The Vegan Iron Chef II Competition...

In the spirit of equal billing it seems only fair to follow up Wednesday’s burger extravaganza with an announcement of Kent’s second annual Iron Vegan Chef Competition on April 18th from 2 pm to 6 pm. 

WHO: Standing Rock Cultural Arts presents with the cooperation of The Kent State University Dining Services, and The Vegiterranean Restaurant in Akron

WHAT: Vegan Iron Chef II Competition
-2nd Annual Vegan Iron Chef Competition
-Opening Event for the 4th Annual “Who’s Your Mama?” earth Day and Environmental Film Festival. www.whosyourmama.org

-Vegan Samples provided

WHERE: Kent State University, Student Center. 2nd Floor Dining Location.

WHEN: Sunday, April 18, 2-6pm.

COST: FREE!

CONTACT: 330-673-4970

www.whosyourmama.org for updates

ABOUT THE COMPETITION

COMPETITION INFO:

1. Competition will once again kick off The “Who’s Your Mama?” Earth Day and Environmental Film Festival. The purpose of the competition is to educate the public about the health benefits of a vegan diet, both personal and ecological.

2. Students from Kent State University and The University of Akron will prepare vegan dishes that highlight special dietary needs as well as provide an alternative to a meat based diet. The foods they create will be samples for the audience to taste. Appetizers, Salads and Desserts can all be featured. Several Purveyors will be invited to set up and offer samples of their vegan goods.

3. The Main Competition will be a 4 hour event, 2-6pm, with an Emcee and Speakers, 8 pro chefs, 6 teams of Student Chefs, a garde mange display, and 8 judges ( 4 each for students and pros).

-Student Chefs will create a Pasta Dish for Audience to Sample. Vegiterranean will provide pizza samples. Molly Aubuchon will provide samples as well.

-The Competing Chefs will be required to make An Entree using vegan ingredients.

-Gardein, a vegan meat substitute, will be featured. Scot to provide Gardein. A root vegetable will also be featured.

-Jeff St. Clair of WKSU has agreed to Emcee the event again.

-University of Akron and Kent State University competition will begin at 2pm.

-6 Teams of Students. 45 minutes to cook for Students. 2 Teams start at a time, 15 minutes apart.

-Separate judging for students and pros.

-Pro Chefs will begin at 3pm. 1 hour to cook and present 12 plates for the judges, 8 for the table of 8. 2 Teams at a time, 15 minutes apart.

THE CHEFS:

4. Chef Alford, Professor Emeritus of University of Akron, Mr. Tofu, Molly Aubuchon, A Vegiterranean Chef, Tim Costello from KSU, Tom Rindfleisch from Organic Energy in Chagrin Falls, and Ben Bebenroth of Spice of Life Catering and Sheila Rombach, macrobiotic chef, have agreed to participate as pro chefs.

5. CRITERIA FOR JUDGING:

Judging will be based on
1. Flavor
2. Presentation
3. Use of Locally Grown and/or Organic Food
4. Originality

Chefs will provide judges with any necessary details when they serve the meals.

6. THE JUDGES:

Gary Lockwood of Standing Rock Cultural Arts and Jackie Parsons of Kent State University Dining Services have agreed to be judges. Other Judges include Kathy Hammonds, yoga instructor and urban gardener, and one judge TBA.

7. THE PRIZES:

For prizes, Spice of Life Catering has agreed to offer another Farm to Plate Dinner for 2, as well as a Dinner for 4 package from The Vegiterranean.

8. FEATURED SPEAKER:

Julie Wandling Costell, a Health Minister who is opening a new Vegan Café in Akron, Ms. Julie’s Kitchen.

THANK YOU TO Kent State University Dining Services, The Vegiterranean Restaurant, Kent Natural Foods Cooperative, Spice of Life Catering, Akron Life and Leisure Magazine, EcoWatch Magazine, Weekly Farms, Bellecino’s Restaurant, and The Kent Environmental Council for supporting this event.

CHEF BIOS:

RICHARD ALFORD/CCE

Associate Professor Emeritus
Education:
Associate degree Restaurant Management, University of Akron. BS Technical Education, University Akron. MS Technical Education, University of Akron.

Chef Alford has taught culinary arts for 29 years at the collegiate and high school levels. He is a certified executive chef and culinary educator by the American Culinary Federation. Holds certification as Lead Judge by National Ice Carving Association. Awarded chef of the year twice by the Akron Canton Chefs and Cooks Association and nominated for regional chef of the year. Received President Award from NICA, numerous ice competition medals and nominated for Ice Carving Hall of fame.

Coached the U of A Ice team to four national, many local and regional championships. He has conducted fruit and vegetable sculpture seminars and events from Canada to Brazil and Paris to California. Inducted into the National Ice Carving Association Hall of Fame in 2008.

MR. AND MRS. TOFU
Chef’s Bio
Mr. and Mrs. Tofu are vegan caterers and the authors of the award-winning blog “What The Hell Does A Vegan Eat Anyway?” (http://veganmenu.blogspot.com)

For the past seven years they have chronicled their nightly meals in their blog that VegNews awarded for “Best Gourmand Blog” (2006), and a “VegBloggy” for top Vegan blog (2008), for their “jaw-dropping photos” and “five-star restaurant fare.”

