I'll post general updates and opinions later today.
Time for Christmas shopping!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Mayoral Race Postponed. Still gonna make noise
I've talked to some people, and realized my safety and that of those I love could be in danger if I ran for Mayor on such grandiose reform and change at this age. Therefore, I'm postponing my potential campaign for the near future, and will encourage growth and change in any way I can. I'm planting the seeds now and doing research on how we can turn this beautiful city around, in both perception and reality.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
My Platform: Education
This is what I would do if I were mayor right now (12/12/10):
The first problem Northeast Ohio needs to tackle is education. Without a healthy school network, without a high % of students going to college, we will continue to lose population and resources.
These problems begin with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Without a healthy school district and options for residents, our reputation is shot.
We've invested billions of dollars in stadiums and public venues over the last 20 years, but as Brent Larkin questions in his Plain Dealer article today, when will we put the focus on educating our kids?
As mayor, my first 3 priorities would be education, economics, and safety.
I will study various options for the CMSD to look into for reform, create options for students, and create a "Cleveland Promise."
1. CMSD reform.
In the wake of CMSD CEO Eugene Sander's retirement announcement, the district is left leaderless in a critical period. The District's 5-year Transformation Plan is getting launched, and its creator is abandoning ship as it were. My first order of business would be to look into alternatives for this position, given whoever is in the CEO seat when I'm inaugurated, and ensure this leader is the correct one. From my limited intel, I believe Eric Gordon would be a good fit for this position.
I would nurture the Transformation Plan as well as encourage and promote the opening of two College Preparatory Academies on each side of town, replacing a current high school respectively. Each high school would have an application selection like the School of the Arts and the John Hay Campus Academies. Each of the College Prep schools would offer AP classes and help nurture students, preparing them for college wherever they wish to go. The college preparatory academies would complement the district's specialized academies.
As mayor I would also look into the administrative structure of the district. I would rearrange or cut unnecessary positions, as well as stand up for the students of Cleveland by negotiating with the Teacher's Union to put more money into the classrooms.
2. Options for Cleveland students.
Growing up, I knew dozens of families who moved out of the city and away from their workplace for the sole purpose of education. A decent education is a right for all students, no matter their ethnicity or economic background. Any student with a will to succeed should have the parental and teacher support for their endeavors to come to fruition. If you live in Cleveland and start a family, the CMSD is not an option. So your options become charter schools and private schools. Charter schools receive less dollars per student than in CMSD, and the options of charter schools are limited in the city. Private schools cost money, and the extra money coming out of a family's earnings for an education drives parents out of the city so their children can attend a suburban school district.
Although this would pose a problem to CMSD and the Teacher's Union, as Mayor of Cleveland I would fight to get state and local money earned through property taxes (the way these things are funded) to FOLLOW THE STUDENT. I would make a concession for CMSD so that 80% of the money appropriated for a student through the state and city would be able to follow a student if they leave a district. Therefore CMSD can get a leg up on funding and be able to cover the jobs necessary to appropriate the money to the correct schools.
What does this mean?
Cleveland students get between $13,000 and $14,000 per student every year. 2/3 of this comes from the state. In wake of education cuts which I predict will happen at the state level, this amount will further decrease.
If your child attends a charter grade school in the county (a charter school is a state-funded autonomy), the state money and 50% of the city's approbated funds would follow the student to this school. The 50% of the city's funds for that student would be a 25% increase per student over what charter schools currently receive. A win for charter schools. Grade school costs (in my experience with private schools) are less than high schools. Therefore a grade school needs less % of the city's funds than a high school. If the city has $14,000 per student and 2/3 of that is state funded, the charter school would now receive $11,600 instead of its current $9,300, and CMSD would recover $1,400 of its approbation.
If your child attends a charter high school in the county, the school would receive the state money per-student and 80% of the city's money. If the city has $14,000 per student and 2/3 of that is state funded, the charter school would now receive $13,000 instead of $9,300 per student, and CMSD would recover $1,000 of the cost to offset it's lost revenue to the charter schools. A win for charter high schools.
If your child attends a private school and you live in the city of Cleveland, these transfers also count.
If you choose to send your child to a suburban school district, (something Cleveland would have to negotiate), instead of the family paying to send the student there, the per-student funds would transfer over just like charter and private schools.
The $11,600 for a grade school student and $13,000 for a high school student would be profitable for most private, charter, and suburban schools in our county. And if that price does not cover it, the family can pay the remaining amount.
What do I predict this system would do?
CONS:
-Difficult to maneuver
-Teacher's Union would flip
-CMSD would initially suffer
-CMSD would lose revenue
-Teacher's union would be forced to make massive concessions to keep jobs.
-More school closings, possibly.
-Loss of jobs. Initially.
-Inner-ring suburbs could lose population
Pros:
Since the grand picture is about the students, getting people to move into Cleveland, and improving the quality of overall education:
-Families would have choices of where to send students, as long as they can get them there.
-Charter schools, private schools, and suburban districts would benefit financially if the could attract the most Cleveland-resident students.
-The competition would force each school's hand to be the best it can be.
-The teacher's union would HAVE to make concessions
-CMSD would HAVE to reform
-All Cleveland students with a will to learn will have the option to do it for free.
-The 20-50% saved by the city could help pay for new free textbooks for students in their district.
-CMSD would still have the upper hand in finances per student, transportation, and specialized academies.
-Residents in the city would stay to benefit from the options
-Residents from suburbs would move into Cleveland to benefit from the options (particularly attending private schools for free and saving tens of thousands of dollars)
-Increased revenue from property taxes.
-Increase in population.
-The increased business in the city would spur more local jobs for unskilled laborers and boost the economy.
3. The "Cleveland Promise."
-As detailed in Brent Larkin's "When are we going to build a future for Cleveland?: Brent Larkin"
-Gather a philanthropic fund to assist Cleveland residents attending any school (with additional amounts for years lived in the city) attend college.
-Makes most sense if there's additional money for Cuyahoga County schools, particularly Tri-C and CSU.
As mayor I would tackle these issues immediately and stand strong for the residents of Cleveland. We need a change. Cleveland suffers from a reputation of 3 things we CAN change (not weather): Education, Safety, and Economics.
Fixing our education and drawing people back into the city would help us with the other two.
The first month in office would consist of meeting with officials and leaders to determine the impact of these decisions, as well as holding an extensive series of community meetings where I would gather ideas for changing the district and improving options for citizens.
Education is key for our region to move forward and attract businesses.
Thanks for reading this. I'll edit it and support it with more facts as my campaign unravels these next three years.
The first problem Northeast Ohio needs to tackle is education. Without a healthy school network, without a high % of students going to college, we will continue to lose population and resources.
These problems begin with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Without a healthy school district and options for residents, our reputation is shot.
We've invested billions of dollars in stadiums and public venues over the last 20 years, but as Brent Larkin questions in his Plain Dealer article today, when will we put the focus on educating our kids?
As mayor, my first 3 priorities would be education, economics, and safety.
I will study various options for the CMSD to look into for reform, create options for students, and create a "Cleveland Promise."
1. CMSD reform.
In the wake of CMSD CEO Eugene Sander's retirement announcement, the district is left leaderless in a critical period. The District's 5-year Transformation Plan is getting launched, and its creator is abandoning ship as it were. My first order of business would be to look into alternatives for this position, given whoever is in the CEO seat when I'm inaugurated, and ensure this leader is the correct one. From my limited intel, I believe Eric Gordon would be a good fit for this position.
I would nurture the Transformation Plan as well as encourage and promote the opening of two College Preparatory Academies on each side of town, replacing a current high school respectively. Each high school would have an application selection like the School of the Arts and the John Hay Campus Academies. Each of the College Prep schools would offer AP classes and help nurture students, preparing them for college wherever they wish to go. The college preparatory academies would complement the district's specialized academies.
As mayor I would also look into the administrative structure of the district. I would rearrange or cut unnecessary positions, as well as stand up for the students of Cleveland by negotiating with the Teacher's Union to put more money into the classrooms.
2. Options for Cleveland students.
Growing up, I knew dozens of families who moved out of the city and away from their workplace for the sole purpose of education. A decent education is a right for all students, no matter their ethnicity or economic background. Any student with a will to succeed should have the parental and teacher support for their endeavors to come to fruition. If you live in Cleveland and start a family, the CMSD is not an option. So your options become charter schools and private schools. Charter schools receive less dollars per student than in CMSD, and the options of charter schools are limited in the city. Private schools cost money, and the extra money coming out of a family's earnings for an education drives parents out of the city so their children can attend a suburban school district.
Although this would pose a problem to CMSD and the Teacher's Union, as Mayor of Cleveland I would fight to get state and local money earned through property taxes (the way these things are funded) to FOLLOW THE STUDENT. I would make a concession for CMSD so that 80% of the money appropriated for a student through the state and city would be able to follow a student if they leave a district. Therefore CMSD can get a leg up on funding and be able to cover the jobs necessary to appropriate the money to the correct schools.
What does this mean?
Cleveland students get between $13,000 and $14,000 per student every year. 2/3 of this comes from the state. In wake of education cuts which I predict will happen at the state level, this amount will further decrease.
If your child attends a charter grade school in the county (a charter school is a state-funded autonomy), the state money and 50% of the city's approbated funds would follow the student to this school. The 50% of the city's funds for that student would be a 25% increase per student over what charter schools currently receive. A win for charter schools. Grade school costs (in my experience with private schools) are less than high schools. Therefore a grade school needs less % of the city's funds than a high school. If the city has $14,000 per student and 2/3 of that is state funded, the charter school would now receive $11,600 instead of its current $9,300, and CMSD would recover $1,400 of its approbation.
If your child attends a charter high school in the county, the school would receive the state money per-student and 80% of the city's money. If the city has $14,000 per student and 2/3 of that is state funded, the charter school would now receive $13,000 instead of $9,300 per student, and CMSD would recover $1,000 of the cost to offset it's lost revenue to the charter schools. A win for charter high schools.
If your child attends a private school and you live in the city of Cleveland, these transfers also count.
If you choose to send your child to a suburban school district, (something Cleveland would have to negotiate), instead of the family paying to send the student there, the per-student funds would transfer over just like charter and private schools.
The $11,600 for a grade school student and $13,000 for a high school student would be profitable for most private, charter, and suburban schools in our county. And if that price does not cover it, the family can pay the remaining amount.
What do I predict this system would do?
CONS:
-Difficult to maneuver
-Teacher's Union would flip
-CMSD would initially suffer
-CMSD would lose revenue
-Teacher's union would be forced to make massive concessions to keep jobs.
-More school closings, possibly.
-Loss of jobs. Initially.
-Inner-ring suburbs could lose population
Pros:
Since the grand picture is about the students, getting people to move into Cleveland, and improving the quality of overall education:
-Families would have choices of where to send students, as long as they can get them there.
-Charter schools, private schools, and suburban districts would benefit financially if the could attract the most Cleveland-resident students.
-The competition would force each school's hand to be the best it can be.
-The teacher's union would HAVE to make concessions
-CMSD would HAVE to reform
-All Cleveland students with a will to learn will have the option to do it for free.
-The 20-50% saved by the city could help pay for new free textbooks for students in their district.
-CMSD would still have the upper hand in finances per student, transportation, and specialized academies.
-Residents in the city would stay to benefit from the options
-Residents from suburbs would move into Cleveland to benefit from the options (particularly attending private schools for free and saving tens of thousands of dollars)
-Increased revenue from property taxes.
-Increase in population.
-The increased business in the city would spur more local jobs for unskilled laborers and boost the economy.
3. The "Cleveland Promise."
-As detailed in Brent Larkin's "When are we going to build a future for Cleveland?: Brent Larkin"
-Gather a philanthropic fund to assist Cleveland residents attending any school (with additional amounts for years lived in the city) attend college.
-Makes most sense if there's additional money for Cuyahoga County schools, particularly Tri-C and CSU.
As mayor I would tackle these issues immediately and stand strong for the residents of Cleveland. We need a change. Cleveland suffers from a reputation of 3 things we CAN change (not weather): Education, Safety, and Economics.
Fixing our education and drawing people back into the city would help us with the other two.
The first month in office would consist of meeting with officials and leaders to determine the impact of these decisions, as well as holding an extensive series of community meetings where I would gather ideas for changing the district and improving options for citizens.
Education is key for our region to move forward and attract businesses.
Thanks for reading this. I'll edit it and support it with more facts as my campaign unravels these next three years.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Mayor 2013?
I want to run for Mayor Cleveland in 2013.
I think I really do. Over winter break I'll look into the process and political implications, asking opinions of my mentors on this monumental task.
This idea is something I would've balked at a week ago. I have no experience, I'm in college 6 hours away, and I have no funding network. Who would vote for me?
Since this idea has stuck for three days and I'm still not wavering, I think I'm going to pursue it.
I'm not planning on winning. Winning would be great, but only an option I'd pursue and attempt to raise significant funds for if some poll shows 15% of the city would vote for me or something. Or even 5%. haha
I'm doing this for two purposes:
1) Positive name recognition and publicity (something I need to consult with some politician friends about)
2) Attention to my non-partisan platform of concepts.
If I'm a 21-year-old college student at Cornell on the ballot for mayor of Cleveland, I'm going to get some free media support; maybe even on the national level.
It could be stupid for anyone to "endorse" a minimal-experienced mayoral candidate, so I'll take and seek endorsements as they come.
