The owner of the building was/is amazing himself.  He’s a fabulous metal/bronze sculptor named Ron Dewey of Light Sculpture Works.  He is responsible, for example, for the beautiful bronze of the Stefanski’s at the Third Fed Headquarters.  If you click the above link it takes you to his site at the point of some of his commissioned work. 

I haven’t been this excited about something happening in Cleveland in quite some time!    3C

We have wonderful students here in NE Ohio, so I hope one of them wins!  The deadline is not until January 20th, which gives a good amount of time to come up with a great video.  I can’t wait to watch them all.  Peace Out – 3C

Scene was fairly cheerful and well, cheerleading-like (is that a word?) Not what I normally expect from a Scene feature story, but news like this could make even cynical journalists giddy. 

Scene says Cleveland has a lot to offer and we don’t bite.  I say, we don’t bite unless provoked.  Peace Out – 3C

A short sale means you owe a certain amount of money but you want your mortgage holder to accept less than you owe. You will need to do some leg work first, in order to see if this is possible.

First, call your lending institution; get the name and telephone number of a decision maker, someone who can actually provide you with a yes or no answer. Will your bank allow you to short sale your home? You will need your mortgage account number so this ‘person of authority’ can give you a straight answer.  As you can imagine, it might take you at least a few days to get this resolved.  However, it’s a mandatory first step in order to find out if a short sale is a feasible option for you.

Suppose your lender says yes, you can try to short sale your home.  You need to call a Realtor® who can work with you throughout the process.  Your agent and the Title Company will be crucial in helping to make this happen.  You also need to talk to your financial advisor .  There could be financial and tax ramifications to short selling.  Example: you owe $190,000 on your home.  We find a buyer and make a successful short sale for $170,000. Will the IRS want you to pay taxes on that $20,000?  Will your lending institution come after you once the sale is final, to try to recoup the $20,000?  They can and they might. 

These are the preliminary issues to both consider and handle while weighing  the option of a short sale.    If you have the financial ability, it might be a good idea to have an accountant, a real estate attorney, a realtor® and a title company all working on your behalf.

The phrase knowledge is power holds true here. The more answers you can get, the more honestly you can communicate with your mortgage holder, the better equipped you will be to decide if this is the right path for you.

I’ll post more about short sales for sure.  In the meantime, if you have any questions, please email me  carolecohen@howardhanna.com.

 The free symposium, Rebuilding Greater Cleveland’s Population: Acting On the 2010 Census Results, will take place at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 11 at Broadway United Methodist Church, 5246 Broadway Ave., Cleveland.

a number of other local planners and opinion leaders have been invited to share their insights during this wide ranging discussion of what went wrong with Cleveland’s population numbers, and how to right it. Like NextBroadway’s recent Cuyahoga County candidate forums, this event will open at 6:30 p.m. A meet-and-greet with light refreshments will occur until the forum starts at 7 p.m.  (This is an excerpt from Population Forum’s website)

You can read the entire announcement on this website.   If you just want to browse and study the Census results yourself, you can go right to the Census.gov source here.    Peace Out – 3C

Cleveland Design City - they do a good job of coverage architecture (new and historical), art, transportation, etc.  Most of us try to keep up, but are too busy working to do the kind of coverage this site provides.

Green City Blue Lake - soft spot in my heart for them.  They were the site that first got me interested in The Ohio Hub and all things passenger rail in our area. They are still covering it well.  They were also one of the first sites covering all things sustainable and green. 

The second Sustainable Cleveland 2019 Summit was held last week. I could put sites here that talk about it, but to really get the day to day energy people are putting into this effort, to see what is transpiring from groups that formed last year, to see how many businesses are on board now, you really need to friend them on Facebook. 

Another topic close to my heart has to do with how to practice Smart Shrinking, which is really just good planning for a community like ours that now has the chance to reinvent great uses for vacant property land in our neighborhoods.  Reimagining Cleveland   has rolled up their collective sleeves and started some good ideas.

Creative Class Blog starts out with this on their page about revitalizing rust belt cities:

 How to revitalize America’s great industrial cities? How to balance people- vs. place-oriented policies? And why mega-projects and bailouts don’t work, but organic, community, bottom-up efforts do.

