The November 2010--Crain's New York published a compelling article on
Artists Fleeing NYC.

Well-look no further--a tree grows in Brooklyn...Brooklyn Centre--Cleveland. 

Yesterday, I met a young architect in the city, who is trying to determine the zeitgeist of NEO.

I am not sure that I can help him at all with his quest--but the timing of today's article in the Plain Dealer did take my breath away. 

I know some of the artists quoted in the article--not all of them very well, but I do know all by reputation.  And, in the article Julian Stanczak sums it up best:

My Great Aunt Wee (Marie) came to mind today.  She was a tough lady. Irish married to a Scottish man named French.  I always felt that I had been favored in her mind's eye, but as I grew older, it became apparent that I did not meet the Irish standard.  I was the fair child.  The eldest and most apparently "Irish" of our clan.  Red hair and blue eyes...I grew less Irish as I matured. There was always the spectre of the darker child.

This is exactly where the discussion in NEO needs to go--

How many community development organizations does a "dying" city need?

There are two classes in Cleveland--those with cars and those who walk and ride public transit.  For those who walk--it's like being on the moon and looking at another universe far, far away.

FRIENDSHIP

The gift we bestow in sharing
a stranger's sorrow are the

reasons we love, why the stars
are illuminated by kindness.

With each breath I get closer
to that distant star that is you.
In our lifetime a thousand years
is but one heart beat.

Earth--a place marked with
an x where we both met.

copyright 2009 Vladimir Swirynsky

On days like today--my father would assemble my three sisters for snow brigade duty.  I can remember one cold, blustery night, especially--the four of us, knee deep in snow, pushing shovels in a gale blizzard.  My father in his government issue glasses barking--commander-in-chief in all of his military glory. 

Winter in NEO--it gets cold, warm up.

The fire, the food, the music, the company--Sokolowski's on a cold Friday night in Cleveland.

Country Rose performed.

31st Annual Scholastic Cuyahoga County Regional Art Exhibition

Please visit Freshwater Cleveland.

Ask them to feature the FRESHEST neighborhood in NEO--Brooklyn Centre :)

I don't know if the whole story would make a feature length movie
(even if it did star Sean Penn! note website is *poof - archived to right), but it sure would make a compelling episode of Law and Order.

Stay Tuned! Dunt, Dunt...

It's always about land and water rights...and the MOB.

Nothing changes in America.  So, don't be surprised when the West Shore communities (Bay Village, Westlake, Fairview Park, Rocky River*) break away.

Question of the day--how does ~$23,000+ from developers (see inset article) in 2008, go to $ -162.00, to $6,800--when all of this time Mr. Rokakis has not had to run for a political office???

Oh, and what happened to Tony Sinagra--political fundraiser for the Hellenic Society in NEO??

NEO needs to start making sound policy decisions.  This tool can help.

REALNEO has Hixson's and Plantation Home in Lakewood--carrying on the tradition of holiday merry-making. Hixon's is still the crazy, dusty warren of knick-knacks and treasures, I visited as a child with my father.  Please visit and make holiday memories for your little ones.

Is it a surprise to anyone that the suspected "Grim Sleeper," in the L.A. disappearance and murders of possibly more than a hundred women of color, worked in the City of Los Angeles police department?

The story that should make international news...

Thanks for the reminder to visit the Cleveland Greenhouse in Rockefeller Park--for the best free time in REALNEO :)  Happy Holidays!!!

Matt Carroll, who leads FitzGerald's transition team, said the executive-elect would be scrutinizing the informal review process along with the other vital functions of the auditor's office.

At first, I was going to write some nice stuff about Michael DeAloia and his new book:

Lost Cleveland

...but I am a bit miffed right now.

I am mad, not at Michael DeAloia, who doesn't seem to let the local corruption dampen his enthusiasm for our fair city, but at the puppetmasters at NPI, the foundations and Greater Cleveland Partnership.

For folks with any memory left at all....a reminder from Tremont Memory project.  An interview with Father Bodziony (emphasis added):

Friday night in "urban" Cleveland is not all gloom and doom. 

On this beautiful, crisp fall night--I found couples making out at Roberto Clemente Park, boys playing football behind Blessed Sacrament off Fulton and cookouts happening throughout the part of Cleveland...now designated as Ward 14.

It's not a time to give up--it's a time to fight back and reclaim our community.