David Boehm, Larry Bruner, Pat Denny, Sally Gaydosh, Mariamne Ingalls, Lynn Lukas, Marline Walkush
Tom Smith, the chair of the Urban Sprawl Committee of the NEO Sierra Club, was project director for the NEO SSEP. His experience with slide presentations and insight on the problems of sprawl and the issues of sustainability have been crucial to the NEO SSEP.
Brett Hulsey, the Sierra Club Midwest Representative, provided insight on educational topics and approaches used by the Sierra Club.
The following contacts provided useful input into the NEO Suburban Sprawl Education Project. Notes were taken on most occasions. For: indicates how the information is used.
August, 1997
Met with: Ecosystem Inventory Work Group organized by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at Region V, Eastern District Office in Westlake, Ohio; It is part of the Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking (EMPACT) program. Discussed community needs for information from USEPA initiatives; Norman Robbins director of the Regional Environment Priorities Project of the Center for the Environment at Case Western Reserve University encouraged the NEO SSEP regional issues educator to attend this and other meetings plus provided many contacts and the fine short introduction to sprawl and sustainability: Development - It's as easy as One... Two... Three... But is it always good for us? Met: Steve Madewll of Lake MetroParks, Jay Vee a Geography professor at Kent State University, Doug McRainey of Cleveland Metroparks and many others. For: questions and answers and Sprawl Costs Us All in Water Pollution and Utility Costs .
September, 1997
Met with: First Suburbs Consortium at monthly meeting; conditions in older suburban cities, For: all presentations.
Met with: Sandra McKew, Ohio Farmland Preservation Taskforce; discussion about pertinent portions of the Ohio Revised Code and interpretations; For: all presentations.
Met with: Faith-Based Organizing for Northeast Ohio, United/WE-CAN, Action for Regional Equity and Sustainability; Sue Lacy, Laurie Daigle, and Robert Kleidman,of Cleveland State University Sociology Department. NEO SSEP provided evaluation form used in United/WE-CAN presentations; SSEP Educator was introduced to their approach; For: designing educational program for future SSEP Regional Issues Educators.
Visited and indexed: EcoCity Cleveland files; produced record of organizations and individuals across the nation that are involved with the issues of sprawl; For: all presentations.
Met with: City of Euclid, Charles Comiskey, Special Projects Coordinator, Community Development Department; reviewed conditions of single family home ownership, conditions of absentee ownership of large apartment buildings and complexes, and retail conditions, useful for Euclid, and for helping describe regional conditions; For: all presentations.
October, 1997
Attended: Ohio Urban University Program Fall 1997 Forum; met many individuals prominent in planning discussions including former Ohio governor John Gilligan, Anthony Downs of the Brookings Institution and Gordon Proctor of the Ohio Department of Transportation; For: all presentations and for audiences with business and regional interest.
Attended: Smart Growth for Lorain County Conference; met many individuals including Myron Orfield, author of MetroPolitics and Minnesota State representative; worked with David Cornicelli of Seventh Generation; learned conditions in Lorain County’s older cities and farm country; For: all presentations.
United WE-CAN, Build Bold Bridges Banquet; met several activists including Thomas Allio, Social Action Director of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese, learned more about United WE-CAN’s education program on sprawl. For: Sustainable Solutions.
Met with: City of Cleveland Heights, Keith Benjamin, Development Officer, Department of Community Services; discussed development conditions in Cleveland Heights, For: audiences in Cleveland Heights and with regional interests.
Attended: Commercial Real Estate Women, Inc. forum: Urban Sprawl Issues, techniques and opportunities; learned conditions in: 1-urban retailing, 2-economic development-transportation initiatives, 3- conditions in select metropolitan areas, tax-based sharing, 4-land use planning and 5-Smart Growth, Ohio style; Pat Carey of Regional Solutions and the Northeast Ohio Regional Alliance was instrumental in this event, and others listed below. She provide a variety of insights to the NEO SSEP. For: audiences in Cleveland, and with regional interest.
Speaker: James Howard Kuntsler, City Club of Cleveland; attended his 50 minute slide presentation for select group and his speech to larger forum; Kuntsler’s emphasis on civility and some of his comments on other topics are important to the SSEP; The Educator asked a question about the basis of his statement, "much of suburbia will eventually decay"; He said it would be due to poor quality construction in the newer suburbs. For: all audiences.
