Updates on Plan

Hey y'all!

I've been working really hard at getting my ideas for my "Cleveland Progressive Plan."
I just completed the basic slideshow (40 pages) and two minor papers (4 pages each of ideas)
I'm going to fine tune it and present it to Chris Ronayne and Jimmy Malone at my brunch with them next Saturday. They're both like my mentors and go to people in Cleveland life. Ronayne is CEO of University Circle Inc., Malone is an intelligent morning radio show host.
If the like it, I'll share it with you guys.
It doesn't focus on specifics we use for our region to get politicians re-elected.
It proposes solutions for our loss of population and lack of regionalization.
It's big, it's bad, and it won't be stopped.
Have a great weekend! I can't wait to go home Tuesday night for Thanksgiving.

-Ken

I Think I've Solved Cleveland

. . .but for now it's confidential.

It's a plan that throws aside common ideas and single-string approaches.

It connects several ideas in an integrated way.

It's too dangerous to let leak to other cities and planners; it's too juicy, too novel an idea.

It answers these questions: How do we attract new people to our region? How do we attract new people to Cleveland?

Miracles happen once in a while when you believe. . .

I'm almost positive I'm not excited over nothing, or over something intangible.

It's real. And if it happens, we'll never be the same.

I'm going to start up the prelim sketch of the ideas right now, and I'll try to finish it by Thanksgiving.

Stay tuned for topics NOT related to this plan

Keep your chins up!

-Ken

An Urban Planner's trip to Cleveland

The Organization for Urban and Regional Studies at Cornell recently voted on where our spring trip should be. In the running were Washington D.C., Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Providence. Cleveland lost out to Pittsburgh but still garnered 10 votes other than mine, so yay!

In lieu of an amazing tour I could've given my planning colleagues, I would like to jot down my ideas for an itinerary of events. The days could be rearranged for weather and I'm leaving a separate list of night plans, which would depend on the day of the week and season of the event.

This list composes of both tourist destinations and things which would introduce planners to the unique issues and solutions in our region.

With Cleveland's great restaurant scene, the restaurants are for the most part interchangeable depending on the area of town the restaurant is in.

So, let's set the stage:

4 of my friends come to Cleveland in the summer looking for a good time adventure. They don't know much about the place except its bad planning reputation and Norm Krumholz.

Here are many day trip excursions within 90 mins of Downtown Cleveland:

Day 1: Akron & Canton
-Invent Now and Football HOF

Day 2: Lake Erie Islands & Lighthouses Tour

Day 3: Cedar Point

Day 4:
-Zoo! until like 2 pm
-Drive to Cleveland's Ohio & Erie Canal Nature Center and explore the unique history of the park and valley.
-Visit Steelyard Commons and discuss its pros and cons as far as planning, the Walmart fiasco, Metrohealth, etc.
-Drive to Tremont and begin grand walking tour of area. Steel worker, ethnic, & church history. Explain Rockefeller's desire to build what became the University of Chicago on that parcel.
-Visit Christmas Story House & Museum
-Sokolowski's University Inn for Dinner

Day 5: Rocky River, Lakewood, Western suburbs tour. Beach visit.

Day 6: Near West Side
-Take the bus from my house to Fulton/Lorain.
-Breakfast at Nick's
-Head to St. Pat's, NWT, Library.
-Walk down Bridge Ave. to Heck's & Heizman House.
-Tour of Ignatius
-Walk down Lorain to W. 25th
-Visit Room Service, West Side Market (lunch) and Great Lakes Brewing Company
-Walk down W. 25th, exploring the pros/cons of the affordable housing, hospital, etc.
-Visit St. Malachi's
-Take bus down Detroit Ave.
-Visit Detroit Shoreway
-Dinner
-Walk to Edgewater Park for Lake Erie Sunset

Day 7: Downtown
-Drive through stockyards, Ohio City, Battery Park, Wendy Park, then Shoreway to lakefront.
-Discussion on Lakefront usage and issues
-Science Center
-Rock & Roll HOF & Museum
-Goodtime III
-Park at Tower City after drive through Flats
-Terminal Tower Observation Deck
-Casino, Scranton Rd. Peninsula, Avenue Discussion
-Gateway Complex discussion & tour
-Dinner on E. 4th street.

