If Bike Cleveland, LAND Studio and business owner Sam McNulty have their way, a used shipping container will be transformed into sleek new bike parking in Ohio City sometime next month.

The Bike Box, which will feature parking for 15 bikes in a locally sourced shipping container fabricated by Rust Belt Welding, started off as a conversation among cycling advocates about converting a single car parking space into multiple bike parking on West 25th.

"To be honest, I thought the City was going to look at me cross-eyed," says Sam McNulty, who is chipping in money for the project. The Bike Box will be placed on Bridge, outside of Nano Brew, his soon-to-open microbrewery. "Surprisingly, they were very excited about it. This makes a statement and says, 'Instead of bicycles and pedestrians being an afterthought, we're flipping the script and creating a space for bicycles.'"

As far as timing goes, McNulty says the organizers still hope to have the Bike Box up in time for events celebrating the West Side Market's 100th birthday. "We're shooting to have it hit the curb in time for the Centennial next month," he says.

McNulty says the Bike Box will replace one unmetered parking space. He hopes to eventually remove another parking space or two and create a "parklet" -- a streetside pocket park with grass, trees and benches -- but he's focused on the Bike Box first. "The park is more controversial and cutting-edge," he says.


Source: Sam McNulty
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Enforcer eCoaching, a personalized wellness coaching service, has secured $250,00 from JumpStart to expand services across the country. A spin-off out of the Cleveland Clinic, Enforcer eCoaching was founded by Cleveland Clinic chief wellness officer Dr. Michael Roizen, television health guru Dr. Mehmet Oz and entrepreneurs Steven Lindseth and Arthur Benjamin.
 
The eCoaching focuses on smoking cessation, weight loss, hypertension control and diabetes control through personalized one-on-one email coaching and behavior modification.

“It’s based on 25 years of health coaching by Dr. Roizen,” says Marty Butler, Enforcer’s president and CEO. “We’re seeing a lot of niche treatment programs in the marketplace for companies looking to reduce their healthcare spending. Employers see a very strong return on investment.”
 
Butler says participants in the smoking cessation program have an 85-percent success rate, while weight loss participants lose an average of two inches to their waist lines.
 
Employers or private individuals can sign up for eCoaching. They select the type of coaching they want, are assigned a coach, and then check in with daily email correspondence. “It’s part automation, part personal coaching,” says Butler. “Every email is reviewed by a personal health coach, and they really build relationships and people become more accountable for their own healthcare.”
 
The convenience of email contributes for Enforcer’s success. “People can email whenever and wherever they want, and read the emails whenever and wherever,” says Butler. “We’re slowly nudging people to success because of the daily email exchange.”
 
In addition to JumpStart’s investment to help Enforcer complete its computer platform, the organization has also provided expertise in hiring sales and IT staff.

 
Source: Marty Butler
Writer: Karin Connelly

George Vlosich has been creating Etch-a-Sketch art since he was 10, but more recently his artistic creations have landed him on Oprah and earned him millions of views from followers on YouTube.

Now the arts entrepreneur, who has also launched a line of Cleveland-centric apparel and painted 40-foot murals of local sports icons inside Positively Cleveland, is opening a gallery on Professor in Tremont.

"Being on Oprah opened up opportunities for me, and now I create artwork for people literally across the world," says Vlosich, founder of GV Art and Design. "I'm trying to do things that take the Etch-a-Sketch and go beyond the red frame. I worked in advertising for the last nine years, but now I'm going full-time."

Vlosich's new storefront gallery is located in the space that formerly housed Asterisk Gallery. The artist is renovating the interior and restored the prominent storefront windows, which had long been covered up by a false, wooden facade painted blue. The gallery is scheduled to officially open sometime in October.

"I want to grow beyond Cleveland," says Vlosich of his future business goals. "I also want to start doing stuff that makes an impact on the community. We already do a lot of charity events, and we're going to get kids involved with artwork."


Source: George Vlosich
Writer: Lee Chilcote

On Saturday, Aug. 4, the 2012 class was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In this video interview, Dave Motts of the Hall discusses the past, present and future of this remarkable sports repository. Opened in 1963, the Hall of Fame is 50 years old -- and getting ready to embark on its next 50 years of excellence.

The communities competing for the $1 million Talent Dividend Prize have a modest goal: boosting the number of college degrees in their city by one percentage point. If every participating city meets that goal, it could raise national earnings by a stunning $124 billion.

