Here is a video of a project that I worked on 2 years ago in Cleveland in the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood. My supervisor, Chris Kious, successfully planned the deconstruction of an amazing mid-19th century brick school (Stanard) to put up an urban farm. I haven't been back to the site since, but I am considering a trip to take pictures and then post.
To be honest, I have no idea how well this all panned out and this blog is a good opportunity to follow up. It's also a shame the school went down, it was the most beautiful and creepy place, but it was so decrepit that it was posing a threat to residents whose homes touched the back of the main building.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
If the Cuyahoga River burned again...
I would hope it would get recalcitrant enough to jump the shoreline and set ablaze the new unwelcome neighbors on my block: Larry Flynt and his charming hustler club.
Then again, the pyrotechnics may serve to draw more of a crowd, as Diamond Men's Club and Christie's can confirm from their nightly light shows that blast cones of light into the Cleveland skyline in an attempt to distract the distracted on their way home.
Why do Cleveland citizens continuously support the cultural crud that will in the end ruin local economy (cough *casinos*cough) and degrade significant portions of our neighborhoods? How are The Flats suppose to "come back" when local economy is sustained by franchised strip clubs that chip away at one of the most fundamental cornerstones of sustainability, like let's say ohh, you know, social equality and progressive gender dynamics?
But like I promised, there are some potential plans for The Flats that make me less angry...
A new project, Building Cleveland by Design, is making the Flats District a focal point for urban greening work. In addition to helping inform and coordinate public space planning among all the parties involved in the district, it is managing the LEED-Neighborhood Development design and certification process for the Flats East Bank development. The goal will be to develop the Flats as a vibrant, 24-hour neighborhood that minimizes environmental impacts. (taken from gcbl.org).
Towpath efforts are also underway to connect different neighborhoods around the Flats (from the Steelyard Commons to Tremont) with a completion date of around 2010.
Also mentioned on the Green City Blue Lake website, the Warehouse District is already a mixed-use area, helping to facilitate certification by the LEED-Neighborhood Development program. The East Bank is the side of the Flats that will experience all this anticipated change. Nothing has been mentioned for developing the West Bank in anything that I have read.
Here's a video some random guy posted on youtube, highlighting, from the safety of his booze cruise, the East Bank and the work yet to be done. At the end you can see t:e bulldozed areas ready for new construction, etc:
Then again, the pyrotechnics may serve to draw more of a crowd, as Diamond Men's Club and Christie's can confirm from their nightly light shows that blast cones of light into the Cleveland skyline in an attempt to distract the distracted on their way home.
Why do Cleveland citizens continuously support the cultural crud that will in the end ruin local economy (cough *casinos*cough) and degrade significant portions of our neighborhoods? How are The Flats suppose to "come back" when local economy is sustained by franchised strip clubs that chip away at one of the most fundamental cornerstones of sustainability, like let's say ohh, you know, social equality and progressive gender dynamics?
But like I promised, there are some potential plans for The Flats that make me less angry...
A new project, Building Cleveland by Design, is making the Flats District a focal point for urban greening work. In addition to helping inform and coordinate public space planning among all the parties involved in the district, it is managing the LEED-Neighborhood Development design and certification process for the Flats East Bank development. The goal will be to develop the Flats as a vibrant, 24-hour neighborhood that minimizes environmental impacts. (taken from gcbl.org).
Towpath efforts are also underway to connect different neighborhoods around the Flats (from the Steelyard Commons to Tremont) with a completion date of around 2010.Also mentioned on the Green City Blue Lake website, the Warehouse District is already a mixed-use area, helping to facilitate certification by the LEED-Neighborhood Development program. The East Bank is the side of the Flats that will experience all this anticipated change. Nothing has been mentioned for developing the West Bank in anything that I have read.
Here's a video some random guy posted on youtube, highlighting, from the safety of his booze cruise, the East Bank and the work yet to be done. At the end you can see t:e bulldozed areas ready for new construction, etc:
Saturday, March 27, 2010
West Side Market, Southern Hemisphere Produce
If any of you have been lucky enough (or patient enough) to brave the storm that is the West Side Market parking lot on a Saturday morning, you may have noticed, once you finally get inside, that most of the produce section is full of Chiquita bananas and produce that is not very local...or even regional.I remember my first adult visit there and how I wondered why such a great historical resource wasn't doing more to utilize the potential economic opportunities it stands to offer.
First of all it's an imposing and pretty historical building at the intersection of W.25th and Lorain (2 major Cleveland arteries). Secondly, what else is there to do in Cleveland on a Saturday morning except make enemies from the comfort and safety of your car while simultaneously anticipating the chocolate mousse cake from that one french dessert vendor?
Now there are local produce vendors, but I am just wondering why that place isn't dominated by our farmers, among many other rural agricultural cities near the City.I'm sure there is a great opportunity for it.