Day 8: Downtown Part 2
-Bus to Public Square
-New designs, discussion, Soldiers & Sailors Monument
-Warehouse District
-Go to Malls
-Discuss Medical Mart, Group Plan, pictures by fountain
- Go to Lake Ave. and view the lake, lakefront, visit city hall and courthouse
- Discuss urban space in context of Library's courtyard, FREE stamp, malls, CMSD building, etc.
-Walk down E. 12th redevelopment, visit Greenhouse inside Galleria.
-Walk down Euclid to Playhouse Square.
-Visit CSU's College for Urban Affairs
-Visit Cleveland's "Chinatown"

Day 9: Cleveland as a "shrinking city":
-Visit Terry Schwarz at the Kent State Urban Design Collaborative for presentation (hopefully) on her programs for shrinking cities
-Visit Land bank sites, inner east side.
-Visit Tyler Village & explore the innovations of Midtown redevelopment

Day 10: Cleveland's real gem: University Circle
-Take 79 from house to downtown
-Ride on Euclid Corridor, get off at Cornell Ave. During trip point out previous visits, Cleveland Clinic, etc.
-Walking tour of the Circle:

•  Severance Hall
• Art Museum's reflection pool
• Quick visit to free art museum
• Walk around the circle, viewing History Museum, Botanical Gardens, Historical Society
• Visit UCI & Chris Ronayne
• Cleveland institute of Music & Case Western Reserve University
• Euclid Developments
• University Hospitals
• Little Italy

REALLY BUSY AMAZING DAY

Day 11: Loose Ends
-Anything else desired
-Shaker Heights?

Seasonal Events/Festivals:
-Winterfest Public Square for Thanksgiving Weekend
-Snowdays at Progressive Field
-Tobogganing in Strongsville
-Parade the Circle
-Ingenuity Festival
-Airshow
-Feast of the Assumption

Nighttime events:
-Clubs in Warehouse District
-Browns, Cavs, Indians games
-Local Theatre
-Theatre at Playhouse Square
-more


Any suggestions?
Holla!

Creating a Team

Remember when in grade school you'd line up and captains would "pick teams?"
It may still be happen in your life when you play sports; you pick "the best," not the ones who are your friends or try really hard but have little "talent," per-say.
There's the half that was picked first, and the half picked last.
And honestly, I was always in that second half unless a friend picked me.
I guess you can argue it's natural? capitalism? competition? logical?
But at the same time, the last few kids' feelings would get hurt unless they were humble, understood they weren't athletic and okay with it, or always refused to participate.
THIS is why, when I create a "team," it's not going to be just people that are the smart ones, the good looking ones, the powerful ones, or the rich ones.
My team is all inclusive, and will focus on everyday hard-working folks: The poor who are rarely reached out to in decisions, the suburbanites who refuse to go downtown unless it's for work because of the traffic cameras and high parking prices, small business owners, the lgbt community, the homeless, and MOST IMPORTANTLY. . . ANYONE and EVERYONE who cares about making Cleveland & NEO (Northeast Ohio) a better place to work, play, live, move, and visit.

I can't define what exactly my "team" is or does. At this point I'm counting on friends to help me out, to bounce ideas off of, etc. and I think I know a few who would be considered on a team if I had one.
But I want to create a group willing to go out and connect with the elderly, the homeless, small business owners,  lgbt, random people in random places, and begin a collection pool of ideas can that can be used to create a grand, ever-changing vision.

