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Cleveland City Council

MyTwoSense
in Ohio Politics

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I'll add RE: Jeff Johnson that he's been a big proponent of historic preservation and rehab over demolition of vacant structures in the city.  I'm not sure how much he's done to translate that talk into action, though.

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Thanks, TPH2, that is definitely the kind of stuff I was hoping for! I was already aware of some of that stuff (Reed & Johnson's convictions, Cimperman's strong support of LGBT rights, Polensek being around forever, etc), but your list definitely helps put some things into perspective. I've actually briefly met a few of the council members (as a result of my internship), and out of the 5 I met and/or spoke to, Mamie Mitchell kinda seemed the most scatterbrained (this isn't based off of much information though).

 

I hope to hear more opinions. This is a fun topic to discuss.

 

 

Great topic!

 

 

Here's a little known fun fact: Prior to Dona (Don't-call-me-Donna) Brady entered public office, she was the owner/operator of the infamous alternative music night club, Nine of Clubs, on West 9th Street (currently AdultMart)

^You are right, that fact is a blast! Thanks for sharing

More like Cleveland City Clowncil.

^ seriously, if the future of Cleveland depends on local governance....yeah, good luck with that.

From both personal experience and from what is reported in the press, has Jeff Johnson ever done anything other than grandstand? Everything this guy does only appears calculated to score himself points for a future run at the mayor's office. I'd say the exact same thing about Zack Reed--except I could never image that he'd run for mayor.

It's truly shocking just how many council members there are for a city of Cleveland's size. At the most, Cleveland should have 15 council seats... and that's being extremely generous. It should really be more like 10.

I've mentioned before that I had a college class with Jeff Johnson.  If you met him privately, then saw his public persona you'd be surprised.  He's incredibly sharp, and unless he's changed 180 degrees over the decades (possible) is far less leftist and racialist than you might believe.  Anyone who got under George Forbes's skin as hard as he did can't be all bad lol.

 

Zach Reed is becoming an enigma much like Jesse Jackson.  He seems to know what the community needs to do to thrive and will occasionally say it out loud.  But then he reverts to what he needs to say to get elected, and overdoes it.  His personal life has its issues.  That's fixable, but not easy to fix.  And fixing it may end his political career.

 

The one that really annoys me is Cimperman.  He has no qualms about supporting nanny state laws that mirror his own ideas about how people should live.  He likes to play this great Crusader, and makes a big spectacle about helping people deal with the various gadflies and pests that infest his district.  Some of them, I suspect, are doing his bidding.  I also have reason to believe he was way more connected to the County machine than can ever be proven.

It's truly shocking just how many council members there are for a city of Cleveland's size. At the most, Cleveland should have 15 council seats... and that's being extremely generous. It should really be more like 10.

 

There used to be 33

It's truly shocking just how many council members there are for a city of Cleveland's size. At the most, Cleveland should have 15 council seats... and that's being extremely generous. It should really be more like 10.

 

Agreed.  But the way Cleveland Council works, or rather the way some of them work the system, they are basically "mayors" for their own wards - in charge of policing, code enforcement, new construction, housing, school projects, streets, etc.  Some people are proactive and it shows.  Others are not and it shows.  Of course there's much more to this - Cleveland and the Mayor's office have decided many years ago to put more focus and money into certain neighborhoods to strengthen and promote them.  Regardless, for those who take the job seriously, it's a lot of work.  Those who sit back and let the City manage their wards don't have much to show for it.

 

I think having Martin Sweeney out as head of Council was a good move.  Of course he wasn't' going to go until he had his next job lined up in government.  He's now State Representative.

It's truly shocking just how many council members there are for a city of Cleveland's size. At the most, Cleveland should have 15 council seats... and that's being extremely generous. It should really be more like 10.

 

Agreed.  But the way Cleveland Council works, or rather the way some of them work the system, they are basically "mayors" for their own wards - in charge of policing, code enforcement, new construction, housing, school projects, streets, etc.  Some people are proactive and it shows.  Others are not and it shows.  Of course there's much more to this - Cleveland and the Mayor's office have decided many years ago to put more focus and money into certain neighborhoods to strengthen and promote them.  Regardless, for those who take the job seriously, it's a lot of work.  Those who sit back and let the City manage their wards don't have much to show for it.

 

I think having Martin Sweeney out as head of Council was a good move.  Of course he wasn't' going to go until he had his next job lined up in government.  He's now State Representative.

 

They also distribute "community development" money, if I am not mistaken. 

I believe the Community Development money goes through the Community Development Corporations.

^ The councilmembers allocate the community development money to the CDCs first.

Council members also have to approve all Economic Development funds in their wards. If they don't approve, then the project can't receive funding from the City and would have to find a private lender.

