The City Club of Cleveland Podcast

Ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason assumed her role as Ireland's 19th Ambassador to the United States in August 2022. Previously, she spent five years as Ireland\'s Ambassador to the United Nations and served on the Security Council as an elected member. Her experiences in that role made her acutely aware of the importance of sustaining peace and security. 2023 also marks 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement, which ended most of the violence of the Troubles in Ireland. The nation is also working through the aftermath of Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic, and upended peace and stability from the devastating consequences of the war in Ukraine.\r\n\r\nHere in Cleveland, master plans are being drafted to renovate Irishtown Bend - the historic settlement of some of Cleveland\'s first Irish residents who constructed the canals and railways that helped shape the state. And now, direct flights from Cleveland to Ireland and 20 other European destinations are possible-- bringing with it an estimated $85 million impact on Northeast Ohio\'s economy over three years. It\'s clear the relationship between the United States and Ireland continues to grow.

Join the City Club for the annual State of the Schools address featuring CEO Dr. Warren G. Morgan. This academic year is the first for Dr. Morgan, who became CEO of Ohio's third largest school district in July. As CEO, he is responsible for implementing the strategic vision for the district, which serves more than 36,000 students. He also oversees more than 6,500 employees and collaborates with educators, students and families, and the community to create a school district that provides high-quality, equitable education to all of its students.\r\n\r\nBefore coming to CMSD, Morgan was the Chief Academic Officer for Indianapolis Public Schools. He has also held leadership roles at Teach for America and Chicago Public Schools. From 2014 to 2016, he served as a Network Leader for CMSD. Following his time in CMSD in 2016, he served in Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump\'s administration as a prestigious White House Fellow. A Chicago native, Dr. Morgan is a graduate of Butler University, University of Missouri-St. Louis, and University of Illinois Chicago.

The year is not yet over, but across the country, people have weathered a significant number of climate events: Californians experienced heavy rainfall from, landslides, and even a hurricane. The South grappled with extreme heat and the Midwest and Northeast are contending with dangerous air quality from wildfires in Canada. Now, the gulf and east coasts are bracing for another season of intense hurricane activity.\r\n\r\nIn the Great Lakes, climate change has led to increased rainfall, reduced water quality, rising temperatures, and fluctuating water levels. The climate crisis is a top priority for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the organization is working with the business community, academia, and other federal, state, and local agencies to build a climate ready nation.\r\n\r\nAs the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator, Dr. Richard Spinrad is responsible for the strategic direction of the agency. This includes developing NOAA's products and services to address the climate crisis, enhancing environmental sustainability, fostering economic development, and creating a more equitable and diverse NOAA workforce. Prior to coming to the NOAA, Spinrad was Senior Adviser to the Vice President of Research and professor of Oceanology at Oregon State University. Dr. Spinard served as NOAA\'s chief scientist from 2014-2016 and led NOAA\'s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and National Ocean Service from 2003-2010. He has also held leadership positions with the Office of Naval Research and the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command.

To have a strong region, our cities need a strong urban core. Efforts are underway to support our region\'s economic engine in order to grow jobs, create a vibrant storefront economy, and encourage residential development.\r\n\r\nA recent report released by Downtown Cleveland revealed significant population increases in the area. And in June, Cleveland leadership introduced an ambitious strategy for downtown revival after the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated existing trends. Included in this plan is the completion of the Downtown Cleveland Retail Strategic Plan that will analyze Downtown's current retail inventory, identify barriers to attracting retailers, implement a targeted tenant attraction strategy, and more.\r\n\r\nWhat does the future of downtown Cleveland look like? Join us to hear from Downtown Cleveland\'s Michael Deemer and University Circle Inc\'s new President, Kate Borders on how can we reimagine downtown from a business district into a diverse, vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood.

It was in 1903 when Cleveland\'s first urban plans called for access to the Lake Erie shoreline. Then in 1946, the city released its first comprehensive lakefront plan. And in 2004, the Waterfront District plan was the first to recommend a pedestrian connection. Several studies have been completed over the decades, and while some aspects of these plans have been implemented, access from Downtown Cleveland to its lakefront remains constrained.\r\n\r\nRecently, Cleveland\'s North Coast, the City, and its partners announced a draft of Cleveland's North Coast Master Plan. It aims to end what seems like an elusive solution to lakefront development--creating a blueprint for a vibrant and equitable recreational hub for all to enjoy, connecting people with nature, and the city to its waterfront. But what makes this one different from all the rest?

