That decision comes amid local controversy surrounding Cleveland’s bid for Amazon’s second headquarters, details of which have been kept secret. Though the city of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County and 20 other quasi-public and private organizations were involved in the creation of the bid, no one is sharing specifics. Mayor Frank Jackson told Channel 5 that he would release the bid eventually, but GCP is said to be mandating the tight lid on information.
“We at Advance Ohio and the Cleveland Plain Dealer have been a member of that group for a long time,” Quinn said on WCPN. “We’re getting out. We’re not going to be a part of it anymore. We are all about transparency, and don’t want to be part of something that’s not.”
Responding to a follow-up inquiry, Quinn told Scene that Advance and the PD had been weighing for some time whether or not they would renew their membership in February. In fact, they were “leaning toward” not renewing.
Quinn referenced editorial projects in recent years — “Justice for All” and “Forcing Change,” specifically — that demonstrated the paper’s advocacy for and commitment to transparency. Recenly, in the PD/Cleveland.com’s mayoral endorsement interview, Quinn called out Frank Jackson’s administration for its performance on public records.
“We’ve been around a long time,” said Quinn in that interview, “and there’s nobody who has had a worse record with public records… This has been a big problem. The media does not have the money to launch what would be an expensive lawsuit.”
The dogging of Jackson — and a potential forthcoming lawsuit — were likely key factors in the the city’s unveiling, last week, of a new public records portal called GovQA.
“Public records should be readily available, and we want to streamline the process in which citizens receive information,” said Mayor Jackson, in a press release. “The new system is not the final answer, but an important first step in a comprehensive effort to fulfill requests in a timelier manner.”
The new software is still being tested, and officials were unable to provide concrete estimates of how quickly records requests might now be processed.
But despite this gesture toward open government, which a cynic might disparage as a bone thrown at the PD/Cleveland.com to secure their endorsement, the city has refused to release information relating to the Amazon bid. Multiple news organizations, including Scene, have asked for the bid itself and for justifications for the secrecy. When Scene asked which elements in the Amazon bid made it “proprietary,” we were given a public records tracking number in lieu of an answer.
Quinn told Scene that this feels like a “big step backwards” for the region. He said that, in part because of the PD/Cleveland.com’s advocacy, he feels the region now has some of the best leaders in decades, “which is why their acquiescence to the Greater Cleveland Partnership in this case is so distressing.
“We simply cannot be a member of a group that actively resists our advocacy for strong and open government,” Quinn concluded. “Those are among our core principles, and we don’t compromise on them.”
GCP confirmed that the Plain Dealer and Advance Ohio had signaled their intentions not to renew their memberships.
“We certainly think it is important that the major newspaper within our region is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, given our shared mission to advance the economic prosperity of our region,” said Sarah Johnson, GCP’s communications VP. “Advance Ohio and the Plain Dealer have always been good and very important members of GCP, and we will work hard to get them to rejoin.”
This article appears in Oct 25-31, 2017.
The decision you have made is noble. One would hope that the GCP and the mayor would be more forth coming, especially when it comes to public information such as the Amazon headquarters bid. I find it ironic that the endorsement of Jackson was with some limited concerns. Ideally, Neither candidate is ideal. A preferred PD position should of been not to endorse. The PD position should of been just to provide balanced and fair facts and information to the public.
It’s good that the Plain Dealer dropped out of the Greater Cleveland Partnership.
However, why was the newspaper ever IN a lobby group that represents corporate interests that don’t benefit most people but special interests?
The PD and the defunct Cleveland Press were both members of the GCP’s predecessor, the Greater Cleveland Growth Association. I wrote back in the 1970s that both were dues-paying members.In 1975 &1976 the two newspapers contributed $36,000 each.
Even worse, the County Commission gave $100,000 and you’ll find that both the county and city pay these dues.
Chris Quinn should be demanding detailed information on the many and costly tax abatements and TIF arrangements and demanding public information on the cost. But for some reason only the Amazon issue has caught his attention. There are GCP deals throughout downtown, including the multi-million deal for the Quicken Arena deal, which the PD has managed to forget.
Roldo Bartimole
They’re not choosing Cleveland.
To Roldo and the other naysayers on downtown development. What would the city look like if we followed your advice and disinvested in downtown Cleveland?
Rich developers would have to pay themselves and invest and the rest of us would pay less in property and other taxes, which keep going up but maybe you don’t have any concern there.
Its always an honor and a great achievement to to get such a twisted publication like the PD to withdraw its membership.
Find out how we can get Quinn to withdraw from Cleveland, the state of Ohio and planet earth also.