Urban Planning Hack

I submitted a Neighborhood Improvement Project Proposal to Ohio City Near West Development Corporation. The CDC is hosting a neighborhood competition and I decided to advocate for a beautification project South of Lorain.

As an amateur urban planner with limited Photoshop skills, I'm not sure how well received my proposal will be. The OCNW board of directors will pick the top 3, and then the OCNW membership will vote on the winner during the annual meeting in April.

The funds for the project will come from fundraising revenue OCNW earns throughtout the year. 

One of the reasons I chose to submit an idea is because many people don't consider my neighborhood to be part of Ohio City. In fact, my neighbors refer to Ohio City as the area to the North of them--they don't identify with that moniker.

My proposal is to commission a mural, painted rubbish cans and rain gardens created by the Building Bridges Mural Program's Summer Mural Institute. 

Making Tracks

I'll be driving from Cleveland to Columbus on March 3rd to attend the Passenger Rail Lobby Da y in our state's capital. If all goes well, my future trips will be spent reading or computing on a train instead of spewing carbon as I grip my steering wheel with eyes glued to Interstate 71.

I have never lobbyed for anything before, but the Lobby Day sponsored by the Sierra Club, Ohio Environmental Council and All Aboard Ohio is supposed to teach me how to effectively communicate the importance of passenger rail to my representatives .

The deadline to register is tomorrow, February 25th. Register for Rail Lobby Day

The Schedule is as follows:

8:45 am Arrive at Sierra Club Ohio Chapter Office (131 N. High St., Columbus 43215)

9:00 am Training and Educational Session

11:00 am Teams begin Ohio Senate visits

12:30 – 1:30 pm Lunch available

1:00 pm Teams begin Ohio House of Representatives visits

3:30 pm Teams report back to Sierra Club staff

Light breakfast, lunch, and materials will be provided at no cost to you.

For more information about passenger rail initiatives in Ohio, check out All Aboard Ohio.

Makin' Babies

During last Monday’s discussion/action group, which we are now unofficially calling Transition Cleveland, we discussed chapters 7 and 8 of the Transition Handbook. This part of the book transcends the typical fear, doom and gloom predictions for post-peak oil society. The author asks us to create a positive vision for the community. 

As a group, I think we struggled with this; we seem to be more comfortable talking about transition-ing rather than what life might be like after the transition.

We also learned how to ferment tea to make Kombucha. Jeff and I were given a “baby” (a symbiotic colony of yeast and bacteria)  to start our own batch. Each batch of tea has a “mother” (a colony of yeast and bacteria) and produces a baby colony that can be given away. Kombucha has a refreshing taste and is said to contain probiotics. Kate says she has been drinking it everyday and has never felt better. 

I am interested in learning more about fermentation to increase the nutritional properties of preserved food. 

DIY Plumbing

Yesterday I  converted my bathroom sink into a simple greywater system. It didn't take too long to accomplish, but I should have had the foresight to wear rubber gloves. There was a bit of an ick factor with the trap.

The way this works: The greywater in the sink drains into the bucket. The water from the bucket is re-used to flush the toilet. This prevents the flushing of drinking quality water. I should have the added benefit of a less expensive water bill. 

What am I really saying?

I created a Lustfelt Wordle--surprising to see which words I use the most.  

The first Wordle is from just the first page of my blog and the second is from the past 6 months of posting.

Represent Descent

 

I just joined Transition US. This ning social networking site serves as a virtual hub for proponents of planned energy descent and independence from fossil fuels. It’d be nice to have a Cleveland contingent on the network. 

 

Ohio City Crematory Community Meeting

A community meeting about the Bodnar-Mahoney Funeral Homes' request for a zoning variance will take place on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 at 7:30 pm. The meeting will take place at 3500 Lorain Avenue which is the Green Building that houses the 5th/3rd Bank.

 

Board of Zoning Appeals Notice: 

Louis Bodnar Funeral home, owner, appeals to construct an addition to an existing funeral home and expand the use to include cremation services, located on a 50' X 106.5' corner lot in a Local Retail business District at 3929 Lorain Avenue; subject to the limitations of Section 343.01, the proposed expansion of use is first permitted in a General Industry District as an accessory use or incidental to a permitted use, and only on special permit from the Board of Zoning Appeals when such use is within 300 feet of a Residence District, according to Sections 345.04(b)(5) of the Codified Ordinances.

Previous Crematory Post

Cows: An Invasive Species

It never occurred to me that America's beef-eating culture is a holdover from feudal Europe. 

World Changing blogger Justus Stewart on eating American:

Because, really, it makes no cultural sense. There were no cows in America when Europeans landed here. The cattle we know today are here because we brought them here. We eat beef because the English ate beef. We have lawns because the English had lawns.  . . . beef and lawns were status symbols