Here's a posting from a friend at Tribe.net interested in green roof development, and I wonder how hard can this really be, and how much of this goes on in NEO?   From Georgie's Tribe blog...http://people.tribe.net/terraverde:    ...I'm helping James Kalin prototype the Green Roof on the LBOW (LEEDS Building On Wheels) project. In my system, run-off water will fall into the Slow Sand Filter. I'll have to check with a structural engineer to make sure I can support the additional weight. James showed me the GreenGrid (www.greengridroofs.com) trays going on the LBOW roof. It's basically a recycled-content HDPE tray that holds your plantings.

The manufacturer highlights the following benefits:
• Reduced Energy Costs
• Reduced Urban "Heat Island" Effect
• Sound Insulation
• Extended Roof Life
• Stormwater Management

This is a good primer on GreenRoofs:
www.damonfarber.com/Green_Ro...0Roof.pdf

I just received an email from "Citizen" Ed Hauser, the man who saved Whiskey Island, which he sent to 100s of community leaders and members of the press and government, which challenges the process that is being followed in determining the fate for Cleveland's I-90 bridge, Inner-belt trench, and ultimately the entire look and feel of our city.

According to Case Management Professor Sandy Piderit, on her NEOBEAN (North East Ohio Breastfeeding Education and Awareness Network) site:

Hitting stride with "are you depressed yet" and concluding with something like "thirty years from now, today's 20-&-30-somethings will look back on their generation as the one that saved the American Dream or lived through its demise", Director of Economic Opportunity Program at Demos and author of "Strapped, Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead" Tamara Draut gave an audience of 20- and 30-Somethings and others lots to think and talk about at a very interesting and refreshing forum at Cleveland State.

 From Philanthropy News Digest is an article on NY Mayor Bloomberg convincing the private sector - corporations, foundations and philanthropists - to support public education overhaul in NYNY, raising from this over $300 million "without strings attached", which is "crucial to their ability to experiment and support research and development efforts within the system". A thought to share as we select and brief our new Cleveland Public Schools CEO. Feel free to share your thoughts...

I hope you are happy, as we begin 2006.

Over the past many years, the region has redefined and reinvented itself - now is a fair time to expect progress, and I believe we shall see that on many fronts, in 2006.

In a recent article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, posted to the NEO Excellence community, business editor Paul O'Donnell wrote "I really didn't need Forbes magazine to tell me that Cleveland ranks 113th out of 150 metropolitan areas for best places to jump-start a business or career". Based on Forbes' analysis of our assets, O'Donnell observed one would conclude "the region is predominantly populated by reasonably educated engineers who spend discretionary income on the arts or sports, who work at companies that pay well but aren't hiring, and who live in safe neighborhoods filled almost exclusively with native Northeast Ohioans."

In 1999, a journalist at the Cleveland Plain Dealer named Tom Brazaitis published an article asking what his readers thought about his paper? I was intrigued - it never occurred to me newspaper journalists cared what readers thought. I called him and left a voice mail message to comment - he called back to discuss my thoughts and he asked me to email them to him - I sent back a lengthy assessment of that Sunday's publication. Not only did he care what I thought, but he published some excerpts of my message, along with other readers' perspectives.

Knowing Tom cared about his readers, I grew to care about his work and paper, and him, and I realized his columns were always right on. He taught me journalists are normal people, doing normal jobs. He taught me being a "socialist" is not a crime. He taught me to speak my mind and write my peace. He
inspired me and changed my life.

I happened to catch the NOVA program "A Daring Flight" onÂ
Louis Blériot developing the first airplane to cross the English Channel, which in fact revolutionized the airplane industry at its beginning. Lessons Louis learned from Dayton's Wilbur Wright made this possible, and over the years following his Wright "schooling" Louis gained nearly every flight record in existence, with a plane that exceeded the Wright Brothers' accomplishments, becoming the most popular airplane in the world at that time. Understanding that transformation in time, place and industry offers many lessons for NEO now, in our transition.

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.

An intellectual social reformer from Tribe shared the following posting that will have significant impact across America, because Martha Stewart is speaking out about legal process reform (from prison), and she knows the power of the Internet, uses it well, and is know and loved by untold millions, despite her legal problems. I post this message here because it surfaces issues we need to address to improve our regional economy - many of our unemployed are in fact unemployable for the reasons Martha highlights, and many of our more effective workforce development and reentry programs address this challenge - NEO must become world-class in addressing these issues, and use that distinctive competency to get ahead of the curve with social reform for this region, as America moves toward rebuilding our society as opposed to building prisons. Martha Stewart's Christmas Message: Prison Reform Now!

This just came through the RSS feed from Channel 5 - and is covered more thoroughly on the Medina Gazette site - Medina Judge Kimbler is using the Internet in unique ways, in his courtroom - allowing attorneys and the public to sign up and "Join Judge Kimbler's Court and receive e-mail updates on jury trials, decisions,
sentencings, and much more" - on the site you can see jury instructions, court documents, verdicts, and now it seems view edited, taped recordings of sentencings - really fascinating effort by a clearly tech-savvy and progressive judge.

