On Saturday, November 5, members of the Cleveland Coalition’s extended family convened at Graham Veysey’s office on W 29th Street for Part I of the Cleveland Coalition’s planning retreat. Over 15 people gathered, made up evenly of the group’s founding members and new recruited leadership that had been invited to join in the work and help shape the organization’s vision and goals moving forward. We were joined by the talented facilitator Sally Breyley Parker who guided the group through a series of conversations from which emerged a concise sense of purpose driving those who attended and our group as a whole.

On Saturday, December 3, we met again to refine the EDUCATE, COLLABORATE, ACT continuum, which is essential to our organization. Our group will need to learn to manage the “Act” dilemma between having a direct impact on an issue and providing a respectful “container” for advocacy work.  Coalitions of broad groups of people are necessary for work we do. We will use Stakeholder mapping and other strategy tools to develop outreach and partnership for our projects.

At the December 17th meeting, we proposed a wide range of project ideas and voted on the top 3.  The topics ranged from education, to transparency, to innovation.  Also we discussed regionalism, the environment, prisoner re-entry, and housing.  When looking at each of the issues, the presented examined the breadth, if the issue was under analyzed and what tangible outputs could result.  The Cleveland Coalition prides itself on adding to the conversation in a meaningful way to inspire local level change.  The topics we settled on as a group were transparency, prisoner re-entry and innovation/entrepreneurship.

Our most recent meeting took place on January 28th at the Cleveland Restoration Society, where members presented the 3 issues from the last meeting.  The energy in the room lead to a lively conversation about important topics that effects us in everyday life.  The vote at the end for the Transparency & Public Engagement Project won unanimously.  While the details of this project will emerge over the coming month, it will provide tools for citizens and public officials to engage in meaningful dialogue.  The group also committed to producing more web content and meeting in social settings with the hopes of including more members and inspiring conversation in the community.

The Cleveland Coalition and our partners are committed to facilitating a well-informed, outcome-oriented planning session on the topic of county-level transparency. Advancing this issue requires effective leadership both inside and outside governmental institutions. Our coalition intends to provide meaningful leadership to augment work already being advanced by the Cuyahoga County Executive and Council.

The Transparency Action Plan (TAP) Summit will convene representatives from every major sector whose collaboration and productive exchange of ideas and information is essential to the health of our community. These groups include governmental officials, business leaders, legal professionals, IT professionals, nonprofit practitioners, and community activists.

Over the course of two days, participants will be educated about best practices across the country and the world in the area of transparency, the exciting work already underway at the county level, and current opportunities at the county level for innovation. The bulk of the summit will include planning and design phases during which participants will be tasked with developing a plan for advancing transparent practices and policies in our community.

As the name suggests, the Transparency Action Plan (TAP) Summit is a planning event, and as such will serve as the beginning for a path of dynamic, innovative public participation in the months and years ahead. Please join us July 29-30, 2011 to help articulate a strategy for moving our community forward, and establishing Cuyahoga County as a national leader in the area of government transparency and public engagement.

REGISTRATION AND MORE INFORMATION AVAILABLE AT: TAPSummit.org

The Cleveland Coalition published a report in April (“Crooked River Gaming”) that articulates the design elements we seek for the casino. These recommendations were developed by over 300 Cleveland Coalition members who attended our City Club casino panel discussion and Levin Forum design workshop last year. This report has been and will continue to be a guide for our advocacy.

We seek a meeting with representatives from KA, Inc and Rock Gaming, as well as other community groups with a shared interest in the values we uphold for urban vitality and connectivity.

Please check back to our site for updates on the Landmark’s Commission vote on demolishing the Columbia Building.

Cleveland, OH – May 24, 2011 – The Cleveland Coalition is concerned that the current proposal for a valet parking facility and parking garage does not live up to Rock Ventures’ commitment to integrate the new casino with the existing urban fabric. The Coalition therefore requests that the Landmarks Commission postpone approval of the plan in order to allow sufficient time to consider alternative design proposals. When Rock Ventures initiated planning for the new casino, it assured Clevelanders that the project would be conducted with respect for its downtown setting, and that its design would enhance its surroundings. Rock’s Len Komoroski, quoting Dan Gilbert, stated “The ultimate measure of our success will not be just how well the casino does, but how it impacts downtown.”

Over the course of several months in 2010, the Cleveland Coalition gathered input from national and local experts as well as engaged citizens. The recommendations from these sessions were published in a report released in April 2011. The Cleveland Coalition believes that the designs recently approved by the City Planning Commission (which will be considered by the Cleveland Landmarks Commission on Thursday, May 26, 2011), could have serious negative impacts on the City’s existing urban fabric. More importantly, the plans fail to capture the Casino’s potential to actually enhance the existing urban fabric.

