In a letter requesting the transfer, dated December 28, 2017, Dow suggested that these funds should now go toward capital projects at the Ken Johnson Recreation Center. Dow had stockpiled a substantial reserve, reportedly accumulating the money in the hopes of funding a community resource center.
But shortly before he left office, he tried to empty the coffers.
“Dow obviously is still pissed off at Basheer Jones for running against and besting him fair and square at the ballot box,” wrote Frazier, in a Facebook tirade, “but this desperate attempt was the height of pettiness and folly. How can anyone with even a modicum of integrity try to financially hurt the residents of the ward he has professed to love for so long?”
A recount confirmed that Dow was indeed narrowly defeated by Basheer Jones in the November general election. The 13-vote margin was the second smallest among the 17 council races. (In Ward 1, Joe Jones defeated incumbent Terrell Pruitt by only eight votes.)
When reached for comment, new Councilman Jones said that his opinion on Dow’s maneuver was unnecessary to state.
“I think what he did is clear,” Jones said.
When asked if he interpreted the attempted transfer as an affront to him personally, maybe even as a kind of revenge, Jones said it was much more than that.
“You’re not talking about me. You’re talking about the ward, about disrespecting the babies and the teenagers and the elders and the organizations. You’re talking about all of those. This is not about me. This is about the residents of Ward 7.”
Cleveland.com reported that Council President Kevin Kelley will ultimately decide if the transfer request will be honored and that he has not yet made up his mind. For the time being, he has passed the transfer request on to the city’s law department.
But Jones said that Kelley has signaled to him that he will not approve the transfer.
“I really appreciate the Council President,” Jones said, “and all those who saw this for what it was.”
Jones said he’s not yet sure how he’ll spend his ward’s discretionary dollars (from casino funds and block grants) but that he feels fortunate to walk in on day one with a surplus. His Ward 7 includes most of St. Clair-Superior and Hough, and there are a number of organizations and parks that could benefit from additional resources, he said. He did mention a collaborative program to provide zero-interest loans to residents to “tackle the payday lending crisis,” and a new distribution center for the Greater Cleveland Foodbank, soon to open in Ward 7.
“There’s definitely going to be transformational work going on,” Jones said, “and residents will notice the difference immediately.”
T.J. Dow’s transfer request:
This article appears in Jan 10-16, 2018.
“He did mention a collaborative program to provide zero-interest loans to residents to “tackle the payday lending crisis,”
Well that will work well
Are the $$, 00 and .. keys missing from TJ’s keyboard?????
cc: Ken Johnson Ward 7????? Thought kKen was ward 4. TJ Dow, you should ne ashamed of yourself and i hope you are never elcted into office again, you petty, pissed off loser bastard. This was 100% foul. I’m soooooooo glad you’re out of office, one you didn’t deserve anyway.
If you read Mansfield Frazier’s comments you read and ignored my response. No problem. I’m accustomed to your reporting by omission and manufacturing quotes to place in someone’s mouth.
You left out the fact that Basheer Jones told council members and employees during an orientation before he took office that he wanted to send block grant money overseas and pay off friends he owed. He was told “no” and that there’d criminal trouble for him if he tried. So knowing Jones had nefarious intentions that didn’t serve Ward 7 residents, TJ Dow wrote the letter to try and protect the dollars and keep them in Cleveland.
You’ve just quoted Jones as saying he doesn’t know what he’s going to do with the money. Let me share that there is no role a councilman plays in the block grant process other than to vote as a member of the legislative body for the “action plan” the city was required to submit to HUD by November 15th. A member of council under Ohio law, the charter and federal law plays no “individual” role in authorizing block grant expenditures. It’s the mayor’s job to spend the money. It’s council’s job “as a body” to appropriate it. This information is all in the governing documents Jones swore he’d obey and enforce in his oath of office that neither he nor you have read. So if after being administered an oath of office, and Jones is acting like he can ignore the action plan the mayor submitted to HUD last year to now determine on his own how the money is spent; his statement is an admission of his ignorance and demonstrates he hasn’t read the action plan or federal HUD laws.
Since I’m the only person on this page responding who’s managed a block grant program twice and submitted four action plans to HUD, TJ Dow’s letter for smart people drew attention to Ward 7’s block grants and alerted residents to keep an eye on Jones. But since this isn’t a line in those sexually-charged, crotch grabbing, leg-spreading plays you perform in, you’ve omitted real information that could have helped Ward 7 residents. You quote Mansfield as if he’s a master of municipal government and HUD programs; and that his interpretation of the letter reflects knowledge. I know Mansfield. On this topic all he has is an unsupported opinion.
I don’t know what’s happening to fact-based journalism and quality reporting. What you’ve written isn’t it.