Château Hough
(Or, How the Lowly Grape Can Save Inner-city Cleveland)

One of my dear, departed councilwoman's favorite stories was about how, years ago, she single-handedly fought off developers who wanted to turn a part of Hough into a golf course. I call this one of "Fannie's Favorite Fables." Not that it wasn’t true mind you; it's just that a lot of her stories grew a bit with each retelling... which really isn’t all that unusual, now is it?

Given Fannie's background of fighting for what she believed was best for Ward 7, I couldn't help but wonder what her reaction would be to the 36-page policy statement recently released by Cleveland's City Planning Commission entitled "Re-imagining a More Sustainable Cleveland." I haven't read it in its entirety yet (I've only seen a PowerPoint excerpt) but it's being touted as a far-reaching, wide-ranging, visionary documents, rife with possibilities of what Cleveland can look like in the near and distant future.

One thing is for sure: This time around the green/sustainability movement is going take root in America... unlike what happened in the 70s when gas prices spiked and created long lines at the pumps. That crisis created interest in conservation, but only for as long as the lines were long -- just as soon as the prices went back down the lines disappeared, and so too did the concern. But not this time; in spite of the fact OPEC nations are manipulating production to drive prices down, and thereby attempt to keep us addicted to fossil fuels, this time the issue is not going to go away.

One part of the plan calls for urban farming, an idea that makes all of the sense in the world. Why should bell peppers be shipped all the way from California when we can grow our own locally? I know that, since I write in Cool Cleveland -- a site that has the smartest, hippest, most progressive readers in the area -- I’m preaching to the choir about the green/ sustainability/ urban farming movement.

But I’ve got another twist to add.

I’m calling for the building of “Château Hough” a first-class winery at the edge of University Circle, almost in the shadow of the Cleveland Clinic Campus, right here in my own ward. The grapes can be grown on some of the 3000 acres of vacant land that currently scattered about Cleveland, and trucked the short distance to the winery. Imagine: wine tastings, jazz on summer evenings, an outdoor pavilion, and producing a viable, salable product in the process.

By now everyone knows the health benefits of red wine (when imbibed in moderate amounts): It’s heart protective, it prevents the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), and two glasses taken together with meals lowers post-meal blood pressure in hypertensive persons, while reducing the risk of kidney stone formation. Also, moderate red wine drinking correlates with a lower risk for Alzheimer's disease — what more could you ask for?

I know that my idea is a quantum leap beyond what is currently on the table, but my daddy always told me, that, since you’ve got to be thinking anyway, why not think big? This could be real big.

The highest hurdle to overcome is the notion of an inner-city neighborhood like Hough being home to a first-class winery. Fifteen years ago, when the first of what are now hundreds of upscale newer homes was being proposed, urban design experts far and wide pooh-poohed the idea of new homes in a community like Hough. Now, a couple of hundred million dollars in investment later, parts of Ward 7 are stabilized and a Black middle-class has taken firm root and continues to flourish and grow. So, race aside, why shouldn’t the idea of a winery have as much validity here in Hough as it would anywhere else in the county?

The jobs, the pride, the profits, the publicity, and the utilizing of acres upon acres of unused land could all come together to make this a “can’t miss” project... the only ingredient missing will be the usual one here in Cleveland: Political will and visionary leadership, and those are hurdles that might be the most difficult to overcome.

One of the problems concerns “who” comes up with an idea. One of the negative hallmarks of impoverished cities is... if “they” whoever this amorphous “they” happens to be, doesn’t come up with an idea themselves, then it’s strangled in the crib. Time, of course, will tell with this and other forward-looking proposals soon to be put on the table, but this much I do know: Fannie will be smiling when — and if — the first wine cork is popped.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com
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