Public speaking and the spoken word are one of humankind\'s earliest forms of art. It thrived before written languages, and remains rooted in the oral traditions of many cultures today. Speeches often define moments in history--George Washington\'s farewell address, Martin Luther King\'s speech to the March on Washington, for instance. In 1968, Robert F. Kennedy spoke at the City Club of the "mindless menace of violence" the day after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated--a speech that still resonates today. Even in an era of emoji, texting, and AI, the art and exercise of the spoken word remains critical. It is the speech, the word verbalized that provokes thought, sparks debate, and wins arguments.\r\n\r\nIn early 2023, Craig Hassall became President and CEO of Playhouse Square. Prior to coming to Cleveland, Hassal was a mainstay in the international theater community, with decades of experience operating and curating major venues in Europe and Australia, including Opera Australia, the English National Ballet, and most recently serving as CEO of London\'s Royal Albert Music Hall.

Since November 2022, when Chat GPT opened the floodgates of public use of AI (Artificial Intelligence), there has been a rapid and profound transformation taking place in the field of education. This technological revolution has ignited numerous discussions about its potential impact on the way students learn. The integration of AI into schools has become a topic of immense interest, mirroring the transformative shifts that the pandemic brought to the education system. As we venture into the realms of AI; educators, parents, and students are actively exploring how this innovative technology can reshape learning methods while also recognizing and addressing potential challenges and implications.\r\n\r\nMuch like how colleges and universities adjusted their admissions processes during the pandemic, AI\'s integration is also altering the traditional landscape of standardized testing. In some educational institutions, standardized tests like the SAT and ACT are becoming optional, or are being phased out altogether. Schools are considering new ways to assess student performance by tapping into the potential of AI for personalized assessments and feedback.\r\n\r\nWhile AI offers exciting possibilities for transforming education, its implementation requires careful examination of the potential advantages and shortcomings. Critics argue that standardized testing, like AI algorithms, can exacerbate educational disparities and socioeconomic disadvantages. The rise of AI-driven assessments sparks concerns about fairness, equity, and privacy.\r\n\r\nJoin us at the City Club as the Youth Forum Council welcomes John Panza, Associate English Professor at Tri-C and Rennie Greenfield, Librarian/Instruction Technologist at Hawken School to discuss the impact that AI is having on education.

At its core, the German Marshall Fund strives to champion democratic values and the transatlantic alliance by strengthening civil society, forging bold and innovative policy ideas, and developing a new generation of leaders to tackle global challenges. In fact, many of its alumni reside right here in Northeast Ohio and they continue to drive innovative solutions to the challenges our communities face.\r\n\r\nAs the organization's sixth president, Heather Conley is leading the German Marshall Fund forward during these times of international unrest and upheaval. Alliances and strategic relations around the world are being redefined by the Russian war against Ukraine and growing US-China competition and tension. It begs us to reconsider US and European engagement in global swing states, new patterns of international cooperation, and what type of leadership is required of all of us at this moment.\r\n\r\nConley has spent her career working in international relations and governmental affairs. Before coming to the German Marshall Fund, she spent 12 years at the Center for Strategic and International Studies as the senior vice president for Europe, Eurasia, and the Arctic. Before that, she was the executive director of the Office of the Chairman of the Board at the American National Red Cross and the deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.

When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, it sent the issue of legalizing abortion back to the states. After the court's decision, Ohio enacted a near-total ban on abortion--which remained legal for a little over two months until a Hamilton County judge placed the law on hold due to a lawsuit from the ACLU and Planned Parenthood. Currently, abortion is legal in Ohio before 22 weeks of pregnancy. With Issue 1, abortion proponents hope to enshrine the right to abortion in the state's constitution.\r\n\r\nIf passed, Issue 1 would allow a patient to "make and carry out one's own reproductive decisions, including decisions about abortion, contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage care, and continuing pregnancy." It would still allow the state to restrict abortion after fetal viability, except when "necessary to protect the pregnant patient's life or health. Opponents to Issue 1 argue the amendment would increase access to abortions, remove parental rights, allow gender affirming care for minors.

The phrases \"woke\" and \"anti-woke\" have entered the general lexicon in recent years, providing combative fodder to both sides of the debate, and fueling division in American discourse. But what are the origins and consequences of so-called "wokeness?\"\r\n\r\nIn Yascha Mounk\'s previous visit to the City Club, he discussed shifts in the global thoughts about democracy, how we got here, and how it can be saved. Mounk has built his acclaimed scholarly career on being one of the first to warn of the risks right-wing populists pose to American democracy. Now, Mounk joins us once again to discuss his latest book that tackles the appeal and limitations of identity-based politics--which has rapidly transformed America and college campuses across the country. He calls it the \"identity trap,\" and argues those on the left and center who are stuck in the identity trap will ultimately make it harder to achieve progress toward genuine equality.\r\n\r\nYascha Mounk, Ph.D. is a political scientist known for his work on the rise of populism and the crisis of liberal democracy. He is a professor of the practice of international affairs at Johns Hopkins University, the founder of the digital magazine Persuasion, a contributing editor at The Atlantic, and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. The Identity Trap is his fifth book.