VegNews said, “If you’d never heard the word vegan before and the first blog you ever saw was this one, you’d imagine that every vegan on the planet graduated with honors from some well-respected culinary academy.”

MOLLY KAY AUBUCHON
Bio
Molly Aubuchon is an In Home Childcare Provider in Kent. She started her business nearly three years ago to earn a living and stay home with her two small children, Emma now six and Samuel now 4 years old. Before children she graduated from Kent State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a focus in Finance and a Minor in Craft. She worked as a Branch Office Administrator for Edward Jones until Emma came along. Aside from the daycare business she creates vegan sweets and treats from her home. Specialty Sweets by Molly has been baking vegan treats for a little more than a year.

Molly’s interest in vegetarian cuisine began in the very beginning. Her parents, David and Linda Aubuchon, raised all three of their children vegetarian from birth. About ten years ago Molly decided to take the plunge into the Vegan diet and eliminate dairy and eggs from her diet. She began to feel the importance of food and how it affects our bodies. Determined to satisfy her nagging sweet tooth she spent time in her kitchen experimenting with vegan sweets trying to imitate a healthier substitute to her favorites of the past. She would share her creations with family and friends who eventually encouraged her to try to market them. With that, Specialty Sweets by Molly was born. Currently she makes cakes, cookies, pies and muffins for close friends and family. She pays special attention to use ingredients that help promote a healthy lifestyle with a satisfying sweetness.

Molly can be reached by email at mollykay7@sbcglobal.net.

EXECUTIVE CHEF TIM COSTELLO
BIO
Schwebel Room Executive Chef Tim Costello, a 1996 graduate of theCulinary Institute of America, has been cooking for almost 30 years.  After graduating from Central-Hower High School in 1974 and then spending six years as a minor league baseball pitcher for the Atlanta Braves, Chef Costello was drawn into the culinary world when he walked by the Tangiers Restaurant, Akron, Ohio in 1981 and landed his first job as a prep cook. Tim’s experience takes him around the world, having worked at companies such as Gate Gourmet, Memphis, TN, (1999-2005) Account Chef for British Airways, London, England, Continental Airlines, “Congress of Chefs”, Houston, TX, the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel, New York City (1997-1998) and most recently Amtrak, Wilmington, DE (2005-2009) where he served as Corporate Executive Chef for all of Amtrak’s food and beverage services.

During his time with Gate Gourmet which consisted of developing menus for the airlines, Chef Tim had the honor to have his Swiss Air “First Class” menus featured at a luncheon in New York City at the world renowned Carnegie Hall. While working at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in 1996 Chef Tim had the pleasure of working the Elton John AIDS Benefit and the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame dinners.  At Amtrak, Chef Costello was instrumental in developing Amtrak’s “Culinary Advisory Team” with renowned Chefs Tom Douglas of Seattle, WA, owner of the Dahlia Lounge, Etta’s, Serious Pie and the Palace Kitchen and Michel Richard “James Beard Chef of the Year 2007” of the Citronelle restaurant located in Washington, DC.

Most recently in February 2009 while at Amtrak, Chef Tim developed and designed the onboard menus for President Obama’s Whistle Stop Tour leading up to his inauguration. Chef Tim is pleased to be back in the area and is happy to be a part of the Kent State University community and campus.

Sheila Rombach
Bio
Sheila Rombach is a macrobiotic chef with 23 years experience. Most of her training was done with Bob Carr and Francois Roland of the East West Center of Cleveland. She was the macro chef for both The Mustard Seed and The Cleveland Food Co-op before she began raising her 3 children in 1990. She currently works as an Herb and  supplement Buyer for Kent Natural Foods Cooperative.

She believes that mindful application of yin and yang principles are essential in creating a satisfying and healthful vegan meal.

Tom Rindfleisch:
Resume:  Currently Employed at Organic Energy Restaurant in Solon.

EDUCATION
Orange Schools, 1- 12
Boston University, 2yrs/Ohio State Univ., 3yrs
French Culinary Institute, 1 year
Bon Appetit Mgmt Co, Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleve.,OH, Exec. Chef
BioMedical Research Building,8/20/06-5/9/07, Multiple Full service cafeteria dining, Lunch and Breakfast. Responsible for several Retail Programs Supervised staff of 15. Installed all BAMCO sustainable protocols. Responsible for all administrative accounting, purchasing

EMPLOYMENT
Austin’s WoodFire Grille, Brecksville, OH, Chef/Kitchen
Manager,purchasing agent, 10/21/02-06/30/06. American Steakhouse theme featuring Mesquite wood fueled grill, predominately Beef, interesting Seafood inclusions. Volume steadying to 28k weekly after initial opening of several months at 35-40k. Borrowed many procedures and recipes from original store Developing systems and protocol Training mostly inexperienced staff Offering Guidelines, Strategies and documentation for all processes. Opened new store in Twinsburg Dec. 05

Buon Appetito, Bainbridge Twp., Ohio, Chef , 4/9/01-10/20/02. Elegant, free standing restaurant, recently opened, specializing in fine Italian cuisine with an emphasis on seafood. Small, high volume kitchen demanding economy of space, purchasing and merchandizing. Work closely with Chef/Owner.

