Tried to find a shorter excerpt, but Joel has a lot to say, so please click thru and read the rest:

Like Ohio, Michigan hasn’t exactly been rocking n rolling when it comes to the economy for the last few years or so. Like Cleveland, Detroit is an old manufacturing town, and is trying to find ways to re-invent itself. Gosh, it even has a few casinos, which are about to get even nicer…i.e. more upscale.

The guys I befriended, a couple of Kevin’s, from Detroit’s outer suburbs, were not too hopeful about Detroit’s future.{Kind of like I get sometimes, about Cleveland’s future.}In Detroit, when the auto industry starts downsizing..it really hits hard. GM, Ford, and Chrysler employ thousands of workers, from entry level folks on up to execs that make a few hundred large a year.Imagine if University Hospitals, The Cleveland Clinic and a few corporations…{Quick…. name 5!}layed off thousands of people all at once.

Detroit Companies:
General Motors, Chrysler, Ford, Comerica, Detroit Edison, Penske Automotive Group,Credit Acceptance Corp,Bullseye Telecom,VisionIT,Kelley Services, Walbridge Aldinger,Borg Warner…

The Kevin’s, when asked about the impact of the Casino’s, said that they did bring jobs, and tourism to downtown Detroit. They did not say that the casino’s were lifesavers, but that they did add some value to the area, numbers wise.

Are casinos the answer to our area? They may be part of the answer. They are certainly more of an answer than the “Blue Light District” that the geniuses at Cleveland City Hall are promoting.
I attended the “Professionals in the City” event with a CPA friend of mine a couple of weeks ago,Ohioimages hoping to actually see and hear Mayor Jackson.Saw him. Heard him. I do not remember hearing anything memorable concerning our city’s future.
When asked why he is not more “visible” by an audience member during a panel discussion, his answer:
” I am not going to change the way I operate just because Dick Feagler, who does not even live in the City of Cleveland says I should.” Ok. How about becoming more visible because you are what is known as a public official…?

The Franchise King Blog: Cleveland Moodswings

Love this:

This may shock you, dear 19 readers, but the Stable you know today was once 18 and prone to, say, indelicate behaviors. We complained loudly about dorm food and called campus health services Medical Gulag. We didn’t go to the library enough and ran red lights. We spent lavishly on laminated Led Zeppelin posters and consider the final product tasteful decor. We used milk crates as underwear drawers and wore the same socks three days in a row. Hell, we celebrated these facts.

The Psychobilly Democrats are one of them thar MTB netwerk blogs.

Psychobilly Democrat: On Megan, the ODP, and Being 18

From Christine:

I bit into the Tres Leches - their signature pastry - and realized that the whole New York Mystique has been a lie. Better donuts there are in plenty down Holmes County way, and for much less than $2 a pop.

So, if you are a Cleveland employer in need of someone with good research and communication skills, please let me know.

update: I feel the need to point out that it’s three years to the day since I started working at the Ocean County Library. End update.

Really Bad Cleveland Accent: Sealed With a Donut

I’ll take that red stripe though. Of course, after you hear what I have to say, you might wanna keep your money. While I don’t agree with Mansfield on everything, at least he has the stones to say something. Most of the Collinwood residents I’ve met in the past several months aren’t very vocal. As for anyone challenging Polensek, I’m pretty sure no one has mounted a serious campaign against him. One last note, it’s probably a good thing the city is delaying the rec center. If you talk to any of the “black kids, white kids, Latino kids, Asian kids or Native American kids” in the neighborhood, they’ll tell you that they probably won’t hang out at the rec center, because it “ain’t cool”:

Where is the rec center that was promised to the Collinwood neighborhood years ago? Where are the after school activities? When kids have nothing constructive to do, some become destructive. While personal responsibility should govern every young person’s actions, they are more likely to make constructive choices when there are more constructive options are available…

a subset of derek: Straight Outta Touch

Helping people:

I have seen the two ways that people react after being told they are no longer needed at their jobs.

1. Depressed, and in the “why me” mode.

2. Energized, and ready for the next challenge.

Mike McCormack is Clevelander who was downsized from PolyOne last year, and heard me speak at a local outplacement company on the topic of franchise/business ownership.
My seminar is offered as an option to those lucky enough to get an outplacement package from their former employers. Mike chose the number 2 reaction to being downsized!

Well Mike is in business for himself right now, and we just had lunch last month….

Mike and I worked together closely, and I was able to learn a lot about Mike..his dreams, his goals, and what he wanted his life to be like, out of the corporate world. After I received a questionnaire from Mike, I knew exactly what specific opportunity to talk to Mike about.

Mike’s executive background as a Business Manager and Strategic Planner wowed me, but it was his discussion of wanting to implement change in organizations that set the course for the business he ended up investing in…

The Franchise King: Downsized into a Cleveland franchise