If you read REALNEO, you know the huge burden of lead poisoning on our region's children and adults, the community's quality of life, and our education system and economy, and you know that, since May, East Cleveland Mayor Eric Brewer has been planning to work with Motley Rice to bring litigation over lead poisoning to Ohio courts. Today, the Plain Dealer published word the litigation is finally here, as East Cleveland is expected to file suit in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court over the public nuisance lead causes in their community, as has been done in 27 other states to date. East Cleveland is the leader bringing such litigation to our state, and it appears other cities and the state of Ohio are preparing to follow suit. I take great pride that I helped advance this development, and I look forward to helping East Cleveland, NEO and all Ohioans win, as a result.

Yesterday, I posted some photos I took of the Community Vehicular Reclamation Project in Toronto and was thrilled to see one of the organizers there post a comment on REALNEO with more details today. I went to their website and found all sorts of other cool initiatives they drive for reclaiming the streets there, which we should embrace here... I know, "not invented here". Well, be like realneo and think glocally! Here's what's planned for tomorrow in Toronto. Wish I could be there for this... world carfree day 2006! Join Streets are for People! and The ReEvolution Day Arkestra in celebrating World Car Free Day via a musical parade through downtown - heading East from Trinity Bellwoods Park along Queen St.West.

Friday September 22nd, 4pm
Meet at Trinity Bellwoods Park (Queen St. Gate) for Tea and Preparations BYOTea, costumes, instruments, floats, banners, signs, etc... All Musicians are most welcome and encouraged to join the Arkestra
5:30pm - Take to the streets!

All Day &/or during parade - Parking Meter Parties!
Rent back a piece of the city! It's fun! It's Legal!
Just as a car driver would, park your vehicle (ie your bike, trike, or unicycle...) in a parking spot along Queen West (the main parade route) & for $1.50/hr it's all yours!

WHAT CAN YOU DO with a 6 x 12 foot parking space?

Richard Louv, a futurist and journalist focused on family, nature and community, will be speaking about his most recent book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder at noon on Friday, September 22, 2006, at The City Club of Cleveland.

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The Plain Dealer is taking a high road right now in dealing with politicians and the local economy - the same high road of Ronn Richard and the Cleveland Foundation, and most other community leaders in town... we need good education to have an effective economy. The PD quotes Cleveland Foundation President Ronn Richard as saying, at the City Club Friday, "Any plan to reinvigorate Northeast Ohio has to include reinventing, not just improving, public education... In fact, overhauling our educational system must become a national priority". In the Sunday, 09/10/06 Plain Dealer, the PD proudly proclaims: "Newspapers aim to set the agenda for election"... "Some of Ohio's largest newspapers are banding together to urge candidates in the governor's race to focus on three critical issues: kids, college and jobs." Yet neither Ronn Richard or the PD acknowledge the silent crisis of lead poisoning (and, BTW, mercury in our lakes, rivers and Perch-fries) that guarantees each year 10,000s of children in Ohio will not be able to be educated, or become effective members of the economy or society, and will instead be lifelong burdens. As the Washingtonian acknowledges (large PDF) in their more intelligent August 2006 coverage of social issues in Washington, DC, "In DC, hundreds of children are being damaged every year—and the results will be more school dropouts and more crime." For NEO and Ohio leaders to talk about improving education without attacking the lead and toxin crisis is either ignorant of deceitful. I tend to lean toward deceitful, as in the same PD that proposes to care about education, the business section features a puff-piece on the CEO of Ohio coatings manufacturer RPM, which is in the middle of major litigation over asbestos, and the PD uses this opportunity to position that litigation as fraudulent. The interview with RPM CEO Frank Sullivan features he joking about his relations with Sherwin Williams CEO Connor, who is fighting for his life to battle litigation all over America (except in Ohio) against his company over lead poisoning millions of Americans... to these people, harming millions of people is just good business, and the PD celebrates that.

An interesting street culture gaining popularity in small-town Brattleboro, Vermont (population 15,000) may have some potential for NEO... teens are taking their clothes off and hanging out naked in public. The town officials call it a form of rebellion. This would offer a nice change from the sagging pants urban street culture and the exposed butt-crack fat plumber suburban  culture popular in NEO today, and public nudity would certainly increase tourism and make more people want to live here. In fact, the Spencer Tunick Naked NEO shoot (below) brought around 10,000 (correction, 3,000) people together in Cleveland (on a freezing morning) to get naked and real about our communiity, so I know this concept has potential. What do you think, PD?

