November 18, 2025 • 33 mins
Cities don’t forget—their land remembers. In this episode, we speak with Isaac Robb, Chief Urban Program Officer at Western Reserve Land Conservancy, and explore how his organization works to turn Cleveland's vacant and underutilized land into living assets, including neighborhood parks, memorial gardens, and reforestation programs that cool, calm, and reconnect neighborhoods. Hear what Isaac loves most about Cleveland and what surprised him most when first coming here in 2105.
The Western Reserve Land Conservancy is a land trust known for farmland preservation, but also built a robust urban program from the tragedy of the foreclosure crisis. Programs to reforest the city, create community parks and green spaces, and reconnect residents with the land in their own backyard are improving health and quality of life.
The Conservancy's urban projects honor community memories and experiences and offer healing and reconnection by planning guided by environmental justice, public health, and the power of place. Join us to hear about the people who founded this work and those who shepherd it today, and the many ways to be a part of this transformative work.
Learn More:
- About the Conservancy
- Conservancy Projects
- Getting Involved
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Diane Bickett, Host (00:04):
You're listening to EcoSpeak CLE, a
podcast for the Eco Curious inNortheast Ohio.
My name is Diane Vickett, andmy producer is Greg Rotuno.
Together, we speak with localsustainability leaders and
invite you to connect, learn,and live with our community and
planet in mind.
Hello, friends.
We are excited today to bejoined by Isaac Robb, who is the
(00:26):
Chief Urban Program Officer forWestern Reserve Land
Conservancy.
Now you may think of farmlandpreservation when you think of
the Western Reserve LandConservancy, but their work in
urban areas is just as robustand having real impact by
improving tree canopy, creatingcommunity green spaces, and
transforming vacant andunderused land to create safe
(00:48):
and beautiful neighborhoods.
Now I was able to see seven oftheir completed projects last
summer when I participated inthe Conservancy's Urban
Conservation Tour.
And there are several moreprojects in the works.
So please stay with us and hearhow the Land Conservancy is
working to create healthy urbanspaces that improve quality of
(01:08):
life and health forClevelanders.
Welcome, Isaac.
Isaac Robb, Guest (01:11):
Thank you so much for having me.
Diane Bickett, Host (01:13):
Yeah, thanks for joining us.
Now I want to start with kindof your background because
you're not a Cleveland native.
You were born in Oregon, grewup on the Oregon coast.
Lucky you.
And then you wound your way,wound your way here through
Seattle, I think, and Cornelland Hong Kong.
(01:33):
And here you are in Clevelandand when 2015 is when you
arrived.
That's correct.
Isaac Robb, Guest (01:40):
It's been a decade.
Diane Bickett, Host (01:41):
A decade.
Well, welcome.
And I'm curious about whatsurprised you most when you got
here.
Isaac Robb, Guest (01:49):
I think Cleveland has a very outsized
national reputation for the sizeof the city.
And having never lived in aformer industrial legacy U.S.
city, I didn't really know whatto expect.
And what really surprised mewas, you know, people like to
say that Cleveland's the homeshave great bones, but I think
(02:10):
the city really has great bones,whether it's the architecture,
the pre-automobileneighborhoods, uh the access to
the lake and all of the naturalresources.
That was something, you know, Iwasn't anticipating when I came
here.
And then what's really kept mehere is just the strength of the
communities that we get to workand live and play with.
(02:32):
I'm a resident of Ohio City.
I've lived here most of thetime that I've been in
Cleveland.
And just the people are soauthentic, hardworking, and we
absolutely love it.
Diane Bickett, Host (02:43):
Yeah, awesome.
Well, I would totally agreewith all of that.
So you're an urban planner.
Can you talk a little bit aboutyour role at the Conservancy?
Isaac Robb, Guest (02:52):
Yeah.
So the Land Conservancy is astaff of about 50, and I'm happy
to be part of the minority thatwe're not all urban planners.
We have a very diverse set ofprofessional background, you
know, wetland ecologist,biologist, GIS professionals,
finance attorneys.
And I'm one of two folks onstaff that have a background in
(03:14):
urban planning.
So I think it provides a reallynice kind of generalist
perspective on how regionsinteract and systems thinking,
but we're not kind of preachingto the choir all the time with
everyone's unique backgrounds.
Diane Bickett, Host (03:30):
Yeah.
Well, I was surprised to learnthat the Conservancy operates in
29 different counties in Ohio.
So you're very big.
Just a few stats that I'd liketo throw out, if I may.
In addition to serving 29counties, the Conservancy has
preserved 78,843 acres offarmland, or of land, I should
(03:54):
say, and created 20,741 acres ofparks.
And that's not all here inCleveland, but you know, you're
getting there.
So your mission is to conserve,connect, and sustain.
Can you talk about that alittle bit?
Isaac Robb, Guest (04:12):
Yeah, so I think you hit on a few, and I I
trust that your stats arecorrect.
I got them on the website.
Yeah, yeah.
The website's always alwaysupdated.
The history of the landconservancy starts like a lot of
traditional land trusts.
We are part of the land trustalliance, which is a national
organization.
We are accredited through that.
There are thousands of landtrusts throughout the country.
(04:35):
But we recognized pretty earlyon that in order to have the
maximum benefit, we not onlyneeded to grow in a sustainable
way.
And that's what led to a mergerof eight smaller land trusts in
2006 to sort of create what isnow the Western Reserve Land
Conservancy, but it's reallymeeting people where they're at.
So it is conserving naturalareas, working farms.
(04:58):
It's connecting, though, toeach of those communities.
One thing I really appreciateabout Ohio is it's such a
microcosm of the US.
And both politically,demographically, there are a lot
of really interesting dynamics,especially around people's
connection with land.
And people that live in sort ofthe rural countryside have deep
(05:18):
histories and legacies with theland, but so do people that
live in our cities.
They might interact with itdifferently, but that passion
and connection to place is verystrong.
So that's really the connectaspect of it.
And then sustain is we makepromises to landowners and to
communities for these spaces tobe conserved natural areas in
perpetuity.
And so we need to make surethat we are sustaining our
(05:41):
organization not for the nextfive, 10, or 50 years, but for
the next 200 years, to make surethat the promises we're making
today will be upheld long afterall of us are gone.
Diane Bickett, Host (05:51):
Wow.
That's that's super cool work.
So do you want to say anythingabout you know, your the work
that you're doing in the city isreally building on work of
others.
Do you want to name some names?
Isaac Robb, Guest (06:07):
Always happy to name drop in Cleveland.
Yes, our urban program, what wecall Thriving Communities for
our Urban Team, started in 2011and it was founded by former
county treasurer Jim Rakakis.
And he put together a reallyphenomenal team.
And many of the people I stillconsider my mentors today,
(06:28):
people like Frank Ford, JayWestbrook, Robin Thomas, and our
late great friend and colleagueJackie Gillen were some of our
early colleagues, as well asKate Hidock and numerous other
people that really, I rememberwhen I started as an intern in
2015, I was pretty far and awaythe youngest person on the urban
(06:49):
team.
But learning about the historyof the place and the its people,
those folks really set us on atrajectory for success.
And then as people transitionedinto retirement or different
work opportunities or lifeobligations, Matt Zone stepped
in.
He took the helm of ourorganization.
And all throughout this time,we were growing and evolving in
(07:12):
different ways, especially withour urban program.
Both, you know, it was reallyfounded out of a response for
the foreclosure crisis andcreating county land banks
statewide.
