Over a period of two evenings - October 31 and November 1, 2005 - around 150 folks from all walks of life and corners of NEO came together at two spectacular places - the Cleveland Institute of Art and the Palace Theater - to participate in "world cafes" introduced by futurist Rebecca Ryan. The response and outcomes were fantastic. Highlights and content created is posted in two books below:"Making NEO "More Better" at the CIA - October 31, 2005" and "Storming the Palace for a sustainable NEO - November 01, 2005" - more will be added for quite some time so check back frequently - the most important outcome is the development of ideas surfaced during these events, which are posting to our "Community Forums"... go there to participate in making NEO "more better" . To those who joined us, thank you so much!!!

Both Mayor Campbell and Council President Jackson met with the arts community last week.  Attendance was low, both at the Play House on the east with Campbell and Cleveland Public Theatre on the westside with Jackson. The Campbell strategy was to identify a top 20 list of reasons Campbell has advanced the arts, with art summits, expansion of live/work zones and public funding through the "1% for arts" set aside that is a part of public construction contracts.  She says her track record merits her return to office for another four years.  Jackson said, through his leadership, he deserves credit for these initiatives as well, and his record in council deserves the public’s faith and confidence that he will work to represent them well.  But what would be an election without an added dose of cynicism? 

Several organizations in Northeast Ohio have wrangled with the
concept of educational reform for decades, yet we have only seen
incremental improvements over the years. More recently, change efforts
have been ramped up, with survey and dialog based initiatives such as
Voices and Choices and By the People currently in full swing. RealNEO
has advocated educational reform since inception and has hosted City
Club roundtable forums over the past year to address this very
issue. All of these efforts have centered upon core challenges to
address and these are as follows: