Good afternoon. Today, I delivered the City of Cleveland ’s 2009 operating budget to Cleveland City Council. For the fourth year, I am proposing a balanced budget without layoffs or reductions in service delivery. However, in these hard economic times, I pledge to you that I will remain vigilant and that my Administration will continue to seek efficiencies, reduce cost, increase economic development and raise revenue. Please click here to find out more about this year’s proposed budget.

Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio offers ARTWORKS, a program where students work with professional artists and other students to create work in music, dance, theater and visual art.

Students entering 10th, 11th and 12th grade are eligible. to apply, go to http://www.yaneo.org/what/artworks.php

Student applications are due March 20. Professional artists who want to work with the students are encouraged to apply by February 12th. The program takes place June 17-July 30th.  Call 216.561.5005 for more information.

 Pecha Kucha Night Cleveland #2

Friday, February 6th, 2009 Start 8:20pm (doors open at 7)
House of Blues 308 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio

Location

The following (see below) is a PD report of the announcement made at the end of the day today.

Although many of us have our doubts as to the actual benefit or success a Med Mart/Convention Center investment will have, the fact that the damn location decision has been made is a relief...particularly given the fact the Mall site prevailed.

From Defend Cleveland, by Ed Morrison http://defendcleveland.net/news/2009/1/20/new-pathways-for-a-cleveland-c...

The impoverished City of Cleveland – with all its problems – is giving Howard Hanna (Smyth Cramer) $250,000 to renovate the offices downtown that the realtor bought last October, the Plain Dealer recently reported.

“I want to thank the mayor because this was not a done deal. This was a deal where we had to go on the offense,” said downtown Councilman Joe Cimperman to the Plain Dealer.

Well, it sure is offensive to me.

For those of you with an investment portfolio (what a year, huh?), I'd like to suggest Liberty Property Trust as a potential investment (NYSE: LRY). I work in the Infrastructure and Commercial Real Estate investment space and for those interested in aligning your investment portfolio with your environmental passions, this is a company that is on the leading edge of sustainability in commercial real estate.

For teens 14-19.

Free spoken word, performance and leadership events for teens. Whether you are writing, slamming, DJing, MCing, or dancing, you will connect with old friends, make new friends, and have a chance to compete for a spot on Cleveland's Youth Poetry Slam team.

WHEN: Friday nights and weekday afternoons January - April 2009

WHERE: Idea Center at Playhouse Square 1375 Euclid Ave. Cleveland 

Northeast Ohio has the opportunity to rebuild our neighborhoods and by offering healthier and more active transportation choices, we can create thriving neighborhoods where people want to live. However, the current transportation network leaves us way behind the curve. New investment to support walking and biking will create pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods, an important step to get the nation back on track. Fortunately, it's a cost-effective step we can take in these tight financial times.

Check out Suki Yume in Tremont.  This is my tenant and she just put the finishing touches on her business... beautiful, new sign... window stickers... address numbers (finally) installed.

Paula is drawn to Asian Ball Joint Dolls (or ABJD) because of their beauty and unique customization.  You can take a blank doll and paint your own face, change the hair, change the eyes... make it your own.

Tremonts artistic base makes this shop a perfect fit. 

Here we go… If you were wondering about how federal stimulus dollars might be spent in Ohio, this should give you some idea. Gov.

Don’t you just love the dance the establishment, its puppet politicians and its subservient media are doing with the medical mart.

“This community needs to move ahead on the medical mart, and that means pushing for a decision on where to build it,” headlined a Plain Dealer editorial, “Decision time.”

Well, editorial writers, no one is building a medical mart.

The envisioned business area for our envisioned 200 acre port facility at East 55th Street in the inner harbor (in the Innercity Yacht Club and marina to be exact).

Note from Mansfield Frazier regarding a winery in Hough:

Ward 7's recently-elected representative, Cleveland City Councilman TJ Dow, has asked me to assist him with jumpstarting a project. He would like to explore the idea of situating a first-class winery in the Upper Chester area of the ward, which is immediately adjacent to University Circle, and in the shadow of Cleveland Clinic. Such a facility would tap into the nascent green movement by potentially utilizing grapes grown on the vast expanses of vacant land in Cleveland, while creating employment opportunities for local residents in the areas of wine production, marketing, distribution, equipment maintenance, bookkeeping and a host of other jobs. Additionally, such a facility would become a gathering focal point for community events and other entertainments.

Location

I just viewed a clip this evening and hit Google to find out more...

Congress recently passed a law to protect children under the age of 12 against lead poisoning.  The law was meant to protect against toys poisoned with lead, or lead based paint.  The law is actually very broadly written and also covers clothing... all clothing...

There is also very little guidance about the new law... basically... resale shops have to test every article to prevent against lead content... how will that work if testing costs more than the sale price of the garment?

Snow is blowing by my window this morning and I have just watched my neighbor and his 6 year old son dig out their driveway and drive away. I cruised over to cleveland.com to see what is news in NEO... not much.

So I returned to REALNEO and opened a book: REALNEO TOPSOIL - Technology Optimization Platform for Social Organization, Innovation and Learning

In the 1990s, Cleveland had a rather highly educated City Council. I can’t remember the number but the percentage of lawyers among the 21 members was high. Cleveland also had an intelligent, crafty and feisty Mayor in Michael White. Today, City Council appears – with a few exceptions – to be inept and even farcical. Mayor Frank Jackson may be steady but one wouldn’t call him artful or exciting. Does it make any difference? Here is an example where it definitely didn’t.

when i moved back to cleveland in 1994, i had high hopes from the sell

of a great new baseball/basketball complex, the new rock hall, tower city, etc

Frank Jackson is trying to let people know he’s Cleveland’s mayor. After all, he does have to run for that office, though at least at this time there isn’t much talent around that appears able to challenge him.

However, the Medical Mart & Convention Center issue has shown how little weight he exhibits as the Cleveland mayor on big issues of the day.

They may soon begin selling reporter’s desks at the Plain Dealer.

A message today went to employees announcing the PD will be looking to rent parking and office space in its Superior Ave. and E. 18th building.

Management said that it was working with Grubb & Ellis “to explore the possibility of leasing a portion of the parking garage.”

In addition, the paper will attempt to lease space in its relatively new building working with Cresco, Ltd.

In these changing economic times, the last person we needed as commerce secretary was Bill Richardson. So glad to see him removing himself as Obama Commerce Secretary - a poor, politically-motivated choice in the first place... I'll be glad to see Richardson diasappear from public "service" entirely. One more old leader gone. Who will now be promoted to position of Commerce Secretary... another old economy leader or a new social innovator?

When Doug Clifton became editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, I was in frequent communication with Columnist Tom Brazaitis. I shared with Tom information technology advice to improve the newspaper - like adding email addresses to the articles in the paper (which they didn't do at the time), and completely transforming how they used the Internet. Tom suggested I contact Clifton directly, which I did, and Doug was very receptive to feedback and we ended up corresponding regularly.