November, 1997
Met with: representatives of The Citizen’s League Research Institute and with Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency; Rich Marountas, director of the CLRI provided his perspective on citizen-government interaction in northeast Ohio and an overview some of CLRI’s reports; Robert Layton, Manager of Transit and Economics for NOACA provided insight on population figures for northeast Ohio; For: bringing a regional perspective to all audiences.
Attended: Forest Hills Presbyterian Church Urban Sprawl Conference; observed slide show by Paul Volpe, owner of City Architecture, with emphasis on synergistic effect of development in the city; For: audiences in Cleveland and Sustainable Solutions.
Attended: Euclid City Hall, Urban Sprawl Forum, sponsored by Interfaith Suburban Action Coalition; met many individuals with strong interest in older suburban areas, including David Lawrence, an attorney and active member of the Euclid Chamber of Commerce and Mike Campbell of ISAC; For: audiences in Euclid and all owners of lower valued single family homes.
Attended: United/WE-CAN, Action for Regional Equity and Sustainability; learned more about this organization’s sprawl education and advocacy program, including strategy, tactics and one-on-one intensive dialogue techniques; For: question and answer sessions and designing educational program for future SSEP Regional Issues Educators.
Met with: at Kent State University, Urban Design Center: Foster Armstrong, Gail Gordon Sommers, and Kalpana K. Kuttaiah; discussed regional circumstances in northeast Ohio including implications of incompatible government record keeping, channeling regional development, tax equity issues and gathered many contacts on regional issues; For: all presentations.
Met with: Portage County Regional Planning Commission, Tracy Kulikowski; learned about PCRPC’s progressive planning practices and gained several contacts on incentive issues, and tax abatement for large retail outlets; For: Suburban Sprawl Costs Us All in Current Development Incentives presentation, and Sustainable Solutions.
Long telephone interviews of: Department of Economics, Otterbein College, Agricultural Economist Allen Prindle and Ohio Home Builders Association, Executive Director Vincent Squillace; Information gained that provides the basis of the March/April 1998 NEO SSEP Express newsletter: "Ohio farmland preservation controversy", investigated two sides of debate; For: question and answer period and Sprawl Cost Us All in Farmland Loss
Met with: City of Bedford, Economic Development, Jacqueline Dumont; City Manager Vilas Gamble, information gained on Brush-Wellman property taxreduction and Ohio development incentives controversy, and on ODOT refusal to help maintain two state routes through Bedford; For: Sprawl Costs Us All in Highway Spending and Sprawl Costs Us All in Development Incentives.
Interviewed: Sam Miller, co-chairman, Forest City Enterprises, For: Suburban Sprawl and the Future of Your Family.
Telephone interview: Christine Nelson, Lakewood Planning Commission, For: questions and answers
December, 1997
Washington DC, visited: Surface Transportation Policy Project, Don Chen, library research, transportation and federal legislative issues, publications gathered; For: Sprawl Costs Us All in Highway Spending.
President’s Council on Sustainable Development, library research; sustainable development, industrial ecology, government incentives and community involvement, publications gathered; For: all presentations. Brookings Institution, library research, issues of equity, public incentives, congestion, perception of public issues, economic segregation, property taxes, entrepreneurial government partnerships; For: all presentations.
American Planning Association, Sarah Polster, library research, modernizing state planning statutes, publications gathered; For: Sustainable Solutions.
Baltimore MD, attended: Urban Land Institute’s Partners for Smart Growth conference; Attended numerous presentations by key industry, government and non-profit leaders, met Sierra Club officers or involved members John Holtzclaw, Larry Bohlen and Ken Hughes met developers, architects, planners, and policy makers from across the nation; topics included redevelopment, public policy decision making, regional political climate for sustainable development, design for livable communities and fiscal well-being; For: all presentations.
Participated in: EcoVillage Cleveland Charette; citizen based planning session aimed at producing sustainable redevelopment of an older urban neighborhood; For: Sustainable Solutions.
Speaker: Myron Orfield, City Club of Cleveland, asked questions of Orfield, both at public form and afterwards, learned how power base was built to support tax base sharing in Minnesota; For: all presentations.
Attended: Foundation Center workshops; useful for writing grant applications; For: applying for funding for the NEO SSEP.
January, 1998
Long telephone conversations with: Northeast Ohio Trade and Economic Consortium (NEOTEC), Dale Gibbons, Development Director; and Susan Theirl; learned about a broad range of regional development circumstances, and learned about the use of three different Geographic Information Systems in Northeast Ohio; For: audiences with regional interests.
