Region is producing different types of docs

Transcription

Region is producing different types of docs
20150323-NEWS--1-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/20/2015
2:19 PM
Page 1
$2.00/MARCH 23 - 29, 2015
Loan for historic 55 Public Square building, with three unoccupied floors, is sold for large loss — P. 4
Local businesses have found loyal audiences — and those with money to burn — via podcasts — P. 5
He’s game
for anything
Indians’ director of in-game experience
has a lot of ideas, and a ‘crazy’ résumé
By KEVIN KLEPS
kkleps@crain.com
MCKINLEY WILEY
Leland Patton, who joined the Cleveland Indians in 2014, previously worked for a pair of NBA teams.
Leland Patton has had what he
calls a “crazy life.”
Prior to joining the Cleveland Indians in February 2014 as the director of in-game experience, Patton
directed a 5,000-performer wine
festival in Switzerland, led theater
and opera productions on and off
Broadway, and worked for the
Sacramento Kings and Miami Heat.
The soon-to-be 48-year-old says
professional sports compare in
some ways to ancient Greek theater
because the crowds respond to the
on-court or on-field action. But instead of comedy or tragedy, Patton’s previous job — a nearly sixyear tenure as the producer of The
Heat Experience — called for nonstop theatrics, pulsating sound and
plenty of pyrotechnics.
That seems about as different to
Major League Baseball as the Heat’s
roster with and without LeBron
James.
“Obviously, it’s a much lighter,
historical experience. There isn’t as
much intensity,” Patton said of
baseball.
“It’s not like the NBA, where it’s
this aggressive, assaultive entertainment.
“I call it the 2-by-4 school,” he
continued. “You hit someone over
the head, and that’s kind of what
the experience is like. It’s great, it’s
fun, but baseball I think is more of a
kinetic experience.”
And it might be the best outlet yet
for Patton’s diverse skill set.
The Indians’ 21-year-old home is
the 11th-oldest in MLB. Prior to this
See GAME, page 19
Region is producing different types of docs
By TIMOTHY MAGAW
tmagaw@crain.com
12
Given the desperate need for primary care docs as health care access expands under the Affordable
Care Act and the horde of aging
baby boomers requires more
hands-on care, a lesser-known
form of medical education is taking
root in Northeast Ohio.
The region has long produced
Simply put, DOs tend to focus on
treating the whole patient, not just
their symptoms. They also tend to
focus less on research and gravitate
toward careers in primary care.
“We take care of people, not
problems,” said Dr. Robert Juhasz,
president of Cleveland Clinic’s
South Pointe Hospital in Warrensville Heights and head of the
American Osteopathic Association.
“We believe in taking care of the
whole person — body, mind and
spirit. We believe in enhancing the
body’s innate ability to heal itself.”
Leading the teaching charge regionally is Ohio University, whose
Heritage College of Osteopathic
Medicine has been on a tear over
the last few years expanding beyond its Athens headquarters.
Last year, for one, it opened a
$24.7 million campus in Dublin,
Ohio, and this summer plans to
open a new outpost in 60,000
square feet of renovated space at
South Pointe.
This summer, the Clinic collaboration — one valued at about $49.1
million — will welcome its first
class of 50 students, 18 more than
originally expected.
Moreover, Erie, Pa.-based Lake
Erie College of Medicine, or
See DOCS, page 21
7
ALSO INSIDE:
NEWSPAPER
74470 83781
0
MDs — short for the Latin phrase
“medicinae doctor” — at its venerable medical schools, Case Western
Reserve University and Northeast
Ohio Medical University. But soon,
the region will be churning out
more DOs, or doctors of osteopathic medicine.
It’s not a new form of medical
education, given that its roots go
back more than a hundred years,
but it is different.
SPORTS BUSINESS
There are high expectations for the Indians, and
a renovated home to drive sales ■ Pages 14-18
PLUS: CHARGING STRONG ■ GLADIATORS’ SUCCESS ■ & MORE
Entire contents © 2015
by Crain Communications Inc.
Vol. 36, No. 12
20150323-NEWS--2-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/19/2015
3:02 PM
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Small Business Matters
i Want more information and resources on this week's topics, ideas and events? Go to www.cose.org/smallbizmatters.
PRESENTED BY
ASK THE EXPERT
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0;:\WWVY[HUK:LY]PJLZ&
Many small business owners think outsourcing is just for bigger companies, but choosing
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IT support and services run the gamut
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to more technically demanding services like
virtualizations, security implementation, and
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Small businesses often feel that they are too
small to outsource IT services, but the decision
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with, referrals are always the best place to start
your search; people do business with people
they trust. When you outsource IT services, you
are giving someone the keys to the kingdom,
March 23
By The Numbers
Go Green
on Your Lease
SAVE UP TO
so be sure you choose professionals that
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success in your business.
‘‘
‘‘
PATTY ZINN, CEO, Micro Systems Management
i 3VVRPUN[VÄUK0;Z\WWVY[MVY`V\YI\ZPULZZ&
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52 TIPS FOR YOUR BUSINESS
13%
Green leases can reduce
utility spend up to 13% from
easy-to-implement sustainable
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their leases.
SOURCE: JONES LANG LASALLE (2013)
#12: Do Your Homework When Hiring a Consultant
When choosing a consultant to partner with, personal
referrals are always the best place to start your search. Talk
to one or more of your trusted connections to gain valuable
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do business with people they trust,” says Zinn. Every consultant
will have a sales pitch, it’s up to the entrepreneur to do their
OVTL^VYRHUKÄUKV\[PMV[OLYZJVUZPKLY[OLJVUZ\S[HU[[VIL
HUL_WLY[PU[OLPYÄLSK
i For more information on outsourcing and hiring consultants,
visit www.cose.org/smallbizmatters. Or, check out Linktunity,
an online tool that can connect you with local IT experts
at www.linktunity.com.
TECH THURSDAY
THURSDAY, MARCH 26
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With his passion for good food and his
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COFFEE WITH COSE
A group discussion and networking event
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Employees: 166
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Register at www.cose.org/events
Check out www.cose.org/events
for all the latest happenings.
20150323-NEWS--3-NAT-CCI-CL_--
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STAN BULLARD
The mortgage for the 22-floor 55 Public Square office building changed hands on March 3.
Loan for 55 Public Square
is sold for $12 million loss
Historic office building has three floors that are unoccupied
By STAN BULLARD
sbullard@crain.com
Another story may be starting to
take shape at the 22-floor office
building at 55 Public Square after
the mortgage that Miami-based
Optima Management Co. used to
buy it changed hands.
The 55 Public Square Holdings
LLC, which lists to the New York
City address of Triangle Capital
Group in Ohio corporate records,
became the lender for the property
on March 3, according to a document filed with the Cuyahoga
County Fiscal Office. The filing does
not show how much 55 Public
Square paid for the $20 million remaining balance of the $22 million
note that was sold by CW3 Asset
Servicing, a New York-based firm
that provides special servicing for
distressed securitized loans.
However, Trepp, a New Yorkbased consultancy that provides
data on sales of nonperforming securitized loans, reports that the
loan was sold for $7 million, or a
loss of almost $12 million, on the
remaining balance of the loan.
Sean Barrie, a Trepp research associate, said such sales occur when
the special servicer decides a liquidation sale is the course of action
that returns the most money to
holders of the mortgage notes.
The new owner of the mortgage
may stand pat, renegotiate the
mortgage or pursue a foreclosure
proceeding to gain ownership of
the property. It’s a scenario expected to grip multiple commercial
property owners as securitized
loans issued before the Great Recession come due and owners cannot find takeout financing to replace the matured loans.
The 424,000-square-foot 55 Public Square building has nearly
160,000 square feet of empty offices, according to LoopNet, an on-
CORRECTION
line realty data provider, although
brokers informally put the number
at 150,000 square feet because of
pending deals Optima has in the
works. Three floors in the building
are empty, according to Optima’s
website.
However, 55 Public Square might
have been expected to be the recipient of the biggest change in the dynamic of older class B and C buildings in decades in downtown
Cleveland. Multiple tenants will be
looking for new suites following the
sale of five older office buildings the
last two years for conversion — in
whole or part — to apartments.
The building also occupies a significant place in the city’s history.
When constructed in 1958, it was
Cleveland’s first office building
constructed with air conditioning,
which ushered in the modern office
building era, according to Tom
Gustafson, a principal at Colliers
International’s Cleveland office.
Although 55 Public Square might
gain tenants from the apartment
action, Gustafson said, “In my
opinion, I don’t think there are
enough tenants to make a huge
dent in that amount of space. “
Moreover, the building is likely to
need an infusion of capital to compete for low-rent tenants. Douglas
Leary, a CBRE Group senior vice
president, said the attached garage
owned by Optima — typically a
plus for wooing tenants — is in
such disrepair he had one tenant
drop consideration of the building
as soon as he saw it. He would not
identify the prospective tenant.
The vacancy level also makes the
building a candidate for potential
conversion to apartments.
As it is more than 50 years old, 55
Public Square is old enough to be
eligible for federal and state historic
preservation tax credits that have
been crucial to the rise of residential living downtown, according to
Tom Yablonsky, executive vice
president of Downtown Cleveland
Alliance.
Yablonsky said it might qualify
for historic tax credits as a midcentury modern office building, but
winning such a designation requires detailed studies. Residences
at 1717, which was converted to
apartments from offices at 1717 E.
Ninth St. in a project using tax credits, went up in 1959. The building
adjoining 55 Public Square — the
75 Public Square office building —
was purchased this year by an affiliate of Valley View-based Millennia
Properties Co. for future conversion
to apartments.
Yablonsky noted suites on the
square will benefit from the recently launched renovation to make
Public Square a more park-like,
people-friendly public space.
Chaim Schochet, Optima’s investment executive who oversees
its Cleveland operations, did not return four calls on the note sale or
the building. An executive at Triangle Capital who refused to give his
name declined comment on the
note purchase.
Triangle Capital’s website says its
focus is on commercial real estate
debt. Triangle’s site says it has
bought more than $400 million of
debt and equity and controls more
than $750 million of commercial
real estate.
When Optima paid $34 million
for 55 Public Square in 2008, it was
the second building that Miamibased Optima bought in Cleveland
in a buying binge that gave it,
through various companies, ownership of four downtown properties.
Those holdings include the 925 Euclid Ave. building, formerly known
as the Huntington Building, and
One Cleveland Center and Penton
Media Building, which occupy two
corners at East Ninth Street and St.
Clair Avenue East.
One of the first events at Stillwater Place at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo will be a wedding on
Friday, June 26. An incorrect date was provided for a story that appeared in the March 16 issue.
20150323-NEWS--5-NAT-CCI-CL_--
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MARCH 23 - 29, 2015
WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM
CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
5
LISTEN UP:
PODCASTS HIT
RIGHT NOTES
Northeast Ohio companies find format
to be one that reaches target audiences
By CHUCK SODER
csoder@crain.com
Every week or two, Phil Waters
gets together with his buddies to
drink beer and talk about vintage
motorcycles.
They swear. They goof off. And
they entertain thousands of people
listening via the Internet.
Some of those people become extremely loyal customers — the type
who are willing to buy a motorcycle
from a store in another state.
This is the power of having a podcast with a loyal following.
ClevelandMoto is one of several
local companies that have such a
following. Or aim to build one.
Expect more companies to follow
their lead.
Podcasts have become a lot more
popular lately — and the people
who listen to them tend to be highly educated and highly paid, according to a recent study by Edison
Research and Triton Digital.
A few people who spoke with
Crain’s added “highly engaged” to
that list.
For instance, during a busy week
at ClevelandMoto’s stores in Lakewood and Mentor, Waters, the owner, might run into seven or eight
customers who mention the podcast. And last year, he estimates that
fans outside Northeast Ohio probably bought 15 motorcycles. Not to
mention the T-shirts and stickers.
“When they’ve been listening to
you for three or four years, they’re
telling you stories you’ve forgotten,”
he said.
Granted, only 33% of Americans
over the age of 12 have ever listened
to a podcast, according to the 2015
Infinite Dial study. But that percentage increases almost every year.
And that number goes up to 52%
for people who make at least
$100,000 per year. Of the 300-or-so
respondents who make that much
money, 17% said they listened to a
podcast during the previous week
— a figure that falls as income
drops.
They’re probably not just listening to one podcast, either: The average weekly listener tunes in to six
episodes per week, according to an
online presentation given by Tom
Webster, vice president of strategy
and marketing for Edison Research.
“Once you have the podcast consumption bug, you listen to a lot of
podcasts,” he said.
Something to believe in
Why are the numbers going up?