The renderings for the parking facility submitted by Rock demonstrate a willingness to trade irreplaceable aspects of downtown’s urban character in exchange for a short-term gain for the casino project. Lower Prospect Avenue is currently one of downtown’s best-scaled streets and a critical connection between East 4th Street and the casino. The current proposal would create obstacles to the area’s walkability, isolating the block from downtown’s street network. The designs would place several lanes of parking garage traffic directly adjacent to East 2nd Street, creating a more than 80-foot wide obstacle to pedestrians. A wide garage entrance would also be created on the Ontario Street side. In addition, the plan proposes channeling foot traffic into an elevated walkway that would obstruct vistas and terminate with a puncture of the historic Higbee Building. Moreover, the plan asks the public to accept demolition of the landmark Columbia Building, and isolation of the historic Stanley Block, by obliterating its urban context.

Connective elements are not minor issues. Our City is collectively exploring these design goals and beginning to put them into practice through Mayor Jackson’s Group Plan Commission. The Group Plan Commission’s recommendations are primarily focused on creating and improving connectivity. During the Coalition’s first event designed to explore the issue of connecting the new casino with Cleveland’s existing urban fabric, nationally respected casino architect David Schwarz explained, “You always want to build what no one else is building. You want to be new and different. What we concluded was that what’s new and different in Las Vegas was true urbanism. If you really want to create a new environment, it would be an open city, where… pedestrianism and social interaction were valued and created rather than dismissed and discouraged.”

The Cleveland Coalition does not oppose the construction of a garage for the casino, but we think that the proposal can be improved through further design iterations. If Rock and its design team are willing to devote resources to improving their concepts, the facility could provide the casino’s parking requirements while enhancing downtown’s urban fabric. Members of the Landmarks Commission are not stuck between Rock Ventures and a hard place. With a little time and effort, a quality design can be achieved that benefits both downtown Cleveland and the casino. Citizens and those who represent them should take a good hard look at this proposal and ask themselves whether the design adequately connects the casino with the existing urban fabric.

The Cleveland Coalition is a civic organization of Clevelanders working to create and sustain a more vibrant, healthy and connected community by building civic imagination, community participation and leadership capacity. We welcome your thoughts and suggestions. Please visit us at www.clevelandcoaltion.org.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Optimistic Clevelanders envision a new kind of casino, one that entices families with video games, ushers gamblers onto rooftop patios and offers a shuttle for free tours of downtown.

The suggestions, compiled by the nonprofit Cleveland Coalition and released Thursday, come from 200 experts and concerned citizens who met last year to brainstorm designs for the downtown project.

“We could be a national model if the organizers are willing to look at a new approach,” said coalition member Jason Bristol. “We’d really like to see the casino give back to its host city.”

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Read the report HERE

Within the next couple weeks, we will also be launching a new project concerning open government and transparency, “The Cuyahoga County Transparency Project.” Please check back to our site for more information about that and other projects.

How Do We Weave the New Casino into Cleveland’s Existing Urban Fabric?

Join us April 9, 2010 at The Levin College Forum, CSU, 1717 Euclid Ave

12-3pm Design Charette

Participants will design and discuss around the topics of connectivity, the built environment, quality of life, programming and economic development.
(brown bag lunch or reserve a $12 box lunch)

3-5pm Video Presentation

A collection of videos pertaining to topic.

5-5:30pm Cocktail Reception

5:30-7pm Public Presentation

Concepts and conclusions developed in the afternoon workshop will be presented.

Participants can attend any or all parts of the event.

The design suggestions/guidelines developed in the afternoon will be presented to the public in the evening, and will later be put together into a document which will be made available online.

Our Partners:

Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, Kent State University

The Levin College Forum, Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University

AIA Cleveland

AIA Cleveland

City Club of Cleveland

Cleveland Coalition – Event#2 Participants Package

Cavs owner and casino developer Dan Gilbert hasn’t yet announced the specific site or the design architect for the casino he’d like to build in downtown Cleveland.

But that isn’t stopping the Cleveland Coalition, a group of young professionals with an intense interest in the city’s future, from offering Gilbert some very specific free advice.

On Friday, the coalition will sponsor “Crooked River Gaming/2,” a public brainstorming session at the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, 1717 Euclid Ave. The “charrette,” as such meetings are called in architectural circles…

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