HOW IS THAT CLE+ THING WORKING FOR YOU?

[Jim O'Bryan]

Funny, well if you find funerals funny.

CLE + was announced with much fanfare, as THE ONLY WAY to save Cleveland and Northeast
Ohio. BILLIONS of dollars that could have been spent on so many things have been taken
from taxes and donors to prop up the idea that, "If Northeast (really east) Ohio banded together
wealth and riches would be coming in so fast our heads would spin.

WELL it was a lie then, perpetrated by companies and non-profits that make a living sucking
off community dollars and grants to shovel their shit faster than anyone else. Everyone
loved the CLE+ logo, not even realizing what it meant, and those that lack ANY critical
thought followed like lambs to the slaughter.

HOW HAS IT DONE?

Well it is so successful at bringing business and people into the area, that the City of
Cleveland is now desperately looking at annexing East Cleveland, or they will fall
drastically below 400,000 people for the first time in 60 years!

Had we paid people $100,000 to move to Cleveland it would have been more successful
and certainly cheaper in the long run.

Yesterday I had the chance to speak with a well-known reporter in the Cleveland area,
Joe Baur, who is a paid freelance reporter living in Downtown, the fastest growing area
in the county, though unable to keep up with the loss of residents from other areas.
"The move of young people to downtown is a national occurrence. It happens in cities
even without help from anyone. It is a movement of convenience."

Yet, look at the groups, CLE+, Team Neo, Cleveland Foundation take credit for the
exceptional rebirth of Cleveland, and it is simply not factual. ALL SMOKE AND MIRRORS
as are the theories floated to make this seem even remotely possible.

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
Albert Einstein

Has anyone thought that maybe, with the largest foundation of its type in the country,
and so many people making a damn good living telling us how good they are doing, that
maybe, just maybe, they are the problem-- not the solution?

Here in Lakewood, the only things that develop critical mass are the organic things that
pop up on their own, without "government/grant funding." Look at the Root Cafe, that
sprung up from love and respect for a city and its people, or Campbell's that was paid
$50,000 dollars to move to the best city in the area.

I find it wildly amusing that GenX and Milleniums flock to the CLE+ logo, that actually
symbolizes everything they hate in the world.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, the same GDP as Rwanda?

Impressive.

NOT!

.

[Bill Call]

Well it is so successful at bringing business and people into the area, that the City of
Cleveland is now desperately looking at annexing East Cleveland, or they will fall
drastically below 400,000 people for the first time in 60 years!

The policies of our regional "leaders" are not only failing they are causing a great deal of damage. Since I'm getting ready to cash out this is only an academic exercise for me. It's all very frustrating.

Rather than offer polices that encourage economic growth our regional leaders are spending hundreds of millions just to move people from one side of town to another. The next step, I suppose, will be an active post card campaign to encourage people to move out of Lakewood's Gold Coast and move to the new taxpayer subsidized downtown apartments. This will be called smart growth.

It doesn't help that some elected leaders in Lakewood have one eye on higher office and one foot out the door before the end of their first term.

If regionalization is such a great thing why don't we regionalize the institutions? For a start lets merge Tri-C with CSU and merge The Cleveland Foundation with the Salvation Army.

[Jim O'Bryan]

If regionalization is such a great thing why don't we regionalize the institutions? For a start lets merge Tri-C with CSU and merge The Cleveland Foundation with the Salvation Army.

Bill

I sat and listened in amazement, as one Cleveland councilman explained that, "The big plan to
save Cleveland involved annexing East Cleveland!

When I asked why, it reminded me of the census in Lakewood. "If we fall below 400,000
it's over, we lose all sorts of funding from the Federal Government."

So we have people playing SIM CITY with Cleveland who could never hold a job in a real
for-profit business. We have civic leaders who lack any imagination or critical thought
desperately following them.

Look at Lakewood, nearly 2 hundred million dumped into sustaining Detroit Road and
"DowntowN." What is the payoff for the residents building this business utopia? The
city still needing to pay people to move here!

CLE+ and CDCs great success story, Capitol Theater, that without grants would close
tomorrow. Gateway, and Browns Stadium, both unable to even pay for their own repairs.
YET, they will preach sustainability forever.

WTF? Really.

.

[Betsy Voinovich]

When I landed at Cleveland Hopkins recently, the Delta captain welcomed us over the intercom saying, "Welcome to the Cle Plus area."

It was so depressing. That greeting is supposed to make people coming to Cleveland feel more energized about being here? That we can't even call Cleveland, "Cleveland" when you land in it? We are so embarrassed to be Cleveland we won't even state its name?

The "Clee Plus Area" sounds like a failed promotional campaign. The branding itself is pathetic. That's supposed to sound better than, "Welcome to the Greater Cleveland area"?

What does "The Clee Plus Area" sound like to an outsider? "Oh, I thought I was in Cleveland" not landing in what sounds like part B of a tax form. Lame. Not fun. Not functional.

This is the impression visitors get even before we start talking about where the money went.

Betsy Voinovich

[Jerry Ritcey]

How about LAK+?

Since the FAA just grounded the city drones, I wonder if plan B will involve a hang glider and some of our better photogs.

[Paul Schrimpf]

I've never heard CLE+ on a plane, but the airport is saturated with it. Other than Research Triangle Park when I fly to Raleigh/Durham, I really don't see that kind of regional push anywhere else I go. Well, I take that back ... at Moline, IL, they push the Quad Cities.

[Bill Call]

I've never heard CLE+ on a plane, but the airport is saturated with it. Other than Research Triangle Park when I fly to Raleigh/Durham, I really don't see that kind of regional push anywhere else I go. Well, I take that back ... at Moline, IL, they push the Quad Cities.

Does the CLE+ concept damage Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland?