ANYWAY, this all relies on my getting on the ballot; which requires something like 5,000 signatures.
5,000 is A LOT of signatures; so if you'd like to help sometime in the next two years, please let me know. I'll hook you up with signature sheets for all of your Cleveland resident friends, as well as a hefty stack of my business cards (referring you to my awesome website, my email address, and my campaign phone number.)
This website is going to be awesome, complete with videos, platforms, freedom for visitors to post comments and suggestions, pictures, and a complete list of odds/ends ideas.
I have a lot more ideas for the campaign to minimize cost. But these are for my will-be campaign committee.
I won't be running against any of the other candidates. I'll try my best to avoid corruption by staying Independent. My ideas are heavy on pro-city work, but also will effect how the whole Midwest could approach government. I'm not in it to tear other candidates down; just to promote ideas that make sense and are necessary for the good of the people.
I think it'd be awesome to have a 21-year-old mayor. And being a young professional, I would be in tune with what's going on, societal trends, and be able to dedicate the majority of my time to making a difference.
I'll always be supportive of candidates with good platforms and enthusiasm, like Chris Ronayne. I'm trying not to play the political game. Building bridges, not burning them, is what we need to do in our region.
Let me know if you want to help/what you can contribute! If not, I'll come a knocking for signatures and vocal support asap.
-Ken
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
3-C Rail News
Governor Strickland Recently published a letter he sent to Governor-Elect John Kasich emphasizing the importance of continuing the 3-C rail corridor project.
It's a great read and perfectly argues why we NEED this rail option.
http://www.governor.ohio.gov/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=wzqMm3Q3CwU%3d&tabid=1820
It's a great read and perfectly argues why we NEED this rail option.
http://www.governor.ohio.gov/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=wzqMm3Q3CwU%3d&tabid=1820
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Progressive Cleveland 2014 Plan
Hello friends, family and followers! I have completed my wrap up for the semester on how Cleveland should approach the next 4 years. Please let me know what you think! I ran the initial copy past Jimmy Malone, Kevin Kelly, and Chris Ronayne this weekend. And then I added much much more. Enjoy! It'll take a while to read, so prepare yourselves. I'll attach the two appendices (economic model & advertisement example) once they're edited.
Cleveland 2010 Concept & Proposal Report
“Progressive Cleveland 2014 Plan”
Ken Kalynchuk
12/1/10
Prelude
Thank you for taking your time to read this. My name is Ken Kalynchuk and I am a freshman in the Urban and Regional Studies program at Cornell University. I attended Saint Ignatius High School and have had an unwavering love for Cleveland my whole life. My family still lives in Old Brooklyn where I was raised. For grade school I attended Old Brooklyn Montessori School, a charter school that provided me with an environment to dream big. My life goal is to help “save Cleveland” and work with other passionate Clevelanders to fix whats broken in our city and region.
I try my best to be a student of Cleveland and its history more so than just an “Urban Planning student.” At Cornell I believe I can get a unique outsider perspective on what is going on at home. I've studied and come up with plans to micromanage and “solve” as it were, many issues in Northeast Ohio, but in order to progress as a city and solve these issues we need to solve overall trends and invest in collective economic growth. To solve issues in our current government paradigms, we need an increase in population. Until the population begins to grow across our area, we'll continue to struggle with the effects of downsizing.
There are many things to be grateful for and look forward to in our area. The 2014 Gay Games provide the perfect opportunity to showcase our area and new projects slated to be completed by summer 2014. Cleveland has a unique opportunity to reinvent itself in the next four years to prepare for our personal “coming out.” My solution for NEO involves a grand marketing scheme. However, we first need things to market. These things need to separate us from every other city in the world. Yes we have the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. People know that. But they question what else we have to offer that is attractive or unique from every city in the country. The truth is, I have a hard time marketing anything but the R&R HOF and Cedar Point. Many cities have great museum collections. Many cities have sports teams and trendy neighborhoods. A handful of cities have great art museums. A few cities have world class orchestras. Our focus on tourism as a solution has failed. We have nothing to convince travelers to go out of their way to visit here for a full weekend, let alone connect them to and transport them to places such as University Circle, Ohio City, Tremont, Cedar Point, and the Football Hall of Fame. The Rock n' Roll HOF is even difficult to access by ANY mode of transportation.
I chose topics in this “progressive plan” because these ideas would separate us from every region in the United States. We have hidden assets that can be leveraged to create extraordinary things. The question I'm trying to answer: When we begin a marketing push and establish an international welcome center, what will make Northeast Ohio the destination for people to live and businesses to relocate to and create roots?
Throughout the next 2-50 years, the United States will have many widespread issues to deal with: clustering of businesses in international mega-cities (NYC, Chicago, & LA at the moment), rising temperatures, rising oil costs, water shortages, intense natural disasters, food shortages, increased cost of living, a national debt crisis, rising sea levels, and terrorism threats. Northeast Ohio has the best chance of any region in the country to deal with all of these issues at once. The rise of mega cities could be a detriment to our growth except for rising living and property costs. Global warming can only positively effect our weather in comparison to the South and West. We have plenty of room in and outside the city for agriculture and green development. Our city is relatively compact and easy to move around, making oil prices less of an issue than cities with high volumes of traffic. We have plentiful water. We do not need to worry about terrorism threats, natural disasters, or rising sea levels. It's incredibly cheap to live here. We have what people all over the world will want in the near future, so we need to prepare quickly for our government and economic systems to handle this growth.
State of Cleveland
The Good
- Convention Center/Medical Mart is a done deal. Being the FIRST Medical Mart is critical to its success. Completion of deal has prompted investment in new downtown hotels. This public investment should pay dividends as we grow as a world medical leader.
- Casino is certainly going to happen. Preliminary designs connect high end retail to street level and Tower City. It provides jobs, an attraction for locals and visitors, and revenue. Current site is the best proposed as it connects to city, yet is isolated from residential areas.
- University Circle: 1,000 homes, redevelopment of Euclid Avenue, MOCA, Art Museum expansion, Cleveland Clinic expansions, University Hospitals Cancer Center, new hotel.
- Downtown Residential growth. Growth of Ohio City, Tremont, Detroit Shoreway neighborhoods. Tyler Village is a nice surprise.
- The dedication to create a land bank, tear down abandoned homes, deconstruct houses, and invest in urban farming prepares Cleveland for reinvestment on cheap land.
- New county government should reduce corruption and promote regionalism; although we cannot know anything for sure.
- Port Authority recently landed a new International shipping deal.
- Flats East Bank Development
The Bad
- Cleveland faces budget cuts every year in most departments.
- Safety and education in the inner city.
- City & region are losing population
- Cleveland is losing business to suburbs and out of county. (American Greetings from Brooklyn, Eaton Corp. to Beachwood, etc.)
- ODOT failed us with their rescaling of West Shoreway Plan
- We fail to attract creative talent.
- Cleveland Clinic is closing Huron Trauma Center
- Threat of losing our airport hub
- Critical 3-C rail corridor is in danger of closure under Ohio's new governor.
Cleveland's Coming Out Celebration:
The Importance of Capturing the Spirit of Cleveland 2014
→ Cleveland-Akron hosts the 2014 Gay Games. Projections for the economic benefit of this event to our region are expected at around $60 million if 65,000 athletes and spectators participate and visit. These figures, however, rely on the ability to attract people here to SEE, DO THINGS, and EXPERIENCE unique events in Cleveland for a low price.
→ Cleveland Casino, Innerbelt Bridge, West Shoreway tunnels, Medical Mart/Convention Center, University Circle developments, most of Opportunity Corridor, 3-C rail expect completion by Summer 2014.
→ The Gay Games give us THE PERFECT opportunity to establish our region with a new image: connected, inexpensive, progressive thinking, sustainable, accepting, welcoming, fun, beautiful, etc.
→ If we fail to show ourselves to the world as a “New American City,” our reputation could be irreversibly devastated in a year (2014, I predict) of social unrest, rising oil prices, and increased clustering of talent and business in mega, worldly city-regions
→ Therefore, we need a sense of urgency to complete these projects, reverse social and economic trends, and change our approach to issues which plague us. BY 2014.
After studying issues effecting our area, there's only one “solution” to our financial and economic problems: INCREASE POPULATION. This requires both attracting a strong pool of young professionals to lure businesses, as well as attracting business in order to attract the “Creative Class.”
Sound redundant? Like a cycle? YES
→ To break into this cycle, we need a new ACTIVE approach to attracting talent, jobs, and foreign investment.
→ To attract the aforementioned, we need to focus on leveraging our regional assets to create a one-of-a-kind place that's great to live in, interesting to visit, and ahead of the game.
Hence, the Progressive Cleveland 2014 Plan
I've come up with 15 steps. They pass over the issues which require more money to fix, like Lakefront development. They're difficult, I understand. They're politically challenging. They're socially challenging. But I believe they're financially feasible and our best shots at being prepared in 2014 for our International “Coming Out” as a new city ready to face the challenges of the 21st century. They'll be unique to our region, giving us changes in philosophy to accompany our new “shiny toys” as we look to move forward and attract the “Creative Class” of Richard Florida's The Creative Class. In a world where the workforce is mobile, a city needs to “sell itself” to both people and businesses who wish to cluster and share ideas. In order for Cleveland to market itself, it needs something new to market in both practice and results. It needs clusters in several areas of development. These steps are time sensitive and good enough, in my opinion, to bounce them off trusted Clevelanders before someone somewhere else thinks of them. Ideally, these steps would be completed by the end of 2012 so we can enter 2013 in the attracting mindset. If we can begin to attract people and businesses before 2014, 2014 would be seen as a year where “everything is going right.” We can no longer WAIT for “everything to go right” as with our sports teams. We need an ACTIVE EFFORT to change and improve the conditions which we can. With no further ado:
- City of Cleveland government-led initiatives for commercial/residential small/large business growth.
→ Speed up appeals and approval processes. Cut some red tape and make it as easy as possible to start a new business as soon as possible. This is my shadiest grey-area of the plan. I do not know much about how these committees work. However, I know the complaints about long waits and strict approval regulations. It should be easier to start a business.
→ Cleveland's leaders need to gather group of political, business, and community leaders at local, state, and federal levels to discuss issues of subsidizing sports teams & the current public funding. Cleveland and the county are losing millions of dollars while the owners are profiting millions on the taxpayers' backs. Make a strong effort to refinance with Randy Lerner, Dan Gilbert, and the Dolans. Show Cuyahoga County residents that you recognize the mistakes of the past and try to change them, no matter how impossible. Publish a document of the teams' profits and how much the taxpayers contribute to that. How much does CMSD lose on unpaid property taxes???
→ Support laws and regulations supporting mixed use development.
- New CLEVELAND economic model.
→ How do we LOWER TAXES and encourage JOB GROWTH without LOSING TAX REVENUE? In economics I've learned the basic theory that if you lower tax rates your businesses will grow. But NO CITY DOES THIS. Because of our size and our aims, we have an opportunity to do this.
Background
- Cleveland had around 150,000 jobs in 2000. I would guess they have around 130,000 jobs now, for mathematical purposes.
- Cleveland continues to lose jobs as a whole. A net LOSS in jobs (Jobs gained-jobs lost)
- I measure Cleveland's economic input in NET JOB GROWTH. The higher the net job growth, the better off we're doing both economically and through publicity.
- From what I understand, the employer and employee share the burden of the “payroll tax,” which sits squarely at 2%. Our county's median appears to be around 1.25%.
To improve the net job growth in our city, we need to incentivize businesses to begin here, to relocate their operations here, to encourage net job growth, to convince businesses to stay, and to actively work to bring new businesses here, ALL so taxes CONTINUE to go down. When all businesses and employees and the city can unite in order to increase profit across the board, a community should develop where every job counts towards the collective good.
This model is based on a system where the city's “net job growth” is measured around January 2012 for the 2011 year. If net jobs decrease, the 2% payroll tax rate remains intact and the next year is measured from the new total jobs level. If jobs increase and that total reaches a benchmark in jobs gained in that one year, the payroll tax due that spring decreases to the designated amount, saving large firms millions of dollars for their employee base in the city. If this “benchmark” is reached in multiple years, it goes into effect once the benchmark is met. If the payroll tax decreases then the total jobs falls below the previous bench level, the payroll tax goes up for the following year. Payroll tax never goes below 1.25% or above 2%.
See Appendix A1
Relocating Businesses with “Rings of Incentive.”
→ If a business relocates their headquarters or main operations to the city of Cleveland, they get a certain percent of payroll tax off the already existing level set by the “net increase” model.
- Elsewhere in County: .1% off
- Elsewhere in State: .2% off
- Elsewhere in Country: .3% off
- Out-of-country: .4% off.
→ Other incentives for relocation (American Greetings) can include free land, higher % off for LEED certification or occupying 30% of a large mostly abandoned office building already in existence.
New Business Incentives.
These models encourage a consolidation into Cleveland land, foreign investment, and set up a network of businesses reliant on other jobs remaining in order to increase profits. For starters, consider Clinic Jobs, Eaton Corp. Jobs lost. If they stay and we can attract American Greetings on free land in Midtown, that could push net job growth to +2500, lowering taxes immediately for everyone involved.
- Improve Downtown.
→ Fix the Warehouse District problems. Establish a proper police force coverage and procedures.
→ Research downtown playgrounds, plazas, schools, mixed-use development. Bring families downtown to live as well as visit.
