"We're all in the same boat now."
Does Cleveland have the leadership it deserves?

I'm strongly considering initiating a nonprofit organization to collect funds for the express purpose of erecting a statue of Cleveland City Council President Martin J. Sweeney. The Rotunda of City Hall might be a good place for it to reside in majestic perpetuity. The statue would be in honor of his unremitting efforts to organize the citizens of Cleveland by continually pissing on us and then telling us it's only raining.

Thanks to Sweeney, political groups from every part of town are now talking to and interacting with each other. This comparing of notes -- this reaching out and getting to know each other, is going to result in a better educated, stronger, and more cohesive electorate, and that has to be good for the City of Cleveland. Indeed, in the final analysis, it's the only thing that can potentially save Cleveland -- citizens acting in concert.

Although Sweeny downplays it, thanks to former City Council President George Forbes, the position he presently occupies almost rivals the mayor’s in terms of power and influence. Few cities have charters that give the council president the enormous amount of power as the charter of Cleveland. And Sweeny has used — and abused — that power in such an egregious fashion... that voters have such a bad taste in their mouths. They’re going to be in a real ugly mood come the November elections. Payback, as they say, is going to be a bitch.

Look for a lot of heads — in addition to Sweeney’s — to roll.

The problem is age-old: Whenever a person rises to their level of incompetency, they almost always begin screwing up. It’s one of the natural laws of the universe... and this is what happened to Sweeney, who was a fairly decent guy until he got into water too far over his head. He just isn’t intellectually suited to possess and wield the kind of power he currently has; he eventually makes a hash of most anything he attempts.

At an open meeting at City Hall, the president of the ward club in Hough handed Sweeny a petition from residents asking him not to meddle in our ward’s business after Fannie Lewis died. He took the document from Mr. DeMore, didn’t bother to glance at it or even lend the appearance of consideration; he just pushed it to the side and went on with what he'd already planned to do. A smarter politician would have implemented some savvy and finesse: he would have at least looked at it, thanked us for our input, spouted some flowery words, and then screwed us.

But there was little pretense of listening to our concerns. Not smart, Marty.

However, the blatant and heavy-handed manner he used to redraw the ward boundary lines could prove to be his Waterloo. Rather than conduct an open and honest process, one that was transparent and based on good government practices, he instead used it as an opportunity to punish his critics on City Council: Brian Cummins and Zack Reed. Their sins? Daring to ask pertinent questions about how city business is being conducted. That's what I thought they were elected to do. But how does punishing them make Cleveland a better place to live, work and play?

Obviously making ward boundry changes is a difficult process, one that is bound to leave some people in some wards unhappy, no matter how fairly the process is carried out. But once again, Sweeney demonstrated that he has little respect for the citizens of Cleveland... and to a degree, I can understand why he feels that way:

To this point, we haven’t done very much as a group to earn and demand his — and all other politicians — respect. Someone once said that citizens get the kind of government they deserve, and quite obviously we here in Cleveland haven’t been deserving of very much respect. We’ve been too fractured: Eastside versus Westside; Black versus White; wealthy versus poor; straight versus gay... and all the other ways which people use to divide themselves from each other.

One of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s favorite sayings was: “We might have arrived here on different ships, but we’re all in the same boat now.” It’s time for us Clevelander’s to realize this fact... and I’m getting a strong sense that we’re starting to, and if we really are, we’re on the cusp of genuine, substantive change. Thanks Marty, we owe it all to you.

Will Someone Please Explain This One...?

A recent report on the ongoing county scandal investigation grabbed my attention. It stated that one of the characters involved, Kevin Kelly, was receiving some $5,000.00 a month to “stir up business” for an Eastside halfway house. Now, I know I’m not always the swiftest deer in the forest, but how does one “stir up business” for a halfway house?

Did he go into prisons and poll convicts who were about to come home if they’d like to be released to the nice facility he was representing -- where the food was great and strippers came in on the weekends? For some reason, I don’t think the state would allow that. Or, was he going around inner-city neighborhoods, handing out Saturday night specials, and encouraging young men to go out and rob liquor stores, gas stations and banks... all so they would then go to prison, and eventually come back home to the halfway house he was working for?

I can envision it now: here's this White dude, driving up to a bunch of kids asking them if they wanted to make a little extra money selling crack, and then snitching them out to the cops so they would catch a case, go to the joint, and return to Alternatives Agency (the halfway house in question) upon their release.

That's one helluva way to “stir up business,” methinks. Maybe he’ll get to stay there when he comes home. Now wouldn’t that be poetic justice?

From Cool Cleveland contributor Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com

Frazier's From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://www.frombehindthewall.com.
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