As urban neighborhoods become more vibrant, planners are turning their attention to creating world-class public spaces to complement the latest flurry of development. Three new or improved parks have just been unveiled this year: Scranton Flats, the marina at North Coast Harbor and Rivergate.

Remember the skate park built for the Dew Games held at North Coast Harbor in 2008? Well, it's been dismantled, but the concrete slab remains, surrounded by a metal-flame fence. Very soon the space will be home to the city's first shipping container-based restaurant, Blazing Bistro, which is scheduled to open in late July, adding to the amenities on downtown's lakefront.

"We've recognized for a while that one of the missing amenities on the lakefront is a gathering place for people while they're at the Rock Hall etc.," says Michael Deemer, Vice President of Business Development and Legal Services at Downtown Cleveland Alliance. "We worked with the city and with Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries to build off the success of Cleveland's food truck renaissance."

Blazing Bistro will take up residence in a recycled shipping container repurposed by Cleveland Customer Trucks. Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries (LMM), which operates the successful Manna food truck and employs formerly incarcerated and homeless individuals, was awarded the contract after responding to an RFP from the city.

The days and hours of operation are not set in stone, but likely will be lunch Wednesday through Sunday with some evening hours added as well. The shipping container idea grew out of the Small Box Initiative, a program of the Historic Warehouse District Development Corporation to develop retail in parking lots on West 9th Street.

As the new lakefront development takes off, Blazing Bistro can be picked up and moved to other locations, either in the harbor or other parts of downtown.

Blazing Bistro also will be open during various events taking place at North Coast Harbor, including the new Anchors and Ales event, held August 22-23 and September 13-14 in conjunction with Cleveland Browns home games.

Deemer says the seasonal restaurant is a win-win-win for the city, residents and visitors. "It's not enough to have a park on the lakefront; we have to actively drive people there with events and amenities," he says. "We've seen food truck owners open up brick and mortar stores with great success. This is a new wrinkle."
 

After a career in marketing and public relations -- largely in the non-profit sector --Tom Sarago decided to hang out his own shingle and launch Spruce, a full-service marketing and PR company in Lakewood. But the non-profit mentality stuck with Sarago, so he’s offering up his services for free to the right Cleveland company -- a startup or an established company going through transition.
 
“It’s in my roots to always give back,” explains Sarago. “I know I have enough experience to help these businesses.” After pondering the best business advice he ever got from the COSE Best Business Advice Campaign, he came up with “never neglect a volunteer opportunity assisting an intriguing business.”
 
Sarago’s offer isn’t solely about helping new businesses; it’s about expanding his circle and getting the Spruce name out there. “I want to engage as many people as possible,” he says. “The business will come. This is about meeting new people and hearing new stories of companies doing great things in cleveland."

Companies are invited to contact Sarango and explain him why they should receive free help with marketing, PR, branding or strategic planning needs. Sarago is only looking for the most passionate business owners.
 
Sarago has recruited the talents of commercial photography studio Kalman & Pabst to also get in on the offer. The winning company leader will also receive a professional photo shoot.

The deadline to contact Sarago and tell him why you need his services is August 15. 

Welcome to the latest edition of Who’s Hiring in Cleveland?
 
There are plenty of good jobs to be found here in Cleveland. This is the latest installment in regular series of posts in which we feature companies that are hiring, what those employers are looking for, and how to apply.
 
IBM UrbanCode, a DevOps software product line, needs a software developer to work on its market-leading DevOps product line. Work on coding new features, bug fixes, integrations with other software development lifecycle tools, and help develop new products. Define, test, research and review code. For more information and to apply, click here.
 
Dwellworks, a support service provider for the relocation industry, has six open positions in a variety of disciplines, including a manager of property management to oversee the day-to-day services of portfolio properties. This job requires frequent interaction with homeowners and tenants. To apply for this position, click here. To see all of Dwellworks’ job openings, click here.
 
Youth Opportunities Unlimited (Y.O.U), a nonprofit youth workforce development organization, is hiring a development and marketing administrator who will assist in all aspects of Y.O.U.'s development process; assist and manage all aspects of Y.O.U.'s marketing efforts; and coordinate organizational events. Send resume and cover letter here.
 
The Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) is transforming urban education. CMSD has teaching, administration, and other opportunities available. See the full list of openings and apply here. 
 
Have hiring news you’d like to share? Email Karin at Fresh Water Cleveland and send us this information or career links!

From Charles F. Brush to John D. Rockefeller, Cleveland has been home to entrepreneurs with innovations that helped shape the world. We take a look at some of Cleveland’s ground breaking companies -- some old, some new -- to see what makes the company unique, how it achieved its success, and where they stand today. 

Getting out of Dodge? Need a good page-turner for the flight or beach? Don’t grab the latest bestseller from the rack of overpriced paperbacks at the airport. Instead, check out Fresh Water’s local-author reading list. Here are 5 sizzling summer reads that we invite you to check out.    

Startup Lakewood is at it again with its annual Ideation Challenge, during which people are encouraged to present their business ideas. “People can take the next steps and validate their ideas,” says Lakewood’s entrepreneur in residence and Startup Lakewood’s director of Ideation, Mike Belsito. “Sometimes, the first step is the hardest to take -- and that's what we're hoping to encourage.”

Ideation, currently in its fourth incarnation, added some new facets to this year’s submission process. Whereas the last go-around required an executive summary, the contest now necessitates both a business model canvas (a one-page outline of the business concept) and a single-page validation plan, which outlines five assumptions about the business and a plan for validating them. “By creating a validation plan, we believe we're encouraging people to identify actual steps that they can take to determine whether their business is viable,” explains Belsito.

More information on these documents can be found on Startup Lakewood’s competition outline. The deadline to apply is August 8. From that group, four individuals or teams will be selected to give a final elevator pitch in front of business experts, investors, entrepreneurs and consultants.

Prizes include a lunch with an entrepreneur and Lakewood mayor Michael Summers; a full scholarship to a nine-week entrepreneurial course with Bad Girl Ventures; and a prize package from the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce. Past winners include Mickie Rinehart for her beer flavoring Hops Drops, Daniel Dudley for the co-working space Lakework+ and Ahmie Young’s The Parenting Shop.

However, Startup shouldn’t be thought of as an incubator for small businesses. “We believed that we could create an environment that could be helpful and serve as a connector to entrepreneurs and soon-to-be entrepreneurs,” says Belsito. “The city recognized that it wanted to be more entrepreneurially friendly and encourage people to start businesses in Lakewood.”

Further details can be acquired July 22 at an upcoming meeting to be held at University of Akron, Lakewood campus from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Joanie Nelson and her granddaughter Jayda live in the new Fairfax Intergenerational Housing development on Cedar Avenue between E. 80th and 83rd streets. Eight years back, Joanie's daughter was struck and killed by a drunk driver in a car accident, leaving Joanie to raise her granddaughter. It's hard to raise a grandchild as a senior, of course, yet this challenge is made easier by the new housing development, which offers social workers, a computer lab and other support services that are aimed at helping grandparents who are raising grandkids.

“My granddaughter and I are thrilled with our new home at Fairfax Intergenerational," Nelson said in a press release. "I’m excited that the school and church are very close, and we have access to a computer center and after-school activities."

There are 2.4 million grandparents raising 4.5 million kids in the U.S. Fairfax Intergenerational Housing, now named Griot Village, is the first project of its kind in Ohio and one of only seven in the country. It offers an affordable, sustainable and supportive environment for seniors 55 and older who are raising children.

Griot Village was designed in accordance with Enterprise Green Community standards. The development consists of 40 new townhomes with a shared courtyard that promotes a sense of community. A Supportive Services Coordinator provides onsite services to residents. There are eight buildings, each of which has five housing units. Each unit offers homework stations and play areas, and there's an onsite community center. The new residents are in close proximity to a commercial and retail development, walking distance to University Circle, and a short distance from several major medical centers and local schools.

"This development allows grandparents to be in an environment where they can be free with fact that they’re raising a child," says Jeffrey Patterson, CEO of CMHA. "You may have seniors who live in one of our senior buildings and are taking on that role, but our senior buildings were not built for that purpose. Here, there’s play equipment on the property. There's a community center where there are educational opportunities. It's in an area that provides good development opportunities for youth and seniors. We can help them to be successful."

