I Was Supposed to be in Cleveland by Now

Mike DeCapite reading at The Literary Cafe, Cleveland, March 2012

I was supposed to be in Cleveland last night, reading at another writer's book release party at a certain bar. The storm threats impelled me to cancel my bus ticket at the last minute; although I want to believe that Cleveland is an easy jaunt down the road, that can be less true during the winter months. (The train would have been safer, but I would have had to board at midnight and arrive at 3:00am.)

The occasion: Mike DeCapite's prose chapbook, Radiant Fog, has just debuted, and Jim Mason was reading with him as well. Mike was born and raised in Cleveland, the son of another Cleveland novelist, Ray DeCapite. Since his 20s, Mike has lived in San Francisco, London, and now (for many years) New York. He's a wonderful writer of place, of getting to and from places, and especially of moments in time and place. His recent piece over at Rust Belt Chic, "December," describes a moment in a cold Cleveland evening and reads like a gem of a prose poem. His novel Through the Windshield has been called a “Whitmanesque hymn to Cleveland” (Jocko Weyland, Rain Taxi). I loved his last chapbook, Creamsicle Blue, which traveled from New York to Cleveland to San Francisco and always back to New York. By his own admission, his writing often tells stories but he doesn't write stories per se. As a reader, I love watching him achieve a very delicate balance of description and revelation: as if his art is that of finding the right ratio of interior to exterior. What does a hidden road along the Cuyahoga River have to do with a particular feeling from 1982? Everything. The writer can taste the feeling in his mouth in the same way he can taste the cold air of that particular night, and the reader can taste it, too. Mike DeCapite has the touch for locating himself as a narrator.

Last night's reading was held at The Literary Café. I had the privilege of reading there with Mike in March of this year: The small bar they call "The Lit" has been serving beer and shots on Literary Road in Tremont since late 1991, and Mike DeCapite has been reading there something like once or twice a year for two decades. The bar itself (which hosts monthly readings and weekly life drawing sessions) is lined in a warm pine wood paneling and exposed brick, with touches of brightness everywhere—Christmas lights, framed drawings, a glowing face in the window, a fake fireplace burning away. The warmth of the customers, who seem to have known each other forever, is also palpable. 

Greetings from The Lit

As a reading audience, the scene at The Lit reminded me most of The New Yinzer Presents readings held at ModernFormations Art Gallery in Pittsburgh, or the Last Sunday, Last Rites reading series at the Baltimore Hostel. In each case, the audience knows each other well, and the coziness starts there. (People congregate in the center of the room and laugh and embrace, whereas at some New York readings, people arrive in ones and twos and hug the walls. Looking out from the stage, the room appears empty.) Beer flows at each of these reading series, but it doesn't interrupt the audience being highly attentive once the reading begins. At The Lit, I was especially impressed; the bar laughed heartily at many of my most subtle almost-jokes, at life's little ironies embedded in not-funny prose. They really got everything I was doing as a writer. In the end, I realized that I owed at least some thanks for that to Mike DeCapite. The degree to which our literary sensibilities overlapped was the degree to which his audience could easily pick up on my innuendos: These people were his readers—many had been reading and listening to him read for at least 20 years. This left me to ponder on the process and patience of building a long-term audience (in a city where you don't live anymore, no less!).

Graffiti on Cleveland Museum of Art's renovations

Cleveland: An old friend was going to meet me there from Ann Arbor. With the pending blizzard, we would have stayed in a hotel room, and in fact he got a last-minute great deal on the Renaissance Cleveland, right there in Public Square. I've only been to Cleveland a few times, but from Public Square I would have known where to eat breakfast (around the corner, inside the landmark Terminal Tower), how to get the city bus to the reading or to the Cleveland Museum of Art (the bus is $2.25, the museum is free), and which direction the Megabus stop was (in fact it's steps from the hotel). Did you know that Cleveland's city bus system runs 24 hours? Or that they have a bus line that's as close to being a light rail as you can get? It's similar to Pittsburgh's Busway, but where Pittsburgh's system avoids the traffic lights but is off the beaten path, Cleveland's Healthline (subsidized by the Cleveland Clinic) has a dedicated lane right down Euclid Avenue, the main thoroughfare between downtown and Case Western and the art museum. Enclosed bus stops have machines for bus tickets, which aren't collected by drivers but bought on an honor system; all doors open at every stop, which speeds service to an impressive efficiency. This all feels a bit like Rust Belt Luxury to me.

