GUND GRANT TO SCHOOLS - SUCH AN IRONY

Submitted by Roldo on Sun, 02/28/2010 - 12:33.

Think of the irony of it. The Gund Foundation is giving the Cleveland schools $2.5 million of dollars, according to a Page one story today in the Plain Dealer. Isn’t it ironic - or at least amusing - or a dime back on a dollar - that the Gund family took MANY millions FROM the city’s schools.

 
The Gunds were big property tax evaders.
 
Yes, it is a good move for the Gund Foundation to give $2.5 million with a promise of more. We should applaud for it. But let’s not get teary eyed.
 
It is so much as how the world works.
 
The rich get richer and they bequeath tax-free pennies from those they took.
 
The Gunds - George and Gordon - of course, once owned the Cleveland Cavaliers. Our sales (sin) taxes built the arena for them. They took us for plenty of dough.
 
They also benefited from an arena free of property taxes – millions of dollars each year. Most of it, ironically, from the schools. Cleveland schools that is. A peak at how millions are lost:
 
 
 
 
The Gunds bought the Cavs from Ted Stepien before the 1983-83 season for some $20 million. The brothers sold the team for $375 million in 2005. Nice profit. After, of course, we provided them with a new arena. And parking. And a couple of free loges. Nice deal if you can get it. And if you have the dough you can.
 
Ironically, David Abbott in the early 1990s was Cuyahoga County chief administrator. Gateway was launched in May 1990. Abbott, who left in 1993, was a Tim Hagan man. Tim, of course, promoted Gateway. He was chief lobbyist, along with Mike White, in obtaining a full tax exemption for the arena building. It will never pay property taxes.
 
Abbott today has his picture on the PD front page as Gund Foundation executive director ($300,000 a year). He has certainly become a favorite person of the Pee Dee, where (maybe another irony) he once was a reporter.
 
And not to be paranoid or anything, Abbott also was an original board member of the Gateway Economic Development Corp. Gateway was very, very good to the Gunds. Gateway board members sort of ignored big overruns on the Gund arena. No good deed goes unrewarded in this game.
 
Abbott is a past director of University Circle, Inc. UCI is pressing hard for the Opportunity Corridor $375-million road to UC. Of course, the Gund Foundation gave the road project pushers $100,000 to start.
 
Money goes round and round. Some sometimes trickles down to where it is needed.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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good content

Roldo, you always have such good content. Have you considered distancing yourself from the din here on RealNEO?

I'm not saying they're wrong--most of them here just have such an odd way of going about things.

Do you have any other feeds now, where you are separate from the rest of the RealNEO content?

Many eyes on Realneo

Dear Tim:

I'm not sure where my material on Realneo fits among content providers you are looking at Tim. There is an aspect of the National Enquirer to RealNEO.

The world seems upside down however and the National Enguirer is being considered for a Pulitzer prize for looking into the seamy side of John Edwards, who once ran for Vice President. Apparently no other major media did this.

I am checking out the Cleveland Leader and see if they'll take my stuff too. There is also Midtown Brews, which I may start coposting on again.

RealNEO has certain features that makes it attracive to post on. Not the least of which is how many views an entry has received. Over time, the number of views shows what is imporant to RealNEO followers. (Notice I didn't use the word readers, because who knows if they read.)

Importantly: One never knows what will show up on RealNEO. This keeps eyes returning to see what is next.

The mix of local content of various takes on what is important to different writers, in my eyes, continues to be interesting, though this could go off the track over time.

 

Speech and more speech

  Thanks Lee--I know that you don't necessarily agree with what I have to say, but I believe it has been said that to fight that which you don't believe in, fight with more speech. 

A bad paraphrase of why we need REALNEO and why FREE speech is important here.

my opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of my employer, my spouse, my cat, my neighbors, my extended family or anyone I happen to acknowledge on the street, bus, etc.

readroldo.com

 You can use readroldo.com. There is a day or so delay in the postings but it is pure Roldo.

the content is valuable and deserves exposure

Lee, it seems that RealNEO is the main repository of Roldo's current content. I looked over at the Cleveland Leader and the Lakewood Buzz, and they don't have what exists at RealNEO. I'm not sure about CoolCleveland.