Long telephone interview with: Lorain Department of Health, Jim Boddy; learned about inappropriately placed septic systems, poorly planned public sewer systems, and regional sewer plans; For: Sprawl Costs Us All in Farmland Loss presentations and for audiences with regional and state-wide interests.
Long telephone interview with: Medina County Department of Development, Sherry Clarkson; learned details of Ohio Department of Development incentives given to water line that made it possible for a "factory outlet" to be built in farm country in southern Medina County; For: Sprawl Costs Us All In Development Incentives.
Met with: KeyCorp, Jerome G. McClain, Executive Vice President, Corporate Community Reinvestment; Stephanie W. Turner, Assistant Vice President, Community Relations; John J. Kastellic, Senior Vice President, National Manager, Community Development Lending; Bill Murschal, Public Relations; discussed KeyCorp’s involvement in community and industrial development in the City of Cleveland; For: Sustainable Solutions audiences in Cleveland.
Columbus meetings:
- Ohio Department of Development, Steve Kelly, Office of Strategic Development; and Lisa Patt-McDaniel, Ohio Department of Development Office of Business Development, Economic Development Division; learned about ODOD’s policies on enterprise zones and several other programs; For: Sprawl Costs Us All In Development Incentives.
- United States Department of Agriculture, James T. Cogan, State Director; and Eric J. Luckage, Public Affairs Director, Rural Development; learned about USDA’s Business and Industry Guarantee Loans program providing federal support for development of non-farm commercial enterprises on the fringe of metropolitan areas. For: Sprawl Costs Us All in Development Incentives.
-Ohio Water Development Authority, Sue Farmer, Loan Officer; learned about improperly placed and failing septic systems encouraging new sewers and a resulting pressure to develop, learned about financing of water and sewer systems; For: audiences with regional interests
Attended: Action for Regional Equity and Sustainability, Faith-Based Organizing for Northeast Ohio; at Trinity Cathedral, downtown Cleveland; interviewed George Qua, presentation included numerous facts on "Sprawl and Race, Today’s winners become tomorrow’s losers,"; For: audiences in Cleveland.
Attended: Cleveland Heights and Urban Sprawl Forum #1, Hennes & Haslett Associates; learned citizens views on conditions in Cleveland Heights. Bruce Hennes has provided insight into Cleveland Heights politics and policies on several occasions.
Visits to: Western Reserve Historical Society, researched visual images for slide show; For: select Cost and Solutions presentations.
Met with: representative of Akron Water Department and telephone discussion with representative of Cleveland Water Department; determined that the public water departments are competing in some areas; For: presentation to audiences with regional interest.
Contract with: RB Books, Harrisburg Pennsylvania photographer Blair Seitz; for use of five slides; For: all presentations.
Reviewed presentation material with: Tom Bier and Charles Post, Housing Policy Research Program, Urban Center, The Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University. For: all presentations
Reviewed presentation material with: Paul A. Alsenas, Carol G. Thaler, Claire Kilbane, James M. Kastelic. For: all presentations
February, 1998
Review presentation with Tom Smith, Chair of the NEO Sierra Club Urban Sprawl Committee, and Bradley Flamm, a sprawl committee member who works for EcoCity Cleveland.
Attended Citizen’s League of Greater Cleveland, Citizens Rate the Region report review; met Janis Prudy of the Citizens League of Great Cleveland; participated in discussion of citizen perception and opinions and related issues; For: questions and answer for Sprawl Costs Us All and for Sustainable Solutions presentation.
Reviewed NEO SSEP presentation with: Ruth Durack, Gail Gordon Sommers and Kalpana Kuttaiah, Urban Design Center, Kent State University. For: all presentations
March, 1998
Richard Moe, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, speaking at a forum sponsored by Chagrin Falls Preservation Association; learned about preservation as incentive for change toward sustainability; For: Sustainable Solutions.
Attended: Action for Regional Equity and Sustainability, Faith-Based Organizing for Northeast Ohio, Fairlawn West United Church of Christ, Akron Ohio; Met with Vincent Bradley, Faith-Based Organizing for Northeast Ohio, David Sonner, a broker and owner of Northernview a home rehabilitation business and realtor with experience dealing with government programs, Rev. Dennis Sparks of the Akron Area Association of Churches ; For: audiences with real estate and development interests.
Critiqued presentation: George C. Yanda, a retired architect and member of the Kiwanis Club of Cleveland Heights. Mr. Yanda provided detailed insight from a business perspective. For: all presentations to business groups.
