Detroit Shoreway Gets Green (and Red, and Pink, and Orange)

A few months back, I came across a design contest taking entries for a re-development of the area surrounding the West 65th Street tunnel between the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood and Edgewater Park. This grassy little expanse features a long winding walkway down to a tunnel under the CSX rail lines.

According to the Cleveland Design Competition Awards press release: "Participants were asked to design an intergenerational playscape that activates the residual space around an existing multipurpose pathway connecting Cleveland’s west side neighborhoods to Edgewater Park and Lake Erie." I toyed with the idea of submitting a little entry based upon my cursory knowledge of Google Sketchup, but quickly demurred after seeing the quality of entries in similar competitions. The results of this competition definitely proved my hesitancy correct (for anyone interested in my own childish creation for the space can find it at left; like I said, I'm no expert).



The first-prize winners, Nini Spagl & Gerald Haselwanter from Vienna, Austria, envisioned a color-infused arboreal setting, with trees planted in such a way that their leaves would complement the park through the four seasons. Below is their 'season by season' color scheme.
In addition, the plans call for such interactive items as a playground, four lane (track style) walkway, soccer field, basketball court, climbing wall, and hopscotch area. For those perhaps not so inclined for 'action', there is a planned picnic pavilion and grill area, an outdoor fireplace and surrounding benches that allow you to watch the dramatic sunsets over Lake Erie. (See this and other entries here).
Whether it serves as a basis for design, or any sort of site upgrade goes left unsaid, but the spark that the contest ignites for create solutions in neighborhood development is quite valuable. Whether an outgrowth of the contest, or an independent effort that just so happens to be in concert, neighbors from the Franklin Blvd. area of Detroit Shoreway neighborhood are creating a community orchard on vacant railroad land, just west of the proposed park site. The block club is currently in negotiations with Norfolk Southern, the land owners, but have already secured funding, taken soil samples, and determined what will be planted! Curious?

30 fruit trees, including two kinds of sweet cherry and three kinds of plum; 60 grapevines; 32 bramble bushes featuring three varieties of raspberries and one variety of blackberries; and 16 blueberry bushes. As Plain Dealer Blogger Christopher Evans astutely points out in his entry on the subject; "Restoring beauty and life to a place where asphalt and garbage rule. It doesn't get better than that."

One step at a time, Clevelanders, one step at a time.

Afternoon Delight (For Beer Lovers)

Winter Warmer is in itself anachronistic, but when prefaced with the premise that said alliterative combination is in reference to a festival celebrating the strongest beers of the season, it is quite apt. I can attest that I came out of the third annual festival warmer than when I went in. Held at Rock Bottom Brewery in Cleveland's Flats, this installment treated revelers with the work of 13 local breweries.

The ticket, $30, was again raised for this year's event (as it was last year), though the price of admission did entitle attendees to feast on a small but satisfying buffet lunch. But let's get real, no one bought their ticket for the food.

The beer was the main event, and boy did it deliver. Historically, brewers opted for stronger recipes for the cold winter months. Those worthy brews were the impetus behind the festival. Hundreds of hop-heads, amateur brewers and curious beer lovers crowded into Rock Bottom, armed with the complimentary pilsner glass and 15 sample tickets. Katie and I met up with my parents as we have done for the past two years (it's become a greatly anticipated tradition for the Simmons'), and got down to business.

The star of the show, in my own humble opinion, was Hoppin' Frog's India Pale Ale (IPA) entry, Hoppin' To Heaven. Frog, from Akron, consistently puts out much-admired styles available in 22 ounce 'bombers'. My only beef with them is that they don't produce the traditional six pack, a hindrance to wider distribution and interest. The Hoppin' To Heaven was chocked full of hops, but well balanced by a spicy, almost tea-like malt. There are plenty of IPA's that lay claim to extremely high IBU's (International Bitterness Units), but there are few that offer the complexity of this. I don't think I'd pick over my beloved Bell's Two Hearted Ale, but it would be close.