I would also like to meet two times a year to discuss progress with everyone in my "team" and hear their ideas, forming a future (and a name) for this team. First meeting's over this winter break! haha

So, reader, would you like to be a part of this "Team for Cleveland"? Want to take an active role, whether you're still a student or a "real world" citizen, in changing Cleveland now? Want to be invited to some dinner/gathering with me each winter and summer? Want the chance to meet with current and future leaders in government, non-profits, and citizenry where we try to put personal politics aside to discuss what's best for all people in our state/region/county/city?

Then just facebook, comment, or email me your name and I'll put you on the list.
It's that simple.
Open invite to anyone interested.
And I'll try to organize an event this winter break if I get but one name back.

So if you're a caring citizen and want to learn, take an active role, and move forward, please let me know.

Thanks!

My next blog post shouldn't come out for a long time because school's really busy right now.

Happy November!

Cleveland vs. Pittsburgh; and LeBron?

LeBron still may save Cleveland.

hang in there

All I hear about here when I bring up the midwest is how good Pittsburgh is doing.
"Why can't Cleveland and other 'Rustbelt'  cities become as successful as Pittsburgh?"
"I hear Pittsburgh is is doing amazing things"
"I love Pittsburgh"
"Let's all live in Pittsburgh." (Just kidding about that one)

This frustrates me.
And I'm not too sure why.
It could be the Browns/Steelers "rivalry" (which is hopefully being reignited)
Or it could be that we're so goshdarn similar, which makes us similar in planners-from-outside-the-midwest's minds, which means that Cleveland can just get up and do what Pittsburgh has done and stop whining.

From my understanding, Pittsburgh was also an industrial powerhouse city, flooded with European immigrant culture. We're both very prideful towns, we love our sports, we've both been hurt over the years by loss of industry and such. We're really the same city, except 2.5 hours apart (depending on how fast you drive)

Pittsburgh held the G-20 summit in 2009 and has been receiving national acclaim for it's green growth, quality of life, sustainability, educational and medical hub, sports, low cost of living, best place to move a business, on and on and on and on...

So, what makes Pittsburgh different from Cleveland?

A lot. Obviously.

But also not so much.

Check out this article published in 2009

http://www.newgeography.com/content/001060-pittsburgh-renaissance

Pittsburgh faces the same problems Cleveland, Detroit, and many other midwest cities face, in some cases problems these cities DON'T face:

Shrinking populations, higher death than birth rates, lower cost of living, massive debt, higher poverty than Cleveland, virtually non existent immigrant population. . .

Statistically, Pittsburgh isn't THAT magical. As the article points out, the young people moving there for educational purposes and the medical fields aren't making permanent roots. Even with Pitt, Duquesne, and Carnegie Melon bringing thousands of young folk there for education, these students aren't staying!

Cleveland and Pittsburgh differ in many facets:

Pittsburgh has 75% the population of Cleveland, although the regions have about the same population.
Pittsburgh is 68% white compared to 40% in Cleveland.
Pittsburgh lost ALL of its industry in the mid-20th century, while Cleveland's industry has been leaving in chunks for the past 60 years.

At this juncture I would like to propose my theory.
Pittsburgh was FORCED to recreate itself about 20-30 years ago.
They HAD to find a new economic force, a new economy, a new approach at things for the next century.
And because communities in Greater Cleveland are divided, competitive, and show no commitment to helping the city prosper, PLUS the high demographic in poverty etc.
Cleveland's slowly adjusting. We haven't had a complete shocker, no individual slap in the face, to force us to try new things, invest in the future, come together as a region, and put our resources into redefining ourselves from just a hard-working blue collar town with bad luck to a united green city on a blue lake. (Check out gcbl.org for sustainability plans for NEO)
We can shape the future.

I'm still devastated from LeBron James's departure. It still sucks, although I'm incredibly happy with the recent fortunes of the Cavaliers and Browns.

But if there was one event in the history of our city that we could use to change things around, it's LeBron's "Decision."

The BIGGEST slap in the face our city has ever received.

