Posts Tagged reform
Perfect Solution Where New Cuyahoga County Officials Can Meet
Posted by Roldo Bartimole in Media, Politicians on March 28, 2010
March 28, 2010… I have the perfect place for the new Cuyahoga County Council to meet. It shouldn’t cost a penny. County taxpayers already paid for construction. And even to furnish it!
It’s a building the County constructed in Jacobs Field.
It’s not far from the present County Administration building.
The building wasn’t even in the lease. It was a gift.
I was told at the time that there was an unsightly ramp. Such a problem. So we – thank you Michael White and Tim Hagan especially – built a 57,500 square foot administration building “to hide the ramp that would have been visible to the public from Ontario Street,” Gateway boss Tom Chema told me. I guess they didn’t think of some far less costly solution. Shrubbery perhaps?
The truth is that Dick Jacobs wanted an office building for his Cleveland Indians staff. And what Dick Jacobs wanted our County Commissioners and Chema gave him.
So why doesn’t the County ask the Dolan family to vacate one floor of the five-story office building we built for them? (Come to think of it, maybe Matt Dolan, candidate for County Executive, could expedite this process with Larry Dolan, team owner and his dad.)
Back in 1990 I reported on this give-away. Neither The Plain Dealer nor any of the hot shot TV news stations touched it. Is that unusual?
Here are some of the facts:
The building, not called for in original plans or lease, cost us $7 million. That included furnishings. Yes, we even furnished it for Jacobs. It cost $900,000. Telephones, desks, computers, etc. All free.
Jacobs, of course, certainly knew the value of such real estate.
Here’s what I wrote in the Free Times at the time:
“Downtown real estate developer Dick Jacobs, of course, knows the value of that Gateway gift. Indeed, Jacobs, owner of the new Society (now Key) Center a few blocks away, asks tenants to pay $38 a square foot in his building. (His Society Center was property tax free, as was – and is – the stadium and the free building. You see rich people are not expected to pay taxes as the rest of us are made to do.)
“If Gateway did the same, instead of charging no rent, the space given Jacobs in the administration building would be worth $2,185,000 a year. With no increase over the 25-year lease that would be more than $54 million in free rent.”
Since 1990, that would have meant more than $30 million to the County. Didn’t happen.
And there’s a perfect table for the new commissioners to meet around.
At Jacobs’ request the County provided an 18-foot by 5-foot boat shaped table for a conference room. That should fit for the 11-member Council. If not, I’m sure it could be expanded.
The table had an ash veneer, according to the plans. I don’t think some of the special treatment asked by Jacobs will interfere with government business. The table called for inlaid wood shaped to replicate the stitching of a baseball.
There might be one problem. The table also called for a metal etching of the racist symbol of Chief Wahoo to be inlaid at each end.
I checked at the time with some firms that make custom tables. One said that with the inlays the cost would be about $10,000 for the table.
Good enough for our certainly new tax-conscious commissioners, don’t you think?
I asked Chema at the time whether he reported this magnificent gift to the Internal Revenue Service. “Absolutely not,” Chema said.
So there’s plenty of room for the commission at no cost in a building we taxpayers built.
The inattentive Plain Dealer offered today (Sunday) three possible meeting places. The cost estimates for the three range from some $687,000 to $1.2 million. The PD story is here:
Time to save some public money. Time for a billionaire family to give back to the community. Time, indeed, for us to assert our public will.
C’mon Matt, you can help. Have a talk with dad.
C’mon Dennis, Don’t Be Another George Voinovich
Posted by Roldo Bartimole in Politicians on March 8, 2010
March 8, 2010… Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich is being singled out to change his vote on President Barack Obama’s health reform measure. President Obama himself pitched to Kucinich, telling him a form of single-payer option – Kucinich’s desire – is in the reform bill.
Kucinich was a no vote on the measure that passed the House. He has been pressing for an ideal single-payer measure.
Kucinich has the reputation of being a politician with strong beliefs. He has also been a rather selfish politician who thinks of his standing when making his decisions.
His intransigence not only endangers health reform – weakened as it is – but damages the Obama administration and possibly Democrats in general for the coming election.
The delayed health reform battle has set back President Obama’s ability to deal with the jobs and other issues. Republicans have denied Obama a single vote in the U. S. Senate in an attempt to fatally damage his presidency.
Rep. Bernie Sanders told the Huffington Post that he had talked to Kucinich, albeit “a while back,” about his provision that gives states the ability to provide a single-payer option using federal funds to do so.
The article said that President Obama directly addressed Kucinich’s concern about lack of a single-payer aspect, telling him a form was in the bill and that the Congressman “wrote it down.”
Dennis and a few other Democrats – mostly more conservative ones – are holding up health insurance for some 40 million people and many others facing a jobless future without health insurance.
Democrats want to pass a revised health bill under circumstances that allow the U. S. Senate, which has already passed a bill (as has the House) to dodge a Republican filibuster. A revised Senate bill from the House would require only 50 Senate votes. Democrats believe they can produce 50 votes.
C’mon Dennis, let’s not be your usual selfish self and think about the general good.
The full Huffington article can be accessed here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/08/kucinich-becomes-target-o_n_490280.html