Ecocity Cleveland February 1996
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Voll!lme 3, Number 11 February 1996 Editor/writer: David Beach BIOREGIONAL Inside Eating locally: BUILDING BLOCI{S A winter's tale of good food o The competitive advantages of inner cities o Moses Cleaveland trees o A bioregion shaped by ice o Sprawl pressure points and more." o Good words I .am consumed with the thought that Virtually every society on earth needs to step back (in mind) and consider once more who they are, what their deepest loyalties are, what life is for. Of all the memberships we identifY ourselves Shaded sandstone cliffin Elyria's Cascade Park. by (racial, ethnic, sexual, national, class, age, religious, occupational), the one that is 'most fo~gotten, and that has the Ecosystems of Northeast Ohio greatest potential for h~aling, is place. We live on the ecological edge in Northeast Ohio. We must learn to know, love and join our place We're at the intersection of continental regions- the Allegheny Plateau and flat, even more than we love our own ideas. Midwestern plains. We're at the stopping point of the glaciers. We're on the shore People wbo can agree that they share a of a Great Lake. Even our weather is on edg....... alternating between the influence commitment to the landscape/cityscap ....... of cold air masses from Canada and warm air from the Gulf of Mexico. even if they are otherWise As a result, we are blessed with rich ecological diversity. We have northern plant locked in struggle with each otber- species at the southern limit of their range and southern species at the northern limit have arteast one deep thing to share. of their ;ange. We are at the eastern edge of the North American prairie. And we're -Gary Snyder at the southwestern edge of the northern hardwood forest. We can find northern And tbe world cannot be discovered by a trees like hemlock in cool ravines and more southern trees like hickory and tulip on journey of miles, no matter how long, wanner exposures. but only by a spiritual journey of one inch, But what we find are just remnants of this region's native ecosystems. III tbe very arduous and humbling and joyful, 200 years since the beginning of European settlement, most ofth" region's natural by whicb we arrive at the ground at our feet, heritage has been lost to timbering, agriculture and urbanization .. We are left with and 'learn to be at home. small, isolated pockets of natura! area. -Wendell Berry Continued on page 6 HOME AT ECOCITY SUSTAINABLE WORI< Miuion Sacred places EcoCity Cleveland is a ~nonprofit, taX"~xernpt , educational organization. Tbrough the publication bfthe EcoCity Competing in the inner City Certain places on the earth have universal, timeless appeal. They evoke Cleveland Journal .and other programs, it will stimulate ecological thinking about the Northeas! Ohio region feelings of awe, peacefulness, or spiritual conn~ction . w ith the natural world. As people and jobs· keep migrating out to the business centers but (Cuyahoga Bioregion), nurture an EcoCity Network among suburbs, itls eaSy to get discouraged about the can't afford downtown You walk into these places and know immediately that you are treading on local groups working on urban and environmental issues. economic future of the inner city. Sometimes tents, or that benefit sacred ground.' an.d promote'sustainable ways the problems of crime, educational failure, from being next to . We would like to recognize some of these sacred places in Northeast to meet basicbuman needs for food, shelter, racism, and contaminated brownfield sites major transportation productive work and stable commUnities. Ohio. We invite readers to send in their nominations. We especially want to seem overwhelming. and communiCation But a few economists are raising hope nodes. know about places that might have been important to Native Americans prior Board of Trustees about the redevelopment potential of the inner David Beach, Direc/or, EcoCily Cleveland • Local market to the Eur~pean settlement of the Western Reserve. city. And by "inner city" we don't mean the demand. The inner~ Stuart Greenberg, Environmental Health Watch glitzy downtown areas that have already city market is often To get you thinking, here are some possibilities: Little Mountain near Phil Star, Center for Neighborhood Development. CSU received so much subsidized investment, but poorly served, forcing Kirtland (the high point of the region), Punderson Lake (one ofOliio's few Chris Trepal, The Earth Day Coalition rather the neighborhoods and business local residents to Carl Wirtz, Hausser + Taylor natural, inland lakes), Kendall districts in the periphery of downtowns. travel to the suburbs Ledges along the Cuyahoga AdVis~J;y Board The leading exponent of this view is to shop. Even though River Valley, Indian Point Deborah AJex~Sauoders, Minority En.Vironmental Assoc. Harvard Business School professor Michael inner-city incomes Porter, whose influential May-June 1995 may be low, there is along the Grand River, Tinkers Thomas Bier, CSU