And while that work is not doneand we still have a lot of
things to tackle, our work hasevolved to be more of the
(07:34):
greening and the neighborhoodstabilization, and especially
with our reforestation program.
Diane Bickett, Host (07:39):
I remember back during the foreclosure
crisis, the county created ademolition program that took
down thousands of homes inCleveland, which begged the
question what do we do with allthis vacant land?
So I understand that's part ofwhat you're doing is is doing an
inventory of parcels that areeither vacant or underutilized
(08:02):
to create more green spaces forfor residents.
Is that correct?
Isaac Robb, Guest (08:08):
That is, and I appreciate you bringing that
up because that was one of thesurprises and what led me to
Cleveland was Jim Rakakis cameto my graduate student seminar
to speak on legacy cities andthe foreclosure crisis.
I completed my undergraduatestudies in 2008, so the
foreclosure crisis really hasbeen this through line in my
(08:30):
professional experience, and itreally resonated with me.
And he said, again, this wasover 10 years ago now.
I don't know what's going tohappen with all the vacant land,
but I do know we cannot sustaina city and a community with all
these vacant and abandonedproperties and all of the really
negative impacts that it has.
(08:51):
And so it's interesting that Ifeel that that baton has been
passed, that they were the folkswe worked with and people in
different civic institutions in2006 through 2013, 14, 15 were
really in emergency responsemode.
And now we have to be reallystrategic in figuring out ways
(09:15):
to plan and have land usestrategies that reflect the
demographic conditions that wehave in our city right now.
Diane Bickett, Host (09:24):
I think too people are more spread out in
Cleveland because you have ahouse and then you might have a
few vacant parcels around.
So there is isn't as cohesive.
How are you working, or how doyou see people accessing their
natural surroundings and how areyou working to foster a
connection with the land in theinner city?
Isaac Robb, Guest (09:45):
Yeah, this again, everything is sort of an
iterative process.
And Sandra Albro was working atHolden Forest and Gardens at
the time, and she had thisfantastic program called Vacant
to Vibrant, actually wrote abook about this exact topic.
How can this land that has beenleft behind as people have
(10:06):
moved and have left our urbancore, how can it be a true
resource for the people thatstill live here?
And that spatial mismatch thatyou said, where you had a few
vacant parcels on a lot and thena handful of occupied
structures, it actually lookslike some of the historic map
(10:27):
from around 1920 in some ofthese Cleveland neighborhoods.
I'm thinking Mount Pleasant,Union Miles, as the first sort
of wave of immigration wascoming.
And so whether it's greenstormwater infrastructure,
whether it's kind ofnaturalizing these spaces, I
think there are a lot of ways toapproach this, but you have to
(10:49):
start with listening because theland really holds these
community stories.
And a lot of times there aremoments of significant trauma.
And if you remember growing upon a street, and maybe you went
to your neighbor's house for abarbecue a few times every
summer, and now that neighbormoved away and that house has
been demolished, there's anatural and an understandable
(11:12):
desire, you know, to have morepeople move back to see occupied
homes like you might haveremembered it.
So I think it's it's reallymeeting people where they're at
and recognizing that, you know,in a city that has a very
diminished tree canopy thatdoesn't have access to
high-quality green space foreveryone in every neighborhood.
(11:34):
What is our role as a landtrust in bridging that divide
between people and place in avery urban context?
Diane Bickett, Host (11:44):
So I assume you're working with community
organizations, communitymembers.
When you talk about honoringthe past, several of the prod
projects that we were touringthrough the Urban Conservation
Tour kind of spoke to that withthe Garden of Eleven Angels.
You want to talk about some ofthose projects and how how
you're kind of meeting thatmission?
Isaac Robb, Guest (12:06):
Yes, and back to some of that historic kind
of leadership we had in theorganization.
I'm thinking of Jay and Jackie.
They were so well connected andhad such deep relationships in
different neighborhoodsthroughout our city.
And so a lot of our projects,in fact, all of our projects,
they aren't necessarilyconceived by staff at the land
(12:30):
conservancy.
These are really ideas thathave come about through those
neighborhood-based organizationsor residents themselves.
So the Garden of Eleven Angelsis, I would argue, probably the
most important thing I've everworked on.
It's on Imperial Avenue and thesite of a really horrific
series of events that resultedin the loss of life of 11 women.
(12:53):
And not only was it incrediblytraumatic for those families and
the victims themselves, butalso for the community.
And so through Jackie'sleadership in partnership with
Burton Belcar, the localcommunity development
corporation, faith-based leadersin that neighborhood, family
(13:14):
members and others, Jackie wasinvited for us to participate
with Land Studio and a handfulof other sort of civic partners
to design and create a space forthe remembrance of the women
that lost their lives.
Not only that, but also as amemorial to all women who have
(13:36):
suffered from sexual violenceand create a space that honors
that traumatic history, but alsobeing a community space where
people feel comfortable togather and spend time and
reflect.
Diane Bickett, Host (13:56):
Some of the other places mature that if you
want to maybe just say a thingabout a thing or two about would
be the Derrick Owens MemorialPark, the Thurgood Marshall
Green, the Brighton Park.
There's just a lot a lot ofgood stuff happening.
Isaac Robb, Guest (14:11):
Yes, thanks for bringing those up.
The Derek Owens Memorial Gardenwas sorry, not Garden Memorial
Park, was again something thatcame about out of a community
tragedy when Officer Owens wasresponding to a call that a
neighbor made about some illegalactivity occurring in actually
a vacant, abandoned garage.
(14:32):
He responded and was killed inthe line of duty.
And through a partnership withthe St.
Luke's Foundation, who's been agreat supporter of ours over
the years, as well as LandStudio and the Cleveland Police
Foundation, this remembrancepark was created not only on
that site, but on the twoadjacent parcels as well.
(14:52):
And David Wilson from LandStudio did a great job leading
that design work, working withthe Cuyahoga Land Bank, who has
partnered with us on pretty muchall the projects we're going to
talk about.
They were able to help get theland.
And then the Cleveland PoliceFoundation actually owns the
park, maintains it withvolunteers, and it's just an
(15:12):
immaculate place and really paysa great honor to someone who
gave their life to the communitydoing and working in a
neighborhood that they grew upin and cared deeply about.
Diane Bickett, Host (15:24):
Good work by David Wilson, who was on this
podcast a couple few years agowhen we did our episode with the
Black Environmental Leaders.
Isaac Robb, Guest (15:32):
Oh, that's fantastic.
And Jackie, who I mentioned wasone of the founding members
with David and Simeon.
Diane Bickett, Host (15:38):
Yeah.
We uh spoke about Jackie.
Isaac Robb, Guest (15:40):
Yeah, she's a legend.
Diane Bickett, Host (15:42):
I never got to meet her, but I it was uh
wish I had.
Isaac Robb, Guest (15:45):
There's a great mural of Jackie that
everyone can see.
Um yeah, on 116th and Kinsmanon the side of Henry's Cleaners.
She worked with RTA and andother local uh residents and
business owners to get a transitwaiting area, a bus stop.
We did a tree planting and agarden, and then after her
passing, there's a beautifulmural there.
(16:06):
So you can always see hersmiling face.
Oh, that's awesome.
Even if you didn't get to meether.
Yeah.
Diane Bickett, Host (16:10):
I will have to check that out.
So the the you have your parksprograms.
You also have a reforest ourcity program.
Let's let's hear about that.
Isaac Robb, Guest (16:20):
Yeah, Reforest City is something we're
really proud of and the growththat it has experienced.
It sort of mirrors actually thegrowth of a tree.
