Well stated. Except I don't dream, and life here is still a nightmare!

I believe and propose the push here should not be to self-fund the co-op to grow the platform but to make Cuyahoga County recognize real.coop and open source social computing as an economic development tool core to the future of the region, and open source social computing as a platform for workforce and economic development here.

I'm proposing we as a community invest development money toward that, instead of MedCons, and Strategic Investment Initiatives of the Cleveland Foundation. That will transform the region and the economy for the best.

The payback will be that we will take the County government open source, and save citizens much more than the $10 million to develop the workforce - how much does the County pay for IT now, paid to... well, haters? We'll certainly be finding out.

I'm going back to the County with a plan and budget for this, within the next week, so anyone who wants to work on a really big plan for open source social computing here should connect ASAP - email me - email Jeff B - post here - 2008 is dead - our old economy is dead - our old leaders are as good as dead - welcome to the year of the real NEO revolution.

I'm satisfied we have done excellent work as citizens and intellectuals, here on REALNEO, and that has made a huge difference in this region.  I personally value all the amazing relationships I have found here. I look forward to helping drive much more change and progress here in the exciting year ahead, with all of you. 

Happy New Year, 2009, to real NEO. 

Disrupt IT

  I logged on 3 years 47 weeks ago as part of the Early Childhood Initiative--

Cuyahoga County's effort to Invest in Children.  

I was especially attracted to the Star Development proposal to bring intergenerational learning--schools, libraries, daycares, medical facilities, senior resources together in a collaborative community.  I thought Case was spearheading this effort.  Like all things Cleveland, it dissolved into committees and papershuffling. 

I forgot about RealNEO until I watched a news report on an urban shooting and went to bed oblivious to the reality--two friends murdered over noise.

So, I logged on to express my grief and outrage over an uncivil society.  I have been here, ever since--grateful to be able to record my day-to-day attempt to make sense of it all.

Please join this effort.

...her murder left me stunned that our city couldn't have prevented her death by following up with the obviously dangerous, deranged individual who murdered her.

 3-4 weeks after her murder, there were repeated, violent muggings on Bridge Avenue. Several people were seriously injured (one hospitalized for days) and a friend of mine mugged on his way home from work. They were happening in broad daylight and went on for several weeks. One afternoon, before they finally caught the culprets, and at the time of day the muggings were occurring, I witnessed an officer issuing a ticket for my parked car (tags three days expired - I was waiting for payday to get a new tag and was not driving the car - we have no off-street parking). We lived just south of Lorain Ave. directly 3 blocks south of where the muggings were occurring. I mentioned this to the officer writing the ticket - inquired why he wasnt staking that spot stake out, but driving around giving out tickets.

Well, we all know the answer to that - its the shift of our paid forces from protection of citizens to generation of revenue, and it was quite obvious what the priorities of the 2nd district were then... 

its thats simple. We arent the only city doing this - its a US phenomena, but it is still wrong.

Make sure you pay your parking tickets. If not they will tow and impound your car, triple the amount owed, and crush your car after two weeks if you cant come up with the money to bail it out. There will be no option for a hearing (unless you pay the amount in full into a cash bond). they wont donate the car to charity and you will still owe their made-up amount after they crush it. It doesnt matter that the car may blue book for four times the amount owed, they will crush it after two weeks. Another example of a taking without due process.

This is the great work of our city councilpeople, btw.... brilliant. one more thing to keep people loving Cleveland. Oh - and if your car happens to contain personal or valuable items, you will nOt be permitted to retrieve those items before the crushing.

I joined the community in 2006, at first, posting events and a call for artists. I made about three experimental posts before I felt comfortable enough to move from commenting on the posts of others and on to launching my own post. I wrote "in just spring" about my redbud tree and garden. Norm quickly responded with this post: "consider this a scrapbook" - Norm Roulet. What a nice welcome.

