Dana Schutz, Relic, 2006
30 x 22 inches, #28 of 100

While chatting with my parents the other day, my dad mentioned they had just bought the above print by globally-hot NEO/CIA trained artist Dana Schutz, who blew the NEO art scene wide open this Fall with her fantastic exhibition of paintings that drew international acclaim and such massive crowds the MOCA gift shop sold out of everything on hand... here's a write up about this print from a Dana Schutz fan in Houston, and gushing praise about the show and MOCA from a visiting arts champion from Detroit (who I quote, about MoCA/Cleveland: "For me MOCA in Cleveland was bittersweet.  It was great to see that places like Detroit can build up and become something and even support young artists.  It is hope that Detroit ,too can have a contemporary.  But it was also a sad reality check that we are a city lacking a fertile art environment.  Let's hope that the talks of Detroit getting a contemporary will actually go somewhere.  Maybe we can kidnap some of the city planners from Cleveland????"). I hadn't heard anything about this important print (or any Schutz prints on the market), which my parents said Dana donated to MoCA to raise funds for them, so I asked my parents how they had heard about it and they said they believed they read about it in the international arts magazine ArtNews - not anywhere in NEO. They sought it out - bought it - and MoCA made money. There are more for sale... more money to be made for MoCA (at $2,200 a piece, making good money for MoCA)... more great arts investments to be made by arts patrons, here or elsewhere.

This was tucked away in the Cleveland Plain Dealer Business section today, straight out of Associated Press, without any local perspective - yawn, how boring is this subject. Well, over the next few months expect to see it is not so boring!

Thanks to Susan Miller for pointing out an important article in the 02/03/07 Plain Dealer regarding the war to eliminate lead poisoning in our region by 2010 - an outlandishly aggressive objective, as Cleveland ranks among the top five cities nationally for lead poisoning. In 2004, St. Luke's Foundation funded what has been the most important collaboration ever for the future of Northeast Ohio: the Greater Cleveland Lead Advisory Council (GCLAC), aligning over 80 agencies and organizations at local, regional, state and federal levels toward the common objective of lead eradication in our region within the next three years. On February 1, 2007, St. Luke's brought together the leadership of many other foundations for the expressed purpose of convincing as many foundations as possible to join them in funding the next three years of GCLAC initiative. The article states the objective of raising $3 million from foundations to leverage for far greater support from government sources.

Thanks to an anonymous donor, East Cleveland has received some excellent equipment to start setting up a pilot proof of concept wireless broadband mesh network in some part of the city - location to be determined. The donated equipment is from a similar proof of concept deployment in Washington, D.C., and includes several commercial wifi antennas and routers and cabling to set up a small multipoint demonstration network, running the open source CUWiNWare mesh application and wifiDOG contained portal application, all routing to the city of East Cleveland's open source Drupal community portal, at http://eastcleveland.org. All this, combined with other digital divide bridge programs there, makes East Cleveland approaches to information technology some of the most interesting in America.

January 26-28 featuring “Major to Minor” and “The Music Room” by Artistic Director David Shimotakahara and “New Work Premiere” by Amy Miller.                                        

Location

CLEVELAND, OH—Bruce S. Gordon, president and CEO of the NAACP, will discuss economic issues in the African American community at noon on Friday, January 26, 2007, at The City Club of Cleveland.  After a 35-year career in the telecommunications industry, Gordon became head of the NAACP in August 2005. Before retiring in December 2003, he was president of the Retail Markets Group for Verizon Communications, where he managed a 35,000-person work force and was accountable for $23 billion in revenue.

Location

What a great rebirth for Ohio. Sunday night, Ohio swore in our new Governor, Ted Strickland, and within 24 hours he vetoed the corporate and lobbyist planted, corrupt, anti-consumer, anti-American substitute bill 117, which was made to order for scam businesses to harm citizens. As Strickland states, " I will not allow this legislation in its current form, which drastically undermines current consumer protections, to go into effect during my administration." A Plain Dealer article on the veto reports " Strickland also said the curb on suits against manufacturers "prevents cities from being able to seek justice on behalf of their citizens."" "Our new Attorney General Marc Dann, who, like Strickland, is a Democrat, said he would "vigorously" defend the governor's veto." The PD article highlights the fact that the Republican lawmakers who were responsible for the corrupt SB117 are acting as lawyers and judges now, and that they plan to waste Ohio taxpayer money fighting our Governor... " State Sen. Tim Grendell, a Chester Township Republican who voted for the bill, also said the veto is void because the governor acted outside his authority. He said members of the legislature and trade groups were likely to sue over the veto." Go for it... concerned citizens are certain to defend Governor Strcikland, and those legislators who think they can keep acting corruptly under our new leadership will quickly be eliminated from office, as suggested in a previous article on SB117 by Plain Dealer columnist Sheryl Harris, which provides "a list of the Northeast Ohio legislators who voted to curtail your consumer rights". In the new Ohio, such corruption will not be tolerated. Read more about the veto below.