Because listening to podcasts is getting “easier and easier and easier,”
according to Dave Jackson, a Rocky
River resident who runs a part-time
podcasting consulting business
called the School of Podcasting —
which also is the name of one of his
podcasts.
Ten years ago, if you wanted to
listen to a podcast, you had to
download it to your computer and
then sync that computer with your
iPod or another audio player. Now,
See PODCASTS, page 9
ACOs aren’t as profitable, but are becoming norm
By TIMOTHY MAGAW
tmagaw@crain.com
A growing movement to reward
organizations that provide highquality, coordinated care at a controlled cost is changing the way local health care systems — and even
some commercial insurers — care
for and interact with patients.
In the wake of the Affordable
Care Act, Northeast Ohio’s health
systems embraced the concept of
accountable care organizations, or
ACOs, to varying degrees. While
University Hospitals and Summa
Health System seemingly went all
in on the concept early on, Cleveland Clinic was anything but eager
to embrace experimental payment
models that had the potential to
hurt its revenue streams.
But just last month, the Clinic
quietly announced it had entered
into Medicare’s shared savings program, perhaps the most wellknown ACO program. UH and
Summa had been involved from
the start, with MetroHealth joining
the fold shortly thereafter. And
while all of their approaches have
been different, they agree this model isn’t going away anytime soon.
By 2018, for one, the feds would like
to see half of Medicare spending in
some sort value-based contract.
That’s a far cry from the current
model, which mostly pays out
based on how many services are
rendered.
“An ACO in of itself is not a money maker,” said Dr. William Steiner,
interim president of UH’s accountable care organization.
“Even if you do great, you’re still
getting less money than the oldfashioned way,” Steiner said.
“We’re looking at how to do this
correctly, build an infrastructure
and fine-tune it. We’re looking
ahead to the days when probably
all medical payments are going to
go this way.”
Good accounting
Today, UH is one of the largest
accountable care providers in the
country, serving more than 250,000
self-insured, commercially insured,
Medicare and Medicaid members
and their beneficiaries. Over the
last few years, the health system
has hired a few dozen patient navigators to help its ACO patients navigate the complex health care system. It also has invested heavily in
analytics — something previously
only embraced by insurers — that
allow docs to identify high-cost patients that require more intense intervention.
As for why UH jumped in so early, Steiner said UH was more interested in “driving the bus, rather
than getting run over by it.”
The efforts appear to be paying
off, according to Steiner, an internist by trade who still sees patients. The health system launched
an ACO that encompassed its
25,000 employees, spouses/same
sex partners and dependents enrolled in a UH medical plan. By
more intensely managing their
care, UH kept premiums flat for
several years and when increased,
Steiner said the hike was well below
the rest of the market.
Also, as part of the Medicare
ACO, UH’s spend on Medicare patients came in slightly below its target in the first year of operation,
and it met the federally dictated
quality targets. That said, UH didn’t reduce the cost of care for
Medicare patients quite enough to
share in any savings with the feds.
As part of the shared savings programs, if health systems reduce
spending beyond a certain sliding
threshold, they share in 50% of the
generated savings with the government. UH should learn later this
See ACOs, page 22
20150323-NEWS--6-NAT-CCI-CL_--
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Auckland
Session 1: June 9–11
Session 1: July 14–16
Session 2: August 18–20
Session 2: Sept 19–Oct 1
Session 1-3:
2016 DATES TBD
Session 1-3:
2016 DATES TBD
Session 3: October 13–15
Session 3: November 17–19
For additional information on program faculty or application materials, please visit:
weatherhead.case.edu/deepdive
Motorcars is expanding,
and much more efficient
Company’s Honda dealership spending $1.7M on solar panels
By RACHEL ABBEY McCAFFERTY
rmccafferty@crain.com
When the new solar array at Motorcars Honda in Cleveland Heights
is complete, the Mayfield Road dealership will be able to provide for
about 70% of its energy needs, said
general manager and co-owner
Trevor Gile.
Not only that, but the emissions
released by new cars sold by the
dealership will be totally offset by the
panels’ output for the next seven to
nine years, Gile said. Motorcars is in
the midst of a big overhaul at its
Honda dealership at 2953 Mayfield
Road in Cleveland Heights. The
company is investing $6 million into
the dealership, with about $1.7 million going to the solar panels. The
solar panel investment is eligible for
a 30% federal tax credit.
The frame for the solar array,
which was designed by Athens,
Ohio-based Dovetail Solar and
Wind, is made entirely from recycled
steel. Since the Honda dealership is
not near highways, it’s more of a
“destination dealership,” Gile said —
and in order to grow, it needs to appeal to a niche market, like the environmentally savvy crowd.
The common thread that runs under everything Motorcars does is, as
its motto puts it, its desire to create
“customers for life.” The company
knows it’s going to be competitive
on price, Gile said, but the “difference-makers” are the amenities it
can offer. Motorcars Cleveland is a
family-run business, comprised
mainly of the Honda dealership, a
Toyota dealership and a body shop,
all in Cleveland Heights; a service
center in downtown Cleveland; and
two Rainforest car washes — one in
Cleveland Heights and one in
Brunswick. The dealerships, which
are across the road from one another, typically have 150 to 200 used
cars on the grounds at any time, plus
about 250 to 300 new Honda vehicles and 200 to 250 Toyota vehicles,
Gile said.
As part of the in-process expansion, Motorcars Honda also is installing a digital assembly line that
could speed up services like oil
changes and tire rotations. The line
will include what looks like two electric walkways that pull the vehicle
through six stops, Gile said. At each
stop, the vehicle can be lifted up for
work, while customers can follow
along through TV screens. There will
be multiple service options at each
stop. Gile said the company always
has taken the approach that “service
is what makes us successful.”
Other planned updates for Motorcars Honda include a children’s play
area and a lounge for customers with
fireplaces and a patio. The upgrades
began in November and should be
completed in September or October.
The solar panels, which will also
serve as a roof for a 95-vehicle showroom, should be installed by the end
of April or beginning of May, Gile
said.
With the dealership’s proximity to
multiple medical centers, Motorcars
also thought it was a good idea to
partner with AMS Vans Inc. and Mobility Ventures LLC to provide costcompetitive mobility devices with
wheelchair access. The partnership,
called Motorcars Mobility, offers
new or pre-owned vehicles, as well
as services for the wheelchair accessible vehicles. That business began
less than six months ago, though
Motorcars plans to move the store
after renovating a new facility for it,
Gile said.
Seeing the light
Motorcars supports the community and sees itself as an important
part of it, said vice city manager Susanna Niermann O’Neil. In the past
10 years, the dealership has served as
a sponsor for summer performing
arts venue Cain Park, promoting it
and providing shuttle service for big
events. It even sponsored an Ameri-
can Idol-style competition called
“Heights’ Got Talent,” O’Neil said. It
also has sponsored youth baseball
teams in the past, served as a sponsor for the Gay Games and actively
supports the city’s nonprofits.
“They’re not just a business,” O’Neil
said. “They’re a community partner.”
And the company’s environmental focus is a good fit for a business
located in Cleveland Heights.
“It’s the city of trees,” Gile said.
The solar panel installation is inspiring the dealership to take more
green steps, Gile said. The dealership
is in the process of switching all of its
lighting to LEDs, and it will even offer bicycles as an alternative to rental
cars, starting this spring.
This commitment to being environmentally sustainable isn’t just a
focus locally.
Since 2012, Honda Motor Co. has
had a national “Green Dealer” program, which encourages dealerships
to make measurable reductions in
outputs like energy usage and
awards those that do, like Jack Matia
Honda in Elyria. Honda’s main motivation behind the program was its
commitment to reducing CO2 emissions, said Raminta Jautokas, Honda
environmental leadership program
manager. When looking for a resource to share with the dealerships,
Jautokas said the company came up
empty-handed.
“Dealerships are really unique environments,” she said, noting that
they range from service shops to
showrooms.
So, the company created its own
guide, which it released last year.
The guide is available to Honda dealerships, but the company has also
made it publicly available on its
website. The company developed
the guide because it saw a need, said
Matt Sloustcher, assistant manager
for corporate affairs and communications, and found the societal benefits of sharing it far outweighed the
competitive advantage.
20150323-NEWS--7-NAT-CCI-CL_--
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1:11 PM
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MARCH 23 - 29, 2015
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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
7
PHOTOS: TED RIOLO; RENDERING
Motorcars Honda in Cleveland Heights is investing $6 million into the dealership, of which about
$1.7 million will be spent on solar panels. A rendering of the finished site is above.
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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
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MARCH 23 - 29, 2015
Concord buying into plan Eliot Ness’ estate says
Township hopes to develop a five-acre, mixed-use district
By STAN BULLARD
sbullard@crain.com
Although Concord Township is
known for greenfields that are a
magnet for new homes and hospital projects, and as the site of the
Quail Hollow resort and country
club, trustees of the Lake County
community have embarked on a
quest usually undertaken by landstarved, inner-ring suburbs.
The township and the ConcordPainesville Joint Economic Development District, which markets
the area, are conducting a request
for proposals for real estate developers to undertake a town-center
style, mixed-use district on the
southwest corner of the I-90 interchange of state Route 44.
Trustees hope to land interest in
developing a five-acre site, which
may be expanded later by as much
as 33 acres that the township has
options to purchase. Concepts
would include first-floor retail,
restaurants and upper-level offices, or housing such as townhouses with density typically associated with urban projects.
The township bought a five-acre
site on Capital Parkway for almost
$1 million that is the proposed
project’s first phase. It gave it the
moniker “Capital District.”
Nearly two miles south of the
interchange, the proposed Capital
District is off Auburn Road, but it
will get enhanced access after the
Ohio Department of Transportation extends Capital east to a new
GOOGLE MAPS
interchange on state Route 44 that
also will include on its east side
Crile Road.
ODOT this year plans to bid the
two-year road project, designed to
ease traffic congestion in the area.
Almost 10 years of planning
have gone into this gambit for development by trustees.
Kathy Mitchell, Concord Township administrator, said that as the
community
has
developed,
trustees hear more requests for
neighborhood services it lacks,
such as more restaurants — its
current ones are packed — and
even a Starbucks.
“We’ve turned into a medical
hub, but we don’t have a drugstore,” Mitchell said. “It’s mindboggling. We don’t want to have to
always go to the community next
door for things.”
The plan also reflects a desire to
concentrate such services in a
smaller area rather than what’s
likely to happen: a series of freestanding stores or strip centers on
half-acre to three-acre parcels on
nearby commercial streets.
“We don’t want curb cut after
curb cut,” she said. “This is more
proactive. We cherish the fact we
are a township and are semi rural.”
Mitchell noted just 8% of the
township’s land is zoned for commercial or industrial use, so its
leadership wants to see the
ground used to good effect.
Robert Simons, a real estate expert and urban studies professor
at Cleveland State University’s
Maxine Goodman Levin College of
Urban Affairs, is skeptical about
the concept.
“It’s location, location, location,” Simons said.
“It’s not that special to me.
They’re going to have to throw a
lot of money at it. (Developers) are
not going to be beating down the
doors. Housing would make sense,
but there’s nothing compelling to
it.”
Simons said he believes the site
See CONCORD, page 22
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it’s owed Diebold stock
By ALLY MAROTTI
Crain’s Chicago Business
Legendary law enforcer Eliot
Ness’ stock holdings may not be
quite as untouchable as he was.
The estate of Eliot Ness filed a
lawsuit against North Canton-based
Diebold Inc. in an effort to recover
stock it says belonged to the legendary law enforcer.
According to the lawsuit, which
was filed March 9 in the U.S. District
Court for the Southern District of
Florida, Diebold issued Ness 50
common shares of stock valued at
$5 each in 1948, when Ness was
serving as CEO of the company.
That stock has grown to more
than 13,000 shares valued at more
than $1 million, according to an estimate in the court filings.
The Ness estate asked the court
to determine its right to the stock
and award it the unpaid dividends
and interest.
“This certificate goes way back to
the time when Eliot Ness was the
CEO of Diebold,” said John F.
Bradley of Ft. Lauderdale-based
Bradley Legal Group, an entertainment and celebrity attorney representing the Ness estate.
The stock certificate “has its life
and its value independent of the life
of the owner, so it would pass to
their heir the same way the car in a
driveway or a painting on the wall
would pass.”
As the stock matured, Ness has
worked his way into legend. Born
and educated in Chicago, Ness
reigned as a Chicago law enforcer
during the Prohibition era, and as-
sembled a crew known as “The Untouchables” credited for bringing
down the gangster Al Capone. His
stories have been depicted and fictionalized in television shows,
movies and books.
When Prohibition ended, he
moved to Ohio to take on moonshiners in Appalachia with the Department of Treasury’s Alcohol Tax
Unit, and later moved to Cleveland,
according to the Department of Justice’s website.
