Sustainable Cleveland

The recent oil spill crisis in the Gulf Coast illustrates the need for our nation to aggressively move towards cleaner renewable energy resources. For the U.S. to successfully compete in the emerging green economy, cities must begin integrating the tenets of sustainability into there economic development growth strategies. With its Sustainable Cleveland 2019 Initiative, Cleveland has gone above and beyond to do just that.

Started in August 2009, the Sustainable Cleveland 2019 initaitive is focused on transforming Cleveland’s economy into a sustainable economy and the city into a green city on a blue lake. During its first summit, the initiative convened over 700 local and global thought leaders in green technology and sustainability. After the three day summit, attendees developed a robust action plan to help the city begin its efforts towards revitilizing the local economy. Some of the recommendations included:

-Positioning Cleveland and Lake Erie as the center of the offshore wind industry in the U.S.

-Creating a Global Center for Sustainable Design and Manufacturing to help promote R&D between local businesses and universities.

-Develop new metrics to measure sustainability efforts.

-Raise $100 million for the development of a Regional Sustainability Development Fund that would invest and support green ventures.

While many of these recommendations may seem far reaching, they are exactly the type of bold ideas Cleveland will need to implement in order to successfully adapt and compete in the green economy of the 21st century.

Check out some of the links below to learn more about the Sustainable Cleveland 2019 Initiative:

City of Cleveland: Sustainable Cleveland 2019

The Green City Blue Lake Blog

Sustainable Cleveland 2019 Ning Network

Cleveland's Job Creation Future

Like many cities in the Rust Belt, Cleveland has struggled to reinvent its economy. The erosion of Cleveland’s manufacturing sector has not only undermined its once competitive edge, it has also triggered massive brain drain. According to the most recent report from the U.S. Census, Cleveland has witnessed an average population loss of 1% each year for the past decade: roughly about 45,000 residents. Job losses have also been immense in the area with the city losing roughly over 150,000 jobs over the past two decades. Even more striking is the fact that Cleveland has witnessed the exodus of many of its largest companies, which has further eroded the city’s base as a global economic hub.

However, beyond all the troubling statistics, Cleveland is well on its way towards revitalizing its entrepreneurial ecosystem. Understanding that the city’s economic future was at a pivotal crossroads, in 2004 leaders from all sectors came together to form JumpStart, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing intensive entrepreneurial development assistance to entrepreneurs leading high potential, early-stage companies. With many early successes it has quickly become a national model for new venture creation. John Torinus of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in his most recent article highlights that Cleveland’s jobs commitment is an enviable model. One of the most fascinating findings from Torinus's piece is that the fact that out of all of the 47 companies JumpStart has invested in, only three failed. According to Ray Leach, JumpStart’s CEO, the ventures created by the non-profit have helped to create over 700 jobs. This is a promising statistic, especially in an economy where every job matters.

For Cleveland to succeed in today’s innovative, knowledge based economy, it is clear that small-business creation will need to be a key ingredient. With small businesses accounting for 70% of all new job creation, cities now more than ever need to do whatever it takes to create the right entrepreneurial and regulatory climate for them to prosper. So far, with JumpStart and other key initiatives, Cleveland seems to be doing all the right things to ensure that it can help lead the Rust Belt towards a path of sustained economic vitality.

Community Policing

By Andrew Adrian-Karlin
Contributing Writer

Cleveland has a crime problem. We have triple the national average of violent crime per hundred thousand people and double the national average of property crime per hundred thousand. We need to do something about it. If we want Cleveland to be a livable city people cannot be afraid to leave their house at night and walk down the street, to go to a park in the evening or park their car overnight.

There are a hundred different things that contribute to this problem and solutions to each that will help. Rehabilitation along with imprisonment, an improved economy and more jobs available, better schools and a better funded and more effective police force to name a few. The problem is that most, if not all of these take time to implement. There is something that we as a public can help solve this that costs us nothing and can be done immediately, community policing.

When most people hear about community policing they think of the neighborhood watch and nosy neighbors with nothing better to do with their time. Community policing is just making sure that there are open lines of communication between the police and the community. It is as simple as knowing a couple of officers that patrol your area so that you feel comfortable talking to them if you ever need to. It is about understanding what officers do on a day-to-day basis and learning from them what we can do to take back our streets from those who would commit crimes. It is about changing the oppositional attitude between ordinary citizens and the police that so often colors our interactions.

When I looked into what can be done to bridge the gap between the community and the police I expected to find that the department was lacking in options for the community, but they aren’t. Everything from inspecting your home for security and neighborhood watch programs to auxiliary policing and a citizen’s academy, they have a large number of programs to reach out to the community. While it would be nice if they had more foot patrols so citizens could see them and interact with them on a regular basis, that is something limited by funding and the number of available officers.