Hilton Cleveland South, Independence, Ohio, Executive Sous Chef, 11/27/00-4/6/01 In charge of food production for high volume catering department(4 mill.$) and franchise restaurant,Shula’s2(3.5mill.$), food and labor costs, training and evaluation of kitchen staff Boca Restaurant and Banquet Facility (at the Embassy Suites Hotel) Beachwood, Ohio, Banquet Chef, 9/95-11/26/00 Directing and coordinating food preparation, food and labor costs, training and evaluation of cooks ($2.5mill. annual revenue)Banquets to 450pp

Western Reserve Pastry, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, Executive Chef, 1995 Stock and equip retail space for restaurant and catering production. Create menus and protocol Train and manage production staff.

Joey’s/Leonetti’s Restaurants, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, Executive Chef, 1990-95  Manage production and training for family style restaurant, Design menus and protocol for upscale Italian restaurant, Train and manage staff of twelve

Luciano’s Ristorante, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, Asst. Chef, 1988-90  Studied under master chef Assisted in all phases of restaurant operation

References: Available upon request

CHEF BEN BEBENROTH:
Education:
Johnson and Wales in Charleston, South Carolina
Top ten in culinary class of 2004
Taste Down Under winner, J&W national school competition

Career Highlights:
SOS Dinner Pre-party: Exclusive Chefs’ Pig Roast at Michael Symon’s house, 2008 & 2009
Featured Chef, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Natural History of Food Series
The Natural History of Onions Dinner, 2009
The Natural History of Asparagus Dinner, 2008
Ambassador’s Dinner for Peter Baxter, Washington D.C., 2005
Featured Demo Chef, New York City Food & Wine Show, 2005

Boards & Committees:
Cuyahoga Valley National Park Association – Steering Committee for Topography Benefit
Old Trail School Local Food Advisory Panel
Bioneers Conference Advisory Panel
CBC Magazine Health & Wellness Roundtable
Cleveland Burning River Fest Advisory Panel 

Culinary Mentors:
Parker Bosely, Parkers American Bistro – Ohio City, Ohio
Jeff Gibbs, Charleston Chops – Charleston, South Carolina
Ben Famborough, Sans Souci – Cleveland, Ohio

Cheers!

Small Business Financing Session Scheduled...

With so much of the Kent economy based on small business entrepreneurship, it’s fair to ask what have we done for small businesses lately?  The answer would be KRBA. 

The Kent Regional Business Alliance (KRBA) is our resident small business advisor, facilitator, professor, instigator, whatever-needs-to-be-doner, all  in the name of helping small businesses get started and finish first.  KRBA is in it for the long haul with new businesses; they’re like the BFF that is always there for small business owners with a shoulder,  a strong back and sleeves rolled up ready to dig whatever needs to be dug. 

KRBA was recently honored by the Kent Area Chamber of Commerce for their remarkable success rate — which is measured by the success of the businesses that they assist.  In the world of start-ups the numbers can be ugly.  Most small businesses don’t survive that first 5 year milestone — unless they went through the KRBA.  KRBA’s business success rate far exceeds industry averages and it’s a credit to the solid advice they give.  They speak in plain English and if they see holes in your business plan they’ll tell you straight-up, and then they’ll get busy trying to help you fill them before you get your business over-extended and in trouble. 

If you’re a small business dreamer KRBA is a local organization that you need to get to know.  And here’s a great chance to do that: 

PRESS RELEASE:   For immediate release

FROM: Kent Regional Business Alliance, 211 East Summit Street, Kent, Ohio 44240

CONTACT:  Marie Cassidy, Director KRBA   Phone:  330-474-3595

KRBA SMALL BUSINESS SEMINAR SERIES

KRBA updates small businesses on building credit and alternative financing in today’s economic climate

KENT – The Kent Regional Business Alliance (KRBA) will host a financing workshop as part of an ongoing series of planned training seminars for area businesses on Thursday, December 10, 2009 from 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM, followed by a networking session from 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM.  The event will take place at the NEOUCOMM Conference Center in Rootstown, Ohio.

Experts from Cleveland Small Business Administration, Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Portage County’s Family and Community Services Inc., the University of Akron Small Business Legal Clinic, the Kent State University Ohio Employee Ownership Center, Cascade Financial Group, the Interface Financial Group and Tax and Financial Strategies are among the presenters that will offer valuable tips and guidance on how to build business credit and how to assess the pros and cons of a variety of small business financing options, including factoring (using purchase orders to secure financing), government–backed loan programs (including updates on SBA loans), seeking investors and borrowing from friends and family. Small business owners will also share their honest experiences with diverse financing and business planning in the current lending climate.

