ED HAUSER - WOULDN'T SIT DOWN

Ed Hauser was one of the very few civic leaders who didn’t put up with North East Ohio’s glib hypocritical agendas. You and I both know that almost every meeting one attends in NEO has a dual purpose – one purpose of public meetings is to appease the public, make the public feel they are being consulted - while the other (real) purpose of the public meeting was often to put the stamp of approval on a private business plan using public money and public space. Ed knew this and constantly challenged the hypocrisy. Often the “leaders” running the meetings didn’t want to hear (again) from Ed. Guys like Hagan and Carney would tell Ed “Sit down”. But Ed, without saying it with words, made those type of “leaders” look like mean, wishy washy characters. Because you knew Ed’s goal was a selfless one for the public benefit, and the goal of the rude “leaders” wasn’t. Ed was flapless. He just kept coming back to the mic. Kept coming back and asking the same straight question. Kept setting up his video camera and tripod. Over and over. He was determined to obtain the straight answer. Ed wasn’t put off by the public insults he got from the lousy “leaders”. Instead of being put off he would file a public records request. Dig in deeper. Keep hammering away. There wasn’t a Cuyahoga County Commissioner’s meeting, a City of Cleveland Planning meeting, or a Cuyahoga Port Authority meeting where Ed wasn’t the one with seniority regarding the issue at hand. Ed had been following issues like the ever changing “lake front plan” and the “Bulk Terminal” plan, and the I90 bridge “plan” and the Hueletts “plan” for longer than almost anyone. And Ed would remind the members of the Boards and Commissions he addressed that he had been attending the meetings before those Boards and Commissions “for 10 years” - and that he was going to see it through to completion. Ed took great pleasure in the results of the work he did to keep Whiskey Island a public amenity. While Dick Jacobs let the Coast Guard Station go to hell while running up a $million dollar real estate tax liability, the efforts of Ed and Dan Moore allowed the public once more to enjoy the promenade out to the tip of the quay and around the Station. Ed was the perfect host at Whiskey Isand – he knew all the staff at the marina and restaurant and he loved to walk with his friends to show them the latest improvements in the park. On the warm evening of July 10, 2007, (left to right) Martha, Tucker (the dog) Ed, Tom and MaryBeth and I all enjoyed the fruits of Ed’s labor – a breezy walk to and from the Coast Guard Station through Wendy Park. Go on! Make Ed’s day…visit and enjoy Whiskey Island, and demand straight answers in your community.