County Administrator Jim McCafferty, Human Resources Director Joe Nanni and Justice Affairs Director Gary Holland will be in charge of working out the transition details that were largely left out of the charter proposal that was overwhelmingly approved by voters earlier this month. 
State Senator Nina Turner, a leader in the County reform effort expressed no reservations about Issue 6 advocates being left out of the official transition team.

Turner: The campaign is over, the voters have spoken. Now it is up to all of us whether we backed issue 5 or backed issue 6 to come together and to work together to make sure we restore our county and to provide a better place for folks to live.

Parma Heights Mayor Martin Zanotti agrees. Another key leader in the reform effort, Zanotti says Issue 6 voices expect to be at the table when decisions are made.

Zanotti: We’d like to put a group together to work with the commissioners folks to make sure that a full operational efficiency study is done of county government so that we can design the structure in the best possible way forward.

Zanotti says his unofficial transition group hopes to involve Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and others on both sides of county reform. 

Recent criticism of the port has focused on secrecy surrounding Port CEO Adam Wasserman’s abrupt and unexplained departure. Meeting with reporters today, Board Chairman Steve Williams sought to dispel the perception of secrecy and said the board bears responsibility for Wasserman’s inability to succeed in the position he held for just two years.

WILLIAMS: I think it’s safe to say that there have been mistakes in judgement with respect to board oversight of the CEO. I don’t know if I can be more candid than that. We could have dug deeper.

Williams also outlined what he believes are the current priorities for the port. Topping the list is assisting the Army Corps of Engineers in funding a suitable location to dispose of materials dredged from the port’s shipping channel. That may cost as much as 150 million dollars and might require a tax levy. Also included on the list were recruiting interim and permanent CEOs, fiscal belt tightening that will likely include layoffs, and rehabilitation of the port’s financing capacity. The chairman said he expects the board to approve the priorities next week. 

You get the picture. 

McCafferty says the group will consult with Summit County, and Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County, both of which have made similar transitions.  And, he says, there will be plenty of consultation with community, business and non-profit groups as the new government takes shape.

Rouch: The amount of money that we have available in any given year is someone limited.

That’s Jerry Rouch, an environmental specialist with the Ohio EPA. So, what has the agency done with the extra funding?  Well, it’s retrofitted dozens of busses statewide with pollution control equipment, assisted in retrofitting a bevy of home septic systems, and spent much of the money on water projects. For example, it has stepped up efforts like the rehabilitation of the Baldwin Fairmount Reservoir, where solids, mostly from Lake Erie, are removed from dirty and somewhat smelly water, a first step in cleaning the water. Terry Cybulski, the project’s manager showed me around the plant.

Cybulski: We can go in there, you can smell for yourself.

Ida: I’m good, thanks.

Cybulski: It’s just drinking water and lake water, that’s all it is.

Cyblulski says the water purification facility was built in 1985, so it’s really time for some upgrades, things like new instrumentation, a new computer control system, and architectural revisions and that’s what they are using the stimulus for.

Grant Marion is one of the beneficiaries. It’s estimated that stimulus spending has aided about 200 construction workers like him with these new environmental repair jobs.

Marion: It’s been pretty hard, you know, a couple of guys have been off this summer but we’re getting back rolling right now and things are looking pretty good.

Other examples of how the stimulus money is being used?  Toledo is using 540 thousand dollars for hazardous waste cleanup and akron is using several million to help repair its sewer system but nowhere near the 380-million in repairs the federal epa says akron needs to spend. 

Over at the Southerly Wastewater Treatment plant a much smellier process of cleaning wastewater is taking place.  The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District is pouring about half of their allotted 10 million dollars from the stimulus bill into renovations to help protect the plant from overflowing during floods.  Construction supervisor David Terken says that has been a problem in the past. 

Terken: Changes in flow rate happen very, very quickly, and our equipment just wasn’t up to it. And so we flooded the facility and there was a lot of damage done.

When the waste water overflows past plant capacity, it ends up flowing into the Erie Canal which is alongside the treatment plant.  That overflow, in turn, gets back into the water system, eventually becoming drinking water. The obvious risk is contamination.

So, from the EPA’s vantage point these stimulus funded projects are necessary.  Again, Jerry Rouch of the Ohio EPA.

Rouch: The benefit is primarily to protect the streams and lakes and rivers in Ohio that the wastewater treatment plants discharge to. And for drinking water projects the main benefit is in providing safe drinking water.

Plus, Rouch says the new machinery being put in place, paid for largely by the stimulus bill, is more efficient and that may save taxpayers money down the road. 

Port Authority officials say federal funding they hoped would finance a move to a yet-to-be constructed site near East 55th Street has not panned out.  Now they’ll turn their efforts toward asking state and local government entities to sponsor the move, or possibly even taxpayers.  Board Chairman Steve Williams projects the new plan will delay construction of a new dike for about two years.

Williams:  “It’s a delay.  It doesn’t necessarily mean that the relocation won’t happen, but clearly in today’s meetings the discussion centered around what the risks that are associated with this option.”

Those risks include not securing funding in time to construct the dike at E. 55th. before space for dredge material from the Cuyahoga River and Cleveland Harbor runs out - also in about two years. 

Williams says the Board is committed to moving port operations to E. 55th Street, and he downplays concerns about a projected timeline of more than 20 years, saying it could start much sooner. 

Williams:  “Should things go well, and we’re able to work through this delay issue here, I think it’s reasonable to think that we have good chance where in the next seven years we could actually start looking at some opportunity to relocate some port operations.”

In other board business, a transition committee has been formed to conduct a search for a new Port Director after its previous director, Adam Wasserman, abruptly stepped down last week. 

Litt:  “The last time the community had a complete presentation from MMPI on the values of this mall location for their project was in March, and we’ve had a complete blackout since then.  No drawings, no images, no plans… nothing.”

Back in March, MMPI had signaled that all was well with the current convention center, and that ground would probably be broken in early 2010.  Now, MMPI says Public Hall’s electrical, plumbing and other infrastructure are sorely inadequate, and repairing and replacing it would put the project some 60 million dollars over budget. 
In addition, the developer hit roadblocks in purchasing two key properties to complete the original plan.  the solution, mmpi says, is to abandon Public Hall public hall and relocate the med mart to a new site - what is now mall C, the area between City Hall and the County Courthouse.  Litt is perplexed at this latest revelation. 

LITT:  “They come to us and say sorry, we want to sever your public auditorium and cast it adrift.  And we’re not even talking about the west side of the mall anymore, we want to put the medical mart on the north end.  Now, that idea shouldn’t be rejected out of hand, it needs to looked at seriously.  But they’ve got some explaining to do - the many, many complex, physical planning issues, special issues, structural issues.”

Councilman Joe Cimperman is equally upset about the change in plans.  He, and many others in city government, had thought the convention center and Public Hall had been signed off on by MMPI as usable and a good fit for incorporation into the project. 

Cimperman:  “You know, in March they scrubbed the building, plumbing was fine, electrical was fine, we can do this, we won’t need to impact the mall… everything was fine.  And then all of the sudden, days after this last election, the whole project has shifted.”

Later Tuesday, at a specially convened city council meeting, MMPI executives gave a detailed accounting of what they found wrong with Public Hall, and outlined their revised plan to build on what will be called Mall D.  Complain as they might about the changes, Council members, including Council president Martin Sweeney, said...in effect...that they aren’t holding a lot of cards.  Sweeney said to dump the project at this late stage was not on the table. 

Sweeney:  “This council stands committed to the project.  We want to make sure it moves forward because we all believe it’s in the best interest of the city.  We’re open to the newest revelation.” . 

Councilman Cimperman repeated his previous concerns to MMPI Vice President Mark falanga.  . 

Cimperman:  “How will we not have the same situation in March that we have in November and you come back in March and say Mall D2 doesn’t work.”

