They are low on capital because the housing values fell, they have to tighten their belts. The housing feeds the system, so getting the housing values back up is necessary. Considering that the abatements came with false values and an inflated markets its pretty catastrophic what happened.

So now what?

They need to get off abatements, they could be using bonds to build affordable housing.

Over the past 20 years, I've spent most of my "professional" time as an entrepreneur, with world-class expertise conducting multi-dimensional, multi-client relational comparative data and best practice analyses of any aspects of the world's largest and best global enterprises, environments and systems, and developing and consulting on innovations and total quality improvement. This work has generated a wealth of knowledge on large general systems, with a unique expertise in information systems and telecommunications. REALNEO is a product of this highest level expertise, drawn from the best practices of the best organizations on Earth. What REALNEO has developed for Cuyahoga County - what has been generated out of the REALNEO-generated Real Cooperative - takes general systems innovation to a whole new level of making us the brightest greenest place on Earth. So, we really do have a purpose to Cuyahoga County owning the Breuer, and the vision is beautifully expressed in this great rendering above, to be REAL COOP citizen headquarters of the open source capital of this brightest greenest state of Earth.

MAY 16 IS RIVER DAY - Friends of the Crooked River Celebrates its 19th Annual River Day and dedicates this year to the late Ed Hauser, passionate and tireless advocate for the river and lakefront, River Day Coordinator for five years, and the one who worked to make Whiskey Island publicly accessible...a significant feat.

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Cleveland Bicycle Week is coming, May 11-17! Join us for Northeast Ohio's biggest gathering of diverse cycling interests and activities, with events all around town! 

Are you concerned that your children's health is affected by pollution?
Do you want some answers about your industrial neighbors?
Do you want to build your environmental campaign skills?

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Firoozeh Dumas was born in Abadan, Iran, and moved to Whittier, California, with her family in the 1970s. She later attended the University of California at Berkeley where she met and married a Frenchman.

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It’s not everyday in the hustle and bustle of our 21st century world, that we can both regress and progress at the same time.  The Nature Center at Shaker Lakes’ new Stewardship Center, being constructed out of cob and straw bales, is exactly that kind of unique opportunity.  By volunteering to participate in the Center’s construction this month and next, you can relive the mud-pie making days of your childhood but create the future home of our volunteer corps.  You can learn an art of homebuilding that dates back the ancient communities of Mesopotamia, but today is being hailed as a modern technological solution to energy-intensive, conventional buildings.   Buildings across the US consume 40 percent of all energy resources and emit a third of the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere (Nature Resources Defense Council).  Join in on any of the activities outlined below to celebrate the best of the past and collaborate on the best of the future.  And while it may be an innovative green building project, it’s still a building project---check our website often for up to the minute workshop details!  Thanks all.

Join the FUN, bring a FRIEND - Build and Craft the Cob Walls
 Participate in the Stewardship Center Green Building Events. Sign up at  www.shakerlakes.org or call Sara Thorne-Briechle at (216) 321-5935 x 237.
Target Dates: Sept. 22-Oct. 28, 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. OR  1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Volunteers Needed: 6-per shift
Description: Volunteers will use prepared cob to build Stewardship Center walls; prep and clean up projects as needed; mix and apply natural plaster; and work with local artist Katherine Chilcote to install artwork in and on the walls. View the chronology here:

Norm--I LOVE today's GIMP header of a flooded Rockefeller Park.  I think of Masumi Hayashi and John Jackson.   And, it makes me want to reread Love in the Ruins by Walker Percy. 

It is official - "Cuyahoga County commissioners voted 2-1 today to raise the sales tax a quarter of a penny to help bring a Medical Mart to Cleveland." Perhaps you'd like time to think about this more, and the opportunity to vote with other citizens on how you are taxed.  Other citizens feel the same and have formed a committee to "Put It On The Ballot"- a grass-roots campaign to collect enough signatures to force the 1/4% sales tax increase to be placed on a ballot. This Friday, July 27, there will be an Excellence Roundtable at The Inner Circle where some of the people involved with this campaign will join a discussion on this issue, from all directions.

To learn more about the campaign, visit http://putitontheballot.com - you'll certainly read more about this initiative on this site and on REALNEO throughout the coming months. 7GEN (developer of REALNEO) is providing this Drupal site for this initiative, and I look forward to learning more about the campaign and all related issues.

