In coverage of truly depressing news in our region, the Cleveland Plan Dealer today reports "Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port authority passes on grant for Dike 14 preservation". The Plan Dealer reports:

"It is more prudent to allow for the Dike 14 planning to mature along the time frames anticipated for the lakefront projects as a whole," wrote port attorney Joel Pentz in a letter to a group of environmental agencies working to rescue and preserve the area as a wildlife refuge.

Pentz is absolutely correct. The Port Authority is working with these same environmental groups to plan the relocation and development of facilities so disruptive to the local environment and Lake Erie that it would be entirely foolish to spend a penny on any environmental initiatives within miles of the planned port relocation - especially along the lakefront. If we are seriously allowing over 1/2 billion dollars to be spent reconfiguring our lakefront for container traffic, do not spend a penny on anything not container port related around there until done - for the next 30 years or so.

Forget about having a green city on a blue lake. Evacuate residents and clear land.

Yet, our local sustainabilly community is not so rational, about this old landfill. Why - they don't seem to care about any other aspects of our environment... why this stupid little dumping ground, next to the next one? Proximity to University Circle, I suppose... read on, from our leaders of Sustainability and University Circle:

"The port's refusal to move forward on the Clean Ohio grant is deeply disappointing to many influential people," David Beach, director of the Green City/Blue Lake Institute, wrote in an e-mail to port officials.

"It puts a big dent in your carefully orchestrated marketing efforts," he concluded, referring to the authority that touts itself as an environmentally friendly "Green Port on a Great Lake."

Who are these "influential people" David cares so much about.

Certainly not Cleveland Citizens.

Certainly not his boss.

From the Cleveland Natural History Museum, where David Beach works:

Harvey Webster, director of wildlife resources at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, preferred to look on the bright side of the issue. He said although the port's unwillingness to support the grant proposal doomed it, port officials continue to be committed to working with the collaborative toward making Dike 14 a publicly accessible wildlife sanctuary on the lakefront.

When will the people of NEO learn that sustainability and environmentalism have opposing interests?

When will the people of NEO demand accountability from all our leadership about the current and planned state of our environment?

When will the people of NEO demand accountability from the Green City Blue Lake Institute and Cleveland Museum of Natural History for the harm their "carefully orchestrated marketing efforts" have caused "many influential people", like the citizens of Cleveland, who are far different from the stakeholders behind Sustainable Cleveland 2019, and University Circle, Inc.