Falanga:  “A lot of this work has been done now on this site.  We’ve vetted this site through our feasibility study, and from what we know today, we could build this.”

That last phrase - from what we know today - leaves mmpi some wiggle room if they do want to change the plan again later.  Falanga assured the council though that mmpi is - quote - “100 percent committed” to the convention center project and promised to come back to cleveland for public hearings on their progress.

What’s the three term mayor done wrong?

CRAIG BEVAN: “He’s closed 3 fire stations and asked for $42 thousand dollars more for mulch; and how many people give a rip about mulch, when their stations are closing?”

That’s retired Elyria Firefighter Craig Bevan.  His group - “Stand Up Elyria”, gathered nearly 24-hundred signatures to force a December recall vote, contending THAT Grace has gutted public safety services - and mismanaged administrative costs.

Grace has laid off more than 50 city workers this year, and increased utility fees to offset a budget shortfall.

Among the mayor’s defenders are city council president Ken Burkhard.

KEN BURKHARD: “It’s a sad day for the city that we’re going to spend in the neighborhood of $50 thousand dollars to do a job that the electorate has already done.”

But now, with petition signatures verified, city council has little choice.  They meet Wednesday night, and will likely select December 22nd as the day Elyrians vote yea or nay on Bill Grace’s future.

Akron and Euclid have also heldspecial recall elections in in recent years. 
The incumbents kept their jobs though. Craig Bevan says the situation is different in Elyria.

BEVAN: “People were very upset with the mayor… we had no problem getting signatures. Everybody kinda had a story - and I believe this is gonna happen.”

If a recall is successful, city safety services director Chris Eichenlaub would become interim mayor, until the next election.

Rick Jackson, 90.3.

All collectors are eleigible for buyouts - 35 thousand dollars for full timers, and five, ten or fifteen thousand for part-timers depending on how long they’ve been employed.  Distel hopes to reduce the workforce by the equivalent of thirty to forty full time collectors.

Distel:  “Our intentions are obvious.  We do not want to have any layoffs, so we are trying to come up with a way to reduce our toll collector workforce without creating any unemployment.”

Toll collectors make more than 20 dollars and hour - which for a full time employee is about 70 thousand dollars a year when combined with benefits.  They’re represented by the Teamsters Union.  Their current contract expires in January of 2011. 

Environment Ohio’s Amanda Moore notes that the poor economy has pushed energy use down in the last year, and emissions along with it, but both are sure to rise again as the recession wanes. 

So what we really need to do is shift our electrical generation from these dirty sources of energy to clean renewable sources of energy, so that as our demand for electricity goes back up, we are turning on wind turbines and solar panels instead of new dirty power plants.

Moore’s group is urging passage of the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, a democratic bill under consideration in the U.S. Senate that would reduce the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and includes the provision commonly known as cap and trade.  Environment Ohio says the bill will also eventually create thousands of clean energy manufacturing jobs in the state. 

Conservatives in Congress, including Republican Senator George Voinovich, are, as you might expect, not in favor of the measure.  Here’s Voinovich speaking at a committee hearing at the Capitol last month.

Voinovich:  “There’s no credible analysis that suggests that this bill will be a net job creator.  In fact, this legislation contains a form of unemployment insurance for those who will lose their jobs because of its implementation.  Ohio has already lost enough jobs, and some of it is because we have switched from coal to natural gas.”

Democratic senator Sherrod Brown is also critical of the bill.  He’s all for creating green manufacturing jobs in Ohio, but he wants provisions that will help companies be more competitive - including financial incentives to meet new environmental standards, and make the transition to making renewable energy products like wind turbines and solar panels. 

Brown:  “I want to do climate change legislation.  I know it can create jobs that can contribute to Ohio becoming the silicon valley of alternative energy, but we need some of these changes in the bill.”

A climate change bill has already passed the House.  Brown says it will likely be weeks before the Senate measure comes to a full vote - probably after the United Nations’ December Climate Change conference in Copenhagen . 

The state health department has ordered 1.4 million doses since the vaccine became available in early October.  The department’s Kristpher Weiss says the most recent order of 435 thousand doses is just now being distributed to counties based on population size.

Weiss:  “The last several weeks we’ve been ordering exclusively for local health departments and hospitals because the supply has been limited, and we hope to be able to expand that as more vaccine becomes available and as providers are able to reach the high risk patients that they serve.”

Those high risk groups include women, children and young adults 6 months through 24 years old, and caregivers for children younger than 6 months of age.  Also health care professionals and chronically ill adults.

Cuyahoga County is offering 5000 doses in each of three locations this weekend.  Most counties have vaccine information available on their web sites or through swine flu hotlines.

Councilman Mike Polensic says he voted for the Med Mart project ‘because’ it included restoration of the auditorium, and called the change a “bait-and-switch” tactic.

County commissioner Tim Hagan says no one was mislead—a change is necessary, he says, because some of the cost estimates turned out to be way off.

TIM HAGAN: “There should be an effort of saying ‘How do we get this done?”, not OK, you know, there was bait and switch. There was no bait-and-switch with respect to this. The public hall needs $80,000,000, which is beyond the budget of what we budgeted to make this project work.”

The original plan suggested only $32 million would be needed for the renovation.

Hagan suggests that the city and county don’t really hold a lot of cards in its dealings with MMPI.

HAGAN: “We can’t force the medical mart to do anything. They can pick up and go home. We’re not dealing on the basis of saying, “Alright; for X, you’ll do Y”. There’s nobody else knocking the door down to come here.”

If there are further delays in finalizing this deal, Hagan warns that other cities with med mart plans of their own could make the Cleveland project a moot point.

BRAY:  They told her there was no use of doing it because she was grown and she would come home when she’s ready.

Bray says its really hard for her to understand why the police didn’t do more and why Sowell’s immediate neighbors didn’t notice all these women going into his house and never coming out.

It’s stories like these that keep Lawrence Boone up at night.  He’s pastor of a church in the neighborhood.

BOONE:  I do feel a bit of remorse.  What could I have done; what could we have done to save some lives.

In a way Pastor Boone’s introspection is a bit odd given that for the last ten years his Covenant Community Church hosted monthly meetings between the community and the 4th District Police to try and air out fears and concerns about crime.  Unfortunately, says Boone, not a lot of people attended.

Ronnie Dunn, an Urban Studies professor at Cleveland State, says long-standing mistrust of the police by African-Americans is one of several social conditions that made this area ripe for a serial killer to operate in.

DUNN:  36% percent of the residents of that neighborhood are home-owners; 64% are renters.  So there’s a high mobility rate and transience in that neighborhood.  Those long-term residents are elderly; they go in their homes and stay to themselves for fear of retaliation and that is how Anthony Sowell was able to commit these crimes in the prolific manner he did. 

Another factor, Dunn says, that’s causing a lot of second-guessing is that the area right around Sowell’s home was known to be saturated with drug dealings.  Several of the women Sowell allegedly preyed on had drug addictions.  So, Sound of Ideas host Dan Moulthrop asked Blaine Griffin, Cleveland’s Director of Community Relations, why the drug dealing wasn’t more aggressively pursued.

GRIFFIN: It’s the community’s responsibility to make sure they keep government in check and that government is accountable for what goes on and that’s the kind of support that we ought to have.
MOULTHROP:  Ok.  Let me ask you this though.  If you have a comunity where you know the culture of that comunity can no longer take care of itself, at what point is it the government’s responsibility, the police responsibility to go in there and change the dynamics?
GRIFFIN:  The police department will always respond to those types of situations but whenever something goes on on our street the families are out there and visable, and if we have to call the police and deal with them, they respond and the reason is they know in our neighborhood we’re not having it.
MOULTHROP:  Are you saying if there’s a no snitching culture in a neighborhood then it’s there own fault if there’s drugs and criminal behavior there?
GRIFFIN:  I did not say that.  What I said is there has to be more street clubs, more cooperation between the citizens, more people attending our police com relations committee. 