KRBA sponsors these workshops to provide assistance to small business as part of its State and SBA sponsored Small Business Development Center program. (SBDC)

The $25.00 registration fee includes all conference materials, light refreshments and business networking.

For more information, and to register, visit the KRBA website at http://www.krba.biz/ or call KRBA offices at 330-474-3595. 

The hands on training supports the collaborative mission of the State of Ohio Department of Development, SBA and KRBA to assist existing business owners and entrepreneurs in discovering the resources available to maintain and expand their business, particularly in these unprecedented capital markets. 

Space is limited for this event, so early registration is encouraged.

Snow Happens...

As much as I might wish otherwise, snow will happen in northeast Ohio.  As a matter of fact, if I look out my window right now I see a mix of rain and sleet which suggests snow is lurking just around the corner.   With snow comes the need to shovel and while I appreciate the cardio-vascular benefits of a good shoveling effort I’m not sure everyone shares my enthusiasm and that’s when the issue of sidewalk clearing rears it’s ugly head.  The City Council spent roughly 9 months trying to come up with ways to inspire greater civic participation in sidewalk shovel duty in 2009 and here’s a run down of the plans for the 2009-10 winter season.

Kent, like most communities, provides the public service of snow removal from the streets in the City but we do not provide snow removal from the sidewalks.  Good or bad, right or wrong, the responsibility of cleaning snow from the sidewalks, just like cutting the grass in the tree lawn, rests with the property owner.

Given some of the frustrations resulting from last winter’s snowfall, City Council wanted to try something different for sidewalk snow removal in 2010.  The question was what would work best and what could we afford.  To help answer those questions City Council invited citizens to participate in a sidewalk committee that spent the spring studying how other cities manage sidewalk shoveling.  The citizens group ended up preferring the Bowling Green model which said residents have 24 hours to shovel the sidewalks in front of their property — if they fail to do so the City will hire a contractor to do it and bill the expense (plus a penalty) back to the property owner. 

There was no question that the Bowling Green model worked in Bowling Green and although we share a lot of similarities with Bowling Green we’re still uniquely Kent and the Council just wasn’t comfortable with the predicted contractor expense or the citizen reaction to getting billed for sidewalk clearing.  With that in mind the City Council asked staff for a modified approach. 

To make sure Kent was walkable 365 days a year the City Council adopted a number of compromise solutions that included making some changes to the City Ordinance, initiating  information programs to increase public awareness of the issue, promoting the idea of shoveling as being a good neighbor, and providing guidelines for persons and contractors who provide snow removal services to make sure they aren’t plowing driveways and parking lots at the expense of keeping sidewalks passable.   These efforts are summarized below:

 1.       Improper Snow Removal – Civil Infraction – While the new law does not mandate that sidewalks be cleaned, it does address contractors and property owners who plow or remove snow improperly by plowing it into the street, onto sidewalks or in ways where it becomes a problem or nuisance.  As with the City’s current law, contractors and property owners can be cited for improper snow removal, but under the new law, those citations will become Civil Infractions and can result in fines.  Previously, improper snow removal was handled more as a criminal violation.

 2.       Compilation of Contract List – In November, the City will advertise and invite contractors, both large and small, to provide us with their contact information so that the City can compile a list of individuals and companies who are willing to provide snow removal services to clean sidewalks and driveways.  The City will neither negotiate or be involved in pricing these services, such negotiations will continue to be between the contractor and the person seeking the service, but a list will be made handy for those folks that would prefer to pay someone else to do their part in civic duty.   

The City will publish the list of the contractors who have contacted us so that residents can easily identify service providers and contact them as needed.  The City will also provide those contractors and service providers with information about proper snow removal practices and the City’s laws governing snow removal.  Participation in the listing service is not mandatory but does provide the contractor / service provider with some free advertising. 

 3.       City Street Plowing – Unfortunately, the need to plow our City streets in a time efficient, safe and effective manner will never permit the City to avoid plowing snow into the tree lawn and sidewalks completely.  However, the City certainly wants to do all it can to keep cars and pedestrians safe so plow operators have been on instructed on ways to change plow tacticsin order  to minimize the snow that ends up piled in crosswalks and street corners where pedestrians need to cross.

 4.       Be a Good Neighbor – In the course of the citizen discussions it became obvious that the most effective way to keep sidewalks clear was to promote the value of being a good neighbor — doing your part by shoveling so that people less fortunate (elderly, handicapped, children) who have to walk can stay safe.  Regretably, it was not uncommon last year to come across a driveway that had been cleaned of snow but not the sidewalk in front of the same property. 

The message was if you know an elderly person or someone nearby that cannot do their own shoveling, try to help them out if you can.  A snow blower is a wonderful invention and if you’re lucky enough to have one remember your neighbors.  The citizens committee suggested developing shoveling information pieces that they could distribute in their neighborhood and here’s an example of a friendly doorhanger reminder. 