I have learned the technology slowly. My Mom refused to let me study typing in high school; she said in effect, "I don't want you to ever have to be somebody's secretary". That dates me then, doesn't it? My Mom, who was a nurse and a staunch feminist (pre-ERA) wanted a more directorial/managerial postition for her daughter - it was the whole babyboomer, "be better than I am" rather than "be what you feel you need to be" trend. I also drank the dancing school koolaid and fell head over heels for dance. I was deterred from writing by long hours of preparation for a career in dance - many many hours in studios honing my fine and gross motor skills to communicate through dance using the body to speak. But since my path would lead to making it possible for others to dance, I had to learn to write. I wrote grants and press releases, cases for support, fundraising letters and eventually a newsletter and program notes for my dance work. I did this with legal pads and ballpoint pens. It wasn't until the late 80s that I sat with trepidation before a keyboard remembering my mother's stern words. Little did she know that her dreams for me had actually hampered my abilities to quickly produce on paper in typewritten form what I needed to get the job done. 

So the other day when Jeff Buster and I were working on a post regarding 6611 Euclid Avenue, he said, looking over my shoulder, "you're a hunt and peck typist". Yes, but I'm fast when I have something to say.

Despite my own halting first steps and technical challenges, REALNEO has provided me a venue to "get the stuff out" - my indignation about the county's plans to tear down the Breuer, to add taxes without a vote of the electorate, their plans to build a medical mart, ODOT's plans for highways and their taking of our history in their highway project's wake. I never wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper, but now I write my letters to the community here.

I have had a chance to post video of dance that I would like to see in our region (now that I am no longer producing dance here) - a wish list, if you will. I've posted my reviews of dance concerts seen here in NEO and elsewhere - works that I found intriguing. Just yesterday, with Jeff Schuler's help, I learned a new bit-o-tech and gathered realneo's dance related posts into a book. 

Through this community I have learned about the dangers of lead poisoning, I have learned, from other writers, about government and sustainability. I have connected to and learned about other neighborhoods in Cleveland - places I might never have even visited.  Of necessity, I have sharpened my research skills. And I learned from Ed Hauser about showing up in person.

I recall that first public meeting with Ed. Martha, Norm and I accompanied him to apply for landmark status for the Broadway Mills building - a beautiful structure in the way of ODOT's extravagant bridge building plans. A week earlier, I had received a call from Martha that we were to meet Norm, Ed and George Nemeth at the building by the eastern foot of the Lorain Carnegie Bridge; we were going to "see a building"; I should come get her post haste and we would drive down together. I recall walking around the area with Martha and the 3 gentlemen. We drove through the flats and had coffee at Cravings in Tremont. I sat and listened as Norm and Ed hatched a plan to landmark the building, throwing a wrench into ODOT's heinous plan to build two bridges with little public involvement (ahem - ODOT having ignored the many public meetings which had been held to discuss the bridge and the innerbelt project for years). I recall thinking that perhaps someone was reading these posts and thinking that if they got teeth, if we showed up, as Ed urged, with the proper documents, the issue might be swayed. A month hence I had joined on as a consulting party to ODOT's section 106 process and my oddessy with preservation had begun. From there it was Art House thanks to the posts by Laura McShane, and then, a community led worldwide effort to save the Breuer.

I have learned that I can be a citizen. I can expect that my bill of rights will be respected here.  At REALNEO, I feel I have learned far more about my community that I might have reading our daily newspaper (though I do peruse cleveland.com daily). REALNEO also provides an in person community. We do meet each other in various places in NEO.

I have encouraged others to write here when they have an opinion or news that is not reported elsewhere. I sat down with Roldo because, eventhough he is a professional journalist and publishes a regular column, I can't get enough of Roldo's insight. Can you? I met with metroparks muse and began to learn more about how our parks operate. I met and reported with Jeff Buster; I continue to be challenged by his bold ideas about the city and the region. I have ventured forth with Martha to more forums and public meetings than I can count. Sudhir has posted some of the most innovative economic and organizational development ideas I have ever considered. Evelyn Kiefer, Zebra Mussel, Kevin Cronin, John McGovern, Bill Callahan, Ed Morrison, MaryBeth Matthews, Betsey Merkel, Bill MacDermott, Jeff Schuler and Jenita McGowan, many event posters and now a host of Tremonters have enlivened and enriched the community with their postings. We've engaged in conversations with artists in the UK, travel guides in Tehran and inventors in Hong Kong. Philip Williams, Derek Arnold and Jeff Schuler have taught me inummerable things related to computers and web involvement.

