Hotel Bruce

Welcome to the Bruce blog—a weekly update on news, events and issues affecting life in Cleveland. Reporting as it happens on transit, development, planning, environment and arts & culture.

Basically, we write about creative ideas forming, talk to the people who have an inside track on the issues, and sometimes offer a commentary of our own. (For disclosure purposes, Bruce blog is a local, independent writer who also works part-time with nonprofit organization EcoCity Cleveland. The opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of EcoCity or any other organization).

If Cleveland is looking for a sign that the winds are a changin’ for the renewable energy market, the following developments offer some tantalizing evidence. First, Bruce blog learned that Ronn Richard, the new head of Cleveland Foundation, recently mentioned to city of Cleveland staffers that he is a huge fan of wind power. Richard, who spent 13 years at Matsushita Electric (Panasonic) in senior management positions including VP for planning and technology, intimated that Cleveland Foundation would be willing to fund a strong proposal for wind power—possibly even more than one, according to our source. Meanwhile, New York-based Arcadia Wind Power, a private firm that is working on RFPs to site, build and own wind turbines off the coast of Long Island, is testing the waters of the offshore wind market in Cleveland. The project calls for General Electric turbines generating 140 Megawatts on a new (fish friendly) reef 6 miles south of Jones Beach. The RFP is part of Governor Pataki’s call to have 25 percent of New York state’s energy consumption come from renewable resources by 2012.

After reading about it in the August 24 issue of Bruce blog, an Arcadia manager called Cleveland last week inquiring about the city's interest in building a wind-powered backup generator for the city’s water pumping stations. Meanwhile, Green Energy Ohio, the Columbus-based nonprofit advocate and technical resource for renewables in Ohio, plans to send a letter of inquiry to Richard, after hearing about his interest, that could focus on funding a wind monitoring tower on the water intake ‘crib’ on Lake Erie. GEO will also release a ‘wind map’ study this Winter that is rumored to have identified a potential area of class five winds on Lake Erie, which translates into kilowatts of power. GEO has a track record of providing the support for renewable energy projects. Recently, it helped a group in Bowling Green raise two 1.8 MegaWatt wind turbines, the biggest east of the Rockies, and it is installing solar panels on the governor’s mansion in Columbus.

So, let’s review—GEO has the approval and local, technical knowledge to put up a wind monitoring tower on Lake Erie (but has no funds), Arcadia is a company that brings research and development resources to wind power, the city of Cleveland planning department is willing to advocate for wind in the RFP for power generators and the Cleveland Foundation is willing to fund wind power. Hmm…it sure sounds like a winning combination.

Bruce blog feels compelled to respond to the editorial lashing applied to the CH-UH school levy by Free Times editor David Eden last week. Eden wrote that “pro-levy proponents say that taxed out Heights property owners should ‘do it for the children’ is not a good enough reason.” Really? Bruce blog is not convinced that Eden believes that the Heights schools cutting 100 teachers, which is exactly what will happen if the levy fails, is a ‘good’ response, one that is doing it for the children who will suffer these cuts.

Perhaps the entire school board should have resigned after approving the overgenerous severance package to Heights Superintendent Carlton Moody, as Eden suggests. But, isn’t the correct response to the bungling of the Moody affair to vote out the board members responsible at the ballot box this November? Eden’s suggestion that “this levy should not be on the ballot at all” is senseless. The board of education would not authorize cuts to staff without first placing the issue on the ballot.

Now that we’ve heard from Eden, who lives in Beachwood by the way, it only seems right to hear the counter argument by many Heights residents who support the levy. Rachel DeGolia and Maryann Barnes, two pro-levy campaign volunteers, articulated the pro-levy position and circulated an email last week that clearly explains how community schools rely on levies:

Public schools operate on fixed income. Passing levies is the only way the Heights school district can keep pace with inflation. Ohio law caps the amount schools can collect from local property taxes. Even when housing values increase, millage is reduced so that schools must pass new levies before they can reap any benefit. Furthermore, our schools have already suffered serious cuts in state funds due to the state budget crisis.

The district faces a $9 million deficit and the elimination of 120 positions if the levy fails. With a number this large, many of those positions will have to be teachers. No school building will escape cuts.

Many excellent and essential programs are at risk such as:

It's no X File, but the Ohio Environmental Council released an alert that Ohio EPA received an application for, and has begun to consider whether to issue or deny a Clean Water Act Section 401 certification for a head-scratcher of a project to construct a synagogue in a suburban wetland. The application was submitted by Park Synagogue and would impact 2.74 acres of federally jurisdictional wetlands and 389 feet of intermittent streams. The discharges from the activity would result in degradation to, or lowering of, the water quality of the Chagrin River watershed. The project is located in the city of Pepper Pike.

This is the Park Synagogue branch congregation that, instead of knocking down the 1960s era "white space saucer" temple and building a new synagogue on the same site, has inexplicably decided it wants to tear down a swath of trees on some of the last virgin forest land in the city. The proposed site is across the median from the current site, on Shaker Boulevard East, which is bounded on the south by I-271. A look at the current campus finds that Park has a very large parking lot and grounds enough, it seems, to build a modern temple and school without the environmental impact. So, what gives?

Copies of the application for the certification and technical support information may be inspected at Ohio EPA/DSW, Lazarus Government Center, 122 South Front Street, Columbus, OH by first calling 614-644-2001.

Coventry Road in Cleveland Heights reopened this past weekend without any fanfare as Coventry Village abruptly cancelled its plans for a big reopening celebration. Behind the scenes, Coventry Village is working to finish the job of beautifying the street now that the major improvements such as road and sidewalks are finished. Coventry Village has contracted with City Architecture to complete the landscaping, which will begin by installing 16 ornamental iron planters (each will have an artistic flourish), and planting trees and flowers. Once that is complete, they plan to assess the street for locations of street furniture, i.e. benches and bike racks. Coventry doesn’t have funding yet for the latter, but, according to our source, its merchants’ association is confident that it will find funds after figuring out locations and what kind of bike racks to use.

Reader comments to last week's Bruce blog.

Stephen Gross writes
The Innerbelt reconstruction sounds like a very exciting idea. If they ever succeed in connecting University Circle to the highway system, things are really going to change around here. The near East side is, at this point, a very inaccessible area. If it becomes connected to the region's highways, that will mean that university workers can live more easily on the south and west sides. Consequently, there will be more money in those areas. Also, it means that people like me (in Cleveland Heights) will be able to spend money on the West side much more easily.

My only question: When will ODOT hurry up and build the damn thing?

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the hottest party this Fall—the Hotel Bruce official Web launch party—this Thursday, October 23 from 8 p.m. to Midnight. Check out the beautiful new Grog Shop (at the corner of Coventry Road and Euclid Heights Boulevard) as art jazz quartet Kassaba and local composer Chris Auerbach-Brown join local rock bands Mike Uva + Hook Boy, The Dreadful Yawns and Coffinberry, headlining a night of rockin musical entertainment. Check into the first full issue of Hotel Bruce with laptop and screen projection displays. Munch on gourmet sweets provided by Outrageous Endings and enter a raffle with some great gifts provided by Green Tomato, Renaissance Parlour, Scott Metzger Studios, Cleveland Public Theater and more. And support to a creative cause. Email for more information.