→ Downtown Cleveland Alliance is doing great. We still need increased security to improve the perception of downtown (which requires money from new jobs & residents. . .)
→ Promote a feasibility study of relocating Cleveland port permanently to empty space next to Burke Lakefront Airport. That plot of land is already in place, would not interfere with airport operations, and will be quicker to establish than building a new Dike off W. 55th.
→ Invest in safety and infrastructure on West Bank of the Flats. Two downtown entertainment districts would be fascinating: Warehouse District, West Bank of Flats.
→ Connect the Cuyahoga Valley National Park railroad to downtown near the new casino site.
- Pull out all the stops to get 3-C rail up and running. Having this connection to other cities provides students, government officials, businessmen, and tourists access to and from our city and the new attractions we'll have in 2014, when the rail should be completed by.
- Make Downtown more suburban/visitor friendly.
- Given future lakefront development along the Shoreway, invest in safe city-run lots on other side of I-90 by the valley and post office. This site is isolated so it will be easier to secure and won't get in the way of future development.
→ Provide a shuttle to run route through Gateway, Public square, flats, lakefront, malls, east 9th, colleges. In 2 directions. Visitors and residents will have a safe place to park for a cheap price, with access to main areas of the city.
→ Depending on time, small charge per car or per passenger.
- Advertise where speed cameras are. Suburbanites and visitors HATE those.
- Establish NEO as gay-friendly
→ Ohio is one of many states where discrimination for sexual orientation is still legal.
→ LGBT community is marginalized. They contribute to civic engagement, property values, and the barometer of a city's tolerance levels.
LGBT Anti-Discriminatory Hiring Compact
→ A plan I will undertake over Winter Break.
→ Local business owners pledge to not discriminate against openly lgbt job applicants or employees.
→ The list is posted online. As list grows, a committee is formed to hear complaints about a company's discriminatory practices.
→ The group works for advocacy.
→ It can be used to attract lgbt visitors, residents, and their friends. It will show which businesses are safe and appealing to deal with, as well as hopefully provide a job listing site.
→ The group kicks discriminatory companies off the list.
→ This compact provides a concrete sign that NEO is tolerant, accepting, and different.
- Regionalize
→ The infighting has to STOP. It brings all of our communities down. We need to unite as cities, counties, communities, and businesses to battle other regions for resources, jobs, and people. A regional NEO council of leaders and community groups needs to be formed. As little villages, we waste resources and are relatively powerless to the common good. Together in a cartel everyone can benefit.
- Education
→ The largest obstacle is the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and the Teacher's Union. If there are limited decent education options in the core city of our region, people from our region won't move here, and foreigners will hesitate to move here.
→ With the help of Governor-elect Kasich and Cleveland City government, establish a dollars-to-the-child system. Parents have a choice of where to spend their $14,000 per-student. Every student will have a chance to apply to a suburban district, private school, or Cleveland school with their money. This gives parents and students the option to live in the city and still find a great education. It can benefit thriving charter schools with Cleveland money. It can also benefit suburban districts as they can pick an choose which students from Cleveland they'll accept to get more revenue for their schools and improve their student base simultaneously.
→ This will be extremely hard to maneuver. The Teacher's Union will fight hard. But education is about the student's good and options, not the teachers'. The Union will and district will be forced to shrink with lower revenue, and can hopefully start from scratch with a mix of their best and worst schools as a base, plus no more guarantees of revenue. The good teachers who deserve their jobs (not based on seniority) will get new ones as suburban districts expand.
- Go Green
→ Every city in the US is in a race to be sustainable, green, and attract and younger crowd.
→ What sets us apart is our ample space to improve our urban farming, new urban parks, and new urban ecosystems. The best way to implement this is to engage the inner city black community on the east side to design, create, and maintain these parks with the help of the city and philanthropic donations. Too long have the poor communities in cities been denied access to parks and had utility and manufacturing plants placed near their communities. We have ample space in our Land Bank and plenty of people looking for a better quality of life, especially on the inner east side. The education, parks, and new economic model should help these communities in particular.
→ With our urban farming initiatives, Cleveland has an opportunity to become the first large city in the country with a compost program. I'm not talking about a weekly pick-up of food waste. Basically, bins can be set up near urban farms where Cleveland residents can dump their ort and moldy food, as well as leaves and straw. This abundance in food waste not able to be used to feed the homeless can be taken by any willing person, whether urban farmer or farmer outside the county, to be used for nurturing their vegetation. It's a unique concept that requires minimal investment and maintenance, yet encourages urban food growth as we approach an era of food shortages the world over.
- Public access to events.
→ Clevelanders are passionate about their sports. Unfortunately our underprivileged population cannot afford to attend Browns games, Cavs games, and Indians games. Many families do not have cable or satellite TV access. This may be the easiest of the 14 steps: Have a local company (PNC?) sponsor a TV, Satellite Subscription, and safety precautions for each recreation center in Cleveland. This would turn these centers into “community centers,” providing access to every game to every resident in Cleveland who wouldn't otherwise have an opportunity to watch the games. This would improve a sense of community with watch parties amongst the population as a whole, as well as decrease the gap between the haves and have-nots in our community.
→ Host a free concert every summer. $5 donations maybe for a local nonprofit, with a local company picking up the tab for the artist. Like, bring in a big draw to the Mall or public square once a year like Kid Cudi, a Clevelander with widespread appeal.
→ Sponsor more civic events/seasons. Christmas, with the decorations on Public Square, in Tower City, Snow Days at Progressive field, and The Christmas Story House in Tremont, Cleveland can be magical with an atmosphere that lasts the holiday season. “Christmas in Cleveland,” with decorations along Euclid in downtown and a shopping scene reinvigorated by department stores and the Casino's high-end retail could become a Christmas destination rivaling New York City's appeal.
→ Other events could be “Cleveland Day,” where every museum and destination opens up to the public for free, or “Cleveland Heritage Day,” where each ethnicity represented in the city participates with booths downtown or in their neighborhoods.
- Diversify our Economy
- We are growing in our medical field.
- Find a way to increase banking presence again downtown.
- Invest as a community in windmill manufacturing, supplying parts to the soon-to-be-needed energy-efficient cars. Bring in European engineers with experience in windmill and solar design/manufacturing and create a global mass-production center for our energy sources of the near future.
- An idea
- NEO International Welcome Center
→ With all of these exciting changes and projects happening in our region, we finally have something to market! But before we market, we need entities in place to handle the duties of such important tasks.
→ Cleveland can connect its rich heritage of immigrants with its new regional approach.
→ I propose an initial location at Tower City downtown, as a hub for transportation by rail, bus, and to the airport. Additional mini-locations would be represented at Hopkins International Airport and the Akron-Canton Airport. Future sites could include downtown Akron and Youngstown. If we're really looking forward, open shop in NYC and other immigrant cities, where people are looking for a cheaper, less crowded place to live.
→ Each site would run and maintain a tourism bureau (Cleveland Plus) complete with business, retail, residential, and tourism profiles (like a super-facebook), a real estate team to match people with communities that'd match what they're looking for, and a business team prepared to help newcomers and current residents navigate the city's red tape.
→ These bureaus would be funded in collaboration of each community in NEO looking for advertisement, new residents, etc. With a collective effort, the costs per city towards maintaining these groups would go down. Business advertisement and sponsorship is encouraged, as these businesses will benefit from more jobs and people in the city.
→ Each team maintains phone lines, email sites, and personal meetings with guests and inquirers.
- Tourism bureau
- Connects visitors claiming to be “tourists” with the hotels, clubs, restaurants, museums, neighborhoods, and transit options best suiting their needs. Fill them in on the city's secrets. Market Cedar Point.
- Residential team
- Maintains profiles for each community in NEO, showcasing their strengths for livability and matching a person/family to a neighborhood based on what they're looking for. Emphasize the quality of life for less than half the cost of any community on the coasts.
- Commercial leaders team.
- On top of maintaining a resources post at each NEO IWC, this team would be governed by a collection of political leaders and business leaders from the community. This team would be responsible for actively recruiting businesses in cities around the country and the world. Researches businesses looking to relocate or who should consider relocating, and act as mediator between the city of Cleveland and the business on the new relocation payroll tax rates, lower land purchase costs, incentives, and why employees would benefit from moving to Cleveland.
- This team, after targeting businesses of all sizes, actively recruit businesses out of Sacramento, New York, Florida, the south, etc. With Cleveland's success in landing the Gay Games and Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame, we can definitely work our low cost living and new resources to bring more jobs and people here.
- Operating Resources
- Set up the websites, committees, personal phone assistants, community profiles, etc. Expect an immediate flood of interest after marketing campaign is released nation-wide.
- Obtain resources (financial, from local businesses and communities) to fund annual costs as well as the first big push. The more you pay this Center, the more advertisement you get.
- Marketing campaign.
→ With numerous changes in NEO's approach as well as the culmination of all these events, we now have something to market. We're a viable option to visit, move to, start a business in, and move your current business to. We're a region looking forward to the challenges of a globalized, environmentally-impacted world. We're cheap yet have the amenities of a large city. Low commute times, lowering taxes, water, a new change in attitude, improving quality of education, green future, and gay and immigrant friendly. We're prepared for a future that demands these things of a city. And we're attractive to all groups of people, especially those marginalized groups looking for purpose and place in the USA.
→ We need to market these assets and all of our new changes in a one-weekend push that stirs national attention.
→ I propose running a 2-page spread in America's 50 most-read newspapers and 25 most-read magazines. One page would market our region, another would be a testimony of our current business base encouraging other businesses large & small to look into our new tax paradigm.
→ this initial push could cost up to $500,000. Far from a paltry amount for sure, but feasible with participation from every community in our region.
From this initial regional NEO push, with changes in place to promote growth, I'm positive we'll get interest and praise that will catalyze growth for years to come. It's all about being Progressive. With a new progressive mindset and progressive ideas, we'll be one-of-a-kind. The goal is to beat every city in the world to these unique ideas and the marketing campaign. If we fail to do something soon, the world will continue to grow and pass Cleveland by, even when a location such as ours become naturally appealing in 20 years. Without action in the next two years to set up a marketing push for moving residents and businesses in throughout 2014, the Gay Games may showcase that our city can't handle the needs of any event or person in the 21st century. It is critical we act NOW to change our collective fortunes and improve our region. NEO communities are interrelated. Without a collective change in approach, we're doomed to continual failure.
I love Cleveland. With all my soul. But if we don't turn things around soon, I fear a mass exodus of businesses from Cleveland, a continuous exodus of creative young people, a loss of our sports teams, and a fall from grace of our renowned cultural institutions. Everyone is hurting right now. But if we do things right and attract people here, we can prevent these things from happening and once again make Cleveland the greatest location in the nation.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Updates on Plan
Hey y'all!
I've been working really hard at getting my ideas for my "Cleveland Progressive Plan."
I just completed the basic slideshow (40 pages) and two minor papers (4 pages each of ideas)
I'm going to fine tune it and present it to Chris Ronayne and Jimmy Malone at my brunch with them next Saturday. They're both like my mentors and go to people in Cleveland life. Ronayne is CEO of University Circle Inc., Malone is an intelligent morning radio show host.
If the like it, I'll share it with you guys.
It doesn't focus on specifics we use for our region to get politicians re-elected.
It proposes solutions for our loss of population and lack of regionalization.
It's big, it's bad, and it won't be stopped.
Have a great weekend! I can't wait to go home Tuesday night for Thanksgiving.
-Ken
I've been working really hard at getting my ideas for my "Cleveland Progressive Plan."
I just completed the basic slideshow (40 pages) and two minor papers (4 pages each of ideas)
I'm going to fine tune it and present it to Chris Ronayne and Jimmy Malone at my brunch with them next Saturday. They're both like my mentors and go to people in Cleveland life. Ronayne is CEO of University Circle Inc., Malone is an intelligent morning radio show host.
If the like it, I'll share it with you guys.
It doesn't focus on specifics we use for our region to get politicians re-elected.
It proposes solutions for our loss of population and lack of regionalization.
It's big, it's bad, and it won't be stopped.
Have a great weekend! I can't wait to go home Tuesday night for Thanksgiving.
-Ken
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
I Think I've Solved Cleveland
. . .but for now it's confidential.
It's a plan that throws aside common ideas and single-string approaches.
It connects several ideas in an integrated way.
It's too dangerous to let leak to other cities and planners; it's too juicy, too novel an idea.
It answers these questions: How do we attract new people to our region? How do we attract new people to Cleveland?
Miracles happen once in a while when you believe. . .
I'm almost positive I'm not excited over nothing, or over something intangible.
It's real. And if it happens, we'll never be the same.
I'm going to start up the prelim sketch of the ideas right now, and I'll try to finish it by Thanksgiving.
Stay tuned for topics NOT related to this plan
Keep your chins up!
-Ken
It's a plan that throws aside common ideas and single-string approaches.
It connects several ideas in an integrated way.
It's too dangerous to let leak to other cities and planners; it's too juicy, too novel an idea.
It answers these questions: How do we attract new people to our region? How do we attract new people to Cleveland?
Miracles happen once in a while when you believe. . .
I'm almost positive I'm not excited over nothing, or over something intangible.
It's real. And if it happens, we'll never be the same.
I'm going to start up the prelim sketch of the ideas right now, and I'll try to finish it by Thanksgiving.
Stay tuned for topics NOT related to this plan
Keep your chins up!
