11 hours ago, ML11 said:

I have reluctantly accepted Mayor Jackson as the "lesser of evils" in recent years, but I'm disgusted by this series of events, and think it should result in his resignation.  Hopefully the drumbeat gets a little louder among those that actually have a microphone in the city, though I'm not holding my breath. 

 

I wish.   Though I suspect the only way it happens is if Mason makes like another Mason (possibly) did, and hands over what he knows.

7 hours ago, E Rocc said:

 

Kelley not only no but Hell No, too much Jackson's yes man.  Zone could convince me.  I still like Zack and Jeff Johnson would surprise, positively.  Tony Madalone, or Drew Carey doing a Trump would be ideal but unlikely.  I could go for my own councilman (Polensek) trying but why should he?

 

Here's the thing:  the Mason hiring felt weirder than anything since Pat O'Malley's plea bargain and the latter was followed by some high profile FBI visits.   Does Mason have something on Hizzoner, perhaps involving grandson protection?

 

I'd like to add Chris Ronayne to your list.

 

Not sure why you still like Zack, that guy seemed like a total empty suit that could spout off catchphrases all day ("300 POLICE OFFICERS!") but had no actual understanding of anything.

Edited November 20, 20186 yr by mu2010

The Cleveland mayor’s race was like 2016 Part Two. I don’t know anybody that actually liked any of the candidates...a side effect of one party rule in the city.

 

I personally don’t want to see any of the names from the last election. There is a lot of work that needs to be done to fix the city government.

It's been like that since Jackson first beat Campbell.

 

I'd love to break up one party rule. The problem is that there is a clear consensus/majority in terms of the issues, what we need is a debate over management and leadership style. The GOP is only going to offer positions on the issues which are nonstarters and/or completely out of touch/ignorant on urban issues.

Edited November 20, 20186 yr by mu2010

This mayor is completely underwhelming!  Cleveland deserves and needs more progressive leadership for the city to realize its full potential.  Look at the list of candidates that you are discussing for the mayor: Zack Reed, Jeff Johnson, Chris Ronayne, Matt Zone.  Do you truly believe any of these guys have the vison, leadership and political acumen to move the city forward in a substantial way?

Cleveland needs fresh new leadership that breaks away from traditional "let's look and what Pittsburgh, Detroit, Columbus are doing and copy that".   Cleveland needs to look to Seattle and other progressive cities for fresh ideas.

Take Playhouse Square for instance, why is it not much more of a regional draw?  Their talking point is always that it is the largest theater district outside NYC.  Who cares if it is a relatively local destination that is not being fully optimized. That place is dead when there is not a play.  Also, why aren’t there competing plays?  Think bigger.

Why is there no vision on the east side (say Hough) to create a flourishing African American neighborhood such as Harlem.  Hough should have coffee shops, restaurants, new apartments such as Ohio City. 

We seem to be happy that there were two cranes in the sky...why?   With all the class B and C office space that has been converted to apartments, there should be more than two cranes.  Columbus, Detroit, Pittsburgh would die for Cleveland’s lake, but we have a few lack luster smallish rental apartments built next to a football stadium and with a poor newly designed connecting bridge that was just approved. 

We are settling for average!  More effective leadership should be driving the city at a time when it has some level of momentum.  

Edited November 20, 20186 yr by newyorker

I think you should really get to know Chris Ronayne and Matt Zone. They are smart, connected, progressive and aggressive guys. BTW, I think Ronayne is more interested in a county-level position than being mayor.

 

As for the rest, I realize it's difficult sometimes to want to turn a city into something of your dreams overnight and not see it happening as fast as you want it to. But everything you want is in motion. Even if a mayor wants all of those things, they may move forward only slightly faster than they are now. I'm surprised at the speed with which things are happening now, which is a lot faster than they were 10-15 years ago, which is faster than they were 15-30 years ago, which is much faster than they were 30-45 years ago (when very little ever happened at all). Sure, you'd see skyscrapers getting built downtown in the 1970s and 80s, but the rest of the city was collapsing. The influence of a mayor is overstated. A change in the marketplace (like the growth of eds/meds, business services, trade, advanced manufacturing, etc.) is having a much more pronounced effect on the fortunes of our city than any mayor.

