from our Ingenuity Festival experience: things we'd like to see

We're having a good experience with the Ingenuity Festival, but it brings to the fore things we'd like to see around Cleveland.

First of all, the bus service has not been very good. Thursday, the first day of the festival, Gloria and I took the 79 in at different times of the afternoon. Each of us had to walk from Public Square out to Playhouse Square. The 6 and the E-Line did not accommodate us at any time in our 15-block trek. That means, to me, that they're running too infrequently to be useful, unless you have all the time in the world and can hang out around a bus stop until something shows up.

In the evenings, we've had to cut short our time at Ingenuity to catch the last bus home. They should run all night. They should be something you can count on.

They run way too infrequently. We have had far too many hour-long waits. They should run at quarter-hour to half-hour intervals. The routes should interconnect, on a timed basis, and you should be able to leapfrog your way across town in any number of combinations. For this to happen, I would think the routes have to be shorter.

Specific to the Ingenuity Festival, it seems the buses don't come near it. We found we had to walk from East 14th Street down to East Ninth Street before we had access to the E-Line. It should be routed onto 14th Street for the Festival, to bring people in and take people out of the area. This is a major happening, and it deserves better public-transit support.

Another thing we'd like to see are more restaurants and coffee shops in the downtown area that are open later at night. The Town Fryer is not open for late food any more. There are no 24-hour places until you get to West 117th Street, or Memphis, and I don't really count the Rapid Stop on East 55th as a place where anyone would want to hang out.

This is still sort of a little hick town where they roll up the streets and shut down the buses before midnight; this is not anything that could be termed "cosmopolitan." I would hope this can change. You can build all the convention centers and the merchandise marts you want, but if you don't have the amenities of a big city, nothing flies.

You have to build traffic and usage first. People have to feel safe, they have to have mobility options, and they have to have round-the-clock havens and destinations.

going tactical

Here's an email I am in the process of sending out today to get people downtown tomorrow. This is the start of something bigger than just us, bigger than Cleveland, bigger than Ohio, and it bodes well for all of us. Let's make it happen:

Dear Tim--

We're going tactical on the issue of the sales tax. On July 12th at noon downtown in the Cleveland Public Library auditorium, Cool Cleveland and MeetTheBloggers are conducting a genuine public forum, where everybody gets a chance. Here's Thomas Mulready's commentary from the CoolCleveland newsletter just out this morning:

Commune. Communicate. Community. These are Cleveland's buzz words this week. With the critical issue of a convention center and medical mart in play because of a proposed county tax increase, we felt that the legal minimum two public sessions didn't give the community enough of an opportunity to discuss, raise questions and pose issues. So we're hosting our own Forum this Thu 7/12, increasing public debate by 50%, and you're invited to join us . . . keep the flow of communication open. By the way, the antonym of "communicate" is "hush up," "keep secret," or "suppress." We don't think that's very Cleveland-like, do you? --Thomas Mulready

Here are more details of the event and the instructions for registering (even though it's free, only a few hundred of you can fit)--

Cuyahoga County sales tax for convention center & medical mart-- Join your Cool Cleveland colleagues at this free and open Community Forum on July 12, 2007 from noon to 1:30PM at the Cleveland Public Library, 325 Superior Avenue N.E. in Downtown Cleveland, in the Louis Stokes Wing Auditorium.
While a number of subject matter experts will be invited to invited to be in the audience as resources in the fields of government, economic development and convention centers, this Community Forum is designed to allow the public to ask questions and raise issues about the 1/4% sales tax recently proposed by the Cuyahoga County Commissioners to raise money for a yet-to-be-determined convention center and attached medical mart. There will be no panels, no presentations and no speakers. After a brief outline of the issue, the public will be invited to step up to the microphones and raise questions and issues, which will be transcribed and then posted to http://www.CoolCleveland.com, http://www.BrewedFreshDaily.com and the http://www.MeetTheBloggers.net network of top regional blog sites.

To attend, please register by clicking here: http://www.coolcleveland.com/forums/071407/index.php

To post your comment or question in advance, or if you are unable to attend, please click here: http://www.brewedfreshdaily.com/2007/07/03/coolclevelandcombfdmtbyoucool-community-forums/

A copy of the press release is available for download as a PDF here: http://www.coolcleveland.com/doc/SalesTaxForumAnnouncement.pdf


The event appears on Upcoming.org here: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/215136/

Gloria gives background and perspective to the event in two blog posts:

http://www.gloriaferris.net/2007/07/just-in-time-for-thursday/

http://www.gloriaferris.net/2007/07/and-here-is-what-i-want-to-know/

There's a lot going on. This is becoming huge. It's no longer just about Cleveland; the whole county and the region are about to take the shot, unless we take our government and our money back.

