Today was the swearing-in of the new mayor of East Cleveland, prior City Council President Gary Norton Jr.

Christmas Eve, my family drove across East Cleveland (all 3 miles long) to Nela Park - The GE Lighting & Electrical Institute - to see their remarkable, historic Holiday Lighting Display and share some photos on REALNEO. While beautiful at the time, the conditions were not quite right to truly show-off the lights and season.

The conditions were perfect tonight.

One thing that makes East Cleveland unique is the annual Holiday Lighting Display at GE Lighting & Electrical Institute, at Nela Park. A tradition since 1925 - and many of the decorations seem to date from then - this holiday lighting display runs through New Year's Day.

The 2002 Canadian scientific report "Air pollution induces heritable DNA mutations" finds "Integrated steel production generates chemical pollution containing compounds that can induce genetic damage." And, the 2009 German report "Long-term exposure to traffic-related particulate matter impairs cognitive function in the elderly" finds "chronic exposure to traffic-related PM (particulate matter) may be involved in the pathogenesis of AD (Alzheimer's Disease)". 

So, who thought it was a good idea to spend $43 million of scarce government and quasi-public funding to build Tremont Pointe government-subsidized housing, located within scent and fallout of the Mittal Cleveland Works Steel mill, and other highly polluting industry of the Cleveland Flats, and directly adjacent to the I-490 freeway, planned to have increased polluting traffic through expansion as the "Opportunity Corridor"?

This was REALNEO, from December 16, 2008 - December 15, 2009.

Activity was significant, expanding, engaged, diverse, and global. REALNEO is a very healthy virtual community. But, who were those 277,070 absolute unique visitors attracted to our over 10,141 pages of original content on REALNEO?

Average Unique Monthly Visitors for REALNEO Benchmarking Sample
November 2008 - November 2009

REALNEO/COOP members, we own this... we accomplished this... in just our fifth year of operations. Congratulations!

As Eternity remembers, John Lennon passed away 29 years and a few days ago. I remember exactly where I was when the news hit me he died... I was walking down Broadway, in New Orleans, on the way to class and I saw a sheet hanging across a shotgun porch with RIP John Lennon painted in large letters - a pre-Internet shout-out of outrage, remembrance and sorrow.

That was a moment when I realized, Tomorrow Never Knows... best ever, from the Beatles... Turn off your mind, relax and float down stream...

Cleveland lost another one of its great historic institutions, Sunday morning, as the Lancer Steakhouse burned beyond salvage, and was demolished. Established in the mid-1950's, making it one the first restaurant’s in Cleveland owned and operated by an African American, the Lancer was for five decades at the heart of more political action, and home to more important moments and memories, than any other restautant in this region - a truly historic place in the evolution of Northeast Ohio, for the past 50 years.

And, free wifi.

Now it is gone.

Throughout Northeast Ohio, citizens ar

In reviewing REALNEO for material on the historic Cleveland U.S. Coast Guard Station, to accompany these November 25, 2009, photographs and Thanksgiving Day Pans of the Coast Guard site, I came across the May, 2006, REALNEO discussion "COAST GUARD IDEAS" about what should be done with the site... with a lengthy vision from "Citizen" Ed Hauser.

Exquisite decay.

On Thanksgiving eve, a little over a year following the death of Ed Hauser - the primary community activist for preservation of the National Historic Landmark Dyer Coast Guard Station, on Whiskey Island - I went Hauser Way to photograph this best location in the nation, to share with you on Thanksgiving day. Enjoy.

Start Thanksgiving with a smile, and a new perspective on urban settlements in America - enjoy "Veronica Moss Visits Times Square". I found this video at Rob Pitingolo's very cool NEO-based blog - Extraordinary Observations (since September, 2004)... originally from StreetFilms.org.

Definitely check out Extraordinary Observations , which we should add to our blogroll, if it isn't there... and welcome to our newest REALNEO/REAL COOP member, Rob Pitingolo... "progressive, urbanist, entrepreneur, blogger, thinker"... REALNEO's kind of guy!

