MuRrAy HiLL

^^ Thanks! And then Wednesday at 10... TV Land tries to build on strong 'Hot in Cleveland' debut Published: Monday, June 21, 2010, 10:08 PM Mark Dawidziak, The Plain Dealer Can TV Land's "Hot in Cleveland" maintain the heat generated by last Wednesday's sizzling debut? That's the question hanging over the cable sitcom's second episode, which airs at 10 p.m. Wednesday. Titled "Who's Your Mama?", this second of 10 first-season episodes finds "eyebrow archer to the stars" Joy (Jane Leeves) dating a much younger man from Cleveland. But her new relationship ends up exposing an old secret. http://www.cleveland.com/tv-blog/index.ssf/2010/06/tv_land_tries_to_build_on_strong_hot_in_cleveland_debut.html

^^ more from Judge Pianka: Cleveland housing judge fines landowners $13 million for neglecting houses Published: Monday, June 21, 2010, 12:24 PM Sandra Livingston, The Plain Dealer CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland Housing Judge Raymond Pianka has fined two sister real estate companies in South Carolina more than $13 million -- the largest collective fines the court has imposed -- for their persistent failure to fix derelict property conditions. In a pair of blistering decisions, Pianka fined Interstate Investment Group $11.9 million and Paramount Land Holdings more than $1 million. The cases involve major violations at eight properties and less significant ones at five others. The earliest complaints date to January 2008. Pianka also criticized the city of Cleveland for recommending vastly lower fines, and the companies for their offer to contribute no more than $100,000 toward the resolution of their property violations. http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/06/cleveland_housing_judge_fines.html

It must be the "official grand opening" then....or maybe the news story is just wrong.

New signage of the remodeled new restuarant Mia Bella. They even found ways to have outdoor seating....put it right on the side walk! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17247&id=108594565829265

"Zoup!" opens today...it's right next door to Teresa's Pizza. Ribbon cutting this morning at 9:45. http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/lifestyle/food/zoup-to-add-more-color-to-popular-e-4th-entertainment-district-in-downtown-cleveland

In some sense "Hot in Cleveland" markets the city, or at least gets a national spolight on us. Cleveland Is Having a Moment (on TV, Anyway) http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2010/06/cleveland-is-having-a-moment-on-tv-anyway/58397/

Cleveland to go 'underground' Friday Social cycling event part of national movement Posted: 8:51 PM By: Tom Livingston CLEVELAND - The final Friday of every month, a group of Clevelanders meets at Public Square for a bike ride through different areas of the city. Critical Mass is a movement started in San Francisco in 1992. According to a press release from Shawn Mariani of Critical Mass Cleveland, the group attracts " those who are seeking networking and friendships, exercise and those who want to promote bicycling as a sustainable method of transportation." The Cleveland group will meet this Friday at 6 p.m. at Public Square and will depart at 6:30 p.m. The rides last an hour or two and usually end someplace where the group can continue to socialize. http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/cleveland_metro/cleveland-to-go-underground-friday#

I'm pretty sure the Brunswick Florist is being used for low tech solar panel construction. http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/news_article.aspx?storyid=133742&catid=3 Although the video calls it "downtown"....it looks a lot like University Circle.

Partial skeleton from Lucy's species shows human ancestors walked and ran like us 3.6 million years ago Published: Monday, June 21, 2010, 3:01 PM Updated: Monday, June 21, 2010, 3:19 PM John Mangels, The Plain Dealer Meet Lucy's great-great-great grandfather. On Monday, a team of Northeast Ohio researchers announced a rare and important find – the partial skeleton of a 3.6 million-year-old early human ancestor belonging to the same species as, but much older than, the iconic 3.2 million-year-old Lucy fossil discovered in 1974. Less than 10 such largely intact skeletons 1.5 million years or older have been found. Greater Cleveland researchers have played leading roles in three of those discoveries, reinforcing the region's prominence in the search for humanity's origins. The new specimen is called Kadanuumuu (pronounced Kah-dah-NEW-moo). The nickname means "big man" in the language of the Afar tribesmen who helped unearth his weathered bones from a hardscrabble Ethiopian plain beginning in 2005. "It's all about human-like bipedality evolving earlier than some people think," said Cleveland Museum of Natural History anthropologist Yohannes Haile-Selassie, the lead author of the analysis appearing online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.cleveland.com/science/index.ssf/2010/06/partial_skeleton_from_lucys_sp.html

Gladiators won on Saturday: Big plays on defense support Dutton's 7 TDs as Cleveland Gladiators roll over Iowa, 76-35 http://www.cleveland.com/gladiators/index.ssf/2010/06/big_plays_on_defense_support_d.html They're currently 5-6 and have 5 games remaining. I'm not sure how the playoffs will work since the league has reformed, but I'm guessing they are still well in the playoff hunt.