As our moms told us, you're judged by the company you keep. Roldo's a good writer, a man of truth, and a bold and fearless warrior. The RealNEO platform used to suit him; I'm not sure it does anymore. It's too shrill and unpleasant around here these days, and this sort of tone can detract from the credibility of the best.

Photographers

  Funny, Tim that I am being verbally harassed here by a perfectly capable photographer who rarely publishes her own photos here at REALNEO.  I will let folks decide why that is the case....for themselves...

Meanwhile, I figured out the problem with YouTube--I switched to Google Chrome browser and it works like a charm. 

You're an old dog, but you have shown me some good tricks.  I may not know who my enemy is today, but it is still good to have neighbors. 

I am not afraid of a little barking now and then...from you or anyone.  You know that I can bite ;)

my opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of my employer, my spouse, my cat, my neighbors, my extended family or anyone I happen to acknowledge on the street, bus, etc.

you are truly psychotic

 my dear....

rubber...glue..whatever

.

Cleveland Leader

Roldo posts at Cleveland Leader, CoolCleveland and other venues...but, of course, you know that...what's your real beef?

a good place to be away from

Laura, with the influx of yahoos you've had over here of late, I see it as a good place to be away from. The tenor here at RealNEO was always marginally acceptable, but now it's downright out of bounds.

You are certainly out of bounds

And good friends with many people out of bounds.

And, I'm sure, a good person in your ways.

But, I'm done with haters, and you certainly aren't my friend.

Disrupt IT

that tone again

Norm, there you go with that tone again.

Tim

I certanly was very open and sincere with you, Ed, Betsy, George - the whole meet the bloggers crew - you had a business model and I had a solution for the region.

Do you have a business from all those years, because I still provide this solution for the region.

I feel sorry for you.

That is my tone forever.

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Gund foundation bribes School Board

  Now--bribery is right out in the open in NEO.  No need to camouflage the deal here.

my opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of my employer, my spouse, my cat, my neighbors, my extended family or anyone I happen to acknowledge on the street, bus, etc.

kumbaya

To use the new favorite catch word of the elite and the school district....Kumbaya...

Keep in mind, that just because someone posts or comments at REALNEO does not mean we agree with each other or have to agree with each other on everything.

There are class, gender and cultural differences that show up here. 

my opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of my employer, my spouse, my cat, my neighbors, my extended family or anyone I happen to acknowledge on the street, bus, etc.

yahoos

  Tim, I agree that it gets off-the-track with name-calling and the like...if I fall in that category anywhere here--ever, then, I apologize. 

I only try to make sense of what I see and live with here in NEO.  I see and hear many good things, too.  I try to provide some balance.  I took some lovely photos/video of the snowy neighborhood today, but I am having a hard time uploading the video. 

my opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of my employer, my spouse, my cat, my neighbors, my extended family or anyone I happen to acknowledge on the street, bus, etc.

I think YouTube is having delays

I've noticed lots of delays with YouTube recently - not surprised... one reason I'm launching ICEarth

Disrupt IT

The only really open forum in the region

Those attacking us now truly look like fools

I'm glad, as I'm launching innovative IT products that benefit from the fact few people in NEO get IT, and they all NEED HELP.

Tim, who do you think has done a good job implementing social computing in Northeast Ohio, besides myself, as I believe everything you have worked on to compete with realneo is dead.

You and your friends have really hurt me - just go away and meet the bloggers - I'm on ICEarth now.

If I start publicly connecting dots here, because you really piss me off, your friends will be sorry.

I'm in a different business now, from all of you.

Disrupt IT

I wasn't competing

Norm, we weren't competing, and I didn't know anybody ever hurt you because you must have been suffering silently for a change, and I'm not really put off by your threats because I know there are no photos of me extant (or ever, for that matter) in women's clothes.

The RealNEO platform is marvelous and beautiful; there's great potential there. What I was commenting on was that it seemed the social network has shifted to the point where it was becoming unpleasant to visit a marvelous platform.

Interesting Tim

So this is about pictures of Mayor Brewer I didn't distribute.

While I have distributed 1,000 of beautiful, original free photos of our region, and screwed for that.

Thank you for the first compliment of my work ever.

