(Note: I’m honestly not sure of the ethical implications, but in the interest of full disclosure: I enjoyed a Conway’s Irish Ale at the campaign’s expense).
Three white guys sat on the panel, singing the praises of Cleveland’s development momentum and retrofitting most questions to answer by vocally supporting the sin tax, the Opportunity Corridor and other public private partnerships. In fairness, all three spokesmen were articulate ambassadors of the organizations they represent.
Michael Christoff, in particular, a Kent State alum who now works for the design firm Vocon and co-founded the PechaKucha series in 2008, candidly voiced his frustrations with the way that development is sometimes handled in Cleveland. He said that typically, in lieu of vocal opposition, he tries to determine how to make the best of policy decisions for local communities.
“My wife calls me a wimp,” he said, but championed the fact that “actual built results” are now cropping up in Northeast Ohio after nearly a decade of fits and starts and uncertainty. Christoff was also wearing a tremendous pair of socks (see above).
Michael Deemer, from Downtown Cleveland Alliance, took it one step further:
“Nothing is going to get done without public/private partnerships,” he said. Deemer pointed to the rabid interest for housing downtown and the internationally acclaimed Health Line as notable achievements and said that Cleveland needs to embrace new strategies for downtown development (as opposed to the “trophy investment projects” of the 90s) if it’s going to thrive.
“Millenials want transit options,” Deemer said, calling the Rapid one of the region’s most underutilized assets and agreeing with Marty McGann of the GCP, who said earlier that transit can drive investment from the private sector — defending the Opportunity Corridor.
McGann did his part to rehash the talking points of the GCP regarding the sin tax, mentioning a six-pack of beer in Lorain County (in the same way that Council President Kevin Kelley did at the debate Tuesday afternoon) and urging young professionals to get involved much earlier in policy discussions. As far as the Opportunity Corridor and Issue 7 are concerned, though, McGann said it’s “almost too late.”
“It’s gonna pass,” McGann said confidently, when asked about contingency plans if Issue 7 fails. “If not, it’ll be uncharted territories for us. This will push a crisis on Cuyahoga County.”
Deemer, responding to the same question, said that the short answer was he didn’t know. “This is essential. This is mission-critical,” he said.
This article appears in Apr 2-8, 2014.
I would probably start planning another alternative to the sin tax, because it really doesn’t seem like a whole lot of people support that.
“Public private partnerships” Opportunity Corridor style = GCP contributes less than one tenth of a percent of the cost, gets to dictate very aspect of public project worth $331 million. Wow. These guys.
The definition of Public/Private Partnerships — the public shovels cash into the pockets of those who abhor any tax-and-spend scheme that doesn’t benefit their bottom line.
How is Opportunity Corridor, a $331 million highway extension for suburbanites, considered investing in “transit”?
This issue is the absurdity of absurdities. Let me get this straight: the
purpose of the Sin Tax is to gouge those who purchase alcohol and cigarettes
not because anyone is trying to discourage consumption but rather so the
County can use that money to pay for sports stadiums that do not produce
anything but a fleeting moment witnessing the passing of a football, the
dribbling of a basketball and the throwing of a baseball so that such a minute
tidbit of diversion can be enjoyed by all. The stupidity of this proposition is
enough to make your head spin even though the spin doctors advocating
passage of this nonsense are already doing a pretty good job of hypnotizing
the voters to actually consider supporting it. At least the Robber Barons
of the previous centuries provided something tangible such as oil, steel,
railroads etcetera. These team owners do not even provide one tangible thing
that could ever be considered with the term “value added.” Almost everyone
discusses this “enterprise” as though it is the same thing as industry {which
it is not}. The price of admission is essentially a voluntary tax paid by those
who can afford it to pay those who don’t need it. If this isn’t a transfer of
wealth I don’t know what is.
The real outrage here is the fact that taxes on alcohol and cigarettes will
not be used to aid in the reduction of addiction {hence the reference to “sin”}
but rather to stuff the pockets of all three teams who could easily afford to
pay for the repairs themselves. The vote was rammed through the last time
{under somewhat suspicious circumstances} and hear we go again. But this
time…not so fast!!! We the voters of Cuyahoga County are going to fight the
proponents on this one and we don’t care if the teams up and go somewhere
else {please see my views on entertainment below} because quite frankly there
are simply more important things than sports and the unearned money that
comes with it. Those in public office who are too stupid and lazy to find other
ways to grow a major American city need to resign and leave their self-seeking
political ambitions on the scrapheap of history. Don’t ever let it be said that
this was time when the tide ran out on Cuyahoga County but rather was the
time when the voters rose up to welcome the rising tide of change and rebuked
this pathetic paradigm our previous elected leaders embraced.
Let the battle be joined.
And now to the real underlying issue at hand:
One of the most disturbing facts about our capitalist nation is the
misappropriation of funds directed to the salaries of entertainers.
Everyone should agree that the value an athlete, movie star, talk-show host,
team-owner, etcetera brings to the average citizen is very small. Granted,
they do offer a minuscule of diversion from our daily trials and
tribulations as did the jesters in the king’s court during the middle ages.
But to allow these entertainers to horde such great amounts of wealth at the
expense of more benevolent societal programs is unacceptable.
They do not provide a product or a service so why are they rewarded as such?
Our society is also subjected to the “profound wisdom” of these people
because it equates wealth with influence. Perhaps a solution to this
problem and a alternative to defeated school levies, crumbling
infrastructures, as well as all the programs established to help feed,
clothe and shelter those who cannot help themselves would be to tax this
undeserved wealth. Entertainers could keep 1% of the gross earnings reaped
from their endeavor and 99% could be deposited into the public coffers.
The old ideas of the redistribution of wealth have failed, and it is time to
adapt to modern-day preferences. People put their money into entertainment
above everything else; isn’t it time to tap that wealth? Does anyone think
this will reduce the quality of entertainment? It seems to me that when
entertainers received less income, the quality was much higher.
Young bros.
Yea public/private partnerships have worked so well that the city is swimming in debt and can’t afford to pay for stadiums that run at an annual deficit. Yea, you guys are doing an awesome job………morons
The article above is dripping with bias, almost as though Sam had written it before attending the event and then looked up from his drink only briefly enough to take notes on the socks of the participants and then published it shortly thereafter so he could nurse a hangover. I was hopeful that Scene could emerge as a real alternative news source – this piece is garbage.
That being said, I do share some of frustrations that drive the under-currents of this article. I support the concept of a sin tax, but not this one as it is being portrayed. It does not seem that the tax payers are being given much of a choice (or voice) in the matter.
“It’s gonna pass,” McGann said confidently, when asked about contingency plans if Issue 7 fails. “If not, it’ll be uncharted territories for us. This will push a crisis on Cuyahoga County.”
“Crisis”? Blackmail much?