"I think Cleveland is a good place. Inner city is rough, but the outskirts is real beautiful, and great schools there. Plus my family, my mom and my sisters, they're all in Cleveland, so it's easier for me to be there than anywhere else." This quote, from an excellent Free Times interview with Charles "Wish Bone" Scruggs, of Cleveland-roots, Grammy award winning, multi-platinum rap trailblazers Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, sings the woes of a place branded as a "Shrinking City", where even the urban hard-core Thugs chose the 'burbs over the 'hood. The result of such out-migration, and downright defection, as is the case with all the other members of Bone, is the subject of a series of art exhibitions and related events taking place over the next month, all over town... which event sponsor Kent Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC) introduces by pointing out: "In 2005, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that Cleveland had lost nearly 20,000 residents in just five years. The city’s population of 458,684 was the lowest in nearly one hundred years." Starting Friday, April 20, 2007, at 4:30 PM, with a lecture at CUDC, explore what it means when a city loses its Bones...

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This is a piece about the modern consumer-grade digital camera.  What it can do. Amazing piece of equipment.  A Panasonic DMC – FZ50 for less than $500. Records to postage stamp size 4 gig SD media card.    I have used large format film and 35 mm film cameras all  through my years.  Today film cameras have nothing on digital.  Film cameras are relics.   I bought my first Sony Mavica digital in 2001.  2.2 megapixel maximum file size recorded to pocket CDs in the camera.  That camera cost $1,000 and worked great – even after I dropped it out of a tree.  But now, 6 years later, digital cameras with file capture 5x’s larger (10 megapixel) are available for half the cost of the 2001 camera.  That is a success story from the mass production economy.   And Moore’s Law is borne out again.

Inner Belt cluster First, the Ohio Department of Transportation decides to close exit ramps on the Inner Belt rather than enforce speed limits, causing local businesses to go ballistic.

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Public Meeting-

E. 120th Street

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While I don't really care for the Cleveland Institute of Art slogan "Making Art Work" (to me, work is a 4-letter-word, and art is not), the CIA turns out some of the hardest working and most work-force attractive designers in the world, and each year showcases their talent at an annual Design Show. To get a sense of what to expect, here is my preview of the show from 2005 (missed the 2006 show - will be there this year!).

Here's more info from the official invitation...

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Few occassions in NEO or anywhere offer a more diverse and exciting perspective on life and art than the annual CIA BFA Thesis Exhibitions... from the CIA Website: See exceptional work by the next generation of artists and designers as graduating students present their Bachelor of Fine Arts thesis exhibitions. The Joseph McCullough Center will be bursting with energy and excitement as the Institute’s graduating seniors challenge the public with fresh ideas and commentaries on our world. Work will be presented in all media including performance and installation art. The senior thesis project is the culmination of a student’s career at the Institute. Please join us to celebrate their achievements!

Exhibition Hours

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Claes and I were picking up Evelyn at the University Circle Arabica Sunday around 5 and I heard one of my favorite sounds flowing over from my favorite area spot - the Barking Spider - roots jazz. I knew who I would find there... the finest roots jazz musician I know in town, George Foley... so we headed right over. George plays and sings, solo and with many area musicians, in every imaginable combo, all over town, and it is always a fun, uplifting and inspiring experience.

Cuyahoga County has issued  RFQ 8382 for a so called “Feasability Study concerning Lake Eire Wind Energy Center”. See County site here.  Responses are due April 23. 2007  The  "Center" is not a center as in a building, but  an offshore installation of  turbines.

Learn how the arts can change everything...from an individual to a nation!  Young Audiences invites you to hear two dynamic and engaging speakers on Friday, April 27th:

	Sir Ken Robinson, a senior advisor for education policy at the Getty Foundation in Los Angeles and expert in the development of creativity,education and the economy. 8:30 a.m., the Hyatt Regency Cleveland at the Arcade.   FREE.
	Aaron Dworkin , accomplished violinist and the founder of The Sphinx Organization, which works to overcome the cultural stereotype of classical music, and to encourage Black and Latino participation in the field.  12:00 p.m., Jacobs Field Terrace Club.  The cost is $25 and includes lunch. Registration required.

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LINCOLN WEST TEACHER GETS NATIONAL AWARD.  This teacher is amazing.  I have seen the light she instills in her students.  Bravo Maestro!