Disrupt IT

need more pictures

That last batch you did January 4th will hit the public next week. We need to do another batch soon. (this was a note to Laura, and somehow this Drupal stacks the comments oddly)

solutions, Tim?

 Tone, yahoos, unpleasant, marginally acceptable. Any suggested solutions to make it different?

I have a solution - leave NEO

I'm going to have to go deploy ICEarth and my other work somewhere else... I worked too hard for too many years, and our results are too amazing, to die in Cleveland.

I was going to try to really make a difference - run for county executive - but immediatley saw a new wave of insanity coming out of every corner - my family needs protection from this place now - what stays here of my work will be up to the community - other people are working on determining that.

My family didn't deserve to be trashed.

RealNEO is amazing

ICEarth Bigbang is even more amazing.

No appreciation here.

Disrupt IT

reply to dwebb

for me, distance 

for TImFerris

Tim, I did post the site where you can read roldo without wading into what you call the "din here". If you wish to read roldo on realneo, you can do that without even logging in, just click home, and then read roldo. Or find a roldo posting, click on that, and then track.  No reason that you have to read comments, unless you just want to do it for fun, and then when you are feeling that you want to share the love, maybe agitate a bit, increase the din to a roar. From your comments about the platform, though, you already know all of this. If you have some constructive comments to make, you have the floor. Otherwise, please STFU. Thank you, and have a great evening.

Dwebb

:)

No, Norm

 No, Norm, this does not sound like a good solution. Not knowing all the ins and outs of what has happened, and, ok, I am being selfish, but this is not ok. It is not ok for you to leave. 

We are absolutely being forced out

And now new threats from Tim Ferris = too much.

Minds are terrible things to waste.

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norm you have many many many more friends than you know

norm you have many many many more friends than you know - how can we help

yogi and guy http://www.nationalwardogsmonument.org/

norm you need mega vitimans minerals gnc or any health food co.

norm you need mega vitimans minerals gnc or any health food co.

yogi and guy http://www.nationalwardogsmonument.org/

its the earthquakes pressure etc. that cause are imbalances

its the earthquakes pressure  etc. that cause are imbalances

yogi and guy http://www.nationalwardogsmonument.org/

threats?

Norm, you've got to be kidding me about threats. All I know is that this is not a pleasant place to hang around. Somebody dropping by here is probably wondering who or what you're going to get pissy with next.

Someone comes here and insults me and my work I'll mess them up

You seem to be the only person who is a big enough dick to do that.

Thanks, dbra - I was looking for the word.

What's your lead level Tim - lead makes people vicious

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Someone comes here and insults a friend I'll mess them up

Someone comes here and insults a friend I'll mess them up

Disrupt IT

being forced

If you are up to sharing, what are these threats from Ferris? In the year or so that I've been on realneo, I have seen little of Ferris. He comes on, casting about for a fight, but how can Ferris be a threat? How is Ferris any different than any others that come on and rather than give ideas of what he sees as a problem and offer suggestions, actually cause negative vibes?

Part of what you have built here on realneo is a virtual family. How can we help with threats?

In general, my life has been made hell by

In general, my life has been made hell by... top three...

First, Jones Day and related interests, who originally supported me and realNEO, butchered me after I joined the board of GCLAC and became active eradicating lead poisoning in Northeast Ohio - still unresolved. That is a multi-$billion concern, so spare no expense.

Second, the IT folks in town hate realNEO and most open source - we agree to disagree and stay as far away from each other as possible... real healthy virtual community to incubate virtual community innovation - NOT.

Last, out of left field, I happened to move where a secret society burns coal - MCCO - so secret neighbors don't know they burn coal there, or if they are planning to expand coal burning a few blocks from my home. That I want to be informed makes me public enemy #1 of all interests UCI and coal, which is all the power and money in NEO.

While I spoke up for people on the west side, when a funeral home wanted to burn bodies in a residential neighborhood there, I don't expect anyone from the West Side to speak up for the residents in my area of the East Side when the chips fall.

Forced, for good.

Disrupt IT

it does sound hellish

 I can see your point here, Norm, it all adds up, doesn't it? Truth seekers and truth speakers do get slapped down. Jones, Day probably doesn't like the status quo being rattled, and to fight lead poisoning in a real way, shaking up the Mittal near me and the MCCo by you, and all that in between, people don't want to hear it. 