 5.       Large Snow Pile Removal – For the City’s part, City Council will likely authorize the allocation of some additional funding (up to $50,000 for this coming winter) to contract with a private company to remove some of the larger piles of snow that may accumulate at intersections.  While most of the focus of this program will be along main thoroughfares and higher pedestrian and vehicular use areas, this program should help both motorists and pedestrians be safer in their movements.  Typically, City crews cannot even begin to address these larger piles until the snowfall is well over and all of the streets have been addressed.  Often by that point, the pile is frozen and very difficult to move.

 Keeping our sidewalks clean and maintaining a walkable community is an effort that we all need to work at.  Hopefully we will not get a lot of snow this winter, but if we do, our goal is to be ready to deal with it.

Will The Real Local Business Please Stand Up...

In the world of product pitches savvy marketers are always ready to pounce on the next hot attribute and product buzzword.  New and Improved!   If everything is always new and improved what’s that say about yesterday’s product?  Or maybe that’s the point, it doesn’t really say all that much at all about the product, it’s just how it’s being packaged and sold to the consumer today.  After all, who wants to buy old and worse? 

The trouble comes from understanding what they’re telling and selling us.  Product labeling and advertising seems to be only loosely tied to the actual product and advertisers are so adept at stretching that following  product claims is like watching the rubberband man start to jam.  That’s the way the advertising world turns so I’m not here to throw stones or cast dispersions, just to say that it’s often more art than science and as consumers we need to occasionally think twice about what we’re buying and why. 

Why would a City Manager give a hoot about knowing what you’re buying?  Because the latest victim in the advertising gambit may be our local hometown shops and I think they’re worth fighting for.  For some folks buying local products from locally owned businesses has been a matter of  principle since their days on the commune but today the buy local ethic has caught on with mainstream consumers and the advertisers smell fresh meat so they’ve doubled their efforts to re-cast themselves as a local/global/national alternative. 

And if you’re confused then they’ve done their job because they’ve blended and diluted the issue so much that the local shops get lost in the muddy water — and there goes one of the few remaining genuine competitive advantages that real hometown shops actually enjoy in the battle for marketshare.   The big guys may be slow to react to emerging product trends but when they do, they do it with a vengence and I don’t want to Kent’s shops left in their corporate wake.  

The Kent brand promise is all about being real, being local, and being right sized (not oversized) and the good news has been that’s exactly where current consumer preferences lie.  For the first time in a long time, suburban malls are dying a quiet death and old style downtowns full of unique, eclectic and home grown products and services are hot.  There’s an emerging sense of local consciousness in buying habits and the traditional disadvantages of being the small shop on the block going up against the mighty national chains has been turned upside down so now everyone wants to be the small mom and pop store.  Some of the big chains are coming up with local sounding names to avoid the consumer cold shoulder that the mega-stores are facing in the current retail climate. 

If I was in the big guy shoes I’d be trying to do the same thing but since we’ve got a closet full of genuine leather small guy shoes in Kent I feel compelled to send out the call to arms to stand your ground as consumers and don’t fall victim to the slick media campaigns that try to dress the King in commoners clothes to pose as one of us. 

Here’s the news article that prompted this morning’s rambling narrative: 

Localwashing:  How Corporate America is Co-opting “Local”

by Stacy Mitchell, from Gambit Weekly

HSBC, one of the biggest banks on the planet, has taken to calling itself “the world’s local bank.” Starbucks is removing its name from at least three of its Seattle outlets, the first of which just reopened as “15th Avenue Coffee and Tea.” Winn-Dixie, a 500-outlet supermarket chain, recently launched a new ad campaign under the tagline “Local flavor since 1956.” The International Council of Shopping Centers, a consortium of mall owners and developers, has poured millions of dollars into television ads urging people to “Shop Local”—at their nearest mall.

This new variation on corporate greenwashing—localwashing—is, like the buy-local movement itself, most advanced in the context of food. Hellmann’s, the mayonnaise brand owned by the processed-food giant Unilever, is test-driving a new “Eat Real, Eat Local” initiative in Canada. Frito-Lay’s television commercials use farmers as pitchmen to position the company’s potato chips as local food, while the poultry giant Foster Farms is labeling its packages of chicken “locally grown.”

Meanwhile, Barnes & Noble has launched a video blog site under the banner “All bookselling is local.” The site, which features “local book news” and recommendations from employees of stores in such evocative-sounding locales as Surprise, Arizona, seems designed to disguise what Barnes & Noble is—a highly centralized corporation where decisions about what books to stock are made by a handful of buyers—and to present the chain instead as a collection of independent­-minded booksellers.

Shopping malls, chambers of commerce, and economic development agencies from Orlando to Spokane also are appropriating the phrase “buy local” to urge consumers to patronize nearby malls and chain stores. In March, leaders of a new Buy Local campaign in Fresno, California, assembled in front of the Fashion Fair Mall for a kickoff press conference. Flanked by stores like Anthropologie and The Cheesecake Factory, officials from the Economic Development Corporation of Fresno County explained that choosing to “buy local” helps the region’s economy and cited a study that found that for every $100 spent locally, $45 stays in the community.

