Damian Guevara in the Scene last week had a take on the Issue 3 that has been neglected by most, including me, but touches on a damaging game among Cleveland developers. They vie among themselves for advantage no matter what the cost to community.

It has cost us plenty over the years.

Guevara points out that Forest City Enterprises would be a winner if the measure passes. And that its rival, Jeff Jacobs, wants to stop it, making him the winner.

The battle between the two families – Jacobs & Ratner – has been going on in Cleveland for years. Neither cares much about the damage they cause the city.

“The question for Greater Clevelanders,” writes, Guevara, a former Plain Dealer reporter, “Do you trust wealthy pro-casino interests – in this case, Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert – to deliver on the latest promise of blue-collar and hospitality jobs, multi-million-dollar tax payments and yet another facelift of downtown Cleveland?”

I’d say no.

He calls the manipulation of the constitution inherent in a “yes” vote for Issue 3, a “deal-breaker” for many.

But the beneficiaries are clear, he notices.

East Cleveland Mayor Eric Brewer eviscerates Issue 6 promoters and their promoter, the Pee Dee, our morning voice from Corporate Headquarters.

Hard to disagree. Read it yourself:

Statement from Mayor Eric J. Brewer regarding Issue 6

October 25, 2009 - City of East Cleveland

“The hell with the Plain Dealer’s opinion. Vote NO on Issue 6.”

Bill Mason has presided over the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office since 1998 and it's been the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI investigating all the corruption that's taken place in county since he's held office. Mason didn't prosecute Emmanuel Onunwor, he counted him as a friend. He didn't prosecute Nate Gray, he counted him as a political donor. I'm still waiting for him to return the donation to the businessman who was investigated and prosecuted by the FBI and U.S. Attorney for money laundering.

Martin Zanotti manages Parma Heights, but his 2007 audit shows he overspent his budget by nearly $1 million without Council authorization, and authorized 59 percent of his purchase orders to be pushed through without the finance director's signature. He's on his way out the door because he's a poor public manager, but the Plain Dealer thinks he's a genius.

Does anyone believe that the Cleveland chapter of the NAACP is a civil rights organization and not the plaything of old man George Forbes.

The chapter on Friday endorsed Issue 3, a monopoly casino for Dan Gilbert, Cavs owner. Gilbert was on hand for the gift from the once civil rights organization, now apparently just another lobby group for those with power.

The Plain Dealer quotes the old man saying, “I could not say no to this. These are not normal times, with double-digit unemployment.”

That suggests to me that Forbes made the decision himself.

Is there no process at the Cleveland NAACP? Is Forbes the voice of the chapter? Anyone else have any say?

There are a lot of people who ought to be ashamed of what has become of the Cleveland chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

In Cleveland, it apparently is for the advancement of the Color Green.

Here’s a blog entry that gives some anti-Issue 2 information for your digestion.

I attended a meeting yesterday where an unexpected presentation was made by a representative of the Farm Bureau advocating support for Issue 2. In a slick 20 minute power point presentation, this person talked about the importance of agriculture to Ohio’s economy. He argued that we need to maintain choice in how food is produced. He suggested that without Issue 2, Ohio agriculture will be threatened by outside animal rights activists that will put thousands of Ohio family farmers out of business.

What he didn’t say was, Issue 2 is a Constitutional Amendment that establishes a Livestock Care board appointed by the governor to codify animal treatment on farms. He also failed to say that the Governor, Ohio Department of Agriculture and the Legislature already have all the power they need to make regulations about how animals are treated on farms. The problem is, a legislative process requires citizen input and public hearings. A board appointed through a Constitutional Amendment has no such public oversight.

You can find out much more on this issue that is up for public vote at the blog Bounty of the Western Reserve

Eric Boehlert writes about his fears of the climate being created by the right-wing forces regarding our President. He sees and feels Dallas 1963.

“The radical right, aided by a GOP Noise Machine that positively dwarfs what existed in 1963, has turned to demonizing Obama – making him into a vile object of disgust – into a crusade. It’s a demented national jihad, the likes of which this country has not seen in modern times,” he writes.