Immediately after it, I talked to Chris Ronayne, and I can't quote him, but he cheered me up and made me believe things will get better, and that we just have to move on.

MOVE ON?!

I'll never move on from that.

But it made me realize we can no longer sit on our hands every year saying that sports and our hometown hero LeBron would save us from all of our woes.

UGH!

I've realized our economy wasn't based entirely on LeBron James as I had thought it may, but maybe this loss of revenue, the hit taken by our community, can be used to fuel us forward.

We have the potential to become BETTER than Pittsburgh because of the diversity which currently divides us and our location. They're located in a dark valley with threat of floods! (I don't know how legit that is...)

Should we continue to move slowly, waiting for Ford and GM to abandon their plants, steel to leave completely, our businesses to move to Columbus and Cincinnati and the coasts?

Or should we use our passionate hatred for LeBron, for all that's happened, as a reason to change how we look at EVERYTHING and leverage our location on a lake and a winding, intimate river?

The new County Government is an excellent first step. I have faith in Fitzgerald, and pray he can unite our divided communities.
 I also pray that somehow Kasich doesn't cut any programs beneficial to our communities and finds a way to nurture a better business environment for our whole state, one which can attract companies from out of state, attract entrepreneurs and intellects and artists and retain the bright minds already here.
It's a decent start, and so much has to be done.
Let's be BETTER than Pittsburgh. Let's find a way to work together, regionalize, create a beautiful lakefront, and attract businesses and people in this world where cities are becoming marketable products for the brightest minds to move to.
Let's NEVER FORGET LEBRON. Let's carry that chip on our shoulder. Let's stop complaining though, and turn our hurts into action, right decision making.
If we can change our approaches to government, decision making, and focus on the betterment for all people, we can propel our city into a leader for the rest of this century.

We're a lot like Pittsburgh. Let's learn from them, learn from all successful cities, and adjust what's good there to a master plan for what's best for us.

It's manageable.

We just need the right people in office to make decisions and a willingness by the citizens to WORK (blue collar...) for a better future.

Our parent's generation has failed us. Let's not fail our children's generation.


I'm rambling, so I'm going to stop.

Lessons:
-LeBron is the pinnacle for what we should teach our children NOT to be like. If you want to leave Cleveland, do it. And never hold it against LeBron for the abandonment.
-Cleveland is similar to Pittsburgh, but we aren't Pittsburgh. We can't simply replicate what they've done. We need our own identity.
-Give me ideas and input, I want to be a giant think-tank of ideas.

I'm getting to the Lakefront soon enough, too busy this week but maybe next weekend.

This is how I see it, as un-cited as I'll ever present a document.

God Bless,

-Ken

Community

Where will a sense of place, a sense of community come from in the 21st century?
From my personal experiences a sense of community can be found at Major-League sporting events, churches, parades, cultural institutions, ethnic festivals, and certain civic events and festivals in the suburbs.

Please comment below where you find and wish to find a sense of community and/or civic pride in your life.

We face many critical public social challenges as we try to move our region forward: Safety, education, social equity, distribution of goods and services, adapting to a new economy, a racial divide, cuts in services, etc.

One of the many reasons Cleveland struggles is the clear racial divide that still exists. Most of the east side of Cleveland, including suburbs such as East Cleveland and Euclid, have a strong black population. We need to find a way to ease tensions that still exist between the white and black demographics in our region.

When compared to Rustbelt cities such as Pittsburgh and Buffalo, which are now being ranked highly in "Livability" rankings, Cleveland has a stark difference in its demographics. Buffalo is 39 % african american and Pittsburgh is 27% african american. Cleveland is about 55% black with an increasing ratio as the population decreases more quickly amongst the white population. When you have a population as racially divided, poor and unequal like Cleveland's it becomes much harder to "turn things around."


It's well documented how poor Cleveland is, how "unsafe" we are, and how poor our education system is.

How do we fix these problems?