For years, I struggled to find a place that would be open for arts and education, a way to integrate what art teaches, the artist's journeys - the "stuff" the arts shares for the public good. REALNEO is such a place. You can study Artistbelt to Rustbelt, you can entreprenuer meet-up yourself ad nauseum or you can use this tool to tell your story right now - artists and entreprenuers, as much as anyone, need to consider, to better grasp the state of our regional and global economy. It's served up daily here at Real Economics Action Links North East Ohio with a strong dose of art and innovation to boot. I encourage entreprenuers, arts professionals and concerned citizens to join the conversation.

I have found a new outlet for my activism (another one of those family learned behaviors) and an educated, supportive group of writers and thought leaders. I could not have asked for a more challenging and welcoming online and in person community.

Here my content stays - on facebook, it disappears as the days go on. Many of my comments at Brewed Fresh Daily disappeared evaporating like water on a warm day. Some blog sites require moderation. My content has been removed from sites in our region. On occasion, I find that my content on REALNEO has been picked up elsewhere or the number of "reads" of a post has mushroomed. Recently our activism on Breuer sparked a relationship with a preservationist in Atlanta. Google Analytics tells us that folks far and wide are reading the content here and not just the recent content, but histories of the goings on in our community and the world. It can only become a richer archive.

So I will volunteer more hours and more thought and some cash to REALNEO.

I encourage others to use this tool, to join the coop and tell your stories of the real North East Ohio and the real world. 

As evidenced above, you can share your dreams for the real North East Ohio, too.

It is always nice to hear that my ramblings resonate with someone. It makes me feel like I'm not just typing into thin air. Ditto. I enjoy reading yours as well.

Oh and your story about shorthand...wow! I do wish I knew shorthand! (sorry about your dad...)

I graduated a long long time ago, too.

jerleen - are you sURe that filing an appeal means you admit to the violations? If so there's certainly a step missing in the process - the one where the city has to show their case. If this is true, this would be for the city council to retify, no? by adding a step in between condemnation and demo - like a hearing to verify the facts? Des, what does your lawyer say about this?

Maybe its time to call for a public meeting with Cimperman and make some demands? 

Norm, you wrote :::For some reason, especially in NEO, we tend to think Foundation leaders and Foundations are innately "GOOD", which is absurd.::: 

I can tell you, when I took two graduate level classes Into to Urban Planning and Neighborhood Planning, the most extensive part of the class involved talks given by local heads of these foundations and non-profits that we have mentioned. It left a very clear impression that to get anything done, you MUST go through these guys. So, its not surprising that we have pumped out a generation of urban planning cronies.

There's only one person who teaches these classes, Norm Krumholz, and although I like him personally (very much so) I'm beginning to wonder what other approaches to planning are out there that we dont know of. He wrote the book on equity planning (literally  - Equity Planning ) and worked as city planner for Cleveland through 3 or 4 mayors, but yet one does leave his classes with the very clear understanding of who makes things happen and a strong sense that to make anything happen, you must work with these people and do their bidding and hope they throw you a few crumbs of "equity". Its very depressing.

Does anyone know of any stories of success with equity planning (I know about Saul Alinsky) - but cities today active in getting social equity worked into their planning (obviously nOt Cleveland)?

Thanks Henry for clarifying that.  I guess I mucked it up.  I didn't mean to confuse or mis-state things.  In all reality tho - most people want and will do anything to keep their property from being demoed - which means in order for them to gain an extention of time they will acknowledge the violations - which still proves my point - no one got into Des' property, the inspector has no pictures and therefore the list of interior violations is a fraud and should be treated as such.  Even the judge should be "spanked" for allowing such matters to go on in his court.  If nobody ever calls the boards, building departments, etc., out on the rug regarding these matters, they're going to keep doing it and the suffering will go on.  If Judge Pianka was the right kind of fellow, he would throw all the cases out - every last one of them - teach em all a lesson for the learnin' and tell em when you get your act together - come back and see me. - I'm sure he would get voted back in next time around hands down - some other people might be goin' south but oh what the hell.

When the cases are appealed to BBS or BOZA actually Judge Pianka has no athority over the cases, until in most cases the persons appealing with BBS fail to comply within the given timeframe then B&H tosses them in court (Further Action). That again is for violation notices only. I do not know how it works with Condemnation orders.

Wouldn't it be best to do both? I just cant see that there is no place in the process to contest the citations by the inspector. BTW, I think we should not be too quick to judge Judge Pianka. I've had occasion to deal with him and I found him very empathetic and wanting to do the right thing. It very well could be he has had the wool pulled over his eyes.

