Around 80 diverse people from around Cleveland came together Halloween Night for a arts, culture and intellect filled evening of brainstorming and discussion on what we as a region need to do to make this a "more better" place, especially considering making NEO attractive to the next generation. Visit the links below to see the results.

Over a period of two evenings - October 31 and November 1, 2005 - around 150 folks from all walks of life and corners of NEO came together at two spectacular places - the Cleveland Institute of Art and the Palace Theater - to participate in "world cafes" introduced by futurist Rebecca Ryan. The response and outcomes were fantastic. Highlights and content created is posted in two books below:"Making NEO "More Better" at the CIA - October 31, 2005" and "Storming the Palace for a sustainable NEO - November 01, 2005" - more will be added for quite some time so check back frequently - the most important outcome is the development of ideas surfaced during these events, which are posting to our "Community Forums"... go there to participate in making NEO "more better" . To those who joined us, thank you so much!!!

Both Mayor Campbell and Council President Jackson met with the arts community last week.  Attendance was low, both at the Play House on the east with Campbell and Cleveland Public Theatre on the westside with Jackson. The Campbell strategy was to identify a top 20 list of reasons Campbell has advanced the arts, with art summits, expansion of live/work zones and public funding through the "1% for arts" set aside that is a part of public construction contracts.  She says her track record merits her return to office for another four years.  Jackson said, through his leadership, he deserves credit for these initiatives as well, and his record in council deserves the public’s faith and confidence that he will work to represent them well.  But what would be an election without an added dose of cynicism? 

It is critical the people and organizations of Northeast Ohio become effective working with open source software. This will support moving all our people across the digital divide (Open Source is free) and prepare our workforce to participate in the evolving global Information Technology economy, which is increasingly build with open source.

An insightful opinion editorial in the 04.15.05 New York Times declares "Bush Disarms, Unilaterally", claiming over the past few years the US has abandoned the new economy war. The author states what he "can't figure out about the Bush team is why an administration that is so focused on projecting U.S. military strength abroad has taken such little interest in America's economic competitiveness at home - the underlying engine of our strength" - ultimately the question posed is why Americans are allowing ourselves to fall behind the rest of the world in deploying information technology research and access to our masses. The same reasoning can be applied to our homeland economy for Northeast Ohio - why do we allow 100,000s of area residents to stagnate in the old economy, divided apart from the digital economy?

Case's Weatherhead School of Management Center for Regional Economic Issues (REI) and other community leaders support an initiative to distribute used computers and ease access to free or low cost Internet access for area residents in financial hardship. The first community being supported through this vision is East Cleveland, where REI drives ECHO - "Extending Community Home Online" - as part of an East Cleveland 2010 community redevelopment initiative. This effort is not in social service for the poor of East Cleveland but a critical initiative for economic development for this entire NEO region.

Alternative Energy is a global opportunity, to improve economies and ecologies, and NEO is taking an aggressive approach by developing enterprises and resources in this cluster. This book explores economic development and entrepreneurship related to Alternative Energy!

Some concepts about the overall features and functions of the REALNEO system.