Any two-bit picker can wrangle up some cast-offs, display them in a storefront, and call the place an "antiques shop." Walk into Reincarnation Vintage Design, however, and you'll be reaching for your wallet faster than an auctioneer yells, "Sold!" Owners Ron and Cyndy Nicolson don't just clean and sell other people's unwanted items; they grant them a whole new life. "Reincarnation" isn't just a name, you see -- it's a business plan.

Contractor Matt Berges loves it when he hears that home energy prices are going up. Nope, he doesn't own stock in utilities -- he just knows that ever-rising heating and cooling costs will jolt the market for making homes more energy-efficient.

Berges earns his living by retrofitting older homes and building new homes to ultra-green standards. He's banking on the fact that rising energy costs will make construction of innovative passive homes like the SmartHome at... Read more >

The prevailing impression of regionalism that has been bandied about Northeast Ohio for the better part of a decade is all wrong, says a collaborative group of area nonprofits. While the consolidation of countless municipalities is useful, it is not intrinsically regionalism. True regionalism, they argue, is defined by economic activity -- not political boundaries.

A weekend project to build a hoop house turned into a thriving business for three local entrepreneurs. Carlton Jackson, Todd Alexander and Michael Walton were all at a Sustainable Cleveland 2019 meeting in 2009. Walton needed help erecting a hoop house on his urban farm, Jackson and Alexander came to help, and they all ended up with a business idea.
 
“It took seven to 10 days to build instead of the weekend,” recalls Jackson. The three started talking and... Read more >

While we pride ourselves here at Fresh Water in having crisp, professional prose, the truth is, without art, a feature is just font on a page. Pictures tell a thousand words, we're told, but the best ones simply leave us speechless. Every masthead and feature image since we launched this pub over a year ago has been shot by Fresh Water shooter Bob Perkoski. Here is a collection of some of his finest work.

When Fresh Water launched in September 2010, we promised to highlight Cleveland's most progressive and creative people, businesses and organizations. But more importantly, we endeavored to place those subjects against the most compelling backdrop of all: Cleveland and its wonderful neighborhoods. Each Thursday, our readers are invited to dig a little deeper into this city we call home. What follows is a list of the 10 most-read features of the previous 12 months. Looking ... Read more >

Residents of Northeast Ohio are beginning to think of new ways to reduce energy consumption and save money on their utility costs. Cleveland-based YellowLite is helping people do that with its custom-designed solar panels for both residential and commercial uses.
 
“We wanted to find out how we can give back to the community and do something good,” explains YellowLite president Azam Kazmi. “When we started two and a half years ago, the economy was a ... Read more >

Completing the last five-mile leg of the Towpath Trail into Cleveland might be taking longer than it took to dig the entire Ohio and Erie Canal, whose 100-plus mile span was carved out by hand in just two years in the 1820s. Yet thanks to a recent $500,000 grant from the State of Ohio, the trail is inching ever closer to its final destination -- Settlers Landing Park in the Flats.

The grant from the Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission, along with $3 million that was recei... Read more >

It only takes 10 minutes to walk from St. Vincent Hospital at E. 22nd Street and Community College Avenue to Cleveland State University on Euclid Avenue. Yet few people do it, in part because it is not a pedestrian-friendly experience. A new $4.2 million plan to redevelop E. 22nd aims to change that by creating a bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly boulevard and green space that could spur over $100 million in new development.

"We really see E. 22nd Street as a spine fo... Read more >

The City of Cleveland, Neighborhood Progress Inc. (NPI) and ParkWorks recently launched ReImagining Cleveland II, a $1 million push to fund sideyard expansions, vacant lot beautification, and market gardens in Cleveland. They hope the program will improve vacant land, enhance local communities and further green the city.

"In a city like Cleveland, rebuilding the housing market really means taking down bad houses and reclaiming vacant land," says Bobbi Reichtell,... Read more >

When Ohio Department of Transportation  (ODOT) officials recently asked business leaders from across the state to rank their region's planned infrastructure projects by importance, the Greater Cleveland Partnership ranked the West Shoreway project as the number one priority for Northeast Ohio.

For City of Cleveland Planning Director Bob Brown, that's one more reason why ODOT's numbers don't add up. The state agency gave the city zero out of ten points... Read more >

The November CBIZ Small Business Employment Index (SBEI), a barometer for hiring trends among companies with 300 or fewer employees, increased by .35 percent in November. While the trend reflects companies surveyed across the country, “a good number of the survey respondents are from the Cleveland area,” says Phillip Noftsinger, business unit president of CBIZ Payroll Services.

While the trend is typical for the holiday season, Noftsinger is optimistic that th... Read more >

Valerie Mayen of Yellowcake, a fashion designer who became the poster child for Cleveland's nascent design industry after she appeared on Project Runway, will launch a nonprofit sewing studio to push the city's young talent into the spotlight.

The new loft studio, which is called Buzz and Growl, intends to offer work space, professional equipment, coaching and classes to young artists and entrepreneurs. It is located at 1400 East 30th Street in the St. Clair Super... Read more >

Black Friday is, blessedly, behind us. So, too, is Cyber Monday. All that stands between today and the holidays are a few weeks of retail panic. Relax, brave shoppers. It has never been easier for a Clevelander to wrap up his or her holiday shopping thanks to a bevy of brief boutiques. These fleeting ventures spring up like magic mushrooms after an imaginary storm to make shopping fun, easy and 100-percent local.

What's the best thing a city can do to achieve more economic success? Increase its number of college graduates. Simply put: The most prosperous cities have the highest number of college grads. Efforts by CEO's for Cities and our own NOCHE -- dubbed the Talent Dividend -- are designed to up college attainment and thereby boost everybody's bottom line.

Residents of Lyndhurst typically live 24 years longer than residents of the Hough neighborhood of Cleveland, according to a recent analysis by the Cuyahoga County Place Matters Team. This health disparity is why the group, in collaboration with the Saint Luke's Foundation, has launched a speaker series at the City Club of Cleveland focused on creating healthier communities in Cuyahoga County.

"It shouldn't matter how much money you have, your community should... Read more >