FPC in the News
In April 2011, Cleveland City Council passed a law to ban restaurants from using cooking oils containing trans fats as part of the Healthy Cleveland initiative. In June 2011, the Ohio Senate amended the state budget to ban municipalities from regulating the ingredients eateries could use to prepare foods. On January 3, 2012 Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson filed a complaint against the Ohio legislature in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court stating that the state's budget amendment infringed on Cleveland's home rule rights.
Dr. Parwinder Grewal, faculty member at The Ohio State University and based at Ohio Agricultural Research Development Center in Wooster, OH recently published an article in the journal Cities, 'Can Cities Become Self-Reliant in Food?' that explores the possibility of Cleveland producing 100% of its fresh produce, honey, and poultry and egg needs using vacant and underutilized land in the city of Cleveland. WIRED provides a summary of the research and includes comments from Dr. Grewal and Kim Scott, Cleveland City Planning Commission.
This recent article from the American Bar Association Journal highlights the challenges of developing land-use regulations and updating ordinances that recognize agriculture as a land use activity in urban communities. The efforts of several cities, including Cleveland, are highlighted.
Several members of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Food Policy Coalition and Summit County Food Policy Coalition attended the Community Food Security Coalition Conference, Food Policy: From Neighborhood to Nation in Portland in May 2011. Cleveland Councilman Joe Cimperman was part of a plenary discussion with three other public officials:
- Richard Conlin, City Council President, Seattle
- Sarah Brannen, New York City Council Senior Policy Analyst
- Representative Sue Wallis, State of Wyoming Legislature
In the plenary, Councilman Cimperman spoke about all of the amazing community projects, businesses, and policy innovations related to local food in Cleveland and the important role of social justice in informing changes to the food system. This article by Hannah Wallace for Civil Eats and The Faster Times continues the conversation that Councilman Cimperman started in Portland.
Cleveland was chosen as the host city for the Project for Public Spaces Public Markets Conference in 2012. The West Side Market is poised to celebrate their centennial the same year and the conference will be a great opportunity for Cleveland and the region to highlight all of the tremendous work and innovation in local food and urban agriculture.
The City of Cleveland and the region's four major hospital systems, Metro Health Hospital, Saint Vincent's Charity Hospital, University Hospitals, and Cleveland Clinic have proposed a comprehensive health agenda for the city that includes improving access to healthy food, increasing physical activity, developing a comprehensive smoking cessation strategy, and improving support for residents with mood and behavioral disorders.
Michael Shuman, Economist with Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), has led a nine month study and assessment of the Northeast Ohio local food system in partnership with the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Food Policy Coalition, ParkWorks, Kent State University Urban Design Center, and Neighborhood Progress Inc with support from the Cleveland Foundation. His study looks at the economic impact of a 25% localization strategy and provides a blueprint for how Northeast Ohio can make progress towards this goal.
Dim and Den Sum is one of the hottest food businesses on four wheels, delivering fresh, local, prepared food in different locations throughout Greater Cleveland in their food truck. This article explores the policy barriers food trucks have encountered in obtaining permits and ideas from City of Cleveland's Department of Economic Development on how to improve the process for this new group of entrepreneurs.
Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan of the United States Department of Agriculture and Director Robert Boggs of the Ohio Department of Agriculture visited Cleveland's Kinsman neighborhood to announce support for a new urban agriculture program in Cleveland.
Kathleen Merrigan, Deputy Secretary for the United States Department of Agriculture, was in Cleveland, October 27, 2010 to announce a Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program grant award to The Ohio State University Extension to support training for new small-scale producers and an urban farm incubator in Cleveland's Kinsman neighborhood.
