Elephants and New Bus Line Roll Through Downtown Cleveland?!?!

We're Clevelanders. We've seen a lot of excitement in our downtown streets. Marathon runners, breast cancer walks, and even parades of people after Monday Night Football victories have recently roamed through Downtown Cleveland.

This week, however, two very exciting (and different) events call us to the streets of Downtown Cleveland. The first of which came on Wednesday, October 22nd, during the lunch hour. The circus is in town and brought this blogger from her office high above East 9th Street to street level for the celebration. If you looked at the picture you already know why! Read her blog here.

In addition to the elephants strolling through downtown Cleveland, the Greater Cleveland RTA opens it's new "Health Line" this weekend which includes a new dedicated bike lane down Euclid Avenue. A scavenger hunt will be included in the weekend festivities, which lead up to a free outdoor concert headlined by American Idol winner, Jordin Sparks. For more information, visit the health line website.

American Idol Winner to Perform at Free Concert on Mall B

The Euclid Corridor project, now appropriately called the "Health Line", opens on October 24-25th to celebrate the re-birth of Euclid Avenue. Headlining this public festival is American Idol winner, Jordin Sparx, who This project has been several years in the making, and has been the subject of great debate over the past three years.

Yes, yes, by now we know that the Health Line will connect University Circle to Public Square. We've heard about and/or seen the cool looking bus stations all along the route. We've even heard about how this is revolutionary, environmentally concsious, and so on... But, will we actually use it? Cleveland City Living decided to ask the people on the streets...

• "We'd probably take it to go downtown for dinner after our shift [is over]" - Kathy & Monica from the Cleveland Clinic.


• "I live in the Statler and work at UH, so it's great for me." - William (Downtown Resident)


• "It's cool, but Euclid Avenue is still pretty much a ghost town." - Jessie (Downtown Resident)


• "I've never really rode the bus before in Cleveland, just Chicago and places like that. Is that weird?" - Emily (Downtown Employee in Tower City)

The general feeling for the remaining posts is optimism for the publicity, excitement over the removal of the orange barrels, and surprise by the suburbanites on what Euclid Avenue is becoming. Most people, in spite of all our marketing efforts, still don't know about the 668 Euclid Avenue Building rennovation, the grand opening of Cadillac Ranch, or even the unprecedented growth on East 4th Street.

Ari Maron, partner at MRN (developers of East 4th St), told me that one day, Euclid Avenue will be the premier street in Cleveland. That day I was looking at abandoned buildings, panhandlers everywhere, paintings in the windows of abandoned store-fronts, and a dreadful streetscape. A great deal has changed since then and from the looks of it, Ari can probably say, "I told you so" in the near future!

Is Our Panhandling Population Shrinking?

It's not your imagination. The population of pan-handlers in Downtown Cleveland is down more than 40% over the past two years! This reduction can be largely credited to the hard working team at the Downtown Cleveland Alliance.

On Friday, October 17th, the Downtown Cleveland Alliance will announce a new program to provide for the homeless called Generocity Cleveland. The press conference will be held in front of Old Stone Church (91 Public Square) at 1:30pm on Friday, October 17th. This initiative includes a new marketing campaign to reduce panhandling, new donation receptacles for people to give to the homeless and a new Mobile Services Unit designed to bring services to the homeless.

Generocity Cleveland is the result of a comprehensive partnership between the City of Cleveland, the faith-based community and Downtown property owners. This new program replaces the Alliance’s “Homeless Education Campaign”, which focused on reducing aggressive panhandling in Downtown. Last year’s campaign message; “Don’t Give Where It Can’t Help” encouraged people to donate to local service agencies rather than panhandlers. Since August of last year, the Downtown Cleveland Alliance Ambassadors have reported a 40% reduction in panhandling incidents. In addition, the Alliance has raised nearly $2,000 that has been used to purchase ID’s and medical supplies for the homeless.

Although the Homeless Education Campaign has been successful, Downtown Cleveland Alliance and faith-based organizations believed that an education campaign was not enough to help the homeless. Downtown stakeholders needed a more complete approach in order to meet both their goals of reducing panhandling and providing care and services to the homeless. Generocity Cleveland addresses both areas of concern through three united fronts: 1) marketing, 2) donations and 3) services.

Marketing: Generocity Cleveland’s marketing campaign replaces the Homeless Education Campaign message with a clearer and more positive message, “Change Where It Counts.” This message still encourages people not to give money to people on the street, but it also encourages them to give money by directing individuals to the new donation receptacles located throughout Downtown. The new message will be on posters and flyers throughout Downtown and will feature an image of the new donation receptacles that will be placed throughout downtown.

Donations: Downtown Cleveland Alliance recently purchased 30 used parking meters from the City of Cleveland to be used as donation receptacles, fifteen of which will be placed at strategic Downtown locations. The Alliance’s committee felt strongly that providing the public with safe donation locations throughout Downtown is the best way to divert funds from panhandlers (many of which are not homeless) to the organizations that serve the homeless everyday. It is not effective to just encourage people not to give to panhandlers, people feel compelled to give. These new donation receptacles allow people to still say no to panhandlers while giving much needed funds to trustworthy organizations that provide for the homeless. Donations are collected as part of the Downtown Cleveland Alliance’s Downtown Homeless Fund. They are used to give homeless people ID’s, birth certificates and other items necessary in order to get off the streets and get their lives back. This donation receptacle strategy is a successful model that has been used in similar cities such as Denver and Baltimore.