More on the latest street culture in Vermont below... this from the the Boston Globe:

In a recent series of editorial rants in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the authors proposed Cleveland must attack "street culture" to correct our condition as the most impoverished big city in America. I've posted on their position and my disgust at their suggestions this is an NAACP issue, or an issue at all, and I questioned what on Earth they mean by "street culture". Then, while working on a website cataloging my parents' art collection for the May Show Project Philip Williams and I are organizing I understood what the PD wants to kill... the culture that empowered the art shown above, being a "Jazz Bowl" by one of the world's most prominent designers, Cleveland's beloved Victor Schreckengost, and a print masterpiece by one of the world's most renowned "minimalist" artists, Frank Stella. Without "street culture" neither of these works of art would exist. Good idea, PD.

DESCRIPTION: A Food Co-op is a cooperative of people who come together to buy food, in order to benefit from lower bulk and wholesale prices. They usually specialize in health and organic food and are run democratically with each member having an equal voice to decide overall management of the sotre which is open to the public. Food Co-ops are alternatives to large chain grocery stores both in their management and often in the offerings of food and, thus, represent a local way citizens can control their own food decisions. Sponsored by the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee.

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Bike4Peace is coming to Cleveland again. Last year Bike4peace was hosted by a welcoming party at the Ohio City Bike Co-op and we'd love for you to come join us again! This cross-country bike tour is again arranging a meetup and bike ride in Cleveland Square with a welcoming gathering afterwards!

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One thing I love about Ohio City is seeing so many people of every sort riding about on bicylces. I see 100s of bicyclists go by my home an hour, during the day and evening, from entire families, to parents with their children in tandem, to clearly down-and-outs with all their Earthly possessions strapped on board. Good for them, and the environment... a core benefit of livable cities.

The 09/04/06 Plain Dealer has a blurb about an important step forward in the fight against blight in NEO, writing that "Starting tomorrow, Cleveland Municipal Housing Judge Ray Pianka will order that every abandoned house in foreclosure on his docket carry a sign identifying the owner and the owner's phone number. The name and number of the mortgage company also will be listed, along with the court case number and a contact number for someone at the court. "These owners and mortgage companies have anonymity now. Well, OK, if the case is before the court, now everyone will know who is responsible.""

As the Cleveland Plain Dealer assigns blame for the plight of Cleveland as the most impoverished city in America, they target the black poor. I find this highly disturbing, especially as they completely white-wash the greatest flaw in our economy, which is a century of cow-towing to industry causing and perpetuating toxic contamination of our people and neighborhoods in our urban core.

As I drove from the site of the murder of Detective Schroeder, on West 98th Street, I passed the park dedicated in the honor of the murder of John Jackson and Masumi Hayashi on West 65th, and it occurred to me that there must be a similar park dedicated to Detective Schroeder. This is a fitting way to memorialize the victims of murder, and all violent crime, in our city, as it replaces death with life, and sorrow with joy... it gives people young and old a place to move on in the most healthy possible ways. I do not believe the people of Cleveland want to brush away such tragedy, but rather they want to have a remembrance of those who we lose, and a bright spot to remember that... and they want their neighborhoods to grow stronger so there will be less tragedy there in the future.

It astounds me in this day and age there are still products regularly handled by children that contain lead at all. One product that contains lead that blows my mind is soft PVC children's lunch boxes... a fact brought to the public's attention when the Center for Environmental Health tested a TARGUS lunchbox featuring "Angela Anaconda" that tested positive for 56,400ppm, 90 times the legal limit of 600 ppm of lead (why should any lead be found?). As it turns out, other lunchboxes containing dangerous levels of lead are made by at least the following... Generation Sports, Frozen/Ingear, Roundhouse, Crayola, American Studio, Igloo, Sanford, Fast Forward, Arizona Jean Company, JC Penny, Lisa Frank, Animations/accessory Network, Holiday Fair, Mischief Makers, Extreme Gear/Romar, Subzero/Global Advantage, Chill, Big Dogs, Childress baby bottle carriers, Innovo, East End Accessories/Worldwide Dreams.

