In its Feb. 15 edition, The Nation describes Ohio as the Saudi Arabia of ‘grey power’. That’s quite a striking statement, and absolutely true considering 145 to 285 megawatts of grey power—“the massive bank account of steam and energy that could be used to generate electricity”—is coughed into the biosphere every day from hundreds of old line manufacturers. That's the equivalent of a new coal-fired power plant. 

At this week’s CSU Levin College Forum, “Distributed Generation and Industrial Energy: Reducing Costs, Increasing Efficiency” panelists looked at the barriers and opportunities to scale up grey and green power in Ohio. Since the state approved an Advanced Energy Portfolio Standard – mandating that power producers ramp up sourcing of green and possibly grey power (and increase their efficiency) to 25% by the year 2025 – new opportunities for individuals and business have come on line. For example, Senate Bill 221 authorized businesses to apply for “special contracts” to produce their own power and sell it back to the grid (in the past, only utilities could make requests of the state).

The trouble is, navigating the regulatory and financial aspects of setting up, say, a wind turbine or solar array on an industrial property is “daunting” because industry is stretched thin, says Sam Randazzo, general counsel for the Industrial Energy Users of Ohio.

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) wrote to Governor Ted Strickland (D-OH) today urging him to include a bicycle and pedestrian path in construction plans for the replacement Innerbelt Bridge in downtown Cleveland. The project, recently described as “Ohio's largest single infrastructure project ever,” will be partially funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).

“With a strong and growing bicycling community in Cleveland, a sizeable carless population, and new development in nearby neighborhoods, it would be penny-wise and pound-foolish to build this bridge with only cars and trucks in mind,” wrote Sen. Brown. “We can only do this project once, and it is critical we do it right.”

Brown praised the work of the Ohio Department of Transportation under Gov. Strickland’s administration, noting its unprecedented approach to supporting different modes of transportation.

Brown has been an outspoken advocate for diversifying forms of transportation in Ohio. In October 2009, Sen. Brown led a bipartisan group of 14 members of the Ohio Delegation in sending a letter to the Department of Transportation, urging that Ohio be strongly considered for funds to develop passenger rail corridor across the state. In January, Ohio was awarded more than $400 million in funds to expand high speed rail lines connecting Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Dayton.

Full text of Sen. Brown's letter to the governor can be found here.

The 2019 Sustainable Water group, Strategic Partnerships and Learning and the ‘G5’—a collaboration of five communications groups from the Sustainable Cleveland 2019 summit—have wisely decided to tap their group projects into the existing sustainability network. The three groups are meeting regularly to establish plans for public awareness campaigns and to build on existing sustainability efforts in the region.

The Sustainable Water group has a theme—‘Drink Local. Drink Tap.’ But they’re still looking for help with a campaign roll out on March 22, to coincide with World Water Day. The group has also reserved a table at EarthFest, on April 18. At their recent meeting, held at Earth Day Coalition's office, 2019 Water group co-chair Pam Davis announced that the Cleveland Division of Water Pollution Control is willing to help support the campaign (even though the city has its own slogan, “Go with the flow, drink water on the go”). Another potential partner is the Waterband and their Wishing Well Foundation — both have roots in Cleveland. The band’s manager offered to coordinate the group and the band’s plans for the 22nd. The 2019 group will meet this Friday at 8 a.m. at the West Side Market Café to figure out the best direction to take a drink local water campaign. For more information.

The $100 million federal Sustainable Communities Program seeks to reward regions that coordinate land-use, transportation and fair housing and tie plans to meaningful metrics, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions. EPA, HUD and DOT are hosting a series of listening sessions – Cleveland is one of only six cities on the national tour, on March 10 – to establish criteria for funding regional sustainable development plans. Digging into the background paper, it appears the Sustainable Communities Initiative is looking at regions that are

1) willing to work on a plan that innovates around land-transportation-housing
2) has a plan that needs implementation; or
3) leads the nation in implementation, but want to be even more awesomely sustainable.

Which category does Northeast Ohio fall into? At first blush, we appear to be in category one. Northeast Ohio is relatively behind the curve on regional planning that links sustainable land use, transportation and housing. The Euclid Corridor might be the only clear example of a “corridor transit-oriented development plan” – RTA and Midtown Cleveland have been marketing their properties in Euclid Corridor as a TOD opportunity, and their plan for a mixed-use district from E. 55th to the Cleveland Clinic but it stalled with the recession. 

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) met yesterday with members of the Cleveland Planning Commission, including director Robert Brown, to discuss the path forward to ensure that plans to replace the I-90 Innerbelt bridge include a separate roadway for bikes and pedestrians. “The State of Ohio should be encouraging opportunities for the people of Cleveland to cross the Cuyahoga River in a way that is good for public health, good for the environment, good for businesses, and good for communities,” Kucinich said.

The meeting centered on an effort that the Planning Commission endorsed in February for ODOT to include alternative designs in its bid packages which are due back March 23. Commissioner Lillian Kuri said ODOT’s response that this is too late to amend an environmental statement is bureaucratic runaround.

“ODOT at its meeting with its bidders admitted there will be many amendments and adjustments to the environmental statement. They said the same thing before we got the bike and pedestrian promenade on the Detroit-Superior Bridge. We don’t want to stop the project. We simply want them to authorize the firms to submit two bids, one with the path and one without.”

Kucinich’s legal counsel Marty Gelfand promised to contact the Federal Highway Administration to confirm that including an alternative bid would not delay the process.

