Gloria Ferris

Sometimes I find it truly amazing when events coincide and other times I simply think they should.  Last week I received my monthly flyer from Barb Spaan, our Crime Watch Coordinator here in Ward 15 and 16 telling me the subject of this month’s meeting “Fire Safety for your Home & Business”.  Naturally, I immediately put it on my list of things to attend given the recent events here in our neighborhood.  Yesterday, Channel 5 began a series of reports on fire safety in the city and the suburbs.  Clicking on the list of response times included in the Channel 5 report shows  Cleveland ranked in the top ten in the county.  Roger Bundy blogs about the response time issue as well.  Good to know that not only the media is watching our backs, but so are concerned citizens.

Last night’s meeting was chock full of things that we can do ourselves to prepare  for a fire emergency. There were too many tips to relate all of them here, but if you ever have the chance to attend a meeting with Lieutentant Larry Gray, Public Information Officer, Division of Fire do it.  The man is a tremendous public speaker chock full of useful information.  I took away three things from this meeting that I want to share.

1.  Fire Extinguishers.  If you have one, make sure it is up to date. Doesn’t do you any good to have a fire extinguisher if when you need it you can’t use it because it has expired.    If you don’t have one get one.  It should be an ABC extinguisher with a UL sticker.  If you use the extinguisher, try to put the fire out for twelve seconds no more, and stay between the fire and your exit.

2. Fire Drills.  After last night, I know fire drills are a must.  Lt. Gray told us that within three minutes the fire is too hot to survive.  Each minute a fire burns the temprature doubles.  Do the math–first minute, 200 degrees, second minute, 400 degrees, third minute-800 degrees, and the fourth minute is 1600 degrees.  This is the drill.  Go to your bedroom.  Blindfold yourself.  Turn around three times and then try to get out of the room.  If you have a partner, have them time you for three minutes. If you are alone, use a kitchen timer.  Be sure that you use the three minute time frame.  Isn’t easy, is it?  The more you practice the better you will be able to get out of the house within the shortest time possible.  I cannot stress how important this exercise is to you and your family.

3.  Get Out!  Shout as  you leave the house.  Tell the others in the house where you will meet them outside–across the street, under a big tree, etc.  When you assemble at the designated point, you will be able to tell the firefighters if everyone is out of the house or if someone is inside waiting for rescue.  As Lt. Gray stated,  the mission is to save lives first and then save property.  If you are still inside, no one will be able to help the firefighters locate any of you.

 My Aunt Dadie always said :”Hope for the best, get ready  for the worst, and take what comes”.   So to paraphrase,  I hope that we are preparing for the worst that never comes to any of us.

We hear that Ladder 42.1 will make an appearance at the regular Cleveland City Council meeting this coming Monday, which will be held off-site (outside City Hall) for a change, at Estabrook Recreation Center, 4125 Fulton Road, Cleveland 44144, at 7:00 PM.

Everything is just so incremental lately, as evidenced by the recent need to create a Ladder 42.1.

Stay tuned. Show up with a bucket. Galoshes will be optional.

As we proceed to “build community” here in Cleveland, the business community begins to play a crucial role in the story of “local production for local consumption.” As it becomes more expensive to roam regionally in shopping and procuring services, we will focus more on professionals and businesspeople who are more proximate to where we ourselves work and live. Here is a list of area businesses, initially in the order in which we called on them. We are renewing our commitment to support our locally-owned-business neighbors first, whenever we can.

The new page appears in the column to the right.

Ward 15 Councilman Brian Cummins has done a superb  job of defining the issues on why Ladder 42 should not be closed.  Access it here on Brewed Fresh Daily.

Well, the phones are ringing off the hooks today.  The decision on Ladder 42 has been postponed.  The suspense continues as we await the fate of Ladder Company 42.

We can only hope that the delay means that the city is looking for a way not to put a plan in place that has a detrimental effect on ANY Cleveland neighborhood.

What we have is a sense of community.  We understand that what affects one of us affects us all.  We have shown that time and time again, as we have rallied to keep Ladder 42 in the heart of Old Brooklyn.  Those of us who live in Brooklyn Centre understood early on that if Old Brooklyn lost that ladder, our safety would be compromised.  We hopped on board early to band together with them to make a stronger community.

When we all started to do our research and started talking to each other, comparing notes as it were, we soon found out that this problem was much biggger than just our neighborhoods.  We found that the safety of the city is constantly being eroded, and not much more than handwringing gets done. 