-Ken
Monday, November 15, 2010
An Urban Planner's trip to Cleveland
The Organization for Urban and Regional Studies at Cornell recently voted on where our spring trip should be. In the running were Washington D.C., Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Providence. Cleveland lost out to Pittsburgh but still garnered 10 votes other than mine, so yay!
In lieu of an amazing tour I could've given my planning colleagues, I would like to jot down my ideas for an itinerary of events. The days could be rearranged for weather and I'm leaving a separate list of night plans, which would depend on the day of the week and season of the event.
This list composes of both tourist destinations and things which would introduce planners to the unique issues and solutions in our region.
With Cleveland's great restaurant scene, the restaurants are for the most part interchangeable depending on the area of town the restaurant is in.
So, let's set the stage:
4 of my friends come to Cleveland in the summer looking for a good time adventure. They don't know much about the place except its bad planning reputation and Norm Krumholz.
Here are many day trip excursions within 90 mins of Downtown Cleveland:
Day 1: Akron & Canton
-Invent Now and Football HOF
Day 2: Lake Erie Islands & Lighthouses Tour
Day 3: Cedar Point
Day 4:
-Zoo! until like 2 pm
-Drive to Cleveland's Ohio & Erie Canal Nature Center and explore the unique history of the park and valley.
-Visit Steelyard Commons and discuss its pros and cons as far as planning, the Walmart fiasco, Metrohealth, etc.
-Drive to Tremont and begin grand walking tour of area. Steel worker, ethnic, & church history. Explain Rockefeller's desire to build what became the University of Chicago on that parcel.
-Visit Christmas Story House & Museum
-Sokolowski's University Inn for Dinner
Day 5: Rocky River, Lakewood, Western suburbs tour. Beach visit.
Day 6: Near West Side
-Take the bus from my house to Fulton/Lorain.
-Breakfast at Nick's
-Head to St. Pat's, NWT, Library.
-Walk down Bridge Ave. to Heck's & Heizman House.
-Tour of Ignatius
-Walk down Lorain to W. 25th
-Visit Room Service, West Side Market (lunch) and Great Lakes Brewing Company
-Walk down W. 25th, exploring the pros/cons of the affordable housing, hospital, etc.
-Visit St. Malachi's
-Take bus down Detroit Ave.
-Visit Detroit Shoreway
-Dinner
-Walk to Edgewater Park for Lake Erie Sunset
Day 7: Downtown
-Drive through stockyards, Ohio City, Battery Park, Wendy Park, then Shoreway to lakefront.
-Discussion on Lakefront usage and issues
-Science Center
-Rock & Roll HOF & Museum
-Goodtime III
-Park at Tower City after drive through Flats
-Terminal Tower Observation Deck
-Casino, Scranton Rd. Peninsula, Avenue Discussion
-Gateway Complex discussion & tour
-Dinner on E. 4th street.
Day 8: Downtown Part 2
-Bus to Public Square
-New designs, discussion, Soldiers & Sailors Monument
-Warehouse District
-Go to Malls
-Discuss Medical Mart, Group Plan, pictures by fountain
- Go to Lake Ave. and view the lake, lakefront, visit city hall and courthouse
- Discuss urban space in context of Library's courtyard, FREE stamp, malls, CMSD building, etc.
-Walk down E. 12th redevelopment, visit Greenhouse inside Galleria.
-Walk down Euclid to Playhouse Square.
-Visit CSU's College for Urban Affairs
-Visit Cleveland's "Chinatown"
Day 9: Cleveland as a "shrinking city":
-Visit Terry Schwarz at the Kent State Urban Design Collaborative for presentation (hopefully) on her programs for shrinking cities
-Visit Land bank sites, inner east side.
-Visit Tyler Village & explore the innovations of Midtown redevelopment
Day 10: Cleveland's real gem: University Circle
-Take 79 from house to downtown
-Ride on Euclid Corridor, get off at Cornell Ave. During trip point out previous visits, Cleveland Clinic, etc.
-Walking tour of the Circle:
Day 11: Loose Ends
-Anything else desired
-Shaker Heights?
Seasonal Events/Festivals:
-Winterfest Public Square for Thanksgiving Weekend
-Snowdays at Progressive Field
-Tobogganing in Strongsville
-Parade the Circle
-Ingenuity Festival
-Airshow
-Feast of the Assumption
Nighttime events:
-Clubs in Warehouse District
-Browns, Cavs, Indians games
-Local Theatre
-Theatre at Playhouse Square
-more
Any suggestions?
Holla!
In lieu of an amazing tour I could've given my planning colleagues, I would like to jot down my ideas for an itinerary of events. The days could be rearranged for weather and I'm leaving a separate list of night plans, which would depend on the day of the week and season of the event.
This list composes of both tourist destinations and things which would introduce planners to the unique issues and solutions in our region.
With Cleveland's great restaurant scene, the restaurants are for the most part interchangeable depending on the area of town the restaurant is in.
So, let's set the stage:
4 of my friends come to Cleveland in the summer looking for a good time adventure. They don't know much about the place except its bad planning reputation and Norm Krumholz.
Here are many day trip excursions within 90 mins of Downtown Cleveland:
Day 1: Akron & Canton
-Invent Now and Football HOF
Day 2: Lake Erie Islands & Lighthouses Tour
Day 3: Cedar Point
Day 4:
-Zoo! until like 2 pm
-Drive to Cleveland's Ohio & Erie Canal Nature Center and explore the unique history of the park and valley.
-Visit Steelyard Commons and discuss its pros and cons as far as planning, the Walmart fiasco, Metrohealth, etc.
-Drive to Tremont and begin grand walking tour of area. Steel worker, ethnic, & church history. Explain Rockefeller's desire to build what became the University of Chicago on that parcel.
-Visit Christmas Story House & Museum
-Sokolowski's University Inn for Dinner
Day 5: Rocky River, Lakewood, Western suburbs tour. Beach visit.
Day 6: Near West Side
-Take the bus from my house to Fulton/Lorain.
-Breakfast at Nick's
-Head to St. Pat's, NWT, Library.
-Walk down Bridge Ave. to Heck's & Heizman House.
-Tour of Ignatius
-Walk down Lorain to W. 25th
-Visit Room Service, West Side Market (lunch) and Great Lakes Brewing Company
-Walk down W. 25th, exploring the pros/cons of the affordable housing, hospital, etc.
-Visit St. Malachi's
-Take bus down Detroit Ave.
-Visit Detroit Shoreway
-Dinner
-Walk to Edgewater Park for Lake Erie Sunset
Day 7: Downtown
-Drive through stockyards, Ohio City, Battery Park, Wendy Park, then Shoreway to lakefront.
-Discussion on Lakefront usage and issues
-Science Center
-Rock & Roll HOF & Museum
-Goodtime III
-Park at Tower City after drive through Flats
-Terminal Tower Observation Deck
-Casino, Scranton Rd. Peninsula, Avenue Discussion
-Gateway Complex discussion & tour
-Dinner on E. 4th street.
Day 8: Downtown Part 2
-Bus to Public Square
-New designs, discussion, Soldiers & Sailors Monument
-Warehouse District
-Go to Malls
-Discuss Medical Mart, Group Plan, pictures by fountain
- Go to Lake Ave. and view the lake, lakefront, visit city hall and courthouse
- Discuss urban space in context of Library's courtyard, FREE stamp, malls, CMSD building, etc.
-Walk down E. 12th redevelopment, visit Greenhouse inside Galleria.
-Walk down Euclid to Playhouse Square.
-Visit CSU's College for Urban Affairs
-Visit Cleveland's "Chinatown"
Day 9: Cleveland as a "shrinking city":
-Visit Terry Schwarz at the Kent State Urban Design Collaborative for presentation (hopefully) on her programs for shrinking cities
-Visit Land bank sites, inner east side.
-Visit Tyler Village & explore the innovations of Midtown redevelopment
Day 10: Cleveland's real gem: University Circle
-Take 79 from house to downtown
-Ride on Euclid Corridor, get off at Cornell Ave. During trip point out previous visits, Cleveland Clinic, etc.
-Walking tour of the Circle:
- Severance Hall
- Art Museum's reflection pool
- Quick visit to free art museum
- Walk around the circle, viewing History Museum, Botanical Gardens, Historical Society
- Visit UCI & Chris Ronayne
- Cleveland institute of Music & Case Western Reserve University
- Euclid Developments
- University Hospitals
- Little Italy
REALLY BUSY AMAZING DAY
Day 11: Loose Ends
-Anything else desired
-Shaker Heights?
Seasonal Events/Festivals:
-Winterfest Public Square for Thanksgiving Weekend
-Snowdays at Progressive Field
-Tobogganing in Strongsville
-Parade the Circle
-Ingenuity Festival
-Airshow
-Feast of the Assumption
Nighttime events:
-Clubs in Warehouse District
-Browns, Cavs, Indians games
-Local Theatre
-Theatre at Playhouse Square
-more
Any suggestions?
Holla!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Creating a Team
Remember when in grade school you'd line up and captains would "pick teams?"
It may still be happen in your life when you play sports; you pick "the best," not the ones who are your friends or try really hard but have little "talent," per-say.
There's the half that was picked first, and the half picked last.
And honestly, I was always in that second half unless a friend picked me.
I guess you can argue it's natural? capitalism? competition? logical?
But at the same time, the last few kids' feelings would get hurt unless they were humble, understood they weren't athletic and okay with it, or always refused to participate.
THIS is why, when I create a "team," it's not going to be just people that are the smart ones, the good looking ones, the powerful ones, or the rich ones.
My team is all inclusive, and will focus on everyday hard-working folks: The poor who are rarely reached out to in decisions, the suburbanites who refuse to go downtown unless it's for work because of the traffic cameras and high parking prices, small business owners, the lgbt community, the homeless, and MOST IMPORTANTLY. . . ANYONE and EVERYONE who cares about making Cleveland & NEO (Northeast Ohio) a better place to work, play, live, move, and visit.
I can't define what exactly my "team" is or does. At this point I'm counting on friends to help me out, to bounce ideas off of, etc. and I think I know a few who would be considered on a team if I had one.
But I want to create a group willing to go out and connect with the elderly, the homeless, small business owners, lgbt, random people in random places, and begin a collection pool of ideas can that can be used to create a grand, ever-changing vision.
I would also like to meet two times a year to discuss progress with everyone in my "team" and hear their ideas, forming a future (and a name) for this team. First meeting's over this winter break! haha
So, reader, would you like to be a part of this "Team for Cleveland"? Want to take an active role, whether you're still a student or a "real world" citizen, in changing Cleveland now? Want to be invited to some dinner/gathering with me each winter and summer? Want the chance to meet with current and future leaders in government, non-profits, and citizenry where we try to put personal politics aside to discuss what's best for all people in our state/region/county/city?
Then just facebook, comment, or email me your name and I'll put you on the list.
It's that simple.
Open invite to anyone interested.
And I'll try to organize an event this winter break if I get but one name back.
So if you're a caring citizen and want to learn, take an active role, and move forward, please let me know.
Thanks!
My next blog post shouldn't come out for a long time because school's really busy right now.
Happy November!
It may still be happen in your life when you play sports; you pick "the best," not the ones who are your friends or try really hard but have little "talent," per-say.
There's the half that was picked first, and the half picked last.
And honestly, I was always in that second half unless a friend picked me.
I guess you can argue it's natural? capitalism? competition? logical?
But at the same time, the last few kids' feelings would get hurt unless they were humble, understood they weren't athletic and okay with it, or always refused to participate.
THIS is why, when I create a "team," it's not going to be just people that are the smart ones, the good looking ones, the powerful ones, or the rich ones.
My team is all inclusive, and will focus on everyday hard-working folks: The poor who are rarely reached out to in decisions, the suburbanites who refuse to go downtown unless it's for work because of the traffic cameras and high parking prices, small business owners, the lgbt community, the homeless, and MOST IMPORTANTLY. . . ANYONE and EVERYONE who cares about making Cleveland & NEO (Northeast Ohio) a better place to work, play, live, move, and visit.
I can't define what exactly my "team" is or does. At this point I'm counting on friends to help me out, to bounce ideas off of, etc. and I think I know a few who would be considered on a team if I had one.
But I want to create a group willing to go out and connect with the elderly, the homeless, small business owners, lgbt, random people in random places, and begin a collection pool of ideas can that can be used to create a grand, ever-changing vision.
I would also like to meet two times a year to discuss progress with everyone in my "team" and hear their ideas, forming a future (and a name) for this team. First meeting's over this winter break! haha
So, reader, would you like to be a part of this "Team for Cleveland"? Want to take an active role, whether you're still a student or a "real world" citizen, in changing Cleveland now? Want to be invited to some dinner/gathering with me each winter and summer? Want the chance to meet with current and future leaders in government, non-profits, and citizenry where we try to put personal politics aside to discuss what's best for all people in our state/region/county/city?
Then just facebook, comment, or email me your name and I'll put you on the list.
It's that simple.
Open invite to anyone interested.
And I'll try to organize an event this winter break if I get but one name back.
So if you're a caring citizen and want to learn, take an active role, and move forward, please let me know.
Thanks!
My next blog post shouldn't come out for a long time because school's really busy right now.
Happy November!
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Cleveland vs. Pittsburgh; and LeBron?
LeBron still may save Cleveland.
hang in there
All I hear about here when I bring up the midwest is how good Pittsburgh is doing.