The address according to the article is 6700 Euclid Ave. From the previous article: Geis, his brother Greg and the Coyne family also hope to build a technology center at Euclid Avenue and East 69th Street, in the heart of the Cleveland Health-Tech Corridor. The partners shared updated drawings of that project with city design officials last week. The Euclid Tech Center would target biotechnology and health care companies. So maybe the project spans the area...?

Here's my breakdown: Fred Geis and the City of Cleveland are pushing to build the $20 mil office/warehouse building on E.67 and Euclid Ave. Financing breakdown: - $10.7 mil U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Section 108 Loan as the first mortgage - $250K -- city's Vacant Property Initiative. - $3.5 mil state's Job-Ready Sites Program - New Markets Tax Credit (federal program for job-creating businesses in urban areas) Another loan has to be in place for Geis to qualify (here's info on it: http://www.cdfifund.gov/what_we_do/programs_id.asp?programID=5) Mr. Geis lives in Cleveland and has plenty of real estate experience. Mr. Geis currently has no tenants; however, he is banking on the expansions of CWRU, CSU, and the Health Care Industries to produce enough demand to fill his "little building." No timeline is given.

Michael Pultz defends Cleveland's sports and music on WRUW 91.1/FM weekly Published: Sunday, June 20, 2010, 12:00 AM John Petkovic, The Plain Dealer Listeners were dumb-founded when they tuned in and heard Michael Pultz spieling about sports on the air. He was just talking sports -- which was a shock to anyone who'd seen or heard or known Pultz. Up until 16 months ago, you see, the Cleveland resident was known as the DJ spinning noisy, freaky rock music on WRUW 91.1 FM. Or the guitarist playing in even noisier, freakier rock in bands. Or the bearded guy people called "Jesus" working the door at East Side rock club the Beachland Ballroom. "I got sick of sports talk hosts screaming at their listeners with all this negativity," says Pultz. "Just because suffering through 46 years without a championship has made us post-traumatic stress victims doesn't mean we should be abused even more by sports talk shows." At 9 a.m. Mondays, Pultz hits the airwaves running under his alter-ego on "The Defend Cleveland Show." It's a 90-minute dash that features no callers or zany jokes -- just Pultz addressing the hopes and hopelessness of Cleveland sports fans with a rapid-fire baritone. http://www.cleveland.com/music/index.ssf/2010/06/michael_pultz_defends_clevelan.html

Midtown project attempt to 'resettle' city Without committed tenants, Geis' planned $20M Euclid Tech Center will require unique financing By STAN BULLARD 4:30 am, June 21, 2010 Fred Geis sees his group's effort to develop a $20 million office/ warehouse building in Cleveland's Midtown neighborhood oriented to medical and tech tenants as more than a real estate development. Indeed, Mr. Geis, one of two brothers running the Streetsboro-based Geis Cos., describes the project as part of his personal mission to “resettle Cleveland.” Meanwhile, the city of Cleveland is trying a novel tack to get the proposed Euclid Tech Center financed. Even before the credit crunch, lenders were reluctant to fund a project such as the one Mr. Geis is proposing. He wants to build the project on a speculative basis, without tenants committed to it before the project wins crucial development loans. The city's financing strategy stems from using a $10.7 million U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Section 108 Loan as the first mortgage, essentially, for the project. Cleveland City Council on June 7 approved the loan application and a $250,000 grant from the city's Vacant Property Initiative. http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20100621/SUB1/306219993

Gordon Square Arts District among winners of 2010 Cleveland Arts Prize Published: Saturday, June 19, 2010, 11:59 PM Julie Washington, The Plain Dealer It took a small village to raise the Gordon Square Arts District capital campaign from toddler to noisy, energetic adolescent. It's appropriate that the village will be among those honored Saturday as winners of the 2010 Cleveland Arts Prize. It's the first time in recent memory that a Cleveland Arts Prize has been awarded not to a person or an organization but to a neighborhood. "No one person could have done what Gordon Square Arts District is doing," said the district's executive director, Joy Roller. "To give it to one person would be totally unfair. I congratulate the Arts Prize for getting it." The Cleveland Arts Prizes -- given to creative artists whose work enriches Northeast Ohio and whose accomplishments set a standard of excellence -- were announced in May. Artists will be honored at the annual awards event Saturday at the Cleveland Museum of Art. http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2010/06/gordon_square_arts_district_am_1.html

