Councilman Zone emailed a copy of his testimony:

Good Afternoon Mr. Chairman and members of the Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee. My name is Matt Zone and I am a Councilmember of the City of Cleveland and Chair of the Public Utilities Committee. I appreciate the opportunity to speak today and to express the strong opposition of the City of Cleveland to Senate Bill 117.

I would first like to say that the City of Cleveland welcomes new entrants to provide competitive advanced cable and broadband services. We look forward to the benefits that competition in delivering these services will bring to all of our residents. But the rush to bring the benefits of these new services must be tempered with careful analysis and balancing of the different interests involved. SB 117, as introduced, would serve the best interests of new video providers and incumbent cable operators at the expense of local governments that, in many cases, are best suited to protect the interests of the public.

(more…)

The latest re: Bloggapalooza? Carrie Callahan has offered to organize the standup comedy! Scott Bakalar suggested we do all 5 comics together, so we’re looking for ideas to fill in between bands. Speakers? Poets? Please comment or contact us with your input and suggestions for bands. I seriously doubt we can get GFR though.

In tomorrow’s newsletter, there’s this from Mansfield Fraizer:

It would not surprise me very much if a story about how Mexican farm workers actually aid the US economy would be entitled “Wetbacks keep lettuce prices reasonable.” There are some very culturally insensitive jerks presently working at the PD and their juvenile insensitivity is tolerated by the higher ups. For Clifton to be concerned about his legacy is quite laughable.

But I digress. I think the real reason behind Fulwood’s demotion is money. Everyone knows that the PD, like so many other US dailies, is struggling financially; that’s why it ceased publishing its Sunday Magazine a few years back — and why Terrance C.Z. Egger was brought in as president and publisher … this certainly was no promotion for him. He’s here to try to right a sinking financial ship, do it as quickly as possible and then get out of Dodge…

CoolCleveland.com - Straight Outta Mansfield Fulwood’s Demotion

Read this yesterday in The Villager (click on “Top Stories” button on the left) and wanted to share some of this very refreshing perspective on some of the monumental issues facing this region:

As developer of two leading West Shore residential neighborhoods - Westhampton at Crocker Park and The Hamlets of Rocky River - you might expect Peter L. Rubin to credit housing development as central to regional revitalization. The President and CEO of The Coral Company offers a view that is more than simple provincial analysis, however.

“As a region, we have decided to invest in the wrong place - in housing,” said Rubin. It is a mistake, he said, that follows a national trend to invest in mass housing growth.

Rubin suggests that there is a simple equation - a logical sequence of measures - that set the foundation of a successful economy. “This is nothing formal - just the result of my years of observation as a businessman and a developer,” he said. “The equation goes like this: Industry creates jobs, jobs create demand for housing, housing creates neighborhoods and amenities, which improve the quality of life. And that ultimately creates even more jobs.”

Simply stated, Rubin defines a successful economy like the six sides of a cube - almost like dice. But, instead of rolling dice by chance, smart planners should base revitalization on jobs. Put first things first.

“It is short term,” he said of the new housing boom. He agrees that things like tax abatement and residential improvements look good on paper. They are necessary to attract developers. But they are occurring out of a sequence that has lasting regional impact. “There are more housing permits in the Cleveland than any other city. We have ramped up housing, but the impact is short term and it doesn’t create jobs. It empties out the inventory of housing that is still worthy,” he said. (Emphasis added by me.)

“In real estate, we are followers. We follow demand,” he said. “We have a situation in northeast Ohio today where the equation is upside down. There is no demand for any real estate product in northeast Ohio today. We work it backward. We build supply and then create demand….”We are just shuffling chairs…..”

Instead of arguing whether the glass is half full vs. half empty we should first be looking at how we’re filling the glass and at what we’re filling it with.

The Villager: The Call for Regionalism….A Rubinesque View of Cleveland (click on “Top Stories” button on the left)

Good stuff:

It’s too bad more folks didn’t attend Defrag Ohio (”Linking Ohio’s Rich Media Resources and Renegades”) two weeks ago — some excellent stuff going on there.

I took that Friday off work and bicycled out to Lorain Community College for the second day of the conference. Very pleased to have gone; heard some inform/inspir-ational presentations and panels, got to meet some greats (like social networking guru Valdis Krebs, a few from The Institute For Open Economic Networks, and multi-faceted Susan Miller,) and enjoyed my rides out and back, despite the wind-tunnel I strained against, and the sickly suburban sprawl further out.