"Why can't Cleveland and other 'Rustbelt' cities become as successful as Pittsburgh?"
"I hear Pittsburgh is is doing amazing things"
"I love Pittsburgh"
"Let's all live in Pittsburgh." (Just kidding about that one)
This frustrates me.
And I'm not too sure why.
It could be the Browns/Steelers "rivalry" (which is hopefully being reignited)
Or it could be that we're so goshdarn similar, which makes us similar in planners-from-outside-the-midwest's minds, which means that Cleveland can just get up and do what Pittsburgh has done and stop whining.
From my understanding, Pittsburgh was also an industrial powerhouse city, flooded with European immigrant culture. We're both very prideful towns, we love our sports, we've both been hurt over the years by loss of industry and such. We're really the same city, except 2.5 hours apart (depending on how fast you drive)
Pittsburgh held the G-20 summit in 2009 and has been receiving national acclaim for it's green growth, quality of life, sustainability, educational and medical hub, sports, low cost of living, best place to move a business, on and on and on and on...
So, what makes Pittsburgh different from Cleveland?
A lot. Obviously.
But also not so much.
Check out this article published in 2009
http://www.newgeography.com/content/001060-pittsburgh-renaissance
Pittsburgh faces the same problems Cleveland, Detroit, and many other midwest cities face, in some cases problems these cities DON'T face:
Shrinking populations, higher death than birth rates, lower cost of living, massive debt, higher poverty than Cleveland, virtually non existent immigrant population. . .
Statistically, Pittsburgh isn't THAT magical. As the article points out, the young people moving there for educational purposes and the medical fields aren't making permanent roots. Even with Pitt, Duquesne, and Carnegie Melon bringing thousands of young folk there for education, these students aren't staying!
Cleveland and Pittsburgh differ in many facets:
Pittsburgh has 75% the population of Cleveland, although the regions have about the same population.
Pittsburgh is 68% white compared to 40% in Cleveland.
Pittsburgh lost ALL of its industry in the mid-20th century, while Cleveland's industry has been leaving in chunks for the past 60 years.
At this juncture I would like to propose my theory.
Pittsburgh was FORCED to recreate itself about 20-30 years ago.
They HAD to find a new economic force, a new economy, a new approach at things for the next century.
And because communities in Greater Cleveland are divided, competitive, and show no commitment to helping the city prosper, PLUS the high demographic in poverty etc.
Cleveland's slowly adjusting. We haven't had a complete shocker, no individual slap in the face, to force us to try new things, invest in the future, come together as a region, and put our resources into redefining ourselves from just a hard-working blue collar town with bad luck to a united green city on a blue lake. (Check out gcbl.org for sustainability plans for NEO)
We can shape the future.
I'm still devastated from LeBron James's departure. It still sucks, although I'm incredibly happy with the recent fortunes of the Cavaliers and Browns.
But if there was one event in the history of our city that we could use to change things around, it's LeBron's "Decision."
The BIGGEST slap in the face our city has ever received.
Immediately after it, I talked to Chris Ronayne, and I can't quote him, but he cheered me up and made me believe things will get better, and that we just have to move on.
MOVE ON?!
I'll never move on from that.
But it made me realize we can no longer sit on our hands every year saying that sports and our hometown hero LeBron would save us from all of our woes.
UGH!
I've realized our economy wasn't based entirely on LeBron James as I had thought it may, but maybe this loss of revenue, the hit taken by our community, can be used to fuel us forward.
We have the potential to become BETTER than Pittsburgh because of the diversity which currently divides us and our location. They're located in a dark valley with threat of floods! (I don't know how legit that is...)
Should we continue to move slowly, waiting for Ford and GM to abandon their plants, steel to leave completely, our businesses to move to Columbus and Cincinnati and the coasts?
Or should we use our passionate hatred for LeBron, for all that's happened, as a reason to change how we look at EVERYTHING and leverage our location on a lake and a winding, intimate river?
The new County Government is an excellent first step. I have faith in Fitzgerald, and pray he can unite our divided communities.
I also pray that somehow Kasich doesn't cut any programs beneficial to our communities and finds a way to nurture a better business environment for our whole state, one which can attract companies from out of state, attract entrepreneurs and intellects and artists and retain the bright minds already here.
It's a decent start, and so much has to be done.
Let's be BETTER than Pittsburgh. Let's find a way to work together, regionalize, create a beautiful lakefront, and attract businesses and people in this world where cities are becoming marketable products for the brightest minds to move to.
Let's NEVER FORGET LEBRON. Let's carry that chip on our shoulder. Let's stop complaining though, and turn our hurts into action, right decision making.
If we can change our approaches to government, decision making, and focus on the betterment for all people, we can propel our city into a leader for the rest of this century.
We're a lot like Pittsburgh. Let's learn from them, learn from all successful cities, and adjust what's good there to a master plan for what's best for us.
It's manageable.
We just need the right people in office to make decisions and a willingness by the citizens to WORK (blue collar...) for a better future.
Our parent's generation has failed us. Let's not fail our children's generation.
I'm rambling, so I'm going to stop.
Lessons:
-LeBron is the pinnacle for what we should teach our children NOT to be like. If you want to leave Cleveland, do it. And never hold it against LeBron for the abandonment.
-Cleveland is similar to Pittsburgh, but we aren't Pittsburgh. We can't simply replicate what they've done. We need our own identity.
-Give me ideas and input, I want to be a giant think-tank of ideas.
I'm getting to the Lakefront soon enough, too busy this week but maybe next weekend.
This is how I see it, as un-cited as I'll ever present a document.
God Bless,
-Ken
hang in there
All I hear about here when I bring up the midwest is how good Pittsburgh is doing.
"Why can't Cleveland and other 'Rustbelt' cities become as successful as Pittsburgh?"
"I hear Pittsburgh is is doing amazing things"
"I love Pittsburgh"
"Let's all live in Pittsburgh." (Just kidding about that one)
This frustrates me.
And I'm not too sure why.
It could be the Browns/Steelers "rivalry" (which is hopefully being reignited)
Or it could be that we're so goshdarn similar, which makes us similar in planners-from-outside-the-midwest's minds, which means that Cleveland can just get up and do what Pittsburgh has done and stop whining.
From my understanding, Pittsburgh was also an industrial powerhouse city, flooded with European immigrant culture. We're both very prideful towns, we love our sports, we've both been hurt over the years by loss of industry and such. We're really the same city, except 2.5 hours apart (depending on how fast you drive)
Pittsburgh held the G-20 summit in 2009 and has been receiving national acclaim for it's green growth, quality of life, sustainability, educational and medical hub, sports, low cost of living, best place to move a business, on and on and on and on...
So, what makes Pittsburgh different from Cleveland?
A lot. Obviously.
But also not so much.
Check out this article published in 2009
http://www.newgeography.com/content/001060-pittsburgh-renaissance
Pittsburgh faces the same problems Cleveland, Detroit, and many other midwest cities face, in some cases problems these cities DON'T face:
Shrinking populations, higher death than birth rates, lower cost of living, massive debt, higher poverty than Cleveland, virtually non existent immigrant population. . .
Statistically, Pittsburgh isn't THAT magical. As the article points out, the young people moving there for educational purposes and the medical fields aren't making permanent roots. Even with Pitt, Duquesne, and Carnegie Melon bringing thousands of young folk there for education, these students aren't staying!
Cleveland and Pittsburgh differ in many facets:
Pittsburgh has 75% the population of Cleveland, although the regions have about the same population.
Pittsburgh is 68% white compared to 40% in Cleveland.
Pittsburgh lost ALL of its industry in the mid-20th century, while Cleveland's industry has been leaving in chunks for the past 60 years.
At this juncture I would like to propose my theory.
Pittsburgh was FORCED to recreate itself about 20-30 years ago.
They HAD to find a new economic force, a new economy, a new approach at things for the next century.
And because communities in Greater Cleveland are divided, competitive, and show no commitment to helping the city prosper, PLUS the high demographic in poverty etc.
Cleveland's slowly adjusting. We haven't had a complete shocker, no individual slap in the face, to force us to try new things, invest in the future, come together as a region, and put our resources into redefining ourselves from just a hard-working blue collar town with bad luck to a united green city on a blue lake. (Check out gcbl.org for sustainability plans for NEO)
We can shape the future.
I'm still devastated from LeBron James's departure. It still sucks, although I'm incredibly happy with the recent fortunes of the Cavaliers and Browns.
But if there was one event in the history of our city that we could use to change things around, it's LeBron's "Decision."
The BIGGEST slap in the face our city has ever received.
Immediately after it, I talked to Chris Ronayne, and I can't quote him, but he cheered me up and made me believe things will get better, and that we just have to move on.
MOVE ON?!
I'll never move on from that.
But it made me realize we can no longer sit on our hands every year saying that sports and our hometown hero LeBron would save us from all of our woes.
UGH!
I've realized our economy wasn't based entirely on LeBron James as I had thought it may, but maybe this loss of revenue, the hit taken by our community, can be used to fuel us forward.
We have the potential to become BETTER than Pittsburgh because of the diversity which currently divides us and our location. They're located in a dark valley with threat of floods! (I don't know how legit that is...)
Should we continue to move slowly, waiting for Ford and GM to abandon their plants, steel to leave completely, our businesses to move to Columbus and Cincinnati and the coasts?
Or should we use our passionate hatred for LeBron, for all that's happened, as a reason to change how we look at EVERYTHING and leverage our location on a lake and a winding, intimate river?
The new County Government is an excellent first step. I have faith in Fitzgerald, and pray he can unite our divided communities.
I also pray that somehow Kasich doesn't cut any programs beneficial to our communities and finds a way to nurture a better business environment for our whole state, one which can attract companies from out of state, attract entrepreneurs and intellects and artists and retain the bright minds already here.
It's a decent start, and so much has to be done.
Let's be BETTER than Pittsburgh. Let's find a way to work together, regionalize, create a beautiful lakefront, and attract businesses and people in this world where cities are becoming marketable products for the brightest minds to move to.
Let's NEVER FORGET LEBRON. Let's carry that chip on our shoulder. Let's stop complaining though, and turn our hurts into action, right decision making.
If we can change our approaches to government, decision making, and focus on the betterment for all people, we can propel our city into a leader for the rest of this century.
We're a lot like Pittsburgh. Let's learn from them, learn from all successful cities, and adjust what's good there to a master plan for what's best for us.
It's manageable.
We just need the right people in office to make decisions and a willingness by the citizens to WORK (blue collar...) for a better future.
Our parent's generation has failed us. Let's not fail our children's generation.
I'm rambling, so I'm going to stop.
Lessons:
-LeBron is the pinnacle for what we should teach our children NOT to be like. If you want to leave Cleveland, do it. And never hold it against LeBron for the abandonment.
-Cleveland is similar to Pittsburgh, but we aren't Pittsburgh. We can't simply replicate what they've done. We need our own identity.
-Give me ideas and input, I want to be a giant think-tank of ideas.
I'm getting to the Lakefront soon enough, too busy this week but maybe next weekend.
This is how I see it, as un-cited as I'll ever present a document.
God Bless,
-Ken
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Community
Where will a sense of place, a sense of community come from in the 21st century?
From my personal experiences a sense of community can be found at Major-League sporting events, churches, parades, cultural institutions, ethnic festivals, and certain civic events and festivals in the suburbs.
Please comment below where you find and wish to find a sense of community and/or civic pride in your life.
We face many critical public social challenges as we try to move our region forward: Safety, education, social equity, distribution of goods and services, adapting to a new economy, a racial divide, cuts in services, etc.
One of the many reasons Cleveland struggles is the clear racial divide that still exists. Most of the east side of Cleveland, including suburbs such as East Cleveland and Euclid, have a strong black population. We need to find a way to ease tensions that still exist between the white and black demographics in our region.
When compared to Rustbelt cities such as Pittsburgh and Buffalo, which are now being ranked highly in "Livability" rankings, Cleveland has a stark difference in its demographics. Buffalo is 39 % african american and Pittsburgh is 27% african american. Cleveland is about 55% black with an increasing ratio as the population decreases more quickly amongst the white population. When you have a population as racially divided, poor and unequal like Cleveland's it becomes much harder to "turn things around."
It's well documented how poor Cleveland is, how "unsafe" we are, and how poor our education system is.
How do we fix these problems?
Sure we need to improve the K-12 system, pre-school education, and vastly increase the number of students who graduate and attend college. Sure we can put more money into our safety forces and increase coverage downtown. And yes, we could somehow magically turn our economy around over night.
But these issues still remain. And we still have an adult population with little education, no specialized skills, reliant on welfare and social services, with little access to sports leagues and programs for kids and adults alike, no elderly programs, and no places for the communities to come together to learn, discuss issues, hold councils, propose ideas, and grow closer. Poor communities don't have internet, computer access, satellite TV access, pools, gym memberships, after school tutoring, clubs, intramural sports, or a way to participate in government.
Take a step back and think about our professional sports teams. Everyone is a Browns fan. why? Because they supposedly represent our city. "Why is he saying supposedly? They're the 'Cleveland' Browns." Well, the majority of fans live in the suburbs, and the majority of the residents in Cleveland have no financial access to attend the games, let alone go to bars and pay to see the Cavs, Indians, and Browns in action. There's an inequity here.
Yes, the capitalistic market we live in deems that those with the most money get the things with the shortest supply and the highest demand. However, crowds at our sporting events, our concerts, are mostly white. This issue is similar to affordable housing. Shouldn't every resident have access to the fruits of the city?