Griffin promised again that all the police department actions and procedures will be reviewed in the course of the investigation and that there’s little doubt “we could have done more.” He also pointed out that this part of Cleveland is a “weed and seed area” where federal grants are specifically targeted at weeding out crime and funding social service programs to help prevent crime and the conditions that cause it.  David Molpus, 90.3

ADA AVERYHART: And that bothers me.

Longtime resident Ada Averyhart says it’s just one of a number of longstanding disconnects between the community and city government.  She maintains there’s a distinct impression of indifference to neighborhood needs --- in everything from policing to housing inspections.  She sees that symbolized by the presence of an abandoned elementary school that takes up an entire block, just a few houses down from here --- a potential magnet for criminal activity.

ADA AVERYHART: That should not just be standing there. This wouldn’t happen in Beachwood or west side Lakewood.

Looking to spur more action from City Hall to some community concerns, a small group of protestors staged a demonstration downtown, yesterday afternoon.  Kathy Wray Coleman said it’s going to take more than candlelight vigils to ease the anger.

KATHY WRAY COLEMAN: We’re calling on Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson and City Council to adopt ordinances that address what’s going on in terms of missing persons.  We want an ordinance where they respond within a certain time, we want education and training for the police force to be more sensitive to these issues.

Area social service agencies have sprung into action to deal with other tensions and fears that may be bubbling below the surface.  At a community meeting at the Mt. Pleasant Library last night, the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center announced that a fulltime counselor will be stationed at the nearby Murtis Taylor Social Center to help area residents directly or indirectly impacted by the Anthony Sowell case.  In addition, a Shaker Heights-based family counseling group is setting up shop tomorrow in a Mt. Pleasant church. 

Cosgrove:  “I do not see anything in this that will keep the total cost for health care - not necessarily the government’s bill for health care, but the total bill for the country for health care, I don’t see anything in this that’s going to keep that from escalating.”

That’s in line with what some health care analysts, as well as some members of Congress, are saying as the full Senate prepares to take up the debate.  Also Denis Cortise, Cosgrove’s counterpart at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, which - along with Cleveland Clinic - has been cited by the Obama administration as a pioneer in setting new efficiency standards.  Both men call for a widespread shift away from the predominant fee-for-service system to a more outcomes-based approach as the best way to contain costs.  Cortise has said the House and Senate bills take only baby steps in that direction, and Cosgrove agrees. 

Cosgrove:  “I think that costs are going to keep going up, and in order to deal with it they’ll have to come back with more legislation, and have to identify and address some of the things that are driving costs.  And I think it’s going to be multiple.”

Cosgrove said he believes whatever system evolves will be uniquely American.  He doesn’t think Americans would stand for a system such as Britain’s or Canada’s, where patients have to wait for certain tests and treatments.

Bill Rice, 90.3. 

University Circle is considered one of the city’s jewels, but immediately surrounding areas are mired in poverty.  Chris Ronayne, Executive Director of the nonprofit University Circle Inc., which secured the grant, says doing something that will help those communities is a primary goal. 

Cleveland needs this.  It’s always great when 20 million dollars in new money comes back to your town and we’re going to use it to support what we’re doing here in building what we hope is one of the great eds/meds arts and cultural markets, but with it, it’s intended to help employ those in and around the area with permanent supportive jobs. 

Ronayne’s group plans to apply much of the grant to two specific development projects.  One is a new hotel on Euclid Avenue adjacent to the case Western Reserve University campus.  The other is a mixed use complex on Mayfield Rd. between Euclid Avenue and Little Italy, which will also be the site of a new RTA rapid station.  Other projects are still being developed. 

University Circle was one of 90 applicants awarded the grants nationwide.  The City of Cleveland also applied, but was turned down. 

The investigation will include whether the little-used Norfolk Southern freight line could be utilized; if electric rail cars or diesel would be a better power source for trains; how far west the line should run; and whether busses might make more sense than rail lines.

Ken Prendergast is Executive Director of All Aboard Ohio… the rail advocacy group. 
He says a new rail option would be beneficial to several counties.

KEN PRENDERGAST:
“It represents a simultaneous investment in both Cuyahoga and Lorain, as well as Erie county. We’ve seen that in other cities that have also made these kinds of investment and have learned a lot of the things that I think we’re gonna learn is that this is gonna benefit the downtown, the inner ring suburbs, as well as the outer suburbs.”

The analysis is expected to take about eight months, and if the line is eventually built, the Federal Transit Administration would likely pay for much of the construction. The rest would come from state, local, and private investments.

JACKSON: I know that everyone in here can identify with the family and victims. That all of us in our families, all of us including me, have someone who could have been there.

Jackson said the community must stay focused, and save questions about whether the police did enough for when the investigation is over.

Police Chief Michael McGrath urged families with missing persons to come forward, especially if they fit the profile of African American women between the ages of 21 and 60. And, he said police, government, clergy, and the public need to work together to stop this kind of tragedy from happening again. 

McGRATH: Across this nation, there’s an attitude out there that we have to adjust, and the only way we’re going to do that is to do it together.

Council President Martin Sweeney told assembled Third Ward residents that they should not feel singled out that the murders happened in their area.

MARTIN SWEENEY: “This is so senseless; it is disturbing. This could have happened on any street in the City of Cleveland, and we are all standing with you as a council, as a community. And we have to talk about right now… the healing, the mourning.”

Other members spoke, but then as they tried to take questions from reporters, the group was shouted at by angry residents, who accused the city of ignoring the victims because of their backgrounds. As councilman Kenneth Johnson tried speaking, another resident began demanding to know why Mayor Frank Jackson was not at the scene.

BYSTANDER: “It’s a concern in the community, and I understand that he don’t do it, but at this time - it’s not about politics, it’s about making your presence, to let the people of this city know that you can care.”

Sweeney and Johnson answered just a few of the protests before leaving the podium - and a neighborhood that is growing increasingly angry over the deaths of 11 women.

ED TOMBA: In 24 years in law enforcement, we’ve never seen anything like it.

Officials have now identified one of the 11 victims --- 53-year-old Tonia Carmichael, who has been missing for about a year.  After police informed the Carmichael family, Cuyahoga County Coroner Frank Miller provided some of the first forensic details of her murder and that of the others.

FRANK MILLER: They are all African American women. 7 died of ligature strangulation. 1 - Manual strangulation. 2- undetermined / 1- ongoing autopsy. A case of strangulation or homicidal violence.

Miller says some of these crimes may date back as far as 2005, the year when Anthony Sowell returned to his home neighborhood after serving a 15-year sentence for rape. Sowell’s neighbors stood across the street from his white duplex, watching TV crews from around the world setting up cameras and satellite dishes.  Darnissa Wiley says, until recent weeks, there was no reason to suspect what was going on in the house.

DARNISSA WILEY: He had a block party in the summertime. He barbequed for the whole neighborhood. People were going in his house, in his backyard, and no one knew that kind of behavior was going on.

Despite the fact that the a strong stench hung in the air, she never tied it to the house or suspected it was decomposing bodies. Some neighbors blamed it on a nearby sausage factory. Charles Sharp says he figured it was a dead dog that had been hit by a car.  He went downtown to City Hall to complain, but says nothing ever came from it.

CHARLES SHARP: When you smell that odor in the neighborhood and you don’t get nobody’s attention on it, what can you do?

That report to authorities is one of several that remain unexplained. Did officials investigate? When? If not, why not?  Some residents have complained that they had no idea that Sowell was a registered sexual predator and that police were slow to investigate reports of missing women in the neighborhood. That’s understandable, according to Dr. David Licate who directs the Criminal Justice Program at the University of Akron, He says the sheer number of registered predators living in the mainstream population is hard to keep tabs on.

DAVID LICATE: It takes a lot of human resources to do that. Obviously today budgets are not in the favor of law enforcement or any other business enterprise in terms of hiring.