Here are a few take-aways and thoughts from the sessions I attended…

jeffschuler.net : Defrag Ohio takeaways (Apr 24, 2007 - 21:31)

Important stuff:

I want to mention my two favorite Things That Should Have Gotten The Committee To Sit Up And Take Notice, But Apparently Didn’t:

1. Gary Cavin, the Chief Information Officer of the City of Columbus, pointed out that his city has three competing cable companies, but Time Warner still charges just as much for basic cable there as it does in places with no competition.

2. A representative of Cleveland Heights reported that in their negotiations with AT&T over a local “video competition agreement”, AT&T frankly acknowledged that it didn’t plan to offer its U-Verse service in the (predominantly Black) part of the city closest to East Cleveland… which is why Cleveland Heights terminated the negotiation.

Added Wednesday morning, 4/25: Here’s my testimony on behalf of the Ohio Community Computing Network. Here’s the memo on potential neighborhood abandonment mentioned at the bottom of page 3. (Both are .doc files.)

Added Wednesday evening: For historical perspective on SB 117 and AT&T’s cable franchise history in Ohio, you can’t do better than this testimony presented by Bill Hanna of Walter and Haverfield…

Callahan’s Cleveland Diary » Blog Archive » The SB 117 hearing

Not sure what the brand promise is for Cleveland+ so maybe some of you can enlighten me. Do you think people in Akron, Canton and Youngstown will be happy with Cleveland taking the lead? I think it is interesting that The Funders all appear to be Cleveland based organizations. I guess time will tell in terms of what kind of regional buy-in there is.

To measure the campaign’s success, the alliance will keep track of prospective development in the pipeline, inquiries from meeting planners and business owners, hotel nights booked, national media attention, and other factors.

PD/Cleveland.com: Cleveland+ chosen as ‘brand’ for region

Crain’s Cleveland Business: Regional branding effort ready to roll

Web 3.0 has been something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. Following is a definition I stumbled on and wanted to share. I know what George is thinking, “I’d be happy if we could just get more people around here to start using Web 2.0 tools like blogs, podcasts, etc.” Agreed!

Web 1.0 was primarily about pages and URLs. It was also about sloppy HTML and flash entry pages. The focus was on look and experience in the browser rather than content.

Web 2.0 is about user participation. But it’s also about a shift in focus from wild colors animations and design to simple, clean code and well-organized, tagged, searchable content.

Web 3.0 — as Mr. Scoble calls it — is about discreet chunks of content presenting themselves in various ways. It’s about freeing up that content to be viewed on multiple devices and found in a variety of ways. It’s about developing a standard markup language for content that is easily understood by computers and by humans like microformats.

Blog Business Summit: What is “Web 2.0″? And What Comes Next? - An Answer for Businesses

From Chris Varley:

Normally, as a tech-based blog, the announcement of a new marketing campaign wouldn’t be fodder for coverage here. But as a tech-based economic development blog, any effort designed to draw attention to the resources available here in the region deserves our attention.

To day the Greater Cleveland Marketing Alliance (or what was formerly known as the GCMA) announced their new campaign for the region: Cleveland , as in Cleveland Akron Canton Youngstown. And, I have to admit, after this morning’s kickoff, it really does add up…

Tech Futures: Cleveland Plus

From Pastor Alex regarding this Saturday:

We are going to trim hedges, mulch, etc., some areas of the Warehouse District that are out of control. On Monday, we are going to the inner-city to put on Funfest. Funfest is for inner-city kids and their families. They will get free cotton candy, popcorn, hot dogs, sno cones. We also have two bounce houses for the kids as well as face painting. This will happen at WSEM at 5209 Detroit Road. It’s an easy way for people to volunteer in the inner-city…

An Ongoing Conversation from Gateway Church

“I can’t bear the thought of yet another arsine marketing program costing tens (hundreds?) of thousands of real dollars designed to turn our region around.”

How do you feel about it?

CLEVELAND+… SIGH…

Just posted our conversation with a guy who’s passionate about helping kids better themselves, and doing a heckuva job doing it. I learned about ECITY from my friend Jason, whose office is just across the hall from ECITY. Yesterday, I was over at the Shore Bank complex, and there’s a ton of kids getting out of class when I was leaving @ 6PM.