Edited November 20, 20186 yr by KJP

3 hours ago, mu2010 said:

It's been like that since Jackson first beat Campbell.

 

I'd love to break up one party rule. The problem is that there is a clear consensus/majority in terms of the issues, what we need is a debate over management and leadership style. The GOP is only going to offer positions on the issues which are nonstarters and/or completely out of touch/ignorant on urban issues.

 

To be clear here, the problem isn't one party rule, it's that there aren't any meaningful choices. In other cities there are contested primaries with multiple viable candidates focusing on exactly the things you point to.  As voters in pretty much every big city have made clear, there is zero place for the current GOP in urban governance. 

Cleveland is one party rule in name only IMO.  I look at City Council and members have differing beliefs on ideas.  To say that Polensek and Zone are the same party doesn't really acknowledge their policy differences. 

Yeah, it's more like all these people vote for Democrats at the state and federal levels, but the dichotomy doesn't really apply to local issues. Local politicians, to their credit, are far more interested in getting things done than they are in ideology and grandstanding.

Edited November 20, 20186 yr by mu2010

43 minutes ago, StapHanger said:

 

To be clear here, the problem isn't one party rule, it's that there aren't any meaningful choices. In other cities there are contested primaries with multiple viable candidates focusing on exactly the things you point to.  As voters in pretty much every big city have made clear, there is zero place for the current GOP in urban governance. 

 

Is it the local party chapter maybe? We never seem to have anyone challenge incumbents here. And then there is the City Council “I get to choose my successor “ rule which is complete hogwash too.

JKP -  I met both those guys and was equally as underwhelmed with them as Frank Jackson.  As president of University Circle, it would be pretty hard to screw that up with all the assets that reside there.  The unknown is how much more developed would it be with more visionary and effective leadership.  As I remember, lack of leadership and vision were issues that Peter Lewis had with UC and the city.    

JKP is close enough for me to assume you're talking to me. ? Judge people by their actions over many years, not by a few-minutes-long conversation. In 2000, I co-wrote a book with Chris Ronayne called Car-Free in Cleveland. Chris is committed to not only providing transportation choices but also to promoting car-lite and car-free lifestyles, which he has urged the Cleveland Planning Commission to support by embracing fewer parking spaces than required for many new developments in UC. We've worked closely with him on reducing the parking where possible and promoting a community-wide TOD theme. Chris has always been available to me and my organization and willing to listen and sometimes adopt our ideas. He also knows his way around the CPC because he was the former planning director for the city for a brief time. Chris also serves on the port authority board and recently was its chairman.

 

Matt Zone has some of the best constituent services among any councilman I've known. He's very responsive and gets things done. He's respected by developers, police, activists, and others -- many of whom oppose each other but have stood with Zone. He's very pro public transportation and is actively backing transit oriented developments including the new Aspen Place development which took a lot of arm-twisting among funders to get them to support it. I wish he was the councilperson for the West Boulevard station area because we would already be moving forward with NOACA's vision for developing that area with TOD (Zone has privately told me that he would love to take on that project). I hope that his ward will be redrawn to include West Blvd station. But we're working on some other development ideas in the interim.

 

Peter Lewis was ready to build his HQ downtown because he was able to work with Voinovich. That came to a crashing halt when Mike White became mayor. Lewis HATED White -- with a passion. I remember being at a meeting with then-Planning Director Hunter Morrison (who was planning director for Voinovich and White) and we were talking about a station project while looking over the Civic Vision 2000 plans. This was probably in 1995, right after White got re-elected the first time. The Progressive HQ was no longer shown on the Civic Vision plans and I naively asked about including a station with a Progressive HQ. Morrison said "That ship has sailed." When I asked why, he said "I could tell you but I don't want to get fired." White felt he could shake down Lewis because he was Sam Miller's godson going back to their days in Glenville. Miller and Lewis were oil and water. Lewis was the billionaire hippie and Miller was tight with gangsters of the old Syndicate whose local members included the Pressers and Rockmans. White, likely at the insistence of Miller, chose whose campaign contributions he would accept. Voinovich would accept anyone's campaign contributions including from the Forest City Millers and Progressive's Lewis. When Voinovich's open door gave way to White's selective door, Lewis went elsewhere because he didn't want to play White's corruption game.