Ness served as CEO of Diebold, a
company founded as a safe and lock
maker, from 1944 to 1951, according to Diebold’s website. He died in
Pennsylvania in 1957, with no heir
but his wife, Bradley said.
One of the claimants to the estate, Deb Hole of Plantation, Fla.,
recently recovered the certificate
evidencing the stock and prompted
Bradley to assemble Ness’ estate.
Hole obtained the certificate from
the estate of Winifred Higgins
Knorr, who served as Ness’ secretary for a time, Bradley said.
Bradley could not say when Hole
obtained the certificate, but according to the lawsuit, Diebold’s stock
agent, Wells Fargo, issued a statement in 2013 declaring the certificate invalid. Representatives from
Diebold and Wells Fargo were not
immediately available for comment.
Diebold stock is traded publicly
under the ticker DSD. The company
posted $861.3 million in revenue
during the fourth quarter of 2014,
which was up 6.1% from the fourth
quarter of 2013, according to the
company’s website.
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20150323-NEWS--9-NAT-CCI-CL_--
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3:15 PM
Page 1
MARCH 23 - 29, 2015
PODCASTS
continued from page 5
all you have to do is open an app on
your smart phone, pick a podcast
and click play. You don’t have to
download the audio. And iPhone
owners don’t even have to download the app.
The numbers should keep going
up as cars become more connected
to the Internet, Jackson said.
The popularity of “Serial” isn’t
hurting, either, according to Joe
Pulizzi, founder of the Clevelandbased Content Marketing Institute.
While on a flight back to Cleveland
from Cancun in February, Pulizzi
found himself sitting within earshot
of two people listening to NPR’s serialized crime podcast, which has
generated millions of downloads
and lots of buzz since its release this
past October.
Pulizzi has a few listeners of his
own: His podcasts have generated
more than 200,000 downloads. And
some of his listeners are pretty
hardcore: In January, 92 people
went back and downloaded the first
episode of “PNR: This Old Marketing” — a podcast that the Content
Market Institute started recording
back in 2013.
Many of those people are probably
what Pulizzi describes as “the true
believers.” They’re the people who
CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM
listen to episode after episode and really get to know the show’s hosts,
Pulizzi and the institute’s chief strategist, Robert Rose. During the show,
which has attracted sponsors, they
spend about an hour talking about
content marketing trends and news.
“You can’t get engagement like
that anywhere else,” he said.
Now the institute is putting more
effort into podcasting: In December, the company launched its second podcast, Content Inc., a shorter, scripted show where Pulizzi
gives tips designed to help entrepreneurs figure out how to promote
themselves through blogs and other content. And since October, the
institute has helped three other
content marketing experts launch
their own shows through its new
podcast network.
Building rapport
Other businesses are putting more
effort into podcasting these days,
too, especially solo entrepreneurs
and small businesses — companies
where the CEO is willing to host the
show, Pulizzi said.
For instance, he says a lot of authors have podcasts they use to promote their books.
Jim Kukral takes it a step further.
Last year, he launched two podcasts
designed to help authors: The “Sell
More Books Show” and the “Author
Marketing Podcast.”
They’re having the intended effect. Kukral said he gets an email
from someone who listens to his
podcasts two or three times per
week. Many are potential customers
for Kukral’s Author Marketing Institute, a Cleveland company that
helps authors with the business side
of writing.
The podcasts give him a way to establish a rapport with potential customers before he even meets them.
“It’s the No. 1 way to truly engage
with a customer in today’s world,”
he said.
Evolution Capital Partners works
to build a rapport with entrepreneurs through its podcast, “The Second Stage,” according to co-founder
Brendan Anderson, who hosts the
show with co-founder Jeffrey Kadlic.
When the Beachwood-based private equity firm is looking to invest
in a company, they’ll often tell the
entrepreneur to listen to the podcast, which gives small business
owners tips on how they can accelerate their growth.
The show “breaks down the barriers” and shows people that Evolution Capital “is not just a private equity firm,” Anderson said. The show
also gives them an excuse to get together and talk to interesting people,
he said.
Some big companies have podcasts, too. For instance, the Cleveland Clinic has dabbled in podcasting over the years, and one of its
best-known
doctors,
Michael
Roizen, hosts “YOU: The Owners
Manual Radio Show” — a wellness
podcast inspired by the book series
he wrote with Dr. Mehmet Oz.
Last year, when the Squire
Sanders law firm acquired Patton
Boggs in Washington, D.C., it also
acquired the “Capital Thinking”
podcast.
During the show, partner Kevin
O’Neill interviews company clients
and lawyers about how news on
Capital Hill will affect the business
world.
The show gives the law firm —
now called Squire Patton Boggs — a
way to establish itself as a thought
leader on federal laws and regulations. The show was averaging about
20,000 downloads per month by the
end of 2014.
Of course, O’Neill has been at it
for more than seven years.
“You can’t treat it like a fad. You
have to get into it for the right reasons and stick with it,” he said.
Not everyone does. By searching
Apple’s iTunes store — the most
popular place to find podcasts — it’s
not hard to find companies that
have started podcasts only to stop
recording them a few months later.
Podcasters who spoke with
Crain’s gave a few reasons why companies give up. Some don’t realize
that it can take a few hours to prepare for a show, record it, edit it and
post it online. Others fail to attract
an audience — or expect one to materialize immediately.
Pulizzi described one way companies can address both problems: Use
material from the podcast to create
blog posts, email newsletters — even
books. That saves time and gives
companies multiple ways to promote the content they create.
Here’s another tip from Waters, of
ClevelandMoto: Don’t create a show
that’s just a boring ad for your company.
“The second you start pitching
the customer, they feel like they’ve
been cheated,” he said.
ClevelandMoto certainly had to
make some adjustments when it
first started podcasting. Waters and
his friends used to record the show
in a basement sound studio owned
by a customer who just so happened to be an audio engineer.
Now they do things the easy way:
They record the show in a garage,
with one recording device and four
microphones. They don’t edit it at
all. Sure, the audio isn’t perfect, but
the show is better in at least one
way, Waters said.
“You can’t crack a beer in the studio,” he said.
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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
Page 1
WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM
MARCH 23 - 29, 2015
PUBLISHER:
John Campanelli (jcampanelli@crain.com)
EDITOR:
Elizabeth McIntyre (emcintyre@crain.com)
MANAGING EDITOR:
Scott Suttell (ssuttell@crain.com)
OPINION
Get it done
The pomp and circumstance of President Obama’s
visit to Cleveland is over and his City Club speech
was, depending on your political point of view, a triumphant pitch for investment in the middle class or
more justification for further government spending.
The president was defending his policies, taking
credit for his successes and, at the heart of it, delivering a stump speech for whatever Democrat seeks his
seat in the 2016 presidential election in the city that
will host the Republican National Convention.
There weren’t many surprises, especially with the
speech coming the day after House Republicans
unveiled their budget plans. The president bashed
trickle-down economics, and the GOP responded by
ridiculing irresponsible governmental spending.
But it’s not the speech or the talking points that
linger. It’s the questions, during the traditional City
Club Q & A.
Obama was asked: “Since you have been in office,
what has surprised you the most?”
“What I talked about back in 2004 about this being
the ‘United’ States of America, it really is true.
Outside of Washington,” he said. “What has
surprised me, even though I had served in the
Senate, was the continued difficulties in Congress
getting stuff done that shouldn’t be controversial.”
Obama laid the blame on Republicans, but this
isn’t the fault of one party; it’s the default in
Washington. Infrastructure and other issues must be
addressed and shouldn’t be controversial.
Sadly, as the 2016 season ramps up, hope for
progress instead of pettiness fades. Imagine if
Washington actually worked together to “get stuff
done” for Ohio’s businesses and citizens?
That would come as a pleasant surprise.
Let the light in
Did you know that Sunshine Week just wrapped
up? (And no, we’re not talking about a week when
days with blue skies outnumber those with gray. But
we admire your disposition.) Sunshine Week is an
annual nationwide initiative, sponsored by the
media, highlighting the importance of open
government. But it’s not just the media who benefit
from access to public records and elected officials.
Most people who seek information from government
agencies are everyday citizens and business owners
— people like you.
And that’s the way it should be. You have the right
to know how government is spending your money
and how decisions are made, from how contracts are
awarded to who is teaching your children.
The key to open government is transparency,
accessibility and knowledge.
We urge you to know your rights when it comes to
public records. And we urge government officials to
know what the law requires when conducting the
public’s business, from what can and cannot be
discussed behind closed doors to the importance of
timely access to public records.
Good government is government conducted in the
light. And engaged citizens are citizens who aren’t in
the dark. To assure both, we welcome the sunshine.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Looking to the city for inspiration
Some of America’s great brands have
numbers as part of their names: 7UP,
V8, 9Lives, Formula 409, 7-Eleven.
Others are crafty enough to place a
number on the end of their name as a
way to brand their products: iPhone 6,
Boeing 747, Levi’s 501.
There is a certain magic that happens
when you put a “Five” after “Jackson,” a
“10” after “Oxy” or a “16” after “Grecian
Formula.”
That’s why we at Crain’s Cleveland
Business are introducing “Crain’s 52.”
(Actually, that’s not really why we’re
doing it, but it’s a good story.)
Last year, we launched a new list and
event called Fast 50. It celebrated 50 of
Northeast Ohio’s fastest growing companies. By all accounts, the inaugural
attempt was a success, with 50 sizzling
hot local companies getting the coverage, attention and recognition they deserved. (The top 10 companies on our
list all enjoyed five-year annual revenue
growth of above 230%!)
But there was a bit of a problem.
After launching nominations and
borrowing the Fast 50 name from our
sister Crain’s business publications in
New York, Chicago and Detroit, we discovered that there was already a
decades-old event celebrating the
fastest growing companies in Lake and
Geauga counties called the “Fast Track
50.”
Rather than confusing things, we decided to rebrand our fledgling program.
And like every curveball that gets
thrown at a business, this was an
opportunity. We
had a chance to
create something
distinct, something memorable.
But
what
should we call a
ranking that seeks
to honor and tell
JOHN
the stories of the
CAMPANELLI
shooting stars of
local business?
We looked up … at the Terminal Tower.
Cleveland trivia buffs know our city’s
iconic tower was for years the tallest
building in North America outside of
New York City and that it stands 52 sto-
ries tall.
Fifty-two stories.
So with a nod to our city’s greatest
landmark, we decided we’d not only create a list of the 52 fastest growing companies in the region, we’d also tell the 52
stories of their success.
If you own, work for, work with or
simply know of a company that’s not
only experiencing exciting growth but
wants the rest of the world to know
about it, please take a moment, visit
crainscleveland.com/Crains52
and
nominate them to become part of the
first Crain’s 52.
Eligible companies need to be privately held, at least five years old and located
in Northeast Ohio. They need to have
enjoyed at least $2 million in revenue in
2014 and should not have experienced
more than one year of declining revenue
in the last five years.
We are going to stick with the Crain’s
52 name (and hold our first Crain’s 52
celebration in early November). We believe our region’s businesses will embrace the concept of recognizing and
learning more about the fastest growing
businesses in Northeast Ohio — and embrace the connection with a landmark
that symbolizes our historic (and future)
strength.
And while Crain’s 52 may never be as
recognizable as other numeric brands
like Fortune 500 or Century 21 or the Big
Ten, we think we might have a shot to
pass a few.
Look out WD-40.
TALK ON THE WEB
Re: Eliot Ness
estate sues Diebold
Re: Renewable
energy in Ohio
Page 6 of the lawsuit above contains
an error in item #38.
“On or about August 15, 2015...”? It’s
only March of 2015. I’m thinking they
probably meant Aug. 15, 2013 (as was
mentioned further down in the same
item.)
Nice proofreading before filing,
Bradley Legal Group.
— StewMcG
Having been involved in renewable
energy projects both in Ohio and the
Northeast for almost 10 years, I saw the
potential growth with great job creation
opportunities — along with the great reduction in carbon emissions — as a benefit for everyone.
With Senate Bill 310, we saw the end of
this in Ohio.
Why not give us the same subsidies
that oil has gotten since almost 1917, and
that coal is still getting? Put us on the
same level playing field and watch us
take off.
I am one of them that saw all the projects that I was involved with disappear
without much prospect of ever coming
back, at least not in Ohio.
The lobbying effort moved us from the
top to almost the bottom of the pack!
— Neil Dick
20150323-NEWS--11-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/19/2015
3:07 PM
Page 1
MARCH 23 - 29, 2015
WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM
CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
11
PERSONAL VIEW
Millennials see with open eyes
By CINDY SCHULZ
By golly, Mr. Magoo.