The sheriff’s office handled Sowell’s probation check-ups but whether the Cleveland police were aware that he was a convicted sex offender or when they knew is still unclear.  Ada Averyhart, who lives a couple of blocks from the crime scene says city officials bear part of the blame for being slow to react to the recent events in her neighborhood, but she also worries about a culture of silence that pervades these streets.

ADA AVERYHART: Once upon a time this was a viable neighborhood. Everybody got along. But now, everybody’s going their own way. They just don’t talk anymore.  Whatever happens, happens.

Local councilman Zack Reed has organized a gathering of area ministers this morning at 10:00 for what’s billed as a community meeting to pray for healing and to seek justice.  Reed is also calling for public hearings to get answers to the many unanswered questions about this tragedy. 

Judy Rawson is an Issue 6 co-chair.

RAWSON: The immediate first step is to work with a broad group to articulate standards that we want, both for the behavior of our leaders, the focus of our government, and standards of a government in which we can be proud.

Members of Issue 5, which failed, are already offering to become a part of that broad group working on the new government.  Issue 5 was the competing reform plan that would have created a panel to study reform for another year. It got only 28% of the vote. Issue 5 supporter Ron Johnson says he agrees that it’s time to think about what kind of leaders the county needs, and he wants to be part of that process.

JOHNSON: Now is the time to not focus so much on differences, but now is the time to come together so we can make as smooth an implementation as possible.

Candidates will have a while to get ready. There will be a primary election for county office next September, with the finalists making it to the November ballot. The final winners will take office in January 2011. 

Issue 6 even got 60% of the vote in the city of Cleveland, despite fears among many black leaders that reform would hurt their communities and political influence. 

There have been reform efforts since the early 1900s, but none has succeeded until now. Supporters and critics both think the ongoing corruption investigation and the sluggish economy spurred interest in reform.

Judy Rawson is an Issue 6 co-chair.

RAWSON: I think the corruption probe clearly made people pay attention more. It also made clear that none of us had any idea what was going on behind closed doors in the county. And I think people wanted transparency as well as reform.

Backers of Issue 6 promise the new government will be more efficient, accountable, and will focus on economic development.

Issue 5 supporters Harriet Applegate and Ron Johnson say now is the time to come together. And, they’re starting the post-mortems on their own campaign.

REPORTER: Are you second guessing not having a more formal list of criteria for your side?

APPLEGATE AND JOHNSON: Interesting thought. Yeah, it is interesting.

Both Applegate and Johnson have offered to help in the transition to the new government. 

Patmon, a former city councilman, criticized Jackson for falling performance in the public schools, and for not retaining more jobs in the city.  He also said Jackson lacked vision and innovation. 

DAVID:  Well, they are both pointing to the same reason for the outcome - the federal investigation of what appears to be a long-standing system of corruption in county government.  Parma Heights Mayor Martin Zanotti says the corruption probe which has resulted in nearly 20 guilty pleas so far “made people pay more attention to county government.” Zanotti, a Democrat, helped draft Issue 6 along with Democratic County Prosecutor Bill Mason and Bruce Akers, the Republican Mayor of Pepper Pike. 

Harriet Applegate, the top AFL-CIO leader in the region who opposed reform now also said corruption is what gave reform political legs this time out when similar efforts had failed so many times before.

ERIC:  What does this mean for the Democratic Party which has dominated politics in this county for many decades?

DAVID:  It means they’ve got some talkin’ to do.  Right now it is a divided party and many of the most powerful Democrats as it turns out were lined up on the losing side of county reform - Mayor Frank Jackson, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, former Congressman Lou Stokes among others—all opposed Issue 6.  So, it’ll be interesting to see how they adjust and whether this internal party struggle continues or is somehow healed. 

In any case, the county is in for a lot of change.  Issue 6 backers promised that restructuring county government would produce a more efficient, effective, accountable and honest government.  They’ve got a lot to live up.

Opponents of Issue three had argued gambling would not create the jobs Gilbert promised, would spur prostitution and other criminal activity, and lead more Ohioans down a path of destructive gambling. 

Gilbert said his and other investors’ next step is to draw up plans and secure financing.  The ballot measure calls for the creation of a state gaming board within six months, and barring any unforeseen delays the hope is to break ground on the facilities by the second half of 2010. 

There’s little doubt what gave the reform effort political legs this time ‘round.  As County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones told the Plain Dealer last night, “the public was absolutely disgusted and sickened by what it saw in public corruption” and “whatever flaws Issue 6 has must have seemed insignificant by comparison.” Jones had supported Issue 5 which was rejected by 72 percent of the voters.

Some claimed the police and city housing inspectors didn’t follow-up on leads.

VOICE ONE: The inspectors need to come in and inspect every single solitary vacant house --- starting with this area, starting in this ward.  Hold them accountable. 

Others cast blame on community members who didn’t report the suspicious activities of Anthony Sowell, who is being held on suspicion that he kidnapped, raped and strangled the victims.

VOICE TWO: If we as black men was standing in the gap, like we’re supposed to be, this would have not happened.  There ain’t no where in the world that you’re going to get some vagrant…some bum…walk up and down your street and terrorize your community. 

Vigil organizer Judy Martin said there was plenty of blame to go around.

JUDY MARTIN: We need everybody’s eyes and ears.  Something like this is happening in plain sight.

After Martin lost her son to street violence 15 years ago, she started the organization Survivors/Victims of Tragedy.  She said one of the biggest frustrations for families is the difficulty of getting and giving information.  One solution, she suggested, would be to have a county-wide bureau that tracks missing people.

JUDY MARTIN: Because, as it is now, individual precincts handle missing persons cases.  If I was to get information today, who would I call?  And who will act on it?  You have to call all around to find out who has the case.  We need a centralized location.

Over the course of last night’s vigil, Shannon Mason watched as family members vented their anger over the disappearance of his mother, Michelle, from the neighborhood over a year ago.  Now, pending the coroner’s report, maybe there will be some answers.  Some closure.  He was having a hard time processing it all.

SHANNON MASON: I’m mad about it…and then, I’m deeply troubled about it.  I just want to know what happened to my mother --- that’s all I know for sure.

{Out of about 202 thousand mail-in ballots requested for this election, about 160 thousand have been returned - that’s about 79 percent.  Last November’s rate of return was higher, about 90 percent.  But Board of Elections Director Jane Platten expects considerably more ballots to come in tomorrow. 

As for total turnout, off-year elections produce varied results depending on the nature of the races.  Platten expects between 30 and 40 percent of registered voters to cast ballots for this election - roughly in line with the 36 percent turnout in 2005, whereas turnout in 2007 was only 19 percent . 

Platten:  “In 2005 there was a very heated mayoral race in the city of Cleveland.  And it was a quieter election in 2007.  Even though we don’t have a very heated Cleveland mayoral race, we do have some very hot issue on this ballot.  Therefore I think the voter turnout is going to spike up a bit.”

Those hot issues include competing proposals to reform county government, and the proposal to allow casino gambling in four Ohio cities. 

Platten says there have been precinct changes that may have resulted in changes in some voting locations.  All registered voters have been notified of any changes in their locations, but are encouraged to visit the Board of Elections web site or call its office if they’re unsure. 

It’s customary for legislatures and the congress to need a 2/3 majority to override a veto, but the requirement is slightly greater in what’s under consideration here.  With an 11-member council, a two-thirds majority would be 7.3.  So the writers of Issue 6 decided to round-up and require 8 votes to over-ride; they could just as easily rounded down and made it only seven. In other words, they could have made it slightly harder for the executive’s will to prevail but instead made it slightly easier. 

Williams:  “If the University at sometime in the future decided that it then wanted to take a DNA sample from a part-time faculty member, it would have another opportunity to do so each time that person is rehired.”

But Williams objects to the policy regardless of employment status.  Unlike fingerprinting for purposes of a background check, he says, DNA sampling presents a whole host of privacy and discrimination possibilities. 

