It warmed my heart when Brian introduced all of us Ward 15 residents and almost everyone in the audience of the council chambers stood up.  I would hope that moment of unity and the couple of standing ovations during his speech had some kind of effect in our favor.

I've done somewhat of a media round-up on OB Blogs, http://oldbrooklyn.blogspot.com.

Laura, if I knew what you look like, I would've introduced myself.  I also saw Henry Senyak there for the protest and council meeting.

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb

Disrupt IT

You all did a great job tonight. Did you seeChannel 5? Or the PD with Henry Gomez?    Did you see Gomez's Blog entry from earlier today?

Gomez Blog on Zac Reed

Ken Predergast from the Sun News was their along with Joe Narkin from the Plain Press. This should be some good coverage coming up!!

Platoon after platoon arrived to take on City Hall tonight it was great. Trust me Brooklyn Center does not want to be ran by Joe Santiago. You will have La Copa style operations opening soon!

  We need more people to speak out against this abuse of power.  Yesterday was a dramatic show of neighborhood solidarity.  We need the same kind of turnout for the gerrymandering of the east side of Cleveland.

Council reduction to reduce city expenses exposes the broader agenda. The uncovered story of real estate speculation based on planned abandonment, erosion of the middle class tax base, and the intentional devaluation of property slated for eventual profit and redevelopment in these "blighted" areas of the city, euphemistically packaged as the Opportunity Corridor.

The redistricting is about the gross misuse of HUD funds for demolition on a countywide level  (a la the Land Bank) and two council persons who did not go along with the regional agenda to build from the suburbs-in, rather than from the center out, when they spoke out against the County Medical Mart tax and joined the effort to Put it on the Ballot.

Most of all, this is about the blatant exploitation of people who have been exploited time and time again. There are not two classes of people in society, but Councilman Sweeney and his GCP/NPI/SII handlers intentionally pit neighbors against each other based on skin color and based on income level.  To use a line popular with Councilman Cimperman, the altarboy, whose ward, in the $100,000+ Rocky-River-based Triad Research Group's version, will soon look like a map of Italy:

To Councilman Sweeney and his machine--Shame, shame on you all.

Two meetings this Friday...the information has been released with  almost no time for real public review and comment....both notices received on 3/19/2009 via email...the council announcement on redistricting is expected to happen on Monday, March 23

--  PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE --

• When:  9:30 am Friday, March 20th
• Where:  City Council Committee Room 217, 601 Lakeside Avenue N.E.
• What:  Council’s consultants on the redistricting of Cleveland’s wards will be presenting their final recommendations to Council.  All Councilmembers should attend this important session

From: Allan Dreyer
Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2009 4:28 PM
To: All Council Members; All Staff
Subject: Important Public Meeting regarding new city wards

There will be a public meeting on Friday, March 20th, in City Council Committee Room 217, at 9:30 a.m.  Council’s consultants on the redistricting of Cleveland’s wards will be presenting their final recommendations to Council.  All Councilmembers should attend this important session

 ---Allan Dreyer, Deputy Clerk
Cleveland City Council
(216) 664-4198

_____________________________________________________

Hello all,

 

I am sending this e-mail out in an effort to update the community about the future plans of the TLCI Pearl Road-West 25th street study that was completed this past December.  City Architecture did a wonderful job completing the study with a lot of feedback from the community, advisory committee and the steering committee.  For those of you on this distribution list who participated on any of those I would like to thank you for the volunteering of your time and especially your thoughtful feedback. 

 

The completed study is now going to the City Planning Commission on March 20th, 2009 @ 9:00 a.m. in room 514 of city hall.  The agenda begins promptly at 9 a.m. with the City Architecture presentation to take place about half way through.  This presentation would be in an effort to have this plan adopted into the City of Cleveland ’s 2020 master plan. 

 

It has been suggested that OBCDC encourage and solicit community support for this project by inviting many people to this meeting.  In turn I am inviting all of you to join us on March 20th, 2009 to support the Pearl Road-West 25th Street Transportation Corridor Study.  I also have high hopes that you will inform a few more people by forwarding this alert to any interested parties.  If you are unable to be there in person it has been suggested to write a letter of support that can be turned into our offices and handed in on your behalf. 

 

If this plan is adopted into the city of Cleveland’s 2020 Master Plan, it can open many more potential funding opportunities for next steps as it relates to engineering & construction design.  Thank you all again for your time and I look forward to seeing everybody in the future. 

 

If you would like to receive an electronic copy of this study please do not hesitate to contact me at anytime.   

 

Donnald J.Heckelmoser Jr. 

Residential Programs Manager

Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation

web: www.oldbrooklyn.com

main: 216-459-1000

fax: 216-459-1741

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damnit!  This is RealNEO. 

(Not RealMAD, RealAUS, RealAUTO, hmmm Toronto, RealOBR)

Madison?  Drive is too far

Austin?  Too Trendy/hot/dry

Detroit?  Too far gone

Toronto? Hmmm... they DO have better healthcare

Oberlin? Too young.  (And) Drive is too far

WHY THE HELL CAN'T WE RID OURSELVES OF THESE PEOPLE???  

NEO has so much to offer:

> Fresh water

> Great park system

> Super cost of living

> People who actually talk to each other on the street

I'm not ready to quit yet... and the young blood behind us is leaving the gate pissed off!!!  Looking at all the smart, creative, innovative and persistant fighters on this site alone...  This is the first time I've felt any hope for our region. 

WE CAN'T QUIT NOW!!! 

  Toronto has its own set of ills, I'm sure, although it does have visionaries like

Michael Hough driving a better ecology for the city

I am too old to move again...and put down new roots.  I am tired today, but I will scream and spit tomorrow...we can't let creeps and cretins destroy NEO.

and feeling dirty all the time...

wOw. so well put, Norm. Its been particularly frustrating working on my program in urban planning - I sometimes feel like I'm in the twilight zone. The past year I've fled to the art department, finished a second BA in studio art, but I signed up for 2 PDD classes this Fall. Maybe i can somehow trip into an otherworldly mentality there this time and not come home after a 4 hour night class feeling dismay and anger. I want to finish my degree and get the hell out of this mean nasty little hole.

I don't think we realize how dysfunctional Cleveland is until we go elsewhere.

I don't think Cleveland is going to lose its dysfunctional fiber unless the FBI plays hard and fast (and they are playing slow and soft right now).

I have a home I had planned to die in. Its half way to being self-sustaining. But I have to question if it is worth the psyche damage that comes with living in this town. I'd stay in a heart beat if there were any sign that anyone leading this place gave a damn about what really matters in life. The selfishness is pervasive.

I would like to see a PD analysis of how Jacobs, Wolstein, Lerner, Miller, Ferchill, Stark, NRP, D.A.S--who am I missing?--developers and contractors ultimately control the transfer of political power here in NEO.

 Who knows? If Bill Patmon had received a few hundred more votes in his 2001 City Council race, he might have become the council president and might be mayor of Cleveland today.

The PD's ridiculous "almost" mayor description of Bill Patmon today only made me remember how Patmon worked on Jacobs' behalf, while Jacobs was the shadow partner in Figgie International.  Nevermind, that Patmon has next to no real political infrastructure or organization.  Nonetheless, the PD annoints him Jackson's opponent in the fall.

So, who really pulls the strings?