Clevelanders are spoiled with an abundance of natural resources -- from water and parklands to wide-open spaces. But that doesn’t give us liberty to be careless about the way we use those assets. We chat with a pair of local "green gurus" to see what we all can be doing to live greener lives.

For Gordon Square residents and Edgewater Park visitors, the long wait finally is over. The bike-ped underpass at W. 76th Street that connects the west side to Edgewater reopens next week -- albeit a few years late and millions over budget. Public officials plan to celebrate on Tuesday, July 2nd at 5 pm with a ribbon cutting at Battery Park Wine Bar.

Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) spokesperson Amanda Lee says the delays were caused by environmental issues that required a new retaining wall design. High water content in the soil forced them back to the drawing board. Essentially two connected tunnels, it goes under tracks and the Shoreway.

Not only is the underpass cleaner, better illuminated and more accessible, it also boasts a striking new work of public art, "Cold Front," designed by Cleveland artist Mark Reigelman. The piece plays off the natural history of the area, whose bluffs were carved out by glaciers -- known as pathmakers -- eons ago.

"This is what you see when you come out of the tunnel: Cleveland's best natural feature, Lake Erie, as well as the history of the lake and how it's been formed," says Riegelman, whose artwork at the entrance was built out of cast concrete by Great Lakes Construction.

The work, which consists of hexagonal shapes in shades of blue designed to mimic the water molecules in glaciers, was built so that it will be visible to all who pass. "From the neighborhood you see the crest of the glacier; trains can see a luminescent blue quality; and people can see it from their boats on the water."

LAND Studio coordinated the selection process for the public artwork, which was completed with funds from the State of Ohio, City and Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.

The underpass will better connect residents to Edgewater Park at a time when the Metroparks has just assumed management. Users report that the Metroparks already has made improvements, with staff picking up litter and combing the beach and long-awaited recycling bins set to be installed next week.


Source: Mark Reigelman
Writer: Lee Chilcote

The jazz institution Nighttown has opened two new patios -- one for people and the other for people accompanied by their four-legged friends -- at its home on Cedar Road in Cleveland Heights. They're not what you might expect: Unlike the traditional look of the restaurant's interior, the patios are very contemporary.

"The whole back of the building is basically a patio complex," says owner Brendan Ring. "We created two side-by-side patios, one enclosed with stone from Missouri, and kind of wrapped the whole back of the building in a modern metal material. They will remind you of being in SoHo or maybe some cool place in Tremont."

The enclosed, 1,400-square-foot patio for people has a heated, stamped concrete floor that's built to resemble wood planks, bioethanol fireplaces and a small bar. Sliding glass panels will ensure that it can be used year-round. The 900-square-foot dog-friendly patio is where the singles like to hang out, Ring says.

"Especially in Cleveland Heights, everyone has a dog. Young people have a martini or smoke there. 'I've got a dog, you got a dog, we've got something to talk about.'"

The impetus for the patios came last year when Ring looked at the books and realized that his existing outdoor space was booked every Friday and Saturday night for months on end. "I kind of went, 'Holy shit, we have no place to seat regular people on weekends.' We got an architect, designed it and got it up."

Ring says he also built the patios to stand out and compete within Cleveland's increasingly vibrant foodie scene -- and of course, having a killer patio helps. "Audiences have gotten bigger in this town, but there are more stages, too."


Source: Brendan Ring
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Stormwater run-off can overflow sewers, flood homes, erode roads and streambanks, and pollute our beloved waterways. Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District is seeking to address these issues with a stormwater management program. Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells, manager of watershed programs for NEORSD, explains what the venture means for the average resident.

The gradually expanding network of bike-friendly streets in Cleveland and the surrounding suburbs just got a little wider with the addition of a bike lane and sharrows on Edgehill Road from Overlook Road down to Little Italy. The route, one of the most heavily-trafficked for east side bike commuters, was just freshly paved and restriped.

"This is part of the Circle-Heights Bicycle Plan," says Chris Bongorno, Director of Planning with University Circle Inc., which helped to shepherd the project through in collaboration with the City of Cleveland and the City of Cleveland Heights. "We did a study that showed that 25 percent of the University Circle workforce lives within a five mile bike commute. The idea is that there would be more people choosing to bike if we give them facilities that they're comfortable using."