I highly recommend joining in with this great group: see last week's write up here!

green. :: a vegan and vegetarian potluck

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I am very excited! I recently volunteered to become an Energy Ambassador at Case Western Reserve Univeristy, part of the Adopt a Building program. I will be adopting Mather House, the building where I work. Mather House is a  century old Gothic Revival former girls dorm  turned office building -- probably not the most energy efficient on campus. I suspect the most  significant improvements at Mather House will be directly related to changing the residents' behavior. I think I could be a good energy ambassador; I am always turning out lights, I go to great pains to recycle, I hate air conditioning and I walk rather than using the campus shuttle bus. But I am looking for suggestions as to how myself and the other residents of Mather House could really make a difference. Please post your ideas. I would also appreciate links to good energy conservation sites. The Adopt a Building program is just getting started. My first "Ambassador's" meeting will be next Wednesday. I will fill you in with more details late next week.

The disturbing juxtapositioning of social unconsciousness in NEO, reflected by the billboards above, found on Detroit at W. 28th Street, says it all about what is wrong with America today and our economy. Raw selfishness championed by the baby-boom generation has corrupted core, co-conspiring, selfish Gen-X leadership, placing Cleveland and human existence in jeopardy. In a quote from a 20/20 program today on the end of life on Earth, a scientist said "our children and grandchildren already tell us we ruined everything" and that is so correct. I apologized this weekend to my 12 year old daughter for today's leaders destroying her planet, and challenged her to focus her life on saving Earth, as the future clearly depends upon her and the next generations. After an hour and half of the 20/20 program "Last Days on Earth", exploring what may end human existence, from comets and pandemics to nuclear war, the program's conclusion was that we are already destroying the planet through CO2/pollution, and climate change will end human existence in less than 100 years, without significant change in human behavior and global leadership.

USDA Designates 20 Biobased Items for Federal Procurement

WASHINGTON, Aug. 23, 2006- The U.S. Agriculgure Department has announced two proposed rules under the Federal Biobased Products Preferred Procurement Program, designating 20 items that must receive special consideration by all federal agencies when making purchases.

"The designation of these 20 biobased items is a major step in advancing the federal preferred procurement program for biobased products," said Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns. "When finalized, 1,500 biobased products will be given procurement preference by federal agencies, generating new economic opportunities for biobased product producers and U.S. farmers and ranchers, while providing new choices for U.S. consumers." Full text at the North Coast Green Spieler weblog

I highly recommend joining in with this great group: see last week's write up here!

green. :: a vegan and vegetarian potluck

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When I saw The Redhead's posting on REALNEO for "green :: a vegan and vegetarian potluck :: every sunday!" I knew this was a good thing and decided to invite some friends and attend. I'm certainly glad I did. Not only did I have the best meal in recent memory, from good homes and hearts, but it turned out to be a real "NEO Excellence Roundtable" where I met a bunch of awesome people making NEO special... we all even learned lots about vegan baking, from an entrepreneurial pro chef... all on a beautiful Summer's eve, in a setting hard to beat, on the shore of Lake Erie, at Lakewood Park. Learn more about all of this, and plan to join in next week... read on!

green. :: a vegan and vegetarian potluck

concept :: to promote healthy and conscious 'meatless' eating (along with educate on living a 'green' lifestyle)...  to think about how we eat and what we eat and the effect it has on the planet.  if you eat meat we still want you to come!  try new things, meet new people and learn a little.  it is about health, support and the celebration of life!  no judgement here!  : )  i personally am a 'new vegetarian' and am still learning myself!  it is just amazing all the incredible foods that do not contain meat! 

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green. :: a vegan and vegetarian potluck

concept ::  to promote healthy and conscious 'meatless' eating (along with educate on living a 'green' lifestyle)...  to think about how we eat and what we eat and the effect it has on the planet.  if you eat meat we still want you to come!  try new things, meet new people and learn a little.  it is about health, support and the celebration of life!  no judgement here!  : )  i personally am a 'new vegetarian' and am still learning myself!  it is just amazing all the incredible foods that do not contain meat! 

In one respect Northeast Ohio is world-class: addressing the lead poisoning crisis rampant here and in all older communities of America. For this excellence in action, credit the St. Luke's Foundation and all affiliates of the Greater Cleveland Lead Advisory Council (GCLAC) and Concerned Citizens Organized Against Lead (CCOAL). GCLAC held our quarterly Steering Committee meeting on August 07, 2006, where University Hospital's Dr. Ash Sehgal, Director of the Center for Reducing Healthcare Disparities, presented his research findings on the implications of lowering the threshold level of blood lead poisoning considered a trigger for intervention from 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood to 5 micrograms per deciliter. The GCLAC Steering Committee strongly supports this action, which will make NEO the most progressive community in America and the first we know to take such bold and intelligent action, setting a safer standard for our citizens than that mandated by the Federal government.