In the Fall of 2008, I proposed to Cuyahoga County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones that the local foods sector offers the people of Northeast Ohio $ billions in economic development opportunities that may be distributed to a huge percentage of our 1,000,000s of residents in very socially equitably ways. I also proposed similar opportunities are available in open source information and social computing. And I pointed out regional organizational, strategic, social and operational barriers to success and proposed specific solutions to maximize workforce and infrastructure development, massive scaling, and social equity.

This just in, via Cleveland City Council, via Facebook... "Another step taken toward Breaking the Cycle of Abandonment". This is about how City Council has decided to spend our community's $25 million in Federal taxpayer funds from the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) - the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development - intended to help our impoverished inner city. You must ask yourself, who decided how your $25,000,000 should be spent here, how did they really decide this, and is this a step forward or backwards?

I was very saddened to learn today we lost a great artist, loved friend and family to many, and inspirational Clevelander with the passing of Clarence E. Van Duzer. I knew Van Duzer as a family friend and always was inspired and energized by talking with him, his work, and his approach to life. At our last meeting, at his Convivium opening, in 2006, he was so strong and clear it seemed he would live on forever.

In these changing economic times, the last person we needed as commerce secretary was Bill Richardson. So glad to see him removing himself as Obama Commerce Secretary - a poor, politically-motivated choice in the first place... I'll be glad to see Richardson diasappear from public "service" entirely. One more old leader gone. Who will now be promoted to position of Commerce Secretary... another old economy leader or a new social innovator?

When Doug Clifton became editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, I was in frequent communication with Columnist Tom Brazaitis. I shared with Tom information technology advice to improve the newspaper - like adding email addresses to the articles in the paper (which they didn't do at the time), and completely transforming how they used the Internet. Tom suggested I contact Clifton directly, which I did, and Doug was very receptive to feedback and we ended up corresponding regularly.

Jeff Buster's poll on REALNEO asking "If Peter Lawson Jones immediately withdrew his support for the Medical Mart Convention Center would his public career benefit?" motivated me to spend the time to explore the probability the MedCon is already dead, and our leaders will let us know that when they return from their vacations... and get the nerve. What do you think?

We wanted a real tree for the holiday, this year, but Evelyn and I don't like the idea of growing and cutting down and then transporting and throwing away a tree just for that. The carbon footprint, any way you do it, just seems a waste.

Ward 13 Councilman Cimperman was attacked in his Tremont home by vicious forces, which caused him personal harm and made him homeless. His trauma was relatively brief, as Councilman Cimperman is a powerful man with powerful friends and considerable resources at his disposal - it is safe to say he had insurance against his losses and could borrow money at a reasonable interest rate to rebuild.

"Cleveland of My Dreams' Postcard by Joe Stanley

About the time some wacked-out over-empowered government wonks were demolishing Frank Giglio's Historic Landmark house, on his city-desecrated urban farm, all the "restorationists" in our Society were abuzz about the chance to rub elbows with Timothy "Art Is Back" Rub at the sell-out "36th installment of our Community Luncheon" Cleveland Restoration Society self-love-fest, held last week at Wyndham Cleveland, at Playhouse Square...

Several years ago, it is said, Cleveland Clinic CEO Cosgrove developed a plan to create a Medical Mart in Cleveland, as a place to centralize much of the commerce between medical device and product supply and demand. This story, still developing, will certainly be one of the great turning points in Cleveland history, as it has raised taxes and spent significant public time, trust and resources on what appear to be whims on promises, which are not appearing very sound... especially under today's shifting and certainly catastrophic economic and social times - not to overlook the fact we must completely overhaul all aspects of health care, supply and demand.

I happened to stumble across the Plain Dealer "Cheers and Jeers" feature, today, and was mildly amused by item #2 - "JEERS . . . to anyone with a yard sign still standing. It's been a long, long campaign. Everybody's had enough. Get them down. Candidates, the same goes for the billboards." The PD "Editors" have shown their tacky Republican colors in Day-Glow since they got their asses kicked November 4th, so I'm not surprised to see such petty venting there. I reply "CHEERS . . . to anyone with an Obama yard sign still standing". I still have my signs proudly displayed in my yard, and so do most of my neighbors in East Cleveland and on the East side, in general. Unlike the neo-Cons, who were too cowardly to show any support for their lame candidates, in the first place, and certainly don't want to be associated with them now, people who supported Obama are proud of that and will be forever.

The October 30, 2008 Sun Press lead cover story article (strangely... not on-line) was: "New Uses For Coventry? Music School Settlement, day care, and charter school send letters of interest". This reported, "The Intergenerational School's proposal also listed several partners: Richard Fleischman Architects, of Cleveland, Star Neighborhood Development, of East Cleveland, Strategic Resource Consultants, of Cleveland Heights, and City Fresh Cafeteria, Fresh Stop and Market, of Cleveland". "Fleischman would serve as design architect, while Star Neighborhood Development and Strategic Resource Consultants would likely be development partners...". "That proposal would also include a 1.5 acre "Urban Farm"...". I submitted the proposal, a public document, highlighted below and attached as a PDF, and can say the Sun Press report is largely correct, but the story is far from complete, and far more exciting than the Sun brings to light.

