When I lived on Hessler Street and the weather was nice I used to walk my daughter through the Botanical Gardens all the time - and then they locked the gardens and made everything different and it no longer interests me at all, at any price.

I stopped going after they locked the gardens, but they no longer offer me anything inside either. What events and activities they do hold that may interest me are always too expensive.

My wife is a member and goes for some events and talks

I don't think any of us like the Costa Rica and Madagascar exhibits - I at least think they should go entirely.

I would close that CBG facility and sell off all the tropicals and have the CBG return to its roots in a different location and facility, free to the public again (perhaps merge with and expand the Rockefeller Gardens Greenhouse, and build some new bright green assets in the parks).

Do not think of CBG as part of the local foods movement or any such diversion, now or ever - no more green sprouts - there are farmers and there are gardeners and the Botanical Gardens should serve the 100,000s of gardeners and plant lovers in general in the world - not farmers of any sort.

Sell the facility to CMA, CIA, Case, UCI and other area cultural institutions as a hub facility - even find a way to add more parking under the lawn - move UCI and the visitor center and everything else ANCHOR there - it could make money through various relationships and sponsors - has good meeting and event space - it can be reengineered.

The CBG can be better repurposed elsewhere, or even virtually.

No matter what, in the financial planning CBG needs to factor for increases in heating costs as UCI goes off coal in the coming years, and the facility must go green, so they may as well start getting real about their future costs now... costs will go up unless they shift paradigms completely.

The CBG article is on Cleveland.com here

Disrupt IT

It has taken 5 years of living in the University Circle area and planning and interacting with 1,000s of stakeholders here, but I finally have a good understanding of the big picture all around the circle now, and pretty much across the board the current strategies aren't viable in today's economy, and won't be viable any time in the forseeable future. They are not founded in reality, and are missing dozens of spreadsheets per institution.

I've gotten to the root of one of their major disconnects from reality - MCCO - and that problem will now be worked through. That will change the economics of all the UCI-MCCO insititutions and it is time to plan through that - I have not met a planner in town willing to accept that truth, but I have found people away from here ready to enforce consequences. I don't want to get into the details here and now other than to ask...

Cleveland+ truth or consequences?

Disrupt IT