Pope Paul the VI proclaimed, "If you want peace, work for justice."
If we want social issues in our city to be resolved in order to move forward, we need a new focus on the community, and providing services to those who deserve a second chance to succeed in life. Those who cannot afford to pay for courses at Tri-C with time or capital. If every citizen has access to similar things, the gap will be lessened, equality will surge, and a sense of community will grow once the divisiveness is cut back.
If anything that I said makes sense, you're probably wondering what I'm getting at. Does he mean the sports teams should let poor people into games for free? How do we solve all of these issues with one solution?
Answer to #1 is NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT. We just need to provide public spaces with television access to the games, a place where people from a neighborhood can congregate safely and come together to support a common "civic pride" and stay away from loitering and criminal activities.
This magical place, the purpose of this blog post, is a COMMUNITY CENTER.
Colleges have them in their "Student Centers" and cities already have them in their "Recreation Centers."
My proposal is that we focus foremost on places with free community services for health, wellness, education, and community. Let's put our best foot forward and encourage homegrown celebrities (Drew Carey, Halle Berry, Kid Cudi), local corporations, and national chains to pitch in and provide Clevelanders with new facilities and technological resources through donations and sponsoring fundraisers. Work with church congregations, community development corporations, councilmen, etc. to make these happen and procure the funds.
Make Cleveland a national case study for how to turn the inner city around by providing the poor with resources to stay active, busy, healthy, educated, and create a mobile workforce. This is NOT WELFARE. This isn't giving out money, free healthcare, free food, etc. This is an investment in the social life and post-secondary education of a population mostly riddled with poverty and odds against them to succeed. None of these services are necessarily required for a government to provide, but once the facilities are complete, the only civic expenses would be in salaries.
Here's the idea:
1. Replace or revamp every "recreation center" in Cleveland.
2. Rename them ". . . Community Center," so that it becomes not just a place for physical activities and services but also for community activities in new gathering spaces.
3. Ideally, each center has a central common area with tables, chairs, restrooms, locker room access, stairs, an elevator to the second floor if there is one, and a private, locally owned food stand. Attatched to this common space are a gymnasium with a stage, a community room able to seat 150 with tables & chairs (also with the TV's with access to sports networks, news, and weather channels (as controlled by center personnel) and couches near the tv for smaller viewing groups. Also on the first floor would be an ampitheater that goes below ground, able to seat about 200 equipped with a projector, for workshops educational activities, speakers, etc. as well as locker rooms with access to the pool. On the second floor would be 3-4 classrooms, a weight room, and computer lab.
This "Community Center has a design with four entrances with a glass ceiling down each walkway to the center atrium area. each corner has a facility. I can send a design to anyone interested.
This center would be staffed by 2 police workers or safety personnel, lifeguards and pool manager, Center manager, events manager, technical director, and 3-4 maintenance personnel.
Each center would host CDC meetings, certain church gatherings as needed, intramural sports leagues for all age groups, tutoring programs with local college and high school students, opportunities for a drama program, a computer lab with free basic training, and would attract community speakers, monthly "state of the council" addresses by the councilman, free training sections in subjects as taught by professional volunteers, access to sports games on tv, activities for the elderly, and perhaps weekly farmers markets.
I'm a visionary. Honestly, I'm quite nuts and get caught up in these huge ideas.
But I believe an investment in these facilities will be hugely beneficial to communities by providing access to various educational, civic, and recreational activities all in one place. It would raise property values and make the city of Cleveland a city with much better access amongst its neighborhoods, creating a place to go where people would be proud to gather, exchange ideas, and help each other out.
A focus on community is critical whether or not I ever get moving on plans like this. An investment this large, if feasible, would vastly improve equality, decrease crime, and provide a greater chance for our students to succeed in and out of school
This is how I see it.
I hope I could get you to see it a bit too
-Ken
From my personal experiences a sense of community can be found at Major-League sporting events, churches, parades, cultural institutions, ethnic festivals, and certain civic events and festivals in the suburbs.
Please comment below where you find and wish to find a sense of community and/or civic pride in your life.
We face many critical public social challenges as we try to move our region forward: Safety, education, social equity, distribution of goods and services, adapting to a new economy, a racial divide, cuts in services, etc.
One of the many reasons Cleveland struggles is the clear racial divide that still exists. Most of the east side of Cleveland, including suburbs such as East Cleveland and Euclid, have a strong black population. We need to find a way to ease tensions that still exist between the white and black demographics in our region.
When compared to Rustbelt cities such as Pittsburgh and Buffalo, which are now being ranked highly in "Livability" rankings, Cleveland has a stark difference in its demographics. Buffalo is 39 % african american and Pittsburgh is 27% african american. Cleveland is about 55% black with an increasing ratio as the population decreases more quickly amongst the white population. When you have a population as racially divided, poor and unequal like Cleveland's it becomes much harder to "turn things around."
It's well documented how poor Cleveland is, how "unsafe" we are, and how poor our education system is.
How do we fix these problems?
Sure we need to improve the K-12 system, pre-school education, and vastly increase the number of students who graduate and attend college. Sure we can put more money into our safety forces and increase coverage downtown. And yes, we could somehow magically turn our economy around over night.
But these issues still remain. And we still have an adult population with little education, no specialized skills, reliant on welfare and social services, with little access to sports leagues and programs for kids and adults alike, no elderly programs, and no places for the communities to come together to learn, discuss issues, hold councils, propose ideas, and grow closer. Poor communities don't have internet, computer access, satellite TV access, pools, gym memberships, after school tutoring, clubs, intramural sports, or a way to participate in government.
Take a step back and think about our professional sports teams. Everyone is a Browns fan. why? Because they supposedly represent our city. "Why is he saying supposedly? They're the 'Cleveland' Browns." Well, the majority of fans live in the suburbs, and the majority of the residents in Cleveland have no financial access to attend the games, let alone go to bars and pay to see the Cavs, Indians, and Browns in action. There's an inequity here.
Yes, the capitalistic market we live in deems that those with the most money get the things with the shortest supply and the highest demand. However, crowds at our sporting events, our concerts, are mostly white. This issue is similar to affordable housing. Shouldn't every resident have access to the fruits of the city?
Pope Paul the VI proclaimed, "If you want peace, work for justice."
If we want social issues in our city to be resolved in order to move forward, we need a new focus on the community, and providing services to those who deserve a second chance to succeed in life. Those who cannot afford to pay for courses at Tri-C with time or capital. If every citizen has access to similar things, the gap will be lessened, equality will surge, and a sense of community will grow once the divisiveness is cut back.
If anything that I said makes sense, you're probably wondering what I'm getting at. Does he mean the sports teams should let poor people into games for free? How do we solve all of these issues with one solution?
Answer to #1 is NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT. We just need to provide public spaces with television access to the games, a place where people from a neighborhood can congregate safely and come together to support a common "civic pride" and stay away from loitering and criminal activities.
This magical place, the purpose of this blog post, is a COMMUNITY CENTER.
Colleges have them in their "Student Centers" and cities already have them in their "Recreation Centers."
My proposal is that we focus foremost on places with free community services for health, wellness, education, and community. Let's put our best foot forward and encourage homegrown celebrities (Drew Carey, Halle Berry, Kid Cudi), local corporations, and national chains to pitch in and provide Clevelanders with new facilities and technological resources through donations and sponsoring fundraisers. Work with church congregations, community development corporations, councilmen, etc. to make these happen and procure the funds.
Make Cleveland a national case study for how to turn the inner city around by providing the poor with resources to stay active, busy, healthy, educated, and create a mobile workforce. This is NOT WELFARE. This isn't giving out money, free healthcare, free food, etc. This is an investment in the social life and post-secondary education of a population mostly riddled with poverty and odds against them to succeed. None of these services are necessarily required for a government to provide, but once the facilities are complete, the only civic expenses would be in salaries.
Here's the idea:
1. Replace or revamp every "recreation center" in Cleveland.
2. Rename them ". . . Community Center," so that it becomes not just a place for physical activities and services but also for community activities in new gathering spaces.
3. Ideally, each center has a central common area with tables, chairs, restrooms, locker room access, stairs, an elevator to the second floor if there is one, and a private, locally owned food stand. Attatched to this common space are a gymnasium with a stage, a community room able to seat 150 with tables & chairs (also with the TV's with access to sports networks, news, and weather channels (as controlled by center personnel) and couches near the tv for smaller viewing groups. Also on the first floor would be an ampitheater that goes below ground, able to seat about 200 equipped with a projector, for workshops educational activities, speakers, etc. as well as locker rooms with access to the pool. On the second floor would be 3-4 classrooms, a weight room, and computer lab.
This "Community Center has a design with four entrances with a glass ceiling down each walkway to the center atrium area. each corner has a facility. I can send a design to anyone interested.
This center would be staffed by 2 police workers or safety personnel, lifeguards and pool manager, Center manager, events manager, technical director, and 3-4 maintenance personnel.
Each center would host CDC meetings, certain church gatherings as needed, intramural sports leagues for all age groups, tutoring programs with local college and high school students, opportunities for a drama program, a computer lab with free basic training, and would attract community speakers, monthly "state of the council" addresses by the councilman, free training sections in subjects as taught by professional volunteers, access to sports games on tv, activities for the elderly, and perhaps weekly farmers markets.
I'm a visionary. Honestly, I'm quite nuts and get caught up in these huge ideas.
But I believe an investment in these facilities will be hugely beneficial to communities by providing access to various educational, civic, and recreational activities all in one place. It would raise property values and make the city of Cleveland a city with much better access amongst its neighborhoods, creating a place to go where people would be proud to gather, exchange ideas, and help each other out.
A focus on community is critical whether or not I ever get moving on plans like this. An investment this large, if feasible, would vastly improve equality, decrease crime, and provide a greater chance for our students to succeed in and out of school
This is how I see it.
I hope I could get you to see it a bit too
-Ken
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Election Results
"The battle for Rohan has ended. The battle for Middle Earth is about to begin"
-Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (movie....)
With an interesting political season coming to a conclusion with the election results yesterday, I would like to recap the results and the effects they will have on Cleveland and Northeast Ohio.
In Congress, Republicans regained control of the House while Democrats barely held onto the Senate Majority. An Ohioan (cool) Jim Boehner appears to be the heir apparent for Speaker of the House. Portman won the U.S. Senate seat from Ohio, replacing fellow Republican George Voinovich.
These results have little effect on Ohio directly, however I predict the Republicans will continue to freeze movement in the federal government over the next two years and try to blame Obama for their own partisanship in the next Presidential campaign.
Dennis Kucinich and Marcia Fudge withheld their positions in the House over the inner city areas of Cleveland, so we'll have the same old same old out of them.
Most importantly towards my aims in planning and policy, John Kasich beat out Ted Strickland for Governor of Ohio. I fear removal of the performance-based education system which has caused improvements in our inner city school districts, as well as funding cutbacks in the new industry (green technologies) and secondary education funding critical to our state's future.
I do have hope that Kasich can find a way to balance the budget, but at whose cost? I will personally give him four years to improve the quality of our state's business environment and I expect exponential job growth. If not, throw him out with the bath water in the next election.
Our state needs economic growth and a nurturing environment, and I am hoping he can provide that.
I have difficulty trusting his integrity and that he is not another pawn of big business and the wealthy to take advantage of our state's desperation for more jobs.
But we'll see.
I believe he will remove the estate tax, cut education and social service funding, and attempt to stop the 3-C "High speed" rail corridor from Cleveland to Cincinnati. He will try to lower taxes across the board but will likely only provide benefits to the rich. The business environment for finance and service sectors will get better (whatever that means) but he'll focus too much on retaining old industrial jobs (coal, car manufacturing) and remove the focus on creating to industry (linear solar and wind energy production and exportation). Education will take a hit, although charter schools will see a resurgence. I expect job growth in Columbus and Cincinnati, but another mayor who forgets about the most important region of the state (Northeast Ohio). It will be up to local leaders, just as it was with Strickland, to turn our area of the state around. Although maybe with a better business environment some of the potential prosperity will spread to us.
At the County level, I'm extremely pleased Ed Fitzgerald won Cuyahoga County Executive. His platform aligns nearly identical to what mine would have been. He has an emphasis on Urban Renewal, encouraging investment in new green industry, county investment in lakefront development, and stopping suburbs from preying on Cleveland-located employers. He seems to understand that we will fail as a region if Cleveland dies.
Let's pray that Fitzgerald accomplishes his aims and Kasich causes more good than harm for all people. We don't need a greater mess. We need to clean government up and re-prioritize.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Boo! A scary topic for Halloween: EDUCATION
While I should be doing homework after working 20 hours this weekend, I find more comfort in discussing the scariest topic of all the problems Cleveland faces - education.
This topic is really difficult and takes many perspectives to wrap your mind around. There are many reasons to complain, many groups to blame, yet it seems like there are no viable solutions in place yet.
So, let's start from the beginning. Cleveland's schools were great in the 50's and 60's. (At least from my dad's perspective). Cleveland was still on the upswing, gaining population, industry, and tax revenue. However, Cleveland remained EXTREMELY SEGREGATED from that era forth. There was a large pool of poor black families and second generation immigrants that lived on polar ends of the city. This idea may sound egregious to my generation, but the truth is segregation still exists. (puerto rican inner southwest, black east and southeast, and white west and outer southwest.