The Circle-Heights Bicycle Plan was funded by the Northeast Ohio Coordinating Agency (NOACA), the regional body that is responsible for divvying up federal transportation funds and helping to establish regional planning priorities. The Edgehill Road project is actually the first aspect of the plan to be completed.

The project was carefully engineered to maximize safety and functionality for cars and bikes. In addition to the five-foot-wide bike lane, there is a four-foot "bike buffer" that adds greater separation between motorists and cyclists. The downhill lane on Edgehill has sharrows, signaling to drivers that bicyclists "share" the road. The reasoning is that bikes travel nearly as fast as cars down the hill (25 mph speed limit). The plan preserves on-street parking on one side of the street.

Other bike infrastructure amenities in the area that will be completed in the next few years include an off-street trail along Cedar Glen Parkway from Cleveland Heights to University Circle. Cleveland is building its portion of the trail this year, and Cleveland Heights expects to complete its portion by 2014 or early 2015.

Coupled with the Lake-to-Lakes Trail and Euclid Avenue bike lanes, the infrastructure is slowly being added to connect the Heights to University Circle and beyond via bicycle. That's one reason why Cleveland was recently awarded a Bronze-level certification as a bike-friendly community from the American League of Bicyclists.


Source: Chris Bongorno, Richard Wong
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Young urbanist leaders who were in Cleveland this week for Next City's annual Vanguard conference were asked a provocative question about this city's future. With new development activity happening in neighborhoods across a city that still is devastatingly poor, how can we do a better job of ensuring that these projects will benefit our poorest residents?

"I'm a little concerned that as we build projects, we're creating a city for yuppies and a city for everyone else," commented Ari Maron of MRN Ltd. in a presentation to 40 leaders from across the U.S. and Canada engaged in fields such as urban planning, entrepreneurship and sustainability. "How many cupcake and yogurt shops can a city sustain?"

Heads nodded and attendees laughed as Maron admitted the challenge was as much to himself as others, since MRN owns three of the city's most prominent new developments, E. Fourth Street in downtown Cleveland, Uptown in University Circle and property along W. 25th in Ohio City.

Several attendees noted that they were surprised by how few of the city's larger developments have translated into prosperity for surrounding neighborhoods. Sitting in the newly-built Museum of Contemporary Art at University Circle, leaders asked how that area's success could benefit its low-income neighbors.

Maron cited the Greater University Circle Initiative and local hiring and procuring efforts by University Hospitals and others. MRN has committed to hiring local residents for its projects, and the company now employs 285 city residents.

"When people from the neighborhood work here, they take ownership of the project because it's their neighborhood," he said, citing DoubleTree Hotel as one example of a University Circle project that employees many local residents.

An attendee from Chicago noted that Cleveland appears to be behind in adding bike-friendly infrastructure. He cited the recent addition of separated bicycle lanes to Surmac Avenue in Chicago as a game-changing project for his city. "Cleveland needs to do one really good pilot project," said the attendee.

Next City is a national nonprofit media organization that organizes the Vanguard conference to highlight best urban practices and develop young urban leaders. Updates from the conference are being posted on Next City's daily blog.


Source: Next City, Ari Maron
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Mansfield Frazier, the entrepreneurial mastermind behind the improbable Chateau Hough vineyard at E. 66th and Hough, says he will break ground on the world's first biocellar this year. He's raised more than half of the $100,000 needed to complete the experimental, innovative project.

"This is about growing crops in the wintertime," says Frazier. The biocellar, which has been described as a passive solar greenhouse, will consist of a glass structure built on top of the basement of a demolished  home. "We plan to grow mushrooms because they're $12 a pound, an acre yield higher than anything else. This is about renewing neighborhoods, reusing buildings and creating wealth in the inner city."

"The biocellar is based on two concepts," Frazier explains of the glass-topped structure developed by permaculture designer Jean Loria. "One is a root cellar, which has been around thousands of years, and the other is a greenhouse. It's basically taking a greenhouse structure and putting it on top of a root cellar."

Frazier says that he hopes to break ground in July so that the biocellar will be completed by fall. The two- to three-month build-out will be handled by Don Lasker of ALL Construction, and Frazier will also employ a lot of neighborhood residents and guys from a local halfway house. The biocellar was designed by Arkinetics.

