This episode of Shrinking Cities investigates vacant lot greening in Cleveland. It details the city’s rise and decline and the issues it has faced coming out of its industrial heyday. In the episode, we examine an initiative called Reimagining a Sustainable Cleveland, a public-private partnership that distributes grants for community-led urban agriculture and greening projects. We also focus on the story of Mansfield Fraizer, a formerly incarcerated community member who created the first inner-city urban vineyard in the country, bringing economic productivity and jobs directed at other ex-convicts into the neighborhood.
Team: Editor: Meghna Mehta, Barnard College ‘21Scriptwriting/Producing: Catherine Zhu, Barnard College ‘22Podcast Manager: Daniel Schwartz, Columbia College ‘21
Audio Clips:
"Brenda Taylor Rosario Interview, 14 April 2010" (2010). Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection. Interview 700010. https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/crohc000/451 .
Fraizer, Mansfield. “BioCellars - Reviving Cleveland Neighborhoods.” TEDxCLE 2013 , October 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbVNM7WacyQ&ab_channel=TEDxTalks .
Making Sense of Place, Cleveland Confronting Decline in an American City. Directed by Tim Lay and Bestor Cram, performance by Bob Souer.Northern Lights Productions, 2006. Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpWS4_YtkUg&ab_channel=DrewSki.
Raregoodman Frusciante. (2015, July 26th). Rocket from the Tombs - Ain't it fun [Video]. Youtube.
ReasonTV. Reason Saves Cleveland with Drew Carey: How to fix the 'Mistake on the Lake' and other once-great American Cities . Directed by Paul Feine, performance by Drew Carey. Reason TV, 2010. Youtube , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=096pjEOrdK4&t=17s&ab_channel=ReasonTV RETROVISOR. (2016, October 6th).
Dazz Band ~ Let It Whip 1982 [Video]. YouTube
Scholarship:
Berglund, Lisa. “‘We’re Forgotten’: The Shaping of Place Attachment and Collective Action in Detroit’s 48217 Neighborhood.” Journal of Urban Affairs , vol. 42, no. 3, 2018, pp. 390–413.
Thompson, Heather Ann. "Why Mass Incarceration Matters: Rethinking Crisis, Decline and Transformation in Postwar American History," Journal of American History, vol 97, no 3, 2010, pp. 703-734.