The way to inclusion in the workplace is in front of our eyes. And we
can’t see it.
Why, it’s the millennials!
And that’s because years ago, the
controversial notion of including
children with developmental disabilities in regular education in
public schools was born. My
kindergartner, with a multi-handicapped label, was a student in one
of Ohio’s pilot classrooms.
It changed everything, not just
for her and others with disabilities,
but for all students, teachers and
families fortunate enough to experience it.
Inclusion started in the classroom, then quickly spread way beyond it, into scout troops, baseball
teams, homecoming courts and
now the workplace.
Today, we can see that the inclusion movement changed a whole
generation for the better, giving
young people a life experience of
the heart, one that older generations never had, unfortunately.
As a result, millennials embrace
Schulz is a communications and
special needs consultant. She
writes a motivational blog for
parents who want their children
with disabilities to live a
wonderful life, and who won’t
take no for an answer. Visit her
blog at baloneymacaroni.com.
differences, see capability where
others see disability, and are comfortable living, working and playing
together.
They’ve been imbued with a different perspective.
As one of my son’s friends observed, “When I got to college, I
wondered where all the kids with
special needs were. It felt strange
being in school without them. I
hope they’re doing OK.”
A quarter century of inclusion
has raised a generation of young
adults who are the best natural support of people with disabilities in
our workplaces. Because, to them,
it’s second nature.
Yet most employers are not tapping into this resource in their organizations, and even millennials fail
to recognize that this skill of theirs
is something special.
We can’t solve what we can’t see.
Let’s open our eyes.
How do we include people with
developmental disabilities in our
workplaces and communities? Just
ask the millennials. They know.
They’re good at it.
Today, as special-needs graduates enter the workforce, they represent the next wave of diversity,
with the ability to enrich the culture
of our organizations and the empathy of our employees in ways no
one else can. Millennials are well
equipped to help them succeed.
Does your organization — large
or small — have a place for someone with special needs? It’s a question well worth pondering, deeply.
And for millennials, it’s a concept
well worth nudging employers
about.
We have the hearts and smarts
embodied in the millennial generation to lead the inclusion movement in the workplace and change
us for the better. All it takes is the
will and the leadership of employers to make it happen, because millennials are ready to go.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
We are proud to sponsor
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AND CHOICES BEYOND
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Fly on Your Schedule.
And our reputation.
City is setting the record straight
We read John Campanelli’s column, “City needs to be a better
business partner” in the Feb. 23 issue of Crain’s, and we wanted to
correct the record.
The City of Cleveland Department
of Economic Development was contacted by Judy Bodenhamer of Revenue Resources, who is the consultant for Gabriel Partners.
She gave us a full rundown on
Revenue Resources’ business model, after which we were very excited
with the potential business opportunity. We clearly understand that
money laundering issues are a big
problem for banks and a matter of
homeland security. We further recognized that this new industry fit
perfectly into the City’s Banking
and Finance Cluster, and we were
anxious to meet the company. We
inquired whether they had any
needs we could assist with like finding space. They had just had secured a lease for the 31st floor of the
Huntington Building and said they
would be growing into that space.
We then introduced them to
Downtown Cleveland Alliance.
The city was invited to their
grand opening on Sept. 18, 2014,
which we attended with a photographer in tow. We met several of
the key executives of the company,
including Mr. Brauser. Our staff social media writer gathered information and developed a web page on
RethinkCleveland.org that features
the company as an example of a
“Key Industry” in the city. We also
blogged and tweeted about the
company.
When their consultant indicated
in November that the company was
being solicited by other states for
their planned expansion, we immediately asked for more information
and completed an incentive offer,
approved in December.
When their consultant indicated
that they had problems finding
qualified candidates for employment, we referred them to the local
Ohio Means Jobs Office.
When they had trouble reaching
their assigned job placement specialist, we again reached out. To
date, they have received 20 referrals
and have interviewed three individuals for these jobs.
The City of Cleveland Department of Economic Development
has worked with thousands of companies, both directly and through
the Cleveland Industrial Retention
Initiative (CIRI) contracted staff.
The Department of Economic Development mission is to provide assistance to businesses expanding
within or relocating to the city of
Cleveland, including financing,
workforce solutions, site selection
and technical assistance that will encourage investment in the community to enhance the lives of our citizens.
We are excited that Gabriel Partners has chosen Cleveland as a
place to do business, and we know
that Cleveland has a great cost advantage over other cities.
We look forward to a continued
working relationship with them for
many years.
— Tracey A. Nichols
Director of Economic
Development, City of Cleveland
TALK ON THE WEB (CONTINUED)
Without the government requirements in place, none of these industries can exist in this state.
Sorry, but it does present a clear
picture of the value of this industry
segment, unless, of course, you are
a Prius-driving vegan, in which case
these “companies” are as important as food. And the Center for
American Progress report on Ohio
and renewables … is undoubtedly
written with the proper bias and
manipulation of numbers, which
no real businessman worth his
profit would find convincing.
— qwerty
Re: Rebirth of Joseph
& Feiss building
Putting an RTA rapid station at
West 44th might help consolidate
and stabilize the whole neighborhood.
— Robert Salmon
Re: Former NorTech
leader Rebecca Bagley
leaves town
Congratulations, Rebecca. The
University of Pittsburgh’s gain is
Cleveland’s loss.
Northeast Ohio will miss your in-
novative and energetic leadership
in the economic development sector.
— Jim Blackburn
Re: University of
Akron name change?
Doesn’t the administration at the
University of Akron have something
more to worry about than the
name, which is already synonymous with polymer science on a
global basis?
Make the current name meaningful by your accomplishments.
— Michael Kaufman
Reliable, safe, Classic Jet Charter. ARGUS Gold rated.
440-942-7092. ClassicJetCharter.com. Willoughby, OH.
20150323-NEWS--12-NAT-CCI-CL_--
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3/19/2015
2:46 PM
Page 1
CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM
MARCH 23 - 29, 2015
GOING PLACES
Send information for Going Places to dhillyer@crain.com
HEALTH CARE
JOB CHANGES
LAKE HEALTH: John J. Baniewicz,
M.D., to senior vice president and
chief medical officer.
ARCHITECTURE
C.C. HODGSON ARCHITECTURAL
GROUP: Richard Kieley to partner.
SUMMA HEALTH SYSTEM: Ellen
Smith to vice president for business
development and access.
CONSTRUCTION
RONYAK PAVING: Rick Coan
to chief financial officer.
EDUCATION
MAGNIFICAT HIGH SCHOOL:
Julie Sims Gibbons to vice
president, institutional advancement.
FINANCIAL
FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF
PENNSYLVANIA: Tom Young
to vice president, commercial banker;
Colin Dormody to vice president,
portfolio manager.
Kieley
MEDICAL MUTUAL OF OHIO:
Camille Nixon to director, government programs, operations; Gordon
Bell to vice president, general audit;
Jennifer Collister to vice president,
chief underwriter; Doug Kline to
director, financial analysis, cost and
budget; Cindy Ballog to manager,
health promotion and wellness.
McGurk and Brendon P. Friesen
to shareholders; Charles Brown
to senior associate; Miles Welo
to associate.
METLIFE PREMIER CLIENT GROUP
OF OHIO: Deborah White to
financial services representative.
MANUFACTURING
TODD ASSOCIATES INC.: Susan L.
Zelenka to director, personal
insurance solutions.
FINANCIAL SERVICE
CBIZ INC.: Linda Spero
to manager of accounting and SEC
reporting.
LEGAL
CAVITCH, FAMILIO AND DURKIN
LPA.: Lindsey N. Smith to partner;
John R. Tullio and Matthew E.
Henoch to associates.
CBIZ MHM LLC: Mike Nichols to
divisional human resources director.
PLANTE MORAN: Tony Rispoli
to business developer.
Coan
INSURANCE
MANSOUR GAVIN LPA: Tracey S.
WICKENS, HERZER, PANZA,
COOK & BATISTA: Christopher
W. Peer to attorney, business
organizations and tax department.
MCPC: Jean Cotugno to program
manager; Angela Lydon to account
manager.
Contact Myrna Previte to schedule
your tour today.
unique branding opportunities that make powerful statements.
mprevite@kowitrealestate.com
216-514-1400
employees and clients to collaborate and entertain
You’ll only find these opportunities at 1111 Superior—the new
destination for premier downtown office space.
CORPORATE SCREENING: Quinn
McConkey to account manager.
POINT TO POINT: Melissa Benden
to junior art director; Jason Craig
to account manager; Stacy
Hargreaves to project manager;
Kate Kinison to senior media planner/buyer; Jennifer Plona to
account director; Judy Znidar
to senior research associates.
invite you to change your presence in Downtown Cleveland with
Exclusive rooftop terrace offering stunning green space for
SERVICE
TECHNOLOGY
As the exciting revitalization continues at 1111 Superior Avenue, we
»
CLEVELAND HEARING & SPEECH
CENTER: Jennell Vick to executive
director.
MARKETING
NOW LEASING
signage to light up the city skyline
NONPROFIT
TAP PACKAGING SOLUTIONS:
Jordana Revella to vice president,
sales and marketing.
EXPERIENCE THE NEW 1111 SUPERIOR AVENUE
Naming rights including street level and illuminated tower
Baniewicz
ROSS ENVIRONMENTAL
SERVICES INC.: James Larson to
chief operating officer; Stefanie
Clemens to chief financial officer.
CH A N GE YOUR PRESEN CE
»
Rispoli
Kowit & Company Real Estate Group
BOARDS
NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING
Smith
Peer
SERVICES OF GREATER CLEVELAND: Tanisha Rush (Community
Economic Development Management
Solutions) to president; Kamla
Lewis to first vice president;
Michael Valerino to second vice
president; Amy Kulisheck to treasurer; Lisa Nelson to secretary.
WELCOME HOUSE: Mary Sauer
(Cleveland Clinic) to president; Mark
McCaffrey to vice president; Gerri
Kornblut to secretary; Brian
Seidner to treasurer.
WEST HAVEN FOUNDATION:
Darin Kershner (Fifth Third) to
president; Stacey Kuehner to vice
president; Jack Stanton to secretary; Aaron Apathy to treasurer.
WORKING ANIMALS GIVING
SERVICE FOR KIDS: Sam W.
Rosenfeld (Gabriel Partners and The
Densus Group) to interim chairman.
20150323-NEWS--13-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/19/2015
2:41 PM
Page 1
MARCH 23 - 29, 2015
CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM
TAX LIENS
The Internal Revenue Service filed tax
liens against the following businesses in
the Cuyahoga County Recorder’s Office.
The IRS files a tax lien to protect the interests of the federal government. The
lien is a public notice to creditors that
the government has a claim against a
company’s property. Liens reported
here are $5,000 and higher. Dates
listed are the dates the documents
were filed in the Recorder’s Office.
LIENS FILED
Love 2 Learn ABCs & 123s LLC
16224 Chagrin Blvd., Shaker Heights
ID: 27-4101003
Date filed: Feb, 6, 2015
Type: Employer’s withholding
Amount: $9,287
C & CS Corner Tavern Inc.
17910 Lake Shore Blvd.,
Cleveland
ID: 34-1781522
Date filed: Feb. 5, 2015
Type: Failure to file complete return
Amount: $9,257
Managed Insurance Strategies LLC
18 N. Main St., Suite 200,
Chagrin Falls
ID: 31-1556549
Date filed: Feb. 5, 2015
Type: Employer’s withholding,
unemployment, failure to file
complete return, partnership
income
Amount: $8,477
Able Grinding Co.
10015 Walford Ave., Cleveland
ID: 34-0859095
Date filed: Feb. 5, 2015
Type: Employer’s withholding
Amount: $9,181
Room to Grow Learning Center Inc.
87A Northfield Road, Bedford
ID: 76-0807542
Date filed: Feb. 5, 2015
Type: Employer’s withholding
Amount: $9,118
Cygnus Group Inc.
P.O. Box 361839, Strongsville
ID: 34-1965784
Date filed: Feb, 4, 2015
Type: Employer’s withholding,
failure to file complete return
Amount: $7,131
R & R Mechanical Inc.
3519 E. 75 St., Cleveland
ID: 34-1501058
Date filed: Feb. 5, 2015
Type: Employer’s withholding
Amount: $6,515
Date filed: Nov. 16, 2009
Date released: Feb. 4, 2015
Type: Employer’s withholding
Amount: $34,554
LIENS RELEASED
Ralph Siegenthaler Inc.
5584 Mayfield Road, Lyndhurst
ID: 34-1292394
Date filed: Nov. 1, 2012
Date released: Feb. 5, 2015
Type: Employer’s withholding
Amount: $9,228
Euclid Fine Foods Inc.