Funding sources include local councilpeople, stormwater management funding from the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District and a local angel investor.

"We're budgeting $100,000 for the first one, but hopefully the cost will go down once we know what we're doing," says Frazier. "We know the science is there."


Source: Mansfield Frazier
Writer: Lee Chilcote

It's been four years since Cleveland began allowing residents to keep chickens and one year for Cleveland Heights. Rather than the chicken-induced apocalypse predicted by some vocal critics, neither city has experienced any significant issues. In fact, chickens are improving communities in unexpected ways.

While public officials beat the drum for more money to raze vacant homes, others are saying, "Not so fast." Creative developers have crafted a way to renovate homes for as little money as it would take to demo them. The loft-like homes offer a taste of downtown, done on a dime.

San Francisco and Austin offer residential curbside composting, but such forward-thinking green ideas have yet to become a reality in Cleveland. A recently-awarded grant from Enterprise Community Partners, however, will help the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization think through how to develop a community composting facility for restaurants in the Cleveland EcoVillage.

Although citywide composting may not be in the cards right now, the pilot project could demonstrate ways to scale up composting in a range of city neighborhoods.

A similar $40,000 grant was also awarded to Burton Bell Carr Inc. to develop a safer streetscape plan for the Kinsman EcoDistrict. Forty percent of area residents do not have a car, and a recent multi-car accident here injured five people. BBC will develop a plan to improve the ability to safely bike and walk on Kinsman.

"Cleveland was the only city in the nation that got two projects funded through this program, which is pretty exciting," says Michelle Mulcahy with Enterprise Community Partners. "These projects are neighborhood-scale sustainability approaches that support the area's ongoing community development work."

Once the plans are finalized, these projects also could become national test cases for how to green cities, furthering Cleveland's reputation as a leader in this area.

Enterprise also recently issued a Request for Proposals to provide funding for a neighborhood-based climate action plan that would become part of a citywide plan.


Source: Michelle Mulcahy, Mark McDermott
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Banks typically lend money to projects; developing them typically is left to homebuilders. Yet Third Federal, which started in a Slavic Village storefront 75 years ago, has taken the unusual step of assembling land and breaking ground on a huge community here.

Construction is underway at Trailside at Morgana Run, a 95-home development that will feature affordably-priced homes within a completely new urban subdivision with access to green space and a rail-trail. The project is located at Aetna and E. 71st Street next to the bank headquarters.

"Slavic Village really is the phoenix rising up in the city," says Jennifer Rosa, Public Relations Manager with Third Federal. "It's not that we couldn't find a developer; it's that the project is so important to us, we want to hold it to our standards and control it. We wanted to provide additional funding to keep Slavic Village going."

The project has taken over a decade to get to this point. Third Federal acquired land from individual owners and cleaned it up using Clean Ohio funds and other sources. The bank formed a public-private partnership with the City of Cleveland, Slavic Village Development and Zaremba Homes and designed the project. Then the recession came along and walloped any plans to break ground until now.

Homes at Trailside at Morgana Run will be priced from $126,000-$132,000 and feature two to three bedrooms and a single-floor master suite option. With down payment assistance, monthly payments fall well below rental rates for similar units.

Rosa says the timing couldn't be better. "We're seeing more jobs being created, more people living in the city. This is a place where people can afford a home."

The first 10 homes are under construction and nearly to the point of being framed. A model home will be available to walk through in July. Although none of the homes are sold yet, Rosa says that buyer interest has been strong.

The urban pioneers who live here will be greeted by a "prairie-like feel," Rosa says. "There will be lots of green space with native Ohio plants and grasses."


Source: Jennifer Rosa
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Kelli Hanley sees the big picture in cooking -- and she wants to teach people the whole concept of it, from sourcing the produce, to understanding what’s in your pantry, to putting a meal on the table. So she started The Agrarian Collective, a mobile cooking school that does just that.

“When I started The Agrarian Collective, I envisioned an Earth-to-table lifestyle school,” she explains. “My approach is around understanding the relationships between your pantry and kitchen table. My classes are not designed to just watch someone cook.”
 