But the study, conducted by the firm Civic Economics, found that to be true only if the money was spent at a locally owned business. Shop at a chain store, the analysis found, and only $13 of that $100 stays in the community. Nevertheless, the $45-stays-local statistic was repeated on a TV news story later that day, without clarification, while commercials for the new campaign explained, “buying local means any store in your community: mom-and-pop shops, national chains, big-box stores—you name it.”

In one way, all of this corporate localwashing is good news for local economy advocates: It represents the best empirical evidence yet that the grassroots movement for locally produced goods and independently owned businesses is having a measurable impact on the choices people make.

Locally grown food has soared in popularity. The United States is now home to 4,385 active farmers markets, one out of every three of them started since 2000, and food co-ops and neighborhood greengrocers are on the rise.

A growing number of independent businesses are trumpeting their local ownership and reporting a surge in customer traffic. In April, even as Virgin Megastores prepared to shutter its last U.S. music emporium, independent music stores across the country celebrated the second annual Record Store Day, an event that drew hundreds of thousands of music fans into stores, was one of the top search terms on Google, and triggered a 16-point upswing in album sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Meanwhile, local business alliances­—like Stay Local! in New Orleans and Arizona Local First in Phoenix—have now formed in over 130 cities, collectively count some 30,000 businesses as members, and are rallying public support for homegrown enterprise.

It seems that, amid the worst economic downturn since the Depression, buy-local sentiment is giving local businesses an edge over their chain competitors. While the U.S. Commerce Department reported that overall retail sales plunged almost 10 percent over the holidays, a survey conducted in January by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (where I work) found that independent retailers in cities with buy-local campaigns saw sales drop an average of just 3 percent from the previous year.

None of this has slipped the notice of corporate executives and the consumer research firms that advise them. Michelle Barry, senior vice president of the Hartman Group, explains, “Big companies have to be much more creative in how they articulate local. . . . It’s a different way of thinking about local that is not quite as literal.”

One way corporations can be “local” is to stock a token amount of locally grown produce, as Wal-Mart has done in some stores. The chain’s local food offerings are usually limited to a few of the main commodity crops of that state—peaches in Georgia, potatoes in Maine—and sit amid a sea of industrial food and other goods shipped from the far side of the planet. This modest gesture has won Wal-Mart glowing coverage in numerous newspapers, few of which have asked the salient question: Does Wal-Mart, which now captures more than one of every five dollars spent on groceries, create more and better opportunities for local farmers than the grocers it replaces?

“I would prefer that the county’s resources were not being spent promoting Wal-Mart and Home Depot,” says Scott Miller, owner of Fresno’s Gazebo Gardens, a plant nursery founded in 1922. “We have a great history of being involved in community events and donating to local causes. Our plants are grown locally. We believe that our kind of business is more valuable to a community than any big chain.”

Stacy Mitchell is a senior researcher with the New Rules Project and author of Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America’s Independent Businesses. Mitchell published a longer version of this article in several alt weeklies; we spotted it in New Orleans’ Gambit Weekly (July 14, 2009).

Arts Power...

When I started yesterday’s blog post it was supposed to be a commentary on one of my favorite business segments in Kent – artists — but I ended up carrying on so much about clusters and the economic ecology of our university city that I never quite made it to the end zone with the artists so I’ll try again today.  A couple of weeks ago Main Street Kent hosted it’s annual Wine and Arts festival downtown and judging from the long lines at the wine booths the event appears to have been a great success.  Keep in mind this wasn’t a county fair grounds copy-cat arts event with booths lined up as far as the eye can see.  Nope, it was classic Kent, which means it was small — or as we say, right-sized — a bit understated, intimate and interesting.  Quirky is in these days and Kent’s got quirky to spare.   And quirky loves the arts which is why I see harnessing the power of the arts as smart business for Kent.

The mystique of the starving artist is much more soul affirming than viewing artists as a money making machine but don’t judge this book by their cover and don’t under-estimate the money making capabilities of a savvy bunch of artisans.  The arts mean business and those cities that can see beyond the window dressing of tie-dye t-shirts and sandals have been able to create a supportive business environment to grow this valuable economic asset. 

Sure, we all enjoy the intrinsic value of the arts — the beauty, the inspiration, the calming, the thought provoking — but the good news is that there’s more to the arts than meets the eye.  A 2007 national arts report credited the arts industry for generating $166 billion in economic activity.  That’s a 24% increase over the last 5 years while the rest of our economy seems to be dying on the vine.  These are real jobs that stay local and that’s millions in tax dollars that are re-invested in our communities.

In the dog eat dog, take no prisoners race to attract new industries locally, cities spend thousands on advertising and promoting their home towns — all in the name of business attraction and recruitment.  Then, if we’re lucky enough to actually get their attention, we are often asked to give away the farm in tax abatements and deferrals to close the deal.  And if we can’t afford it, there’s another city right next store that is ready with their check in hand.  It’s the ugly reality of business development.   

We’ve got to keep a hand in the business development game to stay diversified but we are much more interested in growing what we’ve got, and one thing we’ve got is the arts, which by it’s nature is a local thing.  From an economic sustainability perspective the mantra has to be keep it local because what is spent locally stays local, and that’s particularly true in the arts. 