I was interested to realize there are two OneClevelands. One OneCleveland is "a nonprofit provider of community-based ultra broadband networking services and applications that improve our community's quality of life and stimulates economic development," and the other OneCleveland is "a group developed for people in the Cleveland area, who are interested in learning about and getting more involved with ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History. We are building a network of grassroots activists to rally Americans ONE by ONE to fight hunger, extreme poverty and HIV/AIDS. The goal of the ONE Campaign is to get an additional ONE percent of the federal budget for poverty focused development assistance programs that would help meet the Millennium Development Goals to halve world poverty by 2010."

Building blocks for bridging digital divide in East Cleveland 

In a recent article on bridging the digital divide in NEO, "It seems time to open up the OneCleveland network vision of Cleveland Heights, to see if there is value for others", I mentioned "An example of a progressive community building a mesh broadband network environment is found in Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network (CUWiN), which is a world- leader in such grass-roots broadband community service and technology. That is a model we are exploring in trying to help residents of underserved communities of East Cleveland and Cleveland secure access to broadband services, as carriers have underserved their neighborhoods, and poverty there is a significant issue."

Well, I was pleased to start the first work-day of 2007 with the correspondence posted below, from the Executive Director of CUWiN - globally celebrated community computing expert Sascha Meinrath - who is helping us center in on a viable model for East Cleveland and other undersupported urban neighborhoods in the region to bridge the digital divide here. Read on, as we are clearly on the right track and farther along than anyone may imagine. I'll add related insight and next steps as they develop.

Source: Environmental Health Watch 

If we have anything to thank Ohio Republican legislators for, and especially Rep. Bill Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican,  it is that their cloak-of-night passage of Substitute Senate Bill 117, which seeks to outlaw cities suing polluters for public nuisances they cause, and legislate-away other consumer rights for Ohioans, has driven our state capital of Columbus and now huge Ohio city Cincinnati to storm their courthouses to sue Sherwin-Williams and other paint companies over the public nuisance of lead poisoning in their communities, which is a legal position proved valid in the courts of the State of Rhode Island. In Columbus, the Mayor has said it was the action of these Republicans that forced them to sue. Of course, Ohioans' greatest appreciation goes to Mayor Brewer, of East Cleveland, who was the man who brought such public nuisance lead litigation to Ohio to protect his residents, the most effected by lead poisoning in the state, and so he is protecting all citizens of Ohio.

I met a few days ago with Ed Hauser - the "Citizen Hauser" who single-handedly saved Whiskey Island for the public - to see what he's been up to for the past few months. In brief, besides helping save Northeast Ohio from ODOT and their foolish pursuit of their ill-conceived Innerbelt Bridge and Trench plans, and continuing to single-handedly challenge the Port Authority's ongoing attempts to destroy Whiskey Island, Ed is taking next steps in his one man, multi-year battle to save the remarkable National Historic Landmark Coast Guard Station, at the tip of Whiskey Island, at the mouth of the Cuyahoga, designed by J. Milton Dyer, also architect of Cleveland City Hall. Ed mentioned to me he in the process of pressuring the city of Cleveland Law Director Robert Triozzi to seek a court order to force the city to comply with its own landmarks-preservation law, which requires owners of city landmarks to keep the properties secure and water tight, and, if the city fails to act responsibly and lawfully, Ed intends to file a citizens lawsuit against the city. Today, the Plain Dealer picked up the scent of the story, and shared some of the sad commentary of some of those related to the sorry state of this landmark, and the declining historic integrity of this city.

Zygote Press, Inc. is Northeast Ohio's only non-profit cooperative fine-arts printmaking facility. In its tenth year, Zygote is located with other arts organizations and businesses in Cleveland's Quadrangle neighborhood, a developing arts district complete with galleries, restaurants and exciting new live-work possibilities for artists and other members of the creative community.

Location

On next Wednesday, December 6, 2006,  it will have been two years since I proposed to Northeast Ohio that we can easily and inexpensively bridge the digital divide for East Cleveland, and other communities in need in the region, by deploying mesh wifi networks here and distributing recycled computers running open source software (see original posting below, and linked with other related files here). I called this vision ECHO - originally "East Cleveland Homes Online", renamed "Extending Community Home Online". While I've driven some ECHO progress, over these years, especially deploying to people in need recycled computers running Ubuntu, the mesh is still to come. The time has come.