It's it's 10 years old thisyear.
We're celebrating its 10thanniversary.
And it really started out of abelief that you know trees are a
key component and are criticalinfrastructure.
These are something that aren'tnice to have.
(16:42):
It's something that everycommunity deserves.
The research is resounding inthe impacts it has on physical,
emotional health, and well-beingfrom property values to
capturing stormwater to heathelping you know cool your house
in the summer from an urbanheat island effect.
(17:03):
The benefits are just are trulynumerous.
And so we've thought that thatwas a great opportunity for us
to get more involved.
So we launched the ClevelandTree Plan that was adopted by
the Planning Commission in 2015.
We are an executive member ofthe Cleveland Tree Coalition,
which is led by Sarah Tilley.
We recognize that when Alexa deTocqueville came to America, he
(17:25):
referenced Cleveland as theforest city.
And our tree canopy continuesto diminish, whether it's in
comparison to our suburban peersor peer cities of similar size
and kind of economic background.
And so, unfortunately, if youlook at the tree canopy data and
even aerial imagery ofCleveland, you can see the
(17:47):
outline of the city ofCleveland's municipal boundary
based on its aerial tree canopy.
If you go to Buckeye, Woodhill,Mount Pleasant, and then just
go over the border to ShakerHeights, the tree canopy
drastically changes.
And we think that this is anenvironmental justice issue that
has gone unaddressed for fartoo long.
(18:08):
And so we work in a variety ofways.
We both plant, not only plant,but maintain trees.
That's the real key thing isgrowing the trees.
We also do have a free treesteward training that we offer
to Cleveland residents, as wellas our Trees for Clea program,
where all Cleveland residentscan get a free tree to adopt and
place on their yards.
(18:29):
So we try and again meet peoplewhere they're at.
And we've to date planted anddistributed over 17,000 trees in
the city of Cleveland.
Diane Bickett, Host (18:37):
So the tree steward program, you're
training Cleveland residents tocare for the trees that you've
planted?
Isaac Robb, Guest (18:43):
Yes.
And the hope is that they areequipped with enough knowledge
that if they want to lead a treeplanting project or program in
their own neighborhood, thatthey would get the support and
the knowledge that they wouldneed to do that.
There are grants through CuyogaCounty and the Cleveland Tree
Coalition to have these types ofneighborhood plantings.
(19:04):
And some of our most successfultree stewards will obviously
come to volunteer at treeplanting events, but they also
have become leaders in their owncommunities.
And it's one of those modelsthat I think can grow
exponentially the more kind oftree stewards we have throughout
our city.
Diane Bickett, Host (19:22):
Yeah.
I was volunteering for aCleveland History Days event at
the Monroe Cemetery, and therewere people all over the
cemetery walking around wateringthe trees that were out there.
So maybe those were the sametree stewards or just the
cemetery tree stewards, but itwas very cool.
Isaac Robb, Guest (19:40):
I actually live on that block.
The Monroe Street Cemetery isour neighborhood park.
And yes, they have a veryactive friends of the Monroe
Street Cemetery and they taketheir tree canopy very, very
seriously.
So yes, they've they've gonethrough the program and actually
have gotten a grant to planttrees there and work with the
city.
So it's a great partnership,and it's a beautiful cemetery if
(20:01):
anyone finds themselves in OhioCity.
Diane Bickett, Host (20:03):
Yeah, there's some cool dead people
there.
Isaac Robb, Guest (20:05):
Very cool.
Diane Bickett, Host (20:06):
What what what time of year should people
be looking out for the trainingsand that you're offering in the
free trees?
Isaac Robb, Guest (20:13):
We're revamping the tree steward
training schedule to try andopen it up to more folks.
Gen Giles on our team has donea great job of kind of figuring
out like a lot of things.
We went from in-person trainingpre-COVID to doing more limited
engagements.
And online learning is great.
It provides a much largerscale, but there also is
(20:36):
something really important aboutbeing in person, especially if
you're learning how to plant andprune a tree.
So Jen's coming up with somereally innovative ways of having
the tree steward program beingopen more, but usually the tree
steward training occurs inFebruary, with our tree planting
seasons being in the fall andthe spring.
So we're actually still outplanting right now before the
(20:58):
ground completely freezes, andwe'll be back out there probably
next March planting again.
So Tom, Devin, Anna, Jen, thewhole ROC program and the
seasonal staff are justfantastic.
Diane Bickett, Host (21:11):
Awesome.
So I want to circle back to aninterview we did in July.
No, it was April, I think, withRenee Baranka, who is also with
the Western Reserve LandConservancy.
It was about the Cleveland, thechildren's outdoor bill of
rights.
And she worked with kids from,I think it was John Marshall
(21:33):
High School to create a list ofthings that the kids felt they
wanted, whether it was to beable to camp outside or, you
know, play in safe neighborhoodsand things like that.
And it was adopted by theCleveland City Council, I think,
around Earth Day.
And I know you're doing a lotof work with kind of measuring
(21:55):
and tracking health outcomes forchildren and in the work you're
doing.
Can you talk about the MetroHealth project a little bit?
Isaac Robb, Guest (22:04):
Yeah, that Children's Outdoor Bill of
Rights is something reallyexciting for not only our
organization, but the entirecity.
That's something that Renee andMatt championed for a really
long time.
Other cities have adoptedsomething similar through the
National League of Citiessupport.
And I think how that connectsto our work is really around
(22:27):
that human health aspect of it.
And that it's not just aboutcreating a healthy environment
for the environment's sake, it'salso about human health.
And so we were working closelywith partners from Metro Health,
Cleveland Clinic, and CaseWestern Reserve University,
(22:48):
Chrissy Wells, Ellen Matlock,and Tim Dean from our team,
amongst many others.
Ellen wrote this fantasticgrant that got funded through
the Office of Minority Healththrough the U.S.
federal government.
And this allows us to continueto do our work on vacant land
through our Reforce Our Cityprogram, our legal dumping
prevention, which is somethingthat we're really proud of as
(23:10):
well.
But what we haven't had is sortof that academic research-based
evaluation partner.
And obviously, with thoseinstitutions, that brings a
level of horsepower to theevaluation research side that we
would never have as arelatively small land trust.
And so that's something thatover the next four years we're
(23:30):
going to be working in Huff, St.
Clair Superior, BuckeyeWoodhill, and did I say
Glenville?
I don't know if I saidGlenville yet.
Glenville.
Those are the fourneighborhoods where we'll be
doing a lot of vacant lotinterventions, a lot of targeted
reforestation work.
And then those researchpartners are really going to
track the health data.
They're doing some reallyinnovative stuff over there.
Diane Bickett, Host (23:52):
Well, like, can you give us some examples
of what they're tracking?
Isaac Robb, Guest (23:55):
Yeah.
So we're really focused onactive lifestyles as well as
elevated blood pressure.
And what's fantastic about whatthey're doing is because they
all work for these largehealthcare institutions, they
have an enormous amount ofhealth data and records.
But because those need to beprotected for privacy reasons,
(24:15):
obviously, what they're able todo is remove the identification
and identities for all of thisdata and then run what is called
a digital twin to createessentially a like a sim city of
people, these syntheticpopulations that our
interventions then can bemeasured about.
So while they won't have actualnames, we'll be able to
(24:38):
identify underlying healthconditions and neighborhood
demographics to be able to trackthese changes.
We're doing walking tours andnarratives with residents to do
sort of a pretest where a group,the Curtis Lab out of case,
will do these walkinggeo-narratives to get a sense of
where people feel safe,improvements that can be made.
