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The mismanagement and controversy of the Gateway project might be rearing its ugly head again as Thomas Chema, former head of Cleveland’s Gateway Economic Development Corp., is considering a run for Cuyahoga County executive. Staff writer Damian Guevara wrote about it for Scene’s news blog.

By Damian Guevara

Over the weekend, The Plain Dealer published a list of 20 possible Cuyahoga County executive candidates (including just three women and two minorities, blogger Jill Miller Zimon points out). But one name that caught our attention was that of Thomas Chema, president of Hiram College. The former head of Cleveland’s Gateway Economic Development Corp., Chema says he’ll consider running for the position unless “some good people” decide they want to take a stab at the top county seat.

We don’t know what Chema’s definition of “good people” is, but we like to think that “good people” don’t deceive the public. That’s exactly what Chema did back in the early 1990s as the number-one cheerleader for Cleveland’s sports arenas, according to an eye-opening book about taxpayer-funded stadiums.

Sociology professors Kevin J. Delaney and Rick Eckstein published Public Dollars, Private Stadiums: The Battle over Building Sports Stadiums in 2003. In a chapter about Cleveland’s supposed “miracle comeback” in the ’90s, the scholars quoted Chema extensively and exposed how he, local politicians and Cleveland Tomorrow (an organization which later morphed into the Greater Cleveland Partnership) duped Cuyahoga County voters into supporting the Gateway project, which created Cleveland’s professional baseball and basketball stadiums and ultimately, corporate welfare for Cleveland’s wealthy professional team owners.

This article appears in Feb 10-16, 2010.

Vince Grzegorek has been with Scene since 2007 and editor-in-chief since 2012. He previously worked at Discount Drug Mart and Texas Roadhouse.

2 replies on “Hold Onto Your Wallets, Chema’s Back”

  1. As I read this article in two days after the World Series loss to the Chicago Cubs I realize how totally out of touch Mr Grzegorek was back then. Gateway was the downtown project that saved downtown Cleveland . In 2016 we hosted R N C — the N B A finals and one of the greatest World Series of all time. All of this took place at Gateway ! ! ! Gateway has contributed millions of dollars and new jobs to our economy. It has revived all of downtown. Attracted the Casino . Also attracted thousands of people to live downtown as well. If Mr. Grzegorerk had his way none of this would have happened . Hope he writes an apology for his narrow-mindedness . I am sure he won’t !

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