Gets to the correct point, yes?

You know I always like to feature people who don’t live here but love something about Cleveland. We know we are gaining tons of National recognition for being a prime food hub. Chow Hound  got excited about three eateries this past May.  They loved their road trip!

This week there is a National education conference batting around ideas. I listed to WKYC news tonight at six and was impressed with a teacher who stood up at the Conference and talked about what her kids needed and how she didn’t want the individual school admns or unions getting in the way with anachronistic rules that need to be changed.  Cleveland has a great school program in conjunction with Cleveland State University.  You may have read about it in the Plain Dealer as the school year was beginning.  It’s called Campus International School.  This portion of CSU’s website talks about the unique school.  For example, they are teaching K-2nd graders mandarin Chinese.  What a great way to get students ready to have the possibilities of international jobs that require this language.  Here is also a ‘take’ on this School and the CSU program from UB Buzz blog.

Now even if it rains tomorrow browsing these sites should make you feel good lol.  Peace Out – 3C

I would love to read your thoughts on their list, and also your ideas as well. As I read through the article, I did have my own comments.

The PD discusses branding Cleveland and revitalizing the Core City. I’m down with the second part. But instead of constant rebranding and marketing expenses that go with it, why not just recognize what are brand really is? Guts, grit, hardworking people who are bright and creative.  Pittsburgh does not hold the trademark on people having the will of steel. We are a collection of people who can do anything we set our minds to doing; we are not weaklings who can’t take cold weather; even if we don’t like it, we go about our business and get things done.

We are a town founded on the principle of creativity and hard work. And we have examples of that everywhere, from University Circle cultural institutions to our universities themselves, and a population that prides itself in hard work. Which is why it’s so hard for so many to be out of work. Revitalize the core and bring new jobs into Cleveland and put people to work. Most problems will then be solved.

I have no quarrel with the PD’s list under this topic, but I see one glaring omission. We were originally branded as a steel city, a place with a vital trolley line and rail lines. So if there is any brushing off of our brand that could truly set us apart, it would be a commitment to passenger rail and transit as viable keys to future business and residential development.  And tons of jobs.

The PD discusses government reform and they are clearly in the column of supporting regional government. I think we need more cooperation among the different governments, but just regionalizing it isn’t the answer. There has been a lot of discussion on Cleveland blogs lately about the need to completely change the paradigm of how we elect and who we elect, how much it costs and whether or not they support the goals we all have, as opposed to what party they are in. Anyone agree with me?

I get excited at one of the PD’s ideas though: “,,,,demand collaboration at every level of government. “

I  think Governor Strickland is on the right track in terms of revamping how our educational system is funded and operated. The devil is in the details and that is fine. But for sure, we all need to step up to the plate to voice our opinions about the future of education in Ohio and Cleveland. Our finances are tied into it for one thing, and more importantly, our future as a City.

And that gets me to another goal. We need to start holding our government accountable for missing deadlines to get us involved in Federal, State and other initiatives that would clearly help us move forward. There is too much history of us not doing that. So let’s just take the bull by the horns and admit that we have a say in this issue. We can make the calls and follow the ideas and make sure the ‘powers that be’ and administrators know we are watching and holding them to being organized enough to not miss these crucial deadlines!

The PD closes with comments that seem to indicate they have decided 1) being in bed with old school people and ideas isn’t gonna fly (that means us too, not just the PD)  and 2) that they are willing to change how they have approached the news in recent times.

My last comment is that we need to hold them and our government and ourselves to this goal.

What do you think?  How can we continue to organize ourselves to help make all this happen?     Peace Out – 3C

Update, because I think a point was missing in my section on re-branding Cleveland. If you read books like Instructions From The Cook and Tribes, you realize an important point. Ideas come together and a focus develops.  The branding will happen afterwards, because we do the work that will make a difference, we listen to and ecourage all great ideas and focus on what the majority is motivated to see happen. It means more involvement in ways that may be different from past experiences, but the outcome is worth it. I would highly suggest both of these books to all of you as good starting points to getting involved.