We hope to see you there at noon tomorrow. Feel free to share this email, tactically.

Tim Ferris

this morning, I have warm thoughts about the PD

Actors bring dead to life in cemetery- cleveland.com -- our neighborhood troupe is in the PD today, featuring tomorrow's tour. We're extremely grateful for the coverage. Mike O' Malley and Josh Gunter did some splendid work here, and we hope they had as much fun in the process as we did. Thanks!

well, isn't that special . . .

Blogger & Podcaster -- I just stumbled across this magazine catering to a new target market. They emailed me a complimentary access to the online interactive edition, and I would imagine you could get one, too. It turns out that blogs are becoming a driving force in "moving the masses." They also act as the filtration system for choosing podcasts. The content here in B&P validates what your gut already knows, and it's comforting. George Nemeth was (and still is) years ahead of his time creating the synergy between BFD and the other area blogs with MTB. Such a smart boy, such a mother's angel . . ."This is a nice boy. This is a good boy. This is a mother's angel. And I want the world to know once and for all, and without any shame, that we love him."

Timothy Leary, '42: Flashbacks from Mount Saint James

College of the Holy Cross Holy Cross Magazine -- This Timothy Leary retrospective piece just appeared in our alumni magazine; I guess I had more of a heritage than I knew when I matriculated at HC in 1964. Had I known what a tough act I had to follow, I would have tried harder, or at least been more irrationally exuberant. Hoya!

great news from Tremont

Plain Press: The Community Newspaper Serving Cleveland's West Side Neighborhoods -- great article here about Sammy Catania providing new leadership at the Tremont nonprofit, news about reinvolving the neighbors, expanding wi-fi using local contractors, security cameras to enhance safety, branding with a logo that sounds attractive and cool, fostering transparency and communication, building out the community, strengthening the networks already there. This bears watching, perhaps emulating.

"an extra helping of attitude and entitlement..."

Maybe we should call it Cleveland Shopkins -- I loved the letters to the editor in yesterday's Sunday PD, the letters about the Ricky Smith article on Tuesday, in which Ricky inadvertently shows his true stripe: He really doesn't want to serve the public as much as he wants to use the public.

When we had the MTB interview with Fred Krum down at CAK, the message was service, service, service, resulting in a pleasant travel experience that a passenger would willingly replicate or repeat. CAK is prospering and seems to be on an advertising offensive all over the region--their yellow signs are everywhere, at least in the more expensive advertising media. CAK apparently has the financial means to advertise, and now Ricky, saddled with one billion of debt, wants to go still further into debt to counter their blitz:

Smith said he is putting together a strategic plan for Hopkins. He said he
wants to bring in new airlines and launch an aggressive marketing campaign,
partly to compete with the recent advertising blitz by Akron-Canton Airport.
Smith said he also wants to improve the looks of the airport's terminal and
customer services, including taxi service.

"It's crucial that the airport runs well, has strong customer service programs and that it's aesthetically pleasing," he said. "All I've done is put paint on the walls. I haven't done anything yet."

hoya boys

The Holy Cross Fraternity -- I'm glad others like Father Brooks as much as I do. Each year when he used to breeze into town around this time of year for the annual NEO alumni dinner, he was like a breath of fresh air--or more specifically, a breath of Boston--for those of us who hadn't heard or had an Eastern Massachusetts accent for a while. Note that there are two side features here, one a slide show in which you see a youthful Ted Wells, pre-Scooter-Libby, and another in which Clarence Thomas makes a rare concession to the MSM and grants an interview, because Father Brooks asked him. Another Brooks fan who just recently popped up is Mark Holowesko of Templeton. Jesuits have an impact, to be sure.

Dovilla's back, sort of

Three months ago, we covered Mike Dovilla's departure for the zone, the theater. Today, he's back with us, in a way, because he is announcing his new blog presence. I got this from an email he sent out St. Patrick's Day:

Dear Friends,

My blog on cleveland.com is now live and can be accessed at: http://blog.cleveland.com/baghdad/

I wish to thank The Plain Dealer, especially Denise Polverine, editor of cleveland.com, for this opportunity to share my story – and Frank O'Grady, my good friend and one of our most indefatigable volunteers during last year's Congressional campaign, for his helping in setting up and maintaining the blog. We will be updating this page regularly, so visit "early and often."

Please keep in touch.

All the best,

Mike