Is Issue 2 Something Ohioans Should Swallow?
Here’s a blog entry that gives some anti-Issue 2 information for your digestion.
Try it: http://www.bountyofthewesternreserve.com/wordpress
More Economic Development Voodoo?
If Dan Gilbert had even a smidgen of real interest in Cleveland and its people he would show it by volunteering to pay property taxes on Quicken Arena.Don’t make this bet unless you’re on the Pee Dee editorial board.
We are being offered – again – a lot of nonsense about economic development and jobs. This is the corporate and Pee Dee mantra for subsidizing rich people.
So if you want to fatten some fat cats vote for casinos.
“Issue 3 is a gamble. But business as usual will not work for Cleveland or for Ohio,” said the editorial. Issue 3 hands Dan Gilbert a second monopoly in Cleveland. This time a casino that can score more money than LeBron.
To me, this IS business as usual. Give to the rich and take from the rest.
Here’s a headline from the 1990s when the Pee Dee was helping sell Gateway: “Backers tout Gateway’s ripple effect – 16,800 permanent jobs envisioned within 15 years.”
Jobs, jobs, progress, progress. How do people still fall for this stuff?
Here’s how the 1990s article started:
“Within 15 years of completion of the proposed Gateway stadium and arena project downtown, several new office buildings, four hotel and numerous shopping spots could crop up adjacent to the development site, project backers said yesterday.” – The Pee Dee.
In its editorial “Yes on Issue 3,” the Pee Dee depends once again on the people who benefit, quoting Dan Gilbert, billionaire owner of Quicken Loans: “Gilbert insists he will craft a business plan that actually benefits the rest of downtown.”
Gateway II.
A billionaire interested in helping others. Oh, yeah, I’m convinced.
The Pee Dee had to whistle its way to an endorsement by passing all the evidence that says “Vote NO on Issue 3.”
“After a great deal of discussion and soul-searching, this newspaper has decided to support Issue 3,” says the Pee Dee.
In other words, the same old same old by the Pee Dee – go with what the big boys want.
“We understand that while casinos may bring glitz and gold, they invariably are accompanied by heavy social costs. We are also extremely skeptical of any initiative that enshrines a monopoly for any individuals or business in the state Constitution and sets up regulations for that enterprise in a way that can be changed only by yet another statewide vote of the people,” said the Pee Dee in its editorial.
Bad, bad but let’s do it.
The Pee Dee also cites Gilbert’s “own significant investments downtown.”
Gilbert, people, is the RECIPIENT of significant investment – by you and me – not the bestower of goodies.
As suggested by my first paragraph above, Gilbert enjoys a tax-free arena built by the people of Cuyahoga County at a cost of $157 million. By the way, we are still paying for it, about $10 million every January for arena bonds let by Tim Hagan and the boys.
So let’s not make Gilbert a philanthropist. He’s a taker.
Quicken Arena is a good example of how profits flow to one source – Dan Gilbert – and NOT to downtown Cleveland’s restaurants and other retail.
We taxpayers built a $1.8 million fancy restaurant in Quicken Arena – with not even rent coming to Cleveland or Cuyahoga County. We taxpayers furnished at a cost of $178,750 and with $350,000 in kitchen equipment. Total cost some $2.37 million!
There are other restaurant and food facilities built in Quicken Arena by the taxpayers of this County – total with the fancier restaurant - $4.9 million. Free for Gilbert and competition for all other downtown restaurants.
But give them more, says the Pee Dee.
And since we also built an attached parking garage and provided free parking for loge owners, many Quicken Loan attendees don’t have to set a foot on Cleveland streets – or in restaurants since we’ve provided them with plenty of food at places we’ve paid to build and furnish.
Yet, not a penny of property taxes for the Cleveland schools. Does that sound fair to you?
Why doesn’t Mayor Frank Jackson ask for some fairness to school children that he’s responsible to educate? Why doesn’t the Pee Dee ask?
Isn’t there one – ONE – Council member who will ask Dan Gilbert – billionaire – “Hey, before we give you another Cleveland monopoly, promise to volunteer to pay the property taxes on our arena which you use for basketball and other events and take the money and run to Detroit."