Sure we need to improve the K-12 system, pre-school education, and vastly increase the number of students who graduate and attend college. Sure we can put more money into our safety forces and increase coverage downtown. And yes, we could somehow magically turn our economy around over night.

But these issues still remain. And we still have an adult population with little education, no specialized skills, reliant on welfare and social services, with little access to sports leagues and programs for kids and adults alike, no elderly programs, and no places for the communities to come together to learn, discuss issues, hold councils, propose ideas, and grow closer. Poor communities don't have internet, computer access, satellite TV access, pools, gym memberships, after school tutoring, clubs, intramural sports, or a way to participate in government.

Take a step back and think about our professional sports teams. Everyone is a Browns fan. why? Because they supposedly represent our city. "Why is he saying supposedly? They're the 'Cleveland' Browns." Well, the majority of fans live in the suburbs, and the majority of the residents in Cleveland have no financial access to attend the games, let alone go to bars and pay to see the Cavs, Indians, and Browns in action.  There's an inequity here.

Yes, the capitalistic market we live in deems that those with the most money get the things with the shortest supply and the highest demand. However, crowds at our sporting events, our concerts, are mostly white. This issue is similar to affordable housing. Shouldn't every resident have access to the fruits of the city?

Pope Paul the VI proclaimed, "If you want peace, work for justice."

If we want social issues in our city to be resolved in order to move forward, we need a new focus on the community, and providing services to those who deserve a second chance to succeed in life. Those who cannot afford to pay for courses at Tri-C with time or capital. If every citizen has access to similar things, the gap will be lessened, equality will surge, and a sense of community will grow once the divisiveness is cut back.

If anything that I said makes sense, you're probably wondering what I'm getting at. Does he mean the sports teams should let poor people into games for free? How do we solve all of these issues with one solution?

Answer to #1 is NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT. We just need to provide public spaces with television access to the games, a place where people from a neighborhood can congregate safely and come together to support a common "civic pride" and stay away from loitering and criminal activities.

This magical place, the purpose of this blog post, is a COMMUNITY CENTER.

Colleges have them in their "Student  Centers" and cities already have them in their "Recreation Centers."

My proposal is that we focus foremost on places with free community services for health, wellness, education, and community. Let's put our best foot forward and encourage homegrown celebrities (Drew Carey, Halle Berry, Kid Cudi), local corporations, and national chains to pitch in and provide Clevelanders with new facilities and technological resources through donations and sponsoring fundraisers.  Work with church congregations, community development corporations, councilmen, etc. to make these happen and procure the funds.

Make Cleveland a national case study for how to turn the inner city around by providing the poor with resources to stay active, busy, healthy, educated, and create a mobile workforce. This is NOT WELFARE. This isn't giving out money, free healthcare, free food, etc. This is an investment in the social life and post-secondary education of a population mostly riddled with poverty and odds against them to succeed. None of these services are necessarily required for a government to provide, but once the facilities are complete, the only civic expenses would be in salaries.

Here's the idea:
1. Replace or revamp every "recreation center" in Cleveland.
2. Rename them ". . . Community Center," so that it becomes not just a place for physical activities and services but also for community activities in new gathering spaces.
3. Ideally, each center has a central common area with tables, chairs, restrooms, locker room access, stairs, an elevator to the second floor if there is one, and a private, locally owned food stand. Attatched to this common space are a gymnasium with a stage, a community room able to seat 150 with tables & chairs (also with the TV's with access to sports networks, news, and weather channels (as controlled by center personnel) and couches near the tv for smaller viewing groups. Also on the first floor would be an ampitheater that goes below ground, able to seat about 200 equipped with a projector, for workshops educational activities, speakers, etc. as well as locker rooms with access to the pool. On the second floor would be 3-4 classrooms, a weight room, and computer lab.
This "Community Center has a design with four entrances with a glass ceiling down each walkway to the center atrium area. each corner has a facility. I can send a design to anyone interested.
This center would be staffed by 2 police workers or safety personnel, lifeguards and pool manager, Center manager, events manager, technical director, and 3-4 maintenance personnel.
Each center would host CDC meetings, certain church gatherings as needed, intramural sports leagues for all age groups, tutoring programs with local college and high school students, opportunities for a drama program, a computer lab with free basic training, and would attract community speakers, monthly "state of the council" addresses by the councilman, free training sections in subjects as taught by professional volunteers, access to sports games on tv, activities for the elderly, and perhaps weekly farmers markets.