Services: Since the creation of the Downtown Cleveland Alliance (2 ½ years ago), DCA has employed a full time social worker to help the Alliance provide direct services to the homeless. Since many homeless in Downtown are “shelter resistant”, it has become necessary for the DCA to be as mobile as possible, in order to meet people where they are at. To better provide services to the homeless, Generocity Cleveland has acquired an old Paratransit vehicle, which has been transformed into a mobile service bus. This vehicle will allow DCA and its partners to better provide services to the homeless and even transport individuals to area shelters if they desire.

"Clevelanders' giving spirit never wavers when taking care of their brothers and sisters, regardless of times or economy", stated Joe Cimperman, councilman of Ward 13. “Generocity Cleveland will provide DCA and our partner organizations the means to continue providing services to the homeless of Downtown Cleveland,” said Joe Marinucci, President of the Downtown Cleveland Alliance. “Providing for the homeless is crucial to building a Downtown that benefits all stakeholders.”

For more information on how you can help please visit http://www.generocitycleveland.org/ or call 216-736-7799.

Phoenix Coffee Opening October 14th on Residential Row in the Warehouse District

Prepare to be stirred at Phoenix Coffee's newest location, 1300 W. 9th St. in Downtown Cleveland. The store, which opens at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, October 14th, will exclusively serve French Press coffee, a bold and rich alternative to traditional auto-drip coffee. This won't be your regular grab-and-go cup of joe. Phoenix Coffee's French Press brews will take customers on an exotic journey to new aromas and flavors. It's an experience that Clevelanders can readily embrace in the cosmopolitan, yet comfortable, environment of the West 9th Street store.

"Customers can close their eyes, take a sip and imagine they're in Portland or San Francisco, then look around and enjoy the friendly, real, Cleveland-style personalities at Phoenix Coffee," said Sarah Wilson-Jones, CEO and "Superbarista" of Phoenix Coffee.

Local aficionados are ready for this unique coffee experience, Wilson-Jones added. "I think the cosmopolitan customer base around the West 9th Street area will appreciate being able to get French Press coffee on a regular basis, and will be willing to pay slightly more for such a distinctive product."

When it comes to French Press coffee, the difference is in the brewing process. Coffee grounds are in direct contact with the brewing water for about five minutes, and are then filtered through a mesh press, rather than a paper filter. "The coffee retains its natural oils, which are usually trapped in the paper filter," explained Liz Gelehrter, manager of the West 9th Street store. "This makes for a better, richer cup of coffee."

French Press coffee is meant to be enjoyed fresh and at an unhurried pace, which is why the West 9th Street store will offer cozy retro chairs where customers can savor their drinks and perhaps listen to a local band playing on the coffeehouse stage.

The new Phoenix Coffee location will also serve Melitta- style manual-drip coffee so customers can sample any of the store's exotic single-source varietals or artisan- blended coffees. Once customers sample a new variety of coffee by the cup, they're more likely to purchase a pound and brew it at home, according to Wilson-Jones.

Both the French Press and Melitta offerings will encourage customers to view coffee as an exploration, rather than simply as a daily necessity, Wilson-Jones added.

To promote the grand opening, and to support an eco- friendly community, the West 9th Street store will be giving away free coffee mugs on the first day of business. Customers of Phoenix Coffee's five other area locations are encouraged to bring their own mugs on October 14th as well. The goal is to not use disposable cups at any Phoenix Coffee store on that day.

Stone Mad Irish Pub

Perhaps I'm a popular patron at Cleveland's figurative home for optimists, "The Glass Half Full Tavern," but I'm thinking this place is pretty awesome. Please leave your comments below if you've had the pleasure of drinking or dining at Stone Mad in Cleveland's Detroit Shoreway Neighborhood.

10 Most Affordable US Cities to Own a Home

Guess who's #1. Go ahead, guess. Yep, Cleveland is!

Article by: Lauren Sherman, Forbes

Most Affordable Cities for Owning a Home The cost of buying and maintaining a home is pretty reasonable if you live in certain Midwestern or Southern cities, according to Forbes magazine's new report. To determine America's least expensive places to own a home, Forbes used data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2008 American Community Survey, released Tuesday. The survey reported the 2007 median monthly housing costs in the country's metro areas with a population over 65,000. Housing costs include monthly mortgage payments, real estate taxes, various insurances, utilities, fuels, mobile home costs and condominium fees.

Here are the top-10 cheapest cities to own a home (for more details on each location, watch the Forbes slideshow):

1. Cleveland: $978 a month
2. Columbus, Ohio: $1,060 a month
3. Pittsburgh: $1,187 a month
4. San Antonio, Texas: $1,216 a month
5. Indianapolis: $1,232 a month
6. Nashville: $1,256 a month
7. New Orleans: $1,296 a month
8. St. Louis: $1,299 a month
9. Charlotte, N.C.: $1,336 a month
10. Cincinnati: $1,353 a month