The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) is asking area residents to participate in a quick and easy online survey to gather information about what they think transportation in Northeast Ohio should look like over the next two decades, including priorities for commuters, cyclists and transit users. The survey will remain online until October 30.

The effort is part of NOACA’s Long-Range Transportation Plan, a 20-year framework to guide investments for all forms of transportation and the movement of freight throughout the region. The plan is slated for approval by NOACA’s board in March 2017.

“This survey will help us to inform Northeast Ohio’s transportation goals, wants and needs for the next two decades,” said Grace Gallucci, NOACA executive director in a statement. “We’ve been really thoughtful in designing a survey that encourages users to think about transportation differently,” she added. “We hope that this survey will help highlight the need to prioritize transportation wants cohesively, as a region.”

Take the survey here.

America's Got Talent invites all singers, dancers, magicians, performers and purveyors of entertainment to come and show them what you've got at an open call audition on Monday, Dec. 12, 2016, at the Huntington Convention Center, 300 Lakeside Ave. in downtown Cleveland.

Details on registration, creating a Performer Profile and auditioning online for the show's season 12 are available here.

“There’s no show on television that changes lives and discovers stars the way that America’s Got Talent does,” said executive producer Sam Donnelly in a statement. “Each year we continue to find new and amazing acts through our open auditions.  We’re excited to visit each of these cities to discover the best talent they have to offer.”

From Billy Hallal for Thrillist:
 

There’s a problem with the current discourse on progress in different areas of Greater Cleveland: you can’t describe a neighborhood as “on-the-rise” when it’s already risen. Some neighborhoods and districts have been established for decades. Everyone knows about Coventry’s hippie/hipster vibe and Little Italy’s old-world charm. Some have seen their star rise rapidly in the past decade or so: your in-the-know friends have had an apartment in Ohio City or Gordon Square for years, and even your grandparents know that Tremont is the cool place for dining out.

Yet despite the renaissance of cool Cleveland neighborhoods, there are some that aren’t getting quite the press they deserve. Hang out in them now before the high-rise condos and spinning studios show up.

Now go and read which CLE locales he tags.

 

In this special op-ed for Fresh Water, Brandon Chrostowski, founder of EDWINS Leadership & Restaurant Institute, gives Clevelanders powerful and sobering reminders on the heels of the city's remarkable summer of 2016.
 

As Cleveland’s eastern suburbs were just beginning to establish themselves in the 1920s, Cleveland’s Lee-Harvard neighborhood, bordering Shaker Heights, Warrensville Heights and Maple Heights on the the city’s south east side, was thriving in its own right.
 
The Lee-Harvard neighborhood, once known as Miles Heights Village and the Lee-Seville neighborhoods, was historically an integrated community of notable firsts. Ohio’s first African-American mayor, Arthur Johnston was elected in 1929 when the neighborhood was mostly white. His house on East 147^th Street still stands today.
 
The neighborhood established many of the first citizen's councils and neighborhood associations in the region and had an interracial police force.
 
On Thursday, October 6, the Cleveland Restoration Society (CRS), along with Cleveland Ward 1 councilman Terrell Pruitt, the Harvard Community Services Center and CSU’s Maxine Levin Goodman College of Urban Affairs, will present “Cleveland’s Suburb in the City: The Development and Growth of Lee-Harvard.”
 
The free discussion will be led by Todd Michney, assistant professor at the University of Toledo and author of Changing Neighborhoods: Black Upward Mobility in Cleveland, 1900-1980.
 
“We at CRS have been so impressed with the neighborhoods of Ward 1, Lee-Harvard and Lee-Seville,” says Michael Fleenor, CRS director of preservation services, "because they reflect our recent history – Cleveland’s last expansion, progress in Civil Rights, and the growth of neighborhood associations and community development corporations in the late 20^th Century."

Click here for photos and to continue reading about the fascinating history of this stalwart Cleveland neighborthood.


 

This series of stories, "Grassroots Success: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods," explores how meaningful impact on our communities grows from the ground up. Support for "Grassroots Success" is provided by Neighborhood Connections.
 
Alex Robertson is smart, ambitious, and successful. And after leaving Glenville to attend Ivy League Columbia University in New York City, he returned home to share what he has gleaned and improve his neighborhood by making it more fun.
 
Robertson threw a birthday party for his entire community when he first formed the pop-up game and event organization Recess Cleveland (recessCLE). Its first event was held on his 31^st birthday, August 9, 2015.
 
“Birthdays are always a good time to get people out to an event,” says Robertson. “I told my friend, for my birthday I want to throw dodge balls at you.”
 
Approximately 50 people showed up. They divided the group into age 21 and under and age 22 and older.

”The highlight of the day was a 65-year-old grandma pitching to five-year-old kids,” Robertson says. “When she was kicking, she kicked a line-drive to the outfield. So all the kids were like, ‘Granny’s got legs!’ We did get her a designated runner, though.”

Continue reading.

Though daunting to consider, every action we take affects the water we drink, the water for our crops, and the water we play in. Across the entire Greater Lake Erie region, the phrase “Lake Erie Starts with Me" applies to each of us.
 