The inaugural Great Lakes Venture Fair will take place at the Cleveland Marriott Downtown October 17-18, on the heels of the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds annual conference. The fair is a collaborative effort  between  JumpStart, Ohio Capital Fund, Ohio Venture Association, TiE Ohio, CincyTech and TechColumbus and will bring together investors and startups from across the Midwest.
 
“It’s a chance for the venture capital community to come together and see some of the most promising startups,” explains Carolyn Pione Micheli, director of communications for CincyTech. “According to a study by the Kauffman Foundation, in 2007 all net news job growth came from companies that are less than five years old.” The event is the successor to the Ohio Capital Fund’s Early Stage Summit, which was held in Columbus for seven years.
 
The GLVF will only accept 18 startup companies in bioscience and IT to pitch their companies to investors. Other activities at the event include presentations on regional investment activity, and conversations about building future growth in startups and investing.
 
“In terms of growing fresh new jobs, small companies are the key, “ says Micheli. “The startup community is really important to our economic future.”
 
Keynote speaker will be Jeff Weedman, vice president of global business development for Proctor & Gamble. The application deadline for companies looking for funding is Aug. 12. Registration to attend is $200 before Sep. 15, $250 after that.

 
Source: Carolyn Pione Micheli
Writer: Karin Connelly

Thanks to the efforts of numerous neighborhood activists, once-blighted properties in Glenville and throughout Cleveland are being transformed into orchards, gardens and inviting green spaces. These incremental quality-of-life improvements are helping to craft a smaller city of higher quality.

The Cedar Center North project, envisioned as a bold, mixed-use development featuring a midrise condo building above new shops and restaurants, is a far cry from what the original developer and community backers had hoped for originally. Gone are the high-end condos, replaced by an upscale strip retail center filled with familiar national chains.

The Coral Company and DeVille Developments broke ground on the project, which has been in the works since 2001 but stymied by the recession that began in 2007, this spring. So far, they've secured leases from Piada, PetSmart, Menchies, Chipotle, Panera Bread, Starbucks, Jimmy Johns, Five Guys, Sprint, Sport Clips, Little Caesar's Pizza and Huntington Learning Centers, among other tenants.

When Piada Italian Street Food opens this fall, it will be the first location for the Columbus-based restaurant chain. For the most part, the other new tenants that have leased space at Cedar Center North already have locations in Northeast Ohio.

Despite the downscaled nature of the project, Patrick Sirpilla of co-developer DeVille Developments says that many members of the community are simply happy that the project has broken ground and is well on its way to completion.

"We're getting a great response from the community and people are excited about the types of tenants going in," he says. "We've gotten a lot of great comments on the design, which has nice architectural features and lots of brick and stone."

Sirpilla says that three of the tenants he is currently negotiating with are retail operators, and that he hopes to ultimately see more stores within the project.

Two new retailers, Gordon Food Service and Bob Evans, opened locations here last year. Although it is scaled back, Cedar Center North is much more pedestrian-friendly than its predecessor, a maligned strip mall dominated by parking lots. It features outdoor dining, bike racks, community areas and varying architecture.

A mile away, First Interstate Development recently broke ground on Oakwood Commons, a large new retail center off of Warrensville Center Road that will feature a SuperWalmart and other tenants that have not been announced.


Source: Patrick Sirpilla
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Until recently, there was a void in Cleveland's art scene: the lack of a community darkroom, studio and photographic gallery. That will change with the opening of Cleveland Print Room, an educational organization located in the ArtCraft Building.

The organization "aspires to build awareness and foster appreciation for fine art, hand-processed photography," according to its Facebook page. Cleveland Print Room will offer workshops, affordable work space and collaborative exhibition space. Its members are devotees of shooting and printing film manually.

"When my daughter began looking for photography classes to take around 2005, we found that high schools, arts centers and universities and colleges were actively disassembling or downsizing their darkroom facilities," explains Shari Wilkins, founder of Cleveland Print Room. "This is a troubling trend and we lamented the lost possibilities. When one of the local art centers began selling off their art supplies and photography equipment, we were there, buying the photo equipment up. At that time, we were not even really sure why we were doing this."

