Dennis Votes The Way Voinovich Will Vote- NO!

Ran into an old friend this morning at University Hospital where we older people are likely to meet. Boy was she angry. At Dennis Kucinich, a favorite of hers.

Kucinich, as you may have noted, vote NO on the health care bill the other night. He gave good reasons. It squeaked in by a couple of votes. So his NO vote was a typical Kucinich vote.

But this fan said she had given him her last dime. And I’m sure she’s given him a lot more than that.

I don’t know if Kucinich would have voted NO if his was a deciding vote. Maybe not.

But his NO vote isn’t a surprise to me. Kucinich is playing to the crowd. His crowd. And he’s a hero with his crowd.

They respond. They love the little fighter. Kucinich drew immediate attention on the local Cleveland Leader web site. Today there are nearly 7,500 hits on the posting about his vote. Most I’ve ever seen. I assume that many people around the nation have Dennis Kucinich on a Google alert. Every time his name appears they get a Google alert. They click and read about their hero.

It attests to his national drawing power as a political celebrity.

I can’t find fault with his desire for more comprehensive health care. However, where’s the magic wand that will get us there? Does he have it? Of course not.

We take baby steps, unfortunately. Some can argue that that’s the problem; we never get to adult steps. What we actually need.

Dennis has always played to his crowd, a limited crowd to be sure.

However, the image that clicks to my mind is a State of the Union speech during the George Bush years. I cannot get out of my mind a smiling, seemingly elated Kucinich, hand extended. To George Bush.

John Carney Should Resign From Port Board

The reason we don’t know why the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority dumped its chief executive Adam Wasserman is because the real leader of the board – John Carney – believes it’s none of your business.

The Port Authority is one of those governmental bodies set up to avoid public input. It has an unelected board. The public, in fact, knows little if anything about its members. Probably cares less.

One aspect of the board has remained rather fixed over the years – the name Carney.

The political head of this powerful family, the late James M. Carney, twice unsuccessful candidate for mayor (once dropped out, once defeated), was chairman during the Port’s early years.

Presently, his nephew John Carney, son of the late judge John Carney, has been on the board for some years. He was chairman. To avoid the limelight or the spotlight, Carney resigned as board chairman. However, it seems he’s still in control. He is civically connected. Many boards. His wife, Tana, is a Cleveland Foundation board member. She was a judicial appointee, meaning political connections and power.

The Wasserman episode suggests that the Port Authority’s bosses don’t know where they are going. Unfortunately, Carney wants to open up land on Lake Erie for development. At great public cost. Development is his private business. He heads Landmark Management.

And, most unfortunately, he wants to open up a portion of the lakefront that requires costly movement of the Port elsewhere. A billion dollars or much more. And the move doesn’t seem to make sense. Certainly, it’s not been proven a good move.

It reminds me of the move back in the 1970s when another bigwig, James C. Davis, then head of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, the Growth Association and many other Cleveland institutions, wanted us to build a jetport in the lake. He had visions of another city being built in the lake. It, of course, would have been paid for by government bonds. Very costly. Squire-Sanders had a near monopoly on servicing government bonds. Yes, he finally admitted, his firm would profit. Would you doubt it?

The lakefront always attracts those with big development desires. Open land. Junk the old city.

I once wrote of the late Jim Carney, “Carney mixes business, politics and civic involvement for personal profit.” He was quite the powerful figure. He was a banker, lawyer, and real estate developer, owner of several downtown hotels. He had newspaper and television business connections in addition to being the Democratic Party boss. Carney was partners with Scripps-Howard interests. It got him favorable coverage from the Cleveland Press and Ch. 5, both Scripps holdings. Carney owned cable interests with the Scripps broadcast company.

It’s a bit ironic, given today’s Carney wishes, that back in 1972 a plan for development that included the lakefront was pushed by the Northern Ohio Community Development Corp. (NORCOM). It was a creature of Jim Carney and Bill Boyer, son of the head of Republic Steel at the time. Carney was vice-chairman of the Port Authority and head of the Growth Association (now Greater Cleveland Partnership) at the time. So he was well positioned.