WHy do IT in town people hate realneo and open source? Is it a factor of jealous turf?

Cool IT people like open source

Cool IT people like open source, and there are some cool IT people in town - I've got one of the best Linux programmers in the world developing ICEarth.

I originally proposed to the IT folks in town we all work together on all this tech stuff - split the load - build a great network for the world together... build an industry... rising tide, etc...

CoolCleveland attacked me like the first week I was in town - nobody signed on - Voices and Choices people screwed me - lots of different reasons for different situations.

Let's just say, my business model isn't based on selling any local IT folks any computers or services, but it should have been.

Disrupt IT

Cleveland IT's loss

 Remember who you are talking to here, the person who needs an IT person to explain ICEearth. My young IT buddy was in town this afternoon and went over some stuff with me on my computer and mentioned that my Mac was built on Linux. Then he explained Linux. 

Cleveland is ass backwards in accepting new innovations and technology of all type. People really get into the turf issue. You are experiencing it as an innovator of IT and being isolated, as I experienced it over the years in attempts of others to define where and how I had community. I accepted isolation for a while, then rebelled. Don't give in or give up. You don't have to leave to market your product. 

Yes we do

It is very high end, even though it is dirt cheap.

Disrupt IT

In the end

In the end, you know best, Norm, your product and market. I am sorry, truly, that you are in this position, and I hope that there is some way to dissuade you.  

Whatever this means

need more pictures

That last batch you did January 4th will hit the public next week. We need to do another batch soon.

You tell me

Citizen Norm

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Threat - promise - sounds real ugly

Threat - promise - sounds real ugly

Wonder who Tim supports for County Executive and if he thought I was running - I'm sure people have activated to go to the depths of the shitter for this one!

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you know what

I did not know that you had entertained the county ex position and you might just be onto something here: Cleveland/Cuyahoga politics style. Now I will spend part of the night pondering this as the campaign of deception is something that I have given thought to as I have watched good people get the shaft by carefully placed statements and innuendo.

I think Tim's attack was downright rude

Disrespectful and designed to inflict harm - and now we get to see what he has next in store.

As far as I've known, I've always been very nice to Tim and his wife... but I know he is friends with Bill Callahan, wno I have ciriticised for not bridging the digitial divide hard enough, who works for OneCOmmunity that has caused me harm (multiple times)...

On and on - I kept all this to myself all these years to see if we could ever find peace but Tim is the last straw.

Disrupt IT

as a new comer

 As a new comer of a year or so, and just getting to know some people of the realneo  family, I am come to really dislike those people who come on just to disrupt, and I agree that Tim was extremely rude in his presence today. I just don't know if he is always like this because I do not have a reference point for him. We are witnesses, though, of this today, and the point that you have made re: reaction to being a possible candidate makes total sense. You will be defended, if need be, if more threats materialize.

norm Callahan is a deep cover hack for the shadow goverment

norm Callahan is a deep cover hack for the shadow goverment

yogi and guy http://www.nationalwardogsmonument.org/

And a good friend of many people who have hurt me

And a good friend of many people who have hurt me for many years.

Disrupt IT

Watch out for the Lakewood Observers

Watch out for the Lakewood Observers - they have a media machine in place and have been rumbling me from afar, for years.

Lakewood Observer of Lakewood Mayor becoming County Exeuctive - not what I want to observe from East Cleveland.

The beginning of a new white Irish West Side Suburban Democratic dynasty.

That's progress.

And we voted for this great opportunity... and 77% of Clevelanders who voted elected Frank Jackson Mayor, without any real opposition.

All that must work well for Tim, as only now does he seem outraged, and that is with freedom and free speech, right before elections.

Are we in conflict or competition with his personal friends and interests, EVEN THOUGH WE ARE A NOT FOR PROFIT CO-OP.

I'm moving someplace with real diversity, that isn't afraid of innovation and real compeititon, and where there is a level playing field - and I'm taking my diverse team (several turned down for CIL grants) with me.