“Federal highway already has standards (for a bike and pedestrian path on a bridge),” confirmed Cleveland Planning staffer, Marty Cader.

“I think firms would relish the opportunity because it’s a significant span,” said Commission Chair Tony Coyne.

• Cleveland City Council is considering new policy that would leverage its buying power to promote locally grown food and sustainable businesses. Ordinance No. 1660-A-09 was introduced by Mayor Frank Jackson and Councilmember Joe Cimperman in January to provide bid incentives on city contracts for local businesses, sustainable businesses and businesses that purchase local foods. Read more.  
• The Food Policy Coalition is hiring a general manager, and a farmer for its sustainable farm in Oberlin.  Also, the local food group which convened at the 2019 sustainability summit is meeting on March 2 to provide updates on its community kitchen project.   
• The Northeast Ohio Chapter of the USGBC and green consulting firm Sustainable Rhythm posted a new survey to answer some of the communications challenges of green building. They’re looking for feedback from the building community including owners, facility managers, real estate firms, architects, engineers, consultants, product companies.  
• The Earth 2U Farmer’s Market in its first year added to the vibrancy on the Cleveland State University campus. The market starts up again on May 13. See the new YouTube video.  

Local food—similar to green building and vacant land reuse—was a movement numbering in the hundreds and operating as a well-established network before the 2019 summit. The summit provided a space for local food advocates and growers to revisit their goals and widen their tent. The group agreed to focus efforts coming out of the summit in these areas:

• 10,000 Farmers – Before the summit, the local food community was discussing how to meet the goal of growing 10% food locally (currently, across Northeast Ohio, 1% of our food comes from local sources). At the summit, they honed in on 10,000 farmers as a target to reach that goal: In order to build supply, we need to train a whole new generation how to be farmers and find them the land, including land in the city, to grow a diversity of crops.
• A community kitchen and incubator – A community space for gardeners to prepare food for market, including a wash area for greens and a canning and bottling facility, and for small food enterprises to acquire business skills.
• A local food marketing campaign – At the summit, the Local Food group worked on a brand, Growhio, and a logo for the eat local campaign.

I caught up recently with urban farmers and 2019 Local Food co-chairs, Peter McDermott and Todd Alexander, for an update on the group’s activities.

A recent visit to community kitchen and small business incubator, ACEnet in Athens, OH gave the Cleveland group some perspective.

• GCBL continues to ramp up coverage of the Sustainable Cleveland 2019 summit follow up. Recent posts in our new 2019 Blog report on a milestone for the 2019 Green Building ‘retrofits’ work group, and on the city’s release of an RFP for a 2019 strategic plan. Get an overview on each of the 20 Work Groups, and how they plan to deliver a vision for sustainable development.
• “There is a great deal of national buzz among activists and community-development specialists about ‘the Cleveland model,’” The Nation reports about the Evergreen Cooperative. The Co-op launched two employee-owned green companies last fall, and has plans for two more, including Green City Growers, a 230,000 sq. ft. greenhouse on vacant land in the city. Commitments from the Cleveland Clinic, Case and University Hospital to purchase their services, and an initial infusion of $5 million in grants from Cleveland Foundation have Atlanta, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Detroit and a number of other cities around Ohio looking to copy Cleveland’s success.
• The Cuyahoga Valley National Park is working on a trails plan, and wants your input. If you have ideas that would add or improve trails including mountain biking, weigh in here before March 5.

• It’s official—the city of Cleveland will host the second Sustainable Cleveland 2019 summit from September 22 to 23, 2010 (location TBD). On Sept. 24, the city will have a Sustainable Cleveland 2019 public day. Stay tuned for more details about this important follow up to the 2009 summit.
• The Cleveland Commitment is an inspiring new vision for Cleveland. Written by the Public Compact Group at the SC2019 summit, its ambitions include, “Strengthen our economy, community and long-term security through sustainable practices that produce local food and energy, provide accessible transportation, promote community health, and support education for all.” Read the entire pledge here, and then consider signing it (the group plans to present it to the mayor).
• In his weekly email, Cleveland Sustainability Chief Andrew Watterson congratulated the 2019 Transportation Work Group for organizing this cool music video. It sings the praises of a citizen and 2019 Transportation-led effort for ODOT to wrap their minds around an alternative vision of an Inner Belt bridge with a multi-use path. The project also got the attention of The Plain Dealer editorial staff this week.

Six months after Cleveland’s first sustainability summit, the city and a core group of volunteers continue working to convert excitement into action, 700 individual visions into a strategy for empowering green economic development, and to direct the newfound 2019 community into answering the question: What next?

Efforts ramped up this week.

First, Cleveland Sustainability Office director Fran DiDonato and the 2019 Council – an advisory body that includes CEOs from Key Bank, The Federal Reserve, Case and CSU – released an RFP for the city to hire a firm that will develop a strategic plan. The plan will “chart the course for where Cleveland should be after ten years of working towards transforming our economy into a sustainable economy.”

Yesterday, the 2019 Steering Committee – a group of volunteer professionals who have been the lifeblood of the follow up work to the summit– held an all-day planning session for the next summit, which will be held on Sept. 22-24, 2010.

Mayor Jackson kicked off the day by noting the city’s focus for the summit is on creating green jobs. “I look at sustainability not as something green, but as something that lasts,” he said. “My regional development chief, Chris Warren, and I visited Parker-Hannifin, which makes gears. They recently won a bid for wind turbines. This is part of the equation of how we transform our economy. That we have the jobs and investment opportunity.”