Housing Policy Researeh Program James Bissell, Cleveland Mliseum ofNat~r~lltf$~~rjI article in the Harvard Business Review still substantial buying ·Creek Gorge, the twin Dian,e Cameron, NotUFal Rf!sources De/ense'Counci/ explains how to capitalize on the inherent power to be tapped by Not-so-mean streets: Proximity to down~own gives- inner-city waterfalls in Elyria's Cascade Anne Cbaka, l/nion ojCollcet:'!edScie1jll'SI$ Hcompetitive advantage of the inner city. II businesses which can neighborhoods real advantages. ·Edith Ohio Coastal Resource Mgt.; Project Park, and particular bluffs Chas~, Porter argues that the key to inner city find the right Sandie Crawford}. Tri·C Centerlor E~yironmetJtalEducalion economic health is not more social services marketing niche. offering vistas of Lake Erie. by investing i~ u~ban infrastructure and land and·Trainin~ . .... and charity-although those are vital fo r • Integration with regional clusters. Envirqnllle!7tdl Or.ganfw.tion assembly·(instead of building new Lee <DeAngelis, Coreer:s meeting immediate hum~ needs-but the Urban areas tend to have clusters of Sprawl guide available John De"bo, Cuyahoga Val/ey N.ationalRecreation Ar.eq creation of successful businesses. competitive enterprises that feed off each infraStructure out in far-flung suburbs). We are pleased announce that our guidebook o~ urban sprawl issues is now Lois Epstei~ En~jronment(irDelense Fund other's growth- for example the health Community-based organi.zations can provide Soren Hansen, Intere;raphic Engineering $erviCes True advantages of the inner city available. Moving to Corn Fields: A Reader"on Urban Sprawl and the care/medical school complex in Clevelandls job~referral and work-readiness programs. Rick Hamley, Buller DeSign Groupan4Norlheas/ Ohio "Economic actiyity in and aro\lnd inner cities University Circle area. The inner city is a In Greater Cleveland, many of these new Regional Future o/Northeast Ohio is a 64-page collection of the best articles land Trust Coalition ' will take root if it enjoys a competitive prime location from which to provide approaches are already underway. The on regional issues published."in EcoCity Cleveland over the past two and a" Kim HilI, .Sierra Club advantage and occupies a niche that is hard to supplies and support services to such clusters. business-led Growth Association is Robert Jaquay, CuyahogqCounty Planning Commission replicate elsewhere," Porter writes. The inner half years. It also features joint prefaces by Cuyahoga County Commissioner developing stronger job training initiatives. David Knapp, United ,Labor Agency city, he says, has four main advantages: • Human resources. The inner city is Timothy Hagan and Medina County Commissioner Sara Pavlovicz. It's an home to many people who need jobs and who The city of Cleveland is [mally developing Susan Lacy, WE,CAN! • Strategic location. Inner cities can offer Craig Limpach, Jyildlife biologi1t want to work, despite myths about welfare strategies for assembling land. Public-private inspirational resource! See the.back cover of this issue for ordering an edge to companies that serve downtown Elaine Marslt, Friends of the Crooked Riv,er initiatives are addressing brownfields. information. And thanks to The George Gund Foundation for making the dependency. Norman Robbins.. {JWRU Program for the Bnvironment Community development organizations are Porter acknowledges that publication possible. Kathleen lark, eny Architecture helping local c·ompanies navigate through the Finding the .competilive' edge the inner city also has Jerome Walcott, Commissicm on Catholi.c(:olntnu1}ity Action city bureaucracy and are linking residents Thank you Roberta We.ndel, Friends ofthe BlackRMtr:' The question we should be asking is how inner-city-based disadvantages which hamper w~thjobs.lncreasing l y, people are talking businesses and nearby employment opportunities for inner new businesses, such as Thanks to everyone who coptributed to our very successful year-end Organizations listed fod.dt:ntification only. about inner-city places like the E. 55th Street Articles in &oCity Clevefatld do notnetessari;ly ,re6«t the view$ofbr;iatd. city residents can proliferate and grow. A sustainable problems assembling fundraising appeal. Your generosity makes it possible for us to cover more corridor (which runs between 1-77 and 1-90 'membersj :a1thoogb. th~'s a gOod clutnce WC1Y do. economic base can be created in the inner city, but only a~ developable parcels of land, interchanges) as prime business locations. than one-third of this journal's budget with subscription revenue and it has beenereated elsewhere: through private, for-profit high building costs, big city EcoCity Cleve[and• Journal donations from individuals. The amount we raise is steadily growing-a bureaucracy, low education Porter's free~market faith in the business 2841 Scarborough Road, Cleveland l'Ieigbtsi OR 44 U 8 initiatives and investment based on economic self-interest levels of city residents, safety competition does raise some questions.