The total project investment amount was $12 million, which was funded primarily by Low Income Housing Tax Credits. The development is a partnership between CMHA and Fairfax Renaissance Development Corporation.
 

After decades of population loss, cities like Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Pittsburgh are now growing faster than the rest of their metro areas. Urban developers are trying to attract the right amenities to support the new wave of urbanites. So what’s needed to sustain a dense and vibrant city? The answers might surprise you.

Any teenager with a smartphone and some ingenuity can record a song and download it to SoundCloud or YouTube. But Cuyahoga Community College’s recording arts and technology program prepares students for all types of positions within the audio industry.

Brothers Jarred and Brandon Smith were avid hockey players in college, and like most athletes, they used sports drinks to supplement their energy needs.  
 
However, as a college senior, Jarred eventually began to experience acid reflux as a result of the elevated acid content in traditional sports drinks. So the brothers, graduates of Miami and Brown universities, sought to create a healthier sports drink without all that sugary acid.
 
Along with partner Chris Cummins, the brothers toiled for over a year creating an electrolyte-based drink, eventually unveiling NOOMA, which is shorthand for “No More Acid.”
 
NOOMA relies on a healthier, minimalized approach to formulation. “NOOMA doesn’t have any acid or preservatives, which gives it a light, smooth taste,” says Jarred. “It also has a very appealing formula with only 10 calories and two grams of sugar, a blend of five electrolytes with a high level of potassium. There are no GMOs, artificial flavors or sweeteners, meaning it’s gluten-free and vegan.”
 
Last fall the Smiths introduced NOOMA in Northeast Ohio. “We decided to bring NOOMA to Cleveland first because it is our hometown,” says management. “Being from Cleveland we know the power of this community and the support that Clevelanders give each other, something we definitely have felt since we launched last fall.”
 
Right now, NOOMA is headed by the Smiths and Cummins, with one other employee. The brothers wish to grow into a national brand while keeping the principles of health in the forefront, beginning with distribution in Northeast Ohio yoga studios, CrossFit gyms, and Heinen’s stores. 
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Burning River Foundation and Fresh Water are sponsoring a photo contest in honor of the 45th Anniversary of the last burning of the Cuyahoga River. In anticipation of the upcoming Burning River Fest, we want to see your best water-themed photos -- from the winding Cuyahoga River to majestic Lake Erie -- that show how far we’ve come since that fateful summer of 1969.

Some might say that the opening of a waxing studio in the former home of the Speak in Tongues music club signals a seismic shift in the Ohio City neighborhood it calls home. To owner Danielle Fuller, it simply fills a need for those looking to get pretty.
 
On Tuesday, July 8, Fuller opened the doors to Bloom & Clover Wax Studio at 4309 Lorain Avenue, the former home of the infamous rock club Speak in Tongues, which closed in 2001. It has remained vacant ever since.

“You wouldn’t believe the random stuff we found in this place,” says Fuller.

Walk in there today and you’ll find a hip, contemporary space with three employees eager to depilate clients in style and comfort. The former S.I.T. space was divided into two 1,000-square-foot properties.

“The space is a little industrial, mid-century modern mixed with hard edges,” says Fuller. “It has its rough edges, but with pretty pieces -- just like me.”

Fuller, who lives in Ohio City and has a child who attends Campus International, is a skilled aesthetician with years in the business. But all of those years have been spent in suburbs, where all of the salons and studios tend to be located.

“The problem is that there isn’t anywhere for girls -- and guys too -- to go in the city for these services,” she says. “All the salons are in the suburbs. With all the young professionals moving into the neighborhood and downtown, it seemed like the perfect timing to open.”

In addition to making customers baby-smooth, Bloom & Clover will also offer spray tans. “We want to keep people out of the sun and healthy,” she adds.

In addition to old cassette tapes, Fuller unearthed the old bowling alley addition in the back, which doubled as “home away from home” for many touring musicians. That old lumber was turned into furniture.

As for the name, Fuller says she was just looking for something “fun and quirky, not all new-agey.”