Williams:  “DNA provides a window into somebody’s medical history and their medical future.  It could provide clues into temperament and various mental illnesses, and those could be used on a discriminatory basis.”

The University of Akron declined an interview for this story, but in prepared statement it cites national discussions that indicate future reliance on DNA for criminal identification over fingerprinting, and says the policy would position the school to be on the leading edge of the change.  Meanwhile, it say, the school has not yet, nor has it any immediate plans to ask for DNA from applicants. 

The policy has caught the attention of the American Civil liberties of Ohio.  Spokesman Michael Brickner says the ACLU doesn’t know of ANY employers that ask for DNA submissions for background checks. 

Brickner:  “It’s absolutely unprecedented for any employer to have any kind of policy requiring employees to hand over DNA information for purposes of a background check.  This is a total aberration.”

What’s more, Brickner says, ACLU attornies believe the policy would be deemed illegal under several federal statutes, including the Americans with Disabilities Act and the health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA. 

Dr. Jackson Wright, who heads the Clinical Hypertension Program at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, says the medical school will be one of five U.S. institutions taking a leadership role in what’s called the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial - dubbed SPRINT. 

Several other Health Systems will also participate, including Cleveland Clinic, Metrohealth Medical Center, St. Vincent Charity Hospital, and The Ohio State University Medical Center. 

Wright:  “The fact that Cleveland, Northeast Ohio and Central Ohio has a very diverse population makes this an outstanding location to conduct a study such as SPRINT.”

The study will take place over 9 years, and will involve 75 hundred patients.

Wright says it will measure the benefits of reducing systolic blood pressure against risks posed by increased medication and other factors in treatment of hypertension. 

Bellamy:  “The investor had much lower expectations, understood that a lot of the problems were in its origination, and were looking for a way just to get the thing producing income again.”

But in the case of losing a job, which is happening to a greater degree in suburban households, Bellamy says there are fewer options available to a distressed homeowner. 

Bellamy:  “Now you’re looking at a situation where the loan was well underwritten to a strong borrower, but the money just isn’t there to support the rest of the expenses of the household and the mortgage.”

And so as jobs continue to disappear, Bellamy expects the number of foreclosure cases to continue to rise.  Nationally, experts are predicting that the number of foreclosure filings has not yet peaked.

Bill Rice, 90.3

FRANK JACKSON:
“It is what it is, and it’s pretty good; it’s a balanced budget. It’s no layoffs. Its no reductions in service. It is what it is, is a future for Cleveland. It is what it is - is all these things that make Cleveland great.”

Patmon, the former city councilman, shot back though - saying Cleveland has not seen the resurgence of other cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh—and he blamed poor leadership - and political gamesmanship.

BILL PATMON:
“So this is no game. It is the business of people’s lives. Yes, we are some imperfect people, working in an imperfect world, looking for perfect solutions. I believe the founders of this country did the same thing and that’s what I profess to do as a politician.”

The two candidates did agree on one ingredient necessary for Cleveland’s resurgence - establishing a “green” economy that can provide environmental and economic sustainability.

DAVE SHOUP:  They’re called replacement “gilts” --- a gilt would be a female that’s never had a litter of pigs. 

SOUND: door opens to sounds of pigs UP & UNDER

The dozens of gilts in this barn are just a portion of the 3000 pigs that make up the Shoup family swine operation that covers almost 23 hundred acres in Wayne, Ashland and Stark counties.  Most of the animals here are grouped in pens of 12 and, in a few days, Dave Shoup’s crew will walk a male pig through the barn to try to get the ladies aroused.

DAVE SHOUP: We’re going to take the boar through, and try to detect heat and see who’s receptive that day.  And the ones that we find, we’ll move down here and inseminate them.

What happens to female pigs once they are inseminated is at the core of this major battle between the farm industry and animal welfare advocates.  Most of the Shoup herd will spend their pregnancies roaming in indoor pens with other pigs, but some of them will be put into individualized stalls made from steel pipe that have just enough room for a 300 pound pig to move side to side a bit & back and forth a few feet.  The floor is slatted so that animal waste can fall through.  Dave Shoup says the enclosures protect pregnant females.  But, these so-called “gestation crates” have been condemned by the Humane Society of the United States. 

DAVE SHOUP:  HSUS would probably tell you that this animal is so tightly confined for his entire life and can’t do many things that he normally would do.  But, these animals in these stalls have fresh feed, fresh water, and their waste materials are removed through the concrete slats.  So, they have everything that they need. 

A sow at Shoup’s operation can spend as much as thirty days in the gestation crate; at many other farms though, the sows are confined for as much as three and a half months.  A major lobbying effort by the Humane Society convinced California voters, last November, to ban gestation crates and other tight livestock enclosures.  The group met with Ohio agribusiness officials this past February trying to persuade state farmers to support similar treatment measures here.  Instead, the farmers set out to head-off any Humane Society effort in Ohio.

The farmers fear that would force them to spend millions retrofitting their operations.  They got lawmakers to craft the ballot measure known as Issue 2 --- a constitutional amendment that would create an Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board.  This 13-member committee would regulate the treatment of farm animals… As we drive to another livestock barn, Dave Shoup says he’s not afraid of state scrutiny.

DAVE SHOUP: We know that we’d much rather have it in their hands than some outside organization come in here and just raise the emotions of people who really don’t know what goes on out here.

The Washington-based Humane Society argues that the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board would be stacked with members favorable to agribusiness who would prevent meaningful animal treatment reform.
The Shoup family has farmed this country for more than a century.  The operation has tripled in size over the past decade or so.  Shoup, who is also a veterinarian, suspects some people might consider him a factory farmer.

DAVE SHOUP:  People use “factory farm” as a negative connotation to disrespect our industry, because they want the general public to think that, all you care about is making money.  You don’t care about the animals, you don’t care about the environment, your goal is to put pigs through what ever is needed, in order to kick out more pigs on the other side.  Well, farms don’t survive doing that. If you’re mean to them, if you’re crowding them, then they don’t eat, they don’t come in heat, they don’t breed, they don’t have good litters. 

SOUND: Soft squeal of piglets and the snorts of their mothers

As we step into a birthing barn, it’s apparent that the Shoups have animal husbandry down to a science.  There are rows of what’s known as “farrowing stalls”, where mothers lie on their sides, as suckling newborns get their nutrition under the warmth of a heat lamp.

DAVE SHOUP: Each sow gives birth to anywhere from 11-13 pigs.  We actually induce these sows to farrow at a certain time --- just like you can induce a woman to have a child the next day, we can induce these one afternoon to farrow the next afternoon. 

SOUND: truck door slams…engine starts…

DCB: Most every yard along these rural roads has a “Vote for Issue 2” sign on it. Shoup says that farmers, by their very nature, are independents who don’t like being told what to do.

DAVE SHOUP:  Years ago, the family farm was just kind of left alone; there weren’t many regulations for it.  As long as the product you produced was wholesome, nobody seemed to care.  Now, we’ve got people looking over our shoulders all the time. 

Still, Dave Shoup figures that an Ohio-based animal care standards board would weed out a few bad apples in the state and keep everybody honest.  But, what isn’t clear is: if you build it into the constitution, will there be enough legislative oversight to keep the Standards Board honest? 

Cimperman:  “As always, the devil’s in the details.”

The current plan from the Port Authority itself would move port operations to the lakefront at E. 55th Street, displacing a long-established marina.  The port’s presence there would also impact the upscale Quay 55 apartments that are less than a decade old.  Cimperman says he’s concerned about these and other issues: for instance, he wants the port to get specific about how it plans to save nature preserve at nearby Dike 14, a now-closed repository for dredged material from the Cuyahoga.  Cimperman also finds fault with the timeline the Port Authority has set for the move - more than 20 years, because the land at E. 55th would have to be created with 20 years of river dredgings.  He says redeveloping the downtown lakefront needs to happen a lot sooner than that. 

