realNEO Matters - April 2011 web statistics of primary economic development portals in Northeast Ohio

Since the 1990s, my personal professional mission has been "To Optimize Information Technology for All".

I've helped the world's greatest organizations optimize IT for all their stakeholders, as a consultant working around the globe, and I am enabling Ohio and the world to optimize IT for all citizens, as an information technology innovator in my home of Northeast Ohio. One important expression of my mission to optimize IT for all is realNEO.US - Regional Economic Action Links for North East Ohio - which I founded in 2004, moved into the dysfunctional but living Real Coop co-operative owned structure a few years later, and have since used to transform the information, technology, insight and action of the people of the world interested in Northeast Ohio, and the world.

I recently received an email from Bill Densmore, co-director of Journalism That Matters, inviting me to "Create or Die 2", offering a nice global opportunity to share the realNEO story more broadly. Journalism That Matters is "an evolving collaboration of individuals supporting the pioneers who are shaping the emerging news and information ecosystem" - Create or Die 2 is about "Disrupting the Status Quo with Journalism Innovation and Entrepreneurship" - and I can't imagine initiatives that fit better with realNEO and my mission.

INNERBELT SAGA

W. 14th going toward Abbey, my rowhouse on other side of fence at right, exit ramp from I-90 West on left.

http://youtu.be/1uwOL4rB-go

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (KABC) -- Almost three weeks after deadly tornadoes tore through Alabama, an incredible story of survival has emerged about a dog that crawled home to its family on two broken legs.

"Mason," a terrier mix, was picked up and swept away by a tornado.

 Republican Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor

I hope this inspires you as it did myself regarding the evolution and growth of our city, Cleveland.

Vote Hemp President Eric Steenstra, Ron Paul and Vote Hemp lobbyist Ben Droz pose for the record on new hemp farming bill.

May 18, 2011 IntraCom UCANX Board Update: Vote Hemp - Finding Roots - Board Building - Energy Building

A few updates to the board, in brief.

1. Vote Hemp

Congratulations to everyone involved with the successful efforts of the Hemp Industry Association and Vote Hemp supporting the introduction of the "The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011, To amend the Controlled Substances Act to exclude hemp from the definition of marijuana, and for other purposes", signed by its sponsor, US House Representative of the 14th District of Texas Ron Paul, around 1 PM, May 11, 2011, and introduced to the US House of Representatives to be enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 112th US Congress.

As I posted on realNEO, last Wednesday:

A Profound Moment for American Marijuana

May 16, 2011 By Chris Goldstein 

Photo by David Sygall

The spring of 2011 has brought tension to the air for everyone involved with cannabis in the United States. Federal authorities have unleashed a coordinated attack on political efforts to tax marijuana and they have made war on medical marijuana programs. This has been matched by additional states changing local laws, putting more skin into the game than ever.

The bets are now in for the biggest cannabis policy showdown in our generation – right in Washington DC. The Schedule I status of marijuana in the federal Controlled Substances Act will either be re-affirmed or changed, likely over the next 24 months.

Marijuana prohibition has become the most refined and serious states’ rights issue of the 21st Century.  Millions of Americans are now participating in a multi-billion dollar medical cannabis economy.

Native American Jews?
A Fulfillment of Prophecy?
By HaRav Ariel Bar Tzadok
In 1650, Rabbi Menashe Ben Israel, Chief Rabbi of Amsterdam recorded an incredible story in his book
Mikveh Yisrael. He relates a conversation that he had with a Jewish Dutch explorer of the Americas.
The explorer related how he made contact with the Native Americans but after trying to communicate
with them in every possible European language, he had no success. Being a Jew, as was his first mate,

Ohio Republican Supreme

"NO MORE MONKEYS JUMPING IN THE BED!!!" 

In December, 2010, a Congressional Research Study on Hemp as an Agricultural Commodity was released, finding: "Some estimate that the global market for hemp consists of more than 25,000 products. It can be grown as a fiber, seed, or other dual-purpose crop. The Industrial Hemp Farming Act would amend Section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802(16)) to specify that the term “marijuana” does not include industrial hemp, which the bill would define based on its content of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), marijuana’s primary psychoactive chemical. Such a change could remove low-THC hemp from being covered by the CSA as a controlled substance and subject to DEA regulation, thus allowing for industrial hemp to be grown and processed under some state laws. This legislation, or other legislation related to hemp cultivation, could be introduced in the 112th Congress."

Since this Congressional Research Report came out, just this past December, 2010, Ron Paul has introduced "The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011, To amend the Controlled Substances Act to exclude hemp from the definition of marihuana, and for other purposes", as I reported on realNEO:

Of all the places I've lived around Cleveland, Hessler was my favorite neighborhood... just a few blocks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Steffanie Coble Roulet, our daughter Grace and I lived in the amazing historic Tudor townhouses at the corner of Hessler Street and Hessler Court... a massive brick landmark certainly built for Case professors and their families, right along with the original university, right on Case campus... Hessler Street is paved in brick and Hessler Court in wood blocks... and it all is intact as Cleveland's first Historic District thanks to a bunch of Hippies back in the 1960s, some of whom are still around today. They formed the Hessler Neighborhood Association (HNA) and fought to protect buildings on the street from demolition, and to designate the street an Historic Landmark District, and they started what became The Food Co-op, still operating on Euclid Avenue, and they organized the first Hessler Street Fairs, formally established in 1969, to fund doing all their good deeds.

26th Annual Police Memorial Commemoration
Several events will celebrate police from May 19-21, 2011 including a parade, memorial service for fallen officers,collectors show, safety fair, and international tatoo.  

Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor

 I'm jealous!  

This wisteria is very elegant - a spectacular statement of stable care and stable occupation - matched subtly by the front door of this residence. 

You can't buy this look - it has to be grown - with a lot of planning and patience. 

So actually I am jealous of all the years of planning, the years of civility, which were necessary to allow this beauty to mature.

Brownhoist Gallery will open with its inaugural exhibition, "The Form of Cleveland," on Friday evening, June 3rd, at the historic Brownhoist Building in the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood. Sculptor Timothy Riffle and photographer Jerry Mann will exhibit artifacts, carvings and photographs that celebrate the industrial archaeology of Cleveland.

A Unique Initiative: Real Progress for Patients

INNERBELT SAGA

   
W. 14th going toward Abbey, my rowhouse on other side of fence at right, exit ramp from I-90 West on left.

Post No. 1 of a series

I had a vision for vegetative screening for the short stretch along W. 14th, from Fairfield down to Abbey, Only eight residences are there, and there are none on the other side of the bridge. I wrote the North of Literary block club, which is supposed to represent residents of this area, I thought. No answer. I wrote Chris Garland of the TWDC. Same stoney silence. I then wrote Mr. Mark Carpenter of ODOT and got a reply!

While I watch others plant seeds in the groud, nourish their gardens, and watch the seeds they sow turn into blossoming plants....I enjoy watching the child I brought into our world grow up and blossom with amazement.

Parenthood is a lifelong gardening endeavor!