Andy Timithyposts a picture of Tremont cooks who donated their time and food to help Bernard Sokolowsk and his family pay medical bills from the hit/skip accident in April.

The Cleveland Society of Professional Journalists have launched a new website.

Check it out while it still has that new website smell…

*Looks around for the blog*

He’s back! From a BFD comment:

An �??economic development�?� center in a university should either be DOING research or DOING economic development (helping firms, organizations achieve outcomes). REI�??s outputs appears to be neither meeting high standards for research nor leading to true outcomes. It is somewhere in between �??taking the easy way out and TALKING about research and TALKING about economic development, under the umbrella of a university. Not really doing anything much or new. Does not appear that REI in recent times built on Richard�??s foundations or legacy.

Yes, it is a good thing to get people together - particularly disenfranchised, voiceless public for discussions, thoughts, ideas. However, is that a good enough reason to support a center �?? purported to �??doing�?� economic development. Your site, coffee houses, other past initiatives to connect �?? talk �?? dialog have done that. Should REI be doing this �?? or better yet, MAINLY doing this as its raison d�??etre? No, one would suggest.

(In fact, this is not just an REI problem �?? the silly/cynical idea of 18 months of discussions by other local foundations simply extends a poor local history of talk �?? Mayoral talk fests, tech �??czar�?� talk fests, economy �??czar�?? talk fests - while problems are obvious. �?� and people are literally seeing their lunches disappear�?�

Click through and read the whole comment. Then, leave your own.

We never did have that cup of coffee, Mr. Galt.

Another CASE student comment:

Let me start my comments with an old Chinese saying: always no rewards for a gentleman. Mr. Ed in particular is a very nice gentleman. His capability to surf on the tide of globalization has found no place in Case. I don�??t believe it is a bad thing for him and for communities truly in need of his good efforts and great contribution. As an international students who set feet on a new country, I was so dumbed and confused at the begining in the MBA program at Weatherhead. Everybody wants to help me, I have to admit, but only Mr. Ed knows how. He has the right passion and solid multicultural experience to help everybody who is open to the whole world. As the result of his great guidence, I am now working with a Fortune-50 company. I benefit a lot from my followship at REI, working with him.

Thank you! Any more stories about Ed’s tenure @ REI?

From the Crain’s Cleveland Business article titled Hisrich exits Case :

Gary Baney, CEO of Boundless Flight LLC, who taught at Weatherhead for about five years, but left two years ago, said, �??I�??m being told the new dean is cleaning house. I�??m being told it goes all the way to the top,�?� referring to Case�??s President Edward Hundert.

�??Weatherhead is being treated as a stepchild,�?� Mr. Baney said. �??The whole environment there seems very chaotic. I don�??t think Hundert cares. Weatherhead doesn�??t have his attention.�?�

From a BFD comment:

From the perspective of another employee of Ed, he gave me an oppotunity to make a difference. This was probably one of the only jobs I could have found for the summer where I could be taken seriously. It�??s funny that way, Ed�??s open source economic development didn�??t just allow average joes from the street to have their voices heard, it allowed students like me to work towards something more meaningful than just a paycheck. And now Ed�??s gone, my jobs in jeopardy, and even if it still exists when the smoke clears, will I even want it anymore? I went to work for Ed, not Case, and now this amazing opportunity has been taken from me, as well as all the other students that worked at REI, as well as all of the future students that would be given this amazing opportunity.

I’m grateful Stephen took the time to share his story. I’d appreciate anyone of you who’d like to share your experience good or bad with REI and Ed Morrison. What do will you remember about REI? Please invite your friends to do the same…

Jack writes:

My friend Ed Morrison who directed the economic development team here at CWRU was yesterday canned and the program hijacked by university officials. With Ed’s leadership, the program fostered self-organizing civic efforts aimed at higher levels of community dialogue, connectivity, and innovation - the prime drivers of surprise.

It reminds me of one of the themes of “Accidental Conversations”, that the purpose of the formal organization is to prevent surprise. That’s why there the talk is all about predictability through conformity and control.

And that’s exactly why we look to the edges of ecosystems for signs of new life because that’s precisely where they tend to emerge, and thrive.

Make sure you click through and read the comments. Leave one of your own while you’re at it.

Got an email from one of Ed Morrison’s colleagues today. Since I’m posting this without permission, it’s only an excerpt:

“He provided opportunity when things were lookin’ pretty bleak a while back.”

Maybe she’ll comment on this because her daughters are reading BFD and will point it out. Maybe Ed will read it and feel appreciated for the work he did. Maybe the people who made resource allocation decisions will wonder why so many people are outraged.

Ok. Maybe that last part is wishful thinking.