Is anybody familiar with West Side Market politics? I feel like I need to do some research on who and how someone gets a consignment or whatever to be a vendor there...more to come.
First of all it's an imposing and pretty historical building at the intersection of W.25th and Lorain (2 major Cleveland arteries). Secondly, what else is there to do in Cleveland on a Saturday morning except make enemies from the comfort and safety of your car while simultaneously anticipating the chocolate mousse cake from that one french dessert vendor?
Now there are local produce vendors, but I am just wondering why that place isn't dominated by our farmers, among many other rural agricultural cities near the City.I'm sure there is a great opportunity for it.
Is anybody familiar with West Side Market politics? I feel like I need to do some research on who and how someone gets a consignment or whatever to be a vendor there...more to come.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
So what if my paycheck is made from 100% post-consumer product ...
what good is it if a trip to Whole Foods requires relinquishing a whole paycheck?
Here's my first point. There are two Whole Foods Markets in the Greater Cleveland area and they are both located in affluent areas. One location is in Cleveland Heights and the other is near Beachwood/Woodmere. Same thing with Trader Joes. There is one in Crocker Park and again, Woodmere. (*note that the Trader Joes and Whole Foods Market are both on the same street less than a mile apart in Woodmere.)
But this is not a new social phenomenon, in fact, it's not even a phenomenon. It's just how things work. The affluent have better access to organic, "healthy," and questionably labeled "sustainably produced" produce. I only say "questionably," because growing/harvesting something sustainably is one thing, but shipping it and selling it are another. If the produce is coming from California, how sustainable is it really to send it to Ohio? But we all are not too willing to sacrifice choice. Strawberries in Ohio in the winter...
But I digress.Not only do these areas have the access to better and fresher food, they have the money for it. They have money for a $16 jar of raw organic almond butter. But I see daily, living in the Flats downtown, people walking to the corner gas station to grocery shop. Literally, I have seen people coming out of the gas station with bags about to burst full of, as to be expected, the typical dietician's nightmare of partially hydrogenated soybean oil and high-fructose corn syrup.
I once heard Whole Foods was committed to not selling anything containing hydrogenated oils (trans fat)- and that seems to be true. And they also are on record saying that items with high fructose corn syrup are the exception rather than the norm, as in conventional markets. But how good are places like Trader Joes and Whole Foods for cities like Cleveland that have many areas that have been dubbed "food deserts" where the closest grocery store is miles away.
I also realize that Whole Foods sells some local produce. As does The Mustard Seed (CRAZY EXPENSIVE). Two reusable grocery bags full of stuff at Mustard Seed costs me about $65, Giant Eagle about $30. I know this and I am completely comfortable with those numbers. I'm a college student and being at the checkout counter at Mustard Seed with my typical two-bag-fulls is like going through public penance and then being kicked in the gut after it's over.
But alas, there are good points, and some are to be found even in the expensive stores that sit safely in affluent areas (especially Mustard Seed, which sells the most, from my observations, local produce).
Cleveland has some awesome urban agriculture going on. There are many urban garden plots running-where you can buy into (or work on) a bit of garden to gain access to fresh produce cheaply. Most of these gardens are also in poorer inner-city neighborhoods. I know of 5-6 within one mile of me. Actually, one sits in my "backyard" in the parking lot of Rock Bottom in The Flats. Another is on West 25th a little after I-90. Not to mention, there are community supported agriculture (CSA) projects flourishing in Cleveland, like City Fresh which stimulates local agriculture by offering it easily and cheaply to people who opt into the system. People can buy a share in the CSA and pick up their weekly/monthly produce at "fresh stops" all around Cleveland. Lastly, there is a group called Fresh Fork that connects local produce to restaurants. And I think Fresh Fork was started by some Case Western Students (one of whom I went to elementary school with). Check out both sites, learn more, and support them since the economics of deciding whether or not Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and The Mustard Seed are as great as people make them out to be, are even beyond my reach. (And I even made it a point to study this stuff...)Lucky's Cafe in Tremont also has an urban garden and features mostly, if only, local and in-season produce. Yummy.
To learn more about whatever I'm talking about: Urban Learning Gardens
Ok, so Cleveland has tons of urban gardens, but so do many other places. Not enough to keep me here...
Here's my first point. There are two Whole Foods Markets in the Greater Cleveland area and they are both located in affluent areas. One location is in Cleveland Heights and the other is near Beachwood/Woodmere. Same thing with Trader Joes. There is one in Crocker Park and again, Woodmere. (*note that the Trader Joes and Whole Foods Market are both on the same street less than a mile apart in Woodmere.)
