Brewed Fresh Daily

Our new place still unknown over on my other blog.

Great post by Samuel Gerace sent to me by Thom Ruhe. Noticed that Mike and Gary of ELIEntrepreneur.org both commented as well:

It is time for all who wish to live in New Cleveland, a center of financial and social influence in the 21st century, to step forward and lay its foundation. It is time to honor the bold and entrepreneurial spirit of the many men and women who built this once great industrial city by inventing the city anew. A new vision. A new economy. A New Cleveland.

It is imperative that we do so now. The world economy may be in a prolonged downturn, but it will end, and it will end with real growth in regions that understand and capitalize on a world connected by the Internet and a global economy. If we do the hard work now, vast sums of new private capital that become available during the recovery will see opportunity here, as they did over a century ago. And New Cleveland will grow, shining, on the shores of Lake Erie.

It can be done, and Ohio has done it before…

via New Cleveland – Using the Stimulus Package to… | Gather.

From Jim Nichols’ article in this morning’s PD:

Expectations too high for medical mart complex, some experts say

Vision or hallucination? You decide.

To me, the inescapable conclusion: This project carries a lot of risk and a big downside.

Note: As a Map the Mess reader noted to me in an e-mail:

The PD does not make the link to this article easy to find on line

Comments to the article are turned off

What’s up with that?

There’s an innocent explanation. See John Kroll’s comment below.

Happy to have received an email from Chris Varley announcing his new blog Competitive Foresight. Check it out ASAP.

MMPI

Have a question(s) for The Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners (CCBC) and Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. (MMPI) officials regarding the proposed Convention Center and Medical Mart?

Help develop a list here.

Details on meetings scheduled for tomorrow:

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Thursday, February 12th, 2009

10:00 am – Cleveland City Council – Joint Committee Hearing
Mercedes Cotner Committee Room
601 Lakeside Avenue, Room 217

Community and Economic Development Committee, City Planning Committee, Public Parks, Property and Recreation Committee, & Finance Committee

THIS MEETING WILL BE HELD FOR A SPECIAL BRIEFING ON THE PROPOSED MEDICAL MART-CONVENTION CENTER PROJECT.

ALL MEMBERS OF COUNCIL ARE INVITED TO ATTEND.

Note from County — MMPI officials will provide information at a committee hearing for members of Cleveland City Council, but no questions will be taken from the public or media at that meeting, per standing Cleveland City Council rules and procedures.
————————–

2:00 – 4:30 p.m. – The Cleveland Public Library auditorium
325 Superior Avenue, Cleveland, OH.

The CCBC hosts a public presentation by MMPI on the company’s plans for the proposed Medical Mart and Convention Center on the site of the current convention center in downtown Cleveland.

MMPI will share details about their plans and answer questions from the public about the reasons for the selection of the Mall as the preferred site for the facilities from among three sites studied by local developers and business groups.
Ref:

http://bocc.cuyahogacounty.us/en-US/02122009-Medical-Mart-Briefing.aspx

http://www.clevelandcitycouncil.org/Home/Legislation/tabid/61/Default.aspx#MedMart

¿ QUESTIONS ?

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & FINANCING

Why make a $1 billion public investment – tax dollars to build a new Convention Center said to leverage the private sector (MMPI) to build a Medical Mart for which they will invest $20 million (2% added investment)?

What are the benefits to the City, County and Region?

Are there any additional or alternatives methods of financing to either lessen the public investment or support the effort to ensure its success?

Has the regional medical industry or foundations who are leading the discussion regarding regional economic development been asked to invest in the project? A 5% investment share would represent $50,000,000. Cleveland Clinic and University property holdings have been reported to be valued as much as $1.5 billion of which only half is taxed due to their non-profit status. The Plain Dealer reported in 2006 that CC & UH paid $14 million, but if taxed on the entire property holdings would pay an additional $23 million per year. An investment in our schools and colleges for medical and related industry training/preparation would be a great add-on to this project, say nothing of a direct investment.

With a new 300 – 400 square feet convention facility representing the primary investment what return does the County get for this?

It has been said that convention centers are “loss leaders” and that the add-on economic activity that they generate is the primary benefit they catalyze. What comparisons can be made to other mid-market convention centers being operated in the nation today in terms of their economic development generating capacity and impact?

When can a Development Agreement be expected to be signed? What is the anticipated structure of the agreement in terms of investment and management responsibilities?

What will MMPI be providing for the reported $103 million ($5 to 6 million per year) it will be paid over twenty years to manage the Convention Center and Medical Mart? What will be the performance standards for which it has been reported that they could be paid an additional 3% per year or up to 180,000?

What is the status of investigating the use of historic tax credits and conservation easements for Public Auditorium and the malls?

SITE SELECTION & CONSTRUCTION ESTIMATES

In comparing the sites, where the costs for new infrastructure at the Tower City site included in estimates?

Have the potential benefits (reduction in costs) of tax credits and conservation easements been included in total costs estimates for the Mall site?