Since the start of the Bush/Cheney Regime, and especially since 9/11, I have felt very uncomfortable being personally associated with public "movements" and "organizations" against war and for peace and liberty, much less for "socialism", knowing expressing support for such interests is defined as "unpatriotic" and "un-American", and a trigger for government surveillance, in the neo-Con Era. I'm sure we of realneo have FBI files, and our emails and phone calls may be tracked. I don't care, anymore... none of that matters, now that Obama has been elected and we are within days of throwing the haters out of office and digging into the data they have been tracking. I know we are near enough to the return of free speech that even if we are added to some "Code Red" list now, it will be erased within a few months. And, we shall set people's records straight, and shall determine the extent to which Bush and his team should be prosecuted for violation of our civil rights and liberties.

There were just three other people voting at my polling location in East Cleveland, when I arrived around noon today... as beautiful a day as has ever been. After eight years under the Bush/Cheney dictatorship, today marks the end of a horrible era in world history, and the first day for the world to be as it should be.

I received the following email worth noting and sharing, regarding what to do if you see voting problems today. Immediately call 877-868-3874... and you may need to, from the personal experiences shared below...

Our region's greatest champion of promoting immigration - high-skills immigration - Richard Herman has sent me many progress reports on successes in some areas - most recently Detroit - referenced below. I've been meaning to post these notices from Richard but haven't found the moment (Richard, I believe you have an account). Today, I received the unsurprising update below on a local study discouraging the Fund For Our Economic Future from focusing on this objective in economic development for the region - discouraging attracting high skills workers and entrepreneurs from afar. This seems a seems a good way to introduce the subject... "This Summer, the Plain Dealer editorial board wrote a piece asking why the Fund for Our Economic Future was not involved in efforts to welcome immigrant talent, immigrant entrepreneurs and international capital into the region."

The Plain Dealer's Phillip Morris writes, in his column today, "I'm trying to play it cool, but in the wake of National City Bank's collapse, I'm frantically looking for silver linings"... "scanning the horizon for that man, woman, or committee that can pull rabbits out of hats"... "still listening for someone to convince me that there is continued reason to believe that Cleveland is reinventing itself and will emerge stronger and more efficient". Phillip is obviously looking for all the wrong answers, inspiration and leadership in all the wrong places, from all the wrong people who put NEO and America in this disastrous situation, and are still are in charge of our local and national economies... although not for much longer. And, Phillip is obviously hearing from his chosen "leaders" the same old lame-o, last-ditch Cleve-O establishment vision of salvation, highlighted in his column... "I'm just glad we still have good hospitals."

Sorry to tell you, Phillip, but our "hospital" leadership isn't any better to or for Cleveland, America and the world than NCC leadership, and is in fact the same people, and is answerable to the same few "Power Brokers" as NCC, and is failing. The leadership and owners of our bloated, inefficient healthcare system and health industry companies have sucked the unhealthy tit of America dry. Their prescription... "buy viagra, and go f**k yourself, America."

There is a highly depressing quote by National City Corporation CEO Peter Raskind, at the end of a Cleveland Plain Dealer "editors" interview clearing him of being more than a poor, SUPER RICH executive, where Raskind says "It's a remarkable period and it would be intellectually interesting if we didn't happen to be living in the middle of it." I don't recall ever seeing more moronic words in my life.

I don't find a time when poor people around the world and in Northeast Ohio starve and suffer, while highly incompetent, over-compensated "career" bankers and advisers have made millions for themselves, remotely "intellectually interesting".

Perhaps the suffering of the poor is interesting to the rich? Perhaps that is how the rich intellectualize being rich, while most people in the world suffer greatly.

To others, the term is horrific...

I've been waiting to see how the Cleveland Plain Dealer is going to attempt to escape the shame of having endorsed for Cuyahoga County commissioner the highly unqualified and now under fire Bay Village mayor Debbie Sutherland, before she even debated the highly qualified and well respected incumbent, Peter Lawson Jones. Sutherland lost her first debate... and she lost her second debate... and, I understand, she lost four debates against Jones organized by the League of Women Voters for high school children... and she will lose the City Club debate (for Sutherland, losing has meant being obviously unprepared, unqualified, flustered, angry, embarrassed and even booed, in past cases). There was no excuse for the PD endorsing Sutherland, and now they must report 32 Cuyahoga County mayors endorse Peter Lawson Jones for commissioner. The PD editors are surely embarrassed over Sutherland, by now, so they are certainly looking for excuses, including attempting to make the race about race. I expect we'll see lots of this racist behavior in the coming months, years, and decades, in various death spirals, as the last generations of real American racists die away.

I received the following from NEO's champion of immigration reform, Richard Herman, which sounds exciting. I am certainly for opening up national borders - I think any of us should be able to go and live wherever we want, whenever we want. I haven't read the policy recommendations, beyond what Richard provided, and I'm not sure a merit based point system and ""High-Skill" focus are right, but anything that opens up borders, rather than building walls, is a good thing.