Cimperman:  “We know what happens when the Rock hall has an event, when the Great Lakes Science Center has and event.  Yes, it’s those attractions that bring people there, but it’s in the perfect spot - it’s right on the water.  The more we can open that land down there, the more I think people are going to realize they can fall in love with their lakefront all over again.”

BR (on tape): “Is 20-25 years too long to wait?”

Cimperman:  “Way too long.  We don’t have that kind of time.”

Earlier this month Hunter Morrison, head of the Center for Urban and Regional Studies at Youngstown State University, called the time line “unacceptable” in an op-ed piece published in the Plain Dealer.  He suggested the Port enter into a regional partnership with ports in Lorain to the west and Ashtabula to the east, both of which currently have an abundance of dock space.  Plain Dealer Columnist Brent Larkin endorsed Morrison’s ideas in last Sunday’s paper.

The articles are creating some buzz over the issue, but Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson isn’t persuaded.  In an interview Monday on 90.3 he suggested the Port Authority’s 20-year plan is adequate, and he’s ready to implement it.

Jackson:  “If these decisions would have been 20 years ago when they shoud have been nade, the we would be living on a new lakefront and this wouldn’t be a question.  The fact that people want to have ideals… that’s nice and I’d like to engage in that, but we have to do things now.”

And while Councilman Cimperman is eager to discuss other possibilities, there is no groundswell of dissatisfaction among council members with the port’s plan - at least not right now.  Several long-simmering projects are now finally getting underway, and in today’s economy, some say, that’s impressive enough. 

Bill Rice, 90.3

FELICIANO: They did not want in any way to participate in this process because of the dissing they had gotten.

Lawyer Jose Feliciano chairs the Hispanic Roundtable. He says representatives from both issues got the message and started separate apologetic efforts to win the group over. In the end, it worked, and the Hispanic Roundtable opted to throw its weight behind New Cuyahoga Now. That’s the group proposing Issue 6, a charter that would immediately replace the current county government structure with an elected executive and council. 

FELICIANO:  I know that they are trying to do the right thing. This, to be sure, is not a perfect document. The constitution of the United States was not a perfect document and is not a perfect document. I do not think this new Cuyahoga plan will stay as it is, and that’s a good thing. But at this point of time, today, it clearly is the better choice.

Feliciano is also optimistic that Hispanics could win a county council seat on the West Side of Cleveland if 6 passes.  Currently, they hold no county offices.  But, like the black community, Hispanics are not all of one mind on the issue.  Latino activist Hugo Urizar threw his support behind Issue 5—that’s the group that wants to study reform another year before acting. Urizar argues that the county executive would have too much power under Issue 6.

The project started earlier this month and employs 200 construction workers. It’ll be finished in the middle of next year. Biden says this Ohio project and other’s funded by federal stimulus dollars have saved and created thousands of jobs. But Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine says the stimulus money is not helping the struggling economy. He says 115-thousand Ohioans have lost jobs since Biden and President Obama took office. Biden also spent time in Cleveland raising money for Tuscarawas County Congressman Zack Space and Congressman John Bocccieri of Stark County. Earlier in the day, he was in Columbus, raising money for Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy. 

SENATOR GEORGE VOINOVICH:
“I cannot believe what I see. I mean, it is just --- In fact, there is so much of it that people have become numb - as a result of it.”

In an interview with 90.3, the one-time Cuyahoga County Commissioner and now U.S. Senator, said he’s already cast his vote for Issue 6, which would create a new government structure in the County.  And he said he fears for the future of the County should Issue Six be rejected.
SENATOR VOINOVICH:
“If this thing loses, you are gonna see a lot of these businesses just slowly leave. Quietly. Goodbye. They won’t say anything. They’ll just slide outta here.”

In a wide ranging hour-long talk to be aired tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, Voinovich also revealed that he won’t decide how he’ll vote on the national health care overhaul, until he sees the final bill.  So far, no Republicans except Maine Senator Olympia Snowe have indicated they’ll consider supporting a Democratic bill. 

Voinovich steps down from the Senate next year, but says he still has much to accomplish between now, and that time.

Rick Jackson, 90.3.

PATMON:  “A lot of things don’t happen in Cleveland because there is no political will to make them happen and I for one believe that if you’re a good mayor, a very political mayor on the national stage, on the state stage, a lot of these things would happen because governors need the Mayor of the city of Cleveland to get elected, senators need the mayor of the city of Cleveland to get elected and the president needs the mayor of the city of Cleveland to get elected.”

Jackson, ever unflappable about his style of leadership, nonetheless takes his opponent seriously.  during the call-in show he pointed to a record of accomplishment amidst struggle on the economic and employment fronts. 

JACKSON:  “I can point to companies that have moved into Cleveland, particularly downtown Cleveland, they’re not huge companies, but they are companies in the professional area.  I can point to the decision on the Medical Mart and the convention center that will create jobs.”

The Medical Mart and Convention Center are still mired in the planning and land acquisition process, but Jackson has pledged to sell the old convention center to the county to become the site for the new building. More immediate problems loom. Whoever wins next month’s election will have to find a way to close a big budget deficit.  Patmon accused Mayor Jackson of using smoke and mirrors to deal with prior budget shortfalls. 

PATMON:  “The evidence of it is that we’re projecting a 50....and these are his projections...a 50 million dollar deficit for the 2010 budget.”

Jackson was able to balance a more-than half billion dollar budget for 2009 with no layoffs or service cuts. And he expects to do the same next year: 

JACKSON:  “We are building up a carryover balance and we will be okay for this year, we’re looking at next year and looking at ways to increase our carryover balance.  We’ll reduce the expenditure side of that 50 million and also raise some dollars that will allow us to fill the gap.”

Patmon also criticized the mayor for not rooting out wrongdoing in the city’s Building and Housing department where six employees were recently indicted for accepting bribes.  Jackson replied his administration has fully cooperated with the FBI investigation that brought the charges, adding that his administration won’t tolerate illegal behavior. 

“In Ohio it went from seven percent of kids in afterschool programs to twelve percent.”

Ohio is one of six states “on the move” in getting kids into after school programs, Grant says.  But there are still many kids that are going unsupervised after school - 30 percent,, or more than 600 thousand, according to the survey, up from 28 percent five years ago.  Grant says a lot of that is because of the economy. 

Grant:  “We think other types of arrangements are falling through, So where kids might have been in supervised clubs or with a nanny or an oper or in a different type of child care arrangement, those have fallen through.  So as a result we’re seeing more kids taking care of themselves.”

Most of those are middle and high school students, although a small number are younger.  There are also more kids being cared for after school by older siblings rather than adults. 

Nationwide, more than fifteen million children go unsupervised from 3-6 pm on school days. 

APPLEGATE: The big business Republican proposal creates an overly-powerful CEO, making the county more susceptible to corruption.

Big business, Republicans, and more corruption: three red flags in this heavily-Democratic county reeling from an ongoing FBI probe. Only problem is that leading defenders of Issue 6 don’t fit that bill.  Democratic State Senator Nina Turner doesn’t and neither does Parma Heights Mayor Martin Zanotti, who answered Applegate this way at a Cleveland State debate.

ZANOTTI: As a Democrat and a small business owner, I’m very pleased to be here with my fellow Democrat representing the Big Business Republican Plan.

Republicans were barely represented in the group that drew up the reform plan to switch to an elected county executive.  Most involved were Democrats or independents.

True: the Cuyahoga County GOP has endorsed Issue 6, but they are under no illusions about it leading to a power grab. The county hasn’t elected a Republican commissioner since 1992.

Democrats win county and statewide elections here by huge margins.  In 2006, for instance, Senator Sherrod Brown and Governor Ted Strickland got more than twice as many votes in Cuyahoga County as their Republican challengers. 

Political consultants say the GOP would have some shot at 2 or 3 seats on the proposed 11-member county council, but no more.