Won’t you, Dan Gilbert, pay your fair share, please? Pretty please?
Gilbert: A Two-Timer, 3-Timer, 4-Timer?
What do we really know about Dan Gilbert? Not much. But it sounds as if he’s the kind of guy that plays one city off against another for his own benefit.
I think anyone with any sense understands what Gilbert is about.
A columnist in the Detroit News questions Gilbert’s motives about his dedication to Detroit (oh, not Cleveland?).
“Dan Gilbert, the self-proclaimed Detroiter working big plans for his diverse business empire, remains bullish on his hometown,” writes Daniel Howes.
Howes says that Gilbert – who supposedly located a few jobs here – plans to locate his headquarters for Quicken Loans in downtown Detroit, along with other business activities. That’s 2,000 jobs, they say, for Detroit.
“But there’s potentially big money to be made down in Ohio where Gilbert, the principal owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, is a prominent force behind a ballot initiative (Vote NO on 3) to green light casinos for the Buckeye State’s four largest cities. Bullishness, it seems, has limits when opportunity knocks,” writes Howes.
He goes on: “The bottom lines for Gilbert are that casinos will come to Ohio, surrounded as it is with gaming in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana and Michigan. And, second, that Detroit’s casinos can effectively compete with new rivals in Ohio – especially Toledo – because they are already competing against Michigan’s roughly 20 casinos outside the southeast corner. That’s debatable, too.”
The bottom line is that Gilbert is interested not in Detroit, Toledo or Cleveland. He’s interested in the bottom line. HIS.
The entire column follows:
Ohio gaming tests Detroit boosters
Dan Gilbert, the self-proclaimed Detroiter working big plans for his diverse business empire, remains bullish on his hometown. It's where he plans to locate the corporate headquarters of his Quicken Loans Inc. next spring. It's the struggling downtown he says he wants to help with innovative development that makes a difference. The beleaguered city also is a transnational hub for Vegas-style gaming in the Midwest, home to MGM Grand, Motor City? Casino, Greektown and, across the river, Casino Windsor.
But there's potentially big money to be made down in Ohio, where Gilbert, the principal owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, is a prominent force behind a ballot initiative to greenlight casinos for the Buckeye State's four largest cities. Bullishness, it seems, has limits when opportunity knocks.
"I guess it is a little bit ironic," he said in an interview Monday. Adding to the irony is the fact that Gilbert's main man on the Ohio casino effort is Matt Cullen, the General Motors exec-turned-Gilbert guy and arguably the biggest Mr. Detroit this side of the city's official economic development apparatus.
Except for one. Also partnering with Gilbert and Cullen is former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, assuming the Ohio casino initiative passes and the opportunity for investment becomes real. Archer appeared earlier this month at a forum in Toledo to promote casino gaming in Ohio, testifying that three casinos here provided jobs and economic development but not the feared spike in crime.
The best part: The Detroit guys and their partner, Penn National Gaming Inc. of Wyomissing, Pa., are relying on a "don't-let-your-gambling-dollars-leave-the-state" campaign to persuade Ohioans to approve casinos after four failed tries.
If the homer argument worked for Michigan against Windsor, the thinking goes, why not use it in Ohio against Michigan, Indiana and Pennsylvania -- especially amid tough times with double-digit unemployment?
Right. The locals in Detroit should love this. Start with the Ilitch family, whose interests in Detroit and Motor City? Casino, almost are as old as Gilbert's company. Then come those pushing to get Greektown out of Chapter 11.
Finally, there are Mayor Dave Bing and the government bureaucrats in Detroit and Lansing who depend on Detroit gaming taxes to fatten slimmed-down revenue projections.
"We were kind of just watching this opportunity unfolding in Ohio where we have significant business interests," Gilbert said, confirming that his company expressed preliminary interest in acquiring Greektown Casino out of bankruptcy. "We're about rebuilding the urban cores of the cities we're involved with. It really is something that is not a threat on either side of Lake Erie."
That's debatable. Less so, Gilbert says, are Quicken's plans for Detroit: The mortgage lender still plans to move roughly 2,000 people -- including its executive team -- to a new headquarters in the Compuware building on Campus Martius. Quicken still plans to bring related businesses -- Quicken's title company and Gilbert's Fathead sports marketing company -- and "technology companies" he won't identify.
