“To date, the only idea they’ve generated is to secure funding for themselves.”
“And paychecks, my friends, is what this has always been about.” – Cleveland City Councilperson
“What Paul says about Peter tells us more about Paul than about Peter.” – Baruch Spinoza
“What people say about you is a manifestation of their own thoughts. It says more about them than about you. Learn not to take it personally.” – Unknown
Should we create a People’s Budget in Cleveland? For residents, this November we have the chance to vote on Issue 38. This would create a fund of $14 million per year from our $1.9 Billion city budget. Its usage would then be determined by a public voting process led by a steering committee of 11 appointees who will run the engagement and election process.
I’m voting for it. I campaigned in support of it in 2021 along with many of our current elected officials, when the amount sought was $30.8 million (our poverty rate). If you want to read a long policy piece about why to vote Yes on 38, I’d recommend reading This Fine Piece by resident Ren Borba where he thoroughly gets into the weeds. The lawyer in me wholeheartedly agrees with his case.
But I’m not voting Yes on 38 as a lawyer. Nor because it will create big positive changes in the day-to-day lives of Clevelanders. My reasons are twofold.
First and foremost we must hold those who mis-budget our tax dollars accountable for the state of the city.
At this point, the argument that we do this with elections of candidates is a complete fallacy. No well-funded candidate is permitted to speak on protecting your tax dollars from foreign sports owners and real estate bloodsuckers.
Fixing Cleveland policy has very little to do with Participatory Budgeting. But it still has everything to do with participating. We must participate to fix our broken systems, which are exhibited nowhere more clearly and critically as when candidates break their campaign promises. We as a people gave Mayor Jackson and the prior council far too much leash. It’s very tough in this media environment to hold policy-makers accountable.
Many of the 600,000 ex-Clevelanders who’ve moved out may have been suffering from FOMO as recently as November of 2021. We “elected” many new “progressive” faces into City Hall. The Plain Dealer told us these folks were bold, visionary, transparent and more. The candidates knew Clevelanders wanted bold policy change. But beyond cool adjectives, these candidates didn’t support many new, different policies with your tax dollars. Except one. Creating a people’s budget.
There are those who demand policy change, and those who change once elected. Our new supposed bold change-agents decided to flip flop on their campaign promise. Instead City leaders sided with Statehouse Republicans and other shady Democratic characters. Our local chamber of commerce is the biggest donor to our successful candidates. So when the chamber was in Columbus lobbying against your right to do people’s budgeting, many understood the flip flop. The council leadership fund is paying for the opposition campaign after City Council failed in trying to use your tax dollars to “educate” you. Yet it’s been nearly crickets on Ohio Issues 1 and 2. New faces and spines, same old machine and spinelessness. But thanks to the work of this grassroots coalition, more residents can see the truth early into a new regime.
Secondly, we need education on budgeting and economics.
This is poverty-stricken Cleveland. We currently sit second in the nation in poverty for big cities. City Hall is horrible with money. They don’t know how to budget, nor educate the populace on budgeting.
Spare me the fearmongering from officeholders about how department budgets will suffer from $14 million spent by a different group. City Hall cares about EMS staffing and ambulances like Browns fans care about Art Modell. EMS has been defunded time and again. Other cities grow their budgets. If City Hall truly cared about adding $14 million to the budget tomorrow, they would have started a public bank yesterday. Electeds would use their platforms and negotiate better when the bloodsuckers steal our taxes. Put a new lemonade stand up at Hopkins or on other city property. DO SOMETHING.
Ultimately, if one middle-schooler participates in the People’s Budget process, he or she may come to learn what our leaders have not. How to manage your money! A penny saved is a penny earned; Opportunity cost; Finance and the time-value of money; Investments; Insurance; Risk; Leverage; Negotiation; Accounting; Taxes; Compound interest; Marketing, etc. Clevelanders don’t do these things well in large part because City Hall doesn’t do them well.
In brutal honesty, this particular charter amendment, even if passed, won’t change much. Why? Guess who’s in charge of selecting the committee? It’s the NO crowd! Council continues to argue that “These people just want to pay themselves.” But “what Paul says about Peter tells us more about Paul than about Peter.” These organizers are well-known. Much of their lives are spent volunteering with the homeless and elderly folks with terminal illnesses. Truly enriching work. And these volunteers are kinder than most. So they wrote into this amendment that the Mayor and Council select the committee. We can guess which yard sign you’ll need posted to be considered for selection.
The machine thinks every one of your pennies belongs to them. Demand representation for your taxation. Demand better education for the next generation. Vote Yes on Issue 38 on November 7th.
This article appears in Oct 11-25, 2023.