Pittsburgh isn't in the "snow belt" of lake effect snowfall, but it feels like a Great Lakes city here this weekend. The wind is blowing fierce and cold from the west, much colder than we've felt in a long time, and last night I went to bed with a hat on. But today I'm feeling, if not warm, then strong enough to handle the cold. I want to say it has something to do with being bundled up in the clothes I'd packed for a potential blizzard weekend in Cleveland and Ann Arbor. See you next time.

Blog in Temporary Slowdown Mode

My personal posts will be in slowdown mode as I go through a period of "restructuring", and rethinking.

The current, goal of having an active group blog looking at the good and bad of the art scene here and the real economic and social impact of good and bad design on the lives of people in the Cleveburgh region isn't close to being met.

The bad news is that I just don't see much upside in investing too much of my time in a blog too few are reading and participating in. (You can see my comments in places like Urbanophile) The good news is that several new people may be coming on board in the next few months with wider views of urbanism and the Cleveland Art world.

Until then, things are most likely to slow down but not die out to a few posts a week. Of course, you could breath life back in by contributing posts.

If you have thoughts, events, insight or images you want to share about art, music, film, urban design, architecture, transit or history in the Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Youngstown, Erie, Morgantown, Akron, Canton region--Cleveburgh, email me diggingpitt@gmail.com. We can hook you up to post.

This is not Hyper Local media, but regional media seeking local viewpoints.

Rebuilding the Cities That Built America : Pittsburgh, Youngstown, Cleveland Regional Conference : May 21st

Actually registration for this free event is now closed but at least I can say I gave you a heads up about it a week or two ago. I will be attending. They have done things like this before, usually in Youngstown, but this seems to be somehow bigger and more "serious".

■ Advancing an Older Industrial Cities National Policy Agenda
■ Land Acquisition Strategies
■ Regional Rail, Local Transit: A panel discussion on the benefits of transit for all
■ The University/City Connection
■ Strategies for Creating Greener, Sustainable Cities
■ Changing Times for CDCs
■ Making the Case, Taking it Home: What you can do to bring rail to the region
■ Community Organizing: Going Wide and Going Deep
■ Restoring Prosperity: Transforming Ohio’s communities for the next economy

A long list of speakers.

Co-ordination of regional arts assets not on the official agenda. Also, no mention of regional media either. (even though, small scale grass root things like The Sprout Fund and The Penn Avenue Arts Initiative and alternative media like POP City and Cool Cleveland have been so productive.)

Found a website for Rebuilding The Cities That Built America ,where they drop this bomb. I mean, straight up honesty like that is pretty rare. IMHO--Federal Government Policy and The Root Shock it caused is by far the single biggest factor in the destruction of America's cities, neigborhoods and entire civil society.

"As early as the 1940s, the Federal Government, led by agencies such as the Federal Housing Administration and the Department of Transportation, established policies that spawned suburban flight. As people continued to flee older industrial cities, they left behind cities ill equipped to adequately deal with the plethora of abandoned and vacant property. Since then, cities have resorted to dealing with vacant properties as best as their miniscule resources allow as they do not have sufficient funding to implement policies that will lead to sustainable development and community regeneration. Residential streets plagued with large, unsightly gaps between houses stand as silent witnesses to the cities whose budgets do not permit them to rebuild after they demolish properties, while properties that cannot be demolished decay and often become safety threats that they city has no means of repairing. Such unavoidable neglect has resulted in declining property values for the entire city, which has made businesses hesitant to invest in the area, and eventually has led to rampant unemployment, crime, and poverty.

Until recently older industrial cities largely have been neglected by the very government that created the conditions that led to their dilapidated state. However, vacant property has now become a national issue that the Federal Government cannot afford to ignore any longer, and a new piece of legislation introduced by Congressmen Time Ryan (OH17) and Brian Higgins (NY27) and Senators Sherrod Brown (OH) and Charles Schumer (NY) gives these cities reason to hope for restoration. The legislation, entitled The Community Regeneration, Sustainability and Innovation Act of 2009 (CRSI), would provide distressed communities with the resources necessary to implement large scale changes that will approach the issue holistically, thus restoring these cities to their former thriving condition.