But now, it appears that things might start getting done.  Councilman Cummins told us last night at Station 42 that he felt that progress is being made because substantive issues, problems, and solutions were discussed yesterday in the City Council Public Safety meeting.  Have we made them see that they need to do the job that they were elected to do?  Have we made the City Administration see that we are going to demand that we have a safe city?  Maybe, but we need to keep pressing for what we want–a safe city where we can live, work and play.  We’ve got it all right here.

We need to continue our community effort to make Safety a priority in the City of Cleveland.  After all, if people percieve a place to be unsafe, it really doesn’t matter if that is so.  Perception is reality.  Recently, a real estate developer friend of mine said that he introduced some investors from Los Angeles to the Broadway-Fleet area.  As soon as it was dusk, the Los Angeles contingent asked if they could leave  because they didn’t feel “safe”.

We need to build on what we have started here in Ward 15 and 16.  We need to bring more and more people into the fold.  We need to continue to build this community of All Clevelanders whose only agenda is quality of life.  Because when it is all said and done, all we have is each other and our neighborhoods.  It is in our best interest to build the BEST neighborhoods we can in the heart of Cleveland because then and only then will we generate the buzz needed to retain businesses and attract new businesses.  It is all in the perception that we will make a reality.

I just pulled this notice our of our daily suspense file and wanted to share it with all of you, as a reminder. We picked it up at the demonstation this past Monday at Cleveland City Hall:

Rally in front of Fire Station #42

Wednesday, April 12

7:00 PM

4665 Pearl Road

Show your support for keeping safety services in your neighborhood by joining concerned residents of Ward 15 and 16, firefighters and their families, Councilman Brian Cummins (Ward 15), and representatives from Old Brooklyn Community Development Corp. on Wednesday, April 12

Last Thursday, I attended a meeting of the Public Safety Committee.  We had a good showing of people attending from the area given the time of the committee meeting. I am going to give a short list of attendees and if I have forgotten someone it is not intentional, but I want everyone to know that there is broad support for saving Ladder 42.  Here goes,  the principal from Wm. Cullen Bryant was there, Mr. Dwyer (?) who owns a business in Old Brooklyn, Jay Gardner, Judith Pindell, and Lori Peterson from OBCDC, Matt Russ, Roger Bundy, and several firefighters that live in the neighborhood.

The Public Safety Committee Chairperson Kevin Conwell, Ward 9 Councilman couldn’t have been more supportive or gracious in his handling of the discussion.  Councilman Kelly served as acting Chair.  Councilman Cummins stressed many points that have come up in neighborhood meetings as well as the Community meeting we had–the fact that the overall safety of the community is being compromised because of the domino effect; the fact that the firefighters in our city have worked without a contract for five years…

All of the committee members are very aware of the concerns that we have concerning the demise of Ladder 42.

Councilwoman Brady cited the explosion in her Ward last year where fire and emergency crews responded within three minutes– not the four minute response time seen as adequate.  She questioned that if that had been the case during the crisis in her neighborhood she was not sure the outcome would be the same.  

Councilman Polensek questioned how long the residents of Lee-Harvard, Collinwood, Old Brooklyn, and West Park can continue to absorb these cuts in staffing while more and more $$ pour into downtown, University Circle and other places.  He asked when will enough be enough.  When will these city residents walk away from the city that they have supported for so long.

Councilman Conwell paid Old Brooklyn a huge compliment saying that our area is a hardworking, taxpaying community that the city cannot afford to lose.

The principal of Wm. Cullen Bryant said that she had a hard time explaining to her students who are having emergency preparedness drills this month when they ask her what will happen if there is an emergency and our Ladder Truck is gone. She asked the committee members and administration officials if they had any suggestions on how she should explain to her students.

Mr. Dwyer said that had he known that the Ladder Truck would be taken away from Old Brooklyn he would have thought twice before buying property and moving his business into Old Brooklyn. 

Matt Russ gave a very moving speech about the safety and welfare of his friends, neighbors, and community. Roger Bundy spoke to the Phoenix Study and how it fell woefully short.  He cited specific examples and fielded several questions from the committee members.

One very interesting fact that came out of this meeting for me was that the fire stations do not have fax machines, do not have computers, and that they still use carbon paper to write out their reports.  Where in the world do they get carbon paper?  And how much does that cost?  Also many of the heating and air conditioning units are in disrepair. 