Westside Courts resident Emma Casey sits at home with her refurbished computer. Photo: Sarah Lai Stirland

Derek just sent me a link to this article that should get people here thinking about our local economy, violence, the digital divide and solutions... read about the type of bridges we're building for East Cleveland and Cleveland... from Wired, about 3,000 miles away from NEO....   Sarah Lai Stirland 04.04.07 | 2:00 AM SAN FRANCISCO -- The Westside Courts is a bleak concrete housing project in the city's Western Addition where violence is closer than a high-speed net connection, and one resident's first steps online include plans to create a memorial for the people who've died here. Last month, volunteers turned on a novel broadband network in this 135-unit block, throwing a digital lifeline to Emma Casey and other tenants. Using a refurbished PC she picked up for $100, the 47-year-old mother of two adult children is now going online to help her son find a job, get health information and, she says, pay tribute to neighbors who've met with violent or untimely deaths.

Academic debates about the reality and cost of the so-called digital divide -- and the ability of individuals to fight economic disadvantage with nothing more than a computer and an IP address -- seem to crumble in a place like this. Like water and heat, internet is a clear necessity in the modern world, opening doors to education, employment and engagement.

YES - this is a huge story... the State of Ohio is suing Sherwin Williams and other paint manufacturers over the public nuisance caused by lead paint they sold here over decades... the state is joining five Ohio cities in this battle for our citizens - this case could very well take over the battle for the cities - very exciting times for our down-trodden state.  It is exciting to see the new Ohio leadership in action, after so many years of poor performance by past administrations.

TRUE ART GALLERY presents Michaelle Marshall, Jeanetta Ho and Laurel Herbold, April 6 – 30

OPENING RECEPTION, FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2007, 6-10 P.M.

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This is what’s wrong with how Cleveland and the County run their “business”. 

I need to raise an important point of federal budget minutia and ask that you email the Governor to protect riding and pedestrian infrastructure in NE Ohio.

The President wants to save some money so he has rescinded (or canceled) spending for transportation enhancement programs.  Because federal transportation money was already distributed to the states years ago, he can't cancel it directly, so he tells the Governors to decide where to cut.  Transportation Enhancement money is important to NE Ohio. In fact, of all states receiving transportation enhancement money, Ohio trails only California, Texas and Florida. But if Ohio receives a lot of money, we are also being asked to generate a lot of the rescission money – nearly $139 million.

From Groundworks: "a must-see performance". I know my friend Marjorie Talalay is very big on this troup so I believe this must be a must see... I'll try to see... learn more at Cleveland Public Theater... check it out... press release below...

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Johnny Mango World Cafe and Bar is a love at first and each sight, bite and margarita restaurant for me - creatively well decorated, eclectic environment, friendly staff, and always a great crowd... whether just a few tables of regulars or packed with anyone or everyone in town (generally on weekends... especially when the weather is great and sidewalk patio is open). The reason is a fresh juice bar, meaning some of the best drinks and smoothies possible, along with a great selection of Tequila... along with Momocho (which is next door), they have the best margaritas in town... along with a "world-cafe" menu of fun, unusual foods, cooked fresh, with fresh ingredients, in the open kitchen... and location, location, location in beautiful, vibrant Ohio City.

Read a summary of Martha Schwartz’s lecture-Landscapes of Awareness- at the Harvard School of Design http://archinect.com/features/article.php?id=54068_0_23_0_M.

Our city is not expanding, but if we let ODOT have its way, well-preserved old structures that tell our history and provide character will be swept aside for more rivers of concrete. What are we doing? Check out Carol A Poh’s letter (with author’s permission) to ODOT’s Section 106 committee. (NRHP = National Registry of Historic Places) Both the Broadway Mills building and the Marathon Station next to it have been recommended eligible, which is why they are not discussed in Carol’s letter, but that does not mean they will be saved.  Instead, as was suggested in the PD, Clevelanders may be reminded of their former presence by a plaque or some other fitting???? marker.

We are heading for bland at highway speed!

Following is Carol’s letter:

I received an informative email this afternoon from Richard McDougald Enty, Planning Team Leader, Programming & Planning Department, Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, about some of their Transit Oriented Development initiatives and vision. It is very exciting to see this as an active subject for discussion and planning here. I am a strong supporter of Transit Oriented Development and consider it the core foundation on which we should rebuild the City of Cleveland and surrounding suburbs.  Here is the vision from RTA:

This week's edition of Dee Perry's arts & culture television program Applause!, on WVIZ, features a segment on REALNEO... so I'd like to invite all the friends of realneo to join us for a screening party for the first broadcast of the program, Thusday, March 29, from 7:30 - 8:00 PM, at the great A.J. Rocco's Cafe, at 816 Huron Road, by East 9th Street. As a special treat, I was pleased to learn that A.J. Rocco's had already planned a very cool and complimentary event for that evening - Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman will be the guest bartender from 6-8 PM.

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