20100315-NEWS--1-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/12/2010
4:07 PM
Page 1
$1.50/MARCH 15 - 21, 2010
Vol. 31, No. 11
Slow go for school change likely Mayor Jackson’s call for collaboration among districts draws welcome but muted response By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com
For the second year in a row, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson closed his State of the City address expressing his desire that Cuyahoga County school districts work together more closely and efficiently.
It is a concept that isn’t falling on deaf ears. But for as much as government consolidation and collaboration have become hot topics in the region, the comments of school leaders and elected officials indicate that any close alliances among school districts likely will be at the bottom of most to-do lists.
Mayor Jackson in his March 4 speech at the City Club of Cleveland advocated creating a countywide school authority that would look for a common solution to the financing woes of local school districts, would create countywide magnet schools and would find ways for school districts to better share resources and consolidate their purchasing power. “If we are going to have educational excellence, and become globally competitive, then making systemic changes in education has to happen at
“We’re not going to build for building’s sake, but there’s more building we can do.” – Dr. Ronald Berkman (below), president, Cleveland State University
OPINION: Cleveland needs to see a more visible Mayor Frank Jackson in his second term. Page 8 the county level,” he said. “If we fail to act on creating educational excellence throughout the county,” Mayor Jackson continued, “we will have squandered the greatest opportunity this community has seen in decades to reinvest in and reinvent itself as a thriving city and county for generations to come.” See JACKSON Page 15
FILE PHOTO/MARC GOLUB
New incubator gets blood pumping for cardio startups Global innovation HQ to open near Cleveland Clinic
JANET CENTURY
By CHUCK SODER csoder@crain.com
CSU OVERVIEW Cleveland State’s formula for growth includes more campus development, business community interaction By SHANNON MORTLAND smortland@crain.com
A
11
s Ronald Berkman looks out over Euclid Avenue from his office, he sees a mountain of possibilities and challenges for Cleveland State University. The public university is on solid financial footing, but it could better
support its students by working more closely with the local business community and by providing more resources to help students succeed academically, Dr. Berkman said. He also envisions development beyond the $400 million spent since 2004 to overhaul and expand the downtown campus. “We’re not going to build for
The effort led by the Cleveland Clinic to commercialize more heart technologies soon will have a heart of its own — conveniently located across the street from some of the city’s biggest brains. Construction of the Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center’s headquarters is scheduled to finish in May, on time and within the group’s $19 million budget. Once finished, the building will serve as an incubator for cardiovascular startup companies as well as home base for the center, a broader $250 million economic development effort meant to attract cardiovascular technology companies to Ohio, create new ones and help existing ones grow. Leaders of the center haven’t waited for the completion of the Cedar Avenue headquarters to get to work. They’ve already awarded nearly $14 million in grants and
loans to 47 cardiovascular researchers and companies across Ohio, and they started wooing cardiovascularrelated companies to the state shortly after receiving in 2006 a $60 million grant from the Ohio Third Frontier Project, a 10-year effort aimed at stimulating the state’s economy through investment in technology. The grant to date is the largest in the history of the Third Frontier program, which will expire in 2012 unless voters decide to extend it for five years by approving a $700 billion bond issue on the May ballot. The center’s early efforts already have helped influence 11 companies to set up offices in Ohio, according to Tom Sudow, who works for regional business attraction agency Team NEO and is director of business development and company attraction for the Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center. Among them are medical device company Proxy Biomedical Ltd. of Ireland, See GCIC Page 15
INSIDE GE Lighting needs to flip a switch Incandescent bulbs no longer will be available after 2012, and with that date quickly approaching, GE Lighting in East Cleveland must make sure its consumers know it. The company needs to convert General Electric’s $2.5 billion lighting business from the old incandescents to more energy-efficient, yet more expensive, LED light bulbs. Read Dan Shingler’s story on Page 3.
See CSU Page 5
0
NEWSPAPER
71486 01032
6
SPECIAL SECTION
REAL ESTATE More builders eliminate spec houses from new-home construction plans ■ Page 11 PLUS: ARCHITECTS ■ HALLOWED HALLS ■ ADVISER ■ & MORE
CrainsCleveland.com/30thanniversary