A proposed $7.5 million indoor cycling track in Slavic Village would be the only such facility of its kind east of the Rockies. The nonprofit organization Fast Track Cycling says the velodrome would attract thousands of cycling enthusiasts while helping to transform Cleveland into a greener, healthier city. Slavic Village supporters say, Bring it on.

Greater Clevelanders are fortunate to live near an abundant source of fresh water. Lake Erie and the Great Lakes contain one-fifth of the world's fresh water supply. Many places in the world are not so lucky -- in fact, more people die each year from contaminated water than from all forms of violence and war combined.

This month, a group of environmental artists are taking over a vacant space at Tower City Center to create an art display on the importance of water. The exhibit, which will be displayed during the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF), from March 24 to April 3, is being organized as part of World Water Day events for Sustainable Cleveland 2019, an effort to create a green economy in Cleveland by 2019.

The sculpture, which will be crafted from decorated two-liter bottles, will educate Clevelanders about the importance of water conservation, and will also raise funds for a water well that will serve an elementary school in rural Uganda. The school, St. Charles Elementary School, is a sister school to Carl and Louis Stokes Central Academy, a K-8 public school in Cleveland.

For the project, 150 students at Stokes Academy will carry their own two-liter bottle of water with them on a bus from their school to Tower City on World Water Day, which takes place Tuesday, March 22nd. It's a gesture of solidarity with their pen pals in Uganda, who each fill their own bottles and carry them to school on a daily basis. The artists will also travel to the school to educate students on the importance of water.

Lead artist Nicole McGee and other project leaders will also work with Stokes students to help them decorate the two-liter bottles to represent the meaning of water in their lives.


Source: Nicole McGee
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Homeowners were taking out equity loans with alarming abandon just a few years ago, yet now many are reluctant to invest money in their homes. "With housing values falling, demand for home repair loans has also fallen," says Larry Slenczka, Vice President of Community Development for Dollar Bank.

Yet Dollar Bank continues to finance home rehabs through a partnership with Cleveland Action to Support Housing (CASH), a nonprofit whose mission is to revitalize Cleveland neighborhoods through home repair lending.

"CASH has been successful in identifying projects driven by investors," says Slenczka. "Their transactions tend to be very solid loans that have a very low default rate." CASH offers investors and owner-occupants a reduced interest rate. Currently, that interest rate is 2.6%.

Even as the average homeowner sits on the sidelines, some rehabbers are jumping in and finding deals. And the glut of vacant properties in Cleveland has presented an opportunity for savvy investors; while foreclosure rates nationwide reached their lowest level in four years last month, Cleveland still has a backlog of empty homes.

Yet while it seems anyone with a credit card can snap up a cheap foreclosure -- plumbing optional, of course -- that's just the beginning of the process. Getting a loan is no simple feat. Struggling with unsold inventories, many banks are cautious about lending to investors, while others aren't lending at all.

That's where CASH comes in. The nonprofit's partnerships with Dollar Bank and other lenders help owners get financing. In addition to offering a reduced rate, CASH helps owners to pick a contractor, develop a list of repairs, and inspect the work.

"Everybody wins," says Slenczka. "The neighborhood benefits from reinvestment, the benefits from private investment, and the bank benefits from a healthy market return."


Source: Larry Slenczka
Writer: Lee Chilcote

When you grab a quick cat nap during the day, you run the risk of either sleeping too little so that you're yawning in front of your co-workers or sleeping so much that you snooze right through your 2 p.m. sales meeting.

Local inventor Jonathan Husni wants you to get the ideal 20 minutes of quality sleep so you can be your productive self. Husni's Power-Nap Machine is a pocket-sized media player that produces inaudible sound waves that induce REM sleep -- the short, deep rest that accounts for about 90 to 120 minutes of a good night's sleep. While the sound waves work their magic, the user hears only a pleasant waterfall. At the end of it, the Power-Nap brings "the user to a refreshed state of heightened wakefulness," Husni says.

The nap machine is part of the Power Nap group of sleep products that includes CDs filled with computer-generated sound waveforms. Power Nap line of products was created by Acendex, a Beachwood-based network technology firm. Husni is president and founder of Acendex.