We'll then go out with othersets of residents to see which
(25:01):
places need to have the mostinterventions and improvements,
and then working with communitygroups on the implementation of
that.
Diane Bickett, Host (25:08):
Wow, that's really cool.
That's very cool.
That's really cool.
So the use of data to informyour work is really important.
You're also doing vacant landand property inventories.
Is that to help assembleparcels for parks and things
like that?
Or or what?
Isaac Robb, Guest (25:26):
Yeah, we like to say that data doesn't make
us smarter, but it keeps us moreinformed.
And those property inventoriesis actually what I started out
doing as an intern.
So in 2015, we inventory with ateam of 16 every parcel in the
city of Cleveland.
That's over 167,000 parcels.
In 2018, we updated that datafor the 13 neighborhoods on the
(25:47):
east side.
And then in 2022, going into2023, working with Director
Sally Martin and building andhousing in the city of
Cleveland, we updated the entirecitywide inventory.
And so that entailed takingphotos of every parcel,
answering a series of questions.
It could be up to 50.
And it would range from isthere a structure on the parcel?
Is it occupied?
(26:08):
Is it vacant?
What's the roof condition?
Are there missing windows?
Is there peeling paint?
Obviously, with the leadhazards that our cities continue
to fight with.
But also, what's the sidewalkcondition?
Is there a street tree?
So with all of that, is thereillegal dumping?
With all that data, we're ableto be a little more strategic in
our outreach to residents tomake sure that the narratives
(26:32):
and the conversations we'rehaving are informed by empirical
data.
Diane Bickett, Host (26:37):
Okay.
Wow.
That's a lot.
Isaac Robb, Guest (26:41):
It's a lot of fun.
Diane Bickett, Host (26:42):
It's a lot of fun.
Is there a recent project youwant to talk about?
I know there is.
Yeah.
Isaac Robb, Guest (26:48):
If you haven't been there, you got to
go there.
The newest park in the city ofCleveland, the Thurgood Marshall
Green.
This is a project that our teamhas been working on for over
four years.
Tim Deem, Khalid Ali, again,Chrissy Wells, Matt Zone, a
bunch of people have worked onthis.
This is a former elementaryschool, the John W.
Raper School site in the Huffneighborhood.
(27:10):
It's directly adjacent to theThurgood Marshall Rec Center.
We went through a communitydesign process just coming out
of COVID.
And this really came aboutthrough an RFP the city of
Cleveland put out for sort ofsurplus lands and properties.
And this had been demolishedaround 2010, 2011 and was a two
and a half acre site that wasjust mowed grass.
(27:33):
And so we were working with theCDC, the councilperson at the
time, and then some reallyfantastic local leaders, Jamel
at Village Family Farms, Mickeyat Little African Food Co-op,
and others to go through adesign process for this green
space.
And the result was working withCity Architecture and Andrew
(27:53):
Sargent at Layer Cake to takethese concept designs and turn
them into construction drawingsthat we could then fundraise for
to create a park adjacent tothis rec center.
So the play equipment is out ofthis world.
I wish I had stuff to play onlike that when I was a kid.
We got a state capital budgetrequest, a federal earmark,
(28:32):
sustain our great lakes.
I mean, the the fundingsources, I think we're over 16
and got some reallytransformational private
philanthropic gifts that reallyallowed us to do to do that
work.
Diane Bickett, Host (28:44):
Wow.
Really making an impact.
Greg Rotuno, Producer (28:47):
Probably going to be a lot of vacant land
in the coming years throughCMSD.
Isaac Robb, Guest (28:52):
That is correct.
Greg Rotuno, Producer (28:53):
Yeah.
Isaac Robb, Guest (28:54):
Yes, we are actively working with our civic
partners on that.
The recent announcement thatthey and I can't remember the
name of the initiative, likeBuild Better Together, Brighter
Future.
Diane Bickett, Host (29:08):
The closing schools, right?
Isaac Robb, Guest (29:10):
Closing and consolidating schools.
And so again, from a land useplanning standpoint, this is we
talk about land holdingmemories.
Well, schools are some of ourmost prized public institutions.
And if you're a young parentthat sends the kids to one of
these schools, if you're ateacher, if you remember going
to that school or you have maybehad a family member that worked
(29:31):
there, I mean, this is asignificant change.
But given the declining birthrates and just the demo
demographic shifts, it seemslike that this is a responsible,
yet really difficult decisionthat's going to be made.
And we're happy to partner withthe city, CMSD, and others on
figuring out how to kind ofadaptively reuse.
(29:52):
Cleveland has such a richhistory, and people are so proud
of it, and rightfully so.
And so it's how do yousimultaneously honor the past?
While working towards a futurethat is more inclusive and
beneficial for everyone, boththose of us that live here, but
also the people that maybe aregoing to move here or be born
here.
Diane Bickett, Host (30:12):
Wow.
That's a great quote to wrapwith.
Perfect.
But is there is there anythingelse you want people to know
about or ways to support theconservancy?
Isaac Robb, Guest (30:26):
Yeah, I think land trusts in general are a
really important, powerful toolthat have been around.
We're still in, I would say,like the nascent stages as an
industry, but there are plentyof ways to get involved wherever
you live in that 29-acregeographic service area, like I
mentioned.
Renee runs a fantasticeducational programming.
I think she should just be.
Diane Bickett, Host (30:46):
Oh, 29 County, you mean?
Isaac Robb, Guest (30:47):
29 County.
Thank you.
Thanks for clarifying.
Yeah.
Renee just ran an owl bandingfield trip excursion.
I saw that.
I'm sorry, I missed it.
Yeah, there are webinars onvultures.
You can do tours with bats orberry picking.
So Renee leads a lot of reallyfantastic educational
programming.
But the tree steward training,like I mentioned, we do a lot of
(31:10):
volunteer tree plantings andtree maintenance.
So if you want to grab a waterbucket during the summer and get
some really significantexercise and understand how hard
it is to not only plant but togrow trees in a place like
Cleveland, you're always morethan welcome to do that.
And we even have some volunteerland managers and stewards that
(31:31):
make sure that all of ourconservation easements are being
monitored properly and that theland is in its natural
condition and is not beingencroached upon.
There are a lot of ways to getinvolved.
Diane Bickett, Host (31:42):
Yeah.
And often you have employmentopportunities too.
So you have a staff of 50, butI think you're continually
growing.
Isaac Robb, Guest (31:49):
So and I would just say there's a need
for a diverse skill set.
So whether you're an expert infinance or fundraising, GIS,
legal, we have a lot ofinternships, we have a lot of
seasonal employment as well.
And that's a great way to justsee if this type of work is what
you're interested in.
You know, some people loveworking outside, other people
(32:10):
would prefer, you know, maybe tosit at a desk in air
conditioning, but we havesomething for everybody.
Diane Bickett, Host (32:16):
Yeah.
And you have two offices.
One is your main campus, Ithink, in Moreland Hills by the
Metro Parks Polo Field, and thenyour your office downtown.
Isaac Robb, Guest (32:25):
Yeah, we also have a couple satellite offices
in Oberlin and Medina that goback to our early days with the
merger.
So we we have a pretty largegeographic footprint.
We just moved into a new treehouse in the flats, which is
really going to allow our ROCprogram to expand and grow in in
exciting ways.
So we'll have to get you downthere.
Diane Bickett, Host (32:44):
Please.
Yeah, it's a lot of fun.
Well, thank you, Isaac, so muchfor this interview and all the
good work you're doing.
I'm really exciting to followand see what happens next.
