our adolescent bombast has a life of its own

In the ’60s, a Future Candidate Poured Her Heart Out in Letters - New York Times -- This is an interesting look at the turbulent times of the college scene in the late '60s and what young people did before Facebook. I'd imagine little of my own turgid prose survives, and the world's probably better off for that.

What I do recall, and what this NYT piece reminds me about, is that these were exciting times, years when change accelerated as though in a cyclotron, finally coming to a jarring halt by running head-on into the wall that we now call The Great Society. But, we only know this now, as we look into the rear-view mirror, from the ambulance.

Back then, we thought that we could take over and work through government to solve all of our society's ills. So did Hilary. Most of us now think differently.

PLJ articulates the points, for us, and for the other two

Medical Mart is a great idea, but the sales tax is the wrong way to pay for it - cleveland.com -- Jeff Buster over at RealNEO alerted me to this intelligent opinion-piece by Peter Lawson Jones. He certainly is the articulate one of the county-commissioner trio, and rational, too. The way he's phrasing it is a good way to begin the community dialogue. He's a uniter, not a divider. He's leading. Here's an excerpt:

Some assert that immediately raising the sales tax is the only viable Medical Mart/Convention Center funding option because "time is of the essence" and my proposal is too complex. I am not urging procrastination. Every element of my plan could be finalized by November. Is there reason to believe that, if the financing package were not in place until then, the potential developer's professed ardor for locating the complex here would lessen?

And what is so intricate about a funding package that includes reasonable private-sector support and public resources that are both available to the county and eminently equitable?

Like so many civic leaders and citizens, I sing the praises of the proposed Medical Mart/Convention Center. The crafting of a plan that most fairly finances it need not be sacrificed in our efforts to realize the project's promise. The proposed sales tax increase must be our last, not first, resort.

will the real throwback please stand up?

CoolCleveland.com - Straight Outta Mansfield Polenseks Rage -- I read old, tired diatribes like this one we have from Mansfield Frazier and wonder why this guy has a forum at all. This is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black, or more specifically, "a throwback" and "White" with a capital "W" to boot. We were over in the Waterloo Road district yesterday, talking to people who have a stake there, and they told us they Mansfield can't begin to presume to speak for them, and that he was "bought and sold" --by whom, they didn't specify. All I know is that Mansfield is deeply discounted over off Waterloo, by just about everybody.

This is about good neighbors, and bad neighbors. "A clash of cultures"? Nonsense...drivel. Mansfield, let's quit the posturing; I don't know what audience you're playing for, but the act is old and tired. If you continue to have a forum, use it to benefit the community. Unite it; integrate it. Quit trying to form factions. Point out what we have in common. Try to lead. Get everybody moving in the same direction. If you're given a forum, you have a responsibility. Assume it.

their inherited birthright, your intrinsic loss

When Mobile Phones Aren’t Truly Mobile - New York Times -- I'm still wondering how Verizon can disallow use of VoIP over EV-DO broadband, to protect their cellphone franchise. We're starting to realize that these guys are actually proprietary and anti-competitive; they're bad for business and get in the way of progress, as they tend to their self-interests first, and to those of the customer someplace after that. Remember, their first duty is to the company and its shareholders; the customer is a target of opportunity. There are interesting comments in this article from Massachusetts' Ed Markey.

WIRELESS carriers in the United States are spiritual descendants of dear Ma Bell: they view total control over customers as their inherited birthright.

The younger generation — Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and the namesake child AT&T — would make their hallowed matriarch proud. They do everything they can to keep power firmly in their own hands. It is entirely at the carriers’ discretion to permit, or disable, the features that a factory loads into the newest phones. They also decide which software can be installed and how it may be used. Many wireless subscribers have ruefully become acquainted with gotcha clauses in their contracts. (more)

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.

my solution: I'm just not going to play when it comes to paying the sales tax

Convention Center sales tax would end in 20 years - Cleveland Metro News – The Latest Breaking News, Photos and Stories from The Plain Dealer -- be sure to click through to look at the picture (respectfully called large_mart, not lard_mart) of the commissioners--perhaps the PD won't mind if we post it here as well. Tell me, are these happy campers?