The bottom line, folks, is money. Everyone at the meeting empathizes with the situation surrounding Ladder 42. The administration officials, councilpeople, the fire administration–all realize that losing Ladder 42 is not a good outcome for the Old Brooklyn Neighborhood, but no one knows where the money will come from to keep the Ladder at Station #42.

It is imperative that we all attend the community meeting Thursday, April 6th at 6:30 p.m. at Corpus Christi Church Hall.  We must support our councilpeople who are tirelessly working to keep Ladder 42.  We must demand that the city administration make safety a number one priority and if other programs must receive less money then so be it.  Our safety can no longer be compromised.

All of the councilpeople around that table talked about how they would be having this conversation again concerning where to cut into the safety net that we have in this city because the budget constraints are not going to go away.  In fact, for the first time in the history of the city, the city will be receiving $800,000 less in real estate taxes this year and the city income tax revenue is flat.

Support our Community attend this vital meeting concerning our quality of life in the City of Cleveland.          

I have a new page, available also through the sidebar to the right. There are a number of ways we become members of a community, and one of them is by joining organizations and participating in events, or just by hanging out and talking. Some community-building opportunities we have available here in Ward 15, or near it, appear on the new page, in no special order as yet. If you think I should be including something else, let me know.

Yesterday was just a “very busy day” for the Ferris family with lots of business appointments starting at 7 a.m. and the day didn’t end for any of us until well after 6 p.m. So it was a “Let’s Eat Out!” night. Welcome words to a woman who had tumbled into bed the night before at 1 a.m. after attending a Meet The Bloggers interview with the Chairperson at ODP at Scottie MacBean’s in Clintonville. Those of you who know me may wonder why I don’t blog about political candidates on this site. I have two reasons for not blogging about political candidates. I have decided that for myself the issues are more important than the candidates and secondly, I believe in the democratic process and that informed voters should choose who they want to represent them.
Too many people today are influenced by forces outside themselves when choosing whom they vote. You many not agree with me but then leave a comment or if you have additional thoughts let me know. For a brief moment, I considered blogging about the ODP chair’s interview with MTB, but decided that Chris Redfern is just too much of a political animal so I won’t be doing that.

Hey, back to “Let’s Eat Out!” Sticking to our New Year’s resolution, we dined at a local establishment–Don Gi’s Pizzeria established in the Old Brooklyn area in 1996. For those of you who do not drive down Broadview on a regular basis, Don Gi’s is located at 2159 Broadview Road. Katie and I had a pizza that had the best crust I have eaten in awhile. It was perfectly browned and had a crunchy taste. Anyone will tell you that a good pizza starts with the crust. The crust is the foundation. I learned that from a neighbor of mine who worked at Mama Santa’s in the 70′s. I wonder what happened to him. He was one “cool” character.

Obviously, I am having a focusing problem this morning. Tim had a meatball sandwich and they toasted the bun! This touch is one of Tim’s criteria for sandwich rating. Katie thought the lights were way too bright for a restaurant and I tend to agree, but Tim said that it was kind of nice to be able to see what he was eating. So I guess it just individual comfort at work here. We sat in the window seats and looked out onto Broadview road as we talked and laughed and chomped on our pizza.

The staff was very efficient and friendly which is one of my criteria. Who ever taught this new crop of waitstaff that people reward abruptness and rudeness have done a great disservice to the hospitality business. The young girl who waited on us will continue to receive good tips and appreciative smiles as she climbs the ladder of life. She was a delight.

On our way out the door, Katie stopped us dead in our tracks with the comment “We’ll have to come back here soon! The pizza is great” This statement was welcome to her parents’ ears. She doesn’t often like to go out with Mom and Dad, but now we know if we wave the promise of Don Gi’s Pizza we just may get to have dinner conversation with our wonderful daughter.

Yesterday was really busy–0700 saw us at Theo’s for the very first gathering of the Brooklyn Business-to-Business Connect chapter, the 15th such group started in this area since May of 2005. Joe Gardner, one of the Theo’s business partners, is just finishing off his downstairs state-of-the-art meeting room, and we’re all grateful for his hosting the chapter.

Heads up: This coming Monday, January 23rd, Business-to-Business Connect co-founder Laura Leggett will be a guest on the Lanigan and Malone Show. Going to their site just now to fetch the link, I realized that we missed Kate O’Beirne’s appearance January 11th, promoting her new book that’s raising such a ruckus–I do wish those guys would get a feed going over to the blogosphere.