Isaac Robb, Guest (32:55):
Thanks for uh sharing everyone's story.
Absolutely.
Thanks for keeping me.
Greg Rotuno, Producer (33:00):
Sorry about my stupid dog.
We hope you've enjoyed thisepisode of EcoSpeaks DLE.
You can find our full catalogof episodes on Spotify, Apple
Podcasts, or wherever you getyour podcast.
New episodes are available thefirst and third Tuesday of each
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Please follow EcoSpeaks CLE onFacebook and Instagram and
become part of the conversation.
(33:21):
If you would like to send usfeedback and suggestions, or if
you'd like to become a sponsorof EcoSpeaks CLE, you can email
us at hello at ecospeaksle.com.
Stay tuned for more importantand inspiring stories to come.
You're listening to EcoSpeak CLE, a
podcast for the Eco Curious inNortheast Ohio.
My name is Diane Vickett, andmy producer is Greg Rotuno.
Together, we speak with localsustainability leaders and
invite you to connect, learn,and live with our community and
planet in mind.
Hello, friends.
We are excited today to bejoined by Isaac Robb, who is the
(00:26):
Chief Urban Program Officer forWestern Reserve Land
Conservancy.
Now you may think of farmlandpreservation when you think of
the Western Reserve LandConservancy, but their work in
urban areas is just as robustand having real impact by
improving tree canopy, creatingcommunity green spaces, and
transforming vacant andunderused land to create safe
(00:48):
and beautiful neighborhoods.
Now I was able to see seven oftheir completed projects last
summer when I participated inthe Conservancy's Urban
Conservation Tour.
And there are several moreprojects in the works.
So please stay with us and hearhow the Land Conservancy is
working to create healthy urbanspaces that improve quality of
(01:08):
life and health forClevelanders.
Welcome, Isaac.
Isaac Robb, Guest (01:11):
Thank you so much for having me.
Diane Bickett, Host (01:13):
Yeah, thanks for joining us.
Now I want to start with kindof your background because
you're not a Cleveland native.
You were born in Oregon, grewup on the Oregon coast.
Lucky you.
And then you wound your way,wound your way here through
Seattle, I think, and Cornelland Hong Kong.
(01:33):
And here you are in Clevelandand when 2015 is when you
arrived.
That's correct.
Isaac Robb, Guest (01:40):
It's been a decade.
Diane Bickett, Host (01:41):
A decade.
Well, welcome.
And I'm curious about whatsurprised you most when you got
here.
Isaac Robb, Guest (01:49):
I think Cleveland has a very outsized
national reputation for the sizeof the city.
And having never lived in aformer industrial legacy U.S.
city, I didn't really know whatto expect.
And what really surprised mewas, you know, people like to
say that Cleveland's the homeshave great bones, but I think
(02:10):
the city really has great bones,whether it's the architecture,
the pre-automobileneighborhoods, uh the access to
the lake and all of the naturalresources.
That was something, you know, Iwasn't anticipating when I came
here.
And then what's really kept mehere is just the strength of the
communities that we get to workand live and play with.
(02:32):
I'm a resident of Ohio City.
I've lived here most of thetime that I've been in
Cleveland.
And just the people are soauthentic, hardworking, and we
absolutely love it.
Diane Bickett, Host (02:43):
Yeah, awesome.
Well, I would totally agreewith all of that.
So you're an urban planner.
Can you talk a little bit aboutyour role at the Conservancy?
Isaac Robb, Guest (02:52):
Yeah.
So the Land Conservancy is astaff of about 50, and I'm happy
to be part of the minority thatwe're not all urban planners.
We have a very diverse set ofprofessional background, you
know, wetland ecologist,biologist, GIS professionals,
finance attorneys.
And I'm one of two folks onstaff that have a background in
(03:14):
urban planning.
So I think it provides a reallynice kind of generalist
perspective on how regionsinteract and systems thinking,
but we're not kind of preachingto the choir all the time with
everyone's unique backgrounds.
Diane Bickett, Host (03:30):
Yeah.
Well, I was surprised to learnthat the Conservancy operates in
29 different counties in Ohio.
So you're very big.
Just a few stats that I'd liketo throw out, if I may.
In addition to serving 29counties, the Conservancy has
preserved 78,843 acres offarmland, or of land, I should
(03:54):
say, and created 20,741 acres ofparks.
And that's not all here inCleveland, but you know, you're
getting there.
So your mission is to conserve,connect, and sustain.
Can you talk about that alittle bit?
Isaac Robb, Guest (04:12):
Yeah, so I think you hit on a few, and I I
trust that your stats arecorrect.
I got them on the website.
Yeah, yeah.
The website's always alwaysupdated.
The history of the landconservancy starts like a lot of
traditional land trusts.
We are part of the land trustalliance, which is a national
organization.
We are accredited through that.
There are thousands of landtrusts throughout the country.
(04:35):
But we recognized pretty earlyon that in order to have the
maximum benefit, we not onlyneeded to grow in a sustainable
way.
And that's what led to a mergerof eight smaller land trusts in
2006 to sort of create what isnow the Western Reserve Land
Conservancy, but it's reallymeeting people where they're at.
So it is conserving naturalareas, working farms.
(04:58):
It's connecting, though, toeach of those communities.
One thing I really appreciateabout Ohio is it's such a
microcosm of the US.
And both politically,demographically, there are a lot
of really interesting dynamics,especially around people's
connection with land.
And people that live in sort ofthe rural countryside have deep
(05:18):
histories and legacies with theland, but so do people that
live in our cities.
They might interact with itdifferently, but that passion
and connection to place is verystrong.
So that's really the connectaspect of it.
And then sustain is we makepromises to landowners and to
communities for these spaces tobe conserved natural areas in
perpetuity.
And so we need to make surethat we are sustaining our
(05:41):
organization not for the nextfive, 10, or 50 years, but for
the next 200 years, to make surethat the promises we're making
today will be upheld long afterall of us are gone.
Diane Bickett, Host (05:51):
Wow.
That's that's super cool work.
So do you want to say anythingabout you know, your the work
that you're doing in the city isreally building on work of
others.
Do you want to name some names?
Isaac Robb, Guest (06:07):
Always happy to name drop in Cleveland.
Yes, our urban program, what wecall Thriving Communities for
our Urban Team, started in 2011and it was founded by former
county treasurer Jim Rakakis.
And he put together a reallyphenomenal team.
And many of the people I stillconsider my mentors today,
(06:28):
people like Frank Ford, JayWestbrook, Robin Thomas, and our
late great friend and colleagueJackie Gillen were some of our
early colleagues, as well asKate Hidock and numerous other
people that really, I rememberwhen I started as an intern in
2015, I was pretty far and awaythe youngest person on the urban
(06:49):
team.
But learning about the historyof the place and the its people,
those folks really set us on atrajectory for success.
And then as people transitionedinto retirement or different
work opportunities or lifeobligations, Matt Zone stepped
in.
He took the helm of ourorganization.
And all throughout this time,we were growing and evolving in
(07:12):
different ways, especially withour urban program.
Both, you know, it was reallyfounded out of a response for
the foreclosure crisis andcreating county land banks
statewide.
And while that work is not doneand we still have a lot of
things to tackle, our work hasevolved to be more of the
(07:34):
greening and the neighborhoodstabilization, and especially
with our reforestation program.
Diane Bickett, Host (07:39):
I remember back during the foreclosure
crisis, the county created ademolition program that took
down thousands of homes inCleveland, which begged the
question what do we do with allthis vacant land?