My dad always insisted that once the city started bussing, Cleveland was done for. The city forced equal demographics in all schools across the city and bussed all of "those black kids" (not my dad's words at all, I can't quote, but that's the theory) to the west side schools. Not to mention the HUGE cost of bussing. My dad believed that this was the catalyst for the city's demise, and I basically agree. My grandma took my aunt, who was very young at this time, and fled to the suburbs (North Olmstead?) to escape the revolution in Cleveland's schools. Bussing wasn't the cause, but it seems like it was the catalyst. It combined with low gas prices, new highways cutting through neighborhoods and becoming arteries to the suburbs, loss of jobs in the oil industry to the Mideast, an increase in service industry jobs, and new inventions to making often family interaction less necessary (women working and sending kids to daycare, commercial airlines, highways, and the telephone) combined to promote a white-flight from the city to the sprawl of the suburbs. (I hate sprawl. All planners do. It's the anti-everything our world and country should stand for.) My point is that bussing provided a catalyst for the white flight in our region experienced, which in turn effected our education system.
As bussing "forced" many white families to leave our city, it began to decline at a rapid level, losing population, tax dollars, and most importantly, the families with good students who could find better opportunities in whiter suburban districts. The district has taken hits every year with lower revenue, lower student populations, and a larger proportion of students who are economically disadvantaged.
We've reached a point now where people want to live in Cleveland, yet have two real options when they have four options: 1. Homeschool, 2. Private schools, 3. Move to suburbs, 4. Charter schools
At least that's the way I would look at it now if I had kids.
The goal is for the school district to succeed. Or is it? In a capitalistic world, things that fail should get shut down. "But we can't eliminate a school district!" But can we? This is where charter schools come into play. Frankly, I'm the product of great parents, great talents, and a charter school (gasp!). After an imperfect Kindergarten at Saint Thomas More in such a structured environment, my parents asked me to try a new school (with blocks to build towers!) for one year. Old Brooklyn Montessori School. I ended up loving it, and I stayed there for eight years and got into Ignatius, which leads me to where I am today! OBMS has since undergone a lot of changes that it needed to make to get more state funding and compete better with the state's "Report Card" and national "No Child Left Behind" testing requirements. It's now "Old Brooklyn Community School" and "Old Brooklyn Community Middle School." I'll always wish the school had stayed focused on Montessori (which helped my free spirit excel by letting me take my own initiative) however:
OBCS is annually ranked an "Excellent" school on the state report card.
This is remarkable given that charter schools receive 1/2 the funding of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) and teachers change so quickly with the lower salaries that incurs. A school district receives X amount from the city and Y amount from the state, which accounts for about the same. So charter schools in Cleveland run on 1/2 the funding of CMSD yet receive superior results in cases. Why is that? COMPETITION IN THE MARKETPLACE. Parents can now raise their kids in Cleveland without moving or paying for them to attend good schools. The students that attend charter schools (in my opinion) have parents that care more than the average CMSD parent and are encouraged to actively participate in the school. This recreates that suburban pool of schools, but in the city. Plus, students don't change schools every six months. Just imagine how much MORE successful certain charter schools could be if they received vouchers for students from the city. Teachers could get paid wages more competitive to wages of unionized public school district's teachers, and more resources could get paid into expansion, equipment, and facilities.
My argument here is that if CMSD doesn't change trends around in five years after its recent change in philosophy under CEO Eugene Sanders, we need to promote a strong voucher system and open up competition in the charter school market.
I have faith in Dr. Sanders and hope his plan works, but if if doesn't work we need new philosophies. OUR CHILDREN CANNOT WAIT ANYMORE. Without a decent set of free education options, our region is doomed to failure.
The deal with charter schools is that if they fail after Z many years, the state shuts them down. Fair enough, no?
In case you're confused, I'm going to explain various viewpoints involved with the CMSD and it's problems.
CMSD (Cleveland Metropolitan School District) runs into problems in five key areas: Demographics, student motivation, parent motivation, teachers union, and teachers approach.
I've already documented the demographics. We cannot force bussing, which the district repealed a few years ago if I remember correctly, but we have to leave it an option to certain specialty schools (particularly high schools for the arts, technology, science, etc.). We need demographics to improve (bring families with good students and care about involvement in the education process into all areas of town. However, this attraction needs to occur with some incentives such as a better education system, which is redundant, or a great lakefront, community center service, close to jobs, safe, etc.
I should've mentioned this earlier if I didn't, but EDUCATION IS THE SINGLE BIGGEST KEY TO OUR REGION'S GROWTH. Turning the region and school district around involves all of the topics I'm cataloguing, but without good schools we will never succeed in producing good workers, entrepreneurs, or attract new industry.
Parent participation to their child's education is critical. If a parent doesn't push their kids to do well, connect them to resources to help them, use the library system to read to kids when they're growing up, and challenge kids to grow, a kid doesn't obtain the necessary skills or motivation to succeed in life. There are always anomalies in this situation however part of the blame goes on parents of kids. Parents who were raised in the system and may or may not have had their first kid in high school and there's no dad and the "blaming" goes on and on and on....
Simply, the city and schools need to try everything they can to encourage parents to read to their children, encourage them to do well, connect them with resources (libraries) and help out at school. I made an 18-page proposal a month ago about how to do this. If you'd like a copy please let me know. It involved a bunch of changes including using $200 of the $14,000 per student CMSD spends on incentives for grades, attendance, good behavior, graduation, participation, etc. I determined it to be impractical and scrapped it, although I'm sure I'll revisit it sometime.
Kids motivation is key, but when you're young and are faced with odds against you such as parents who don't care or bad teachers, you have little chance of making it in life.
Cleveland Teachers Union. Oh boy. Let me premise the ravaging I'm about to do by saying I believe Unions should be a great place to foster ideas, living wages, and promote activism in the city. I'm not anti-union. I'm pro-union to a certain extent.
HOWEVER THIS UNION HAS GONE TOO FAR.
Problems: High wages, low results.
THEY SHELTER BAD, REALLY BAD, TEACHERS WITH OLD SCHOOL APPROACHES AND LITTLE IMPACT WITH THEIR SENIORITY.
They're way too powerful and spend resources on special interest groups at the federal level as far as I understand.
They're focused way more on their well being than that of their students. Which is Wrong. If the teachers don't care about their students as a whole, and worry more about themselves, we're doomed to failure. Their jobs will be such much better if they work more to turn the system around and change policies to promote growth instead of stagnation.
CMSD CEO Dr. Eugene Sanders has attempted to work with the unions to change some of these policies, but the unions still aren't budging. Seemingly every three years they're laying off hundreds of young energetic teachers at the expense of the students so that teachers with seniority keep their fat paychecks. This is unsustainable. I'm hoping Sanders wins his push to change the unions. If not, we need to threaten the union's existence by strongly promoting charter schools and vouchers in the city. If the school district disappears and the city is not growing, unions have no one to serve.
UGH. This is really scary folks. It's one of the nightmares about Cleveland.
New teacher approaches such as positive reinforcement are needed, but I've got too much of a headache now to expand upon that. Plus, I'm no expert in that area.
SO, my plan:
1. CMSD should be the city's #1 priority.
-Union needs to scrap seniority
-New teaching methods need to be implemented
-Parents need to be well informed and active in child's education
-Every student needs to have opportunities to "make it"
If Cleveland's Transformation plan doesn't result in significant changes by the 2015-2016 school year, the flood gate needs to be opened on CMSD with charter schools flooding the district. Families need options. If CMSD is doomed to fail, the unions die with it. And from there maybe a fresh start can begin.
At this point I'm rambling. And that's what's scary about the education system. You can't do much unless you're in charge and have power to negotiate with the unions and can influence parents' motivation.
I'll revisit this topic again eventually when I understand it a bit better
Happy Halloween!
God Bless,
-Ken
This topic is really difficult and takes many perspectives to wrap your mind around. There are many reasons to complain, many groups to blame, yet it seems like there are no viable solutions in place yet.
So, let's start from the beginning. Cleveland's schools were great in the 50's and 60's. (At least from my dad's perspective). Cleveland was still on the upswing, gaining population, industry, and tax revenue. However, Cleveland remained EXTREMELY SEGREGATED from that era forth. There was a large pool of poor black families and second generation immigrants that lived on polar ends of the city. This idea may sound egregious to my generation, but the truth is segregation still exists. (puerto rican inner southwest, black east and southeast, and white west and outer southwest.
My dad always insisted that once the city started bussing, Cleveland was done for. The city forced equal demographics in all schools across the city and bussed all of "those black kids" (not my dad's words at all, I can't quote, but that's the theory) to the west side schools. Not to mention the HUGE cost of bussing. My dad believed that this was the catalyst for the city's demise, and I basically agree. My grandma took my aunt, who was very young at this time, and fled to the suburbs (North Olmstead?) to escape the revolution in Cleveland's schools. Bussing wasn't the cause, but it seems like it was the catalyst. It combined with low gas prices, new highways cutting through neighborhoods and becoming arteries to the suburbs, loss of jobs in the oil industry to the Mideast, an increase in service industry jobs, and new inventions to making often family interaction less necessary (women working and sending kids to daycare, commercial airlines, highways, and the telephone) combined to promote a white-flight from the city to the sprawl of the suburbs. (I hate sprawl. All planners do. It's the anti-everything our world and country should stand for.) My point is that bussing provided a catalyst for the white flight in our region experienced, which in turn effected our education system.
As bussing "forced" many white families to leave our city, it began to decline at a rapid level, losing population, tax dollars, and most importantly, the families with good students who could find better opportunities in whiter suburban districts. The district has taken hits every year with lower revenue, lower student populations, and a larger proportion of students who are economically disadvantaged.
We've reached a point now where people want to live in Cleveland, yet have two real options when they have four options: 1. Homeschool, 2. Private schools, 3. Move to suburbs, 4. Charter schools
At least that's the way I would look at it now if I had kids.
The goal is for the school district to succeed. Or is it? In a capitalistic world, things that fail should get shut down. "But we can't eliminate a school district!" But can we? This is where charter schools come into play. Frankly, I'm the product of great parents, great talents, and a charter school (gasp!). After an imperfect Kindergarten at Saint Thomas More in such a structured environment, my parents asked me to try a new school (with blocks to build towers!) for one year. Old Brooklyn Montessori School. I ended up loving it, and I stayed there for eight years and got into Ignatius, which leads me to where I am today! OBMS has since undergone a lot of changes that it needed to make to get more state funding and compete better with the state's "Report Card" and national "No Child Left Behind" testing requirements. It's now "Old Brooklyn Community School" and "Old Brooklyn Community Middle School." I'll always wish the school had stayed focused on Montessori (which helped my free spirit excel by letting me take my own initiative) however:
OBCS is annually ranked an "Excellent" school on the state report card.
This is remarkable given that charter schools receive 1/2 the funding of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) and teachers change so quickly with the lower salaries that incurs. A school district receives X amount from the city and Y amount from the state, which accounts for about the same. So charter schools in Cleveland run on 1/2 the funding of CMSD yet receive superior results in cases. Why is that? COMPETITION IN THE MARKETPLACE. Parents can now raise their kids in Cleveland without moving or paying for them to attend good schools. The students that attend charter schools (in my opinion) have parents that care more than the average CMSD parent and are encouraged to actively participate in the school. This recreates that suburban pool of schools, but in the city. Plus, students don't change schools every six months. Just imagine how much MORE successful certain charter schools could be if they received vouchers for students from the city. Teachers could get paid wages more competitive to wages of unionized public school district's teachers, and more resources could get paid into expansion, equipment, and facilities.
My argument here is that if CMSD doesn't change trends around in five years after its recent change in philosophy under CEO Eugene Sanders, we need to promote a strong voucher system and open up competition in the charter school market.
I have faith in Dr. Sanders and hope his plan works, but if if doesn't work we need new philosophies. OUR CHILDREN CANNOT WAIT ANYMORE. Without a decent set of free education options, our region is doomed to failure.
The deal with charter schools is that if they fail after Z many years, the state shuts them down. Fair enough, no?
In case you're confused, I'm going to explain various viewpoints involved with the CMSD and it's problems.
CMSD (Cleveland Metropolitan School District) runs into problems in five key areas: Demographics, student motivation, parent motivation, teachers union, and teachers approach.
I've already documented the demographics. We cannot force bussing, which the district repealed a few years ago if I remember correctly, but we have to leave it an option to certain specialty schools (particularly high schools for the arts, technology, science, etc.). We need demographics to improve (bring families with good students and care about involvement in the education process into all areas of town. However, this attraction needs to occur with some incentives such as a better education system, which is redundant, or a great lakefront, community center service, close to jobs, safe, etc.
I should've mentioned this earlier if I didn't, but EDUCATION IS THE SINGLE BIGGEST KEY TO OUR REGION'S GROWTH. Turning the region and school district around involves all of the topics I'm cataloguing, but without good schools we will never succeed in producing good workers, entrepreneurs, or attract new industry.
Parent participation to their child's education is critical. If a parent doesn't push their kids to do well, connect them to resources to help them, use the library system to read to kids when they're growing up, and challenge kids to grow, a kid doesn't obtain the necessary skills or motivation to succeed in life. There are always anomalies in this situation however part of the blame goes on parents of kids. Parents who were raised in the system and may or may not have had their first kid in high school and there's no dad and the "blaming" goes on and on and on....
