Frank said: "I attended a conference a week ago that dealt with managing "skrinkage," instead of going after "growth." In the course of the conference it was mentioned that foundations, and others, in Cleveland would not underwrite the conference because it was "politically incorrect." Growth, not management is the buzz word, and as long as we hype growth and hire "consultants" on how to be hip and grow to make it seem like we are doing something, our neighborhoods will continue to go to hell."

Hear hear. I see all the urban land sitting empty, and i see them building these cookie cutter suburban style single family homes with the plastic grafitti proof picket fences and it just boggles the mind. Someone is making money, but it isn't the average citizen, or the small business owners, and it certainly isn't a richness of standard of living. In 20 years these places will be slums (again) because they're a quick fix to make a buck.

Perhaps after I get my Urban Planning degree in Vegas (luckily I'm moving to a place with an Urban Studies program comparable to CSU's) Cleveland will be even riper for real, honest change.

The recent "learning from the dutch" conference at CSU's College of Urban Affairs was very disheartening (but informative).