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 r... Read more >

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 enclo... Read more >

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., whic... Read more >

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 f... Read more >

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... Read more >

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 d... Read more >

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 projec... Read more >

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 ... Read more >

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... Read more >

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 Tr... Read more >