SOURCE: Jonathan Husni
WRITER: Diane DiPiero

On Saturday, February 26, about 1,000 of Cleveland's most colorful characters attended the 20th Annual Jump Back Ball at the tony State Theatre. The theme of the event, which benefits the not-for-profit performing arts center PlayhouseSquare, was Passport to Party. And as Fresh Water photographer Bob Perkoski so capably captured, attendees dressed accordingly. Grab your own passport and enjoy the show.

The Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center (GCIC) on the Cleveland Clinic campus has taken another step toward advancing cardiovascular technology with the addition of Irish medical device solutions provider Creganna-TactX. Specializing in the design of minimally invasive innovations, Creganna-TactX has opened its Cleveland office to support local medical device manufacturers while partnering with the Clinic to develop further advancements.

"Our key markets are in cardiovascular, periferovascular and neurovascular technologies," says Randall Sword, business development director for Creganna-TactX. "Our technologies are not readily available in the Cleveland area. Part of our mission is to support local businesses and hopefully grow a presence."

In addition to its headquarters in Galway, Ireland, Creganna-TactX has locations in Campbell, California; Marlborough, Massachusetts; Plymouth, Minnesota; and Singapore. The new Cleveland office "provides us access to the Clinic and their world-class physicians," Sword says. The Clinic's resources could offer input into development and manufacturing to benefit current customers while helping to evaluate new projects to meet future demands, according to Sword.

The Cleveland office will initially be staffed with one or two part-time employees. "We'd like to grow that as soon as possible," Sword says. "Our intention is to try to grow to a small lab that can work with the Clinic and their physicians and support local small businesses in development."


SOURCE: Randall Sword
WRITER: Diane DiPiero

A packed house at Monday night's Local Food Cleveland meeting on raising backyard livestock demonstrated growing interest in raising chickens, bees and other animals in urban neighborhoods across Northeast Ohio.

When audience members at the Great Lakes Brewing Company's Tasting Room in Ohio City were asked by event organizer Peter McDermott if they currently were raising backyard livestock or were planning on it, approximately two-thirds raised their hands.

Two years ago, Cleveland City Council passed progressive "chicks and bees" legislation that allowed city residents to raise and keep certain farm animals and bees. Other municipalities in Northeast Ohio also allow residents to keep backyard livestock. Presenters urged audience members to consult their local zoning code and contact their local zoning officials with questions.

The majority of livestock owners in Cleveland tend chickens (not roosters) for eggs or bees for honey, said McDermott, a Network Weaver with Entrepreneurs for Sustainability (E4S). While raising goats, pigs and other animals is also permitted in some places, those animals typically require more land than is available on urban lots.

Despite the growing interest in urban farming and backyard livestock in U.S. cities, many municipalities lag behind. Some zoning codes prohibit or strictly limit keeping chickens, bees and other animals, while others do not address the issue. Presenters urged audience members to educate themselves -- in many Northeast Ohio communities, despite assumptions to the contrary, raising chickens and bees is permitted in some form.

McDermott cited a plethora of benefits to keeping backyard livestock, including saving money on groceries, providing healthy, locally produced foods to residents, and income generation for owners who sell eggs and other products to neighbors or through local markets.

As the local foods movement in Northeast Ohio continues to expand, McDermott challenged audience members to consciously support the infrastructure needed to sustain it, including educating wary public officials at the state and local level.

"Studies show that local food is potentially a $15 billion economy in Northeast Ohio, and in recent years, we've seen a fifteen- to twenty-percent increase per year in local farmers' markets," said McDermott. "The question is, can the market for local foods support continued expansion? Our group is interested in accelerating the progress."


Source: Peter McDermott
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Michele Iacobelli Buckholtz has treasured memories of going to lunch with her dad in Little Italy. He grew up here when it was an Italian neighborhood with markets on nearly every corner. She soaked up the old neighborhood during these childhood visits.

Today, Buckholtz is recreating the tradition of the small Italian market -- with a contemporary twist. She recently renovated an historic storefront at Murray Hill Road and Paul Avenue in Little Italy. It reopened as the Murray Hill Market, which is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner and carries fresh produce and groceries.

Patrons of the Murray Hill Market can expect something new with each visit. The specials change daily, based on fresh ingredients and the chef's whim. Some favorites appear consistently, however. Buckholtz offers meatball subs every Thursday, relying upon her mother's recipe of course.