Cleveland Museum of Art's new galleries include antiquities on loan from Italy Published: Sunday, June 20, 2010, 12:00 AM Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer Ecco, as they say in Italy: Here it is. Italian cultural authorities have fulfilled a promise to lend a series of ancient artworks to the Cleveland Museum of Art, as if to thank the museum for having returned a batch of looted antiquities. Last year, Italy convinced the museum that it had inadvertently acquired 13 antiquities that had been looted or handled by traffickers in recent decades. A 14th object, a Renaissance-era cross from a small town near Siena, had been stolen from a church. The Cleveland museum sent all 14 objects back to Italy http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2010/06/cleveland_museum_of_arts_new_g.html

A new era for ancient works: Cleveland Museum of Art's renovated 1916 galleries open June 26 Published: Sunday, June 20, 2010, 12:00 AM Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer On Saturday, the Cleveland Museum of Art will unveil the latest installment in a $350 million expansion and renovation due for completion in 2013 -- the new galleries of ancient, African and medieval art. Through 915 works of art, the display traces more than 4,000 years of human history and includes everything from ancient Greek sculpture to reliquaries with the bones of Christian saints. There also is a new gallery for prints and drawings. http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2010/06/a_new_era_for_ancient_works_cl.html

The Italian Garden has been getting more and more attention lately...probably due to the proximity of Little Italy. For example, Opera is now being held there every year:http://realneo.us/content/bavissimo-joyce-mariana-italian-cultural-garden-foundation-northern-ohio-opera-league-and-op With the next date being July 25: http://www.littleitalycleveland.com/home/hopping.html

"Lego Artist" does Bob Feller: http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/index?id=5301865

I would like to see at least a projector. That would be a quick fix, and flexible to be always changing. (everything from Art to "Let's go cavs!" to colorful lights in the wintertime...or to copy from Terry Tarantino, movies -- he usually does vintage italian though) I still like the mural idea either way.

waiting for the news to break.... I hear there still may be a volunteer manning issue. So if anyone knows anyone who can help... I wonder when CSU get back in session on August 30, if they'd be able to find a large demographic to help. Or CWRU fraternites and soroities...they're always looking for "philantropy hours." Who's ever in charge of this, let me know and I may be able to pull some college student help for late August and on.

Surprisingly, this AP story is reporting is was the most-watched show on cable for wednesday: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ic9UNhqo4Gai_V1smOzNN3jaesAQD9GDCHDG1

Here's some of the tower city footage from yesterday from the dancers from Akron and Cleveland: http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=138077&catid=45

As much as we were afraid of it, that patio is kind of nice. Having an outdoor bar adds a different dimension to our entertainment strict as well. Plus I've only heard positive reviews of Zinc, including good service.

'Hot in Cleveland' attracts record ratings for TV Land The debut of Hot in Cleveland posted record gains for TV Land on Wednesday, attracting 4.75 million viewers and posting triple-digit gains on the night across all key demographics. It was the most-watched telecast ever in the network’s history. The comedy starring Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick and Betty White earned a 1.9 rating and averaged 2.0 million viewers among the network’s target adults 25-54 audience and also averaged 1.3 million among Women 25-54. Hot in Cleveland is filmed in front of a live studio audience and revolves around three best friends who arrive in Cleveland on a fluke and end up making it their home. http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2010/06/17/hot-in-cleveland-attracts-record-ratings-for-tv-land/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- Betty White strikes again: 'Hot in Cleveland' premieres big New comedy series sets new records for TV Land. Published on Thursday, Jun 17, 2010 By Daniel Fienberg Residents of Cleveland should take solace: Even if Lebron James leaves this off-season, at least the city still has Betty White, fictionally at least. "Hot in Cleveland," TV Land's first original sitcom, premiered on Wednesday (June 16) to the largest audience in the network's history. Some of that success could conceivably be tied to Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves and Wendie Malick, but like everybody else, we'll give full credit to Betty White. http://www.hitfix.com/articles/2010-6-17-betty-white-strikes-again-hot-in-cleveland-premieres-big?m=g