So I understand that's part ofwhat you're doing is is doing an
inventory of parcels that areeither vacant or underutilized
(08:02):
to create more green spaces forfor residents.
Is that correct?
Isaac Robb, Guest (08:08):
That is, and I appreciate you bringing that
up because that was one of thesurprises and what led me to
Cleveland was Jim Rakakis cameto my graduate student seminar
to speak on legacy cities andthe foreclosure crisis.
I completed my undergraduatestudies in 2008, so the
foreclosure crisis really hasbeen this through line in my
(08:30):
professional experience, and itreally resonated with me.
And he said, again, this wasover 10 years ago now.
I don't know what's going tohappen with all the vacant land,
but I do know we cannot sustaina city and a community with all
these vacant and abandonedproperties and all of the really
negative impacts that it has.
(08:51):
And so it's interesting that Ifeel that that baton has been
passed, that they were the folkswe worked with and people in
different civic institutions in2006 through 2013, 14, 15 were
really in emergency responsemode.
And now we have to be reallystrategic in figuring out ways
(09:15):
to plan and have land usestrategies that reflect the
demographic conditions that wehave in our city right now.
Diane Bickett, Host (09:24):
I think too people are more spread out in
Cleveland because you have ahouse and then you might have a
few vacant parcels around.
So there is isn't as cohesive.
How are you working, or how doyou see people accessing their
natural surroundings and how areyou working to foster a
connection with the land in theinner city?
Isaac Robb, Guest (09:45):
Yeah, this again, everything is sort of an
iterative process.
And Sandra Albro was working atHolden Forest and Gardens at
the time, and she had thisfantastic program called Vacant
to Vibrant, actually wrote abook about this exact topic.
How can this land that has beenleft behind as people have
(10:06):
moved and have left our urbancore, how can it be a true
resource for the people thatstill live here?
And that spatial mismatch thatyou said, where you had a few
vacant parcels on a lot and thena handful of occupied
structures, it actually lookslike some of the historic map
(10:27):
from around 1920 in some ofthese Cleveland neighborhoods.
I'm thinking Mount Pleasant,Union Miles, as the first sort
of wave of immigration wascoming.
And so whether it's greenstormwater infrastructure,
whether it's kind ofnaturalizing these spaces, I
think there are a lot of ways toapproach this, but you have to
(10:49):
start with listening because theland really holds these
community stories.
And a lot of times there aremoments of significant trauma.
And if you remember growing upon a street, and maybe you went
to your neighbor's house for abarbecue a few times every
summer, and now that neighbormoved away and that house has
been demolished, there's anatural and an understandable
(11:12):
desire, you know, to have morepeople move back to see occupied
homes like you might haveremembered it.
So I think it's it's reallymeeting people where they're at
and recognizing that, you know,in a city that has a very
diminished tree canopy thatdoesn't have access to
high-quality green space foreveryone in every neighborhood.
(11:34):
What is our role as a landtrust in bridging that divide
between people and place in avery urban context?
Diane Bickett, Host (11:44):
So I assume you're working with community
organizations, communitymembers.
When you talk about honoringthe past, several of the prod
projects that we were touringthrough the Urban Conservation
Tour kind of spoke to that withthe Garden of Eleven Angels.
You want to talk about some ofthose projects and how how
you're kind of meeting thatmission?
Isaac Robb, Guest (12:06):
Yes, and back to some of that historic kind
of leadership we had in theorganization.
I'm thinking of Jay and Jackie.
They were so well connected andhad such deep relationships in
different neighborhoodsthroughout our city.
And so a lot of our projects,in fact, all of our projects,
they aren't necessarilyconceived by staff at the land
(12:30):
conservancy.
These are really ideas thathave come about through those
neighborhood-based organizationsor residents themselves.
So the Garden of Eleven Angelsis, I would argue, probably the
most important thing I've everworked on.
It's on Imperial Avenue and thesite of a really horrific
series of events that resultedin the loss of life of 11 women.
(12:53):
And not only was it incrediblytraumatic for those families and
the victims themselves, butalso for the community.
And so through Jackie'sleadership in partnership with
Burton Belcar, the localcommunity development
corporation, faith-based leadersin that neighborhood, family
(13:14):
members and others, Jackie wasinvited for us to participate
with Land Studio and a handfulof other sort of civic partners
to design and create a space forthe remembrance of the women
that lost their lives.
Not only that, but also as amemorial to all women who have
(13:36):
suffered from sexual violenceand create a space that honors
that traumatic history, but alsobeing a community space where
people feel comfortable togather and spend time and
reflect.
Diane Bickett, Host (13:56):
Some of the other places mature that if you
want to maybe just say a thingabout a thing or two about would
be the Derrick Owens MemorialPark, the Thurgood Marshall
Green, the Brighton Park.
There's just a lot a lot ofgood stuff happening.
Isaac Robb, Guest (14:11):
Yes, thanks for bringing those up.
The Derek Owens Memorial Gardenwas sorry, not Garden Memorial
Park, was again something thatcame about out of a community
tragedy when Officer Owens wasresponding to a call that a
neighbor made about some illegalactivity occurring in actually
a vacant, abandoned garage.
(14:32):
He responded and was killed inthe line of duty.
And through a partnership withthe St.
Luke's Foundation, who's been agreat supporter of ours over
the years, as well as LandStudio and the Cleveland Police
Foundation, this remembrancepark was created not only on
that site, but on the twoadjacent parcels as well.
(14:52):
And David Wilson from LandStudio did a great job leading
that design work, working withthe Cuyahoga Land Bank, who has
partnered with us on pretty muchall the projects we're going to
talk about.
They were able to help get theland.
And then the Cleveland PoliceFoundation actually owns the
park, maintains it withvolunteers, and it's just an
(15:12):
immaculate place and really paysa great honor to someone who
gave their life to the communitydoing and working in a
neighborhood that they grew upin and cared deeply about.
Diane Bickett, Host (15:24):
Good work by David Wilson, who was on this
podcast a couple few years agowhen we did our episode with the
Black Environmental Leaders.
Isaac Robb, Guest (15:32):
Oh, that's fantastic.
And Jackie, who I mentioned wasone of the founding members
with David and Simeon.
Diane Bickett, Host (15:38):
Yeah.
We uh spoke about Jackie.
Isaac Robb, Guest (15:40):
Yeah, she's a legend.
Diane Bickett, Host (15:42):
I never got to meet her, but I it was uh
wish I had.
Isaac Robb, Guest (15:45):
There's a great mural of Jackie that
everyone can see.
Um yeah, on 116th and Kinsmanon the side of Henry's Cleaners.
She worked with RTA and andother local uh residents and
business owners to get a transitwaiting area, a bus stop.
We did a tree planting and agarden, and then after her
passing, there's a beautifulmural there.
(16:06):
So you can always see hersmiling face.
Oh, that's awesome.
Even if you didn't get to meether.
Yeah.
Diane Bickett, Host (16:10):
I will have to check that out.
So the the you have your parksprograms.
You also have a reforest ourcity program.
Let's let's hear about that.
Isaac Robb, Guest (16:20):
Yeah, Reforest City is something we're
really proud of and the growththat it has experienced.
It sort of mirrors actually thegrowth of a tree.
It's it's 10 years old thisyear.
We're celebrating its 10thanniversary.
And it really started out of abelief that you know trees are a
key component and are criticalinfrastructure.
These are something that aren'tnice to have.
(16:42):
It's something that everycommunity deserves.