CRSI encourages cities to adopt a holistic regeneration model that is used by communities worldwide. It will strongly encourage multi-jurisdictional or regional approaches to transforming vacant and abandoned property. This approach supports policy innovation, experimentation, and environmentally sustainable practices through collaborative efforts to reuse vacant properties in ways that will provide long-term benefits to the public, whether it is through the creation of green infrastructure, economic development, or other strategies. Implementation of such strategies will help reverse the over thirty year trend of depopulation, skyrocketing unemployment rates, and urban sprawl."

Anyway, I gotta go and have some hope this is a good networking opportunity and a chance to see a little bit of Youngstown. Not every city and small town has is gonna have major Research University or a pipe of federal or state cash. Doing more with what you have is the real deal wave of the future and Youngstown is doing that.

My Cleveburgh Mental Map Part 1

I never learned any even simple graphics programs, but I thought it might be good to put up a mental map of the region to more clearly define my primary area of interest.

Greater Cleveburgh

Northwest Corner --- Lorain, Ohio (or actually the middle of Lake Erie north of there-if your trying to keep things lined up)

Southwest Corner ---- Athens, Ohio (Home of Ohio University)

Southeast Corner -----Just southeast of Cumberland, Maryland

Northeast Corner -----Around Olean, New York

Why not it stretch a bit east and include Columbus or take it up to include Buffalo or Southeast to Baltimore and DC? Mostly, because one has to stop somewhere and this seems like a very logical place to start.

Why isn't State College included? A better question might be, why is Penn State really in the middle of nowhere at all and what effect does that have on it's value?
Is it really that crude and cras to talk about our return on investments this huge?

By the way, the People who built the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad seemed to have been thinking along these lines. Notice also the dense network of roads and cities in the center of this map--Warren, Youngstown, Akron that were built on a very clear logistical logic. Westinghouse, Cranberry, right near the middle of the map.

See The Idora Park Carousel : In New York

I imagine if your from Youngstown or have any memories of Idora Park, this video is very bittersweet. The truth is that I find this almost too upsetting to post about and I know almost nothing about this.

However, I can tell you as a former New Yorker, Your Carousel is very much alive--or at least perfectly restored and housed almost in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge cause i've seen it.



From The Wikipedia

"The park (Idora) opened as Terminal Park on May 30, 1899 which was Decoration Day. At that point in American history, it was common for trolley parks, or amusement parks, to sprout up at the end of trolley lines to generate weekend revenue. Without an admission fee, anyone who had the money for the trolley fare could go. The park's first season presented its guests a bandstand, theater, dance pavilion, a roller coaster, a circle swing, and concession stands. By the end of 1899, it was renamed "Idora Park" as a result of a contest.

When a bridge spanning the Mahoning River opened on Youngstown's Market Street on May 23, 1899, the entire South Side was unrolled for development. The trolley line linking the downtown to Idora Park ran south on Market, west on Warren, south on Hillman Street, Sherwood west to Glenwood Avenue, then cruised through Parkview Avenue (west) into the Idora terminal."



And then it died slow and ugly like a lot of things around those parts. But never forgotten.



Even more sad is that a lot of folks in NYC, don't even seem to want the Carousel--which to them is little more than an object, now so apart from the place that gave it meaning. Is there even a remote chance it could come back to Youngstown--perhaps as a centerpiece of it's downtown?

Interesting, that's for sure.

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.

Mental Maps Of Cleveburgh Part 1

"Amateurs talk tactics, dilettantes talk strategy and professionals
talk logistics." Military saying.

An outsider with even a slim knowledge of geography, and it's role in American economic history has to notice is the way the old mental maps and logical patterns that lead to the region's growth somehow got lost or distorted as state maps grew (based on the false idea that politics trumped physical reality) in importance. The problem is that the basic logistics that Andrew Carnegie and Cornelius Vanderbilt knew so well hasn't changed. We need their maps.

Heads up on a major Cleveburgh planning and brainstorming conference on May 21st in Youngstown.

If you have thoughts, insight or images you want to share about art, music, film, urban design, architecture, transit or history in the Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Youngstown, Erie, Morgantown, Akron, Canton region--Cleveburgh, email me diggingpitt@gmail.com. We can hook you up to post.

This is not Hyper Local media, but regional media seeking local viewpoints.

Yinz Weekly Cleveburgh Links

I think it's been more than a week but here's a random assortment of links and stories I came across. I know I missed a lot of stuff and need to get back to tweeting. What happened is I had some trouble with my password and havent bothered to fix it. I like Twitter.

Many of these links are worthy of stand alone posts, if I or someone else can get around to it. We need a at least one reporter from Cleveland.

