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The Urban Land Institute hosts a panel discussion, featuring Ari Maron (Partner, MRN Ltd.), Russell Berusch (Vice President, Commercial Development, Case Western Reserve University), Maribeth Feke (Director of Programming & Planning, RTA), Chris Ronayne (President, University Circle Inc.), and a representative of the Cleveland Clinic. The moderator is Ken McGovern of Planning & Development Services. Registration begins at 3:30 pm, and the panel runs from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm, followed by a reception.

The deadline to register is Tuesday, June 23, 2009. Registration is $40 for ULI Members, $30 for YLG & Students Members, and $30 for Public Sector Members. Non-members should add an additional $20 to the appropriate registration category. Registration includes “pre-paid” parking at Ford Road Garage between Euclid and Hessler Ct. and two beer/wine tickets.
Visit cleveland.uli.org for more information or to register.

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This fabulous, fun, FREE celebration features the Parade, presented by The Cleveland Museum of Art, and Circle Village, presented by University Circle Inc. The Parade, which begins at noon, incorporates the drama and artistry of colorful floats, puppets, costumes, dancers, and musicians. Circle Village invites visitors onto Wade Oval for an afternoon of activities, live music, and delectable food.

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The Hessler Street Fair is an annual community arts and music festival celebrating its 40th year on historic Hessler Street in Cleveland's University Circle. A family-friendly event, the fair showcases local artists, food, musicians, and poets. Attracting 10,000 visitors each year, it features a diverse mixture of musical styles and venues, and is a non-profit, volunteer-run weekend.

Leaders from six institutions which hold conservation and sustainability intrinsic to their values and mission provided a snapshot of ‘what green means’ to University Circle on Wednesday evening. Around 150 volunteers, staff and Circle Neighbors from the Women's Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Botanical Garden, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Women’s Committee of The Cleveland Orchestra, MOCA and the Western Reserve Historical Society were updated on the green activities happening in Cleveland’s second largest employment district, the heart of its cultural life and, increasingly, a location that’s putting sustainable ideas into practice.

David Beach, director of the GreenCityBlueLake Institute at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, laid down a challenge to harness the collective brain power in University Circle to work toward a big goal. “We can be a ‘zero waste district’ or we can figure out how we capture all of our stormwater on site,” he suggested. 

Beach also highlighted some of the green initiatives at the Natural History Museum, including financial incentives for staff who bike, walk or take public transit to work, and a shared Prius hybrid for off-site meetings.

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Meeting of the University Circle Green Team, composed of representatives of many institutions in the Circle area.

For more information, contact UCI's Chris Bongorno.

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Recognizing that forty-nine percent of American meals—or about a half-billion per day— are produced in commercial kitchens, sustainable food service provider Bon Appétit Management Company isn’t leaving the responsibility up to individual consumers. The company’s 400 chefs, including Matt Auck at Case Western, are taking an active role in showing diners how small changes made by individual eaters can have a big impact on the health of the planet.

On Earth Day, April 22nd, the company’s second annual Low Carbon Diet Day, diners at all 400 Bon Appétit cafés in colleges, universities, corporations, and specialty venues will dine on dishes specially created to illustrate what low carbon eating tastes like. Cheeseburgers are out, because cows produce methane, a dangerous greenhouse gas. Expect instead creations like turkey burgers with molé sauce and roasted vegetable sandwiches livened up with vibrant herb pestos and flavorful bean spreads. At Case Western, diners will feast on Honey Glazed Sock Eye Salmon with Herb Mushroom Orzo Pasta.

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Want to know more about how to make University Circle a leading “green” district? The Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, in collaboration with the Cleveland Botanical Garden, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, The Women’s Committee of The Cleveland Orchestra, MOCA, and the Western Reserve Historical Society, invite you to a Circle Neighbors’ panel discussion on “What Does Green Mean to the Circle?”

The event takes place at 5 p.m., Wednesday, May 6, 2009 at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in University Circle. A reception will start off the evening, with the panel discussion beginning at 5:30 p.m. and ending at 7 p.m. Representatives from several University Circle institutions will speak. Places being represented include the GreenCityBlueLake, Cleveland Museum of Natural History; the Cleveland Clinic; University Circle Inc.; the Cleveland Foundation; Case Western Reserve University; and Cleveland Botanical Garden. The panel will discuss ways University Circle can be known not only as a leading cultural district but also as a leading “green” district.

To RSVP to this event, please call Lauren Kelly at (216) 231-4600, ext. 3279, (216) 231- 1177, or E-mail lkelly@cmnh.org.

Last week, I had the privilege of joining a delegation of Clevelanders on a trip to Chicago to tour and learn about the McDonald’s Cycle Center in Millennium Park. This innovative bike station features indoor parking for 300 bicycles, shower facilities, a supply and repair shop, as well as playing host to a rental and tour business. The endeavor has been very successful in Chicago and our group learned a lot about how the facility was designed and operates.

Why were we there? Because the City of Cleveland will be building its first bike station downtown later this year in one of the Gateway garages. UCI also plans to incorporate a station into its Mayfield Road Lot 45 development, a location that can serve Little Italy and University Circle residents, visitors, and employees and which will be tied closely to adjacent mixed-use developments and RTA bus and rapid facilities.

Cities across the country are investing in bicycle infrastructure in order to promote more sustainable, affordable commuting options, which will result in more livable communities for everyone. Cleveland is no exception, with a newly adopted Bikeway Master Plan, new laws, and several million dollars in capital investments either completed, planned, or underway.

How would RTA, the region's transit agency, invest a chunk (it has $10 million budgeted) of the $62.9 million it hopes to receive from the federal infrastructure stimulus package? By the looks of it, in way impressive fashion.

As a lifelong Clevelander, I have to remind myself that the proposed Rapid Transit rail station at the base of Cedar Hill is the type of world-class design this city deserves and should come to expect.

To paraphrase Steven Litt, the public-private partnership that led to this design should be the model from here on out (RTA used $1 million from the Cleveland Foundation to hire a top-tier designer, and the proof is in the pudding). The designs will go before City Planning tomorrow morning for approval.

What do you think of the future of public transit in Cleveland? Check out these images.

At least a dozen University Circle institutions who have formed internal ‘green teams’—staffers volunteering to reduce their organization’s ecological footprint—met November 19, 2008 at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

One of the key themes that emerged: how can a group of organizations working toward the same goals collaborate to form a green district?

The groups discussed where they stood on the green continuum – and described efforts to green aspects of their building and/or operations. For example:

• Recycling: University Circle, Inc. has a complete recycling program, with a City of Cleveland recycling dumpster (open to all institutions in the Circle)
• Composting: Magnolia Clubhouse has been composting for years
• Alternative fuels: The Botanical Garden is composting and, with Bon Appetite, their food service provider, producing biodiesel fuel made from their café’s used fryer grease which they use in their vehicles 
• Green building: The Natural History Museum is pursuing the highest level—LEED-Platinum—in the U.S. Green Building Council's green rating system
• Renewable energy: Case is exploring building wind turbines and solar panels on its campus.

Beau Daane at the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District, presented on tips to effectively start and generate interest for your business recycling program. Daane said businesses can look to him as a free recycling consultant.