Simply, the city and schools need to try everything they can to encourage parents to read to their children, encourage them to do well, connect them with resources (libraries) and help out at school. I made an 18-page proposal a month ago about how to do this. If you'd like a copy please let me know. It involved a bunch of changes including using $200 of the $14,000 per student CMSD spends on incentives for grades, attendance, good behavior, graduation, participation, etc. I determined it to be impractical and scrapped it, although I'm sure I'll revisit it sometime.
Kids motivation is key, but when you're young and are faced with odds against you such as parents who don't care or bad teachers, you have little chance of making it in life.
Cleveland Teachers Union. Oh boy. Let me premise the ravaging I'm about to do by saying I believe Unions should be a great place to foster ideas, living wages, and promote activism in the city. I'm not anti-union. I'm pro-union to a certain extent.
HOWEVER THIS UNION HAS GONE TOO FAR.
Problems: High wages, low results.
THEY SHELTER BAD, REALLY BAD, TEACHERS WITH OLD SCHOOL APPROACHES AND LITTLE IMPACT WITH THEIR SENIORITY.
They're way too powerful and spend resources on special interest groups at the federal level as far as I understand.
They're focused way more on their well being than that of their students. Which is Wrong. If the teachers don't care about their students as a whole, and worry more about themselves, we're doomed to failure. Their jobs will be such much better if they work more to turn the system around and change policies to promote growth instead of stagnation.
CMSD CEO Dr. Eugene Sanders has attempted to work with the unions to change some of these policies, but the unions still aren't budging. Seemingly every three years they're laying off hundreds of young energetic teachers at the expense of the students so that teachers with seniority keep their fat paychecks. This is unsustainable. I'm hoping Sanders wins his push to change the unions. If not, we need to threaten the union's existence by strongly promoting charter schools and vouchers in the city. If the school district disappears and the city is not growing, unions have no one to serve.
UGH. This is really scary folks. It's one of the nightmares about Cleveland.
New teacher approaches such as positive reinforcement are needed, but I've got too much of a headache now to expand upon that. Plus, I'm no expert in that area.
SO, my plan:
1. CMSD should be the city's #1 priority.
-Union needs to scrap seniority
-New teaching methods need to be implemented
-Parents need to be well informed and active in child's education
-Every student needs to have opportunities to "make it"
If Cleveland's Transformation plan doesn't result in significant changes by the 2015-2016 school year, the flood gate needs to be opened on CMSD with charter schools flooding the district. Families need options. If CMSD is doomed to fail, the unions die with it. And from there maybe a fresh start can begin.
At this point I'm rambling. And that's what's scary about the education system. You can't do much unless you're in charge and have power to negotiate with the unions and can influence parents' motivation.
I'll revisit this topic again eventually when I understand it a bit better
Happy Halloween!
God Bless,
-Ken
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
CLEERIET - 8 steps for Cleveland, Infinite possibilities
A quick acronym to tie together my general themes (just making this up now)
C- end CORRUPTION
L- develop and connect to the LAKEFRONT
E- ECONOMIC environment
E- EDUCATION
R- REGIONALIZATION
I- INNOVATE and INVEST in new INDUSTRY such as solar and wind**
E- Ecologically sound decisions. ENVIRONMENT
T- TRANSPORTATION*
*use our enviable location and infrastructure assets to create a 21st century TRANSPORTATION network. i.e. high speed rail system across the midwest
**(we can become North American leader in through linear production, bringing in innovative European technology...)
So....
CLEERIET
makes no sense
anywho:
Corruption
Lakefront
Economic Environment
Education
Regionalization
Innovate
Environment
Transportation
CLEERIET
take note :)
C- end CORRUPTION
L- develop and connect to the LAKEFRONT
E- ECONOMIC environment
E- EDUCATION
R- REGIONALIZATION
I- INNOVATE and INVEST in new INDUSTRY such as solar and wind**
E- Ecologically sound decisions. ENVIRONMENT
T- TRANSPORTATION*
*use our enviable location and infrastructure assets to create a 21st century TRANSPORTATION network. i.e. high speed rail system across the midwest
**(we can become North American leader in through linear production, bringing in innovative European technology...)
So....
CLEERIET
makes no sense
anywho:
Corruption
Lakefront
Economic Environment
Education
Regionalization
Innovate
Environment
Transportation
CLEERIET
take note :)
Clean it up!
My plans for the City of Cleveland begin with fiscal and leadership responsibility.
In order to grow and move forward, we need the least corrupt government possible. Although corruption is often inevitable when the powers that be remain in office for a long period of time, there are steps we can take. As citizens, we are called to vote good people first and foremost into office, seeing beyond the financial aspects of their campaigns into whether or not their intentions are good. A strong platform and experience also help. Secondly, we need to utilize the strong FBI presence we have here. Sure, they may slow down some government processes, but ratting out corrupt politicians and city/county workers is a priority. They've done a valiant job so far and need to continue looking into government corruption at all levels.
Cleveland is a leader in philanthropy between businesses, non profits, and governments. THAT is GREAT! It's the inside jobs and skimming money that have cost our region MILLIONS of tax dollars.
Weeding out this government corruption is the first step to fiscal responsibility. Cleveland's population loss is beginning to decline as the people who are left mostly either want to stay or do not have the means to leave if they wanted to. A large chunk of the population loss over the last five years was from the foreclosure crisis and the exodus of wealthy city workers (previously required to live IN Cleveland) to the suburbs. Now that those workers who wanted to leave have left, there's really nothing else forcing people to stay in town.
As our population begins to stabilize, we can begin to focus on a fixed income (as opposed to a constant decline) as well as the best ways to use the resources we have. But in order to complete the projects we wish to continue to fund as a city and county, we need to attempt to clean up the messes we have already made and refocus our resources on projects and agencies that benefit everyone, particularly the under served.
I first propose approaching the owners of our three major sports teams about refinancing our deals.
Here are some facts:
-We're still paying for about a half of "The Q" and "Progressive Field."
-Both owners get subsidies.
-The Dolan family still makes annual profits on the Indians through MLB revenue sharing.
-Dan Gilbert is a very wealthy man and has huge stakes in our city through his investments and great returns on the Cavaliers and through the new casino.
-Almost all of athletes live in the far suburbs, the owners live out of town, and many workers live in the suburbs.
-Cleveland is getting very little returns on the huge investment that these box projects were.
-Neither owner has to pay property taxes.
Facts more enraging to me:
-The County is still paying about $7 million a year for Cleveland Browns Stadium, will through something like 2025
-Randy Lerner pays NO PROPERTY TAXES (fund our schools) on the stadium for ETERNITY
-We lose EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS a year on that lost property tax income.
-The stadium was poorly placed on prime real estate land that could have been developed for other uses (developed new lakefront community, park, etc.)
-Lerner lives in England, is a multi Billionaire, and is basically pillaging our city for extra profits from our team.
-The players and workers who are needed 9 times a year live in the suburbs.
-Lerner's annual rent is a measly $250,000 with no increase over 30 years.
-This is all BULLSHIT to Clevelanders!
Corruption comes in many forms. TALK ABOUT CORRUPTION!
The Medical Mart and convention center are the same things all over again, however I argue FOR IT as soon as possible in a tba post.
With all of this in mind, as a sign of faith in moving our region forward, I highly recommend the city business leaders, city nonprofit leaders, city leaders, county leaders, state governor, and state congressmen to set up meetings with the owners of these teams to try to work out new deals. At least put public pressure on them.
Since the county's 50% shares in the Gateway district are almost paid off, try to negotiate slashing the subsidies by two thirds, or else threaten to remove them all together. Gilbert's not leaving, and the Dolans might sell the franchise (which, in my opinion, would be fine, as long as they stay). I think it's reasonable that the county is paying for just 50% of these projects with sin taxes.
That gives us more money to spend on critical projects.
The two large pushes are at the state level and with Lerner:
The state needs to repeal its laws that guarantee stadiums built in Ohio do not have to pay property taxes.
We need to sit down with Lerner and find a way to convince him to pay for the remainder of the stadium, or at least a half of that remainder. It will likely fail because the deal is already in place. However, a sign of good faith in trying to move on from our corrupt past needs to be shown by the powers that be.
In total, on our stadiums and the Key Center and Gateway Parking complex, we lose $20 million in property taxes EACH YEAR. Imagine what we'd be able to do if we had that back!
If we could renegotiate with Lerner for half of the remaining financing for Browns stadium as well as removing subsidies to the Cavaliers and Indians, that would at least free up $5 million!
Corruption comes in many shapes and forms, and we're currently so entrenched in it that we need to find a way out now before it becomes too late and we miss out on growth opportunities in the next 20 years.
Moving forward with any projects, plans, and regionalization requires that we clean up our fiscal act NOW and free up funds for new projects so we won't have to raise taxes.
Oh how I LOVE Cleveland!
Here's a link on financing issues in Cleveland:
http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/10751
-Ken
NEXT TIME: something else interesting, possibly lakefront
In order to grow and move forward, we need the least corrupt government possible. Although corruption is often inevitable when the powers that be remain in office for a long period of time, there are steps we can take. As citizens, we are called to vote good people first and foremost into office, seeing beyond the financial aspects of their campaigns into whether or not their intentions are good. A strong platform and experience also help. Secondly, we need to utilize the strong FBI presence we have here. Sure, they may slow down some government processes, but ratting out corrupt politicians and city/county workers is a priority. They've done a valiant job so far and need to continue looking into government corruption at all levels.
Cleveland is a leader in philanthropy between businesses, non profits, and governments. THAT is GREAT! It's the inside jobs and skimming money that have cost our region MILLIONS of tax dollars.
Weeding out this government corruption is the first step to fiscal responsibility. Cleveland's population loss is beginning to decline as the people who are left mostly either want to stay or do not have the means to leave if they wanted to. A large chunk of the population loss over the last five years was from the foreclosure crisis and the exodus of wealthy city workers (previously required to live IN Cleveland) to the suburbs. Now that those workers who wanted to leave have left, there's really nothing else forcing people to stay in town.
As our population begins to stabilize, we can begin to focus on a fixed income (as opposed to a constant decline) as well as the best ways to use the resources we have. But in order to complete the projects we wish to continue to fund as a city and county, we need to attempt to clean up the messes we have already made and refocus our resources on projects and agencies that benefit everyone, particularly the under served.
I first propose approaching the owners of our three major sports teams about refinancing our deals.
Here are some facts:
-We're still paying for about a half of "The Q" and "Progressive Field."
-Both owners get subsidies.
-The Dolan family still makes annual profits on the Indians through MLB revenue sharing.
-Dan Gilbert is a very wealthy man and has huge stakes in our city through his investments and great returns on the Cavaliers and through the new casino.
-Almost all of athletes live in the far suburbs, the owners live out of town, and many workers live in the suburbs.
-Cleveland is getting very little returns on the huge investment that these box projects were.
-Neither owner has to pay property taxes.
Facts more enraging to me:
-The County is still paying about $7 million a year for Cleveland Browns Stadium, will through something like 2025
-Randy Lerner pays NO PROPERTY TAXES (fund our schools) on the stadium for ETERNITY
-We lose EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS a year on that lost property tax income.
-The stadium was poorly placed on prime real estate land that could have been developed for other uses (developed new lakefront community, park, etc.)
-Lerner lives in England, is a multi Billionaire, and is basically pillaging our city for extra profits from our team.
-The players and workers who are needed 9 times a year live in the suburbs.
-Lerner's annual rent is a measly $250,000 with no increase over 30 years.
-This is all BULLSHIT to Clevelanders!
Corruption comes in many forms. TALK ABOUT CORRUPTION!
The Medical Mart and convention center are the same things all over again, however I argue FOR IT as soon as possible in a tba post.
With all of this in mind, as a sign of faith in moving our region forward, I highly recommend the city business leaders, city nonprofit leaders, city leaders, county leaders, state governor, and state congressmen to set up meetings with the owners of these teams to try to work out new deals. At least put public pressure on them.
Since the county's 50% shares in the Gateway district are almost paid off, try to negotiate slashing the subsidies by two thirds, or else threaten to remove them all together. Gilbert's not leaving, and the Dolans might sell the franchise (which, in my opinion, would be fine, as long as they stay). I think it's reasonable that the county is paying for just 50% of these projects with sin taxes.
That gives us more money to spend on critical projects.
The two large pushes are at the state level and with Lerner:
The state needs to repeal its laws that guarantee stadiums built in Ohio do not have to pay property taxes.
We need to sit down with Lerner and find a way to convince him to pay for the remainder of the stadium, or at least a half of that remainder. It will likely fail because the deal is already in place. However, a sign of good faith in trying to move on from our corrupt past needs to be shown by the powers that be.
In total, on our stadiums and the Key Center and Gateway Parking complex, we lose $20 million in property taxes EACH YEAR. Imagine what we'd be able to do if we had that back!
If we could renegotiate with Lerner for half of the remaining financing for Browns stadium as well as removing subsidies to the Cavaliers and Indians, that would at least free up $5 million!
Corruption comes in many shapes and forms, and we're currently so entrenched in it that we need to find a way out now before it becomes too late and we miss out on growth opportunities in the next 20 years.
Moving forward with any projects, plans, and regionalization requires that we clean up our fiscal act NOW and free up funds for new projects so we won't have to raise taxes.
Oh how I LOVE Cleveland!
Here's a link on financing issues in Cleveland:
http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/10751
-Ken
NEXT TIME: something else interesting, possibly lakefront
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