We Eat Our Own Dog Food

11.08-11.15.06
We Eat Our Own Dog Food

In this week’s issue:
* BizTech Profile Dan Gilbert Owner, Cleveland Cavaliers & Quicken Loans
* Comment A Steelyard Paradox: New Shopping Center to Open Early Next Year by Lee Chilcote
* Interview Nickie Antonio Lakewood City Councilmember
* Sounds Living Stereo
* Preview Roots of American Music Benefit
* Preview Poets & Writers’ League Word Scramble Benefit
* Reads AMY: My Search for Her Killer by James Renner
* Cool Cleveland Kids podcast click here, CC podcast click here, CC Blog click here

When you listen to the interview with Dan Gilbert in this week’s issue, you’ll hear him say not only how much he likes my porkpie hat, but also how much importance he places on the guiding principles behind his company QuickenLoans.com. One of his “isms” is this: “We eat our own dog food,” meaning, we live and breathe our own product, we love it as much as our customer love it. That’s how we feel at CoolCleveland.com and it’s one of the reasons behind our new re-design that you see below. We use Cool Cleveland just like our customers use Cool Cleveland, and we felt a few design upgrades would help our readers find our good information faster, and make your “user experience” that much more exhilarating. Let us know how you feel about our new look: LettersATCoolCleveland.com. —Thomas Mulready

Ohio’s electoral influence was felt in yesterday’s election. The House of Representatives tilted Democratic as Ohio’s Zack Space took over Republican Bob Ney’s House seat, who resigned from Congress last week amidst the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal. While Democrat Sherrod Brown will occupy Mike DeWine’s Senate seat, the balance in the Senate is still unclear, with 49 each, hinging on close races in Montana and Virginia, where recounts are possible.

Cool Cleveland Election Results with 98% or greater reporting

Issues

Issue 2: Raise the Minimum Wage: YES (56%)—NO (43%)
Issue 3: For slots & gambling: NO (57%)—YES (43%)
Issue 4: Allows smoking: NO (64%)—YES (36%)
Issue 5: Bans smoking: YES (58%)—NO (42%)
Issue 18: For arts & culture: YES (56%)—NO (44%)
Issue 19: For health & human services: YES (62%)—NO (38%)

Candidates

US Senator: Sherrod Brown [D] (56%)—Mike DeWine [R] (44%)
Ohio Governor: Ted Strickland & Lee Fisher [D] (60%) Ken Blackwell & Tony Raga [R] (37%)
Ohio Attorney General: Marc Dann [D] (52%), Betty Montgomery [R] (48%)
Ohio Auditor: Mary Taylor [R] (51%), Barbara Sykes [D] (49%)
Ohio Treasurer: Richard Cordray [D] (58%), Sandra O’Brien [R] (43%)
Ohio Secretary of State: Jennifer Brunner [D] (55%), Greg Hartmann [R] (41%)
Cuyahoga County Commissioner: Jimmy Dimora [D] (75%), Wendell Robinson [R](25%)
Court of Common Pleas (1/12/07): Joan Synenberg [R] (58%), Christine Russo [D] (42%)

US Representative, District 10: Dennis Kucinich (66%)— Mike Dovilla (34%)
US Representative, District 11: Stephanie Tubbs Jones (83%)—Lindsay String (17%)
US Representative, District 13: Betty Sutton (61%)—Craig Foltin (39%)
US Representative, District 14: Steve LaTourette (58%)—Lewis Katz (38%)
US Representative, District 16: Ralph Regula (58%)—Thomas Shaw (42%)
US Representative, District 17: Tim Ryan (80%)—Don Manning (20%)

Dan Gilbert
Owner, Cleveland Cavaliers & Quicken Loans

Dan Gilbert is a maverick with principles. After starting a home mortgage company while still in college at Wayne State Univ outside of Detroit, he sold it, at the height of the dot-com boom, to Quicken, which changed it’s name to Quicken Loans, then bought it back again a couple years later. Along the way, he earned enough to buy the Cleveland Cavaliers, themselves on a boom because of LeBron James. His hilarious video interview with Cool Cleveland’s Thomas Mulready touches all bases, from marketing and sponsorship techniques, to Flash Seating technology, to his new Bizdom U. for young urban entrepreneurs, to the snappy business philosophies he calls “isms,” to why he likes Mulready’s porkpie hat so much. http://www.NBA.com/cavaliers/ http://www.QuickenLoans.com

Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Quicken Loans