Saturday, 12pm
I pick up the litter on my tree lawn spawned from the next-door convenience store: balloons, condom wrapper, malt liquor bottles, chip bags, candy wrappers, cigarette butts, cigarette cartons etc . . .

Sunday, 3:20 am
Four gun shots awaken me. 911 Dispatcher is rude.

Monday, 8:45 am
A lady steps on my heel exiting the Rapid—twice. I am wearing heel-less sandals, she is wearing pointy toed heels. No apology.

Monday, 11pm
Firecrackers and whining dog next door accompany this blog post.

I am reminding myself “we are in it together”. You are my brother/sister. I am picking up my own litter and stepping on my own heels because we are all connected.

I have a hard time loving Cleveland sometimes. Like any substantial relationship, I vacillate in my shallower thoughts. Like any real union, I am steadfast in my dedication. Starting fresh tomorrow.

I caught up on my podcasts. One of the holdouts was a City Club Podcast about the Flats East Bank Wolstein Project . I have mixed feelings, but overall good-faith optimism that the development will inspire population movement to the center city. Most of that population influx will be fully tax abated (part of those mixed feelings).

In his introduction, Scott Wolstein spoke about baby boomers and echo boomers, who will form about ¾ of households in the near future. He hopes to entice those demographics and to “start to build an affluent, creative class community living in our downtown”. He goes on to say that baby boomers are empty nesters, so they don’t have to fret about the poor quality of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

Then, he sounded quite pleased to share this nugget with the audience about echo boomers: “they demand a great education and you start to see a lot more progress . . . parents (will) follow-through the way they do in the suburbs. That will happen if you get the right people living in this town.”

So, who are the right people? I am guessing he means affluent and probably white. His generalizations about the parents who live in Cleveland and send their children to public school are an insult. Parents are demanding better education for their children. It is not living in suburbia that makes parental demand heard. Socio-economic status is the amplifier.

The main problem CMSD faces is not rotten parents who don’t know how to be suburban; it’s that CMSD is broke—a situation that certainly won’t be mended by the tax-lite development project. I found it absurd he felt entitled to speak about the school system that his development will financially forsake.

The Clark Metro City Fresh Stop held a shareholder meeting Monday at C-Space. I was one of 3 shareholders to attend the meeting, so for those who missed it I will summarize the discussion.

We talked about three interrelated issues.

1. The Clark Metro City Fresh Stop is in dire need of volunteers.
2. C-Space, the location of the Fresh Stop is in foreclosure and it is unknown if the Fresh Stop will need to move locations. If it does move, should it move within the neighborhood or to another location such as Tremont or the Dennison/Ridge Rd area.
3. Would a merger of the Clark Metro and Urban Community School Fresh Stops combine volunteer efforts more successfully and solve the location issue?
   

Lisa-Jean Sylvia manages the Fresh Stops and is seeking volunteers as well as opinions on mergers and locations. If you participate in the ClarkMetro or Urban Community Fresh Stop, or are planning to, please answer her survey below.

Are you available to volunteer on some Thursdays from June through October?

If so, are you available during the day? or the evening?

If the C-Space location closes, will you be able to easily pick up at one of these other locations?


Please answer her questions by emailing her: ljsylvia@sbcglobal.net

Also, City Fresh is accepting registration and payment for the first pickup on June 5th.

Yesterday I noted with chagrin the completion of the downtown Cleveland sinkhole repair. I was enjoying the almost completely car-free, pedestrian zone that stretched from Public Square, past the Soldier's and Sailor's Monument to Mall B. I was getting used to my oblique, leisurely, daydream-infused saunter.

Monday's walk from Tower City to Lakeside Avenue was fraught with drivers who ignore crosswalks, coast through stop signs and blow past red lights.

Downtown Cleveland seems compact enough to relegate cars and subsequent parking to the perimeters and to augment the pedestrian experience with bike only lanes, electric trolleys, walkways, mini-parks and benches. Just another one of my daydream fantasies.

Bhikkhu's Blog manages to provide some perspective and insight into the current situation in Tibet.

Urban Garden
West 25th Rapid Station

The weight of snow quieted the city for about half a day. I took a walk on Sunday morning right down the middle of the street, respecting the power of snowfall to render the roar of automobiles inert. Pleased that it melts as it will and not before it will, I was content to calm myself and go where I could when I could and not before I could. I took the rapid to Tower City and watched Fugitive Pieces and Jar City at the film festival.

I am still disconcerted by the reactions of many Clevelanders to the 15 inches of snow that accumulated last weekend. People were galled that the City Administration couldn’t “poof” the snow from the streets by Monday morning. When the plows did pass through, they were miffed that it stacked the snow at the edge of their driveways. These people had to go somewhere, soon and fast. They are important and pay taxes and have a given right to not have snow get in their way.

Last weekend and the beginning of the work week were a testament to how freaked out people get when they can’t drive. And how triumphant they feel when they can shovel out—roaring down the street, peeling out on ice, disregarding pedestrians—as if they are somehow apart from the natural world. Then, they freaked out again when the snow blocked their usual parking spaces.

Environmentalism: The new religion.