Do the Math

White Hat + Black List = zero credibility: I truly understand why you leave Life Skills Center [“Education at Its Worst,” August 29] off your résumé. Not only do other jobs (not just educational jobs, but all jobs) look down at you, they will not consider your résumé. You have a better chance getting a job with a criminal record than you do with White Hat on your résumé. No joke.

Other schools laugh at White Hat. Other schools may not be passing the tests, but they do not have owners who are stealing their money. David Brennan has stolen so much money from Ohio education that his fat ass should be locked in jail for life. He is in the news all the time for misuse of money.

It is time for people to wake up to what David Brennan is doing. He is destroying Ohio’s future. Giving false hope to these kids is so unfair to them. They deserve to have the best future ever, and David Brennan is just using them to make millions. He takes the money, and the kids may get a high school diploma, but they will face the same thing the teachers and staff face — no job or college will consider them when they see White Hat on their application.

Kathy Castillo
Stow

Loan Shark Nation

Underwriting poverty is really bad business: Your article “Who Killed Cleveland?” [August 29] was excellent and on point. I am glad to see the courage of local media in covering this tragic and horrific time.

Cleveland is not the only place affected by this. Slowly but surely, whether your home is $30,000 or $300,000, we are all suffering, some quietly and some in the spotlight. I hope your article and continued coverage help spark aid to the thousands of people faced with losing their homes. I don’t think people realize what it does to not just the homeowner individually, but to the entire family.

There should be a way the lenders can work with these families. It seems better to work with people — rewrite their loans, extend their loans, whatever — versus kicking people out and owning a slew of abandoned properties. I have often heard that banks are not in the real-estate business and they don’t want to foreclose on homes, because it costs them money, and those properties become huge liabilities to them.

So why not work with people who have gainful employment and can pay a mortgage? They just can’t pay an inflated one.

I pray that the lenders open their eyes and their hearts. We are all in a crisis, whether we admit it or not. This affects our entire country, and if people don’t get help, we will all pay the price one way or the other.

Keep up the good work. Continue to write the truth and how it impacts people from the ghetto to the Hamptons!

Mary Cooper
Twinsburg

Saturday Night Fervor

Don’t mourn EDM — it’s stayin’ alive: This [“The Dwindling Tribe of Dance,” September 5] is irresponsible journalism.

The electronic-dance-music scene is not fading, and as a newcomer to this very scene, I’ve witnessed it firsthand. Some people fail at marketing it, but go to Mercury Lounge on a Friday or Saturday night, and that’s what you’ll hear. And you’ll see people dancing.

People don’t dance because they’re self-conscious, not because they hate the music. If people hate the music, they leave.

Bar Flyy has the worst dance floor on West Sixth and generally populates it with tables. Even when not crowded with tables, people have to traverse the dance area to use the bathroom. Hardly surprising that no one dances there — it’s not welcome.

Anthony Attalla doesn’t live in Cleveland. He’s here monthly, as a visiting DJ from Detroit. So why would you interview him for the state of Cleveland’s dance-music scene? Quoting him on the state of our affairs is lazy journalism and irresponsible to proponents of the dance music here.

I’ve been at events, when properly promoted, where the fire marshal had to warn people about capacity. Sinergy packs them in some Saturdays. Mercury is a powerhouse. Touch is another candidate.

But every weekend consistently? No — we’re Cleveland, not New York or San Diego. But it’s out there, it’s great, and it’s wonderful to be dancing in Cleveland.

Greg Hinkle
Cleveland

Judge Not Who Sucketh

Cut Billy some slack, but finger the slacker: This letter is in response to the ill-informed First Punch on August 29, “Billy Morris Sucks!”

I was asked to be a judge for the “Cleveland Idol” event, not by Billy, but by an outside promoter. The promoter had put on a similar event in Akron a couple years back, and it went well. This seemed like a fun event to add diversity to the Hi-Fi’s schedule.

I’m a promoter with a company that puts on Battle of the Bands events. The clubs only host the events — we pay them rent for the room, sound, etc. With every event I have ever booked, the promoter is responsible for the prize package, not the club.

Unfortunately, when a venue has a bad experience with a promoter, there is usually nothing they can do but refuse to work with them again. We all had so much fun cheering on the contestants and deciding the final outcome. This promoter has made everyone involved look bad.

Still, I’m glad this situation didn’t fall through the cracks. Ce-Cee was a great performer. She earned the prizes and is owed compensation.

But cut Billy some slack. He wasn’t even paid his room-rental fee. He was taken advantage of as much as everyone else. The guys at the Hi-Fi are good people.

Michelle Belleau
Cleveland

This article appears in Sep 19-25, 2007.