Sorry for the typo KJP.  

They seem like nice guys, but I am judging both by their track records.  In my view, there overall body of work lacks both higher level vision and seems extremely parochial.  I digress, all I'm saying is we should expect more, or we will strive for just average.

A ward councilman requires parochialism. There's so much to do as councilman. The job of putting out little brush fires leaves little time to do much else. Yet, I'm amazed that Zone has been able to do as much as he does with the National League of Cities. Ditto for Ronayne. His work for UCI requires parochialism, too. UCI doesn't run itself. Yes, it's a high-growth area with many powerful interests, and one that could easily spin out of control into a myriad of self-destructive directions without a convener to keep things focused toward a shared vision that not everyone agrees with. I would counter that the two geographic areas represented by these two men are achieving things that are very above average. And that's a result of the people in charge.

I don't know what to make of Ronayne. By all accounts he understands and cares about this stuff, but the transportation results in University Circle are so, so underwhelming. The pedestrian infrastructure is mediocre and the bike infrastructure thin. The driving infrastructure, in contrast, including a huge signage program, is A+. I have no doubt this reflects the priorities of the constituent institutions, so it's not like I blame Ronayne for this, but I haven't seen much evidence that he's been able to move the needle much. 

2 hours ago, newyorker said:

They seem like nice guys, but I am judging both by their track records.  In my view, there overall body of work lacks both higher level vision and seems extremely parochial.  I digress, all I'm saying is we should expect more, or we will strive for just average.

 

What don't you like about Zone's track record? Speaking as someone who lives in his ward, he's truly one of the most engaged politicians I've ever met...To say he lacks a higher level of vision is an extremely lazy description of him. Cleveland would be 100x better off with Zone or Ronayne leading the city.

 

Many of us are pushing Zone to run and for Adam Rosen to replace him as our councilman. Adam's currently the Economic Development Director at DSDCO and is a very intelligent young man with a bright future in politics ahead of him. Our current leadership sucks, but my faith in the future of this city is high because of rising stars like Kerry McCormack and Adam Rosen.

 

Adam gets it:

 

 

Edited November 21, 20186 yr by Clefan98

21 hours ago, KJP said:

 

Peter Lewis was ready to build his HQ downtown because he was able to work with Voinovich. That came to a crashing halt when Mike White became mayor. Lewis HATED White -- with a passion. I remember being at a meeting with then-Planning Director Hunter Morrison (who was planning director for Voinovich and White) and we were talking about a station project while looking over the Civic Vision 2000 plans. This was probably in 1995, right after White got re-elected the first time. The Progressive HQ was no longer shown on the Civic Vision plans and I naively asked about including a station with a Progressive HQ. Morrison said "That ship has sailed." When I asked why, he said "I could tell you but I don't want to get fired." White felt he could shake down Lewis because he was Sam Miller's godson going back to their days in Glenville. Miller and Lewis were oil and water. Lewis was the billionaire hippie and Miller was tight with gangsters of the old Syndicate whose local members included the Pressers and Rockmans. White, likely at the insistence of Miller, chose whose campaign contributions he would accept. Voinovich would accept anyone's campaign contributions including from the Forest City Millers and Progressive's Lewis. When Voinovich's open door gave way to White's selective door, Lewis went elsewhere because he didn't want to play White's corruption game.

 

No station within a Progressive HQ might have also been part of the Progressive insular mindset.   Also, remember that Progressive is very much part of the automotive business.