Why has there been a $168 million (or 40%) swing in cost estimates from the CCBC/GCP and MMPI cost studies?

If the CCBC/GCP studies were not done based on a cost restricted analysis why not?

PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP ISSUES

What will happen to the current City of Cleveland employees working at the existing Convention Center? Will the workers be union workers?

What real estate purchasing and leasing arrangements can be made to enable the City of Cleveland to maintain underlying ownership of the Public Auditorium?

Would the County and MMPI require taking ownership of the Malls? Or, could the underlying ownership be maintained by the City with some type of long-term lease arrangement made.

MORE

Please help with more substantive questions…

————————–

In considering your questions, you may want to take a primer – look at MMPI’s FAQ:

Frequently Asked Questions
For the answers to these FAQs see:

http://www.merchandisemart.com/clevelandmedicalmart/faq.html

1. What is a medical mart?
2. What is Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc.?
3. Where does MMPI own and manage buildings?
4. What kinds of trade shows does MMPI produce?
5. What is MMPI’s experience with integrated showroom and trade show facilities?
6. What construction and renovation projects has the MMPI team completed?
7. What is the corporate structure of MMPI?
8. How did MMPI become involved in the medical mart project?
9. Are there other marts in the United States?
10. Why does MMPI want to locate a medical mart in Cleveland? Why not choose a bigger city like New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago?
11. What are MMPI’s goals in developing a medical mart in Cleveland?
12. Where in Cuyahoga County will the medical mart be located?
13. What are the key design aspects of the medical mart and trade show facility?
14. Why does Cleveland need a new trade show facility?
15. Why does the medical mart need to be linked to a trade show facility?
16. How will a medical mart and trade show facility bring more visitors to Cleveland?
17. How will a medical mart help Cleveland’s economy?

Regards,

Brian Cummins
Cleveland City Council, Ward 15
brianjcummins@earthlink.net
216-459-8400

Good questions from CSA Farm Girl:

To me a CSA is a unique and special relationship between farms and their members. I would ask any person who is considering joining a CSA to ask themselves and their CSA some basic questions.

-Is there a farmer directly involved? Do I know him or her, get to meet them, have an opportunity to visit the farm (even if weekly pickup is elsewhere?)

-Is one of my reasons for joining a CSA to directly support the farm and support small scale local agriculture in my region?

If so, would a farmer’s market be better for my needs.

- Is natural or organic important to you? How committed is your grower to those principles?

I would ask my CSA

· Who grows the food…?

Where does the food you’re eating come from?

via CSA days: Are all CSAs the same?.

The highlight:

I beg that vigilant attention be paid to the project, to keep transparency high, to keep decisions informed and to make accountability for success or failure possible. This is a great case study for our city, one with tendrils further reaching and more permanent than the entertainment complexes of stadiums and arenas, one that can capitalize upon public spaces and movement to create an integrated and succinct solution that can become a strong positive image for our city; because in the end to succeed that is what the new Medical Mart and Convention Center has to become, a strong positive image that can impress upon the large volume of visitors that will be attending these functions. So that we (Cleveland) can make the flourish and statement of a city rising back up to reclaim its older glory of a vibrant metropolis, an exciting place to live, a fruitful place to work and a grand address to locate a business or industry.

Think it’ll happen?

TOIstudio: Med Mart/Convention Center as case study for growing Cleveland

Yeah, this post from Chris Thompson  links back to BFD, but don’t miss his point:

One government official in the region told me recently that in tough times most governments respond like the old wagon trains in the movies … they circle the wagons. She said that instead of hunkering down and trying to protect turf, these challenging times require government officials to uncircle the wagons and figure out new ways to govern…

New leaders are a good place to start, provided those new leaders aren’t trained and annointed by the old leaders. What’s the adage about new wine/old skins?

Hitting the Wall | Advance Northeast Ohio.

One of these days, I’d like a coop on my urban farm:

Even though another boarded-up building, not unlike the three that were finally razed, stands catty-corner to his office, Brian Friedman believes that every step you take gets you closer. As executive director of Collinwood’s Northeast Shores Development Corporation, he’s had to undergo a not-so-subtle shift in his thinking in recent years.

“Before the mortgage meltdown, I’d have anticipated that these would be good sites to build new homes,” he says. “But with this housing crisis and the continuing erosion of the population, to propose that would be ridiculous.”

He doesn’t see a problem with residents adding some barnyard characters to the mix either. He came to Collinwood from a CDC in South Lorain, a predominantly Hispanic area. “I used to joke that there were more roosters and chickens in South Lorain than people,” he says. “So I’ve seen how they’re not a nuisance at all…”

The Cleveland Free Times :: Cover :: City Chicken

From Anthony Houston, former director of Cleveland’s Empowerment Zone:

Missing from Jackson’s paper is the role and funding from the federal empowerment zone.

Whatever happened to the Empowerment Zone? More importantly, what happened to the federal money that created the EZ? Where did that all go? You’d think for $200M in investment, that area would have something to report.

Above 110th Street: Mayor Frank Jackson’s Urban Policy Agenda