 

I actually think I really like the way Cleveland's City Council is set up, with all the council members being in wards and having relatively strong power within their wards. I just think there are too many wards, and many of them are poorly drawn. For example, look at ward 6 (Mamie Mitchell), which has little consistency. It could easily be split between the surrounding wards. Same with Dona Brady's ward. That northern section of Cudell would probably be better served in Matt Zone's district.

 

I'm assuming that the districts are drawn by the council, and that's why they're so poorly drawn?

It's interesting to read this after I commented last week on mayor/council elections in Columbus, where I live. Maybe Cleveland has too many council members; maybe not. But the council reduced its own number from 33. I couldn't imaging Chicago ever reducing from the 50 it has. One thing's for sure: Columbus, with a population twice Cleveland's, has too few council members. All seven members are elected at-large, citywide -- no ward representation. That's ridiculous. But opponents of wards in Columbus say,"We don't want to be like Cleveland." Sure: ward councilors can have too much say-so on CDBG dollars or zoning issues in their wards, but they also have a clear constituency and must be responsive to needs in their wards that might not be heard by an all-at-large council. Columbus ought to have, say, 11 members -- seven from wards and four-at large. Here's my take on the recent Columbus primary: https://urbansurfin.wordpress.com/

Council members also have to approve all Economic Development funds in their wards. If they don't approve, then the project can't receive funding from the City and would have to find a private lender.

 

I actually think I really like the way Cleveland's City Council is set up, with all the council members being in wards and having relatively strong power within their wards. I just think there are too many wards, and many of them are poorly drawn. For example, look at ward 6 (Mamie Mitchell), which has little consistency. It could easily be split between the surrounding wards. Same with Dona Brady's ward. That northern section of Cudell would probably be better served in Matt Zone's district.

 

I'm assuming that the districts are drawn by the council, and that's why they're so poorly drawn?

 

The council president has a lot of say in the ward boundaries.  The last map was drawn to favor Eugene Miller (a Sweeney ally- Miller supposedly hand-picked streets for Ward 10) by combining Jeff Johnson's and Kevin Conwell's wards, but Johnson and Conwell worked together to get Johnson elected instead of Miller.  There was also a gentleman's agreement to only cut one East Side ward, even though most of the city's population loss was on the East Side, in order to preserve as many seats as possible for black council members.  That resulted in some weird stretching of wards towards the West.

  • 3 months later...

 

This is likely just the tip of the iceberg.  There is a rumor going around that he has a personal financial stake in a local brewery too.  Which in itself is probably not a problem unless that brewery is getting any special treatment from the City.   

 

He better retire quick and start collecting his second salary.  Somebody get Kevin Kelley on the phone! :)

I'm still sore about the whole casino garage thing, and earlier with him trying to secure the convention center for the casino, but ParkWorks?  The city gets a great bang for the buck working with them.

I'm still sore about the whole casino garage thing, and earlier with him trying to secure the convention center for the casino, but ParkWorks?  The city gets a great bang for the buck working with them.

Yeah, it's not like there are a lot of organizations doing the same type of work either. The relationship between council-people and the CDCs is definitely worth examining though. They're very much run like small city halls for each ward. A councilman telling a CDC exactly what to do or whom to work with would unfortunately not be a surprising story.

  • 3 months later...

Good day for loosies' vendors.

 

Good luck to Ohio City Cigars and hookah cafes

Same folks that were for legalizing marijuana continue to take tobacco freedoms away.  Even as a non-tobacco user, I find this extremely hypocritical.

Same folks that were for legalizing marijuana continue to take tobacco freedoms away.  Even as a non-tobacco user, I find this extremely hypocritical.

 

I don't mind if a private employer wants to do this, but I find it troubling when the government steps into these issues. Raising the age is one thing, but to try to ban flavored tobacco seems like an overreach to me.

It would be great to see how the public polls on this.

http://www.cleveland.com/cityhall/index.ssf/2015/12/cleveland_bans_tobacco_e-cigar.html

 

Cleveland bans tobacco, e-cigarette sales to people under 21

 

Ridiculous. Just ridiculous.

 

The nanny state....except the the nanny is the Cleveland City Council...

 

Cleveland has so many problems with crime, poverty, lack of jobs...  How does this even make it on the agenda

 

Because it's one of those things where they can Take A Stand without actually having to deal with any hard issues.

Yeah..... if only they had dedicated the time spent passing this measure to crime, poverty, lack of jobs, etc., all problems would be solved.  Silly council.

This measure being opposed by neighborhood small businesses, the people Cleveland's government should be bending over backward to help.  So yes I really do think City Council would be better off adjusting its focus.  It's a bad look.

Yeah..... if only they had dedicated the time spent passing this measure to crime, poverty, lack of jobs, etc., all problems would be solved.  Silly council.

