Submitted by Sudhir Kade on Wed, 03/04/2009 - 21:51.
Brian - great stuff, both here and at tonight's meeting. It was a pleasure reconnecting with you and look forward to sharing more, as mentioned via Facebook with both yourself and Matt (Zone) - another really good person. I loved the inclusiveness of the session, informative to start, and then facilitative and inclusive to bring in the participant voices in meaningful breakout sessions. I also noted Tim (Ferris') comments, both astute - first in using the 'clarification' session to demonstrate a little rebellion over the whole redistricting concept in general (yes, voted into action by our constituency last November) and then later, in raising awareness as to local establishments with libations and taco nights and such.
It was also fun connecting with Josh Klein of City Fresh, and briefly with Jon Eckerle as well. I really appreciated Fran DiDonato's insights and comments in our breakout session as well as those of Josh. We did a good job, I think, of stressing the importance of inclusion, and true representation from the many diverse peoples and perspectives related to these wards. We also stressed the important role of technology and great social media channels like RealNEO and NEOCitizensleague, with the great role they can play in just-in time information dissemination and retrieval - creating an effective two way, on-the-fly process - with these Drupal sites lighting up awareness as to important civic change, policy relevant issues.
Norm, last night shared candidly, and at length some great information regarding evolving social media opportunity with next generation social media tools. This could be a very nice discussion as it applies with city governance, perhaps for us all.
Look for some note-reporting and insights from tonight's illuminating discussion right here, on realneo in the very near future.
Submitted by Henry Senyak on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 14:09.
Compliments of Cleveland.com and PD reported Henry Gomez.
West Side residents filled with questions and concerns about City Council downsizing
Posted by hgomez [at] plaind [dot] com March 05, 2009 10:09AM
For me, the highlight of Wednesday night's community forum about redrawing City Council ward boundaries came close to the end of the two-hour meeting.
After more than 100 residents divided into smaller groups to identify their hopes and concerns about the process, they shared their lists with the entire crowd.
One group's hope: Better council members.
The comment brought laughter from many and uncomfortable grimaces from others, particularly a few of the council members who attended. "They're assuming that we're all bad," said Councilman Zack Reed, who was standing next to me at the time.
It would take too long to list all of the debacles that have impacted citizens' faith in this slate of council members, but let's not dwell on the past. Wednesday's meeting at the Applewood Center on West 25th Street allowed residents - most of them West Siders - the chance to vent these and other pent-up frustrations. The forum also offered the chance to ask questions about the confusing redistricting process going on behind closed doors.
West Side Councilmen Brian Cummins, Joe Santiago and Matt Zone sponsored last night's forum. They also are the three West Side councilmen most likely to be impacted by the new boundaries. Cummins is convinced from conversations he's had with the consultant that he will be forced into a re-election race against one of his colleagues.
Another hot rumor is that East Side Councilman Tony Brancatelli, who represents the Slavic Village area, will see his ward stretched west - over the Cuyahoga River and into what is now Cummins' ward. It would an awkward, seemingly unnatural leap.
Councilman Kevin Kelley, who sat on last year's Charter Review Commission and serves as Council President Martin J. Sweeney's majority whip, was on hand last night to answer questions. But he shied from residents who asked about these scenarios.
One resident simply tried to get Kelley to confirm that one East Side and one West Side ward would be eliminated. But Kelley wouldn't budge. Nothing is definite, he said.
Later in the night, I pulled Kelley aside to push him for answers to those questions. He acknowledged that the above-mentioned scenarios are on the table (along with many others). He said he did not want to respond to citizens with hypotheticals that might change. He also reiterated that cutting one ward on each side is not yet a slam-dunk.
It is worth noting here that as Sweeney's close ally, Kelley is likely privy to more knowledge than other council members, who have been meeting with the consultant in small groups. Kelley represents the Old Brooklyn and Stockyards areas.
Two other council members attended the meeting: Brancatelli and Kamms Corners Councilman Martin Keane. Also there was former Ward 14 Councilman Nelson Cintron, who is said to be considering another run for the office.
After a Q&A session with Kelley, residents split into the small groups and chronicled their hopes and concerns on large sheets of white paper. The most cited hope and concern were the same: that neighborhoods stay intact when redrawing the wards.
The list of hopes and concerns will be forwarded to Council Clerk Patricia Britt.
Other concerns included preserving a ward to reflect the city's Hispanic community (it's now Ward 14, represented by Santiago) and diluting the voices of citizens.
Adrian Maldonado attended the forum on behalf of the Hispanic Roundtable and circulated a letter signed by Roundtable Chairman Jose Feliciano. The letter notes that Hispanics make up about 44 percent of the voting population in Ward 14 and encourages council to retain one ward that recognizes a concentrated Hispanic population.
"The Hispanic community is one of the fastest growing segments of a city in desperate need of population," the letter states. "Providing the Hispanic community a voice in Cleveland will encourage members of the Hispanic community to stay and raise their families in Cleveland."
Why not divide up the new council wards by the amount of money each ward pays the city in taxes? What could be more fair?
Naturally, you may have 15 geographically small wards on the far west side (what is now wards 20 and 21) and the rest of the city would be divided up into 2 wards!
As it is, ward 21 is paying 35% of the city's total taxes... That is incredible since they should be paying only 4.75% if each ward were contributing equally. I believe 35% of all the city's services (police coverage, fire service, EMS ambulances, snow plowing, street sweeping, etc...) should go to ward 21 since that is what they are paying for.
First off we need to get rid of BOOZ-O the clown ghetto trash REED...... either that or just make him king of jumonga of the east side ghetto and let them rule themselves and cut them off from the decent civilization.......
Adrian Maldonado does not even live in the City of Cleveland. He is a politician himself in a Westside suburb.
He just retired in 2008 from a high-paying Cuyahoga County position. He has close political ties to Frank Russo and Jimmy Dimora, and are all tied together in the local now-corrupted Democratic Party Political machine.
What is his and Jose Feliciano real motives. Do they really represent the interests of the Hispanic community living in Ward 14? Or Simply to make sure their puppet Councilman Joe Santiago continues in office to fund under whelming predominately Hispanic ran non-profit agencies that cater only to the Hispanic Community?
Face it this is all about money, nothing else. You will plainly see in campaign financing reports that both Feliciano and Maldonado cut checks to Joe Santiago quite frequently. In turn you will see that then Joe Santiago supplies HUD Funding to these Hispanic ran organizations.
What we need is a hard charger to run this under served community. Joe Santiago has funneled the majority of his federal HUD funding to organizations outside Ward 14. Joe Santiago's only interest is where to go and party after a hard day of wasting my tax dollars under the guise of representing my best interests.
Joe Santiago's 2008 accomplishments.
A) Supporting the Closing of Fire Station #21 that serves Tremont and Ohio City.
B) Continual Support for La Copa Nightclub that closed mid-year . C) Exposed Martin Sweeney and Emily Lipovan behavioral tendencies to the media.
D) Two attempts to re-open Moda Nightclub.
E) Removed all HUD Funding from the Clark-Metro service area for redevelopment.
F) Supporting a Liquor Store in Ohio City still ongoing by the Abboud Family.
G) Eye Candy Stripper-apparel store on Clark Ave, Urban Gear stores, Cell phone stores, great developmental skills.
H) Supporting a Private Club venture by Rosemary Vinci in the Flats.
I) Giving technical assistance to the ownership of Monroe's Strip Club to help them re-open.
K) Supported a business owners attempt for a crematory in Ohio City against the Community.
Bottom line Joe Santiago has done more to set back ward 14 into the 1950's than anyone ever has imagined.
He does not deserve to continue in his capacity. I hope the Plain Dealer will finally investigate Mr. Santiago's ties to using his influence with the City and the Department of Community Development to land Adrian Maldonado and one of his business associates Joe Lopez the former Paris Adult Theatre building on West 25th. Street. This site is right down the Street from a property owned by another Santiago / Maldonado political associate and now convicted criminal Pat O' Malley the old Aragon Ballroom.
What type of political Quid Pro Quo is afoot? Who is lining who's pockets and to gain Whom?
For providing this information to me and to any of the other folks who could not attend this meeting or any of the other meetings that occur when life happens...
At least, I have the information needed to make choices, which is why local leaders ignore social media at their own peril. Thanks again.
(Henry is the no BS, voice of reason and community in NEO...when Henry speaks, I listen:)
Submitted by Susan Miller on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 08:32.
Brian,
It is refreshing to see your posts here and at BFD. Please invite your colleagues on Council to post their views. The City's website might have added ward blogs, but didn't. Here we are - realNEO, funded by contributors, helped along by volunteers, awaiting a word from our elected officials. We welcome your posts.
Please send regards to Zack Reed. His ward is sorely underrepresented in the media. It would be good to hear from more neighborhoods of Cleveland whose woes are not well understood and are not repped in the local media.
Printer-friendly version
Excellent use of social computing Brian
You get IT!
Disrupt IT
Brian - great stuff, both virtually and personally
Brian - great stuff, both here and at tonight's meeting. It was a pleasure reconnecting with you and look forward to sharing more, as mentioned via Facebook with both yourself and Matt (Zone) - another really good person. I loved the inclusiveness of the session, informative to start, and then facilitative and inclusive to bring in the participant voices in meaningful breakout sessions. I also noted Tim (Ferris') comments, both astute - first in using the 'clarification' session to demonstrate a little rebellion over the whole redistricting concept in general (yes, voted into action by our constituency last November) and then later, in raising awareness as to local establishments with libations and taco nights and such.
It was also fun connecting with Josh Klein of City Fresh, and briefly with Jon Eckerle as well. I really appreciated Fran DiDonato's insights and comments in our breakout session as well as those of Josh. We did a good job, I think, of stressing the importance of inclusion, and true representation from the many diverse peoples and perspectives related to these wards. We also stressed the important role of technology and great social media channels like RealNEO and NEOCitizensleague, with the great role they can play in just-in time information dissemination and retrieval - creating an effective two way, on-the-fly process - with these Drupal sites lighting up awareness as to important civic change, policy relevant issues.
Norm, last night shared candidly, and at length some great information regarding evolving social media opportunity with next generation social media tools. This could be a very nice discussion as it applies with city governance, perhaps for us all.
Look for some note-reporting and insights from tonight's illuminating discussion right here, on realneo in the very near future.
Again, many thanks!
Council Downsizing is about Capable people not RACE
Compliments of Cleveland.com and PD reported Henry Gomez.
West Side residents filled with questions and concerns about City Council downsizing
Posted by hgomez [at] plaind [dot] com March 05, 2009 10:09AM
For me, the highlight of Wednesday night's community forum about redrawing City Council ward boundaries came close to the end of the two-hour meeting.
After more than 100 residents divided into smaller groups to identify their hopes and concerns about the process, they shared their lists with the entire crowd.
One group's hope: Better council members.
The comment brought laughter from many and uncomfortable grimaces from others, particularly a few of the council members who attended. "They're assuming that we're all bad," said Councilman Zack Reed, who was standing next to me at the time.
It would take too long to list all of the debacles that have impacted citizens' faith in this slate of council members, but let's not dwell on the past. Wednesday's meeting at the Applewood Center on West 25th Street allowed residents - most of them West Siders - the chance to vent these and other pent-up frustrations. The forum also offered the chance to ask questions about the confusing redistricting process going on behind closed doors.
To dispose of some quick background: Two of 21 council wards will be eliminated this year under a city charter amendment passed last year by voters. A council-hired consultant is using block-by-block population estimates to redraw ward lines by April 1.
West Side Councilmen Brian Cummins, Joe Santiago and Matt Zone sponsored last night's forum. They also are the three West Side councilmen most likely to be impacted by the new boundaries. Cummins is convinced from conversations he's had with the consultant that he will be forced into a re-election race against one of his colleagues.
Another hot rumor is that East Side Councilman Tony Brancatelli, who represents the Slavic Village area, will see his ward stretched west - over the Cuyahoga River and into what is now Cummins' ward. It would an awkward, seemingly unnatural leap.
Councilman Kevin Kelley, who sat on last year's Charter Review Commission and serves as Council President Martin J. Sweeney's majority whip, was on hand last night to answer questions. But he shied from residents who asked about these scenarios.
One resident simply tried to get Kelley to confirm that one East Side and one West Side ward would be eliminated. But Kelley wouldn't budge. Nothing is definite, he said.
Later in the night, I pulled Kelley aside to push him for answers to those questions. He acknowledged that the above-mentioned scenarios are on the table (along with many others). He said he did not want to respond to citizens with hypotheticals that might change. He also reiterated that cutting one ward on each side is not yet a slam-dunk.
It is worth noting here that as Sweeney's close ally, Kelley is likely privy to more knowledge than other council members, who have been meeting with the consultant in small groups. Kelley represents the Old Brooklyn and Stockyards areas.
Two other council members attended the meeting: Brancatelli and Kamms Corners Councilman Martin Keane. Also there was former Ward 14 Councilman Nelson Cintron, who is said to be considering another run for the office.
After a Q&A session with Kelley, residents split into the small groups and chronicled their hopes and concerns on large sheets of white paper. The most cited hope and concern were the same: that neighborhoods stay intact when redrawing the wards.
The list of hopes and concerns will be forwarded to Council Clerk Patricia Britt.
Other concerns included preserving a ward to reflect the city's Hispanic community (it's now Ward 14, represented by Santiago) and diluting the voices of citizens.
Adrian Maldonado attended the forum on behalf of the Hispanic Roundtable and circulated a letter signed by Roundtable Chairman Jose Feliciano. The letter notes that Hispanics make up about 44 percent of the voting population in Ward 14 and encourages council to retain one ward that recognizes a concentrated Hispanic population.