Attention!!  LADIES!!!   This is It!  Dec 1st, 2nd, 3rd,  Cine Hypo Films and Attic Photo will be selling a large  variety of vintage and retro costumes and clothes for the holiday open house at the Tower Press Building.  Doors open Friday at 6:00 pm in suite #102,  in  my studio space.  
Clothes and shoes will be on sale from $5.00 to $45.00.  Pass the info to your friends. These are the clothes and shoes that have been used in a variety of the films and photos of mine.  Now they are for sale!  Please forward this to all that might be interested.  

Location

Attention!!  LADIES!!!   This is It!  Dec 1st, 2nd, 3rd,  Cine Hypo Films and Attic Photo will be selling a large  variety of vintage and retro costumes and clothes for the holiday open house at the Tower Press Building.  Doors open Friday at 6:00 pm in suite #102,  in  my studio space.  

Location

I was very pleased to be joined by the new Director of Development for East Cleveland, Tim Goler, last Monday, November 13, 2006, at the Greater Cleveland Lead Advisory Council (GCLAC) Steering Committee meeting. Tim has an undergraduate degree in early child development, and has taught kindergarten and 4th grade, and he has a master's degree in urban planning from Cleveland State University, and has been active in that field, nationwide, including working in environmentalism in NEO. So, he is an excellent addition to the team in East Cleveland, and to the war against lead poisoning in our region. Short story, he has assured me East Cleveland is not intimidated by Sherwin-Williams suing them for suing the paint industry over the public nuisance of lead poisoning in that community, nor efforts of State Rep. Bill Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican, who hopes to tweak previously passed legislation that would prevent cities or anybody else from using the state’s public nuisance law to sue the lead pigment manufacturers - Tim Goler is in step with East Cleveland Mayor Eric Brewer and their law department in pursuing due process and justice and they will drive an aggressive battle against lead poisoning in this region.

Phillip Williams and I are pleased to have developed and host the social network for the near-50-year-old Cleveland Club of Washington, DC, at http://clevelandclub.org, and I just posted their next event, which sounds great... so I thought I'd post it here as well, in case any of you will be in DC Nov. 14th or know Clevelanders there... you/they should contact Brooke Stoddard (info below) to attend. Here's the invitation:

Location

Two weeks ago saw the second birthday of REALNEO. I started REALNEO in October, 2004, to provide “Regional Economic Action Links for North East Ohio” and implement for the region some exciting open source social networking technology. While the outcomes have not been entirely what I expected, and these years have in ways been rough, I've been thrilled to help drive and support some great developments in the community.

Want to know what Greater Ohio has been saying to gubernatorial and legislative candidates this election season? It's in the book - the Greater Ohio's briefing book for candidates, officially titled, "If Sprawl Meant Jobs, Ohio Would Have Full Employment: Policies for Redeveloping a Great State" (also available from Greater Ohio's home page).

Ohio State Representative Mike Foley (D) will be holding a press conference tomorrow, Tuesday October 17 at 11:30 am at the gazebo at Lincoln Park (W. 14th and Starkweather), located in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland’s west side..  

Location

 Thanks to Ed Morrison for forwarding to me an Akron Beacon Journal article about Akron filing a lawsuit against U.S. paint makers over lead hazards in their community. I don't believe the Cleveland Plain Dealer bothered to report on this important development, and the PD certainly didn't do as good a job of reporting on related litigation in East Cleveland and Toledo, a few weeks prior. Wonder why? As defendant Sherwin Williams' spokesman Bob Wells said, "Ohio is the last place we thought cities would bite their own'', and, in the case of mainstream local media, that line of reasoning holds true... they earn money from Sherwin Williams advertising and don't cover the lead issue in Northeast Ohio, even as 1,000s of children in Cuyahoga County are lead poisoned each year and so fail in life, trapping our core population in toxic poverty. With such a realization that our economy is held hostage by large corporate interests, it is time for the community to get serious about this issue... especially as Sherwin Williams and their attorneys act to intimidate our cities and deceive the people and the courts. Read on!

Today, at WVIZ IdeaCenter, Ingenuity Festival founder and director James Levin hosted his peer Steve Dietz, director of a remarkable "sister" arts and technology festival ZeroOne San Jose, along with a group of NEO arts leaders, for intimate planning for the 3rd Ingenuity Festival, which will be held around Playhouse Square and Cleveland State University in 2007. James introduced the discussion by explaining he had been in San Jose last month for ZeroOne and is working with the organizers of that event in his brainstorming for our festival, which is one of the most exceptional of its type in the world. And, based on what was presented and discussed today with Steve Dietz, Ingenuity Festival is about to get much more exceptional... James is looking and partnering very globally and focused on strengthening the integration of "technology" into Ingenuity 2007. This was clearly a strength in the exciting artistic expressions of ZeroOne, as presented in an impressive overview by Dietz.