The West Creek Conservancy has worked to protect vital stream and wetland systems, forested areas, as well as open green spaces - all in an effort to protect the waters of Greater Lake Erie. The conservancy's goal is to protect, restore, connect and reclaim important natural areas throughout the Greater Cleveland area.
 
As the organization continues to raise awareness about protecting the water quality within the Lake Erie watershed, it invites you to become a Stewardship Sponsor. With each individual donation of $20 or more, you’ll receive a “Lake Erie Starts With Me!” shirt.

All proceeds benefit the West Creek Conservancy Stewardship Fund to help the organization continue its great work.
 
Get more information and order your shirt here.
 

A no-frills cheat sheet. Click through for more information on all the events. Let's have a great October, Cleveland!

Oct. 1 and 8: Uptown Saturday Nights, University Circle. FREE.
 
Oct. 2: International Cleveland Community Day, Cleveland Art Museum. FREE.
 
Oct. 7: Cleveland Institute of Art's Lunch on Fridays: Michela Picchi. FREE.
 
Oct. 8: Tour Undiscovered E. 40^th Street on Lolly the Trolley. $5.
 
Oct. 12: Concert at the Beachland Ballroom and Tavern featuring Dutch Babies, Skim the Reason and Jeremy Porter And The Tucos. FREE.
 
Oct. 15: Sweet Moses presents a boogie - woogie retro event featuring "The Everley Sisters." FREE.
 
Oct. 22 and 23: $1 Family Night, Cedar Lee Theatre. "Wallace and Gromit" The Curse of the Were-Rabbit." $1.
 
Oct. 23: All City Candy's 3^rd Anniversary Extravaganza. FREE.
 
Oct. 23: MOCA: Preschool Play Date: Artsquad Plays! FREE.
 
Oct. 28: Carpe Diem String Quartet performs at Praxis Fiber Gallery. FREE, donations appreciated.
 

Years in the making, plans for La Villa Hispana – a center celebrating Latino heritage and commerce in the Clark Fulton neighborhood – will be unveiled next month at a City Planning Commission meeting.

How many fresh-cut flowers can fit in a Detroit Shoreway restaurant? Anyone opting to dine at Spice Kitchen and Bar this weekend will have a chance to find out during the popular eatery's "Flower Field Takeover" event on Friday, Sept. 30th, and Saturday, Oct. 1st, from 4 to 10 p.m.

Staff is harvesting the entire half-acre Spice Acres flower field, which is part of a 13-acre sustainable family farm in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. All of the blooms will be transported to the restaurant in order to offer up a beautiful farewell to summer while visitors explore the fresh tastes of Spice's new fall menu.

While bouquets will be available for sale, there is no additional cost to attend the event. Reservations, however, are recommended. Call 216.961.9637 or go online to reserve your table.

"If you don't try anything, you never know what will happen."
 
Such is the mindset of Lyz Otero, owner of Half Moon Bakery, a soon-to-be-opened seller of traditional Latin pastries and empanadas. Otero took the leap with a little help from the Economic and Community Development Institute (ECDI), an organization that in August announced more than $530,000 in loans to 21 Cleveland-area businesses.
 
Nineteen of those loans were to new minority- or women-owned ventures, with Puerto Rico native Otero receiving $50,000 for equipment and improvements to her 1,200 square-foot space at 3800 Pearl Rd. Otero and husband Gerson Velasquez are using the funding to pay contractors and architects, as well as buy stove hoods and other gear. ECDI also provided the couple with financial management and computer classes.
 
Otero is aiming for an early November launch for a bakery offering a dozen types of empanadas. The new entrepreneur looks forward to stuffing the half-moon shaped pastry turnovers with endless combinations of meat, vegetables and fruit.
 
"It will almost be like a pizzeria, but with empanadas," says Otero. "Everything you put on a pizza can go on an empanada."
 
Vegan and gluten-free empanadas will be on the menu, joining Latin cuisine like rice and tamales. Fresh bread, cupcakes and other delectable confections round out the selection. Otero will create the bakery's pastry products, with her husband serving as chef. During the next month, she expects to hire on two cashiers and an additional cook.
 
While the smaller space will focus on take-out orders, patrons can eat inside on stools along the window. Outdoor seating, meanwhile, is a possibility for warm-weather months.
 
Opening the business has been both exciting and nerve-wracking. Though no stranger to the restaurant industry - past employers include Zack Bruell and Michael Symon - there's nothing for Otero like working for herself. Friend Wendy Thompson, owner of A Cookie and a Cupcake, encouraged her to start a bakery with a unique Latin flair.
 
"We're focusing on gourmet empanadas, which nobody else around here is doing," says Otero. "You never see a place like this where there's so many different kinds of empanadas."
 
Ultimately, Otero wants to leave a delicious, profitable legacy for her three children, ages 4, 6 and 7.
 
"I've always dreamed to do this," she says. "I had to step up and follow my dreams, because nobody was going to do it for me."