April, 1998
Attended: Cleveland Heights and Urban Sprawl Forum #2, Hennes & Haslett Associates; learned some citizen views on conditions in Cleveland Heights; Met several activist citizens including Jeff Sikorovsky, Joan Costello, and Lee Chilcote; For: Cleveland Heights audiences.
Met with: CSU, Director of Housing Policy Research Program Tom Bier and Charlie Post; discussed low value housing; For: all communities that have lower priced housing, including owners and redevelopers of such housing.
Met with: Mayor of Cleveland Heights Ed Kelley; discussed a broad spectrum of development, and tax, issues in Cleveland Heights and neighboring University Heights and East Cleveland and the need to educate a broad constituency of Heights citizens; For: Cleveland Heights and with audiences with interest in redevelopment.
Attended: Values for a Thriving City at University School; a panel of knowledgeable, and thoughtful community leaders, including Bishop Anthony Pilla of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese, Hunter Morrison director of the Cleveland Planning Commission, and David Beach director of EcoCity Cleveland; For: Sustainable Solutions.
Attended: Church and the City National Symposium, sponsored by the Cleveland Catholic Diocese; a full day of panels by experts on sprawl and related topics had opportunity to ask questions of preeminent Cleveland business leaders, made many contacts; met Robert Gillespie, CEO of Keycorp, Benjamin K. Greenberg, assistant vice president of Metropolitan Savings Bank, Ralph Grossi, executive director of American Farmland Trust, and numerous others prominent individuals; For: all presentations.
Attended: Forum for the Future of Ohio’s Mature Suburbs, First Suburbs Consortium; participated in discussion that ranked the issues of sprawl in Ohio and had opportunity to ask several questions of Ronald Young, deputy director of the Maryland Office of Planning; For: all presentations.
Telephone interview: Adam Waldbaum, president of North Coventry Landlord Association; learned about conditions for development and rental of two family homes in Cleveland Heights; For: Cleveland Heights, two family neighborhoods, residential property redevelopers.
May, 1998
Attended: A Time of Opportunity for Northeast Ohio’s Communities, Building Livable Communities Through Transportation workshop, sponsored by the Cleveland Neighborhood Development Corporation; met numerous individuals involved with neighborhood development including Sally Oldham, consultant with the Maryland State Highway Administration, and Fred Kent and Stephen Davies of the Project for Public Spaces, Inc.; attended sessions on transit oriented design, the circumstances of Cleveland, and reclaiming a neighborhood retail district for pedestrians; For: Sustainable Solutions.
Attended: Meeting of Inter-Community Coalition featuring Sandra McKew of PKF Planning Consultants on the status of Farmland Preservation legislation now in a committee of the Ohio House. Ms. McKew announced that William Whitlatch chairman of the Northeast Ohio Home Builders Coalition, which is composed of several industry groups, has taken a position supporting the provisions of the proposed Farmland Preservation legislation. This may prove to be a major break on this issue and a topic with a lot of educational value. For: all presentations.
Attended: 25th Anniversary meeting of Heights Community Congress; listened to an expressed need for more owner-occupied two family homes and problems with absentee landlords; For: communities with two family homes and Cleveland Heights audiences.
June, 1998
Attended: Buying Into Cleveland Home Show, sponsored by Living in Cleveland Center and the City of Cleveland, collected real estate tour maps and contacts, toured new housing downtown, meet and asked questions of realtors and developers; For: Cleveland audiences and Sustainable Solutions.
October, 1998
The unveiling of the Smart Growth Agenda, cosponsered by EcoCity Cleveland, The First Suburbs Consortium of Ohio, and the National Growth Management Leadership Project; Met a large number of individuals with experience in sprawl and sustainability including several mayors and a city manager, several environmental activists, and Henry Richmond of the National Growth Management Leadership Project. For: All presentations
Through present:
Mark Conte, State Program Coordinator, Ohio Sierra Club, For: Sprawl Costs Us All in Highway Spending
Bradley Flamm, EcoCity Cleveland, For: Sprawl Costs Us All in Highway Spending
Neil Gresham, Highway Management Administrator, and Paul Taylor, Metropolitan Planning Organization Representative, Ohio Department of Transportation, District 12, For: Sprawl Costs Us All in Highway Spending
Ray Rosenberger, Concerned Citizens of Bainbridge, For: Sprawl Costs Us All in Highway Spending, example of unbalanced highway spending in exurban area.
William Whitlatch, Northeast Ohio Home Builders Coalition, For: Business and realty audiences