At any rate - I still think we need to call Cimperman to meet on these matters. If there needs to be a step added to the process, as councilperson that is his responsibility. I think it is also smart to get his response to this on the record. 

Then the question becomes, how do we go about bringing down the house of cards?  I've been trying to follow the 'yellow brick road' so to speak in back tracking the stepped up housing code situation and it's connection to the SII program.  No matter how many times I research the material, I come up with the same names - Now, if the Cleveland Foundation put the SII program in play that means that they also put the players in place - which means - the key players are either part of the foundation or are being paid off by the foundation?  Now, the next question is how do we get them out of our neighborhoods?  Is there hope for taking our neighborhoods back?  

In my view 'Simperman' is a lost cause.    

I didn't get a chance to read all the details of the posts in this string, yet... I skimmed.  I'm on vacation from working long hours a day, seven days a week... for the past four + straight years.

But, caught some questions on the appeal process.

It is not my understanding that filing the appeal means I admit to the citations... In fact, in my written statement, I challenged violations.

My understanding of the appeal process is a chance to me to go in front of a board and present my side of the situation.

(Reference the video taped housing meeting and you will see that this is not a given right...)

It is all so very confusing.

I did meet with O'Leary and he said he would rather see houses rehabilitated to house more Cleveland residents.

My appeal date is in late July.  If you look at my before and after pics of Phase I, I can't see how they board could say no...

But... we all know how these things go.

In the mean time, I'm tuned out for a much needed two day break before I'm ready to jump back in the fight.

I'll re-read in detail and respond further upon my return.

P.S. I have folks staying at my home and my tenants are on guard.. you know... just in case! 

Brian Cummins has not issued any information to his constituents since this summer.  Brian, you are long overdue on explanations for your NRP machinations on Denison and, to be fair, any good accomplishments you care to announce. 

I posted the information on a new housing specialist appointment here and Tim posted it to Save our Land.  Residents have no idea what is happening in terms of reinventing the Brooklyn Centre Community Association into our de facto CDC.  There are too many unanswered questions regarding demolitions and your efforts to prevent foreclosures.  

The floor is open. 

"As an Ohio not-for-profit cooperative Real.coop will not be required to pay taxes. Right now Real.coop is funding the server costs for Realneo from donations received from a number of realneo writers. Most recently, the hat was passed at the Deweys pre-holiday face2face time. (thanks to all who attended and contributed)."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 

Jeff,

I was just wondering, as I am a member of some other Co-ops...

How do I join?

What does it cost me to join?

What benefits do I get as a member, (other than the warm fuzzy feeling that I am helping "the cause".)?

What are my responsibilities as a member - just "dues", or do I need to spend time doing "Spam Weeding" or some such chore?

And if I wish to join up, what do I do, who do I contact, who do I make my money order out to, and where do I send it?

Thanks in advance.

Chimera

  And it is now following this site more closely.  I agree that Tremonter got too ugly and personal and I hope that we can avoid that here at RealNEO.  Posting questions and asking for answers should not be so difficult. 

Residents have a right to know how their money is being spent or misspent.  From my own experience living in Tremont, I can tell you that the witch hunt of Frank Giglio was immoral (I had my own taste of Tremont).  And there have been no answers forthcoming from Councilman Cimperman or TWDC to explain why demolitions have been carried out so aggressively on Fairfield Ave. and why the threat of random demolitions continues in Tremont and throughout NEO.  To what end?

-

Let me stand up and take responsibility for the threads posted about the book store - again - everybody got up in arms about - my concerns - I felt that it was WRONG for a book store to use a childrens hour to promote his business - and I still do - that is my opinion - turn it around -it's a bar selling books.  There was a lot worse posted on Tremonter - shucks I posted some history facts about the good old days - about some good people I met - places I worked - about my siblings playing in the old gospel press building when they were little kids - about some stores I remember being in the neighborhood years ago - and that was deleted from Tremonter - Adam could have easily deleted the post about the book store - so let's call a spade a spade.  Folks - I'm the jackass that started all the hoopla about the bookstore - but I have seen a lot of misery caused by alcoholism - lives destroyed - families destroyed - most of it started at very young ages - and I just thought it sent the wrong message - when you can have a wonderful children's hour at the library.

Jerleen.

You did no wrong speaking your mind.

Why do those birds have such delicate feathers?