Before we spend too much time talking about another "opportunity corridor", let's get the first one working. What say you?

Here's the rub: We just spent a barrel of cash for the Euclid Corridor with its sleek (if not faster or better Bus Rapid Transit) new buses. So what if it doesn't yet have fare collection or pedestrian safety or Transit Oriented Development down to a science? It does what it was supposed to do, right? It was called the Silver Line. Were we projecting the proverbial "silver lining"? Then as the Medical Mart saga unfolded (unfolded the cash from our wallets with nary a vote of the funders), it became the "Health Line" to connect downtown (where hospital furniture will be hawked right on our public mall) and the two hospital giants in University Circle. Somewhere in there, more and more land began to be cleared in what is called "midtown" - the ghost town between med and medmart.

But now we seem to be redefining what we will accept as healthcare. It's good if its your kidney, lung, heart or skeleton; Come on down, let's make a deal. We can fix you right up say CCF and UH. Having a baby? Aren't they cute!?! We're ready for ya! We can cut and stitch and medicate you to a longer life. We're so good at it, we've cornered the market on economic development in NEO; heck, we're the new steel and auto market! But there is another kind of illness that we'd prefer to sweep under the rug. It's the kind that carries such a stigma that a local architect apparently said, "the community's challenge is being cautious and thoughtful about development proposals, even during difficult times. (sic -the reporter was surely paraphrasing) Volpe actually said in reference to the possibility of a new psychiatric hospital, housing for seniors and permanent housing for the homeless going in on Euclid, "Especially these days, there are those that may feel that anything is better than nothing," he said. "I have never felt that way. I just never feel that things are bad enough that we should take anything that comes along." (Emphasis mine.)

Anything? Anything!?! Oh, dear! Are we marginalizing mental illness, homelessness and growing older? Oh MY!

And there's this:

Haviland opposes the project. He said Midtown, which has worked with CHN (Cleveland Housing Network) elsewhere, would support permanent supportive housing on a different site. Just not on Euclid Avenue.

"What this is, is a perpetuation of subsidized taxpayer projects that require additional support from tax dollars and foundations to sustain them," he said. "The city of Cleveland is going to notice that it is not generating the type of economic return as what our vision is. And it cuts into our ability to create the critical mass needed to change the dynamic on Euclid Avenue. That's the conflict."

But Haviland's own organization states:

Addressing the challenges of MidTown’s past has encouraged a vibrant future marked by reinvestment exceeding $750 million. The organization’s legacy of leadership, made possible through the financial and volunteer support of member organizations as well as funding from local foundations and government programs, sustains the ongoing evolution of the MidTown Business and Urban District and fuels the provision of member services. This collective cooperation enables MidTown Cleveland, Inc. to positively impact more than 800 businesses and 2,000 residents daily, advocating for their interests and guiding area development.

I don't see the point, Mr. Haviland. Is it just not what you'd dreamed? A little biomedical silicon valley burgeoning with coffee shops and haute couture boutiques, high dollar condos with parking garages filled with European imports? Don't worry, Mr. Haviland, the mentally ill need doctors, too. Even the homeless and seniors can ride the still slower-than-expected BRT along Euclid Ave. In fact, they may be more likely to ride it than others who are addicted to their cars. And you can stick your tech companies in there - they're small and with the BRT, they won't require much parking.

It looks to me like we've got a bad case of NIMBY - "Just not on Euclid Avenue." That's right. Hide the sick, the old and the poor. We wouldn't want anyone to know "those people" live here. By the way, we ought to know that CCF and UH are practicing  psychiatry right on Euclid Avenue, eh?

Cleveland's got a problem and it is apparently bigger than just government corruption. It goes to the very core of what some in "leadership" positions think. Think you can just pull yourself out of schizophrenia? Get the straight skinny on mental illness at NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). For example: "Without treatment the consequences of mental illness for the individual and society are staggering: unnecessary disability, unemployment, substance abuse, homelessness, inappropriate incarceration, suicide and wasted lives; The economic cost of untreated mental illness is more than 100 billion dollars each year in the United States." We are willing to send soldiers off to war, but don't want to deal with them or see them when they return with PTSD? What do you think? OK, Just not on Euclid Avenue? What do you think they're treating at the VA? And think about the cost to Cleveland (pdf) of driving the hungry, the homeless and the elderly out of plain sight.

I am dumbfounded! Someone please explain this to me. We seem to have a mind-body disconnect going on here - big time. My late father, who served on the board of the National Mental Health Association (now Mental Health America) is spinning in his grave.

This is about as smart as saying, "don't let those prisoners at Guantanamo who haven't even been charged set foot on the continental US, we don't want them here - not on "Euclid Avenue". (Yeah! Ship them to Bagram; not too many US tourists snooping around there., eh?) Out of sight - out of mind.

This is America Damn It!