A new value is being ascribed to vacant land in Cleveland's effort to burnish its brand beyond moribund post-industrial dumping ground to a green city on a blue lake. Here’s how the framers of this vision are setting the stage for vacant land reuse efforts which will take the spotlight at the National Vacant Properties Conference in Cleveland in October:

• At a time when more and more low-income Ohioans are in need of housing they can afford, the Ohio Green Communities initiative is working across the state to help ensure that as many apartments as possible meet an energy efficient green standard. With the support of PNC, three community development entities - Enterprise Community Partners (Enterprise), Ohio Housing Financing Agency and the Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing – have for the second year announced that more than half of all of their combined affordable housing developments, 750 homes in 20 communities across the state, will adhere to the Enterprise Green Communities Criteria, the first national framework for green affordable housing.
• Ringing in the new school year, last weekend the community of Fuchs Mizrachi School (FMS) celebrated the school's grand opening. FMS is the first school in Northeast Ohio to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The new facility includes incorporated geothermal heating, solar hot water panels, high-efficiency lighting, water-efficient landscaping, and alternative energy systems to reduce water and energy use.  The design and construction process integrated 20% recycled materials while reusing, recycling or diverting 94% of construction waste.

During the last four years, The Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE) rolled out a slew of energy savings programs. And while some early birds are feeding, hundreds of small businesses who may starve in this recession have shied away.

That concerns Nicole Stika, COSE’s Energy Program director.

“We’re providing a whole suite of products that think beyond paying utility bills,” she says. “The businesses that are doing something are already into sustainability. They’re the early adopters.”

She’s referring to the slow-to-launch Green Plus a program where businesses can get an evaluation of their energy use and develop a plan to reduce it. They have access to an online system developed in North Carolina’s Research Triangle, and hands-on assistance from an MBA student.

So far, a dozen companies have plunked down the $350 to participate in Green Plus (two companies—LubeStop and Taylor Companies—have been certified).

“If the ROI (return on investment) is not less than 12 months, it’s hard for the small business. Changing behaviors is our struggle.”

Stika’s strategy involves constant reinforcement and targeted messaging. She remains optimistic that business owners who take a minute from their hectic schedule to hear about the programs, will eventually flock.

“As Ohio’s energy efficiency mandate gets steep enough, the businesses that use a lot of energy—such as restaurants and cold storage—will be first to take advantage,” she predicts. 

• Sustainable transportation advocates took a break from dissecting ODOT’s haughty view on the Innerbelt Bridge to serve cake—Marie Antoinette-style—to remind Clevelanders that if you live without a car (25% of the population) or want to ride a bike, you are a peasant in the minds of those who design roads in Ohio.
• Thumb your nose at creativity and the experts you’re paying millions to design our Innerbelt Bridge? It’s why ODOT is “stuck in reverse” ClevelandBikes’ Kevin Cronin eloquently states in this PD column.
• Tired of being treated like a second class citizen by ODOT? Come celebrate a new vision for "complete streets" on September 17 at Progressive Field—we'll party down in the market pavilion (inside the park, Gate C, E. 9th Street side) with local bands, discounts on beer and dogs and a chance to socialize with local sustainable transportation advocates.

My wife, Laura, and I are taking a carless vacation to the Boston area. We are giving rail and public trans a good work through, and below you will find some musings and images detailing what it is we are up against and what it is we will find…(Part 1 can be found here.)

Sunday August 15 4:55 p.m.—Marblehead, MA

• Case kicks off its Year of Water today with a Convocation address from environmental journalist Elizabeth Royte. Royte investigates the bottled water phenomenon—and the environmental and social implications of the multi-billion dollar industry behind it—in the university-wide Common Reading selection, Bottlemania.
• By now, most of us have heard of the Pacific junk gyre, a swirling soup of plastic the size of Texas. But truth be told, no amount of railing and chest beating is going to be as effective in telling the story as American director Ramin Bahrani’s short film, Plastic Bag. It’s an emotional triumph—supplying both release and a strengthening of resolve in the face of a global tragedy.

ReImagine a Greater Cleveland keeps the city’s deep thinkers and land-based technical experts concentrating on how to restore ecological and economic function to 3,300 vacant parcels in Cleveland (and more in the suburbs). At what was intended to be the final steering committee meeting last week, Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC) Director Terry Schwarz revealed some of the proposed “catalytic” projects that could offer proof of concept for the ReImagine study, Pattern Book and work groups, which worked for more than a year establishing a new framework for reusing vacant land. The Cleveland Foundation has committed to funding conceptual designs for two-four projects from the ReImagine initiative.  

As they continue to bear down on the most effective way to translate this vision into a few projects, what’s under the microscope seems to fall into a two categories: those that catalyze existing projects and assets and those that create a wholly new opportunity.

Neighborhood Progress Inc. Senior Planner Bobbi Reichtell—who championed this project with Schwarz and the committee—commented that the goal should be to improve the lives of those struggling with the negative impacts of vacancy.

My wife, Laura, and I are taking a carless vacation to the Boston area. We are giving rail and public trans a good work through, and below you will find some musings and images detailing what it is we are up against and what it is we will find…

Friday August 13 6:55 a.m.—Cleveland, OH 

On the train and through its window, seeing the sunlight rising from a pink-blue sky above a stone and steel city gives thickness to the term “nostalgia”. Can America transcend train travel, though, beyond this is a legitimate question, as rail in the minds of so many is about settling for bygones as opposed to bridging to futures—and because of this: the evolution of American rail is more a reflection of its crumbling. Need proof. Here is Cleveland’s rail station back then, and this is it now. That’s my wife sitting between two dead benches not an hour ago. At one point an Amish man picked one of them up for his elderly mother to sit on, before it fell folding back into the sad position that seems to epitomize the Cleveland station as a whole—both in location and upkeep. If only the Cleveland station was built to lend itself to the notion that the poetry of rail should not be its endpoint, and that it should supplement the efficiency of movement arising from an infrastructure that has not taken its talents to South Beach…or to South Boston for that matter…

9:47 AM—Somewhere near Buffalo

At noon today (August 18), citizens seeking access for all on the new Innerbelt Bridge will help Clevelanders celebrate the 51st birthday of the current, already decrepit, bridge by handing out pieces of cake on Public Square; at the Westside Market, and in the Tremont neighborhood.

Their message is:

Just as Queen Marie Antoinette is said to have replied 'why don't they just eat cake?' when told that the peasants were protesting their lack of bread, The Ohio Department of Transportation is saying 'why don't they just drive cars?' when confronted with the hundreds of citizens, scores of business leaders, and several brave politicians who have asked that this $500,000,000 bridge connecting two of our densest, most pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods, is built with a sidewalk.

And, save the date: if you'd like to see Cleveland with more active transportation options plan on attending a major event downtown on Friday, September 17—the date the bridge contract is to be awarded, to showcase the need for better public planning and policy for active transportation.

The Sept. 17th event will focus on celebrating the area's growing Complete Streets movement, which holds that ALL streets be built to safely and conveniently accommodate all citizens—including seniors, children, and people with disabilities, as well as those who walk, bicycle, or rely on public transit; whether by necessity, or by choice.

Get your cake (and eat it too) today at the following locations: