The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections has confirmed that if the initiatives to drastically reduce the size of Cleveland City Council and the compensation of its individual members are filed before Jan. 17, they will indeed appear on the March, 2020 ballot.
The dual measures propose that the number of elected councilpeople be reduced from 17 to nine, and that the current council pay be slashed from roughly $83,000 per year to $58,000 per year.
A sufficient number of valid signatures (6,270+) have already been submitted for both measures. They were collected by the so-called “Clevelanders First” group, a creation of the unsavory restaurateur and Westlake-resident Tony George.
In an online mission statement, the members of Clevelanders First say that they believe in “simple, effective, and honest government free from political bias, and self-serving leadership.” They say that they expect all government workers to have government educations “where needed,” and demand “qualified workers to fill government positions.” (Reducing salaries by 30 percent sure is an odd method for attracting qualified workers!)
The statement then takes a hard left turn into Trump rhetoric. “We believe in a strong, fully staffed law enforcement,” it says, apropos of nothing. “Finally, we believe in public service, honor and making Cleveland one of the best cities in America once again.”
A spokesperson from the group did not immediately respond to an email seeking answers to a short list of questions.
Because the initiatives propose changes to the city charter, they must be introduced at Cleveland City Council. A council spokeswoman said that both initiatives would be introduced Monday and would be submitted to the Board of Elections in time for the upcoming ballot.
City Council President Kevin Kelley, for obvious reasons, strongly opposes the measures.
As articulated in a written statement to Scene, his primary objections are 1) that Clevelanders already voted to have proportional representation based on a formula of approximately one Council member for every 25,000 residents; 2) that a reduction in Council size would deal a “direct blow” to citizens by decreasing their access to local government and minimizing their voices on important issues; and 3) that a smaller, weaker legislative body would cede yet more power to the mayor’s office.
“Finally, this initiative did not arise from the citizens of Cleveland with legitimate concerns over the structure of our government,” Kelley wrote. “This initiative to reduce Cleveland City Council to only nine members is being spearheaded and funded by a millionaire who lives in suburban Westlake, where one council member represents about 4,600 constituents. Comparatively, one council member in the City of Cleveland represents about 24,000 constituents. If the proposed reduction initiative prevails, it would double the number of constituents for each member of Cleveland City Council. Clearly, an erosion of our citizens’ democratic representation in city government.”
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This article appears in Jan 1-7, 2020.
Doesn’t Kelley have a strong incentive to oppose this proposal….maybe because he could be out of work if it passes? Why isn’t that brought up in the article?
What about a ballot initiative to rescind all of the ma$$ive property tax levies and renewals that are forced upon us property owners at every single election cycle???
And while we’re at it, let’s get a recall of thief Budish as well as Taxin Jackson out of office!!!
Until these crooks are finally, and forcibly, removed from office, nothing will likely ever change around here except paying more and more taxes for their constant ineptness and blatant corruption!!!
MULTIPLE spam posts from the same right-wing, fascist, racist, anti-Semitic asshat who rails about country and culture and “rejects and losers living in mom’s basement or on permanent disability”…but at the same time appears to have way too much free time on his own hands and continually floods this board with his rants. Same shit, different decade.
SCENE, you have yet another toxic waste spill on Aisle Three, but since you are too broke or cheap to hire mods for your comment boards, or even to have anybody in the office on weekends (especially on Sundays), I expect this disgusting POS will be able to see his handiwork for at least another two days, before you finally get out the bucket and the mop and do your goddam jobs.
And this shmuck will just keep on vomiting onto your site. Why? because he knows he can. When will you people stop being amateurs and finally turn pro?
Can Tony George even vote?
Isn’t he a convicted felon?
And who’s WE, you POS? Go fornicate your little self.
I don’t need a WE to sound like a tough guy.
I reject the right. And I reject YOU.
Commie this, commie that. Somebody sure likes that C-word.
Thanks for your clean-up efforts. And on a Sunday! You’re almost done!
As distasteful as Tony George might be, reducing the number of council positions seems to be a very reasonable proposition. Reducing the pay I think is a separate issue who’s merits are a bit more questionable. There’s numerous pieces of reporting around showing just how bloated our council is compared to pretty much every other similarly sized city. I mean, unless you’re claiming that the current guys in the current form are so efficient, are really getting stuff done for the city, and everyone else should be emulating the well-oiled machine that is Cleveland City Council. You’re not claiming that, RIGHT?!
So each re-drawn ward would contain about 50,000 constituents instead of 25,000? Yes, that would make access to your councilman even easier and more efficient than at present. What a great idea…making it twice as hard for the average city resident to make his voice heard.
If you like that one, I also have a terrific plan for twin bridges to Rondeau, Ontario. With a floating island connecting them. One with upscale housing, retail, and gaming facilities, natch.
This is a bad idea and will only make things much worse. Council needs a redo but this ain’t it. Reduce the number of wards and add citywide at-large seats. The salary is commensurate to the amount of work they do (or should do). Keep it the same.
Where to begin. First, council has the responsibility to provide oversite of the executive, the mayor, and to provide access/voice to services of residents.
This present council is a true rubber stamp of the mayor. Council has never questioned or changed a budget submitted by the mayor. Let’s take a look at 3 current issues of 2019. Kelly stated that he was going to hold hearings on what happened to former PD building idea for police headquarters that was changed at the last minute. Hearings never occurred. Kelly stated that he was going to have hearings on why the 3/4 police officers that arrived to question and arrest the great grand-son of the mayor didn’t have their body cameras turned on. Hearings never occurred. Kelly said that hearing would be held regarding the breach of TSA security by two senior officials working for the mayor. Hearing didn’t happen.
Take a hard and deeper look at the city council. The city charter states that a council person is a part-time position, which now pays $83K. Not bad for a several people that basically accomplish very little and/or have questionable backgrounds. During council meetings on Monday, the community is not allowed to provide any comments. So much for public engagement. Take a look at some if not most council wards s it pertains to city services and the ability to talk with the council representative. Most of the east side wards are picture perfect examples of blight, filth, the absence of police patrols, viable city services and again access to meaningful council person.
Pathetically most council representatives have no idea on what it means to be a “servant.” This current collection of members are at most reactionaires and are not proactive in nature. Again, look at the the city services, the health department, EMS, waste collection, the airport, etc. Councile does nothing but sit there and collect pay checks at the expense of those that they serve.
Right now city council seems to see themselves as master city workers who can get things done for their constituents. That’s a problem, constituents should all have equal access to city workers, they should be normal civil servants subject to normal employment terms. The council people should be above the day-to-day operations , and should be focused on making sure the city operations are running effectively, rather than covering when the operations do not.
Throw the whole damn council out, and start from scratch! Cleveland city council SUCKS! Then again when only 19% of the citizens of Cleveland who are eligible to vote show up, you get what you get. The people need to take back their government.
I still think the center issue is how will anyone be better “heard” if these council members have to cover 2x as many people? Then, se want to pay everyone less to do the same job?
If you read the PD article it mentions that our city council members are paid more but other medium sized city council members have larger staff. I like my council person everytime I see them they are working and spearheading projects. Cleveland has tons of older issues that we are working through and that takes a lot of time and effort.
Finally, I dont see how this millionaire in Westlake gets off spreading his influence in Cleveland – he should keep his thoughts to himself instead of causing us heartache with lower council access. Him and his godaddy site have had nothing to say to anyone except these cheap talking points.
Having a councilman represent twice as many people isn’t a problem unless you’re telling me there’s a line of people waiting to talk to their councilman and they’re not getting through. (of course with this council, that might happen just because they’ve gone to the Ken Johnson school of government) The councilman isn’t supposed to be personally doing the things their district would like done. If someone complains there’s a vacant house on East Whatever Street that’s a real problem, Zack Reed isn’t supposed to go out there with a sledgehammer and demo it himself. He shouldn’t even lead a committee of others to get that house demolished. He’s supposed to hear about that problem, and all the others from his district, and determine what’s important to champion in City Hall. And by champion, I mean either pushing for the staff already on city payroll to accomplish it, pushing to apply already approved legislation to his standing issues, or pushing new legislation (including budget) to accomplish something new. I think it’s called “legislating”. To every individual, their one issue is the most important….to them. The council it supposed to be thinking on a bigger scale so the limited resources and tax dollars can be spent in the impactful ways for the many not the few. Representing 45,000 residents isn’t a deal breaker.
Tony George should help give more money to the Group home named after his son in North Olmsted. The Giant house cares for Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, but needs to pay it’s workers more and then it might be better able to get more qualified staff. It needs a more functional environment to help care for it’s residents. It needs help! Ta hell with Cleveland city council help someone living somewhere where your own sons me is on.
How dare Mr. George engage in petty, vindictive politics!?
He didn’t get elected mayor or council president!.