CLEVELAND: Gov. Ted Strickland addressed The City Club of Cleveland at noon on Tuesday, June 26, 2007, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 777 St. Clair Avenue, Cleveland. This special forum is sponsored by National City. Media partners are Ideastream and WKYC-TV3. The Forum is sold out but will be broadcast live on WKYC-TV3. The program begins promptly at 12:22 p.m.

Trailblazing: Connecting the Towpath Trail to Downtown

Tom Yablonsky of Historic Gateway Neighborhood Corp. leads a discussion with community leaders on their efforts to connect the Towpath Trail to downtown Cleveland and the long-range impact of this green development to the region’s economic growth, neighborhood revitalization, and quality of life at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 27, 2007, to The City Club of Cleveland. The program will be held at the Leonard Krieger CanalWay Center, Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation, 4524 East 49th Street, Cuyahoga Heights.

The Towpath Trail is a hiking and biking trail following the path of the Ohio & Erie National Canalway, a federally designated heritage area extending 110 miles from the City of Cleveland to New Philadelphia.

When completed, this trail will connect Cleveland to Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, providing residents of Greater Cleveland direct access to one of our region’s top recreational assets. In addition, Cleveland Mayor Frank G. Jackson recently announced the City of Cleveland’s plan to invest more than $12 million to connect Cleveland neighborhoods to the Towpath Trail via new bike trails.

The panelists are as follows:

•Paul Alsenas, director of the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission

•Robert Brown, director of the City of Cleveland Planning Commission

•Kevin Cronin, executive director of Cleveland Bikes

•Tim Donovan, executive director of the Ohio Canal Corridor

•Christopher Knopf, executive director of the Ohio Office of the Trust for Public Land.

Tickets are $10 for members and $15 for non-members. Tickets must be purchased in advance and are non-refundable. They can be purchased by calling The City Club at 216.621.0082 or visiting the website at www.cityclub.org.

This program is organized by The City Club New Leaders. The City Club New Leaders develop significant opportunities for civic involvement and freedom of speech among young professionals under the age of 40.