I read with interest your thoughts on regionalism and noticed you keep talking mostly to folks with sharp axes to grind. Have you checked out the diverse and numerous plans the Cleveland LWV has proposed for decades? If not do call Anda Cook @ 216-651-0486. She can fill you in on the many studies on regionalism done so far but also on some internal politics that kept the League herself from actually regionalizing. Now for my own thoughts on the matter:

Would I love living in the 6th largest city in the country? Perhaps, but I certainly would welcome finding a way to maximize cooperation while eliminating waste in our greater Cleveland area. So, the common goal then is to devise a "win/win" strategy.

For starters, I would make sure that whatever the entity it is named after Cleveland so as to meet the unbearable challenges posed to us while travelling? For me Cleveland C.T. (as in Common Territory or Cuyahoga Territory) has a crisp ring (in the past some have proposed but Cleveland C.D., as in Cuyahoga or Common District but to me C.D. sounds too much like a savings account and just copying D.C. would get confusing).

Then, we have to focus on creatively constructing the new entity rather than simply de-constructing the old reality. The list of players in the old game is long and well entrenched, and seldom are we or they aware of how deeply entrenched some of these legacy interests are: white majority, black minority, other ethnic interests, the rich, elected officials & other power brokers, the poor, especially the hungry and homeless, uninsured and jobless, the children, the creative class, women, and finally the common tax paying citizens. Obviously, these are overlapping categories but just as in life the personal is political, and seldom (if ever) fits into neat boxes.

To take some of the above into consideration, why not take the "republican" suggestion: a paid county CEO and an 11 member board and "democratize" (not to be confused with "demonize or demolish") it by giving the County Mayors Association, presumably representing the 60 communities encompassed in Cuyahoga County, the responsibility of electing 10 of the 11 board members? Why not put the much touted math skills to use creatively and devise a formula that takes into consideration not only the simple number of citizens living in each community, but also their more European and other democracies have for centuries used proportional representation a bit more useful than the electoral college.

Finally, lets face it: Nr. 11 Cleveland is the QE 2? of the whole operation. The mothership could be given a permanent presiders position on such a C.T. board. After all, she is the largest per capita, probably the neediest as well, certainly the most colorful of them all and her good name is what we all use and abuse. The board would be responsible for hiring and firing the C.T. CEO, and, to just not piss off anyone, we might want to give the 3 comissioners either veto powers or a vote each in the hiring and firing deliberations.

As you can see, my proposal retains all the existing jobs for mayors and even assistant dog catchers; after all, our Common territory can hardly afford to lose jobs, and if you lived in the city you might be a bit more appreciative of public servants in persuit of wild dogs. Furthermore, while my Cleveland C.T. proposal would only add one new job to our common territory (that of the C.T. C.E.O.), it would give more responsibility/"power" to those already elected leaders and let them show their ability to empower their capacity/productivity. Just to get things going, I would promise to 1) sunset the whole thing after two decades (that's about one generation, only about five 4 year terms from now, and probably beyond my life expectancy)! Epiphany blessings to you." from Cool Cleveland reader Dagmar Celeste celeste@tyrian.net

 (:divend:)