Hanley recently won a $5,000 loan from a private giving circle after participating in the Bad Girl Ventures spring 2013 business plan competition. She’ll use the loan to build her mobile kitchen, with six two-burner cooking stations. Hanley will take the mobile kitchen to farms and farmers markets and other locations around Northeast Ohio.
 
Hanley’s first class will teach people how to make strawberry jam. The class will meet at a Hiram farm. “We’ll have scones and coffee in the morning and then we’ll go out and show how to pick the best berries for making jam,” she says. “We’re really focusing on hands-on technique.”
 
Most of the classes will collaborate with farmers, chefs or tradespeople to teach specific skills. “When you go home you’ll really feel confident that you can put what you learned to use in the kitchen,” says Hanley. She is working with the Cleveland Culinary Launch, chef Karen Small of the Flying Fig and urban farmers to design the classes.
 
“There has been amazing interest,” says Hanley. “People are telling me they can’t wait for my classes. I feel like it’s something that’s really taking off.”

 
Source: Kelli Hanley
Writer: Karin Connelly

Near West Theatre's new home will be nothing if not active when it opens next year. It will be filled with youth and adults rehearsing for its signature brand of community theatre -- large ensemble productions that bring the arts to youth and city residents.

And when its shows are running, it will draw up to 275 patrons per show into a new, state-of-the-art theatre that caps off a string of investments in the Gordon Square Arts District.

The building not only will be active -- it will be "passive" when it comes to energy consumption. It will boast a super-insulated, passive design common in Europe but still relatively new in the U.S. The 24,000-square-foot ultra-energy-efficient theatre will be the first of its kind in the U.S., featuring super-thick walls, an energy-efficient heat recovery ventilation system, and a 75,000-watt array of solar panels.

"It will be unlike other buildings in the neighborhood," says Hans Holznagel of the new Near West Theatre, which will be located at W. 67th and Detroit in the Gordon Square Arts District. "We hope people will see the sign and say, 'Wow, that metal building looks pretty cool. What's going on in there?'"

Philanthropists Chuck and Char Fowler earmarked a special gift for the building's passive design, which is expected to save more than 35 percent in energy costs, or about $1.2 million over 50 years. That kind of savings appeals to long-term users.

"In a typical commercial building, 30 to 35 percent of the heat going into the building is just to offset air leakage," says Adam Cohen, a Virginia-based architect and passive house consultant who worked on the project. "There's more interest in passive design now, especially from end users who are going to own the buildings."

The project was far from simple. Most passive commercial buildings have fairly static loads, unlike a theatre whose use varies widely. On any given day there could be people working in offices or large casts rehearsing. Cohen helped NWT to develop a high-efficiency mechanical system that can handle such fluctuation.

Holznagel says the theatre will finally realize its dream of moving into a new home (with air conditioning, he says with glee) that offers the right amount of rehearsal, dressing room and backstage space, not to mention modern administrative offices.

"We'll feel very much at home in this energy-efficient building," he says.


Source: Hans Holznagel, Adam Cohen
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Building on the success of the book “Rust Belt Chic: The Cleveland Anthology,” a collection of essays and images about Cleveland edited by Anne Trubek and Richey Piiparinen, and subsequent blog, the publishers announced that they will launch an online magazine, Belt, this coming September.

“There was so much interest in 'Rust Belt Chic' that we really wanted to continue to have a space for people to contribute,” says Belt editor-in-chief Trubek. “We wanted to have an outlet that could provide long form pieces as well as criticism and commentary about things around town.”
 
Trubek describes the magazine as having a cultural and urbanism focus that will appeal to both Clevelanders and readers in other Rust Belt cities like Detroit, Pittsburgh and Buffalo. “We realize something is happening in the Rust Belt,” says Trubek. “It’s becoming sort of an interesting place nationally.”
 
The content of Belt will cover many interest areas. “It cuts across different demographics in Cleveland,” adds Trubek. “Our readership is a mix of young people living in the city with a DIY attitude and ex-pats around the country looking for good, meaty writing about Cleveland, but also people interested in the history of Cleveland and how history is important in terms of where we’ve been and what we are doing.”
 
Right now Trubek is looking for financial investors. Belt just launched a Kickstarter campaign to get the magazine off the ground.

 
Source: Anne Trubek
Writer: Karin Connelly