 

I've heard stories from the Progressive insider perspective and it should be no surprise that it corresponds exactly with the version above.    Voinovich knew Lewis, knew why he was even considering moving downtown (ego) and flattered that ego.   He didn't try to challenge, even indirectly, the way the company was run.   He was fine with this company building "Fort Progressive"  in the heart of downtown as long as it represented new development and new taxes.   He didn't particularly care if the new complex interacted with its neighbors, at least not at first.   I'm not so sure that was the wrong approach, especially with Lewis.  Indeed, it could be an example of how Voinovich succeeded.   His "urbanism" was a gradualist and nonconfrontational form.  It suited this state and region.

 

White didn't care so much about interaction either but the parking lot owners were a key part of his team and he wasn't going to let them get shut out by Progressive building an integral parking garage on the lower floors.   Lewis saw it as way to increase the height of the tower on a cost effective basis, maintain corporate cohesiveness, and accommodate a concern of those Progressive employees who were leery of moving downtown.  The last was not trivial to him, to his credit.   The issue was key to the cancellation, though perhaps more symbolic of the differences than substantive.

 

 

 

We need a GOP mayor that will break up the corrupt city/county gov't and get the mob out of our business.

37 minutes ago, KJP said:

 

 

Yeah, this is the product of one party rule at all levels of a city government. Absolutely ridiculous - and I normally thing Allard's writing is just whiney for no reason, but this was an excellent piece. 

Good article. As much crap as Allard gets, unjustified IMO, this piece was spot on. The public should demand better than Jackson or the other tired, re-run candidates on the ticket like Johnson and Reed.

One party rule isn't the problem necessarily. There are plenty of heavily Democratic cities out there that have effective local leaders. To people saying we need a GOP mayor, it was the big Republican donors who supported Jackson's 4th term. The more progressive wing of the Democratic party has been very vocal about corruption in general and are not supportive of the mayor. 

1 hour ago, TPH2 said:

One party rule isn't the problem necessarily. There are plenty of heavily Democratic cities out there that have effective local leaders. To people saying we need a GOP mayor, it was the big Republican donors who supported Jackson's 4th term. The more progressive wing of the Democratic party has been very vocal about corruption in general and are not supportive of the mayor. 

 

I wouldn't say progressive as the key term - because our most progressive Council members aren't necessarily our most valuable. McCormick and Zone both have very bright futures and are ultimately assets for the city, but they're not our most progressive members. 

 

I'd say open minded and innovative - ONLY because of the ultra-liberal connotation progressive now carries with it (even if I don't agree with the word's current application lol)

I honestly don’t see a big difference between Republicans and Democrats at the local level. There are some philosophical views that differ, yes. But cities are all about operations, and in practice it doesn’t make much a difference. The problem with one party rule is that the County Democratic Party has all of the power. They rarely support (and often try and curtail) incumbents from being primaried, and this ends up hurting the voters, only left with one option chosen by the County Party.

Can't wait for the Jackson era to be over.  

 

AT&T tells Mayor Frank Jackson that City Hall inaction has stymied millions in investment on 5G network in Cleveland

 

https://www.cleveland.com/cityhall/2019/02/att-tells-mayor-frank-jackson-that-city-hall-inaction-has-stymied-millions-in-investment-on-5g-network-in-cleveland.html

On 1/30/2019 at 4:07 PM, Enginerd said:

I honestly don’t see a big difference between Republicans and Democrats at the local level. There are some philosophical views that differ, yes. But cities are all about operations, and in practice it doesn’t make much a difference. The problem with one party rule is that the County Democratic Party has all of the power. They rarely support (and often try and curtail) incumbents from being primaried, and this ends up hurting the voters, only left with one option chosen by the County Party.

 

This is why I'd like to see Drew Carey come home and run.   He'd do far better than any other Republican, and his already expressed ideas about how local government can be done differently would get a lot of visibility, and not just locally.

I'm not just a smartass here.   From my neighborhood FB group:

 

 

Cleveland Firefighters Want Chief Out for Backing Mayor

https://www.firehouse.com/leadership/news/21091859/cleveland-firefighters-want-chief-out-for-backing-mayor

On 1/30/2019 at 10:03 AM, tklg said:

We need a GOP mayor that will break up the corrupt city/county gov't and get the mob out of our business.