These profit dreams die hard.

“We believe that the growth of this area will generate great economic benefits to Cleveland’s downtown and provide an exciting new focus on our lakefront,” a planning report said. The plan was written by Boyer, then a city planner. Never write plans you can’t use.

Always the promise of economic advantage. Never the assurance that those who pay for it might gain.

The 1970s push tells a sad story of Cleveland that its movers-and-shakers more than 35 years later are still trying to commercially develop the lakefront. Another generation. Another Carney.

It appears that the attempt once again fails.

We may never know why Wasserman got kicked out. Kicked by a $300,000 boot.

It’s somewhat encouraging that the Plain Dealer headlined this buyout on the front page today with a tinge of criticism. They didn’t like the move either.

The paper will have to go a lot farther. It should ask for Carney’s resignation. Best, he should resign. It should demand an answer to why the recently hired top candidate became useless so quickly. Two years on the job. Jeweled boot out.

The Port – once owned by the city – shouldn’t function under an unelected body anymore. It had significant powers when it was established as a regional entity with nine board members. Six are named by the city and three by the county. It has been made more powerful over the years. Exceptional amounts of money flow through to private and public interests.

Neither the city nor the county seems to have been careful in naming board members. Members seem to go through the motions without much or any real responsibility. (It is a warning that some regionalism could be negative rather than positive.)

If the lakefront is to be made significant it should remain a public place, not another spot for unneeded development in a shrinking, maybe disappearing city. Why can’t people enjoy the lakefront rather than have it be for commercial use?

Ten Murdered in Cleveland- Finally Noticed

The biggest story this day after the election isn’t approval of County government reform or approval of a monopoly casino for a billionaire.

No. The biggest story is about the numerous murdered bodies found in the middle a city neighborhood. In fact, not far from famous Shaker Square in the new 4th ward.

That it could happen with little notice says so much more about Cleveland, its priorities and what it cares about than any election issue. Residents count little in this world.

The question is how does this happen? Why did it happen? Why did it happen so easily? Why did it escape notice so easily? For so long?

Where were the police? Where were health officials? Social workers? Community development personnel? Community activists?

Let’s build a new convention center. Let’s build a new casino. Can we build any new stadiums? Theaters? Fancy restaurants?

Anyone can see reform and casinos don’t answer what really ails Cleveland. You can’t hide it behind glitz or change for the sake of change.

Poverty and its relatives are eating away at the very life of the city. Giving recognition to this is step one.

But we are being sold shoddy goods instead.

The Pee Dee won big yesterday. The newspaper – surely looking for relevance – piggybacked on a vile corruption scourge in County government to change its form. Not its nature.

Where does this constitute a change in the nature of our government? I don’t believe it does. It may be a hope that it will.

Chalk up another victory for the Pee Dee in the vote for a casino.

The Pee Dee strongly backed both issues. Even the news columns were used to push the platform.

The newspaper got on a train that was already speeding. However, the paper did use all its power – which is still substantial – to promote passage of both issues.

Take a bow, Ms. Goldberg.

Corruption and joblessness were the twin engines prompting voters to vote for Issue 3 and Issue 6.

Rotting dead bodies, however, tell a more frightening, real picture of our situation.

What to do about it raises even more problems.

With the residency law killed by the all-Republican Ohio Supreme Court soon there will be even fewer police living in the city they patrol. The distance between the police and community can’t be helped by the distance between where the police live and where their eyes and ears are needed.

Some thought had better be given to hiring neighborhood people, not as police, but as monitors – eyes and ears – in the neighborhoods. There needs to be intelligence on the ground, methods of gathering information so that whether someone is a drug addict, a prostitute or an upstanding citizen, he or she is guarded as humanly as possible.

That isn’t happening now. Cleveland can’t survive as a thriving downtown and nothing more.

Let’s see if the Pee Dee can wrestle with this one. Honestly. Without pretensions. And not for circulation.

TEN MURDERED IN CLEVELAND - FINALLY NOTICED

By Roldo Bartimole

The biggest story this day after the election isn’t approval of County government reform or approval of a monopoly casino for a billionaire.