16044 Euclid Ave., East Cleveland
ID: 35-2174080
Date filed: May 17, 2011
Date released: Feb. 5, 2015
Type: Employer’s withholding,
unemployment
Amount: $9,626
Paul F Smith Jr. DDS Inc.
20119 Farnsleigh Road, Suite 207,
Shaker Heights
ID: 34-1337892
Shaffer Learning Center Inc.
12002 Miles Ave., Cleveland
ID: 34-1833443
Date filed: Nov. 15, 2005
Date released: Feb. 4, 2015
Type: Employer’s withholding,
unemployment
Amount: $16,991
700 W. St. Clair Ave.,
Suite 310, Cleveland, OH
44113-1230;
Phone: (216) 522-1383, Fax: (216) 694-4264,
www.crainscleveland.com
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TOP FIVE SIGNS YOUR EMPLOYEES MIGHT HAVE INFERIOR DENTAL COVERAGE:
THEY ONLY GET ONE CLEANING PER DECADE, PER HOUSEHOLD.
THE DENTAL PLAN’S CUSTOMER SERVICE IS A 900 NUMBER.
THEIR DENTIST THINKS ROOT CANAL IS LOCATED IN VENICE.
MOLARS ARE CLASSIFIED AS “OPTIONAL.”
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THEY DON’T HAVE DELTA DENTAL.
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13
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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
MARCH 23 - 29, 2015
Indians hope to sc
Team looks to drive up attendance with excitement on field, b
By KEVIN KLEPS
kkleps@crain.com
vaunted Tigers lineup, the Indians believe they finally have something — a renovated, vastly improved
ballpark — to combat that predicament.
If you look out the window of Mark Shapiro’s
fourth-floor office at Progressive Field, the first thing
you notice is Quicken Loans Arena — home to the
team that in June could end Cleveland’s championship drought.
But no matter how the Cavaliers fare in the 2015
NBA playoffs, their low-key neighbors have built what
appears to be a championship foundation.
The Indians’ website is compiling a breakdown of
all the encouraging predictions for 2015, and it’s a collection that’s growing as Opening Day approaches.
ESPN.com writer David Schoenfield ranked the
Tribe as the fourth-best team in Major League Baseball. His colleague, Grantland’s Jonah Keri, has the Indians No. 5 overall — a preseason ranking that’s
shared by CBS Sports. Veteran baseball scribe Peter
Gammons tweeted last month that he believes the Indians will play the Seattle Mariners in the American
League Championship Series.
In a few months, the Indians have gone from being
a stealth pick to advance to the postseason for the
second time in three years to a popular selection to
end the Detroit Tigers’ four-year reign atop the AL
Central.
“I don’t like that,” said Shapiro, the Indians’ president since 2010 and a member of the Tribe’s front office since 1993.
“I’d rather fly under the radar.”
That was a much more viable option before the Indians won a combined 177 games in Terry Francona’s
first two seasons as manager, and prior to the Tribe
building a young pitching staff that is among the best
in the game.
Now, the only thing that seems out of whack is the
difference between the Tribe’s place in the MLB
standings and the spot the franchise usually occupies
near the bottom of baseball’s attendance numbers.
And like Corey Kluber taking the hill against a
Renovations will be a driver
On a particularly bitter late-February morning,
Shapiro discussed the massive makeover the 21-yearold ballpark was undergoing.
All of the major renovations — the new bar in right
field, the expanded Kids Clubhouse, the innovative
arrangement of the bullpens, the five-neighborhood
concept with local food offerings in the Gate C concourse — will be completed prior to the home opener on April 10, he said.
Some finishing touches might be necessary in the
upper deck in right field and the Gate C plaza, but that
won’t diminish the franchise’s high hopes for an immediate impact on a fan base that can be every bit as
fickle as the spring weather.
“It’s always exciting to move from the abstract to
the more concrete execution of the vision,” Shapiro
said. “Part of you wishes everybody could look at it
side by side to recognize how dramatic the changes
are because I think they’ve been executed so well that
you look out there and it’s almost like you forget how
different it is.”
The renovations, which started at the conclusion of
the 2014 season, represent the first major construction at a ballpark that is older than all but 10 in Major
League Baseball.
The Indians also believe the extensive overhaul is
their best chance yet in their annual attempt to pump
up attendance.
After the Tribe’s average attendance dropped 6.3%
in 2014 and their total draw at the gate was the worst
in MLB, Shapiro told Crain’s the club felt as though it
was “missing some piece of the value proposition to
our fan base.”
The Indians responded this winter with a few new
wrinkles that, when paired with the renovations and
INDIANS 2015: KEY PLAYERS
COREY KLUBER
MICHAEL BRANTLEY
JASON KIPNIS
Position: Starting pitcher
Age: 28 (29 on April 10)
Skinny: Kluber’s second full
season in the major leagues was
unexpectedly great. The righthander captured the American
League Cy Young Award after
leading all AL pitchers in wins
(18), starts (34) and wins above
replacement (7.5). In addition to
being one of baseball’s best
pitchers, Kluber is one of its
most significant bargains. He will
be paid $601,000 this season,
isn’t eligible for arbitration until
2016 and can’t become a free
agent until after the 2018
campaign. Tribe president Mark
Shapiro recently told Crain’s that
Kluber is a “good person to bet
on,” and the club would like to
sign the pitcher to a long-term
contract.
Position: Outfielder
Age: 27
Skinny: Brantley was one of the
game’s best players in 2014,
when he set career highs in
home runs (20), RBI (97), stolen
bases (23), runs scored (94),
batting average (.327) and OPS
(.890). He finished third in the AL
MVP race, was a first-time All-Star
and earned a Silver Slugger
award. The Indians wisely signed
him to a four-year, $25 million
contract extension prior to his
breakout season. Brantley will
make a combined $21.625
million the next three seasons,
and the Tribe has an $11 million
club option for 2018 that
includes a $1 million buyout. He’s
also proven to be very durable,
having played in an average of
152 games since 2012.
Position: Second baseman
Age: 27 (28 on April 3)
Skinny: The 2013 All-Star was
hampered by an oblique injury
that limited him to 129 games
last season. Kipnis — after averaging 16 home runs, 80 RBI and
31 steals in the 2012 and 2013
seasons — batted .240 with six
homers, 41 RBI and 22 steals in
2014. His batting average
dropped 44 points from 2013 to
last season. Kipnis’ offseason
got off to a rocky start when he
suffered a finger injury during a
workout, but he has returned to
action in the Grapefruit League,
and his presence is crucial to
the Indians’ lineup. Kipnis, who
signed a six-year, $52.5 million
extension early in the 2014
season, will make almost $4.2
million in 2015.
GETTY IMAGES (3)
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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
MARCH 23 - 29, 2015
15
score points with home crowd
, ballpark renovations and other fan-friendly improvements
enhanced food offerings, are aimed at improving,
among other things, the club’s slumping single-game
sales.
The Tribe has introduced $13 standing-room-only
seats in the new social area in right field, along with $10
tickets for children 12 and under in the renovated
Family Deck. When fans purchase a $13 District Ticket, the first beer, soda or bottled water is on the house.
“We expect to grow our season (ticket) base again
this season, and most importantly think the renovations will be a driver in the increase of single-game
sales,” Shapiro said.
The team president said the latter decreased in 2014,
but stressed that the numbers were being compared to
a 2013 campaign that was “one of our highest singlegame ticket totals in the past 10 years.”
Earlier starts ‘a test’
Shapiro didn’t give specific numbers for the Tribe’s
drop in single-game ticket sales, but it seems safe to assume it was pretty significant, considering the Indians’
increased their season-ticket base by about 500 (to
8,000) in 2014, and the club president said group and
premium sales were up last season.
Whether the renovations help the Indians buck the
single-game decline won’t be known for months, and
it is at least partially dependent on the cooperation of
Mother Nature and the team being as good as advertised. But the enhancements cater to two sets — millennials and families of young kids — who might be
more prone to make last-minute decisions to go to a
game based on such variables as work commitments
and weather.
“I think we’ll feel it this season,” Shapiro said of the
impact of renovations. “I’m not sure we’ll feel it in April
or May, but I think as we move into the summer
months as school gets out and temperatures warm up,
I think we’ll feel the excitement and really feel a difference.”
The season-ticket base is the most critical ticketing
L E V E L
SELF
O F
L E A D E R S H I P
TEAM
set for every baseball team, since it means guaranteed
business in a sport that is more susceptible to weather
letdowns than any other. The Indians have increased
that foundation by about 2,000 since 2012, and Shapiro
anticipates that number will increase as Opening Day
approaches.
“Clearly, as I’ve said many times, that is probably the
most important area to grow,” Shapiro said. “I would
not change on that. But I think that an area where we
dropped off last year was not seasons. It was single
games. I look at these changes as hopefully impacting
single-game buyers more than necessarily season-ticket holders.”
A more subtle tweak the Indians made this offseason was also done with the mercurial ticket buyer in
mind.
Five weekday games in April and May will start at
6:05 p.m., an hour earlier than normal. The Indians
have tried 6:05 starts in the past, but the most they’ve
had in any of the previous six seasons was two.
“They’re low-demand, low-attended games, so the
thought is do we incrementally increase attendance by
giving people that work downtown — albeit not a huge
number, but it’s still a large concentration of fans —
the opportunity to come right from work instead of
thinking about driving a half-hour home and a halfhour back,” Shapiro said. “Now, it’s, ‘Hey, I could stop
by to watch five innings, six innings, and if it’s a great
game stay for nine.’ ”
Shapiro said the 6:05 starts are “a test,” and he’s
hopeful “it resonates with our fans.”
But the Indians’ top concern, one that has nothing
to do with dinner-time first pitches, open spaces and
grilled cheese sandwiches, is the on-field product.
Shapiro feels pretty good about that, too. Just don’t
refer to the Indians as division favorites.
“I think we feel better this year than we did last year
going into the season,” he said.
“We have some questions. You’re always thinking
about what could go wrong and how to remedy that if
it happens.”
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CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
The renovations at Progressive Field include a new bar in right field, an expanded
Kids Clubhouse, an innovative arrangement of the bullpens and a five-neighborhood
concept with local food offerings in the Gate C concourse.
20150323-NEWS--16-NAT-CCI-CL_--
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MARCH 23 - 29, 2015
Charge have developed quite a following
In their fourth season in Canton, the ‘mini-Cavs’ have proven to be among the best in the D-League on the business side
By KEVIN KLEPS
kkleps@crain.com
The Canton Charge play in a 64year-old arena that they share in
March with various high school boys
and girls basketball teams competing in the postseason.
The scoreboard at the Canton
Memorial Civic Center is outdated,
would never be compared to the
new Humongotron at Quicken
Loans Arena and has never thrown
flames during player introductions.
But the NBA Development League
team’s minor-league surroundings
are supplemented by a big-league
mentality that’s familiar to anyone
who’s been to a Cleveland Cavaliers
game at The Q.
“We say we’re powered by the
Cleveland Cavaliers,” said Charge
communications manager Sean Wyatt, who has been with the D-League
franchise since the second game of
its inaugural season in 2011-12. “We
just try to make that evident in
everything that we do.”
On game days, it’s difficult to
miss. During the Charge’s Feb. 27
victory over the Fort Wayne Mad
Ants, the team held dribbling and
shooting drills during which its furry
mascot, Pozzie, participated with
fans. Music could be heard until the
second the ball was put back in play,
the dance team threw T-shirts into
the crowd, a female host narrated
special promotions and 3-pointers
by the home team were followed by
a call of “threeeeeee” by the publicaddress announcer.
“We’re like the mini-Cavs,” Wyatt
D-LEAGUE FACTS & FIGURES
SEASON: 14th
ATTENDANCE: In 2013-14, the
league’s total attendance, including the
playoffs, was 1,181,404, a 5% increase
from the previous season and the fifth
consecutive campaign in which the
circuit topped the 1 million mark.
PLAYER SALARIES: Players are placed
in three classifications — A, B and C.
They make $13,000, $19,000 or
$25,500. They receive a daily per diem
of $40 on the road, and the D-League
teams provide housing and medical care.
NBA HOPEFULS: At the conclusion of
the 2013-14 NBA season, 33% of the
players on the year-end rosters had
D-League experience (149). A record 36
D-League players were called up to NBA
clubs in 2013-14.
NBA EXPERIENCE: Ten first-round
picks in the 2013 NBA draft played in the
D-League last season. Seventy-nine
players from the 2014 playoffs spent
time in the D-League.
KEVIN KLEPS
The Canton Charge are averaging more than 2,900 fans per game.
said.
