Posts Tagged Mike Polensek
Mayor Jackson Move Looks Like a Sham Retreat
Posted by Roldo Bartimole in Economic Development, Media, Politicians on May 25, 2010
May 25, 2010… “I don’t have a problem except for the fact that I said something prematurely that I think taints the process,” said Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson of his bungled no-bid, 10-year contract with a no-record company from China.
Wow!
For any other mayor that might be called more than embarrassing. It might be called a major disaster.
“Prematurely?”
No, just plain wrong, Mayor. With tens of millions of city dollars – or more – at stake. This is no minor gaffe.
For Jackson, apparently it’s a minor infraction. Apparently, he thinks can be rectified very simply. Let’s start over, guys. Oh, yeah. It’s that simple.
How can there be any trust? Not only is Mayor Jackson liable for this almost-disaster. So is Council President Marty Sweeney. Sweeney, as usual, simply wanted to put Council’s stamp of approval to the measure. “Yes, Mayor, of course.”
We can’t continue doing business at City Hall this way.
We can thank Brian Cummins and Tony Brancatelli for taking to the internet to attack this program.
And click here.
And thanks to The Plain Dealer for editorially slapping at Jackson. But PD needs to be much stronger as Jackson tries to revive this mess.
Here was the mayor ready to sign on for a 10-year contact with this company from China when he himself admits he had documents, as the PD put it today, “in front of him showing that Henderson (Public Power Commissioner Ivan Henderson) and his staff were still seeking responses from other LED companies when he made that announcement.” No minor mishap.
Tell me, if he had more than 10 votes of 19 would Mayor Jackson have gone ahead with this half-baked idea anyway? Presumably, the only answer is “Yes.”
Usually biting Mike Polensek said, “It’s tough for any administration or mayor to acknowledge that…” Tough? Mike, it’s a sign that something stinks badly.
Jackson should not be allowed to back away from the criticism he’s been getting and go through a sham process to come to the same conclusion once some of the heat is off.
That his administrators came before Council plying this joke of a deal for hours last Monday suggests strongly that this administration is up to no good.
The administration and his administrators put forth as a great deal for the city something that they now admit had a tainted process.
But it’s even more than that. Council should look into the process, how it came to be and who is behind it. Otherwise, Council is just as negligent as the Jackson administration.
This isn’t something that should be allowed to pass quietly.
Overlooking the Obvious with Brent Larkin
Posted by Roldo Bartimole in Economic Development, Media on February 21, 2010
February 21, 2010… How pathetic can you get? Brent Larkin, Sunday, uses quotes from four City Council members to tell us that Cleveland is in serious, serious trouble.
And as a center piece of the argument he uses the city’s $350 million mistake on the lake – Browns Stadium – to highlight somehow Cleveland’s problems.
As Mike Polensek points out it has no roof. Does he think with a roof it would be filled with activity? The city now has the right to use the stadium it pays for NINE times a year. Do you see it being used? No way.
Cleveland – with Brent Larkin, who actually wanted to be PD sports editor – and The Plain Dealer, paid close attention to sports in the last two decades. To the neglect of so much. Even now the sports pages are the largest section of the paper. And typically with fewer ads than other sections.
Dumbing down the dumb is tradition at the newspaper. It excels at it.
Anything the sports moguls wanted they got and get. Didn’t mean anything that some of what they got came from the Cleveland schools. Didn’t mean anything that other needs were pushed aside.
What was important to our leaders for decades was that the entertainment via sports, rock and roll and other venues got what they wanted. They got the money. We paid the price.
We still pay.
Brent has been the go-to guy in politics and civic life at the PD. He favored every one of these moves. Without reservation. With no discrimination as to value. Expressing no reservations with how it was done. No restraint on cost. Just do it!
Now he shouldn’t complain about results, or get others to do it for him.
Cleveland is what it is not because of the form of government – a city mayor and city legislative body.
These people don’t make the big decisions. They simply ratify what the business, corporate and foundation communities want.
Rarely does the public get involved. Usually the people are simply frozen out. But sometimes a tax is just too much for them. As with County Commissioner Vince Campanella’s desire to build a domed stadium with a property tax. That was the 1980s agenda. It got clobbered near two to one by voters. That ruined Campanella, a Republican, and his desire to be governor. But the game wasn’t over for the corporate leadership. Oh, no.
The usual suckers – voters – weren’t buying a property tax. That didn’t stop the Cleveland business establishment. Find another tax they’ll swallow. It took years – with Cleveland Tomorrow shifting its sights from the Cleveland economy to building sports facilities – to bring forth Gateway. Whoop-de-do.
A sales tax on booze and cigarettes. Hell, the little people pay that. Better than a property tax in the end.
We saved our sports teams. We lost our city.
Was that a great deal or what? Suburbanites get to drive into Cleveland, park at a tax subsidized garage, walk into a tax subsidized sports stadium or arena. But don’t get to drink the water.
Changing the form of government is meaningless unless you change the character of our civic and corporate culture.
And no one is even talking about doing that.