Little Italy has changed since Buckholtz's father grew up here -- there are fewer Italian families now, more students and empty nesters. The small, corner markets have all but disappeared. Yet with the growth of University Circle and sharp condos sprouting up in Little Italy, demand exists for a contemporary market, Buckholtz says. She considers it part of her mission to provide fresh, healthy foods to area residents and employees, an amenity she says is lacking at other neighborhood stores.

The Murray Hill Market is also spicing up the food offerings in Little Italy. Although Italians are no longer the predominant ethnic group here, the restaurants along Mayfield and Murray Hill Roads still offer mostly Italian fare. While Buckholtz specializes in Italian foods, she also offers an array of other ethnic foods, including Jewish and French pastries, Middle Eastern dishes, and Puerto Rican rice and beans.


Source: Murray Hill Market
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Last October, Cleveland's ViewRay unveiled a research radiation therapy system to the medical device community. Now comes word that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted ViewRay clearance for its radiotherapy treatment planning and delivery software, a key element of the radiation therapy system.

This is a critical step toward FDA approval of the system, according to Gregory M. Ayers, M.D. and Ph.D., president and CEO of ViewRay. "It's exciting to see such progress with a product we believe will offer an advancement in radiation therapy," he says.

Combining MRI and radiotherapy delivery, the system provides a continuous MRI during radiation treatment. This helps doctors to see exactly where the radiation is going and to deliver precise treatment.

A recent $20 million Series C financing will help ViewRay in the final stages of development for commercial distribution. For now, the ViewRay system is only used in non-human settings.

A team of physicians and researchers leads the privately held medical device company. ViewRay is currently in growth mode and building its staff in quality assurance, software engineering, clinical science and sales.


SOURCE: Gregory M. Ayers
WRITER: Diane DiPiero

Malik Moore is excited about the $2 billion worth of development that is planned or underway in the Flats and adjacent neighborhoods. At the same time, however, as the area is redeveloped as a hub for entertainment, housing, offices, industry and recreation, he wants to ensure that residents' voices are being heard.

"As this neighborhood grows, we want the residents to grow with it," said Moore, Executive Director of the Downtown Cleveland YMCA, at last week's forum on mapping out the future of the Flats. Over 350 people attended the event.

The YMCA has formed a partnership with the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA). Starting in March, the nonprofit will offer several new initiatives to residents of Lakeview Terrace, a public housing project in the Flats, including the REACH program, an effort to address health disparities among low-income and minority groups. A college readiness program will also be offered to Cleveland Municipal School District students.

"Lakeview Terrace is located in the shadow of Ohio City, an area that has seen redevelopment," said Moore in a recent interview. "As we look at ways to redevelop the Flats, we need to build bridges between communities."

Moore says that the Y's programs will help to lessen the physical and social isolation experienced by Lakeview Terrace residents. "Through broadening the social network these youth have available to them, we can reduce the likelihood of high-risk behaviors," he said.

Although the proliferation of new condos and townhouses in the Flats make clear that demand for housing exists here, more than one speaker cited the area's crumbling infrastructure and lack of neighborhood amenities as quality of life barriers.

While competing interests between industry, entertainment, recreation and housing have long stymied the Flats' redevelopment, speakers at the forum challenged the audience to work together to revitalize one of Cleveland's oldest neighborhoods.


Source: Malik Moore
Writer: Lee Chilcote

It all started with pencils.

Faber-Castell was founded 250 years ago in Germany as a pencil manufacturer. Today, the company produces professional art supplies sold around the world. Cleveland is home to Faber-Castell USA, which in 1999 acquired Creativity for Kids, a Cleveland company that makes  activity kits for children.

In spite of an onslaught of electronic gadgets and high-tech toys, Faber-Castell USA and Creativity for Kids have remained lucrative and kept an 80-person staff. "We have had two record-setting years in 2009 and 2010," says Jamie Gallagher, CEO of Faber-Castell USA.

How does the company stay sharp? "We have a nice portfolio of product lines that enable us to be diversified during challenging times," Gallagher says.

Creativity for Kids helps Faber-Castell build brand awareness in the United States, according to Gallagher. Often, this is accomplished by combining products from the two lines into a single kit. For example, Creativity for Kids' Do Art Drawing Power, which teaches children sketching and drawing techniques, includes Faber-Castell Color Grip EcoPencils.