The Cavs are one of seven NBA
franchises that fully own and operate a D-League team. The DLeague, which launched in 2001
and is viewed by the NBA as a feeder system for its franchises, has a
record 18 teams in 2014-15, with
each affiliated with at least one NBA
club.
SHOWING THEIR SUPPORT: A record
nine teams have jersey sponsorships this
season (up from six in 2013-14). The
Canton Charge have yet to secure a
jersey sponsor, but hope to in the
coming seasons.
The Charge have the advantage
of the Cavs’ vast resources being at
their disposal, and the affiliation is
something chief operating officer
Mike Levy has been stressing since
his arrival last summer.
“The thing is, we need the people
to know that us and the Cavs are like
this,” said Levy, wrapping two of his
fingers together. “I’m not positive it
was cemented in people’s minds before I got here. We’re trying to do
more and more. We want people to
understand that.”
Levy has worked for the Houston
Astros, Kansas City Royals, Memphis
Grizzlies, the WNBA’s Los Angeles
Sparks and the Spokane Shock of the
Arena Football League in various
management capacities in his 29year career. He helped the Cavaliers
get the Cleveland Gladiators off the
ground in 2008, and he’s a good
friend and former tennis teammate
at Duquesne University of Cavs CEO
Len Komoroski.
Levy said he’s not “big on the term
minor league.” He prefers to call
every professional sports club, no
matter how small its operation, a
franchise.
“I’ve worked a lot in what they call
minor leagues,” Levy said.
“And there’s only one way to run
it: with a major-league type of feel.
That’s what we try to do. We may not
have the resources of the Cavs, but
people understand. They have just
as good of a time.”
Soaring stats
Levy expects that by the end of the
season, the Charge will have had six
or seven of their 10 largest-ever gate
revenues on 2014-15 game days.
Ticket revenue is up more than 30%
See CHARGE, page 18
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MARCH 23 - 29, 2015
WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM
Gladiators are safe
bet in a league with
much uncertainty
By KEVIN KLEPS
kkleps@crain.com
Scott Butera, a former CEO of Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut,
knows a thing or two about gambling.
He also has proven to be adept at
managing debt, which made him a
logical choice last fall to succeed Jerry Kurz as commissioner of the Arena Football League.
One team Butera doesn’t have to
worry about is the Cleveland Gladiators, who are backed by Dan
Gilbert’s billions and in 2014 ranked
third in the league in attendance.
“Cleveland is an excellent organization, and there are a lot of reasons
they do well,” Butera said. “They are
seasoned sports operators, they have
a great relationship with their arena
and a great sales staff that manages
its database very well. It’s a great
brand, and their people are trained
really well.”
Butera, who strengthened his reputation as a casino turnaround specialist after helping Foxwoods trim
its debt from $2.3 billion to $1.7 billion in his four-year tenure, couldn’t
say the same complimentary things
about some of the Arena Football
League’s previous owners and operators.
The AFL filed for bankruptcy after
not playing in 2009. In the five seasons that followed, the league’s average attendance hovered between
7,841 and 8,473. The latter figure, the
AFL’s per-game norm in 2014, was
3.4% above the 2013 average, but
well below the league’s 12,957 figure
in 2008.
This season, which kicks off with
the Gladiators’ game at the Tampa
Bay Storm on Friday, March 27, the
AFL is down to 12 teams after the
Pittsburgh Power and San Antonio
Talons folded, and the Iowa Barnstormers opted to compete in the Indoor Football League (a lesserknown 10-team operation that
launched in 2008). The AFL also welcomed back Las Vegas as its 12th
team, marking the third AFL goaround for the Sin City.
“That’s somewhat by design,”
Butera said of the Arena league’s
scaled-down operation. “I came into
the league with the thought that we
have a really great product. Football
is doing well. The numbers get better every year.
“But, unfortunately,” he continued, “the league has never really
been run like a business. It’s kind of
a diamond in the rough with a
diehard following and good operations.”
Glad to have you
The Gladiators have had more financial fortitude than the majority of
their AFL competitors, but even they
had some lean times after the AFL
shut down operations in 2009. In
2010, Cleveland’s average attendance was 8,828, a 5,203 drop from
the Gladiators’ 2008 debut campaign. In 2011 and 2012, the Glads
failed to draw more than 6,507 fans
per game.
All of that changed last season,
when the Gladiators won an AFLrecord 17 games in the regular season (five on the last play of the game)
and played in their first-ever ArenaBowl. They lost the championship
contest to the Arizona Rattlers, but
See GLADIATORS, page 18
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20150323-NEWS--18-NAT-CCI-CL_--
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3/20/2015
1:18 PM
Page 1
CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
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MARCH 23 - 29, 2015
GLADIATORS
continued from page 17
their season-ending stats at the gate
were every bit as impressive as their
19-2 mark on the field.
Cleveland’s average attendance
of 10,609 in the regular season was
25% above the league norm. The
Gladiators drew at least 9,404 fans
for all nine of their regular-season
contests, and the three playoff
games at Quicken Loans Arena
brought in a combined 45,637, including 18,410 for the ArenaBowl.
“We made a lot of strides from the
success of last year,” said Mike Ostrowski, a Cavaliers vice president
who serves as the chief operating officer of the Gladiators and Lake Erie
Monsters. “We had a great run in the
regular season that was historic
from a wins perspective. In the playoffs, we had a great platform to educate people and grow our business.
That helped in terms of season tick-
The Gladiators are capitalizing on
the increased demand by locking up
a local television partnership with
WUAB. Six of their nine home
games will be broadcast by Channel
43, and all 18 regular-season contests again will air on WKRK-FM,
92.3. On July 18, 38 Special will perform a 75-minute postgame concert, and the team will bring back its
$1 soda and $2 draft beer specials
for every contest.
“This could allow us to capture the
fringe casual fan looking to come out
and have a good time,” Ostrowski
said of the 38 Special concert, which
trumps any postgame event in the
franchise’s history. “It’s something
like this that takes the game experience to a different level.”
It’s exactly the type of feature
Butera believes is essential as the
Arena league attempts to get its
business in line with what the commissioner thinks is an excellent onfield product.
“You need facilities that are clean,
safe and fun, with great in-game entertainment, a lot of interaction with
players and other elements of the
game so people feel like they’re part
of the action,” Butera said.
“Whether it’s a resort, a casino or
sports, we’re all competing for people’s entertainment dime.”
As for the slimmed-down nature
of the league, Butera said he’d rather
have 12 good owners “than have 15
with three or four that aren’t in great
shape.”
He hopes to add four teams next
season, then get the AFL to 20 clubs
in the coming years. But he’ll be very
selective when someone wants to be
part of the league, which launched
in 1987.
“We want to grow, but each owner we take on has to have a substantial net worth with an understanding of running a sports organization
and ties to the city,” Butera said.
“Dan Gilbert is the model of what
we’re looking for. Who the owner is
and their skill base is much more
important (than just adding
teams).”
Another of the commissioner’s
initiatives is a “full-court” publicity
blitz — one that is pushing the
game’s exciting action, reasonable
prices and up-close access to players and coaches.
This season, 15 AFL games will be
broadcast on ESPN and 16 will be
televised by CBS Sports Network.
Every non-CBS Sports broadcast is
available on mobile devices via
ESPN3.
“The increased ESPN exposure is
very critical to our league,” the Gladiators’ Ostrowski said.
“Sports networks want live content, and if it’s the most popular
sport in the country, that’s even better. That’s exciting for us.”
15 of their 22 games between the
start of the year and March 7 were on
the road. (“Every team I’ve been involved with, after the Super Bowl,
ticket sales go up,” Levy said.)
But heading into the Charge’s St.
Patrick’s Day game against visiting
Westchester, the eight home contests since the New Year had drawn
an average crowd of 3,458. Seven of
their eight most-attended games of
the season occurred in that span.
Overall, the Charge are drawing
2,906 fans per game, a 15% increase,
at the Civic Center, which has a basketball capacity of 3,942. The DLeague doesn’t release team-byteam attendance data because the
size of the facilities in which its
teams play varies so greatly. But as is
the case with the Charge’s other
business numbers, they are above
the norm — ranking seventh, according to a source.
“There are two things,” Levy said.
“You want to have a D-League team
to help the NBA team. But you also
need to be in business. We’re part of
the Gilbert family of companies, so
there is a way that business is done.”
For the Charge, that includes
coming up with clever ways of bringing a big-league feel to an event featuring NBA hopefuls.
There are court boxes — cordoned-off half-tables with room for
five or six chairs (some include sofas) — behind each basket and along
the court opposite the teams’
benches. Behind one of the baskets
are six high-top tables that are part
of the VIP seating area. Food and
drinks are included in the cost of admission. An old stage that overlooks
one of the baskets was converted
into a VIP club featuring tables,
catered food, a huge cooler stocked
with soda and water, and bartenders
serving Budweiser products. Season-ticket holders pay $8 to $19 for
regular seats, and between $40 and
$90 for a courtside ticket.
During the Fort Wayne game on
Feb. 27, the stage area, which offers
a perfect view of the on-court action,
was packed for the duration of the
48-minute game. The concourse
area on the other end of the arena is
lined with local vendors, including
Nom Nom Popcorn, Great Lakes
Brewery and Pizza Oven.
“It’s just doing the simple things
well,” Levy said.
D-League owners are responsible
for the players’ housing, but the
players’ salaries, which range from
$13,000 to $25,500, and road per
diems ($40) obviously pale in comparison to the NBA.
The Cavs also pay for the Charge
coaches’ housing (players and
coaches live in two-bedroom townhomes), which isn’t a league requirement.
“We are an extension of the Cleveland Cavaliers,” first-year Charge
coach Jordi Fernandez said. “It’s just
a perfect setup.”
The Charge have only 13 full-time
employees on the business side,
which Levy said makes it all the
more gratifying every time they are
able to pack the arena with fans.
“That’s really our goal — to get
people here one time,” the Charge’s
COO said. “If you can get them here
once and they’re like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ That’s what it’s all about.”
et and group sales.
That’s an understatement.
The Gladiators have already
tripled their season-ticket base, Ostrowski said, and the veteran Cavs
executive expects the AFL team to
draw more than 10,000 fans for each
of its nine home games. “We want to
get people in sooner,” Ostrowski said
in early March, as the team had just
started to sell single-game tickets.
“With the success of last year,
more people are exposed to the Arena league. We did a lot of winning
last year. There’s no guarantee that
transfers, but we have a lot of guys
back from last year. They feel like
there’s some unfinished business.”
TV exposure ‘is very critical’
CHARGE
continued from page 16
in Canton’s fourth D-League season, ticket sales have increased almost 40% and sponsorships have
jumped by about 50%.
The Charge’s single-game ticket
revenue has almost doubled since
2013-14, and Levy said Canton ranks
in the top seven in the 18-team
league in season-ticket base, group
ticket revenue and group sales.
“Things are definitely on the upswing,” Levy said. “Everything’s up.
Group tickets, we’ve made some big
advances (a 75% increase from 201314). We’re in a situation where you
just can’t expect people to call you.
You have to go out and call them.”
The Charge weren’t thrilled that
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MARCH 23 - 29, 2015
CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM
GAME
continued from page 1
offseason, the Indians were the last
major-league team that hadn’t
opened a new ballpark or undergone a major renovation at their
current home.
But soon, Patton and his game
operations staff will have a bunch of
new toys, and he has more than a
few ideas on how to use them.
Almost showtime
Patton’s first year on the job involved more watching and analyzing than revamping.
“It was sort of an observational
experience,” he said. “What I tried
to do was rather than come in and
say, ‘There’s a new sheriff in town,
you gotta do it this way,’ which
would have been unnatural and
disrespectful to not only the people
that do this, but also to the fans.”
Instead, he decided to “sweat
the small stuff.” His team focused
on making any special occasion,
such as July 4 or the unveiling of
the Jim Thome statue, as memorable as possible.
This season, it’s different.
Patton is ready to put on a show.
He said his group will “revamp
the pregame experience pretty significantly.”
The time leading up to the first
pitch will be treated as a performance. There will be multiple
hosts, live entertainment at various
parts of the renovated social areas
in right field and other locations in
the ballpark, and even “commercial
breaks” that allow the Tribe to work
in a few plugs for sponsors.
“We’re trying to repackage it so it
feels more like a show and not an
endless series of disconnected
events,” Patton said.
It’s all part of what the former
theater and opera director describes as his three-pronged approach to the Indians’ “value
proposition.”
The first is “being there” — the
Indians’ hope that once fans experience everything the renovated
ballpark has to offer, they’ll continue to come back. The latter two elements are strategies with which
Patton is quite familiar — developing content and “Showtime.”
