Announcing the new Northeast Ohio Citizens League

As some of you know, I've spent the past few months helping build the foundation for a new Northeast Ohio Citizens League. The mission of this organization is to create a new regional civic space, empowering citizens to reinvent Northeast Ohio by educating and engaging them in the community decision-making process.

I feel very fortunate to be a part of this new endeavor, and am excited to help bring a new dynamic of civic engagement and active citizenship to Northeast Ohio. I truly believe that, as we state in our attached organizational summary: Without an intensive effort towards civic renewal, Northeast Ohio will continue to flounder in its attempts to renew and redefine itself.

The Northeast Ohio Citizens League is not your typical public policy think tank, or even your average civic engagement exercise. Our process will consist of a sophisticated and integrated combination of Civic Education & Engagement, Civic Asset Mapping, Online News & Civic Dialogue, and Citizen-Driven Study Committee Work. Through our innovative process, Citizens League members will develop well-reasoned, well-informed, and innovative policy recommendations to drive the future of our region.

So where do you fit in?
Well, in order to get the Northeast Ohio Citizens League going full blast, engaging citizens in meaningful conversation around important issues like regional governance, healthcare systems, and educational funding, we need two things: Money and People.

To date, a small, very dedicated team has invested hundreds and hundreds of hours into developing the foundation for the League. It's time, however, for your participation and input. The Northeast Ohio Citizens League will only be as strong as its membership. And to that effect, I encourage you to visit our website: www.neocitizensleague.org to learn more, and more importantly to become a member!

We also can't do this without the financial participation of individuals, corporations, foundations, and government partners. To that effect, I encourage you to read the attached Organizational Summary, and consider supporting this important endeavor with a tax-deductible donation via our website: www.neocitizensleague.org.

At the very least, let me know what you think! It is important to us that this be a collaborative, citizen-based process and your input is critical to our success. So please drop me an email, give me a call, or submit a comment on our website: www.neocitizensleague.org and let me know if and how you'd like to participate in the Northeast Ohio Citizens League.

The Fence is Done!

While I still have a few more final screws to screw in, and I still need to figure out a latch for the gate, I think it's fair to say that the fence is officially built.

It was a huge project, and a ton of work, and I have to say that it ranks up in my top five or ten achievements. More about what I learned later, but here are a few before and after photos.

The southwest corner:









The northwest corner:









The north wall:









The northeast gate:















Obligatory "action shot":

Adventures in Homeownership

The fence is ready to go! Just waiting until Friday when the weather will be nice and I can rent a towable hydraulic auger (which requires me to rent a u-haul pickup truck as well to tow the dang thing home...) and dig my post holes.

After a couple of days digging out stumps, pulling weeds, and tilling the garden, I'm pleased to say that my garden is looking like a beautiful blank canvas. Once the fence goes up I will begin the work of planning a new garden.

A few before and after photos ("after" meaning post demolition and clean up):

Before/After:









Before/After:









Just look at that beautiful tilled up garden:














I did save the rose bushes, I couldn't bring myself to cut down this little beauty, just starting to bloom:

Adventures in Homeownership

As some of you may know, I've had the luxury of having the summer to putter around the house while I ponder where my career will go next. I've taken up several projects so far.

In an effort to clean up the back yard and also create a more secure enclosure for the dogs, I decided to tear down our old, rusted out patchwork of a wire fence and build a new, sturdy picket fence. To save money, I decided to do all the demolition, landscaping, building, and installation myself. Side one went in relatively easy, and while it's not perfect, I have to say it looks pretty good for a first attempt:















Demo on the rest of the fence was quite a bit more work, as ivy had overtaken the garden, and dozens of small trees had woven their way into the fence. I ended up buying a Ryobi mini-tiller to help take out the ivy and other weeds, and to start prepping the garden for replanting once the fence is done. It may be my new favorite tool, and it was only $12 more to buy than to rent one for a week.

The pressure-treated wood that I bough for the rest of the fence is cut, but is currently sitting in the garage as I wait (im)patiently for the tree company to come and tear down the 8 or so trees that had grown up along the fence line. They are mostly small trees that had just never been trimmed out, but there are two in the back that have grown too close to the garage and threaten both the gutters and the foundation. Time for them to go.

As I wait, I also decided to install a new bathroom fan. Having had to repaint our peeling ceiling once already in a year, it is clear that ventilation is a significant problem. Installing the fan unit was not too difficult - I had to pull up some of the floorboards in the attack, cut a hole in the bathroom ceiling, and attach the fan unit to a ceiling joist. My timing for this project could have been better, though, as I've now spent several afternoons in my 110 degree attic


















I was hoping that wiring the fan would be a challenge that I could handle, but when I opened up the light switch to investigate, I found remnants of the old knob and tube wiring system. What you see below is not described in any of the dozen or so electrical repair books I checked out of the library. There are only two wires there, with patches of their insulation removed and then looped around the switch. A professional will be called to deal with this (I know when I'm out of my league).















Cutting a hole for the vent has posed a challenge today. What should be an easy process of cutting a 4-inch hole in the wall to run a duct through, will probably take me at least a day because of the fact that my Black and Decker sawzall can't run for more than 2 minutes before the battery runs out. That coupled with the fact that there doesn't seem to be a blade that wants to easily cut through a 3/4" layer of stucco followed by some sort of metal lathe, followed 1/2" wood on the inside, means that I have to wait for several hours for the batteries to charge only to make minimal progress when they are ready. Blurg. I'm going to try to stay patient on this one, as the only other option is to buy or rent new tools, and that's not in the budget.

The third project that I was hoping to tackle this summer will have to wait until next year for budgetary reasons. We wanted to have the flat roof above our sunroom replaced (it's definitely due for an upgrade), and then I was going to build a deck up there so we could enjoy the cool summer evenings under our oak tree. Unfortunately, the burnt-out clutch that stranded me in Chicago this June stole that cash, so I chose instead to patch and re-tar the roof for the year, and pray that it holds out for one more winter.

And so I wait, taking some time on this lovely summer afternoon to update my long outdated website.