Gallagher says the goal of Faber-Castell USA is to deliver "opportunities for creativity and self-expression while highlighting the importance of quality. Despite difficult times, we haven't compromised that or tried to reinvent our brands."

That doesn't mean Faber-Castell USA isn't interested in growing. The company recently launched a line to expand interest in papercrafting for adults. "The product line, Design Memory Craft, features products that make designing with color simple to do," Gallagher says.


SOURCE: Jamie Gallagher
WRITER: Diane DiPiero

As the saying goes, "you've got to spend money to make money." With a new $35 million award in tax credits from the U.S. Department of Treasury, Cleveland Development Advisors (CDA) plans to spur economic development in the city by financing projects that lead to more business opportunities.

CDA, an affiliate of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, was one of six entities in Ohio to be awarded this latest round of federal tax credits. CDA plans to use the award to focus on economic development in the areas of technology, business and industrial expansion and retail, residential and hospitality projects.

In a statement released by CDA, Mayor Frank Jackson called the federal tax credits another sign that Cleveland's economy is growing. "Tax credit financing, afforded by the allocation, together with local bank commitments and city investments, will make high-profile job-producing developments feasible in our neighborhoods and downtown," Mayor Jackson said.

Past awards from the Treasury Department resulted in the financing of 20 projects that, according to CDA, generated 2,800 jobs, 390,000 square feet of office space, and 450,000 square feet of industrial space in Cleveland. The East 4th Street neighborhood, Capitol Theatre in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood, Arbor Park Plaza in the Central Neighborhood and the UpTown project in University Circle all have benefited from CDA's investment in federal tax credits.


SOURCE: CDA
WRITER: Diane DiPiero

When Sam McNulty opens his Ohio City-based Market Garden Brewery later this year, he will join four other micro-distilleries scattered about the state. Cincinnati's Woodstone Creek is the oldest, followed by Columbus' Middle West Spirits, Grandview's Watershed Distillery, and Tom's Foolery in rural Geauga County. Others, too, are waiting in the wings. Sadly, Ohio, a state rich with entrepreneurship and agricultural resources, makes it nearly impossible for them to succeed.

When Jim Catanese opened Catanese Classic Seafood three years ago, he knew the building at 1600 Merwin Avenue in the Flats needed major TLC. Yet the metal bulkheading along the Cuyahoga River was in far worse shape than he thought. And the worst part was near his freezer, where thousands of pounds of fish are stored.

"It was collapsing into the river," Catanase told an audience at last week's forum on the Flats, which was convened by Ward 3 Councilman Joe Cimperman and attended by area stakeholders. "This was more than we could handle individually."

Fortunately, with the help of Cimperman and the city of Cleveland, Catanese was able to obtain low-interest financing to repair the bulkheads. He hopes that the project, which will start this summer, will also bring back an historic use of the riverside property. "We'll be able to offload fishing boats again," he said.

The Cuyahoga shipping channel is lined on each side with these bulkheads, a 100-year-old, man-made containment system that keeps the soil from the riverbank from eroding into the river while also keeping the river within its banks during times of flooding.

Unfortunately, many of these bulkheads are now deteriorating, and they are expensive to repair. Catanese expects to borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars, a price that many owners can't afford, he says. Maintenance of the bulkheads is necessary to ensure the channel remains navigable for shipping. Activity along the waterfront is a $1.8 billion economic engine for Northeast Ohio.

At the forum, Catanese voiced a common concern in the Flats: the need for improved infrastructure. Currently, more than $2 billion worth of development is planned or underway in areas adjacent to the river. Forum speakers said that much of the Flats' infrastructure, including roads and bridges, is in need of an overhaul.

One of the area's biggest infrastructure projects will require major federal assistance. Franklin Road Hill above Irishtown Bend is threatening to collapse into the Cuyahoga River, and stabilizing it will cost between $80 and $200 million.

For years, the Flats' redevelopment has languished amidst conflicts between competing interests. While the area has evolved into a mixed-use neighborhood of industry, recreation, housing and entertainment, neighbors haven't always been friendly.

The planning effort that is now underway, which is funded by a $20,000 grant from the Cleveland and Gund Foundations and includes major stakeholders, has the potential to link major projects, balance conflicting interests and attract additional support.


Source: Jim Catanese
Writer: Lee Chilcote