He wants the game operations
staff to tell stories that give fans a
stronger connection to the Indians’ young roster, and he wants
the audience to be heavily involved.
“My goal is to make fans feel that
they are integral and instrumental
in making the show happen,” Patton said. “We can put on all the entertainment we want, but we want
fans to participate in it and make
them feel they have an ownership
in it. It’s not just about us telling
them when to cheer. It’s them
cheering and telling us what they
“My goal is to make the
fans feel that they are
integral and instrumental
in making the show
happen.”
– Leland Patton
director of in-game experience,
Cleveland Indians
need and what they want, and
feeding into that.”
Doing that in baseball — easily
the most traditional, laid-back
and, at times, conservative of all
the major sports — obviously isn’t
as easy as Patton makes it sound.
But he has a significant advantage in his second season on the
job — the modernized Progressive
Field. The Indians would also like
to add a couple more key components as soon as the 2016 campaign.
Ideas for everything
The scoreboard at Progressive
Field is one of the most outdated in
baseball, and the park is still operating on its original sound system.
Both elements are on the Tribe’s
wish list for major capital repairs,
which, if approved, would be funded by Cuyahoga County’s sin tax.
(The current renovations are being
privately financed by the team and
its concessionaire, Delaware
North.)
An Indians source said there are
“places in the ballpark where it
sounds like Charlie Brown’s
teacher,” and until the scoreboard
and sound system are upgraded,
Patton’s effect on the game experience will be somewhat limited.
Patton said he “would love to
have those things,” but he thinks
his group “can make an impact regardless of whether we get a new
scoreboard or sound system because right now we just don’t
know.”
Tribe president Mark Shapiro
said Patton was hired “for two reasons.”
The first, Shapiro said, was to
“lend a creative perspective from a
different background.”
That backdrop is pretty unique
for professional sports.
Patton’s parents worked for a
Shakespeare festival in his hometown of Ashland, Ore., and his
wife, Amy McKenna, is an accomplished performer who does a lot
of voiceover work and is currently
part of the South Florida Theatre
League.
McKenna lives in Miami, where
Patton worked from 2007-13, but
the couple mixes in frequent flights
to and from Cleveland and South
Florida between their busy work
schedules. Patton is also taking online courses in architecture, which
is another of his creative passions.
When told he could have been a
part of the Indians’ renovation
plans, Patton, in a joking manner,
said, “Absolutely. I’ve got a lot of
ideas.”
It’s what lured him to Shapiro,
who has made a point of bulking
up his business team by hiring critical thinkers, many of whom have
more experience in consumer
products than they do sports.
“He’s an interesting guy,”
Shapiro said. “He’s taken his time
and is doing the right thing, which
is to understand Cleveland. It’s not
the same as every other town. He’s
gotten to understand baseball, because he didn’t work a lot in baseball. And now I think he has some
ideas.”
One of Patton’s pie-in-the-sky
plans is to make the crowd a part
of the Indians’ popular Rock ’N
Blast fireworks shows. But he admits he’s not yet sure what that will
entail.
“We’re trying to make the show
come to the people — see how far
we can go with that,” Patton said.
“I mean, I have ideas. I’m just not
sure if I have the budget.”
What he’s certain of is that athletics, not his original goal of running his own theater, is the perfect
vehicle for his seemingly endless
visions.
“Life is tough, and it’s tough all
around,” Patton said. “Sports provides us an ability to have an outlet to be outside of ourselves, but
also share being outside ourselves
with our friends and families. I
think that’s a vital function of society, and I feel very privileged to
work in a world where I get to
spend my days trying to create
these experiences for people to
have.”
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19
20150323-NEWS--20-NAT-CCI-CL_--
20
3/20/2015
1:08 PM
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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM
MARCH 23 - 29, 2015
LARGEST EMPLOYEE BENEFIT SERVICES FIRMS
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20150323-NEWS--21-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/20/2015
2:15 PM
Page 1
MARCH 23 - 29, 2015
CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM
DOCS
continued from page 1
LECOM for short, has been deepening its relationship with University
Hospitals. UH’s Richmond and
Bedford hospitals have hosted
LECOM’s graduates as residents for
several years, and this summer UH
Parma Medical Center will welcome its first class of residents.
LECOM is also developing a residency program at UH Elyria Medical Center, which along with Parma’s hospital joined the UH system
a little more than a year ago.
“There’s been a lot of expansion
and growth in this field,” said Dr.
Christopher Loyke, Parma’s chief
medical officer and director of
medical education. “Osteopathic
physicians are pushing hard to fill
the need for primary care.”
Surge in the ranks
Over the last decade or so, interest in osteopathic medical education has exploded.
In the 2003-2004 academic year,
for one, osteopathic medical
schools enrolled 11,857 students at
20 sites across the country, according to data from the American As-
sociation of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine.
By 2013-2014, that number
surged by 95% to 23,071 at 37 sites.
Today, osteopathic medical students make up roughly 20% of all
U.S. medical students.
“Osteopathic physicians
are pushing hard to fill the
need for primary care.”
– Dr. Christopher Loyke,
chief medical officer,
UH Parma Medical Center
Enrollment at traditional MD
schools hasn’t grown at quite the
same clip, and observers say the
growth in DOs could help alleviate
the looming physician shortage.
The Association of American Medical Colleges, an association representing the country’s accredited
MD schools, estimates a national
shortfall of 12,500 to 31,000 primary care physicians.
“Our mission here is to graduate
students who are going to stay in
Northeast Ohio,” said Dr. Isaac
Kirstein, a DO and dean of the new
OU campus at South Pointe.
That shortage is being fueled by
growing demand as more Americans gain health insurance under
the federal health care overhaul.
Also, the health reform law puts
a premium on and has begun to tie
reimbursements to preventive care,
or physicians’ ability to keep a set
population healthy rather than only
treating patients when sick.
DOs contend they have a leg up
in practicing that sort of care given
that it’s always been in their profession’s DNA. They receive extra
training in the musculoskeletal system, which provides them with the
knowledge of how an illness or injury in one part of the body can affect another.
Blurred lines
While UH and the Clinic both are
renowned academic centers that
put a premium on research, they
haven’t shied away from hiring
DOs.
The Clinic employs 199 DOs,
compared with the 2,504 MDs on
its professional staff. UH, meanwhile, boasts 238 DOs and 2,343
credentialed MDs throughout its
enterprise.
And if anything, the lines are being blurred between the two types
of docs. Starting this year with the
goal of being fully in place by 2020,
both MD and DO graduate medical
programs will be accredited under
a uniform system.
Still, it’s not as if the region’s traditional MD programs are at a
standstill waiting for DOs to rescue
the country from its primary care
shortage.
Case Western Reserve University
and the Clinic are plotting a joint,
485,000-square-foot medical education hub on East 93rd Street between Euclid and Chester avenues.
The premise of that effort is to train
caregivers — nurses, docs, physician assistants, etc. — to work together to keep patients’ healthy.
Also, NEOMED, which itself is
polishing off a $160 million campus
makeover in Rootstown, has
teamed with Cleveland State to
train physicians who will practice
in Cleveland’s urban communities.
“We’re not in direct competition
based on mission,” Ohio University’s Kirstein said.
Crain’s 2015
program
nominations
Nominations are now open
for all of Crain’s Cleveland
Business’ 2015 programs.
Deadlines for the following
programs are:
■ Women of Note —
Nomination deadline: March 30
■ Archer Awards —
Nomination deadline: May 1
■ Who to Watch in
Technology — Nomination
deadline: May 18 (noon)
■ Forty Under 40 —
Nomination deadline: June 1
■ Crain’s 52 — Nomination
deadline: June 22
For more information on how to
submit your recommendations
for each of the programs, go to:
www.crainscleveland.com/
nominations.
Upcoming Special Supplement
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21
20150323-NEWS--22-NAT-CCI-CL_--
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2:43 PM
Page 1
CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM
MARCH 23 - 29, 2015
ACOs
CONCORD
continued from page 5
year how it fared in the second
year.
“In the first year, we bent the
cost curve and did the right thing
saving the government money, but
we didn’t get any back,” Steiner
said.
“It was hard to start this thing off
from scratch.”
Summa — also an early adopter
— was the only Medicare ACO in
the state to actually generate any
shared savings in the first year of
operation.
The health system generated
about $11.8 million in savings,
bringing about $5.8 million back
into the system’s coffers. Summa’s
model was focused on driving
more patients toward primary care
by creating more same-day appointments, thus steering them
away from costly emergency room
visits, according to Dr. Mark Terpylak, president of NewHealth
Collaborative, Summa’s ACO.
The late adopters
Although the Clinic didn’t jump
all-in in 2012, the health system
had been quietly preparing to participate in the Medicare shared
savings program since that time,
according to Dr. David Longworth,
chairman of the Clinic’s Medicine
Institute. Since that time, the
health system has transformed
many of its primary care practices
to better manage patients.
Some of the investments include hiring care coordinators to
manage complex patients, redesigning workflows to reduce the
administrative burden on physicians and embedding a registry in
the health system’s electronic
medical record to flag high-risk
patients.
Ultimately, the health system
began simulating being in an ACO,
and in July, realized it was ready to
apply for the Medicare program,
Longworth said.
“This is about transforming the
way you deliver care,” Longworth
said.
“It would have been shortsighted to do this without that transformation. We wanted to be sure we
could deliver the care before we
took that risk.”
Meanwhile, MetroHealth is no
stranger to managing complex patients.
As Cuyahoga County’s public
hospital, the health care provider
has long-served uninsured patients who oftentimes frequented
the emergency room instead of
handling the bulk of their care
through primary care outlets. But
as Medicaid eligibility expanded
under the Affordable Care Act —
and before that, through an experimental waiver in Cuyahoga County — the health system has retooled itself to manage the health
care of these challenging populations. Some of those efforts include the usual targeted outreach
to high-risk patients. Other efforts
include offering patients transportation and even legal assistance.
So when MetroHealth’s ACO
joined the Medicare shared savings effort last year, it already was
well-suited to manage the care of
the roughly 10,000 lives in the program, according to Susan Mego,
MetroHealth’s executive director
of managed care.
“If we didn’t have these resources in place, one of the most
challenging things would be getting them up to scale,” Mego said.
“People were already familiar with
those programs.”
The commercial side
Local health systems’ ACO-like
arrangements, of course, go beyond Medicare. All of the local
health systems have struck riskbased arrangements with commercial insurers. UH, for one, has
launched ACOs with several commercial insurers, including An-
them Blue Cross and Blue Shield,
Cigna Healthcare, UnitedHealthcare and Aetna.
The financials of these arrangements are confidential, but insurers typically help foot part of the
health system’s bill for transforming the way they deliver care. It
takes money, for instance, to hire
care coordinators who steer patients through a health system.
Also, these aren’t capitated payer
arrangements, where providers receive a lump sum per patient — a
common characteristic of managed care plans from the 1990s.
Like the Medicare arrangement,
there’s also a shared-savings component, but even more importantly, these sort of contracts are
changing the dynamic between insurers and health systems.
Rather than haggling over the
unit price of a service rendered or
claims, insurers and health systems are trying to work together to
care for patients. Much of that involves real-time data sharing.
“It really is a partnership between us and them,” said Barb
Cannon, director of accountable
care organizations for Anthem
Inc.
“They have great information
about their patients, but they don’t
have the full picture. We have a
part of the picture they need.”
continued from page 8
needs to be much larger — such as
100 acres — to attract serious developer interest.
Such small parcels only make
sense in dense urban areas such as
New York City or downtown Cleveland, he said.
For the township’s part, Mitchell
said it hopes to capitalize on its attributes.
It has shaped the zoning of the
site to accommodate retailers that
retail consultant Buxton Co. said
residents within a 12-minute drive
time would patronize but are not
yet in its borders. Fort Worth,
Texas-based Buxton said almost
70,000 people live within a 12minute drive of a site it declared
“underserved.”
“This gives us a little more control,” Mitchell said.
“We also hope to set the stage for
more development. We’re in a
unique position because we have
all this land.”
The deadline for proposals, along
with a statement of the developer’s
qualifications for the project, is
April 10.
A nine-member committee
formed by trustees and the JEDD
will recommend a proposal to
trustees, who will have the final
vote on the matter.
REAL ESTATE CLASSIFIED
Phone: (216) 522-1383 Fax: (216) 694-4264
Contact: Denise Donaldson
E-mail: DDonaldson@crain.com
AUCTION
real estate
auctions
4 Cleveland Apartment
Communities
Clinic View - 84 Units
• 1832-1893 E 90th St
Lakeshore - 17 Units
• 14300 Lake Shore Blvd
Eastlake - 22 Units
• 14626 Lake Shore Blvd
Taylor Gardens - 51 Units
• 1843-1849 Taylor Rd
Open to the Public: 11am-2pm
Fri March 13, and 20.