But this is not a new social phenomenon, in fact, it's not even a phenomenon. It's just how things work. The affluent have better access to organic, "healthy," and questionably labeled "sustainably produced" produce. I only say "questionably," because growing/harvesting something sustainably is one thing, but shipping it and selling it are another. If the produce is coming from California, how sustainable is it really to send it to Ohio? But we all are not too willing to sacrifice choice. Strawberries in Ohio in the winter...
But I digress.Not only do these areas have the access to better and fresher food, they have the money for it. They have money for a $16 jar of raw organic almond butter. But I see daily, living in the Flats downtown, people walking to the corner gas station to grocery shop. Literally, I have seen people coming out of the gas station with bags about to burst full of, as to be expected, the typical dietician's nightmare of partially hydrogenated soybean oil and high-fructose corn syrup.
I once heard Whole Foods was committed to not selling anything containing hydrogenated oils (trans fat)- and that seems to be true. And they also are on record saying that items with high fructose corn syrup are the exception rather than the norm, as in conventional markets. But how good are places like Trader Joes and Whole Foods for cities like Cleveland that have many areas that have been dubbed "food deserts" where the closest grocery store is miles away.
I also realize that Whole Foods sells some local produce. As does The Mustard Seed (CRAZY EXPENSIVE). Two reusable grocery bags full of stuff at Mustard Seed costs me about $65, Giant Eagle about $30. I know this and I am completely comfortable with those numbers. I'm a college student and being at the checkout counter at Mustard Seed with my typical two-bag-fulls is like going through public penance and then being kicked in the gut after it's over.
But alas, there are good points, and some are to be found even in the expensive stores that sit safely in affluent areas (especially Mustard Seed, which sells the most, from my observations, local produce).
Cleveland has some awesome urban agriculture going on. There are many urban garden plots running-where you can buy into (or work on) a bit of garden to gain access to fresh produce cheaply. Most of these gardens are also in poorer inner-city neighborhoods. I know of 5-6 within one mile of me. Actually, one sits in my "backyard" in the parking lot of Rock Bottom in The Flats. Another is on West 25th a little after I-90. Not to mention, there are community supported agriculture (CSA) projects flourishing in Cleveland, like City Fresh which stimulates local agriculture by offering it easily and cheaply to people who opt into the system. People can buy a share in the CSA and pick up their weekly/monthly produce at "fresh stops" all around Cleveland. Lastly, there is a group called Fresh Fork that connects local produce to restaurants. And I think Fresh Fork was started by some Case Western Students (one of whom I went to elementary school with). Check out both sites, learn more, and support them since the economics of deciding whether or not Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and The Mustard Seed are as great as people make them out to be, are even beyond my reach. (And I even made it a point to study this stuff...)Lucky's Cafe in Tremont also has an urban garden and features mostly, if only, local and in-season produce. Yummy.
To learn more about whatever I'm talking about: Urban Learning Gardens
Ok, so Cleveland has tons of urban gardens, but so do many other places. Not enough to keep me here...
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Black is the new green.
So here it is, the first post on my blog site. I'll be honest, I faced considerate choice fatigue when deciding on a blog template and it took every satirical bone in my body to overcome the more calcium-rich practical bones I have to opt for the BLACK template over the GREEN.
After all, this is a blog about disillusionment upon graduation as much as it is about sustainability. Call it a graduate cocktail of equal parts despair and optimism, except this hangover is worse than a late night with Kamchatka.
Each blog I write will contain two components:
1. my disillusioned diatribe (to be written in white, as black won't show up on my background)
AND
2. my positive affirmation (to be written all in green)
Both of these components obviously relate to my feelings about the concept of sustainability and Cleveland.
In addition, both components of the blog (the disillusionment and affirmations) actually happen in real time in my own head resulting in a completely neutral feeling.
This is not desirable.
Help me use this blog to graduate with a feeling of satisfaction.I want to replace my feeling of neutrality about a study I invested so much time, energy, and money (in the form of unnecessary luxury meals used as anxiety band-aids) with something meaningful that I can be truly proud of.
After all, this is a blog about disillusionment upon graduation as much as it is about sustainability. Call it a graduate cocktail of equal parts despair and optimism, except this hangover is worse than a late night with Kamchatka.
Each blog I write will contain two components:
1. my disillusioned diatribe (to be written in white, as black won't show up on my background)
AND
2. my positive affirmation (to be written all in green)
Both of these components obviously relate to my feelings about the concept of sustainability and Cleveland.
In addition, both components of the blog (the disillusionment and affirmations) actually happen in real time in my own head resulting in a completely neutral feeling.
This is not desirable.
Help me use this blog to graduate with a feeling of satisfaction.I want to replace my feeling of neutrality about a study I invested so much time, energy, and money (in the form of unnecessary luxury meals used as anxiety band-aids) with something meaningful that I can be truly proud of.
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