The bottom lines for Gilbert are that casinos will come to Ohio, surrounded as it is with gaming in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana and Michigan. And, second, that Detroit's casinos can effectively compete with new rivals in Ohio -- especially Toledo -- because they already are competing against Michigan's roughly 20 casinos outside its southeast corner. That's debatable, too.
Under terms of Ohio's Issue 3, to be considered by voters on Nov. 3, Gilbert would have options to build casinos in Cleveland and Cincinnati. Partner Penn National would have options on projects in Columbus and Toledo, the most likely competitor to Detroit's casinos.
"Gilbert is ... the face of the deal there, no doubt about it," said Jake Miklojcik, a gaming expert who is president of Michigan Consultants Inc. and a temporary board member of Greektown Casino. "There is an impact. It's the leakage that's the issue. And I do think gaming in Ohio is inevitable."
Which tells you everything you need to know.
Issue 5 + Issue 6 = 11 New County Commissioners
Memo to Susan Goldberg, Pee Dee editor: Stop making the news and start reporting it.
Today it was “economic development” again as the Pee Dee attributed nonsensical advantages to Issue 6, which, of course, the Pee Dee strongly backs. It’s a supposed County reform issue that has too many holes in it. Big holes.
Eliminating elective functioning offices – sheriff, treasurer, recorder, and auditor - except the County Prosecutor is an invitation to a king-maker position for Bill Mason, present prosecutor and prime mover of Issue 6. Mason doesn’t deserve the promotion.
It just doesn’t make sense. It isn’t reform. It’s merely change. Not good enough.
Also, will Ms. Goldberg please announced what the final vote total of the Pee Dee editorial board on endorsing Issue 3 favoring monopoly casinos? Let’s have a little of that transparency editors are always talk about. Because I can’t see how the editorial board – knowing its make-up – voted for a monopoly casino issue. I was told the vote was “close.”
I believe Goldberg pulled a Machaskee. If you remember the Pee Dee couldn’t come up with a Presidential endorsement because the board wanted John Kerry but then Publisher Alex Machaskee wanted George Bush. In that contest, nobody won but the Pee Dee lost as it was revealed publicly - and embarrassingly - that the Pee Dee would endorse no one. One publisher trumps the voting board.
So I suspect that Goldberg also trumped the staff.
Anyway, today the Pee Dee gives a major Page One headline for a story that tries to suggest that voting for Issue 6 means you are voting for economic development. Please! There is no substantive evidence that this is true or even near true.
It does, however, give Issue 6 another push. That’s the purpose.
I’m not for either Issue 5 – a dodge engineered by Democrats and Labor – or Issue 6, a choice that EXPANDS not reforms Cuyahoga County government by giving us 11 County Commissioners. Oh, I know they aren’t called Commissioners. But that’s what they’ll think they are.
It is a measure that will end up dividing the county into fiefdoms. That’s something we just don’t need. Can you imagine more than one pompous Tim Hagan?
So remember if you vote YES on 6, no matter what you do with 5, you’re still going to get 11. Eleven new politicians to support. And that’s the truth.
Mayor Jackson- Heart and Head Together
Mayor Frank Jackson answered the Pee Dee on criticism of his scholarship program. Jackson tells Terry Egger, Pee Dee publisher, that he has both his “head and heart” in the right place – together.
Here’s the letter:
October 13, 2009
Mr. Terrance C.Z. Egger
President & Publisher
The Plain Dealer
1801 Superior Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44114
Dear Terry:
I hope that you are doing well and want to acknowledge that The Plain Dealer has covered an issue over the past week that is key to the future of Cleveland: education. Based on your coverage, I felt compelled to write you this letter so that I can address statements made in your paper regarding the Cleveland Scholarships for Education and Training (CSET) program.
First, let me say that these are children, not “drop-outs” as stated in How to reach those who reject our help. It was also stated that our children “squander life and chance.” That statement is applicable to many, including adults. It is particularly applicable to those who have no excuse because life and society have been good to them.