Hey, I appreciate those of you posting to BFD. I’ve been busy getting my new home together. McK and I will be moving this weekend, so there probably won’t be much posting by me until next week.

Meet the Bloggers » John Zitzner, Founder, ECITY and EPrep School

Silly me. I thought journalists were supposed to be objective? At least that’s what I learned at the KSU School of Journalism.

ABOARD CONTINENTAL FLIGHT 9017 - There are no city-limit signs in the skies above Northeast Ohio. Some 2,300 feet above the rooftops, all that’s obvious are the ties that bind.

The roads and highways that weave an uninterrupted thread through diverse neighborhoods. The unbroken shoreline of the lake that gave birth to a shared industrial heritage. The sports stadiums that funnel widespread differences into a single passion.

And that was the point of an event Thursday that was more poetry than news conference.

Beacon Journal | 04/27/2007 | Regional campaign uses simple equation

The Stark Education Partnership is taking a leading role in the region. Along with Dayton, they are competing for the next round of $5 million grants from the Labor Department, under an initiative called WIRED: Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development.

Northeast Ohio, including Stark County, has qualified to seek a $5 million national grant over three years to develop businesses and jobs of the future, and to educate workers to be ready for those jobs. Stark Education Partnership is playing a role in the Northeast Ohio effort, which is operating under the name FUTURE NEO. It stands for: Focusing on Unique Transformations Using Resources Effectively - Northeast Ohio.

Goal of competition: Aid region’s economy

Visit the Stark Education Partnership. Download the national publication “Not for the Timid: Breaking Down Barriers, Creating Breakthrough High Schools in Ohio” – funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Sounds like a good idea for Cleveland.

Government and business officials gathered Thursday morning to discuss how new projects, a good business environment and workforce development all play roles in building a thriving downtown Dayton.

Area leaders gather for town hall forum on downtown Dayton

Thanks for keeping things lively here at BFD while I’m moving. ATT took my DSL down yesterday morning, and it’s still not up at the new home…

In an important development last week, twelve states in the Midwest — including Ohio — have formed a collaboration to accelerate the development of bio-based technologies.

Although a lot of the interest focuses on biofuels, the real opportunity comes in the establishment of bio-refineries that will produce other bi-products, including chemicals and materials. You can learn more about the consortium here.

The anchor in NEO comes from the OSU’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster. But bio-materials should connect up well with one of NorTech’s focal points, advanced materials.

The consortium web site provides more information, including a report on the biomass potential in the twelve states. You can download a fact sheet here and a report here.

Can our region seize the initiative to become the center of this activity in Ohio?

(George, good luck with the move. Smile. No rain.)

Taking a break with McK from packing up the U-Haul. Haven’t been to the new house yet to see if the DSL is turned up, but the food here @ Marika (Pork & potatoe savory strudel with Hungarian tomatoe soup) is awesome plus the Wifi is free.

An idea for Team NEO (Team Cleveland+?) and FFEF.

A series of two-hour presentations outlining the ongoing renaissance of development activity in the Metro Syracuse region

Metro Syracuse Economic Development Presentation Series

The FFEF should be aligning tightly with KnowledgeWorks Foundation.

(The GCP might also strengthen its thin agenda in education and workforce development by reading this report.)

All in all, Ohio’s recent trends indicate that progress has been made, but that substantial reform is necessary to build on and complete the work of the last decade. But what should guide Ohio’s reform? This report looks domestically and internationally at systems that consistently achieve high results for answers to that question.

Creating a World-Class Education System in Ohio

Download the report from this page.

Get the inside scoop on Northeast Ohio’s new brand, Cleveland+ by listening to this week’s Cool Cleveland podcast. All you have to do is click here.

Comments: None (yet).

What could be cooler than this for kids and their families? A music and dance collaboration with with puppetry, masks, and mime. Plus an Omnimax version of a Super action film. And the story of an ugly duckling, right here in Northeast Ohio. And you can hear it all on the Cool Cleveland Kids podcast when you click here.

Comments: None (yet).

Nothing cooler than kids playing with cool toys. This week, you can catch a remade version of “The Raiders of the Lost Ark,” shot by 12-year-olds on a consumer-grade VHS camcorder. Or an Oscar-winning songwriter playing his movie hits. Or, instruction on the harp, for kids only. It’s easy to find out more information, just click here.

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The word is “synergetic,” meaning “working together” or “cooperative.” And we’re recommending a few events that will help to bring the region together this week. All you have to do is click here.

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