Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight are safe

Our Own Tremonster, Demetrious, can’t believe his Neighbor, Castro, is suspected of kidnapping

A Special Report by The Tremonster

“This is so shocking,” said Tremonster, Demetrius, a man in his mid-twenties, who lives across Seymour Ave. from Ariel Castro, who was taken into Cleveland Police custody on Monday, suspected of kidnapping Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight.

Today’s Approved Cleveland Ward Redistricting Splits Tremont in Three!

The following is from a Tremont West Development Corporation news bulletin received today by The Tremonster.

New Cleveland City Ward Redistricting Approved Today
Plan Puts Tremont in 3 Wards Beginning January, 2014

Cleveland City Council, meeting in special session called by Council President Marty Sweeney, approved an amended city ward redistricting plan, which, in effect, creates 3 wards in Tremont in place of the current two. The vote was 14 – 4 for the new plan. The plan was opposed by Councilmen Joe Cimperman, Michael Polensek, Jeff Johnson and Kevin Conwell. Councilman Brian Cummins is travelling out of the country.
According to this approved plan, this is how Tremont is affected by block club service area:

Dear Cleveland Council President Sweeney

by Mark Pratt

Council President Sweeney,

I am writing this e-mail in light of recent news I have received concerning my neighborhood. I serve as a Chairperson for the MCC-HBR block club in Tremont. Under the newest plans for ward re-districting it appears that half of my block club will become part of Ward 12 (the boundary line between Ward 3 and Ward 12 will cut right through my block).

Is Something Fishy in the Cleveland City Council Redistricting Process?

The following is the full text of the letter sent on April 12 from Cleveland City Councilman, Mike Polensek, to Council President, Martin Sweeney, forwarded to The Tremonster via the Office of Councilman Polensek.

Hooper Farm: The Fruits of Good Teaching

by Rich Weiss

How did Erich Hooper get into urban farming in the first place?  According to Hooper, his interest in horticulture was piqued by a teacher of his at Lincoln West, Claude Watson.  “He was a black male, and he knew all the Browns,” said Hooper.  Claude Watson died a couple of years ago, but he was the engaging horticulture teacher at Lincoln West who inspired Hooper, and influenced him in ways that continue to this day.  Including farming.

A View Down Rowley Avenue

A view down Rowley Avenue during a brief break in a cloud-covered February in Tremont, looking toward W 14th Street, from the corner of Rowley and W 11th “Cleveland” Street

 

 

 

Jean Brandt, on 20 Years of ArtWalk

Jean Brandt (pictured below in Steven Mastroianni’s ArtWalk exhibit, 20 Years of Tremont ArtWalk — ArtWalk Veterans) has labored for the love of Tremont and this project, building the Tremont ArtWalk up, month by month, since 1993.

Over the course of our interviews for the ArtWalk anniversary special issue of The Tremonster, we heard over and over, in different ways, that ArtWalk would not be the economic engine for Tremont it has become without Jean’s abiding, constant, dependable, enduring, firm, fixed, impervious, lasting, long-continued, permanent, persistent, reliable, strong, substantial, tenacious, durable leadership.

Jean Brandt

“Congrats Tremont, congrats regional arts community of Northeast Ohio. what has happened here is not in a vacuum, not by any stretch of the imagination.  The Veterans of Artwalk at Mastroianni Photography and Art is an exhibit featuring the faces of many you know who came through Tremont at one time or another. truly amazing . . . Cleveland has much to be proud of imho!”

Jean Brandt, owner of Brandt Gallery, the longest running gallery in Tremont. The exhibit, 20 Years of Tremont ArtWalk — ArtWalk Veterans, showing through the next ArtWalk, on March 8th, at Mastroianni Arts, 2688 West 14th Street, includes this Steven Mastroianni portrait (visit mastroianniarts.com for more details).