Disrupt IT

norm take us all with you

norm take us all with you

yogi and guy http://www.nationalwardogsmonument.org/

that is a possible solution

I am tired of seeing bright, caring, creative people leave Cleveland. My young friend that was in  town this afternoon graduated last summer from RIT, and decided to stay in New York, as there are not any good IT jobs here, the kind that he would be happy with. He is genius level bright. Where can we go that all of our bright, caring, innovative people can be happy and get jobs, raise families in a healthy community?

Tell him I just built him a new computer

And to get in touch with norm [at] realneo [dot] us

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I will tell him

 His name is Steve, and I will e-mail him tomorrow. The two of you would have fun together. In his current job, he writes programs within programs, and loves it. He is a little bored, and has decided to write a text recognition system using a digital camera where we take a photo of the title page of an old book, and his system does something with it so it becomes digitalized and his program will do other stuff that I don't understand. It is a way to make a data base both visually and with text where we can market our collections of old books, pre-bar code. He brought the camera today and showed us how to plug in to the computer. He is very patient with me. His says doing this project for us keeps him sane. He is also delightful.

I wish that he lived here, but I understand that he wants a future that enables him to use his skills.

he'll understand exactly what we are doing

I'd love to hear from him - sounds super cool, and he'll understand exactly what we are doing.

Disrupt IT

Pictures

  

 

Whatever this means

need more pictures

 

That last batch you did January 4th will hit the public next week. We need to do another batch soon.

Norm--it means...I took some photos of Tim and Gloria Ferris on January 4th to celebrate Gloria's recovery and to revel in a beautiful snowy day.

 Nothing sinister, nothing to do with IT or conspiracies or anything but photos taken on a snowy day.  BTW--I love Linux, I love open source.  Google Chrome did not load the video, I took afterall, after waiting an eternity.  I am not an IT whiz-banger. Just someone trying to make sense of it all.  

Tim's only point was this tendency to jump all over someone for posting here drives people away from contributing at all.  It's not all happy, happy...I am well aware of the fact that if I mention anything "not happy," I am subject to the "toxic" take-down.  I should have known not to bring certain names up here, but if I don't mention them...who will.  BTW--great header.  And, too bad--no one cares about our schools at all....

 

my opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of my employer, my spouse, my cat, my neighbors, my extended family or anyone I happen to acknowledge on the street, bus, etc.

My work for realNEO has been under constant attack

My work for realNEO has been under constant attack without cause - that causes me and my family harm. This is exceptional work and anyone who trashes it will get trashed back - I'm up for a fight to defend my work.

I'm starting a global computer slam-down - a big global fight - ICEarth against the world - I don't need my home team messing with my statistics. I'm not the Indians, and I don't suck.

Short fuse - light it if you want a slam-down - that is all I'm interested in now is ripping the competition to shreds.

Welcome to the business world of selling supercomputers, punk American style.

Disrupt IT

You've been treated unfairly

  No doubt about that--but no one is trashing you at this moment.  And, you have nothing but my respect for the models you have developed and put into place here.  Unfortunately, most real and meaningful change is only recognized in hindsight.  

my opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of my employer, my spouse, my cat, my neighbors, my extended family or anyone I happen to acknowledge on the street, bus, etc.

This change is real time

Welcome to the new economy, baby!

Disrupt IT

it was a note to Laura

 

why are you such a dick

Tim?

just trying to fit in here?

is that the right answer?

well,

 that IS funny.... but thats all I'll give you - your colors are showing you big baby troublemaker....

I can't tell you

I haven't any idea what he if referencing here. Is it tied into the other posting he did about no photos in existence of Tim in women's clothing? I did pick up on that reference but hoped that this was in jest.

The other photos are of Brewer

I had several people show me pictures of Brewer and bring me copies at my house in East Cleveland, a few weeks before Channel 19 aired them - I was told people had these photos since early in Brewer's administration... I was a last to know. I figured I was given them to try and entrap me to put them on realneo, which I obviously did not do. I asked a few people in politics if they knew of such photos and clearly everyone knew - I showed them to a few people who I thought Brewer was fooling and asked if they knew - they already knew. Everyone knew and everyone in politics knew. To me, that sounded like a completely dishonest situation, and I emailed Gomez and asked if he knew, the same day Channel 19 posted the pictures they had, which had nothing to do with me.