Finally, today’s editorial states, “Mayor Jackson’s heart was in the right place…but his head was not.” Let me assure you that my heart and head are in the same place and that is to create an environment for success for all our children and to serve all our children, no matter who they belong to.
I have said many times that the key to our success and future is the education of our young people. Traditional educational systems are focused on educating children from Kindergarten to the 12th grade. I am focused on pre- Kindergarten to a bachelor’s degree, or at minimum, to an associate’s degree. All post-12th grade education, including community college courses, should be treated as college, which means that a young person can be successful, fail or choose to stay or leave. In either case, young people deserve the opportunity.
I have several scholarship programs because I recognize a cookie cutter approach will not work. Through money raised by employee contributions to the United Negro College Fund, the Mayor Frank G. Jackson Scholarship Fund gives out scholarships to CMSD seniors, City of Cleveland employees and City of Cleveland employees’ children who are high school seniors or undergraduates. This scholarship is competitive, including a minimum GPA of 2.5, an essay, and community service.
In addition, CMSD has an arrangement with the University of Toledo that allows CMSD graduates that meet certain criteria, including a minimum GPA of 3.0, to attend that university tuition-free. The school district is currently in conversations with Bowling Green State University, Cleveland State University and The Ohio State University to see if we can replicate the University of Toledo program.
On the other hand, the CSET program is designed specifically for CMSD graduates and Cuyahoga Community College. This program has two requirements: graduate from CMSD and apply for financial aid. Its purpose is to provide a college education opportunity for all CMSD graduates. Much has been said in your paper about the fact that under the CSET program there is not a minimum GPA requirement and that 54% of the students did not return to Tri-C for the second year of the program. Your paper has said the program is “rife with dropouts”, implying that their lack of enrolling in Tri-C for the second year is only negative. This and similar statements largely ignore the fact that some of the students who did not return to Tri-C likely moved on to other colleges, the military or vocational training programs. While we don’t have the tracking data to prove this, I am relying on common sense to know that not all of those who didn’t return simply dropped out of college.
Your paper has suggested that I set a minimum GPA as a criterion to ensure what your paper defines as success. I will not do so. It reminds me of the times that I’ve been asked “why are we spending this money on these children.” I will not set a minimum GPA for the CSET program because I do not have any throwaway children. I will not say to any child that you are unworthy of an opportunity for higher education. I do recognize that there are some changes that have to be made. Since beginning the program in 2008, we have identified that there are some needs that CMSD students have to address. We recognize that many CMSD graduates were unaware of the options available to them in terms of financial Cleveland Scholarships for Education & Training aid and in applying for college.
We know that many of our students need help in transitioning from high school to college and how to take advantage of the opportunities that are available to them. That is why last year, Dr. Sanders, the school board and I began developing a course for all CMSD juniors and seniors to help address these issues.
Starting with this school year, all 11th and 12th graders must take the twoyear “Colleges and Careers” course in order to graduate. This course includes a strong financial literacy component and instruction on how to apply for financial aid. It provides knowledge to all CMSD juniors and seniors to help prepare them for college and understand what they have to do to be successful.
What they do when they get there is a choice they must make – that is part of the learning curve of college. The “Colleges and Careers” course is designed to help them make good choices for their own futures. CSET is designed to get them in the door. Only the students can decide what happens next. This is also true for those who are part of other scholarship programs that require a minimum GPA.
Finally, what about the 46% of the 2008 CSET recipients who are enrolled in their second year at Tri-C? The coverage in your paper has mostly dismissed this accomplishment. More than 200 young people – who might not have had the GPA or the money to go to other colleges – are in their second year of college. I am proud of them. Their families are proud of them. And we as a community should be proud of them.
I want to thank you for taking the time to read this letter and your commitment to making Cleveland a better place.
Sincerely,
Frank G. Jackson, Mayor
City of Cleveland
Roldo Bartimole celebrates 50 years of news reporting this year. He published and wrote Point of View, a newsletter about Cleveland, for 32 years. He has worked for the Plain Dealer and Wall Street Journal in the 1960s. He was a 2004 Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame recipient and won the national Joe Callaway Award for Civic Courage in 1991.