Everything I see says that the Cleveland Police Department has done what it can to provide the community with resources to help fight crime around us. However, if you are anything like me, you haven’t ever really thought about getting your building a security inspection, or taking the citizen’s academy, or just sitting outside in the evening instead of inside to make sure that someone is watching the street. So, if community policing can help our communities and the police are prepared for us to stand up and help them, then let’s do it. Here is what I am asking all of my readers today. Do one thing this week to promote community safety, take a class, sit outside in the evening, organize or participate in a neighborhood watch, or maybe just call the police when you see something suspicious. If it works out, maybe do something else towards this next week and while you are at it, post what you did below.

The Detroit Schools Crisis: A New Economic Reality?

This week, 30 schools in Detroit will be closing due to budget cuts and declining enrollment. The Cleveland Metropolitan School District will also close 16 schools this year.

Is the downsizing of schools a new economic reality for the urban core?

Check out the coverage and add your thoughts to the conversation:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37642350/ns/us_news-life/

LeBron James and the Future of Cleveland’s Economy

For any avid NBA fan, it’s hard to escape the hype surrounded by the free agency of LeBron James. Since being drafted in 2003, James has rejuvenated the Cleveland Cavaliers as one of the league’s best teams. His ability to transform the Cavs as a premier basketball franchise has also impacted Cleveland’s local economy. As any Cleveland fan will tell you, downtown Cleveland has the energy of any major metropolis during basketball season. However, once James and company have left the court, downtown returns to its fledgling state, leaving many to worry about future of Cleveland’s local economy in an era without one of the world’s biggest superstars.

Adam Miller, corespondent for the Bleacher Report, weighs in on the immense impact James has had on the economy of Cleveland. In his piece, Miller, coins the term “Lebrononomics”, to highlight how James has already helped the city of Cleveland outperform market expectations. Currently, the Cleveland Cavaliers are the fifth most valuable team in the NBA, while the city is only ranked 18th in nation in terms of its standing as a premier basketball market. Other larger markets are beginning to recognize the economic potential of signing James. A recent Chicago business article estimated that if the Chicago Bulls sign Lebron James, it could bring almost $3 billion to the city. It’s clear that the implications for Cleveland could be devastating without James. In 2009, local tax revenues totaled $491 million, which is only $15 million more than what the Cavs are worth currently. This value without a doubt would drop dramatically with the departure of number 23. While it is a big leap to say that Cleveland’s entire economy is built on James, the city has certainly benefited as the local hotel, restaurant industry, and merchandise stores have all boomed in the era of “Lebrononomics”.

While I am one of the cities most passionate basketball fans, it is disheartening to find that so much of our downtown revival depends on an athlete. Local politicians are planning major outreach campaigns to woo James, and even citizens are mobilizing movements on Twitter and Facebook. Everyday it seems as if there is one more campaign or initiative to keep our best player. I wonder would happen if the people of Cleveland, with the support of our local officials, put the same vigor and excitement into mobilizing the city to reform our schools or attract new businesses.  For decades we have invested tax dollars and other resources to build stadiums and other developments that we think will solve our economic ills. But despite these investments, our city remains stymied by double digit employment and high levels of crime. For Cleveland to be competitive in the 21st century it is imperative that we get our priorities straight. The problems are too big and the stakes are too high.

Cleveland's History, A Green Future

By Andrew Adrian-Karlin

Contributing Writer

Cleveland dwells on its history. Go anywhere that people are discussing Cleveland’s future and you will hear conversations about what the city once was. The consensus is that Cleveland was once a blue-collar, union metropolis, and a capital of American industrial production. This matters.

Cleveland’s industry built a city with a strong foundation of beautiful historic buildings, buildings that can help serve as the bedrock to build the “green-collar” jobs that are the future of our nation’s economy. While they are beautiful, and cheap to use (Commercial space for rent in Cleveland costs around $18.02 per square foot, in Chicago $36.53, in Pittsburgh $22.54) what also matters is that using historic buildings is green. In manpower, materials and energy the cost in tons of carbon to build a new office is significantly higher than the cost to refurbish an older building or use a modern one. If a business is looking to be carbon neutral they can cheaply put themselves in the heart of Cleveland with little environmental impact. 

Not only that, but Cleveland has an abundance of public transportation that other cities with the same cost of living don’t. The new health line running from East Cleveland through University Circle, the Cleveland Clinic and CSU is great for commuting and the RTA was voted the best public transportation in North America by the American Public Transportation Association in 2007. The future of our nation is green and Cleveland is poised to deliver on that future.

