Thanks for posting that, John, as I don't get the Sun Press. I've been vocal about the sad state of planning here, and I see the PD stepping up to at least raise the stakes... Litt is really challenging the community and Ken Prendergast of Sun Press does great work. But what I see missing to transform the community is a community at the planning tables, being activist and vocal against what they don't like or want, and promoting better ideas... like the alternative bridge... and not just dozens of people but 1,000s.

Steven Litt once told me the reason we are going to get a bad bridge and trench outcome is because the people of NEO never stood up and took a stand, and I think he is right. Blame it on sprawl - so much of our community is spread so far from downtown that most people really don't care.

So the entire East Bank of the Flats will be 300 $ million condos for sports stars, lawyers and big businessmen, sitting on top of a few chain restaurants with river views - Burke will continue to be our lakefront, dedicated to a few 100 charter and private business plane and helicopter flights a week - public transportation will be neglected - but who is fighting for anything else, and willing to do so right in the face of the the CDCs, Port/Carney, Wolstein, Stark and Wolstein/Port/CDC/City Council spokeswoman Nancy Lesic?

Disrupt IT

     In all earnestness, the only way to save the situation is to exit the establishment, and put each of the Ingenuity Fest participants into the position.  Test me, I’m serious.

One proposal I support for really igniting our new economy is a Hostel downtown - a big vibrant slacker, hippie, free-wheeling, international 24x7 one, connected in with the international hostel networks. That is one important way to put Cleveland on an important global map and start pulling young international people through here and changing our culture in a unique way.

While you think about that, take a look at my posting on Leftist Environmental Groups and consider that our new economy will come through "rewriting our propagandist "history" to be true through today, and teaching and learning from that, ruthlessly defending our "environment", celebrating progressive "politics",  restructuring "education" to truly focus on social responsibility, inspiring "innovation" through creative people and management practices,  promoting "finance" for progressive businesses and practices, embracing "spirituality" found in liberal religions and non-Western thought, and recruiting and building "critical mass" of like minded people who embrace all of that." We need to do all of this... how are we doing at making that happen, toward critical mass. Get more Hostel, for one thing.

Disrupt IT

I think your idea of connecting the Lake Front line to CSU, China Town, Midtown is great. What could we do to actually get public transportation to work here? It's so frustrating how virtually everything here requires driving. Ideally, Cleveland should have no surface lots; if its not a building it should be green space.

Norm Said " Steven Litt once told me the reason we are going to get a bad bridge and trench outcome is because the people of NEO never stood up and took a stand, and I think he is right. Blame it on sprawl - so much of our community is spread so far from downtown that most people really don't care."

Blame it on sprawl or blame it on 50+ years of decline, which is both a symptom and factor of sprawl.  Blame it on low expectations which is certainly a symptom of 50+ years of decline.
Blame it on free markets and materialism.  People have no interest in civic activism.  And those that do move to "vibrant" cities and end up succumbing to materialism.

A coup sounds like fun.
An engaged citizenry sounds like a chore.
What to do?  How do we leverage the power of the internet to further the cause of the people of this once great city?  Disprupt IT?  I like that. I like that a lot.  But how do we do it?

evelyn,

as for how we go about getting more mass transit in the city, it's an uphill battle, BUT when this city had it's heyday, there were 10 times as many transit riders as there are now. So in legal terms, we definitely have the precedent!

I recommend we talk with ryan mckenzie who is currently starting the car sharing service, City Wheels.  A while back, he actually worked on a proposal to extend the waterfront line back through town.
you can check it out on ecocitycleveland.com > transportation > rail > concept for westshore trolley

again tough battle, but certainly not insurmountable.

John,
I am so encouraged when I read your comments on realneo.us and gcbl.org. We need more readers and more writers. The MSM here doesn't get it, but the viral thing can be powerful.
I suggested to Norm that he do a sort of invitation to different communities by sending posts and forums and comments to the various institutions and agencies in the area that are being mentioned here. Just let them know someone cares, someone is having this discussion. I was pleased to see Sarah Morrison reply to Jeff. How did she know someone was posting here about her? Jeff? Sarah? Can you fill me in?
We need to promote realneo as a place to have these discussions and even to launch flash mob activism. For example, who knows about the lead rally tomorrow better than realneo readers? An ad on the blog ad network might be a good idea, but basically we need to have more people involved in the discussion. The 10 or so people who blog and comment here need to build momentum. Who can you invite? We need to broaden our sphere of discussion and influence. Use IT to disrupt. realneo is a place to come together to discuss the issues. That's why I am here. We can't do it alone. And I agree with Norm about learning. I certainly need to learn more about using this technology.