The Plain Dealer on Saturday gave top of Page One attention to Treasurer Jim Rokakis’s call for County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora and County Auditor Frank Russo to resign.

Rokakis made the statements at the City Club where he was talking about the foreclosure problem and the work of the County land bank he started. The PD didn’t even mention the land bank. That indicated to me the paper had an agenda.

Not sure whether this was an opening salvo in a PD campaign to get the two public officials finally out of office, or a front page campaign to get Rokakis to run for County Chief Executive. The lineup for the new County job is pretty meager at this point. Does Rokakis want to be knighted for the job? By the Plain Dealer?

In any case, I think there’s a much better way to get rid of the troublesome twosome. They’ve hung around much too long. All the evidence points to indictments. But having them hang around has become community depressing. It’s civically unhealthy. So let’s get it over with.

The people themselves ought to do it. They shouldn’t just sit back and complain, expecting others to do it.

The powerful Cleveland Ratner family has finally pushed the Daniel Goldstein family out of its Brooklyn, N. Y. home. But they haven’t shut him up.

And it cost them $3 million, not the $500,000 deal first offered.

Goldstein says that he took the offer without a pledge to keep quiet about it. Although he had to step aside as chief spokesperson of the citizen organization – Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) – he didn’t sign on, as usually happens, to retreat from speaking about the project.

“Contrary to press reports I have not given up my First Amendment rights or my involvement in Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn,” said Goldstein.

Bruce Ratner, head of the development firm called Forest City Ratner, is building the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn – a housing, retail and arena development.

Goldstein has led a vigorous citizen’s revolt against the project. It seems to me a model of opposition nationally for citizen’s groups fighting rapacious development that destroys communities.

Here are some links to find out more about the project and its opposition: http://www.nolandgrab.org/ and Goldstein’s

statement on the agreement between Goldstein and Ratner:

http://www.dddb.net/php/latestnews_Linked.php?id=2712

And finally, DDDB’s organizational statement on the deal:

I’ve got a bridge to sell you. Cheap. Just send along a big check. We’ll tell you how helpful it was some time in the future.

Mayor Frank Jackson and City Council are ready to give $1.1 million to Nehst Studios to help finance three movies the company expects to make in just over a year, according to a piece by Jay Miller of Crain’s Cleveland Business. It’s a loan that will allow Nehst to arrange $11 million in financing.

(PLEASE, CITY OFFICIALS, SAVE THIS $1.1 MILLION AND SEND SOMEONE OVER TO THE CASINO WHEN IT’S BUILT. BET IT ON SOMETHING. MAKES BETTER BUSINESS SENSE.)

I wonder who at City Hall has the expertise to invest more than a million bucks on some Hollywood (made in Cleveland) movies. Oh, hell, details, details.

The film, Miller writes, will also benefit from $7 million in Ohio tax credits.

Hey, let’s find some more goodies for these guys. I’m sure that Cuyahoga County will chip in with some Arts and Culture money.

Miller doesn’t cite a source of the city funds. They were voted out of the Council’s economic development committee. I suspect it comes from UDAG repayments. These are subsidies given, usually at no interest and for up to 20 years before they are repaid, by the city via federal funds. When repaid they go back to the city.

The departure of the Brooklyn Dodgers was a blow to the people of Brooklyn, N.Y. but the arrival of a Ratner might be more devastating to Brooklyn citizens.

Here’s why:

Judge Grants New York State Right to Steal Homes By Eminent Domain for Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards Boondoggle

Outstanding Legal Issues Still Plague Atlantic Yards

Brooklyn, New York—A Brooklyn Supreme Court judge today, in an 80-page ruling, granted the Empire State Development Corporation's petition to take title ownership of the private properties—homes and businesses—in the footprint of developer Bruce Ratner's $5 billion Atlantic Yards boondoggle. The project consists of a proposed $1 billion money-losing arena and purportedly 15 skyscrapers though there are no renderings or models of anything other than the arena.

The property owners and tenants fighting for their rights will be considering all of their legal options in light of today's ruling.

The most reasonable tax for Cleveland City Council to raise income would be a special admissions tax on all events at Progressive Field, Quicken Arena, and Browns Stadium.

Why?

The reason is mainly because none of the teams pay any property taxes on their sports facilities. Not a penny.

They ride FREE.

Somehow Mayor Frank Jackson and City Council always overlook the guys at the top of the ladder. In this case, all Billionaires. How predictable.

We shall see how it makes sense.

A 10 percent added admission tax would bring in millions of new revenue. The tax would actually probably have an added benefit to sports fans. The teams would have to think twice before raising ticket prices.

So it’s likely that a major part of the cost would have to be borne by the teams and the already - if not over-paid - well paid athletes.

It would be fairer because, although the city pays the high cost of policing the sports events and takes the loss of property taxes, the fan base comes from a wide geographic area. Most likely most fans come from outside Cleveland and many outside Cuyahoga County.

They don’t share the burden of the cost of the stadiums to the city and county taxpayers. They enjoy the benefits, however.

So they should pay.

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: