.

In today's Plain Dealer was what appeared like an exposé on economic development organizations in Northeast Ohio, but really just showed lots of big salaries and highlighted the obvious about our regional economy that was summed up in one line - " Has it worked? Not yet." I've had good experiences with two people in economic development in NEO - Cleveland Tech Czar Michael DeAloia and I-Open leader Ed Morrison, quoted in the PD article saying: "There's not strong enough leadership looking out, picking their head up out of the weeds and saying we need to be heading this way,"... "He argues we lack the civic skills to grab opportunities, make decisions and move on." I agree, and have found the ivory tower efforts for the region are not for me or my interests. They are for others, and traction is being made in some areas, like health sciences (hard to avoid, with the $ millions in health related R&D at Case and the Clinic alone... the Clinic just took a medical company public last week). But in the small business and IT spaces there is little support available, and there are real obsticals to progress, to some extent caused by the community belief there is a support structure in place to help entrepreneurship here, which there is not. One hopeful sign for the future is that Case has disposed of the dean of their business school, and so that institution may again add value to the region through a good replacement... we'll see. Otherwise, it is worth considering the insight Don Iannone shared on his blog in response to the PD article, which offer some good lessons learned by a good local economic development professional... a few highlights below... my favorite being "our regional economic development culture (that includes everybody and not just the faces and names in the Plain Dealer series) is combative, secretive, blaming, insular, and small-minded":

Oh my God, I just saw an interview with Steve Case, the former CEO of AOL, that pathetic fork in the road toward an information economy, who in 2005 started Revolution Healthcare to "entrepreneurise" healthcare, and the vision he presents is highly disturbing, being that he sees healthcare as the big industry (along with "energy technology") and is planing to be the world's healthcare portal and Patient Record Management system and provide clinics in WalMarts and on and on, and his investors are Barksdale (Netscape) and Powell (5 star General), and they will build many big companies, bigger the AOL, and it is clear this man is sick.

Who are Roger Peterson and Judith Swain and why should you care?These world-leading scientists are part of America's “brain drain,” genetic researchers moving overseas to work on stem cell research, a trend almost certain to expand under the hostile climate in the US reflected in the President's veto of the stem cell research legislation. The veto maintains a failed policy that is leaving American researchers far behind in one of the most important scientific fields. Here are a few “brain drain” examples:

Americans and people around the world, who follow current events in America, are today digesting George Bush's veto of House Bill 801, killing the Congressionally approved expansion of stem cell research in America. People who think are trying to understand what that veto means for the future of scientific research and health care in America and around the world. Once viewed as a progressive nation, for better and worse founded on exploration of “new frontiers”, America's withdrawal from serious scientific and medical research is perplexing and in ways troubling to those hoping to help cure diseases and save lives globally. I learned about the veto on the BBC news and the look of bewilderment on the British reporter's face was all telling... “what the hell is going on with America these days”, he was thinking. Perhaps he doesn't realize, American political and economic policy is now entirely based on "Rapturenomics".

Just some overall comments on this past 'Greening Ingenuity' effort:

GREAT thanks go out to you, Zebra Mussel, for so much of the preparatory work, writeups, analysis, etc you played such a pivotal role with.  We must not forget the dialogue never even started until Mike Shafarenko brought the possibility of greening to our attention- Super thanks, Mike!.  Sheer economics (energy costs) made the initial outreach a reality... from there it was simply a matter of calling up and convening the true enviro-experts, those truly experienced with these processes and technologies - At my current level (an MBA from Case with a passion for sustainability) I am certainly not one nor have never claimed to be: I have only studied these processes and their importance at a very general level.  Yet I know there is no issue I have more passion for in my life than the enhancement of quality of life for every living creature on this planet.  We crazy humans, however, are exacerbating and accelerating our own extinction - yet paradoxically are the only ones with the creativity, potential and technology to reverse the problem and not only achieve sustainability but perhaps someday create a place infinitely more generative. 

On the last stage venue open on Sunday at Ingenuity Fest Steve Anthony and his partner enjoyed each other's subtle tactile guidance through a sophisticated repertoire on the asphalt street  - which included a very smooth under and between the legs pass for her.  Asked by the band to come up on stage with another dancing pair already performing, I found a heightened tension in the couple politics – the new to the stage floor very alpha female is dance tested by the male already on stage – then back to her original partner.   Sexist perhaps, nontheless Pretty cool.  Got a better idea?

Visit LeftLuggage and view the dances there under "Videodances.tv". Click on the link for "Moment".

The movement is reminiscent of works I loved coaching when I directed The Repertory Project. The two bodies slip and slide through space carving it out and carving out and defining a relationship as they go. Is it obvious? No, but then neither is life.

This is significant, from the Case University News Center:

Listening to music can reduce chronic pain by up to 21 percent and depression by up to 25 percent, according to research published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing by Sandra L. Siedlecki, a nurse researcher at the Cleveland Clinic. Siedlecki collaborated with and used tapes from previous pain studies by Marion Good, professor of nursing at Case Western Reserve University's Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing.

Siedlecki and Good found that listening to music can also make people feel more in control of their pain and less disabled by their condition.

 “Subliminal Strings” at May Company Stage  introduced by James Levin, Ingenuity Fest director -  Really live video by Kasumi, wailing violin by  Daniel Bernard Roumain , with ripping hip hop mixes by DJ Spooky.   

France gets poorest citizens online for €1 ($1.28)  a day.

Why is it that I am reading of the digital divide being closed aggressively every ware but in Cleveland?! I thought maybe it was not that big of deal here in greater Cleveland... I mean everyone has a computer right? WRONG!!! It is pathetic that so many people are without a basic computer and Internet connection. What will it take to make this problem go away? I for one am willing to put forth an effort to help solve this problem.

When the seemingly quiet and understated, but superbly in control, band leader gave the double whistle, the Shaw High School Marching Band went into gear like a locomotive pulling 100 100ton cars.  Made my eyes get wetter...