No. The biggest story is about the numerous murdered bodies found in the middle a city neighborhood. In fact, not far from famous Shaker Square in the new 4th ward.

That it could happen with little notice says so much more about Cleveland, its priorities and what it cares about than any election issue. Residents count little in this world.

The question is how does this happen? Why did it happen? Why did it happen so easily? Why did it escape notice so easily? For so long?

Where were the police? Where were health officials? Social workers? Community development personnel? Community activists?

Let’s build a new convention center. Let’s build a new casino. Can we build any new stadiums? Theaters? Fancy restaurants?

Anyone can see reform and casinos don’t answer what really ails Cleveland. You can’t hide it behind glitz or change for the sake of change.

Poverty and its relatives are eating away at the very life of the city. Giving recognition to this is step one.

But we are being sold shoddy goods instead.

The Pee Dee won big yesterday. The newspaper – surely looking for relevance – piggybacked on a vile corruption scourge in County government to change its form. Not its nature.

Where does this constitute a change in the nature of our government? I don’t believe it does. It may be a hope that it will.

Chalk up another victory for the Pee Dee in the vote for a casino.

The Pee Dee strongly backed both issues. Even the news columns were used to push the platform.

The newspaper got on a train that was already speeding. However, the paper did use all its power – which is still substantial – to promote passage of both issues.

Take a bow, Ms. Goldberg.

Corruption and joblessness were the twin engines prompting voters to vote for Issue 3 and Issue 6.

Rotting dead bodies, however, tell a more frightening, real picture of our situation.

What to do about it raises even more problems.

With the residency law killed by the all-Republican Ohio Supreme Court soon there will be even fewer police living in the city they patrol. The distance between the police and community can’t be helped by the distance between where the police live and where their eyes and ears are needed.

Some thought had better be given to hiring neighborhood people, not as police, but as monitors – eyes and ears – in the neighborhoods. There needs to be intelligence on the ground, methods of gathering information so that whether someone is a drug addict, a prostitute or an upstanding citizen, he or she is guarded as humanly as possible.

That isn’t happening now. Cleveland can’t survive as a thriving downtown and nothing more.

Let’s see if the Pee Dee can wrestle with this one. Honestly. Without pretensions. And not for circulation.

MIA Jackson Fails To Give Community Confidence

As if the Cleveland police don’t have enough on their hands. Now they have another missing person: Mayor Frank Jackson.

Where is Frank Jackson?

I’ve covered a lot of mayors going back to Ralph Locher. I don’t know one of them that would not have had a strong public presence in a situation as the one where 11 women have been murdered. And where so much evidence points to an embarrassing lack of policy, execution and service from the city and its bureaucracy.

I don’t know any of the Mayors for more than 40 years who would not be very visible, trying to guide the city, calm the city and give it some assurance of action. I don’t know any of them who wouldn’t be consoling the residents, trying to reassure them in every way, every day that the Mayor has concerned for them, for what has happened and for a just resolution.

This Mayor is absent without leave. He can’t hide behind, “What is, is.”

 It won’t fly. Not this time.

The city’s police department has been seen as embarrassingly inept or worse, seriously unconcerned. This is his police department. They represent him.

The absence of the mayor is unforgivable.

It is symbolic of the criticism of Mayor Jackson that should have made it necessary and expected that he would have a viable rival in the just concluded election. He didn’t. He was allowed to waltz into another term. Why? Because it is clear that the corporate leadership wanted it that way.

That says something about the plight of the city. As much, unfortunately, as Imperial Avenue.

That the news media are not pressing Jackson reveals another aspect of Cleveland’s problem.

The headline on the front page of the New York Times today says, “After Gruesome Find, Anger at Cleveland Police.” It is a three-column front story on a day when news is dominated by a dozen or more killed at a U. S. Army Post.

The Times story continues for four more columns of 16 inches depth with three photos. That’s a big story for the New York Times.

Mayor Jackson’s name does not appear once!

It’s distasteful to even say, but does the Mayor even really care?