So, this is really a fight about which Democrats will control Cuyahoga County. It pits more independent minded Dems like Zanotti, Turner and prosecutor Bill Mason against some of the biggest guns in the party establishment:  Cleveland’s mayor, Congresspeople Dennis Kucinich and Marcia Fudge, and all of the current county commissioners.

Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones and the others support Issue 5 – which calls for a year of study by an elected group before any changes are put to the voters.  …but he does agree with Issue 6 supporters on one point.

JONES: Both sides favor reform. We know that we’re all works in progress, under construction, and we’re endeavoring to get and be better.

Jones’s side raises some serious concerns regarding Issue 6.  They worry that the county executive would be too powerful, and that this form of government would lead to an over-emphasis on economic development at the expense of maintaining health and human services.  And Jones says his side is being sincere when they say reform is needed, just later. 

JONES: They have pledged, number one, to adhere to their constitutional requirement that they draft a charter. They have also pledged that over the next year they’ll host, throughout the county, public hearings where they can receive input from all the stakeholders. They have also pledged that the charter they produce will represent real reform.

But one reform veteran doesn’t buy it. Kathleen Barber chaired a committee in the mid-90s –dominated by Democrats—that proposed a county executive form of government…not dissimilar from the proposal contained in Issue 6 this year.  However, the county commissioners at the time put the proposal on the shelf where it has sat ever since.  Today, Barber is backing Issue 6 and says the Issue 5 crowd is being disingenuous. 

BARBER: I think they’re against reform because what Issue 5 does is stretch it out for ever and ever and people will lose interest. If they ever had any, they’ll lose interest. It will just take too long. I mean, people don’t stay focused on a ballot issue for a year.

Many voters do seem to be interested in the issue right now.  That’s due in no small part to the racially-charged underpinnings of this debate.  More on race and county reform tomorrow. 

FORBES: It was perceived as being basically anti-black. As the city began to progress, they wanted to spread the form of government on a county-wide basis where the people, the residents of the county could have more control over what happens in the county.  So we knew that, we view that, and it hasn’t changed today.

Forbes and other black leaders say the idea of a powerful county executive running things is a proposal for elites that puts the interests of big businesses over the needs of workers and the poor. And, one more thing. These opponents of Issue 6 say they weren’t consulted early enough or fully enough by those pushing reform now.

TURNER: People of color were there. I was one. I think I qualify under that. We were there.

That’s State Senator Nina Turner at a recent Cleveland State debate. 

If she sounds a little defensive it’s because Turner now finds herself at the center of a fierce maelstrom.  Other black leaders have come after her with fury; she had been seen as a rising star in the Democratic party before she came out in support of Issue 6. Now powerful blacks in the party say they will try to unseat her in the next election.  This was George Forbes’s reaction when he heard Nina Turner was backing Issue 6.

FORBES: I was absolutely surprised. I was shocked. I knew that she did not know the history of this and if she knew it, she was swayed by the white, rich power structure, whatever you want to call it.

Turner says Issue 6 would actually help the black community; create more jobs and provide better services. 

TURNER: I think what some of the proponents of Issue 5 are doing is fear-mongering. Because when you bring up race and class, that’s very personal. And, so, people are now fearful because the truth is not being told. African Americans were asked to come and be a part of the crafting of the charter. Again, some of us decided to come to the table, some of us decided not to. But we can’t blame anyone for our lack of attentiveness to this issue.

Senator Turner is also incensed at the attacks on her integrity. 

TURNER: It’s been hard. Especially when you believe you’re doing the right thing. And to have people call you a sellout. I think the Call and Post said that I’m carrying white folks’ water. That was their exact quote.

So, what is the basis for the fear that blacks would lose power if the current system is replaced with an elected executive and 11-member county council? 

Right now, African Americans hold two elected offices in Cuyahoga County: recorder Lillian Greene and Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones. Their jobs would be eliminated by Issue 6 and leaders like George Forbes assert that blacks would be mostly shut out.

FORBES: I think we’ve estimated that at the most, at the most, there will be two blacks elected. The county executive will be white and there will be no chance for black folks to do it. So why should we trade one county commissioner and one county recorder for one councilman. That’s about the best we can get out of it.

But political consultants for Issue 6, including Larry Brisker, who is black, say the council districts are designed so that blacks are virtually guaranteed to win at least four seats.  Cuyahoga County is overwhelmingly Democratic. Blacks make up nearly 30 percent of the population in the county, more than twice the national average.  More than twice as many people voted here for Mr. Obama than John McCain. 

Nina Turner says the “blacks can’t win here” rhetoric just doesn’t wash.

TURNER: If President Obama can win the United States of America, my goodness, an African American can win the county if they so choose.

Forbes remains unconvinced.

FORBES: Don’t mix that up with Barack Obama. The county is a very conservative county. It’s not known for its progress in the region as pertained to blacks. And we just know that the county executive is not going to be black. We just know that.

Restructuring county government, whether it comes this year or sometime later, may, one day, help bring the region together. But at the moment it’s highlighted our divisions. 

Allen says what little injectable vaccine HAS come in has been used to immunize EMTs and paramedics, along with SOME pregnant women. 

When there’s more vaccine to dispense, it will be taken into daycares, school-based clinics, and some large community clinics.  But the Centers for Disease Control has adjusted down their vaccine production estimates from the producers for October and November, and Allen says that makes planning difficult. 

He says the county is asking people to be patient.

Cases of flu have been on the rise and they’re generally believed to be H1N1, although that’s not confirmed because most people who become ill aren’t tested for that particular virus.  Most cases are no more severe than a typical bout of the flu. 

Johnson:  “The only slate of candidates that’s actually made a commitment to do that is the Real Reform Done Right slate.  The Citizens Reform Assn hasn’t made that commitment.  In fact, they’ve gone on record as saying “we’re an insurance policy to make sure that Issue 6 proposal passes.”

The Citizens Reform Association was represented by Tom Kelly, a radio talk show host at the conservative WHK.  Remember, The Citizens Reform Association has already proposed a new charter under Issue 6 and doesn’t want a charter commission, but if Issue 5 passes and there is one, they want to be on it.  Kelly had this to say about the opposing slate of candidates. 

Kelly:  “There are many many lawyers.  There are many many members of the democratic party executive committee.  These are natural allies of the commissioners and the powers that be in county government.  Don’t we want to have people that are free from influence of those in office now?”

29 candidates for the charter commission will appear on the ballot, of which voters can choose up to 15.  The ballot will not indicate which slate individual candidates belong to. 

Bill Rice, 90.3

Opponents say Issue 2 is an attempt to head off efforts by animal rights groups like the Humane Society to establish, through their own ballot issues, standards for animal care. 

Ward 14 Councilman Joe Cimperman is among those who have pushed for the resolution.  He says urban farming is becoming more prevalent, and the proposal represents only large rural agriculture interests. 

“It takes power out of the Ohio Department of Agriculture and puts it in the hands of people who are appointed,” Cimperman said, “and does it in a way that I think smacks of big business basically dictating what food policy should be.”

Supporters of Issue 2 say farmers are committed to humane animal care, but that the demands of animal rights activists are extreme, and undermine efficiency in the livestock industry.

Conversation was often animated, as in this exchange when the Mayor charged the proposal was crafted for the state constitution; only to ‘protect’ casino owners in the future.

MAYOR JAY WILLIAMS: “There is no way on earth this creates anything other than a monopoly. That’s why it’s in the state constitution. You can’t have legislative action amend the constitution (Gilbert interjects, argues they could repeal this...)
ends: (Williams) it was difficult to get this amendment… Ohioans have shot it down four times.”

Gilbert calls the strict language a `protection’ for Ohio taxpayers, while also defending charges the state charged too little for gaming licenses, which have sold in PA and NY for up to eight times Ohio’s $50 million fee.

But Gilbert did say that should Issue Three lose, he would not stand in the way of another effort to choose casino operators.