President Obama, in a speech at Carnegie Mellon University, on the economy, asked if anyone could have expected Pittsburgh to fare better than other rust belt cities and “reemerge as a center for technology and green jobs, health care, and education.” Cleveland has the ability to do the same and is well suited for it. We are already home to some of the nation’s best hospitals, great universities and have some of the nation’s best technology infrastructure. If we already have these and the historical infrastructure that should be attractive to green businesses, then I would like to explore what we can do to position Cleveland as a leader in green jobs. 

The Why Cleveland Matters Blog on Cleveland.com

Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Regina Brett features the Why Cleveland Matters Blog today in her column. Check out the write up below: 

Why Cleveland matters

By Regina Brett

Is it the world-class Cleveland Orchestra? The international airport? The Cleveland Institute of Music? The Cleveland Museum of Art? The Cleveland Metroparks? The Browns, Indians or Cavs? The wild array of immigrants who dedicated their lives to build this town?

Why does Cleveland matter?

Justin Bibb asks the question in a new blog Why Cleveland Matters: The Purpose.

He was born and raised here, grew up in the Union Miles / Mount Pleasant area. I wrote about him ten years ago when he was a seventh grader at Shaker Middle School and was struggling to be respected. He was teased and tormented for being a smart black kid. He believed in dreaming big.

Justin ended up studying at American University in D.C. where he got a degree in urban studies with a concentration in leadership. He also studied at the London School of Economics.

He just started a blog that poses the question: Why does Cleveland matter?

If you work, live or play in Cleveland, why does this city matter to you?

Cleveland's Drop-Out Rate

President Barack Obama gave a speech today to a group of Michigan high school graduates in an effort to call the nation to action to solve our high school graduation epidemic. In his speech, he told students “Don’t make excuses. Take responsibility not just for your successes but for your failures as well.’’

Without question, the stakes are high for our nation when it comes to this issue of our high school drop-out rate. National data tell us that every 26 seconds another student drops out of school -- totaling more than 1.3 million students per year. Even more striking is the fact that, each year, due to more than 20 million high school drop outs, ages 20-67, the United States loses more than $50 billion in potential state and federal income tax revenues. For Cleveland, the story doesn’t get any better. According to the Ohio Department of Education, Cleveland's high school graduation rate is less than 54%, one of the lowest in the United States. The key to Cleveland’s competitiveness in the 21'st century lies in its ability to transform how we think about reforming education.

For far too long, we have had too many status quo conversations about how we fix our schools. Cleveland can’t become a world class city unless we find away to ensure that every child in our community has the tools to be competitive in today’s knowledge based economy. Achieving this goal will require every person in the community to take responsibility for our children’s future. This notion of shared responsibility is the only way to ensure we develop the right interventions to fix such a complex issue. Not one teacher, policymaker, or business leader can do it alone.

Creating meaningful education reform in Cleveland also will require having difficult policy conversations around the role that teachers unions, charter schools, and parents have in empowering our children. Other ideas such as merit-based bay for teachers, school choice, and principal autonomy all need to be a part of the current debate. We can longer afford to shy away from embracing real reform.

Throughout the course of this blog, I will lay out more concrete ideas around education policy. Creating a movement in our city around fixing our schools is perhaps the biggest issue in making Cleveland relevant in the 21st century. Without good schools, our city will not be able to create the right entrepreneurial and creative climate needed for a thriving metropolitan center.

Why Cleveland Matters: The Purpose

Today, I begin my own of journey of answering one question:

Why Does Cleveland Matter?

Many of you are probably wondering why I would embark on such a task. Well, the reason is quite simple. I was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio in the Union Miles-Mt. Pleasant neighborhood. It’s a community that I have grown to love and admire over the years. Which is striking considering it’s one of the most impoverished neighborhoods in all of Cleveland. Yet, what’s made this neighborhood close to my heart is that it has shaped everything about me today. Growing up on these streets, I was taught the importance of self-reliance, determination, and respect. These invaluable lessons were given to me by my family and neighbors who saw something special in me. To them, it was their God given duty to make sure that I did not travel down the path that continues to detract so many children living in underserved communities. As I live in this country today, as a college graduate and rising civic and business leader, I can truly say that I’m blessed for their love and guidance throughout my life.

Like many metropolitan areas across America, Cleveland is faced with many challenges. From a failing school system to persistent crime and poverty; creating an economic and social climate to make Cleveland a competitive city in the 21st century seems like an elusive prize. However, the purpose of this blog is to articulate the exact opposite. Cleveland and its greater metropolitan area have all of the assets to become a world class city. Our destiny is one that has yet to be fully realized, and the promise of its future prosperity lies in its ability to realize that its best days are ahead.

Over the course of this blogs evolution, I will discuss issues in education, business, politics, urban revitalization, and culture that all play a role in stating Cleveland’s case for relevance in the 21st century. All in all, it’s my desire to use this blog as a vehicle to answer that fundamental question:

Why Does Cleveland Matter?