I've been reading REALNEO for a while now, and the hubbub over the coming Tremont West Development Corp. Board Meeting and Elections to the Board has caught my eye.  I've seen some people call for election observers in the Sun News coverage of this election, so I thought I'd offer my services.

"Mayor Frank Jackson has concerns about the city-owned site chosen for a new medical mart and convention center project."

Well, well... welcome to the throng Mayor Jackson.

Turn left. No, turn right. No, turn diagonally. No go straight.

It’s always good to have crisp, credible directions. Otherwise, how do you know where you are going?

Cuyahoga County Commissioners yesterday gave new directions to where they want to take us. If only we had any idea that they had any real idea where they are taking us.

Recently, a woman was abducted by car, and raped at Crocker Park in Westlake. Crocker Park is owned by Stark Enterprises.  The Plain Dealer was careful to not identify the location as Crocker Park, but instead lists it as the Promenade. Interesting description of the suspect, too. The police sketch is ambiguous to me.

It’s an untidy and greedy free for all. Grab while you can. If you can. So why shouldn’t Scott Wolstein – whose grandiose Flats development has hit a frigid stall despite huge promised public subsidies – enter the messed up deal on the medical mart and convention center issue. Confusion may be the mark of bad planning, poor communications and lack of leadership and, quite frankly, an economy in a seemingly permanent dump. However, chaos seems to suit our so-called Leadership.

The first visible change in our nation took place yesterday. Add your pictures to the tableau.

I was going through an overstuffed file that had been resting on a shelf in the cellar. The broken fake leather file held old letters, cards, complaints and even some compliments going back to the 1960s.

A note from 1989 that I can barely read said, “I hope you’re still around 20 years from now… Nobody else will monitor to see if the Jacobs brothers keep their promise to help the neighborhoods.”

Well it’s a surprise to even me that I’m still around.

Well, tomorrow morning is the presentation/meeting with the Board of Building & Housing Standards.

City Hall, 9AM, room 516.

This really wasn't enough time to prepare considering the time of the year, weather, holidays, economy... everyone is working overtime.  So, we'll see how it goes...

This is how distortion gets mistaken for reality. This is where propaganda outdoes truth.

The Plain Dealer this a.m. in its crusade for the Medical Mart calls the group that selected the Tower City site a “citizen’s committee.”

That’s really reporting very loosely with the truth - to describe a group that is entirely made up of Corporate/Corporate controlled individuals as representing the vast citizenry, thus the public. There isn’t a normal “citizen” on the committee because they are all related to the corporate community and its self-interests.

For teens 14-19.

Free spoken word, performance and leadership events for teens. Whether you are writing, slamming, DJing, MCing, or dancing, you will connect with old friends, make new friends, and have a chance to compete for a spot on Cleveland's Youth Poetry Slam team.

WHEN: Friday nights and weekday afternoons January - April 2009

WHERE: Idea Center at Playhouse Square 1375 Euclid Ave. Cleveland 

Calling potters, painters and creative folks

Use your creativity to craft a bowl and donate it to Rescue Village for Empty Bowls 2009. Colorful, animal-themed designs are always a favorite!

See Roldo's latest post here: http://realneo.us/blogs/roldo

Biographical Sketch of Roldo Bartimole

Roldo's archived writings and a speech at The City Club at

Cleveland State University Library Special Collections: Cleveland Memory

George Voinovich was a very selective conservative. That made him also a very selective “moderate” Republican.

My experience with Voinovich tells me he used his ethnic background to represent wealth in the community and in the nation. He successfully portrayed himself as personally frugal and the image carried him a long way.

I once told an audience that Voinovich would never be Governor because people saw him as a Mayor, nothing more. I was obviously very wrong.

The envisioned business area for our envisioned 200 acre port facility at East 55th Street in the inner harbor (in the Innercity Yacht Club and marina to be exact).

You are invited to attend a Community Informational Forum on the request for a zoning variance by the Bodnar-Mahoney Funeral Home Wednesday, January 21, 2009 7:30 pm at 3500 Lorain Avenue (the Green Building with the 5th/3rd Bank.

Location

Eyes and ears were focused on the land bank legislation and it passed, but slipped in there with it was

"The Hauser Ammendment"

Graphic From: http://blog.cleveland.com/pdgraphics/2009/01/10EGFLATS.pdf (1.8 Megabite PDF File)

Snow is blowing by my window this morning and I have just watched my neighbor and his 6 year old son dig out their driveway and drive away. I cruised over to cleveland.com to see what is news in NEO... not much.

So I returned to REALNEO and opened a book: REALNEO TOPSOIL - Technology Optimization Platform for Social Organization, Innovation and Learning

Today’s Plain Dealer is very instructive.

The Metro pages have little news in six pages.
Ironically, the major metro page ad is from bad boy Auditor Frank Russo. It is a listing of delinquent personal property taxes – smaller than usual since the tax is being eliminated. Even so, the Russo ad takes up the entire second page and four inches across Page 6, which is dominated by the weather report, not news.

Then paid obituary notices eat up two full pages and a bit more.
The front Metro page is dominated – not by hard news - but by a sports story out of Avon.

Congratulations Mr. Feagler on your retirement. You may not remember me, the sullen teen dragged along by her father at Higbee's at the Westgate Mall and Rustic's, but I grew up with you, and to me, you finally get to realize my father's dream of Neverland.

Public Meeting #1

When: Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 5:00 p.m

Where: Lakeview Terrace Community Center, located at 1290 West 25th St., just north of Division. Parking is available on the street only

Public Meeting #2

When: Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.

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.