The research is resounding inthe impacts it has on physical,
emotional health, and well-beingfrom property values to
capturing stormwater to heathelping you know cool your house
in the summer from an urbanheat island effect.
(17:03):
The benefits are just are trulynumerous.
And so we've thought that thatwas a great opportunity for us
to get more involved.
So we launched the ClevelandTree Plan that was adopted by
the Planning Commission in 2015.
We are an executive member ofthe Cleveland Tree Coalition,
which is led by Sarah Tilley.
We recognize that when Alexa deTocqueville came to America, he
(17:25):
referenced Cleveland as theforest city.
And our tree canopy continuesto diminish, whether it's in
comparison to our suburban peersor peer cities of similar size
and kind of economic background.
And so, unfortunately, if youlook at the tree canopy data and
even aerial imagery ofCleveland, you can see the
(17:47):
outline of the city ofCleveland's municipal boundary
based on its aerial tree canopy.
If you go to Buckeye, Woodhill,Mount Pleasant, and then just
go over the border to ShakerHeights, the tree canopy
drastically changes.
And we think that this is anenvironmental justice issue that
has gone unaddressed for fartoo long.
(18:08):
And so we work in a variety ofways.
We both plant, not only plant,but maintain trees.
That's the real key thing isgrowing the trees.
We also do have a free treesteward training that we offer
to Cleveland residents, as wellas our Trees for Clea program,
where all Cleveland residentscan get a free tree to adopt and
place on their yards.
(18:29):
So we try and again meet peoplewhere they're at.
And we've to date planted anddistributed over 17,000 trees in
the city of Cleveland.
Diane Bickett, Host (18:37):
So the tree steward program, you're
training Cleveland residents tocare for the trees that you've
planted?
Isaac Robb, Guest (18:43):
Yes.
And the hope is that they areequipped with enough knowledge
that if they want to lead a treeplanting project or program in
their own neighborhood, thatthey would get the support and
the knowledge that they wouldneed to do that.
There are grants through CuyogaCounty and the Cleveland Tree
Coalition to have these types ofneighborhood plantings.
(19:04):
And some of our most successfultree stewards will obviously
come to volunteer at treeplanting events, but they also
have become leaders in their owncommunities.
And it's one of those modelsthat I think can grow
exponentially the more kind oftree stewards we have throughout
our city.
Diane Bickett, Host (19:22):
Yeah.
I was volunteering for aCleveland History Days event at
the Monroe Cemetery, and therewere people all over the
cemetery walking around wateringthe trees that were out there.
So maybe those were the sametree stewards or just the
cemetery tree stewards, but itwas very cool.
Isaac Robb, Guest (19:40):
I actually live on that block.
The Monroe Street Cemetery isour neighborhood park.
And yes, they have a veryactive friends of the Monroe
Street Cemetery and they taketheir tree canopy very, very
seriously.
So yes, they've they've gonethrough the program and actually
have gotten a grant to planttrees there and work with the
city.
So it's a great partnership,and it's a beautiful cemetery if
(20:01):
anyone finds themselves in OhioCity.
Diane Bickett, Host (20:03):
Yeah, there's some cool dead people
there.
Isaac Robb, Guest (20:05):
Very cool.
Diane Bickett, Host (20:06):
What what what time of year should people
be looking out for the trainingsand that you're offering in the
free trees?
Isaac Robb, Guest (20:13):
We're revamping the tree steward
training schedule to try andopen it up to more folks.
Gen Giles on our team has donea great job of kind of figuring
out like a lot of things.
We went from in-person trainingpre-COVID to doing more limited
engagements.
And online learning is great.
It provides a much largerscale, but there also is
(20:36):
something really important aboutbeing in person, especially if
you're learning how to plant andprune a tree.
So Jen's coming up with somereally innovative ways of having
the tree steward program beingopen more, but usually the tree
steward training occurs inFebruary, with our tree planting
seasons being in the fall andthe spring.
So we're actually still outplanting right now before the
(20:58):
ground completely freezes, andwe'll be back out there probably
next March planting again.
So Tom, Devin, Anna, Jen, thewhole ROC program and the
seasonal staff are justfantastic.
Diane Bickett, Host (21:11):
Awesome.
So I want to circle back to aninterview we did in July.
No, it was April, I think, withRenee Baranka, who is also with
the Western Reserve LandConservancy.
It was about the Cleveland, thechildren's outdoor bill of
rights.
And she worked with kids from,I think it was John Marshall
(21:33):
High School to create a list ofthings that the kids felt they
wanted, whether it was to beable to camp outside or, you
know, play in safe neighborhoodsand things like that.
And it was adopted by theCleveland City Council, I think,
around Earth Day.
And I know you're doing a lotof work with kind of measuring
(21:55):
and tracking health outcomes forchildren and in the work you're
doing.
Can you talk about the MetroHealth project a little bit?
Isaac Robb, Guest (22:04):
Yeah, that Children's Outdoor Bill of
Rights is something reallyexciting for not only our
organization, but the entirecity.
That's something that Renee andMatt championed for a really
long time.
Other cities have adoptedsomething similar through the
National League of Citiessupport.
And I think how that connectsto our work is really around
(22:27):
that human health aspect of it.
And that it's not just aboutcreating a healthy environment
for the environment's sake, it'salso about human health.
And so we were working closelywith partners from Metro Health,
Cleveland Clinic, and CaseWestern Reserve University,
(22:48):
Chrissy Wells, Ellen Matlock,and Tim Dean from our team,
amongst many others.
Ellen wrote this fantasticgrant that got funded through
the Office of Minority Healththrough the U.S.
federal government.
And this allows us to continueto do our work on vacant land
through our Reforce Our Cityprogram, our legal dumping
prevention, which is somethingthat we're really proud of as
(23:10):
well.
But what we haven't had is sortof that academic research-based
evaluation partner.
And obviously, with thoseinstitutions, that brings a
level of horsepower to theevaluation research side that we
would never have as arelatively small land trust.
And so that's something thatover the next four years we're
(23:30):
going to be working in Huff, St.
Clair Superior, BuckeyeWoodhill, and did I say
Glenville?
I don't know if I saidGlenville yet.
Glenville.
Those are the fourneighborhoods where we'll be
doing a lot of vacant lotinterventions, a lot of targeted
reforestation work.
And then those researchpartners are really going to
track the health data.
They're doing some reallyinnovative stuff over there.
Diane Bickett, Host (23:52):
Well, like, can you give us some examples
of what they're tracking?
Isaac Robb, Guest (23:55):
Yeah.
So we're really focused onactive lifestyles as well as
elevated blood pressure.
And what's fantastic about whatthey're doing is because they
all work for these largehealthcare institutions, they
have an enormous amount ofhealth data and records.
But because those need to beprotected for privacy reasons,
(24:15):
obviously, what they're able todo is remove the identification
and identities for all of thisdata and then run what is called
a digital twin to createessentially a like a sim city of
people, these syntheticpopulations that our
interventions then can bemeasured about.
So while they won't have actualnames, we'll be able to
(24:38):
identify underlying healthconditions and neighborhood
demographics to be able to trackthese changes.
We're doing walking tours andnarratives with residents to do
sort of a pretest where a group,the Curtis Lab out of case,
will do these walkinggeo-narratives to get a sense of
where people feel safe,improvements that can be made.
We'll then go out with othersets of residents to see which
(25:01):
places need to have the mostinterventions and improvements,
and then working with communitygroups on the implementation of
that.
Diane Bickett, Host (25:08):
Wow, that's really cool.
That's very cool.
That's really cool.
So the use of data to informyour work is really important.