Jackson in a statement as part of an update on Nov. 4 on the city’s web site said, “There is still a lot of work that needs to be done and a lot of unanswered questions that need to be addressed. Until the family of victims get the closure they seek and ultimately the justice they deserve, this case will continue to be our focus. My thought, prayers and deepest condolences go out to the Carmichael family, friends and relatives.”

A day later in another press release (all of them less than a full page) Mayor Jackson said, “As we continue to make progress with the identification, I want to assure the families of the missing that until they all get the closure they seek and ultimately the justice they deserve, this case will continue to be our focus. On behalf of the City of Cleveland, I offer my deepest condolences to the family, friends and relatives of the victims.”

That’s all there is.

That seems like canned PR that just doesn’t match the needs of the community at this time.

Just as pathetic in my mind was the gathering of ministers and the advice that the community should pray. Pray? Hell, the community out to be damned angry and expressing it.

There’s no leadership at the top. And there’s no leadership at the bottom.

What happens when that occurs? Usually, unpleasant action fills that vacuum.

But I think Cleveland is too dead even for that.

Randy Lerner Gets $10 Million From Cleveland Fans/Non-Fans

Cleveland Browns fans may be angry with Randy Lerner and the Cleveland Browns football team but that didn’t stop them from contributing $10.9 million to help him this year.

In October, Cuyahoga County taxpayers slipped another $1.2 million to pay for the Browns Stadium.

The Browns are 1-7 this season. And a pretty putrid 1-7 from what I hear.

This year, sin tax contributors – all we purchasers of wine, alcohol and cigarettes in Cuyahoga County only – have paid $10,900,768.11 to help Lerner. It helps pay for the Browns Stadium. Lerner pays $250,000 a year to rent the place. The city pays more than $400,000 each year for taxes on the land. The stadium is tax exempt. Free for Lerner.

Thank you taxpayers. Don’t mention it Randy.

Did you catch the so-called interview Tony Grossi did with Lerner in today’s Pee Dee. Talk about consumer fraud.

The headline says: Lerner discusses GM’s firing; reaffirms support for Mangini.” Should have said, “Lerner WON’T discuss ANYTHING.”

It’s an e-mail interview with Lerner which allows for no follow-up questions. So the Browns owner gets away with murder. It’s called letting the Big Guy off the hook. Did the same with Modell until he left town. Then truth seeped into the Pee Dee.

He’s allowed, by this method, to slip away in the dark mist.

The entire e-mail conversation between Grossi and Lerner can be found here: http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2009/11/cleveland_browns_owner_randy_l.html

Can we reform a football team ownership?

Pee Dee Looks Past Imperial Ave. To Towpath, Public Square

It didn’t even take a day for the Pee Dee to setup the next pillage and plunder of Cleveland.

Listen to what the Pee Dee said editorially the day after the casino issue, strongly backed by the paper, had to say about the use of its tax revenue:

“So consider this idea, which is already germinating among downtown boosters (read: looters): Divert some of the new property taxes the casino will pay – from the city’s share, not the school district’s – to complete the Towpath Trail and Canal Basin Park, to redesign Public Square and to add pocket parks, waterfront access and other residential enhancements.”

Forget about Imperial Avenue. Forget about all the Cleveland Imperial Avenues.

Let’s spend a few more million on a bike path and redo Public Square. Again.

Just read the intention of this proposal. You will see a community looting being pushed by the Pee Dee.

This is what the Pee Dee – acting as front for the Greater Cleveland Partnership and its corporate thugs – wants to do with any revenue that might come to the city from the casino. Disgusting.

Can you believe it?

How insensitive is that on the day following the discovery of multi-murders and a city police force and government that allowed what happened on Imperial Avenue to happen. As the bodies are being ushered out.

Ms. Goldberg and the editorial staff of the Pee Dee, have you no shame?

To whom do you owe allegiance – certainly not to the people of Cleveland? Certainly not to those in dire need.

Here you are already spending tax dollars, the result of a sickening monopoly casino, on the trinkets you want for downtown.

My God, when does it stop?

He was a 2004 Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame recipient and won the national Joe Callaway Award for Civic Courage in 1991.