Other winners included new Cleveland brewery Indigo Imp's cask-conditioned Winter Solstice, Brewkeepers' Olde 21 IPA, and the ever popular Great Lakes Brewing Company's (GLBC) Blackout Stout. Surprisingly, GLBC didn't offer a beer unique to the festival, or one not available at the Restaurant in Ohio City. I asked Luke, the company's head brewer, why no surprises this year. He said that between preparing the upcoming seasonals and the increasing production of flagship brands, there just weren't enough hours in the day. I could go on ad infinitum about the marvelous offerings, but that would bore all but the most devoted beer lovers. I'll just say that there was no place on Earth that most attendees would rather have been than in cloudy, cold Cleveland on a Sunday in February... except maybe Belgium.

Named for the massive 2004 blackout that darkened much of the Eastern Seaboard, as well as the Cleveland area, not for the condition prompted by excessive drinking.

Clinic Signs Clinic - Healthcare-less Yawn.

*Note: Staff diversity not representative of market base

Some (potentially good) news on the health front today from Crain's. The Cleveland Clinic, the health care behemoth slowly ingesting Midtown, has signed a deal with MinuteClinic, the mini-medical clinics located within many CVS stores. The in-store clinics will provide certified medical personnel overseen by Medical Directors at the Cleveland Clinic. "Great!" I thought, "with the cutbacks at MetroHealth and other facilities, this will provide citizens of Cleveland with a local, convenient, and inexpensive option for basic medical care!"

Not so fast... Reading on, I discovered that there are currently eight MinuteClinics within CVS stores in the state of Ohio. Surely there is a recognition of the utter deficiency of medical care outlets within major metropolitan areas, right? Where literally thousands of underserved and low-wage earning people would benefit, right?

Nope.

The list, as noted in the article: Chagrin Falls, Aurora, Hinkley, Strongsville, Twinsburg, Westlake, Woodmere, and Shaker Heights. Granted, the last two are 'on the fringe' of Cleveland-proper. Mapped out connect the dot-style, the locations look like an actual wall separating the richer suburbs from 'the dangerous city'. What a crock. I would bet that the population densities in the Cleveland area CVS neighborhoods are greater than in the suburban locations where there are already considerable options for medical care.

I know I certainly wouldn't be opposed to one in the Lorain Station neighborhood. Or perhaps they don't think that area residents would be interested in their services; like ear wax removal for $59. However, other services, like low-cost vaccinations and treatment for minor injuries by MinuteClinic's "team of board-certified practitioners... trained to diagnose, treat and write prescriptions" could be a nice addition to the neighborhood.

BYOG

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, the Chico, California based pioneer in the micro-brewery movement, has added another entrepreneurial and environmentally forward thinking feather to their already well-plumed cap. A byproduct of brewing, yeast, just happens to be the exact material needed for this kick-ass contraption, the EFuel100's MicroFueler, to turn it into clean running E85 ethanol!
The price tag of $9,995 is a bit steep for the average homebrewer (and I'm guessing unless you're really banging out some batches way too much yeast capacity), but for a relentlessly greening brewing company who just happens to already collect rainwater, grow their own local veggies, recycle a huge percentage of their restaurant waste and have a van that runs on vegetable oil, it could be just the thing! Now if only there were a company like that around here (I'm looking at you Great Lakes)...

If anything, it would invite some very positive press, increase recycling, cut down on carbon emissions (every little bit helps, right?), further position the company in eyes of consumers as being environmentally friendly, and fuel your tanks as well! Also, it would provide a unique addition to the landscape on Market Avenue...

Visions of Bonnaroobians Dance in My Head...

Let the Tent Vortex fun begin...

It's official. Phish will be headlining two glorious nights on a farm in rural Tennessee. Let's hope the ticketing system for the 'Roo is more responsive than for the ungodly slow and error-message prone system used for the rest of the tour. My guess is that come Saturday morning, you'd better be bright eyed and bushy-tailed if you want to cash in on this behemoth event (oh, and packing some heat with your plastic at nearly $300 a pop)... But, for anyone who's been knows - it's always worth it.