You're also doing vacant landand property inventories.
Is that to help assembleparcels for parks and things
like that?
Or or what?
Isaac Robb, Guest (25:26):
Yeah, we like to say that data doesn't make
us smarter, but it keeps us moreinformed.
And those property inventoriesis actually what I started out
doing as an intern.
So in 2015, we inventory with ateam of 16 every parcel in the
city of Cleveland.
That's over 167,000 parcels.
In 2018, we updated that datafor the 13 neighborhoods on the
(25:47):
east side.
And then in 2022, going into2023, working with Director
Sally Martin and building andhousing in the city of
Cleveland, we updated the entirecitywide inventory.
And so that entailed takingphotos of every parcel,
answering a series of questions.
It could be up to 50.
And it would range from isthere a structure on the parcel?
Is it occupied?
(26:08):
Is it vacant?
What's the roof condition?
Are there missing windows?
Is there peeling paint?
Obviously, with the leadhazards that our cities continue
to fight with.
But also, what's the sidewalkcondition?
Is there a street tree?
So with all of that, is thereillegal dumping?
With all that data, we're ableto be a little more strategic in
our outreach to residents tomake sure that the narratives
(26:32):
and the conversations we'rehaving are informed by empirical
data.
Diane Bickett, Host (26:37):
Okay.
Wow.
That's a lot.
Isaac Robb, Guest (26:41):
It's a lot of fun.
Diane Bickett, Host (26:42):
It's a lot of fun.
Is there a recent project youwant to talk about?
I know there is.
Yeah.
Isaac Robb, Guest (26:48):
If you haven't been there, you got to
go there.
The newest park in the city ofCleveland, the Thurgood Marshall
Green.
This is a project that our teamhas been working on for over
four years.
Tim Deem, Khalid Ali, again,Chrissy Wells, Matt Zone, a
bunch of people have worked onthis.
This is a former elementaryschool, the John W.
Raper School site in the Huffneighborhood.
(27:10):
It's directly adjacent to theThurgood Marshall Rec Center.
We went through a communitydesign process just coming out
of COVID.
And this really came aboutthrough an RFP the city of
Cleveland put out for sort ofsurplus lands and properties.
And this had been demolishedaround 2010, 2011 and was a two
and a half acre site that wasjust mowed grass.
(27:33):
And so we were working with theCDC, the councilperson at the
time, and then some reallyfantastic local leaders, Jamel
at Village Family Farms, Mickeyat Little African Food Co-op,
and others to go through adesign process for this green
space.
And the result was working withCity Architecture and Andrew
(27:53):
Sargent at Layer Cake to takethese concept designs and turn
them into construction drawingsthat we could then fundraise for
to create a park adjacent tothis rec center.
So the play equipment is out ofthis world.
I wish I had stuff to play onlike that when I was a kid.
We got a state capital budgetrequest, a federal earmark,
(28:32):
sustain our great lakes.
I mean, the the fundingsources, I think we're over 16
and got some reallytransformational private
philanthropic gifts that reallyallowed us to do to do that
work.
Diane Bickett, Host (28:44):
Wow.
Really making an impact.
Greg Rotuno, Producer (28:47):
Probably going to be a lot of vacant land
in the coming years throughCMSD.
Isaac Robb, Guest (28:52):
That is correct.
Greg Rotuno, Producer (28:53):
Yeah.
Isaac Robb, Guest (28:54):
Yes, we are actively working with our civic
partners on that.
The recent announcement thatthey and I can't remember the
name of the initiative, likeBuild Better Together, Brighter
Future.
Diane Bickett, Host (29:08):
The closing schools, right?
Isaac Robb, Guest (29:10):
Closing and consolidating schools.
And so again, from a land useplanning standpoint, this is we
talk about land holdingmemories.
Well, schools are some of ourmost prized public institutions.
And if you're a young parentthat sends the kids to one of
these schools, if you're ateacher, if you remember going
to that school or you have maybehad a family member that worked
(29:31):
there, I mean, this is asignificant change.
But given the declining birthrates and just the demo
demographic shifts, it seemslike that this is a responsible,
yet really difficult decisionthat's going to be made.
And we're happy to partner withthe city, CMSD, and others on
figuring out how to kind ofadaptively reuse.
(29:52):
Cleveland has such a richhistory, and people are so proud
of it, and rightfully so.
And so it's how do yousimultaneously honor the past?
While working towards a futurethat is more inclusive and
beneficial for everyone, boththose of us that live here, but
also the people that maybe aregoing to move here or be born
here.
Diane Bickett, Host (30:12):
Wow.
That's a great quote to wrapwith.
Perfect.
But is there is there anythingelse you want people to know
about or ways to support theconservancy?
Isaac Robb, Guest (30:26):
Yeah, I think land trusts in general are a
really important, powerful toolthat have been around.
We're still in, I would say,like the nascent stages as an
industry, but there are plentyof ways to get involved wherever
you live in that 29-acregeographic service area, like I
mentioned.
Renee runs a fantasticeducational programming.
I think she should just be.
Diane Bickett, Host (30:46):
Oh, 29 County, you mean?
Isaac Robb, Guest (30:47):
29 County.
Thank you.
Thanks for clarifying.
Yeah.
Renee just ran an owl bandingfield trip excursion.
I saw that.
I'm sorry, I missed it.
Yeah, there are webinars onvultures.
You can do tours with bats orberry picking.
So Renee leads a lot of reallyfantastic educational
programming.
But the tree steward training,like I mentioned, we do a lot of
(31:10):
volunteer tree plantings andtree maintenance.
So if you want to grab a waterbucket during the summer and get
some really significantexercise and understand how hard
it is to not only plant but togrow trees in a place like
Cleveland, you're always morethan welcome to do that.
And we even have some volunteerland managers and stewards that
(31:31):
make sure that all of ourconservation easements are being
monitored properly and that theland is in its natural
condition and is not beingencroached upon.
There are a lot of ways to getinvolved.
Diane Bickett, Host (31:42):
Yeah.
And often you have employmentopportunities too.
So you have a staff of 50, butI think you're continually
growing.
Isaac Robb, Guest (31:49):
So and I would just say there's a need
for a diverse skill set.
So whether you're an expert infinance or fundraising, GIS,
legal, we have a lot ofinternships, we have a lot of
seasonal employment as well.
And that's a great way to justsee if this type of work is what
you're interested in.
You know, some people loveworking outside, other people
(32:10):
would prefer, you know, maybe tosit at a desk in air
conditioning, but we havesomething for everybody.
Diane Bickett, Host (32:16):
Yeah.
And you have two offices.
One is your main campus, Ithink, in Moreland Hills by the
Metro Parks Polo Field, and thenyour your office downtown.
Isaac Robb, Guest (32:25):
Yeah, we also have a couple satellite offices
in Oberlin and Medina that goback to our early days with the
merger.
So we we have a pretty largegeographic footprint.
We just moved into a new treehouse in the flats, which is
really going to allow our ROCprogram to expand and grow in in
exciting ways.
So we'll have to get you downthere.
Diane Bickett, Host (32:44):
Please.
Yeah, it's a lot of fun.
Well, thank you, Isaac, so muchfor this interview and all the
good work you're doing.
I'm really exciting to followand see what happens next.
Isaac Robb, Guest (32:55):
Thanks for uh sharing everyone's story.
Absolutely.
Thanks for keeping me.
Greg Rotuno, Producer (33:00):
Sorry about my stupid dog.
We hope you've enjoyed thisepisode of EcoSpeaks DLE.
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(33:21):
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