DAN GILBERT: “It’s a well thought out proposal that we think is going to pass and make sense. If it doesn’t, I’m not going to give up on Cleveland and everything else that we’re doing here. I’m in it for the long haul.”

Issue three is endorsed by labor groups, the state police union, and several big city newspapers - opposed by Senators Brown and Voinovich, religious groups, and casino operators in Michigan and West Virginia.

Rick Jackson, 90.3.}

State officials in Ohio said last week that some 13,000 jobs have been saved or created here with stimulus dollars.  But we’re told that’s just a fragmentary figure; a lot of things weren’t counted and most of the stimulus money hasn’t been spent yet. 

Confused?  So are we.  But ideastream® reporter Ida Lieszkovszky has been trying to figure out just what all these numbers mean.

According to a report by the Beacon Journal, sewer-system renovations will be completed within 19 years under the agreement, instead of the 30 years Akron had been seeking.  The paper also says customers’ rates may double, or even triple, as the city pays an estimated 370 million dollars for sewer projects. 

In a press release, Mayor Don Plusquellic said he accepts the terms of the agreement, which includes the city paying 500 thousand dollars in civil penalties for years of violating clean water compliance rules.  The agency had originally demanded tens of millions in fines in its lawsuit.  Plusquellic accused the agency of having been -quote - “especially unreasonable in applying rational, affordable standards” to Akron’s situation.  He said the city can now start cleaning up the Cuyahoga instead of hiring attorneys to argue with bureaucrats in Washington. 

Now, with backing of both towns’ mayors and city councils, 190 acres of Girard’s land is being annexed by Youngstown - but with a tax-sharing plan that guarantees benefits for both cities.

The deal will give Girard 55% of the income taxes generated at the plant, but the border adjustment means Girard will lose 40% of its zoned industrial land. Girard Mayor James Melfi says the city is giving up a lot; but the change for his town also meant considering what is best for the region.

JAMES MELFI: “We recognize the fact that this was possibly a once-in-a-lifetime situation and that we had to make it happen, but we had to do our job, we couldn’t shortchange our community.”

Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams points to the regional impact of 400 new permanent jobs and up to 700 construction jobs.
But even with the agreement, it’s not certain V&M Star will come through.  Williams says it’s still weighing the Youngstown site against one or two others. 

JAY WILLIAMS: “We feel that we would be more competitive than any of the other sites, but even if ultimately this project isn’t built here, we now have a site that is ready to accept other economic development issues that would still be of benefit to the community.”

V&M is expected to decide on a site by year’s end.

Both city leaders say the bigger victory is the example set here for co-operation among other towns in Northeast Ohio.

Rick Jackson, 90.3.

JONES: Those ward councilmen and councilwomen will soon be butting heads over who gets an economic development project, which community-based organization gets a county grant….

WCPN’s Dan Moulthrop, who moderated the debate, asked Issue-6 backer and Parma Heights mayor Martin Zanotti why some of the council districts look engineered to satisfy certain constituencies, assuring strong black majorities in several districts and potential Republican victories in a few.  Zanotti says that diversity was the point.

ZANOTTI: I don’t think we’d run from that.  I think that’s the right way to do it. You have demographics in the county. If you’re going to draw districts, you should make sure that the districts represent those demographics.

Some opponents of Issue 6 have expressed the fear that the new structure would hurt the black community which makes up nearly 30 percent of Cuyahoga County’s population. 

The group is criss-crossing the state to alert voters to the potential impact on `their’ livelihood.

Patty Rebman is a third generation owner of one of Lorain’s largest entertainment centers - built around its 48 bowling lanes. She’s studied the research of casino impact in other states, including a Hiram College report released at the end of September.... and she’s scared.

PATTY REBMAN: “Yes I want jobs, but I want to keep my customers. I’m afraid of them bowling a couple of nights a week, they might say, `Ahhh, I won’t be doing that any longer’, so less and less people come into the bowling center… obviously less business for us.”

Owners of similar entertainment operations, bars, and restaurants gathered in Cleveland to reiterate the negative aspects of casinos highlighted by the Hiram report - and to question why the state legislature isn’t looking at more options for gambling.

David Corey heads the Coin Machine, AND Bowling Center Associations of Ohio.
He fears the state is handing out monopolies to the casino’s future owners.

DAVID COREY: “It’s important to create a strategy in Ohio. Just not have one idea, but a balanced, fair, expanded gaming strategy, that will give the state a good deal, Ohioans a good deal, and homegrown local businesses an opportunity to share in the potential rewards.”

The group contends that much of the cash collected in casinos is homegrown as well - they point to research indicating 80-90% of the money spent, will come from Ohioans, not from tourists.

Rick Jackson, 90.3

Raising taxes rarely brings cheers from a crowd but Monique Menifee gladly joined a group chanting to do just that at a rally at tower city Friday.  Issue four - is a proposed levy that would substantially increase what county homeowners contribute to the Cuyahoga Community College budget.  Menifee is a student there.

Tri-c president Jerry Sue Thornton was at the rally too ....explaining that the state is cutting its support for community colleges and the decline in property values also has reduced what they’ll have to operate on ....without the tax hike.

DR. JERRY SUE THORNTON: “ It’s not that we would have to do slight changes if this levy does not pass; it’s major changes. It would be a very different college.”

The cuts have come at a time when enrollment at tri-c is growing as the newly unemployed flock back to school.  Thornton says the school has already trimmed costs in the facing of rising demand for its services. 

The change ...if voters approve...would translate into an 18 dollar tax increase for every 100,000 dollars in home value. 

Rick Jackson, 90.3.

GARY THOMPSON: We ask where they live.  And when they give their address, it turns out they’re in the Township.  So, we say, “We’d love to help you, but you’re not in our jurisdiction.”

For the better part of two centuries, Olmsted Falls and Olmsted Township have been separate communities --- on paper.  But, they have more in common than just their names.  They already share the same school system, the same churches, the same zip code.  And in about three weeks, area residents will vote on the idea of taking that one step further --- the creation of a commission to study the idea of merging. For Township native Jeanine Kress, there are all sorts of reasons to merge.

JEANINE KRESS: Economies of scale would be one.  But, there are other issues, including clout in Washington and Columbus.  Being a bigger city, that could be a relevant issue. 

As it is, Olmsted Township residents have watched neighboring cities nibble away at them for years.  For instance, Berea was able to annex land along a major industrial corridor because the city offered landowners improved services and waterlines that the Township wasn’t able to provide.  Local historian Bruce Banks says that when they lost that land, they also lost revenue.

BRUCE BANKS: The tax base keeps shrinking, because you have less real estate tax, so it gets more and more challenging, the smaller you get. 

But, Banks says not everyone in Olmsted Township …population 10,500… is so sure that banding together with the Falls…population 8,000… will be to their benefit. 

BRUCE BANKS: Some of the people in the Township feel that their control of their destiny will be diluted if we become part of something bigger.

This isn’t the first time a merger between the Township and Olmsted Falls has been proposed.  Several previous attempts have failed to win over the public but more may be willing to at least consider the idea this time.  Longtime Township trustee Karen Straka has opposed past merger efforts, but says she won’t stand in the way of residents who would like to see the issue studied.

KAREN STRAKA: I support the people’s right to vote on the issue, and I’ll help them in anyway I can, but I don’t feel there’s an overall financial benefit for a merger to take place.

Olmsted Falls mayor Bob Blomquist is more upbeat about the prospects.  By conducting a merger study, he thinks that these two small communities could be trail blazers that others would emulate.

ROBERT BLOMQUIST: It would be the perfect case study.  As the region looks to consolidation, as it looks to combinations of different ways to deliver government services, we could answer a lot of broader questions, and perhaps demonstrate a little leadership to the rest of the county and to the region.

Voters from the Falls and the Township will decide November 3rd whether or not they want to be part of such a case study.