So, I was the last to know, didn't distribute any pictures, and I have no idea what about any of that has anything to do with Tim, except he is friends with George Nemeth and some folks at East Cleveland City Hall who worked with Brewer against my family interests, and I asked them if they knew about the Brewer Pictures. I'm sure they knew.

Tim's doing dirty work for someone - last week I let a few people know how I felt about them and how they hurt my family, personally, privately, in no uncertain terms, and I guess those people like to share their private business around town.

Ever since then, the attack has been on.

Guess they didn't know that was my way of saying good bye.

Disrupt IT

backlash

Backlash for speaking up! The plot thickens. The Brewer photos being given to you does sound like a set up; I am sure that you have experienced several attempts of similar situations since you founded realneo. Brewer was imploding. Whoever released those photos just ensured that the end was swift. Since everyone knew about them, there are many suspects in who released them. Too bad that 19 and your e-mailing Gomez happened at the same time, but any rationale person would not accuse you unless they have gone off the deep end and are really accusing many people.

I didn't send anyone photos

I had nothing to do with 19 having them and I'm sure the PD had them - I didn't send anyone photos - but if they had them they had a job to deal with them one way or another - it was not my job as a citizen to do anything and as a citizen I suppose I had the right to do as I liked with them - if I was about stats, as Lee and Jim O'Bryan at the Lakewood Observer seem to be, I would have put the Brewer photos up on realNEO and done a victory danvce around my million hits - and, Brewer and his peoople REALLY FUCKED OVER MY FAMILY FOR 4 YEARS OVER PLANS FOR THAT MCCO POWERPLANT... I was entitled to get revenge, and had full disgusting nudes of the Mayor who hurt my family - I could have gotten the Global scoop - I HAD THE CLASS TO DO NOTHING, BUT I EXPECTED THE POLITICIANS AND MEDIA AROUND ME TO DO THEIR FUCKING JOBS.

I've had people try to entrap me all the time for all sorts of things, because of realNEO.

Disrupt IT

You have the class

And you know that which is why you can sleep at night.  You haven't let yourself be used, and that is a victory.

blame it on everything else

Norm, you blame Cleveland, you blame me or George, you blame East Cleveland City Hall, you blame lead paint chips, you lay claim to persecution from all quarters--do you see a pattern here?

Yes Tim - seriously poor leaders in charge of too much

Yes Tim - seriously poor leaders in charge of too much.

I can get into scientific details on all items you list above.

Would you lke to know the data on my childrens' lead poisoning?

Are you now funded by Sherwin Williams or Jones Day.

You, George, East Cleveland leadership and lead paint all show the same disgusting pattern.

Serious pattern.

Show me your computer, scoial networks or other accomplishment from the past 5 years - slam down time. I won - leave me alone.

My show is going on the road.

Disrupt IT

Don't ever tell Tim if you are raped

Old white man blaming victims for their woes - gee, doesn't that sound like a chorus from Jim Crow days

Disrupt IT

I think they call it

 "truth telling"....

How to get 'em to view

The view count on this posting by Roldo is way up considering he posted it only about 11 hours ago at this writing. And there are over 30 comments appeneded to it! This is not your usual RealNEO communication. From what I can see, none of the comments address the content of Roldo's posting. Apparently at least one spark point in the comments has brought out emotional writing. Is this drawing all the eyes? How will the future of this posting and attached comments proceed? Will anyone address Roldo's points, other than that he has good material?

Tim took it in that direction - that was his objective

Tim took it in that direction - that was his objective - We are just following Tim's wise leadership

Who you supporting for County Executive, Lee?

I am starting a supercomputer company, and doing it away from here because people have screwed with me, so my primary objective is not to be screwed with by anyone.

Everyone understands that, we'll get along fine.

Disrupt IT

Don't Geauga Cuyahoga County!

My research on the folks who are running for the new County Exectutive office is not complete, though I have already made one distinction in this race.

A Mr. Nolan is said to have moved from Geauga County into Cuyahoga County to run for this office. Back in the late 1990's Loren Gordon, a volunteer for the Northeast Ohio Chapter of the Sierra Club, authored a slogan for the Club's anti-sprawl campaign in Geauga County. It stated: "Don't Cuyahoga Geauga County!" It was placed in a big bannor on a meeting room hall at a "Geauga's Choice, Rural or Urban" public meeting the Club put on in Bainbridge Twp. Hall.