If it's the region that's important then it doesn't matter if the Clinic moves its facilities and jobs 75 miles from Downtown.

If it's the region that's important who cares if the population of Cuyahoga County declines by another 10%.

If it's the region that's important who cares if Cleveland leads the nation in job losses?

I mean, if another 100,000 people leave Cuyahoga County and move to Stark County the region doesn't suffer at all.

So... what's the big deal about the City or County losing population? We just define defeat as victory and celebrate the victory!

CLE+ Rocks!!

[Jim O'Bryan]

Does the CLE+ concept damage Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland?

If it's the region that's important then it doesn't matter if the Clinic moves its facilities and jobs 75 miles from Downtown.

If it's the region that's important who cares if the population of Cuyahoga County declines by another 10%.

If it's the region that's important who cares if Cleveland leads the nation in job losses?

I mean, if another 100,000 people leave Cuyahoga County and move to Stark County the region doesn't suffer at all.

So... what's the big deal about the City or County losing population? We just define defeat as victory and celebrate the victory!

CLE+ Rocks!!

Bill

This is what is so amazing about the entire snake oil sideshow.

The only people who preach it are those getting paid to be "the new voice."

I mean CLE is so cool and so much better than Cleveland!?

How could you not want to move to an area with the same GDP as Rwanda, of French
Guinea? But once you get there, how does each community stack up? Who is playing fair?
Who is stacking the deck? Who is greasing the skids and why?

Celebration of managing the decline of a region that has great climates, fresh water out
the wazoo, very little crime and affordable healthy living is hard to sell how? A 2-bedroom
flat in a not-so-trendy part of New York $2.5 million. 6 bedrooms on Lake Erie $350,000
or even $750,000.

What I find so amazing and depressing is that in the past 10 years, I cannot remember
speaking to anyone about any venture-- private, public, educational etc.-- where the BIG
stumbling block was "Grant Dollars!" The entire region has become addicted to grants.
I really believe that the term "Sustainable" now means "Until the end of the Grant." I was talking
to a well known writer in the arts this morning about this and he said, "Well, sure."

.

[michael gill]

Honestly, Jim, the full sense of that content was more like:

"Well, sure, foundations commonly offer start-up money for the first year or two, and then expect the project to stand on its own. And if they fail to stand on their own, then they go away."

That is the way grants work all over the US. It's not a CLE plus issue. It's start-up capital, and then you play in the free market . . . which includes individuals who believe in your project enough to make donations and sustain it on an ongoing basis.

The fact that foundations offer finite grants is not a CLE plus issue.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Honestly, Jim, the full sense of that content was more like:

"Well, sure, foundations commonly offer start-up money for the first year or two, and then expect the project to stand on its own. And if they fail to stand on their own, then they go away."

That is the way grants work all over the US. It's not a CLE plus issue. It's start-up capital, and then you play in the free market . . . which includes individuals who believe in your project enough to make donations and sustain it on an ongoing basis.

The fact that foundations offer finite grants is not a CLE plus issue.

Michael,

I was hitting the finer points.

Michael, this is one of the few places I have been where everyone, even the local hand
snapper is looking for a grant to start something.

Seriously. In NJ Highlands, while they might have other issues, I never heard one person
mention "grants, waiting for grants, we need grants, we need to be non-profit" as much
as here. You and I have had that very discussion over our projects.

The CLE+ is just another manifestation of the problem. Hey let's form a non-profit, raise
money from sources that could put it to better use elsewhere, throwing it on some magic
beans that in this case not only do not sprout, but suck the garden dry of life.

There is in this area a rich forest of people willing to play a mediocre game of Sim city
with other people's money as long as they are perceived as movers and shakers and
can shake some dollars from the causes they so desperately believe in while being paid
to do so. Or, having to endure three long trips to Spain to observer how they...

sus·tain·a·ble
[suh-stey-nuh-buhl] Show IPA
adjective
1. capable of being supported or upheld, as by having its weight borne from below.
2. pertaining to a system that maintains its own viability by using techniques that allow for continual reuse: sustainable agriculture. Aquaculture is a sustainable alternative to overfishing.
3.able to be maintained or kept going, as an action or process: a sustainable negotiation between the two countries.

just saying.


.

[Bill Call]

From this Observer article:


http://lakewoodobserver.com/read/2014/0 ... ary-8-2014


"The opening of the Avon Cleveland Clinic facility has complicated Senior Transportation. In the past, Fairview Park received a grant for senior transportation that prevented them from going to the Avon facility because it crossed the county line."

So.... Fairview Park is home to one of the largest Clinic Facilities in the country and residents of Fairview must get transportation to Lorain County to get medical treatment?

At the risk of seeming wooden headed... why don't we have a medical system where residents of Lorain County have to come to Cuyahoga County to get medical treatment?
Aren't we all just one happy region?

I guess that's evidence that we are all working together. Lorain, Median and Lake County are working hard to get Cuyahoga County jobs and residents to leave Cuyahoga County and our leadership in Cuyahoga County is working hard to help them out.

[Meg Ostrowski]

Lorain, Median and Lake County are working hard to get Cuyahoga County jobs and residents to leave Cuyahoga County and our leadership in Cuyahoga County is working hard to help them out.

Herein lies the problem?

Twenty years ago, we left NYC to return to the mid-west with our sites set on CLEVELAND. "Why Cleveland?" everyone asked. "Four seasons, fresh water, Emerald Necklace, arts & culture, affordability, philanthropy and most importantly solid folks." We found them here but sadly few are in leadership positions. Never did we consider Lorain, Medina or Lake. Everything we need is right here in Cuyahoga...although it is fun to explore in better weather.

Bill, unintentional or deliberate, it was amusing that you referred to Medina as Median. In my world, it is far from it.