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Two weeks ago saw the second birthday of REALNEO. I started REALNEO in October, 2004, to provide “Regional Economic Action Links for North East Ohio” and implement for the region some exciting open source social networking technology. While the outcomes have not been entirely what I expected, and these years have in ways been rough, I've been thrilled to help drive and support some great developments in the community.

THIS IS A FIRST TIME EVENT: See Cleveland in a whole new way: WITHOUT YOUR CAR!

Rockefeller Park and the Cultural Gardens will be open for you to enjoy

because MLK Dr will be closed to cars... TWO SUNDAYS IN AUGUST!

New for 2006, “Walk and Roll Cleveland” will be Sunday August 6th and Sunday August 13th, from 11am until 5pm. MLK Drive between Rockefeller Greenhouse and the tennis courts is 2.1 miles which is a perfect distance to encourage bicycle riding, rollerblading, walking, jogging, picnicking and exploring.

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THIS IS A FIRST TIME EVENT: See Cleveland in a whole new way: WITHOUT YOUR CAR!

Rockefeller Park and the Cultural Gardens will be open for you to enjoy

because MLK Dr will be closed to cars... TWO SUNDAYS IN AUGUST!

New for 2006, “Walk and Roll Cleveland” will be Sunday August 6th and Sunday August 13th, from 11am until 5pm. MLK Drive between Rockefeller Greenhouse and the tennis courts is 2.1 miles which is a perfect distance to encourage bicycle riding, rollerblading, walking, jogging, picnicking and exploring.

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I am really appreciative, this morning. After posting what was certainly the saddest news I can imagine, about the hardship my staff has suffered as a result of a lack of appreciation from my former business associate, Peter Holmes, I opened up this week's CoolCleveland and found that their crew had featured TWO postings from REALNEO. I am very touched and thankful to Thomas and his team for noticing REALNEO and taking an interest in the thoughts posted here - thank you. Please show appreciation back to CoolCleveland... if you are not a member, see what you've been missing... subscribe at CoolCleveland - all free - this is a real NEO must,  and send feedback to CoolCleveland letters at the links below, and supporting the upcoming CoolCleveland/Tech/Ingenuity party at Fat Fish Blue, July 13, and the Ingenuity Festival, as described below... but first, here's the nice write-up about REALNEO from CoolCleveland today, July 5, 2006:

 The following story with its links ran in CASE Daily (Case's online newpaper) today. Do feel like you have entrepreneurial genes? I think I do! Please post your thoughts
"Do genes influence who will be entrepreneurs?"

ABC News (Reuters), June 5, 2006
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2041245

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Ohio Congressman Bob Ney is certainly entitled to have the facts proved before he’s considered guilty, but it’s a disservice to voters to claim the charges against him are “just politics” or “the way things work in DC.”  By asserting that these allegations are “the way things get done,” supporters drag politics and government lower and give disgusted voters more reasons to give up on government.  To really understand the accusations and why the allegations are more than routine, readers need to understand the nature of the charges and the facts at hand.

Today's Tuesdays@REI on Doan Brook was electric with community interest and involvement. Issues were discussed involving water quality, energy, restoration, historic assets and active use.

The plans and options presented were clear and ambitious. They demonstrated that clear, clean water can be a magnet for business. Our water assets must no longer be taken for granted.

Today's Tuesdays@REI topic on "The Doan Brook Watershed Partnership" attracted the attention of many people and organizations, as the issues discussed connect to many important initiatives that concern water, as a natural resource and a source of positive economic impact.

[Picture (source) : Fishing in the pond near the former Mount Sinai complex at Rockefeller Park and Doan Brook]

These presentations represent the variety of facets coming together
throught the Doan Brook Partnership. These (large) Powerpoint
presentations give you a broad perspective.

02-15-05.
"The Doan Brook Partnership," Nancy
King Smith, Executive Director, Nature Center at Shaker Lakes & project team
associates; Peter B. Lewis Building.

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If you have a yard, you need to talk to Alec and his crew - poisoning your plants is not a solution to anything, except killing your yard and the environment... learn better ways from cool champions...talk to Jean about your pool/pond too, and you're cool.