Yet that prescient moment led to the creation of the Print Room. "After researching the need in the gap in services along with the resurgence of 20th century emulsion-based photography, it was an easy decision," she says.

Members will have full access to the space nearly 24 hours per day, and there will be a darkroom, studio and exhibition space. Wilkins hopes to be open by the fall.

The venue is located at 2550 Superior in a building rife with studios and galleries.


Source: Cleveland Print Room
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Phoenix Coffee has introduced a direct trade coffee from Amado Nervo, in the Chiapas area of Mexico, to its menu. By purchasing the coffee directly from the growers, the middleman is eliminated and more money goes directly to the farmers.

“It’s a town of about 1,100 people and coffee is their only crop,” says Christopher Feran, coffee and marketing director for Phoenix. “We’re having a direct impact on the people of Amado Nervo. We like to connect people, and now we’re connecting them through coffee.”
 
Phoenix joined a coffee co-op out of Pittsburgh, Three Rivers Coffee Importers, to obtain the Chiapas coffee. The co-op provides health services, micro loans, low-interest loans, tools and education to the farmers. “This is the first of many direct trades to come,” promises Feran.
 
The direct trade concept fits Phoenix’s philosophy perfectly. “It makes a lot of sense for us,” Feran says. “We’ve always tried to focus on green and sustainability.”
 
The coffee is available online or in Phoenix cafes, in light and dark roasts.

 
Source: Christopher Feran
Writer: Karin Connelly

"The burlesque performer was the original sex symbol of America," states Bella Sin, a third generation performer herself. "It was an art form." Come see one of the hottest entertainment forms from the 1950s -- and 2010s -- on Saturday, August 4, when 35 neo-burlesque performers steam up the Beachland Ballroom during the 2nd Annual Ohio Burlesque Festival.

Startup Lakewood is looking for new businesses and the organization is willing to help entrepreneurs take their ideas to fruition. The second annual Ideation Challenge showcases the new ideas and new business startups that will add to the diversity of the Lakewood business community. 

“We think there are all sorts of people right here in Lakewood who have ideas for businesses but haven’t taken the steps to launch them,” says Mike Belsito, Lakewood’s entrepreneur-in-residence and director of the Ideation Challenge. “New businesses are important to the city, and this is one way to help people actually get started.”
 
Anyone with a business idea can submit an executive summary and a one- to two-minute elevator pitch for a chance to win a prize package that includes consulting, training and other resources for starting a new business. “The prizes will help the entrepreneurs take the next steps and take their ideas into reality,” says Belsito.
 
Two winners will be chosen -- one from Lakewood and one from Northeast Ohio. All entrants will receive feedback from Startup Lakewood. The competition is open to anybody, with the hope that the winners will start their businesses in Lakewood.
 
The deadline to submit executive summaries was recently extended to August 14. Startup Lakewood will then invite finalists by August 17 to make their elevator pitches on August 28 at University of Akron’s Lakewood Campus.
 

Source: Mike Belsito
Writer: Karin Connelly

Incoming ninth graders at Max Hayes High School took it to the parking lot last week, Thursday, July 26, to race the cars they had crafted as part of the Take it to the Max program. Part summer camp, part school orientation, nearly 60 students participated in two WIRE-Net program sessions to see if a career in manufacturing is the right path. Max Hayes students concentrate on manufacturing in their studies.
 
"The goal of the program is to introduce the students to careers in manufacturing and the careers taught at Max Hayes,” explains Jose Estrenera, director of youth programs for WIRE-Net. “If they get a leg up on what Max Hayes is about, they’ll be more productive.”
 
Two three-week sessions this summer focused on building a car. Students were given a block of wood, four wheels and four nails. “At first they look at it and say, ‘how am I going to make a car out of this,’” says Estrenera. But they figure it out as they take computer classes with a CAD type program to develop a plan, hear lectures from volunteers on aerodynamics and the rudimentary skills needed, and take a 3D model into the lab to shape, sand, paint and decorate their cars.
 
“The camp has four parts: the technical lab, the computer lab, physical exercise and social skills,” says Estrenera. “There are a lot of good jobs around in manufacturing. This camp gets them actively thinking about what they are doing in courses at Max Hayes.”
 
Not to mention the fun that was involved. “The reaction was great,” says Estrenera. “The kids were really proud of their cars and really expressed themselves.”

 
Source: Jose Estrenera
Writer: Karin Connelly