 

Jane Campbell was a more conservative, business-oriented mayor.  Wish she had stayed longer.

39 minutes ago, Foraker said:

 

Jane Campbell was a more conservative, business-oriented mayor.  Wish she had stayed longer.

 

Calamity Jane was the master of symbolic gestures that annoyed more people than they pleased.   The very symbol of her administration was the time she flew the "That School Up North " banner above City Hall.   If I'm not mistaken she also began the push against alcohol at Muni Lot tailgates.    Dumb little things on the face, but they added up and made her look out of touch.   Ironically, she was Trump's opposite in this regard.

 

Jackson was a way better Councilman than he has been a mayor.  

https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/08/20/us/ohio-judge-murder-guilty-plea/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F

 

One of Frank's legacies. 

...

Edited August 21, 20195 yr by Clefan98

18 minutes ago, Clefan98 said:

^ Pretty ignorant statement considering he was a judge for the county. 

 

Uhmmmm...yeah....

 

https://www.cleveland.com/naymik/2017/11/frank_jacksons_hiring_of_forme.html

1 hour ago, Cleburger said:

 

Uhmmmm...yeah....

 

https://www.cleveland.com/naymik/2017/11/frank_jacksons_hiring_of_forme.html

 

Forgot about that one, my apologies, Tbideon.

On 1/30/2019 at 10:03 AM, tklg said:

We need a GOP mayor that will break up the corrupt city/county gov't and get the mob out of our business.

 

Didn't see this post until now. One of the most corrupt mayors was Republican Ralph Perk, who hired Michael Rini at the insistence of the Cleveland Mafia to serve as his fixer/troubleshooter. When detectives got too close to mob operations like at the Mardi Gras Lounge or the Sterling Hotel, Rini had them reassigned to non-investigative assignments. When civic projects were planned, Rini made sure that mob-controlled construction unions got the jobs, increasing construction costs (like the Justice Center, whose price tag doubled). When the Model Cities program was announced, Rini made sure that Mafia-controlled companies got the contracts. When one of those companies, run by Ronald Bey, ran into trouble, Rini ran interference for him even though Bey had one of his employees killed.

 

Oh, maybe I should get mention George Voinovich's sweetheart trash-hauling deal with mobbed-up firms that created such animosity between the firms (owned by guys who are still alive so I won't mention their names here) that they went to war with each other, resulting in deaths, assaults by baseball bat, firebombings of their businesses, cars, lawyers' offices and homes. Voinovich was also helped to his position by Jackie Presser and his father Bill Presser, as well as Teamster Union Officer Carmine Parise who, when Voinovich was later elected governor, tried to appoint as head of the Ohio Turnpike Commission but withdrew when newspapers reported Parise's history in the Mafia as a loanshark. You have to owe some powerful gangsters favors in order to attempt a move like that.

 

But only Democrats are corrupt....right. Knowing someone's political party doesn't determine corruptibility. Judging people one at a time does.

 

^NPR this morning said he had no comment or something like that.  Unless he himself is implicated, as mayor, he has the obligation to say something when this kind of things happen at this house. NPR also said some vehicle was towed off the property as well.

 

More....

 

This story stirred up some Facebook rumors that Jackson no longer actually lives in the city but the suburbs, possibly Orange Village.  The grandkids live at his "official" residence and there's a lot of troublesome activity.

 

As is all so often the case, the victim was a convicted felon as well who served significant time.  Indicating gang involvement by the grandkids.

7 minutes ago, E Rocc said:

This story stirred up some Facebook rumors that Jackson no longer actually lives in the city but the suburbs, possibly Orange Village.  The grandkids live at his "official" residence and there's a lot of troublesome activity.

 

As is all so often the case, the victim was a convicted felon as well who served significant time.  Indicating gang involvement by the grandkids.