The George Gund Foundation today annouced major grants including $5 million for the Cleveland Museum of Art's
renovation and expansion project, a very exciting $1 million to Cuyahoga County's Invest in Children (IIC) initiative, and nearly $4 million more for 79 other programs that reflect the Foundation's continuing commitment to the urban
core of the region. This near-$10 million in funding brings their 2004 grant-giving total to nearly $30 million. "Invest in Children" is dedicated to Effective Parents and Families, Safe and Healthy Children, Children
Prepared for School and A Community Committed to Children... exactly what REI Director Ed Morrison and other community leaders recommend for insuring our long term economic development - read more and see links to that program and other related news and information below. Thank you Gund Foundation!

Many universities around the world are focusing on the study of social computing - from technology and application development to man-machine interface. REALNEO is already working with Purdue on a Drupal documentation project and we welcome additional research affiliations, and will explore teaming up with RIT. We are well affiliated with Case's Center for Regional Economic Issues and it seems time to get the IT side of the campus involved - any other Northeast Ohio universities interested to really understand this communications and human interaction revolution that is transforming politics, economics, knowledge management, industry and society? Post your suggestions here, after reading the thoughts of the social network lab director at the exceptional Rochester Institute of Technology...

There's an article in the Plain Dealer on a fascinating local business development - American Greetings bought into The Hatchery, an innovative Los Angeles company "that produces family entertainment for film, television, home video,
video games and new media." My immediate thought was, what can this hatch for NEO. Our creatives need opportunities in these sectors and insider Los Angeles connections, and The Hatchery could certainly find "product" and talent here - it seems if our hometown powerhouse American Greetings is teaming up with shuch high level folks in LA, they should be able to steer some insight and opportunity from there to here. Reading a press release about The Hatchery, posted below, makes clear their management is influential and top notch - if our leaders ask very nicely, perhaps The Hatchery folks can help bring more new life to NEO than just on American Greetings bottom line. Has anyone bothered to welcome our new celebrity neighbors to town?

Just posted on "The Industry Standard", Yahoo posts timely roadwork, accident and traffic speed overlays on their maps for many cities, including Cleveland - soon to be offered for other wireless devices... one less reason to watch the silly local morning news and listen to lame drive-time radio

Civic Strategies has posted a reference to REALNEO on their directory of "URBLOGS", which the explain as: Urban
blogs are those that are focused on a metro area, provide
interesting commentary about local politics, culture or urban
life and aren't so ideological that they're painful to read. So
how much ideology is too much? Hey, it's our list, so we get to
decide. -

Here's
our list of urblogs worth spending time with:

Most
blogs are the work of individuals. But that's not the case with Cleveland's
REALNEO (it's an acronym standing for Regional Economics Action Links North East Ohio).
REALNEO allows large numbers of people to share resources, news and
ideas about revitalizing the region's economy. Along the way, it
hopes to create a virtual community mirroring the real one. You can
find it at http://realneo.contenthosting.org/.

And REALNEO is not the only URBLOG in Cleveland to be recognized

Bill
Callahan's blog is a jewel. He writes frequently and well, not only
about Cleveland politics but economics. And he does so with
an independent point of view. You can find Callahan's blog at http://cleveland_diary.blogspot.com.

Here is an overview Powerpoint presentation prepared to share with attendees at the REI orientation sessions and for your review by downloading here.

Friday in NEO
- where's our unique value today? Start at the City Club for lunch with
Ambassador Ross, speaking on the what’s next for

The NYTimes has an interesting article on disruptive technology and the new economy - good advance reading for the December 7 Tuesday@REI session "Unique Value: Competition based on Innovation Creating Unique Value".

The 12/6/04 NYTimes article concludes:

Competition has been a spur to innovation, driving companies to find
ways to do things better or cheaper, to gain new markets and reap
higher profits. But competition can also diminish the incentives to
develop new technologies if, as happened with many dot-com initiatives,
innovations are easily replicated by rivals.

"Today, with a
much more competitive and deregulated environment there are very few
companies with the kind of financial cushion to take the 10-to-15-year
long-term view," said Mr. Slywotzky of Mercer Management. "Those
engines of innovation have shut down."

Read the entire article linked here.

The Form Group founder Steve Cencula was on recent panels at the Making Change and BizArt forums, where he brought to the attention of attendees the need to merge creative and entrepreneurial instincts, which has made him successful in design and business - his newest enterprise is developing interactive media and games for product development, communication and education. A point that stood out in his BizArt discussion was that he started his previous company, Kaleidoscope, because he wanted to do things he couldn't do or even learn to do at school - he knew by doing his own thing he would provide a product and service unique in NEO. He saw opportunity and he conquered. !00s more Steve Cencula's and NEO will be 100x more innovative - he's now on the Board of the Cleveland Institute of Art and promises they will be driving that level of change in NEO in the future. Posted below is the conclusion of an article Steve wrote on innovation...