Interestingly, local attendees to arts events spend an average of $19.53 per event while those out of towners are a little looser with their pocket books spending twice this amount or $40.19 per person.  So when we attract arts and culture tourists we are leveraging significant economic rewards.

The last thing I want to do is to re-cast the arts as another commoditized product that has become so commercialized that it seems souless by speaking only to the money making side of this industry but equally I don’t think we should undersell the role of the arts in turning the wheels of our local economy.  In that spirit, let us worry about the business side of the arts;  you just need to be a fan, take your kids, walk around the displays, live in the right side of your brain for a couple of hours, eat and drink a little, and watch Kent’s characters in their natural environment.  

The people watching in Kent is as entertaining as the products being bought and sold — it’s part of our charm.  And yes, those characters are real.

Pitching Kent to the Stimulus Czar...

Communityship...

Whenever things take a turn for the worse frustrations mount and our anxiety barometers start to rise.  That’s when the old fight or flight reflexes start to kick in pumping us full of adreneline ready to pounce on something but with problems as big as the global economy there’s really nowhere to run and nothing to pound on.  I suppose the Sound Off column in the newspaper provides some community pounding opportunities but reading those feels like rubber-necking at an accident — the shock value may be entertaining but I’m not sure it’s actually helping people.  It’s usually not long before the call for more leadership emerges; someone who can fix our problems for us.  There’s certainly merit to leadership but you have to be careful what you ask for when you’re relying on someone else to fix your problems.  That’s why I’m drawn to the concept of communityship.

Admittedly people love great leaders, and we certainly need them, but I worry that obsessing over leaders flying solo can be disempowering.  By focusing on a single person and what he or she can do we run the risk of losing the sense of community in the mix.  I’ve never been a big fan of the mythic western hero that rides into town on the white horse to save the day.  I prefer the less glamorous Amish barn raising where everybody lends a hand to get the job done. 

Maybe we just need to divvy-up the big solo hero work into managable sized bites.  Maybe all we really need is ordinary, everyday leaders.  People who put their pants on one leg at a time but still find ways to contribute to progress every day.  Maybe it’s in shared leadership that we not only solve problems by working with one another but we also develop that rather elusive sense of community that seems like a relic of days gone by.

If you carry this proposition through to some sort of logical conclusion I guess I’d have to say that we indeed need more leadership but it looks less like the people with an entourage and more like you and me.  That’s the servant leader concept; it’s stewardship and communityship.

To me the whole communityship question started to echo in my head as I sat through numerous Council and citizen meetings listening to ways to compel people to shovel their sidewalks after the snow stopped falling.  It’s true, for whatever reason more and more property owners and their tenants are leaving their sidewalks unattended after it snows which means that their sidewalks are impassable, which in turn pushes walkers into the street where they race against automobile traffic.  175 pounds versus 2,000 pounds is never a good thing.  Something has to be done, but what exactly?

There tend to be two camps on the what to do issue:  Camp one says send out the cops and start writing tickets, issuing fines, and force those deadbeat shovelers into compliance using the threat of punishment as a deterrent.  

The other camp says good luck with that forcing thing.  Don’t waste time and money chasing the deadbeats — instead spend the money on actually getting the sidewalk cleared which is the whole point anyways.  Either hire a contractor, or part time City workers, or even take some City workers out of the plow trucks and put them on sidewalk duty.  They passionately suggest that sidewalks deserve equal treatment as streets – walkers of the world unite!  

Both options take money and people power, but there are numerous variations for how to bill the work back to the deadbeat shoveler or add it to the list of services that the City performs using tax dollars.  

The discouraging part of all this is not the lack of interest or the lack of ideas, it’s that we’re having the conversation in the first place.  How did the concept of being a good neighbor fall so far off the radar screen that we’re left trying to legislate or mandate common courtesy and pitching in to do your part? 

Honestly, if it was just a matter of people needing a couple of extra days to dig out their sidewalks this wouldn’t even be an issue.  The problem is increasing numbers of homeowners don’t ever get a shovel out.  The strategy seems to be to let Mother Nature eventually melt it all off and in the meantime keep a low profile and stay out of site.

And yes, there are special cases of people with handicaps and the elderly that have legitimate issues when it comes to shoveling but whatever happened to lending a helping hand?  Instead, it seems like people try to use these exceptions as the rule and suggest that shoveling sidewalks is untenable.  Come on, seriously? 

I didn’t start this litany to pick a side because the City is here to serve and we’re happy to add sidewalk clearing or sidewalk policing to our duty list but let’s keep it real; it’s going to cost all of us something to do that and I can’t help but wonder if a little civic duty could save a lot of money that neither the City nor the taxpayers have enough of these days. 

In my book sweat equity beats raising taxes every time.   

Winter Energy Costs...

I can’t believe that I’m already watching white rain drops fall from the sky and accumulate on the roof of my car. Are you kidding me? Apparently not.  So with thoughts of chestnuts roasting over an open fire, I thought it was a good time to share information that the City has received regarding the price of fuel (gas and electric) that we’ll be using to keep warm this winter. 