"The Hispanic community is one of the fastest growing segments of a city in desperate need of population," the letter states. "Providing the Hispanic community a voice in Cleveland will encourage members of the Hispanic community to stay and raise their families in Cleveland."
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Why not divide up the new council wards by the amount of money each ward pays the city in taxes? What could be more fair?
Naturally, you may have 15 geographically small wards on the far west side (what is now wards 20 and 21) and the rest of the city would be divided up into 2 wards!
As it is, ward 21 is paying 35% of the city's total taxes... That is incredible since they should be paying only 4.75% if each ward were contributing equally. I believe 35% of all the city's services (police coverage, fire service, EMS ambulances, snow plowing, street sweeping, etc...) should go to ward 21 since that is what they are paying for.
Alert us.
First off we need to get rid of BOOZ-O the clown ghetto trash REED......
either that or just make him king of jumonga of the east side ghetto and let them rule themselves and cut them off from the decent civilization.......
Adrian Maldonado does not even live in the City of Cleveland. He is a politician himself in a Westside suburb.
He just retired in 2008 from a high-paying Cuyahoga County position. He has close political ties to Frank Russo and Jimmy Dimora, and are all tied together in the local now-corrupted Democratic Party Political machine.
What is his and Jose Feliciano real motives. Do they really represent the interests of the Hispanic community living in Ward 14? Or Simply to make sure their puppet Councilman Joe Santiago continues in office to fund under whelming predominately Hispanic ran non-profit agencies that cater only to the Hispanic Community?
Face it this is all about money, nothing else. You will plainly see in campaign financing reports that both Feliciano and Maldonado cut checks to Joe Santiago quite frequently. In turn you will see that then Joe Santiago supplies HUD Funding to these Hispanic ran organizations.
What we need is a hard charger to run this under served community. Joe Santiago has funneled the majority of his federal HUD funding to organizations outside Ward 14. Joe Santiago's only interest is where to go and party after a hard day of wasting my tax dollars under the guise of representing my best interests.
Joe Santiago's 2008 accomplishments.
A) Supporting the Closing of Fire Station #21 that serves Tremont and Ohio City.
B) Continual Support for La Copa Nightclub that closed mid-year
.
C) Exposed Martin Sweeney and Emily Lipovan behavioral tendencies to the media.
D) Two attempts to re-open Moda Nightclub.
E) Removed all HUD Funding from the Clark-Metro service area for redevelopment.
F) Supporting a Liquor Store in Ohio City still ongoing by the Abboud Family.
G) Eye Candy Stripper-apparel store on Clark Ave, Urban Gear stores, Cell phone stores, great developmental skills.
H) Supporting a Private Club venture by Rosemary Vinci in the Flats.
I) Giving technical assistance to the ownership of Monroe's Strip Club to help them re-open.
K) Supported a business owners attempt for a crematory in Ohio City against the Community.
Bottom line Joe Santiago has done more to set back ward 14 into the 1950's than anyone ever has imagined.
He does not deserve to continue in his capacity. I hope the Plain Dealer will finally investigate Mr. Santiago's ties to using his influence with the City and the Department of Community Development to land Adrian Maldonado and one of his business associates Joe Lopez the former Paris Adult Theatre building on West 25th. Street. This site is right down the Street from a property owned by another Santiago / Maldonado political associate and now convicted criminal Pat O' Malley the old Aragon Ballroom.
What type of political Quid Pro Quo is afoot? Who is lining who's pockets and to gain Whom?
They will say for the Hispanic Community?
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/03/west_side_residents_filled_wit.html
Thank you, Brian, and, especially, Henry
For providing this information to me and to any of the other folks who could not attend this meeting or any of the other meetings that occur when life happens...
At least, I have the information needed to make choices, which is why local leaders ignore social media at their own peril. Thanks again.
(Henry is the no BS, voice of reason and community in NEO...when Henry speaks, I listen:)
Hot links from the Applewood meeting
http://www.ohiodailyblog.com/content/reduce-cleveland-city-council%3F-well-lets-talk-about-.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YwuPL7WLxM
please invite your collegues
Brian,
It is refreshing to see your posts here and at BFD. Please invite your colleagues on Council to post their views. The City's website might have added ward blogs, but didn't. Here we are - realNEO, funded by contributors, helped along by volunteers, awaiting a word from our elected officials. We welcome your posts.
Please send regards to Zack Reed. His ward is sorely underrepresented in the media. It would be good to hear from more neighborhoods of Cleveland whose woes are not well understood and are not repped in the local media.
Best,
Susan
Save our neighborhoods
A link to Save our Land and the issue of redistricting.