That year, a rare breed in Geauga County, a county-wide public office holder who happens to be a Democrat, Sheriff George "Red" Simmons was running to retain his office against a former, (if I recall correctly), Republican Cuyahoga County Sheriff who had moved from Cuyahoga County to Geauga County. 

Red's campaigners' eyes lit up when they saw this banner. "We're going to use this slogan! Thanks for providing it!"

And Red won that election.

I will say, "Don't Geauga Cuyahoga County!"

Norm, where will you set up your enterprise? What will it do to RealNEO Co-op?

real coop does what real coop does

I'm a member and so are you... this'll remain my virtual home so don't mess it up.  You ALL decide what's next for real NEO.... I'm changing my phone number, monthly - defriending unfriends - cleaning house

I'm conducting a comprehensive national search for ICEarth, just like every other company.

We can host realNEO on our servers - they are lots faster than anything available now - ICEarth serves specific markets that have nothing to do with realNEO, other than offering the world's best open source hardware platform for certain high demand applications, and data warehousing for personal data. I will recommend realNEO run on ICEarth Linux on ICEarth servers but that is up to the real coop. I'll offer other services if of interest to the coop.

No hurry... realNEO is stable and doing fine... doesn'lt need to change much ever, if we don't like.

When is the last time we crashed. Like, never.

Props to Jeff S.

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Another 25 bucks help buddy?

I've been mulling over giving RealNEO Co-op another $25. "Yes, click on the orange donate button!" in the upper right hand portion of the top of the main RealNEO screen.

You seem to care about our stats

You seem to care about our stats - Become an admin and learn about our stats... they are very cool

We are not here for our stats - nobody cares about stats - WE ARE NOT FOR PROFIT NO ADVERTISING

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good point, Lee Batdorff

 This has been a subject that has been brought up in the recent past: when the comments go off topic. I had not counted, as you did, but was aware at some point that this was getting long and far off topic.

Please feel free to jump in and address Roldo's points, which are always relevant to Cleveland.

not the first time

This is not the first time that one of Roldo's blog has gone long and off topic, and he still has not complained and keeps posting. Roldo is very appreciated here, and I think that he knows that and is aware and tolerant. 

I grew up considering many Gunds family friends

I grew up considering many Gunds family friends, and I still consider the family friends.

I have never communicated with them about their business or foundation interests - only about art, and NEO, and family. The Gunds I know - and I know many of them - are valuable people.

Their foundation interests are valuable as well - always evolving, I'm sure.

For the past 5 years, I've felt the Cleveland and Gund Foundations have tried something different - Fund For Our Economic Future - and that was bold and deserving of respect.

After 5 years, the Cleveland Foundation has shown they intend to try other things different - and that is good. I imagine the Gund Foundation is now trying some things different. That is good.

I like seeing them mixing things up.

I don;t like seeing any of them directly involved in real estate development, like the opportunity corridor.

Having a powerplant forced down my throat, in my neighbourhood, creates very bad feelings - good people and good names should stay far away from such filth - same goes for free-ways... same goes for stadiums.

My observation is that building the opportunity corridor will hurt many people, and make many people rich, and no foundation should be involved in any of that.

However, even though I don't like sports or stadiums or Gateway, I credit the Gunds with shutting down the Coliseum and making the area around Peninsula - which could have turned into a disaster-area - into a very natural area, for NEO. They bought land and donated it to the National Parks, etc... I don't know the details but all this was happening in my childhood, and seemed right... righter than made sense to me at the time.

They brought the Cavs and all that Coliseum activity back downtown, righting one of the greatest wrongs of my time, both in moving anchors into the hinterland and moving a treasure out of the treasure chest - if we are going to waste public money on professional sports lets do it right.

Every professional team owner is rich and rich people get richer while barely trying - the chips are not stacked against the rich, and the system helps them scale larger and larger... simple math.

The Gunds are some of the few rich people I know who seem to really try and give back to their community, and who still consider this their community - I believe Aggie recently joined the board of the CMA, and I'm sure we will get lots of her great art, and money, in return.