Scary times and we’ve seen it before.

Boehlert writes about media and politics and is a senior fellow for Media Matters for America. He wrote “Lapdog: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush.”

He comments via a piece in this month in Vanity Fair. It details the hatred that “ran wild in Dallas” in 1963.

The Vanity Fair cover story quotes President John Kennedy saying to Jacqueline, his wife, “Oh, you know we’re heading into nut country today.”

Well, today “nut country” far outdistances Dallas.

You can read Boehlert’s full article here: http://mediamatters.org/blog/200909180004

Vanity Fair’s article by Sam Kashner covers the fight over the book written by William Manchester at the request of Jacqueline Kennedy though not with her later approval. It can be found here:

Enough! This is how cities should greet greedy, hands-out corporate interests that want to play one off against the other. Home Depot doesn’t deserve welfare.

Let’s stop the incessant bailout of big business.

Check it out from the Toledo Blade:

I say end Corporate Welfare, as we know it.

Forest City Enterprises is taking a beating in Brooklyn. Brooklyn, N. Y. that is.

Read how Forest City dumped architect Frank Gehry for Ellerby Becket, a Minnesota firm. The article notes that Ellerby Becket has a “numbing track record of uninspired sport complexes” to its credit. Of course, Ellerby Becket designed Gund (Quicken) Arena in Cleveland.

Pressuring Forest City’s desires for development in Brooklyn is a community organization that operates as real community organization should – hit the developers, and then hit them again, and then again. Would that Cleveland has such a creature.

The organization is called “Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn”.

The article can be accessed here:

It's a VERY interesting read.

The retirement of Glenville Councilwoman Sabra Pierce Scott should mean a return to city hall of Jeff Johnson. With a bit of humility Johnson becomes a strong future possibility for Mayor of Cleveland.

He’s got the guts for the job.

Some believe Scott now will run Mayor Frank Jackson’s campaign, and then take a position in the administration that will mean more pay, less work and a better pension. What a bargain!

Her decision, however, may mean a lot more to the city. It could be a big positive for the future. Scott, a bright woman, fit unfortunately the norm for Council members: play it safe, go along to get along. A tragic character for Cleveland politicians. All too familiar.

Johnson allowed his arrogance to throw him off the path of political stardom here when he was videotaped seeming to ask for campaign contributions for political favors. It was sleazy stuff to watch.

It was a familiar Johnson I saw on the video. A bit brash and seemingly a political wheeler-dealer. I don’t think that’s the real Johnson and I believe he was set up for that fall. Now, it would be fitting if we saw a more mature Johnson. Hopefully, age and knocks have helped him.

If there is any evidence that symbolizes the indecency of our society it’s the story of a young Newark, Ohio student on the front page of the New York Times today.

You have to read it yourself here at The New York Times.

It says everything that needs to be said about what we believe in and what we don’t as we face now our own self-destructive actions of how we conduct our public and private behavior.

Can you say, “Let’s give some money away?!”

Apparently, the Ohio House of Representatives, particularly Republican members, love to say it.

Now they want to give “film makers” tax credits, capped out at $100-million.

Hey, what’s $100-million anymore when we taxpayers are giving away tens of billions of dollars to thieves on Wall Street?

You know, don’t you, that if another state government were giving away millions in tax reduction to people who blew up balloons the idiots we elect here would find a way to match or better the insanity.

Mayor Frank Jackson is giving one film company space in the city’s Convention Center. That’s okay, if the city doesn’t have to provide heat and water. Otherwise, it’s a bad deal.

Jackson seems to have run out of good ideas before he’s had one.

It’s so easy to be fashionable and follow the pack like sheep to the slaughter.

Does Gov. Ted Strickland have the guts to veto this measure if it comes to his desk? I hope so.

Let’s start giving tax breaks to panhandlers downtown. At least they’ve made jobs for themselves.Can you say, “Let’s give some money away?!”

Apparently, the Ohio House of Representatives, particularly Republican members, love to say it.