(This article was written as a progress report for the East Cleveland newsletter to residents of the city,
from my role as a technology advisor to the city, and includes very exciting developments for all of Northeast Ohio) 

The City of East Cleveland is leading Northeast Ohio into the new economy by bridging the digital divide. This means the City of East Cleveland is upgrading our internal computer network and services, increasing city bandwidth to the Internet, enhancing our website services, making sure all of our residents who want and need personal computers may have them at home, providing training in some computer programs, and helping residents get access to the Internet at the lowest possible cost or for free. This all provides a "bridge" for residents to go across the "digital divide" to the "new economy". Welcome!

10,000s of NEOans turned out on a perfectly crisp, clear Saturday in University Circle for "Parade The Circle", the annual public art participation extravagansa organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art. This book contains photos and comments from a heavenly day in NEO... see the links in the navigation block on the left and below and enjoy the parade!

At RealNEO the concepts of openness, sharing and community are realized not just in how we as a group of people interact, but also in the tools we use. The best example of one of these tools is the software used on many of the team members notebooks.

While Congress debates energy and gas saving strategies, they should consider one to help North East Ohio residents adopt personal energy and cost saving strategies, by reducing fuel demand,  traffic congestion and promoting improved health.  Congress can help America get out of their car and onto a bike.  Cycling can be an important component in a national energy strategy.   

Lots of people know that lead poisoning played a role in the fall of the Roman Empire (lead pipes) but in December 2005 it was learned that Beethoven died of lead poisoning - probably from a combination of pipes, lead seals on wine and documents, crystal, ceramics and paints - they started outlawing lead in Europe at the end of the 19th Century... it took America nearly a century longer...

I have a laptop. (A slow starter/late adopter you're thinking.) It was a holiday gift that was meant to free me from my house. I can get out and write, correspond, research anywhere I can get online. But the cold weather and my deep appreciation for my home environment and my dogs have kept me in the house. Now, however, I sit most days in the sunny breakfast room of my 89 year old Cleveland Heights home and write surrounded by windows.

The annual blossoming of Daffodil Hill, a collection of over 100,000 bulbs, an ongoing project since the 1940's, is one Lake View Cemetery's most popular attractions.

Location

We hear of CAFTA, NAFTA, PAFTA, and how our government wants to help those people in areas with low wages by spreading democracy, “stabilizing” their governments, and letting our companies go and set up shop there. Reducing tariffs - we are told - will bring economic prosperity to economically “underdeveloped” regions.

Betsey,

It didn't dawn on me until after I had finished commenting regarding the network map that I had blown the main point.

The reason names are critical in a network map is because trust cannot be anonymous. 

"building trust" - we hear it at all the meetings, we hear it from Jack, from Valdis, from Norm, from Ed, from Tom, from George, from Berlin, from William - but you can't build trust with anonymity.  We need names and faces - lots of them - like in high school - to connect to and listen too.   Then trust will come.

 When is the last time you saw a job application like this?

CAREER POSITION  

 CONSTRUCTION LABORER

We are an

Unequal Opportunity Employer

We are very pleased to announce the first NEO Excellence Roundtable of 2006 will feature the new mayor of the city of East Cleveland, Eric Brewer.

Location

Here I am in NORTH EAST OHIO, concerned about the civic situation, but, as is true for all of us, with a limited amount of time and energy.   When the muse strikes me, and I am ready to post to the web, what is the most efficacious web site on which to post?  Fresh brewed daily?,  Hotel Bruce? Cppl Cleveland?

Is it healthy to be asking these questions? or is it sacrilegious to be asking?  

今朝のPDのビジネスセクションに、日本や中国関連記事があった。その記事では、 日本はオハイオ州に投資している国として最大であることを知った。もちろん、その一つの理由は車や鉄の クォータや輸入税などを避けるためだった。車や鉄をアメリカで製造すると、Made in USAをいえるわけで、 日本バッシングの対策だった。

Post thoughts and comments regarding the use of Appreciative Inquiry to improve public schools in NEO

There is probably no need for Planners to consider this for Cleveland's downtown; however, this may be the way to help struggling neighborhoods within the city, as well as the the older, inner-ring suburbs - by encouraging pedestrian activity instead of vehicular.
I suppose the fast-food industry would put up a big fight to keep things as they have been.

From Ed Morrison's always insightful and expert ED Pro website are his predictions for 2005 - feel free to add yours as comments to this posting.

Predictions for 2005 Predictions are always a tricky business, but they're fun to think about. Here's what I expect to see in economic development in the coming year.

There was an article posted on the Channel 3 website proclaiming "Graffiti becoming a big problem in Midtown".

The 11/16/04 Tuesday@REI session surfaced one of the most serious problems being confronting by America, our region, and Case today - the fact foreigners are not interested to visit, work, and study in America at levels seen in the past. This is in fact a reason for the most pressing and escalating outsourcing issues surfacing today, that American knowledge-based jobs and important innovations are being realized in foreign regions having greater talent than here - its not just about cheap labor.