And I am hearing that Frank Jackson was born in Kenya and is not a US citizen

2 hours ago, E Rocc said:

This story stirred up some Facebook rumors that Jackson no longer actually lives in the city but the suburbs, possibly Orange Village.  The grandkids live at his "official" residence and there's a lot of troublesome activity.

 

The Facebook rumor mongers, or perhaps the local media (what we have left of it), could fact check this theory easily.   He has a driver and a city car--just sit outside and wait every morning and evening. 

Suspected gang member poses for photo with gun, cash in Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson’s driveway, sources say

Updated Aug 30, 2019; Posted Aug 30, 2019

 

https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2019/08/suspected-gang-member-poses-for-photo-with-gun-cash-in-cleveland-mayor-frank-jacksons-driveway-sources-say.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=clevelanddotcom_sf&fbclid=IwAR0VkzbWLS1gHlKbxaL9OtmdEVjrFD1YiW7lZNMeslbBt4W9UO751g6hRqo&fbclid=IwAR35FlxseuWWa7r2F578ikM9i1lHfbT35lrenADeVrbjiERYqJ9o3H-LT-w

 

Guess they had a change of heart....

 

Arrest warrant issued for Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's grandson following assault charges

Frank Q. Jackson is scheduled to be arraigned September 18.

https://www.wkyc.com/mobile/article/news/local/cuyahoga-county/warrantissuedclevelanmayorfrankjacksongrandson/95-328c78bd-5918-413a-8464-f2c7ebd3b447

 

 

 

6 minutes ago, KJP said:

Guess they had a change of heart....

 

Arrest warrant issued for Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's grandson following assault charges

Frank Q. Jackson is scheduled to be arraigned September 18.

https://www.wkyc.com/mobile/article/news/local/cuyahoga-county/warrantissuedclevelanmayorfrankjacksongrandson/95-328c78bd-5918-413a-8464-f2c7ebd3b447

 

 

 

 

Nope.  Cuyahoga County prosecutor initiated the indictment since the Cleveland city prosecutor did not.  So it remains a bad look, but at least the charge is being pursued at some level.

11 hours ago, Boomerang_Brian said:

 

Nope.  Cuyahoga County prosecutor initiated the indictment since the Cleveland city prosecutor did not.  So it remains a bad look, but at least the charge is being pursued at some level.

 

It is absolutely mind boggling that the Cleveland city prosecutor did not make an arrest or filed to press charges.  There should be an investigation into the handling of it because if it was the prosecution turning a blind eye that heads need to roll.  I don't think anyone wants to live in a city where friends and family of politicians are able to get away with assault because they have the prosecution in their back pocket.  

11 hours ago, Boomerang_Brian said:

 

Nope.  Cuyahoga County prosecutor initiated the indictment since the Cleveland city prosecutor did not.  So it remains a bad look, but at least the charge is being pursued at some level.

 

Normally I'm against the idea of the county prosecutor being elected rather than appointed, but in this case it paid off.

A mother will never see her son again.

 

“He’s the mayor, you know, so a lot of times when people are in high up, when their family member or them do something, it just gets swept under the rug like it’s okay. But it’s not okay,"

 

https://www.wkyc.com/mobile/article/news/investigations/mother-wants-to-know-why-investigation-into-sons-murder-took-detectives-to-mayor-frank-jacksons-house/95-d27c146c-168b-45c2-8c66-a665b4b5e76b

 

Strong move ?? Great optics

 

https://www.wkyc.com/mobile/article/news/investigations/cleveland-safety-committee-chairman-wants-outside-authority-to-oversee-murder-investigation-with-link-to-mayor-frank-jacksons-house/95-edfd7bf9-b19e-48a0-ba5a-d9027662234c

Normal:

 

"Sometime this summer, a 19-year-old suspected gang member with several prior felony convictions posted to social media a photo of himself in the mayor’s driveway with what appears to be a large gun in his pocket. Law enforcement sources previously told cleveland.com that suspected gang members made frequent visits to the home."

 

https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2019/09/cleveland-prosecutor-declined-to-charge-mayor-frank-jacksons-grandson-in-beating-of-woman-witnessed-by-others-records-say.html