Yinz Cleveburgh And Random Art Links Late April- Early May

A truely random assortment of stuff I came across in the last few weeks. Many very important conferences in which people in Cleveland can hear about all the great things the political class has cooked up for them now.

Also, a very serious Cleveburgh Pow Wow in Youngstown that could lead to some great networking.

Cleveland



CNN visits the nation's biggest indoor mountain bike park--In Cleveland, a great and so far very successful example of creative reuse in just the kind of properties Cleveland seems to have a lot of. Please, please don't tear too many of these babies down if you can help it.

Terry Schwartz, of the Kent State Urban Design Collaborative and founder of Pop Up City Cleveland, participated in a long open forum chat about urban prospects, TOD and other stuff at Pheonix Coffee. A report on Extraordinary Observations.

"Schwarz thinks struggling neighborhoods should be deregulated to the point where property owners can essentially do whatever they think would turn the neighborhood around. There's definitely some compelling arguments in the case that outdated zoning laws and other regulations don't allow for the types of recovery in neighborhoods that they need."

Cleveburgh Talk

Burgh Diaspora, has a post loaded with Cleveburgh thoughts. Hmmmm, too much to digest and respond to yet.

My general feeling "Cleveburgh", however you describe it or define it, has a number of cities and assets in too close a proximity for us to be ignoring each other. There sure seems to be a lot of comparative advantage and synergy. One place has coal or gas, another water and rail links, a cluster of technical knowledge, in nuclear power, medicine, robotics, fuel cells, steel, materials science, urban planning or product design. Also, the plain bottom line is that Ohio's massive supply of good flat land is just a better sight to build a lot of stuff which sooner or later we are going to get back to. People like Carnegie and Henry Ford, figured that out long ago.

Brewed Fresh Daily wonders about Cleveland's hyper negative major media and if perhaps the regional narative is now shifting towards Youngstown/ Akron and Pittsburgh. (If Cleveland at least for now has dropped the ball, it's likely better that it's picked up by Akron or Pittsburgh than NY, Mumbai and Hong Kong.

"The region’s new narrative will emerge elsewhere…from places like Crain’s, Med City News, NEOTropolis, Youngstown Business Journal, Pop City, CoolCleveland, and blogs like Defend Youngstown (Phil Kidd), I Will Shout Youngstown (John Slanina), Burgh Diaspora (Jim Russell), and Pittsburgh, Youngstown, Akron, Cleveland Arts and Livable Cities Blog.

Cleveland’s traditional leadership has been lost for some years now. That’s why the regional conversation about Northeast Ohio’s future is shifting to Akron, Youngstown, Lorain and Pittsburgh. As brother Hunter points out, people are drawing new mental maps of the region, and Cleveland, while still important, is no longer at the center."

Youngstown

The city celebrates the opening of a new arts "incubator" in a very sweet old school building--The Calvin Center Idea Incubator which will house a number of perforiming arts groups. (So far, I can't find a website for it yet)



May 21st Rebuilding The Cities That Built America:

A major conference and workshops with activists, business people and regional leaders from across Cleveburgh. Totally free but you must register.