I can't hate them just because they are rich. They are creative, nice people, as well, and without them many of our museum walls would be bare.

I'm looking forward to significant change at both the Cleveland and Gund Foundations, in the years ahead, as change is what is needed in real NEO now.

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Thanks Roldo

Thanks Roldo for continually helping us to recognize how the money flows around here. One need only navigate to cleveland.com to see how sports placate the teeming masses here in Cleveland taking up half of the home page there. I was told years ago that Cleveland is a bean and wiener town. Indeed, it is easy to see. What most sports fans don't see while they're fixated on a game is how fast that money is flowing out their back pockets and to the already very rich. And these very rich folks have power and influence - they shape the politics of NEO. It's a magic show deftly employing sleight of hand.

I tried, in vain, to find here a direct quote from Ronn Richard that I posted a short time after I had an exchange with him at a CSU Forum, so I'll paraphrase as best I can. I said to him that I was aware that, as the head of a private non-profit foundation, he held no particular sway over political decisions, and he immediately countered and corrected me saying that since Cleveland Foundation spent approximately $85 million annually in the region, I could be certain that he can and does influence what happens in government. Gund seems to do it more quietly and does not advise other donors about how to spend their money to influence local projects and initiatives. But for years when I was in the arts, we were asked to meet with both Cleveland and Gund arts program officers in the same meeting - they'd be funding in concert. So I came to understand that they were the powerhouses in the region - go against them and you're SOL. 

So with the school gift, Gund seems to be saying have a nice processed school lunch on us replete with enough HFCS, salt and fat to give you type 2 diabetes, just as they said in the past, "Hey, let us take you to dinner - it's beans and wieners at the ball park for you. Will we be joining you? Oh, no, we'll be dining in our loges on food specially prepared by celebrity chef, Michael Symon." Or as Steve Martin said, "Bring me a roast pig on a spit and bring the little lady something for a dollar." 

On issues such as the medical mart and port move both foundations seem to have stayed quiet. I doubt it though. I haven't combed through their annual reports, but it took a lot of research to discover just how they had funded Hamilton Brown's position with Opportunity Corridor. There are others to watch; the Generation Foundation, for example, just to see how very interconnected are the wealthy in this community. This one sits on that one's board and another's board and gives money through many different channels. A million here, thousands there. It is not unlike campaign contributions where Daddy gives everyone in the family a thousand bucks to contribute in order to legally max out the family's support of a candidate or issue. It's an old boy network and what goes on in the GCP and in smaller foundations is not to be sneezed at either, even if the PD does not report on these gifts and manuevers. Wouldn't it be interesting to map all the nonprofit giving and taking here in NEO to see where and how the money flows in and out of the foundation community? Of course, with so many looking for hand outs and hands up, something like that is not to be expected any time soon.

When will Clevelanders understand that we're like so many wait staff members in the homes of the rich? Only when the flows of cash are explained as deftly as you do routinely. 

Cecil John Rhodes in 1895: "I was walking in the East End of London yesterday and attended a meeting of the unemployed. I listened to the wild speeches, which were just a cry for 'bread', bread!' and on my way home I pondered over the scene and I became more than ever convinced of the importance of imperialism... The Empire, as I have always said, is a bread and butter question. If you want to avoid civil war, you must become imperialists."

  • the poor are growing in number
  • there isn't enough food to feed them all
  • if there isn't enough food to feed them, they will go hungry
  • if they go hungry, there will be civil war
  • other countries have enough food to feed them

From Raj Patel's Stuffed and Starved

So Britain ruled the waves and colonized much of the world bringing tea and sugar to fuel their industrial revolution, further fueling their rise to power. How does this relate to Cleveland's caste system? Now that the world is flat and global trade is de riguer, the rich, those in power have discovered how to take it out of the pockets of the poor right here at home and give it back to them in seemingly huge sums. Are we placated well enough yet? Have we rid the world of imperialists and kings or do we just call them by different names?

As a Radical Revolutionary, I disrupt IT

As an economist, I know what must be disrupted.

Economics is as precise a science as programming, and works well when written right.

Our economics here are not written right. That is not the responsibility of the rich to correct... that is the responsibilitiy of citizens.

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As a punk entrepreneur

I disrupt IT my way - Song of the Day

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