One of my most valued resources for insight on health, the environment and aging is The Myth Of Alzheimer's, and I strongly recommend anyone reading this post subscribe to their e-mail updates and read that site regularly - it updates nearly daily.

The Myth Of Alzheimer's is absolutely about you, your family, your friends, and all our futures, as we all age together on this human-changing world until we die.

November 21, 2009, the Cleveland Plain Dealer published a get-out-of-jail-free editorial for seemingly life-term Cleveland Port Authority dictator John Carney, and his board of directors - "A Cleveland Port Authority board already wounded can't afford conflict-of-interest charges -- editorial" - that fully acknowledges "the port is so broke it may not be able to assure continued operations of the Cleveland harbor, much less pay to relocate and expand".

Yet, the PD editors do not call for changes to the current Port Board. Quite the opposite, the PD empowers them to move into the real estate development business... despite their bond rating having sunk near junk.

Reporting on the cost and environmental impact of household and government greenspace maintenance.

Fall, 2009, Attleboro and Shaker

REALNEO Naturally Header 11/21/09

Citizen Ed Hauser, Victorious In The Battle Of Whiskey Island - "Ask Not What Your Planet Can Do For You..."

It has been a year since Northeast Ohio lost our selfless civic activist "Citizen" Ed Hauser, silencing the great voice in the community saying that "The Process is Broken".

November 14, 2009 - the one-year anniversary of Ed's death - a group of family and friends came together on the beautiful Whiskey Island Ed saved, before a late Autumn setting sun, to toast a glorious man, and mourn a most cursed and horrible year in Northeast Ohio without Ed.

What does the dawn hold for this long-suffering region, in the second year without Citizen Hauser?

In two days, November 14, it will be a year since Ed Hauser died unnecessarily, for lack of adequate public healthcare in America.

A year ago today, Ed's death could have been prevented, if he had access to better preventative healthcare, along the way... doctors visits, testing, and warning about a broken heart.

Public Recreation in Cleveland in 2013?

PD reports: "Visitors to Cleveland's public swimming pools -- now free -- would have to pay admission if the city enacts recommendations of a consultant submitted Tuesday."

It is not surprising, the release of "Management & Efficiency Study – Cleveland, Ohio" (download as .PDF here) by Public Finance Management seems to have Northeast Ohio leadership heads spinning. At least, that is the appearance from coverage of related news - and lack thereof - in the PD.

Exactly one week after 77% of Clevelanders made Frank Jackson mayor of Cleveland for another four years, the strongly pro-Jackson Cleveland Plain Dealer's City Hall reporter Henry Gomez posted to his blog that a "Consultant's report suggests that Cleveland must cut jobs to remain financially sound". In his article, Henry referred to a 344 page report by Public Finance Management that, beneath all attempts at silver lining, offers chilling analyses of the organization, financial management and economic prospects of the City of Cleveland.

Some highlights of the innocuously titled "Management & Efficiency Study – Cleveland, Ohio" (download as .PDF here) include: "Cleveland faces a drop of over 50 percent in its capital program funding from FY2010 to FY2011; further reductions are forecasted for FY2012 and FY2013", "the City projects a significant budget deficit in 2010 if current spending is not adjusted to match the new revenue reality", and "the City will have to scale back services to which Clevelanders have become accustomed".

Julian Stanczak - "Continuous Line + Black" 2005 - Acrylic on board, 28 panels, 16x16 inches each

Happy 81st Birthday, Julian Stanczak... born November 5, 1928. Julian is an originator and continuing master of Op Art - one of the most important and renowned artists ever - and his work is stronger now than ever.

All that is seen without doubt in 116 remarkable paintings exhibited as compositions in Julian's amazing body of expansive, precise, cohesive "Recent Work", now showing at MoCA. Grouped as three colorful masterpieces, and a series of 10 individual black and white expressions, all these paintings stand together as one conclusive, vibrant statement, that life is an amazing experience, as only Julian may know.