I'm a visionary. Honestly, I'm quite nuts and get caught up in these huge ideas.
But I believe an investment in these facilities will be hugely beneficial to communities by providing access to various educational, civic, and recreational activities all in one place. It would raise property values and make the city of Cleveland a city with much better access amongst its neighborhoods, creating a place to go where people would be proud to gather, exchange ideas, and help each other out.

A focus on community is critical whether or not I ever get moving on plans like this. An investment this large, if feasible, would vastly improve equality, decrease crime, and provide a greater chance for our students to succeed in and out of school

This is how I see it.

I hope I could get you to see it a bit too

-Ken

Election Results

"The battle for Rohan has ended. The battle for Middle Earth is about to begin"

-Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (movie....)

With an interesting political season coming to a conclusion with the election results yesterday, I would like to recap the results and the effects they will have on Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. 

In Congress, Republicans regained control of the House while Democrats barely held onto the Senate Majority. An Ohioan (cool) Jim Boehner appears to be the heir apparent for Speaker of the House. Portman won the U.S. Senate seat from Ohio, replacing fellow Republican George Voinovich. 

These results have little effect on Ohio directly, however I predict the Republicans will continue to freeze movement in the federal government over the next two years and try to blame Obama for their own partisanship in the next Presidential campaign. 

Dennis Kucinich and Marcia Fudge withheld their positions in the House over the inner city areas of Cleveland, so we'll have the same old same old out of them. 

Most importantly towards my aims in planning and policy, John Kasich beat out Ted Strickland for Governor of Ohio. I fear removal of the performance-based education system which has caused improvements in our inner city school districts, as well as funding cutbacks in the new industry (green technologies) and secondary education funding critical to our state's future. 

I do have hope that Kasich can find a way to balance the budget, but at whose cost? I will personally give him four years to improve the quality of our state's business environment and I expect exponential job growth. If not, throw him out with the bath water in the next election. 

Our state needs economic growth and a nurturing environment, and I am hoping he can provide that. 

I have difficulty trusting his integrity and that he is not another pawn of big business and the wealthy to take advantage of our state's desperation for more jobs. 

But we'll see. 

I believe he will remove the estate tax, cut education and social service funding, and attempt to stop the 3-C "High speed" rail corridor from Cleveland to Cincinnati. He will try to lower taxes across the board but will likely only provide benefits to the rich. The business environment for finance and service sectors will get better (whatever that means) but he'll focus too much on retaining old industrial jobs (coal, car manufacturing) and remove the focus on creating to industry (linear solar and wind energy production and exportation). Education will take a hit, although charter schools will see a resurgence. I expect job growth in Columbus and Cincinnati, but another mayor who forgets about the most important region of the state (Northeast Ohio). It will be up to local leaders, just as it was with Strickland, to turn our area of the state around. Although maybe with a better business environment some of the potential prosperity will spread to us. 

At the County level, I'm extremely pleased Ed Fitzgerald won Cuyahoga County Executive. His platform aligns nearly identical to what mine would have been. He has an emphasis on Urban Renewal, encouraging investment in new green industry, county investment in lakefront development, and stopping suburbs from preying on Cleveland-located employers. He seems to understand that we will fail as a region if Cleveland dies. 

Let's pray that Fitzgerald accomplishes his aims and Kasich causes more good than harm for all people. We don't need a greater mess. We need to clean government up and re-prioritize.