Cleveland

A few blogs comment about the recent Cleveland International Film Festival, an event that seems to becoming one of the most loved city institutions.

Exraordinary Observations on CIFF . Favorites included The Joneses, Youngstown: Still Standing, and The Great Contemporary Art Bubble.

Brewed Fresh Daily offers further suggestions.

"I honestly think the film fest is one of the greatest assets to downtown Cleveland, and I only want to see it improve in the future. For that reason, I offer a few suggestions and other food for thought."

Extraordinary Observations talks about the myth of the electric car as cure for all environmental ills.

"Traffic - if you switched every vehicle on the road today into a pure electric-vehicle, you would have exactly the same amount of traffic that you have now."

Parking: "Replace every car on the road with an EV and you've solved none of the parking issues."

"Mutilated Urbanism - you know all of those suburban subdivisions and strip malls and car-dependent suburbs? Switching to EVs won't reverse any of that. "

Infrastructure (all those costs still exist and they are far higher than most people think)

I added this comment, Depending on the way the electricity is generated, electric cars could actually be a step backwards.

"In case people don't know this, Coal is the primary electric generating fuel (in America) which means that unless there are radical changes, electric cars would actually be burning coal. It just wouldn't be coming out of the tail pipe.Given that the country is both broke and the Saudi Arabia of coal, doesn't bode well for our environmental future."

Cleveland Scene reviews the Fiber Arts Show @ Wall Eye Gallery

Cleveland Scene has a good Video of the North East Ohio band, Case Sensitive Music.

Reason Magazine posts a series of videos on saving Cleveland, hosted by Drew Carey. Freedom is the answer but it ain't gonna happen.

Renovating The Rust Belt muses about development and gentrification.

Cleveland.com reports that a foundation is giving 12 million dollars to renovate a wonderful synagogue into a performing arts center for Case Western. The trick is that it will still be used as a temple part time! Exiting, but they need more $$$$$$$$.

"It is such a win, win, win, win, win," said Rabbi Richard Block, senior rabbi of the temple. "When this thing is finished, it's going to be something that's bigger than any of us could have imagined. There are concentric circles of joy in this project."

The Maltz gift brings the university nearly halfway to its goal of raising $25.6 million for the renovation of the 100,000-square-foot temple complex, at 1855 Ansel Road, just west of East 105th Street in University Circle."

Cleveland Area History blog talks about the (somewhat convenient) loss by fire of a historic church in the shadow of The Cleveland Clinic.

Face it, anyone familiar with the way Cleveland treats it's history and the way it's giant "non profits" treat the city knew it was a goner anyway.

Pittsburgh

The Post Gazette talks about a project in Braddock that could seriously help purify drinking water in developing countries.

"We're going to train people to make [the water filters] in Braddock," he said. "Braddock will be our worldwide training center to make filters to save people who are less fortunate. We're entrepreneurs. We'll get [workers in Braddock] set up, teach them the technology, quality control and marketing. We can build an industry right here."

Dick and Jeff Schwarz, an adjunct professor at Allegheny College, have already turned the basement of the Braddock Carnegie Library into a training center for teenagers and retirees eager to learn how to make the life-saving devices."

Real Clear Politics pegs PA as the most competitive political battlefield in the 2010elections.

An EPA report linked by Null Space shows relative strength in inner city housing markets particularly those supported by mass transit.

"The data show that, compared to the early 1990s, the share of construction in urban neighborhoods was up 28 percent in mid-sized metropolitan regions that have promoted redevelopment of underused sites and development around transit, such as Portland, Ore; Denver, Colo.; and Sacramento, Calif. For example, in 2008 Portland issued 38 percent of all the building permits within its region, compared to an average of 9 percent in the early 1990s; Denver accounted for 32 percent, up from 5 percent; and Sacramento accounted for 27 percent, up from 9 percent.

The latest report shows that an even stronger trend toward urban redevelopment in the largest metropolitan regions continued in 2008. New York City accounted for 63 percent of the building permits issued within its region. By comparison, the city averaged about 15 percent of regional building permits during the early 1990s. Similarly, Chicago now accounts for 45 percent of the building permits within its region, up from just 7 percent in the early 1990s."

Next American City talks about "Pittsburgh's Biking Moment." Also via Null Space

Null Space also clued me in on what looks like a must read on a subject that deserves serious thought.