Today, I took delivery from UPS of $112.22 worth of office supplies. They were exactly what I wanted, not what OfficeMaxx or Staples had on hand for me. I paid no county sales tax. I was ecstatic. I am doing my part to control my office's own little destiny and keep money out of the hands of the nefarious JimmyTimmy combo at the same time.

Just for spite and to put these jokers on notice, I'll go buy some fall clothes down in Wooster--Wayne County--next month. Perhaps we can even take a clothes-buying trip to Philadelpia, where there is no sales tax on shoes or clothes. Then we'll think where we should go buy the next car. Should I get my computers and peripherals on line? Of course. What other big buys can I shift out of Cuyahoga County?

Eventually, the only people who will be paying the Cuyahoga County tax will be those who have no internet access and those who can't leave the county to make their big buys. These boys are killing commerce to take care of short-term, self-declared solutions, bending us over and calling it a kindness. Let's face it, when we elected them, we put our money into the wrong hands. They're not trustworthy. They have no common sense. They do not respect numbers. They're withholding information. They're treating us as though we're stupid. Why are we putting up with this?

Of course, when the overall sales county-wide fall off and sales tax revenue heads towards the basement, they can always pick another popular target to tax, like smokers, and do it in the name of the arts, or the children. Maybe we can call it Issue 18-squared.

Consider, too, that if all the big-ticket sales leave the county, the only viable retail will be the Dollar Stores. Remember this the next time you hear JimmyTimmy mouth off about the benefits of their sales tax increase. Remember next time you go to the polls. The money's in the wrong hands. Fix it. Fix it good.

before the storm, prelude to an exorcism

Storm sweeps through opening-night of Ingenuity - Cleveland Metro News – The Latest Breaking News, Photos and Stories from The Plain Dealer--Here's a picture of my goombah George Nemeth (hey, Goombah George, that has a ring to it!) and me right before the onset of the storm yesterday at the Ingenuity Festival. It was brief, it was violent, it was a huge surprise. It was almost as though the festival had created enough positive energy to exorcise whatever demons have been bedeviling this town these past few years, and they left indignant, but they left, and then the sun shone again as we prepared for the dawn of the new Golden Age, ingeniously. (The photo's compliments of Thomas Mulready of the CoolCleveland networks.

finding myself, revisited: suddenly transported

As of a few hours ago, I find that the MeetTheBloggers area for the Ingenuity Festival is now moved across the street, somewhere in between the State and the Palace Theatres. See you there, on my quest in search of my true location for the next few days.

on being ingenious, and finding myself

I needed to exercise ingenuity a bit early to find where MeetTheBloggers was listed on the http://www.ingenuitycleveland.com/ website. I needed to know so that I could tell my mother and all my friends to come on down and visit, and here's the link. Well, the link is this, http://www.ingenuitycleveland.com/files/images/IngSchedPrintBW2pg.pdf, and the listing is buried in a PDF, but what the heck, I found my future self coexisting with Peter Whitehouse at 1430 Euclid Avenue for the duration. Come on down. It's at or near the Hanna Building.

the Vancouver vibe

36 Hours in Vancouver - New York Times--Most agree that Vancouver is one of the most cosmopolitan and liveable cities there is. Notice a few of its attributes in the article--it has restored (not "developed") its older districts, it is a 24-hour economy, it has public transit and bicycle traffic, it's walkable, and it capitalizes on its parks and its waterfront. A friend of mine from New York, now living in San Diego and Vancouver, tells me that being a black man is a totally different experience there as well; he's assimilated, or integrated, or just allowed to be himself; he leaves the baggage at the US border.

Perhaps we can learn a few things from Vancouver, and its "vibe".