While the theme of Tim Mueller's presentation had the same Safe, Strong and Smart" points and campaign-like feel to it that City Hall has been promoting for the past eighteen months, the audience was definitely different. They were interning law students here for the summer and came from all over the nation. This was a campaign for the success and advancement of the City of Cleveland, and the Mayor and Chief Development Officer are on a mission to sell it to the best and brightest.

Most of the examples that were used, while good, have been heard before and are beginning to be commonplace. Such as the story of the introduction of computers into the patrol cars in the Fourth Police District and how it helped them catch a murderer. However, new stories were also told. The impact of the Cleveland Public Theater on the change in the neighborhood near W. 65th and Detroit showed how improvements have been made to so many neighborhoods through grassroots efforts. Sparx in the City is bringing people downtown. That there are plans being considered for putting in a new golf course in unused land by Burke Lakefront.

The shining idea of the evening was that Cleveland is to "be the entrepreneur capital of the country" with a focus on bringing startups and mid-size companies to Cleveland. This is not outlandish in that despite our own contrary opinions, the rest of the country thinks very highly of Cleveland. He used the rise and sale of his company, Vantage One, as an example that helped start that reputation here. Many transplanted audience members spoke up supporting the idea from their own experiences. Mueller finished by saying that in order to meet this goal, it will take more than the 20-30 year olds living downtown, but also the 30 somethings with families, of which he claims to nearly be a member. From Cool Cleveland reader Alice Demyanick alicedemyanick@hotmail.com

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