 

Cleveland has plenty of problems to work on.  Teen smoking really isn't holding this city back...

Yeah..... if only they had dedicated the time spent passing this measure to crime, poverty, lack of jobs, etc., all problems would be solved.  Silly council.

 

So...you support this? If so, go ahead and make a case.

^Whether or not he supports it, I think his point is that "what about all these other deep and complicated problems the city faces?!" isn't a very convincing argument against it.

It's at least mildly convincing.  Failure to prioritize could be seen a non-trivial matter, considering the degree of responsibility these positions entail.

I feel like most of the council members would do anything to get their face on TV (like most politicians).    This is another quick and easy way to generate some face time.

 

I wish they would spend more time cleaning up the city rank and file of cronyism, waste, double-dipping and other excesses.    The population continues to shrink, but the city employment rolls stay the same--with horrible service.    If the city really wants to compete with the suburbs, they need to deliver.

Are we surprised by any of this? Cleveland City Council has long been a joke. Not only are half of its members overall incompetent, the body as a whole is just a rubber stamp for the administration. This ordinance was a rarity in that some members actually voted no. The system that we use for city council is so antiquated and we would benefit from a charter revision that blows it up and starts anew.

Too much of the same names on Council for decades on end.  Even after the county FBI raids, there's still a lot of machinery to smash around here.

It's at least mildly convincing.  Failure to prioritize could be seen a non-trivial matter, considering the degree of responsibility these positions entail.

 

What did they fail to prioritize?  What measure(s) got bumped from the agenda so they could make time to vote on an amendment to an ordinance which changes a number?

I feel like most of the council members would do anything to get their face on TV (like most politicians).    This is another quick and easy way to generate some face time.

 

I wish they would spend more time cleaning up the city rank and file of cronyism, waste, double-dipping and other excesses.    The population continues to shrink, but the city employment rolls stay the same--with horrible service.    If the city really wants to compete with the suburbs, they need to deliver.

 

I'm not sure about overall employment, but several departments have seen significant cuts. Fire, for instance, is down over 100 members from its peak.

 

Double-dipping is a state issue. Nothing the city can do about that.

 

I'd agree this administration has a tendency towards cronyism, which is why it is important to support the unions' continued efforts to fight the same.

 

All that said, drops in population don't necessarily mean the city needs less services. In many cases, it has the opposite effect.

I feel like most of the council members would do anything to get their face on TV (like most politicians).    This is another quick and easy way to generate some face time.

 

I wish they would spend more time cleaning up the city rank and file of cronyism, waste, double-dipping and other excesses.    The population continues to shrink, but the city employment rolls stay the same--with horrible service.    If the city really wants to compete with the suburbs, they need to deliver.

 

I'm not sure about overall employment, but several departments have seen significant cuts. Fire, for instance, is down over 100 members from its peak.

 

Double-dipping is a state issue. Nothing the city can do about that.

 

I'd agree this administration has a tendency towards cronyism, which is why it is important to support the unions' continued efforts to fight the same.

 

All that said, drops in population don't necessarily mean the city needs less services. In many cases, it has the opposite effect.

 

I'm not familiar with the mechanisms that allow double-dipping, but it should definitely be stopped.  This fuels the anti-union, anti-government worker sentiments that keeps people like Kashich in power.    I don't mind it for cops and firefighters, who have physical jobs and retirement after 20 years is reasonable (as long as they take a DIFFERENT job).  But there is no reason council members or rank-and-file city workers should be doing the same. 

 

I agree with your assessment of city services.  My point was we have city staff for 500,000 people, yet the level of service keeps getting worse (think of last year's snowplowing debacle).  We should be competing with the burbs by being efficient.  This will attract more upper income residents, increase the tax base and hopefully one day improve the schools and city finances. 

The unions don't have much, if anything, to do with double-dipping.  Why would it fuel the anti-union sentiments?  Ignorance, I suppose.  State law sets up the pension systems (OPERS, OPF), not the collective bargaining agreements.  And, normally, it is not bargaining unit members you see double-dipping, but members of the management.... the people who the Unions are constantly at odds with. 

 

Putting that aside, while it doesn't look good to Joe Public, the ability to double dip actually helps cities in a lot of circumstances.  The City gets to keep an experienced official/employee past his/her retirement age.  The City is not paying anything more than if the guy had not retired.  The City already made its pension contributions.

Point is, the ban is PR one-upmanship. If you can't get public attention for your vision of the future and from fixing problems, then you don't deserve to keep your job.

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck

  • 4 weeks later...

It'd be nice if council appointed an immigrant to fill his seat, or a non-native Clevelander, or at the very least, someone outside of the current political power structure. But I won't hold my breath

They had a good run, tearing up all those parks and replacing them with different parks. 

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