The new Pitt Magazine published By The University Of Pittsburgh, has a nice article, which barely touches on the long proud and very important history of The Pittsburgh Courier

The August Wilson Center names it's new Director--(kind of old news.)

More Pittsburgh and Cleveland Artist And Gallery Links Up

I'm slowly building up my Cleveburgh artists and art organization links which are finally starting to seem worthwhile. As, you can see, there are more assets there than a lot of people might suspect.

One big thing that attracts me is that unlike Pittsburgh, Cleveland really seems to have really large amounts of the kinds of large scale warehouse and manufacturing spaces perfect for artists. Imagine if we started to look at the region as a greater whole--someday linked by efficient rail networks. This deep well of available space should enable us maintain a cost advantage long after Pittsburgh has become hopelessly hip. (which I'm afraid is really a threat) Whatever, one thinks of Pittsburgh, it really is hard to really do growth here because of the hills and weird geography. Cleveland doesn't have that issue in the same way.

My guess is that these warehouse and old manufacturing buildings and districts are more interesting than a lot of it's single family housing stock most of which never reaches the critical density levels needed to support real neighborhoods.

Comment with your opinions please. I don't know Cleveland in the way I should. Like it or not it ain't moving away.

Drew Carey And Reason TV Look At Cleveland

Enough about the mistake on the lake already. No doubt, we would rather not think about Cleveland or Ohio in general, but like it or not our city, which was built largely on the manufacturing relationships and rail and water based transport links to the Midwest, cannot fully separate our fate from theirs.

As the recession drags on, the region is getting more press coverage as some of it's cities can no longer avoid radical transformations. The America of the near future will have to do much more with much less and face a lot of the issues that have hit the rust belt first.

The first three episodes are up and more will come in the next few days. Follow it here.

Some Pittsburgh and Cleveburgh Artist Links Up

You might have noticed the evolving sidebar, now includes a somewhat more rational breakdown of my link list. Media, and blog links are separated from other arts institutions and now there are links to a sampling of local artists which will get a bit longer.

I will not be linking to every artist in Pittsburgh. This list is an attempt to show some of the richness around here but it's also a bit tilted towards artists that have achieved some level of "success" beyond the local area. They do exist and more are coming. Artists are rarely considered to be a significant economic asset in the region.

Also, one may have noticed that I included a lot of people who's work blurs the line between art and technology. It's entirely possible that the next big job creating tech startup will emerge from one of these artist's efforts. Obviously, a lot of these people have "day jobs" in those fields and are feeding off a growing community here.

Cleveburgh Collaboration Idea # 1 : Mega College Art Exhibit

This is a copy of a post I first did in 2006, very soon after I started this blog, when my gallery alive. It seemed pretty self evident, at least from a distance that the "Cleveburgh" region, spanning say, Morgantown/Wheeling/Pittsburgh//Youngstown, Akron/Cleveland/Erie gathered in a lot potentially deluxe and valuable assets. Why don't we use them better?

"When I came to Pittsburgh, I did so with the awareness that the region is home to a lot of respected art programs. CMU, WVU, Penn State, IUP, Edinboro, and Kent State come to mind. I knew a few great artists who had gone to these schools while living in NY and I hoped to be making it out to see a lot of the MFA shows but this has not happened. I was very lucky to catch LeRoy's great show at IUP almost by chance.

In NY right now it seems like the MFA shows are not to be missed part of the scene. Here is some blog buzz to give one an idea of the fever here, here, here, here, here, here, and in LA, -- here, here, here, and in San Francisco-- here, here and Philly--- here.

Now we are all by now aware and a lot of us are a bit mad about the almost pedaphilic interest that the current art world has for hot creative flesh and the MFA's evolution and merger with the debutante ball seems gross. But in this region one can see that the reverse is not good either. There are many serious artist's flowing through these schools whose work deserves to at least be seen. For many, the MFA show is the culmination of some of the most concentrated studio work they will ever have a chance to do. Unfortunatly, most of it will just be seen my a tiny number of academic insiders and students. This is wrong and a huge lost oportunity for the students.

Wouldn't it be so great if these schools started getting serious about interacting with the wider world and started working on joint MFA shows. For the last 2 years 8 schools in Southern California have worked thier MFA shows into a single art blitz called "Supersonic". ( here, here and here is more dope on Supersonic )Couldn't something like that be done in Pittsburgh, using empty spaces in the city?"


A great idea for any city in the Cleveburgh Region. I doubt you lack the space.