This was a tough summer for gas at the pumps but the outlook for natural gas costs is better.  As a NOPEC community, gas customers in Kent have a chance to buy gas in greater quantities and at discounted prices.  Overall NOPEC has a good track for record beating retail gas prices by buying wholesale and it looks like they’ve been able to lock down very reasonable prices for this winter as well.

Here’s a note from our NOPEC representatives: 

TO ALL DEO MEMBER NOPEC COMMUNITIES – October 27, 2008 GAS PURCHASES – DEO AREA

Dear NOPEC representative:

I am very pleased to announce to you that NOPEC has been able to purchase the cheapest gas we have purchased since we have been receiving gas from Dominion Retail. We have now extended our purchases in the Dominion East Ohio area from June 2009 through August 2009, at the rate of $9.59 mcf.

NOPEC is very excited about these rates because this puts our member communities in great shape through next summer. Also, the U.S. Department of Energy’s prediction is that natural gas prices during the winter in Ohio will be up 17% from last year. NOPEC’s price for this winter in the DEO area is up seven and one half percent (7.5%) from last year and our price next summer in the DEO area will be 15% less than this summer.

Gas update as of October 21, 2008 – DEO area

September, 2008 – $11.24/mcf
October and November, 2008 – $10.98/mcf
December, 2008-May, 2009 – $10.88/mcf
June, 2009 – August, 2009 – $9.59/mcf

If you’ve got baseboard heat in your home, electric bills seem to be a different story.  NOPEC is fighting a rate hike from First Energy on their customers behalf (all 600,000 of them) and as you read the following memorandum it sounds like an uphill battle.  It looks like as customers we’re already losing an agreed upon 5% price discount and on top of that First Energy is raising the rates.     

Voice of the Voter Project...

Paul Newman In Downtown Kent...

The great part about having an older downtown is that there are stories for every street corner.  Whether it’s references to Drew Carey’s sorority house days or Joe Walsh’s classic guitar riffs, downtown Kent has a century worth of real living and all the urban myths that go along with it.  That probably explains why Main Street Kent’s Ghost Walk has been such a smash hit.  People love to hear the stories that make downtown Kent, Kent, and not a new town-center downtown like Hudson.   With the recent passage of both Kent’s old downtown diner and Paul Newman making headlines it’s stirred up a great story of Paul Newman eating in the dinner years ago.  In honor of both the diner and Mr. Newman the Kent Stage is proud to be showing the classic film Cat On the Hot Tin Roof Sunday October 19th at 3pm.   

The Kent Stage is a great venue and you can’t beat the price.  Enjoy!

KENT STAGE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Standing Rock Cultural Arts
257 N. Water St.
Kent, OH 44240
Phone: 330-673-4970

http://www.standingrock.net/ 

WHO: Standing Rock Cultural Arts presents

WHAT: Movies on Main Street
-”Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”
-Starring Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor

WHEN: Sunday, October 19th, 3pm

WHERE: The Kent Stage, 175 E. Main St. Kent, Ohio

FEE: $5 General. $3 Students/Seniors

CONTACT: 330-677-5005 or 330-673-4970

Movies on Main Street is a series of Art Films, Classic Films, and Foreign Films that occur monthly at The Kent Stage. The purpose is to celebrate the motion picture medium and offer a cultural experience to the moviegoers in our area.

Sponsored in part by City Bank Antiques

FILM: CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF
Director: Richard Brooks
Writers: Tennessee Williams (play), Richard Brooks (screenplay)
Release Date: 20 September 1958 (USA)
Runtime: 108 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Awards: Nominated for 6 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 8 nominations

Plot:
Brick, an alcoholic ex-football player, drinks his days away and resists
the affections of his wife, Maggie. His reunion with his father, Big
Daddy, who is dying of cancer, jogs a host of memories and revelations
for both father and son. The fifth Tennessee Williams play to reach the
screen, wealthy Mississippi plantation owner Big Daddy Pollitt, unaware
that he’s dying of cancer and disturbed by the strained and childless
marriage of his favored alcoholic son Brick and his other son, Gooper,
whose wife is about to bring forth another in the endless line of little
“no-neck monsters,” celebrates his sixty-fifth birthday with his family.

Brick’s wife, Maggie, beautiful and desirable, tries unsuccessfully to
coax her husband away from the bottle, while alternately enticing him
and taunting him about his obsession with his deceased best friend and
the guilt about their relationship. The seamy tensions reach a climax
when the truth of Big Daddy’s health is revealed, and he and Brick
manage to resolve their differences.

The Kent Stage offers a variety of domestic and imported beers and other
refreshments. It is the City of Kent’s premiere cultural and historic
venue for live music and theatre events as well as cinema. Constructed
as the Flannigan and Steele Theater in 1927, the Kent Stage is the only
remaining downtown theater of its kind in Portage County. The building
opened as a movie theater and has entertained audiences in Kent for 80
years.

Thank you for supporting the Arts and Downtown Kent,

Standing Rock Cultural Arts
257 N. Water St.
Kent, OH 44240
330-673-4970