Brewed Fresh Daily AKA The BFD Blog

Improvements at the PD

Ed Morrison — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:51:53 +0000

Is anyone else noticing that the reporting in the PD is getting better? Is this connected to Brent Larkin leaving?

A couple of examples:

Former Lakewood Mayor Sinagra linked to Parma politico’s activities: Crisis In County Government

Cuyahoga County Commissioner Tim Hagan complains about stories on secret meetings, then goes into secret meeting

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Jimmy Dimora’s confusion

Ed Morrison — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:27:07 +0000

The recent press conference by Jimmy Dimora underscores a confusion that is running through his mind.

Dimora brought forth no evidence that anyone is interfering with his legal rights as a prospective defendant. We can assume he was referring these rights when he spoke the rights “our forefathers fought for”.

At the same time, as an elected official, Dimora has a set of obligations which run to the people of Cuyahoga County. The Plain Dealer and others have called into question whether Dimora has met these obligations.

One of the clearest expressions of these obligations appears in the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. In the spring of 1638, representatives from three Connecticut towns met to draft what amounts to the first constitution to create a government in the New World.

Adopted in January 1639, the Fundamental Orders set forth an obligation to create and maintain “an orderly and decent Government”.

By this standard, Dimora, Hagan and Jones have failed miserably.

No citizen of Cuyahoga County needs a court of law to reach this conclusion.

The absurdities continue….

Cuyahoga County Commissioner Tim Hagan complains about stories on secret meetings, then goes into secret meeting

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Pittsburgh’s G-20 investment

Ed Morrison — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:17:50 +0000

It’s hard not to make the contrast.

While Cleveland’s leadership struggles with a corruption probe, Pittsburgh prepares for the G-20 meeting this September.

When will Cleveland’s leadership imagine something more?

Pittsburgh firms fork over a half million dollars for G-20 summit

Addendum:

Philip Morris captures the sinking feeling:

I know this is not the best time for hyperbole. But this whole Greater Cleveland experience is starting to feel apocalyptic.

If I were a hotshot 25-year-old who had just pulled into Cleveland hoping to chase my fortune and fame, I would be having some serious reservations right now.

“Who are these people?” I’d be asking.

This town seems to be hurtling toward ancient-ruin status, all the while mocked by the promise of our world-class hospitals and our beautiful view of the lake.

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Marc Canter’s Strategy for the Plain Dealer

George Nemeth — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:31:56 +0000

From Marc’s Voice:

I noticed a conversation going on - in my Facebook feed about changing the copyright laws to permit newspapers to keep their content ‘exclusive’ for 24 hours. I’m amazed by the sheer audacity of that idea and it turned out that someone I was just introduced to - Connie Schultz - had come out in favor of this idea.

So since I’m moving to Cleveland and these are going to become my issues, I thought I’d weigh in on an alternative approach to helping out the Plain Dealer. After all it’s not the copyright laws that are broken, but the newspaper business model. In fact I could argue (and others have) that copyright is broken for a number of OTHER reasons, but I won’t go into that now.

What I do want to do is try and come up with some creative ways that the Plain Dealer can achieve profitability and sustainability in these crazy times. Followers of this blog may recall me doing this for MySpace and I’ve also pitched similar ideas to the NYTimes and the BBC.

So here goes…

Check it out. I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts.

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Three Cleveland companies make the 11th Annual Inner City 100

Ed Morrison — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:05:15 +0000

Talan Products

Voss Industries

Tenable Protective Services

Business Week Special Report: The Inner City 100

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BFD Learning Moment: Portland, Boise, KC

Ed Morrison — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:20:18 +0000

Bootstrapping High-Tech: Evidence from Three Emerging High Technology Metropolitan Areas

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Calling off poaching in Summit County

Ed Morrison — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:45:19 +0000

Cuyahoga Falls to join county economic development group

You can download the MOU here.

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BFD Learning Moment: Strategic Doing and Michigan’s auto communities

Ed Morrison — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:55:10 +0000

“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”

Aristotle

About ten days ago, members of the President’s auto communities task force asked a group of us from Purdue to guide a strategic doing session in Lansing, MI.

Despite all the funding going into Michigan, federal officials from the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Labor wanted to find some new approaches to accelerating collaborations among their partners in Michigan. They turned to Strategic Doing.

Strategic Doing is a disciplined, practical process for developing and implementing strategies in open, loosely connected networks (like a regional economy).

The steps are simple to understand, but not easy for groups to follow. Conversations in loosely connected groups are difficult to guide (think cat herding). To create effective collaborations, we must think clearly, communicate concisely, and stay focused on translating ideas into action.

Innovative (and often complex) initiatives take sophisticated thinking and a commitment to learn from experience. We also need reservoirs of trust to execute quickly, so we can figure out “What works”.

Strategic Doing, in the end, enables us to do complex projects by following some simple rules. The trick comes in following the rules. Like any new habit, practice matters a lot.

The place to start is with civic forums, where people can practice these new approaches to sophisticated civic thinking and doing. I-Open has been promoting these civic forums with initiatives like Midtown Brews. (We started these forums with Tuesdays at REI at Case Western Reserve some years ago.)

You can look at a resource page for the participants of the Lansing, MI workshop here.

If you are interested in learning more about network-based approaches to economic and workforce development, check out Purdue’s new certificate course in Open Source Economic Development.

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CIO.com names CLE one of the Worst U.S. Cities to Work in IT

George Nemeth — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:05:14 +0000

The Worst U.S. Cities to Work in IT - CIO.com - Business Technology Leadership.

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Jack Welch connects to Cleveland

Ed Morrison — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:24:52 +0000

Jack Welch Launches Online MBA