Nominal Opening Bids:
$10,000/unit, Buyer’s Choice
Auctions: 12pm Friday March
27 at 1832-1893 East 90th St,
Cleveland, OH
WAREHOUSE
SPACE
LUXURY
PROPERTY
LEASE:
35 Acre
Country Estate
Industrial/Warehouse
85,000 SF. 3rd floor.
$1.25+/SF/Yr, net.
Just east of CSU & close to interstates.
NE Ohio,
Equestrian Facilities.
Ross
216.431.6633
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Quality Assurance Manager
YIA Ohio, Inc is seeking a Quality Assurance Manager. Yokohama
Industries Americas Ohio Inc, is located Painesville, Ohio and Division of Yokohama Rubber Corporation. We are a manufacturer
of Extruded and Molded Rubber Products serving the Automotive,
Industrial, and Mass Transit Markets.
We require a minimum of (10) ten years in the quality concern. The
candidate must have hands-on experience with APQP, FMEA,
PPAP, Control Plans, SPC, 8-D Corrective Actions, calibration systems implementation and maintenance. ISO90001 and ISO14001
Quality/Environmental Management Systems is a must. Routine
customer interface, internal auditing, and personnel quality training coupled with rubber manufacturing background and a quality
assurance degree are all requirements for this position.
Please respond with letter of interest and resume to include a salary
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20150323-NEWS--23-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/20/2015
1:28 PM
Page 1
MARCH 23 - 29, 2015
THE WEEK
MARCH 16 - 22
The big story: Digital content distributor
OverDrive Inc. of Garfield Heights has agreed to
be acquired for $410 million in cash by Tokyobased Rakuten Inc., one of the world’s largest Internet services companies. The purchase is
scheduled to close in April. OverDrive supplies a
large catalog of e-books, audiobooks, music and
streaming video to 30,000 libraries, schools and
retailers worldwide. Insight Venture Partners
has been the majority shareholder of OverDrive
since 2010. OverDrive, which has about 240 employees, will continue to be led by its CEO, Steve
Potash, from its current headquarters.
Deal’s set:
A. Schulman Inc., a supplier of
high-performance plastic compounds, powders
and resins, agreed to buy West Chicago, Ill.based Citadel Plastics Holdings Inc. for $800
million. Citadel, a portfolio company of private
equity firms HGGC and Charlesbank Capital
Partners, produces thermoset composites and
thermoplastic compounds for specialty product
applications in industries including transportation, industrial and construction, consumer,
electrical, energy, and health care and safety. It
had revenue of $525 million last year. The deal is
expected to close in the third quarter of A. Schulman’s fiscal 2015.
Bridge going nowhere: The bridge planned
to carry pedestrians from Cleveland’s Mall to the
lakefront won’t be ready in time for the Republican National Convention in July 2016. Cuyahoga
County, the city of Cleveland, the Group Plan
Commission, the Greater Cleveland Partnership
and Destination Cleveland said they expect to
rebid the contract to build the $25 million project. That process will delay completion into
2017. Jeremy Paris, executive director of the
Group Plan Commission, said the goal remains
to build the bridge for $25 million.
WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM
Making themselves at home: Mentorbased Metro Home Furniture leased first-floor
space at The Residences at 1717 to open a contemporary home furnishings and accessories
store on East Ninth Street in downtown Cleveland.
The store will open about June 1 in 5,500 square
feet that Metro has leased at Residences at 1717,
according to K&D Group of Willoughby. Residences at 1717 opened last year in a former office
building that K&D converted to apartments with
retail space on the first floor. The furniture store
will be on the building’s East Ninth Street side.
Teamwork:
The Cleveland Browns and the
University of Findlay announced a program
called Partnership for Student Success. It involves what the organizations are describing as a
“knowledge transfer.” The collaboration will include as many as 10 internships, some of which
will be year-round, along with Browns executives
making themselves available for on-campus visits, networking events, skill-building opportunities and curriculum advice.
23
REPORTERS’ NOTEBOOK
BEHIND THE NEWS WITH CRAIN’S WRITERS
The money’s out there,
if you look hard enough
Entrepreneurs should be stalking investors on social media. So long as they’re
not creepy about it.
It worked for Mike Belsito, who recently
released an e-book called “Start Up Seed
Funding for the Rest of Us: How to raise $1
million for your startup even outside of Silicon Valley.”
The local entrepreneur describes how he
identifies investors on AngelList … then
hunts for common connections on LinkedIn
… replies to them on Twitter … and then
comments on their blogs.
That technique is one of many laid out in
the 112-page e-book — a step-by-step guide
based largely on Belsito’s experience raising
$1 million for eFuneral, a now-defunct company that helped people shop for funeral
homes online.
Even experienced entrepreneurs don’t realize how easy it is these days to build relationships with investors and other people
who can help your business, wherever they
live, Belsito says.
For instance, he used Twitter to establish
a relationship with David Cohen, who
helped start Techstars — one of the bestknown startup accelerator programs in the
world. Cohen didn’t invest in eFuneral, but
he served as an adviser to the company.
He used similar techniques to find people
who could help him write and promote the
book. For instance, Belsito asked 30 or 40 influential entrepreneurs and investors for
feedback on a near-finished version of the
book, though he had few ties with them.
WHAT’S NEW
When the book was done, he sent each of
them a personalized email.
That was a good move: Brad Feld, another Techstars co-founder who has a few
books of his own, mentioned the book to his
200,000-plus Twitter followers. One of them
then submitted it to ProductHunt.com, a
website that’s popular among people who
like hot new products. The book became the
top product featured that day.
It was downloaded about 5,000 times during that first week, when it was free. It now
costs about $3 on Amazon.com. People
from Belsito’s network also wrote reviews
on Amazon: The book has 25 five-star ratings and one four-star rating as of March 20.
— Chuck Soder
But how’s their
bedside manner?
The future is here: Robots are coming to
Summa Health System.
No, it’s not a takeover by Terminator’s T1000 or even a dig at administrators, but the
Akron-based health system is installing two
robots — one at Akron City Hospital and another at Barberton Hospital — that will allow
neurologists to perform real-time audiovisual consultations with emergency medicine
teams to more quickly halt stroke damage.
The burgeoning telemedicine program is
through a partnership with California-based
InTouch Health. In a news release, Summa
said acute stroke care is a time-sensitive issue given the small window for treatment
and often limited access to stroke specialists. The quick consultations will speed the
delivery of clot-busting drugs, such as tPA,
The numbers don’t lie
COMPANY: The Step2 Co.,
Streetsboro
PRODUCT: Home Run Baseball
Trainer
Step2 is bringing the arrival of spring a little closer with the release of the Home Run
Baseball Trainer.
The trainer’s zig-zag design allows players ages 3 years and up “to get in their
stance, release one of the four included
baseballs, and hit a perfect strike every
time,” the company says.
It’s built to accommodate growing kids,
as the Home Run Baseball Trainer adjusts to
three different heights to develop each
child’s skill level.
The base of the trainer can be filled with
sand or water to provide more stability,
Step2 says. If the little sluggers work up a
sweat from practicing, “they can grab a water bottle from one of the two molded-in
cup holders,” according to the company.
Product manager Aaron Taylor says the
new product “is more than a toy; it’s an instructor that teaches the fundamentals of
baseball.” He says parents and coaches alike
“will enjoy the visual cue the ball gives so
that kids have the chance to get set in a
stance and perfect their swing.”
Visit www.step2.com for information.
Send information about new products
to managing editor Scott Suttell
at ssuttell@crain.com.
that can halt and reverse stroke damage.
“Our robots, in effect, will serve as a portal through which a stroke specialist anywhere can be virtually present at a moment’s notice,” said Dr. Susana Bowling,
Summa’s medical director for neurosciences.
— Timothy Magaw
The children
are our future
The Timken Co. is preparing for a new
generation of educated workers — by helping to educate the children of its current
workforce with millions in scholarships.
Last week, the company announced it
was awarding 17 scholarships, with a fouryear value of up to $540,000, to 17 sons and
daughters of Timken employees at 11 sites
around the world. That makes $21 million in
scholarships that the company has handed
out, since it began its program in 1958.
This year’s two biggest awards — the
$35,000 Henry Timken Scholar Award and
the $25,000 Jack Timken Scholar award —
went to Bogdan Konnerth and Minna Schut,
respectively. Konnerth is the son of a
Timken engineering manager in Romania.
Schut is the daughter of Jeffrey Schut, principal inventory planner at the company’s
headquarters in Canton.
Scholarships also went to Ryan Springer,
whose father, Thomas, is a program manager for Timken in Canton, and Shreyas
Chaudhari, whose father, Rahul, is manager
of manufacturing technology for the company, also in Canton.
— Dan Shingler
BEST OF THE BLOGS
Excerpts from recent blog entries
on CrainsCleveland.com.
Boots on the ground: Famous boot retailer
and outdoor retailer L.L. Bean plans to open its
first Ohio store, in November at Legacy Village
shopping center in Lyndhurst. Freeport, Mainebased L.L. Bean said the store will consist of
16,000 feet of space and employ about 100 people. The store will have an assortment of active
and casual apparel and footwear as well as
camping, fly-fishing, hiking, kayaking and other
products. L.L. Bean will move into the current
Talbots store at Legacy, which will move within
the center. Best known as a catalog retailer, L.L.
Bean said the Legacy Village store will be L.L.
Bean’s 23rd retail operation outside of Maine.
CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
Northeast Ohio resident Linda Jokkel
probably spoke for a lot of people with her
observations in a Bloomberg story noting
that the “link between falling unemployment and rising wages — once almost as
basic to economic theory as supply and demand — seems to be coming unhinged.”
Nationally, the U.S. unemployment rate
dropped to 5.5% in February, the lowest in
almost seven years, according to the Labor
Department. But, as Bloomberg pointed
out, “accompanying that decline was only a
0.1 percent, or 3 cent, monthly rise in average hourly earnings.”
Jokkel, 45, “took a temporary position in
September as an administrative assistant at
a manufacturing company earning about
half what she’d been making at a previous
job, and without benefits,” according to the
story.
She had thought she could do better after
her position as a secretary at Ben Venue
Laboratories Inc. was eliminated in 2013.
Instead, Bloomberg said, “she exhausted
her unemployment benefits looking for fulltime work that paid anywhere near what
she’d been earning.”
During her search, Jokkel told
Bloomberg, she found reports about a
strengthening labor market galling: “I
would hear, ‘Oh, the unemployment rate is
so low,’ and I’m like, ‘No it isn’t because
people like me disappear.’”
No whining about sulfites
The federal government in the late 1980s
insisted that wine labels include a “Contains Sulfites” warning. Since then, many
people have blamed the compound for
their wine headaches, but as The Wall Street
Journal said, the cause almost certainly is
something else.
“Only a tiny percentage of the U.S. population — less than 1% — actually suffers
from true sensitivity to sulfites, and these
people are invariably chronic asthmatics,”
the paper reported based on information
from Dr. David Lang, chairman of the Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the Cleveland Clinic.
Lang told The Journal that in his 28 years
of practice, he has seen only one person
who had “true allergic reactions” to sulfites.
Such reactions, he noted, typically involve
shortness of breath and wheezing, not
headaches.
“Sulfites have been around for centuries
and have been very well-tolerated,” Lang
said.
Non-asthmatics who come to Lang with
sulfite-related fears “might actually be allergic to something else in the wines, such as
proteins or histamines,” according to the story. What’s more, The Journal said, white wine
contains more sulfites than does red, so those
who suffer from “red-wine sulfite allergy”
may be reacting to tannins, which tend to be
more significant in red wine than white.
Information flow
Belt magazine kicked off a partnership
with The Guardian with a story that looked
at the devastating consequences of Ohio’s
decision to reject millions of dollars of federal government money for food stamps.
Here’s a sobering paragraph from the story, which originally ran in Belt:
In 2009 — the worst year of the “great recession” in Ohio, according to the Brookings
Institution — the (Cleveland) Food Bank delivered 29.1 million pounds of food. That
should have been the zenith of food charity,
if you go by job growth and the decrease in
foreclosures. Instead, year over year since, the
volume of food distributed by the Food Bank
has grown. Last year, it distributed 32% more
than in 2009.
Ann Trubek, Belt editor-in-chief, said in
an email that The Guardian’s Guardian
Cities unit “will repost our stories occasionally. … We’re proud and happy to bring
news of our region to their international
readers.”
20150323-NEWS--24-NAT-CCI-CL_--
3/19/2015
2:57 PM
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