I was sharing some thoughts with an open source guru in SF, yesterday, and described much of what US newbie society has been doing with current network technologies is social computing on training wheels... REALNEO is not

Unreal NEO is a great example of a community just now catching the tail of the last wave - social computing as entertainment - now getting "with it" with Facebook.. which prepares individuals for innovations.

I believe it has been the movement of social computing into mainstream politics that is driving the next wave, and people need to be real in that world, and I love it!

Thank you Obama.

Disrupt IT

I am a shape shifter online and have different names and iterations for different sites--mostly because the name I used elsewhere was taken by someone else and I don't always want to do the first and last name thing. Maybe too many Lifetime movies and fear of stalker-types. . .  

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I just happened to read the blog and noticed someone having a fit.

Thought I might edit my old post. 

Debra,

I haven't been saying much as of late because I seem to get my hide nailed to the wall for expressing my hard headed opinions on this so called Stratgic Investment Idiocy that Tremont West is trying to shove down everybody's throat.  However, to quote Andy Rooney,  "if you don't like my point of view, tough, don't pass it on."

I attended a Long Range Planning Committee last Thursday and was a witness to SII Development Director Sammy Catania literally blowing his stack when the subject of parking and safety concerns came up in the same sentence. 

He went on a personal attack that I didn't pay taxes, didn't own my own home, etc.,  I wonder how paying rent figures into his game plan.  Maybe according to Samuel, renters fall under the same catagory as those who do not wish to live on the computer planet, the third world.  My mother's home is a family home and we don't plan on going anywhere, she doesn't get a tax abatement, so for financial reasons, why can't I pay my money to her as well as anybody else? 

Henry Senyak was present at this meeting and tried not only to point out the problems with the parking dilemma but was willing to offer up some suggestions on possible resolutions, they nearly came to blows. 

If you have an opposing opinion with those running the show, they want you to keep your mouth shut; and even with both chairs present, it was clear that the salaried paid staff Mr. Catania was in charge.

I was also told out right that I could not be a member of this membership committee because I have dealings with the Plain Press.  I could participate but not be a member.  What kind of crap is that?  One would think you were applying to be a member of an elite country club. 

I do believe that many folks in this neighborhood are on their last nerve with the tax abated SII bullies trying to shovel s------down their throats.  I know I am.

  Jerleen--I thought this country was founded on freedom of the press--

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Evidently, TWDC and SII are framing a new constitution in their agenda to destroy the Plain Press.

 Jerleen, don't let "them" make you question your reality. Your reality is the you are paying rent that your landlord then uses to pay the taxes (there is just a middleman) and the above posting by lmcshane gives you the rest! You have fought a good battle and like any fight, there will be repercussions. Choose your battles and continue the fight. TWDC will not be able to destroy the Plain Press.  Thicken that skin of yours and go at it! I know that it is hard to be the one under attack, so choose carefully. You have done a great job.

Letters to the Editor
September 2008

Union Gospel Press developers destroy family’s backyard

To the Editor: (Plain Press, September 2008) Standing on the edge of what was once the back yard of her family's home, Mary (Oskay) Slone wipes the tears from her face. “I just don’t believe this,” she said, as she continues to stare down at the gully left by the wide sweep through her lawn made by the big shovels of contractors working on the Union Gospel Press.

The annihilation resulted not only in the loss of a sizable portion of the grounds of their back yard, but the fence, shrubs, plants, flowers, a small fish pond and a section of their deck as well. This is not to mention a span of nearly sixty years that bridge together the childhood memories of Mary, her sister Audrey, brothers Ed, Dan and Tom.

Mary and Andrew Oskay acquired the property at 717 College Avenue in 1950, at which time they moved in to the abode with their small children and two of Mrs. Oskay’s brothers, Alex and Steve. It was their dream home, complete with a fenced-in back yard.

As those sixty years came and went, the Oskays would live to see their children grown, and married with homes of their own. There would also be the delight of grandchildren for many years. As the family kept growing, so did the list of invitees to the many celebrations of birthdays, communions, showers, weddings, births, anniversaries, holidays, or just plain family gatherings out behind the house.

Many neighbors, friends and often times strangers were welcomed in, partook of the family’s hospitality, and joined in the festivities of their traditions. Blessings and kindness were the main courses of the day if you found yourself in the presence of an Oskay jamboree.

Mrs. Oskay passed away in 2001, her husband a few years before, leaving their beloved home for their children’s continued enjoyment. In honor of their mom and dad, the siblings vowed to continue with the customs started so many years ago.

There will be no Labor Day gaiety this year. The old home place will be quiet, there will be no visitors, no grand buffet of covered dishes, no aromatic smoke rising from the grill, no laughing tykes running around the tables or trying to catch the fish in the water hole.

Not only is there no longer enough space to accommodate bringing together their many loved ones and relatives, but the excavation left hazardous conditions and materials in the immediate area. It could be said that the contractors poured a barrier of concrete right through the middle of the cookouts, the parties and the fun.

The owners/developers of the old Union Gospel Press building moved in, ripped down the sixty-year old boundary, took out the earth, shrubs, flowers, plants, and left a tangled web of anger, frustration, disappointment, teary eyes and broken hearts.

The owner of the Union Gospel Press building, Mr. Roberts, wishes to possess the acreage by claiming encroachment. Even if at one time there had been an encroachment, it was before the Oskays purchased the home and over 60 years ago.

Adverse possession is recognized under Ohio law if one maintains a piece of land as if they owned it the land, the eventually becomes theirs when they cared for the land for the period of time listed as the statute of limitations in the Ohio Revised Code. The Ohio Revised Code states that the statute of limitations for adverse possession is twenty-one years. This being said, if the Osay family purchased their real estate in 1950, in its entirety, cyclone fence already installed, then it would leave one to believe that the statute of limitations ran out in 1971.

The Ohio Supreme Court recently upheld the long-standing principle of adverse possession in a ruling handed down on August 5, 2008, in the case of Evanich v. Bridge.  

This ordeal has not only been costly monetarily to the Oskay family, but it has taken away most of the enchantment held so dear in the hearts of a close knit clan encircled by the seasons of love.

Jerlene Justus
West 7th Street

This is a battle still in the court system, but the developers are pulling every trick in the book.  They destroyed this families back yard for absolutly no reason.  It didn't hinder the existing exit or entrance in any way - nor stop them from making a large parking lot.  They're just plain greedy and would rather try to take some poor people's back yard than be good neighbors.  They were so sheisty the surveyor didn't even mention the existing fence on the report.  They destroyed rose bushes that Mary's mother had planted more than 25 years ago - and the beautiful blooming vines that covered the fence that her mom tended with so much loving care - she can't get those back.  But these developers destroyed all this for a small strip of property that cut through somebody's back yard.  That's why these old timers here need a voice.

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