I Worry About the Lack of Home Rule!

What Do We Do After "One Goal?"

I am worried about the city of Cleveland and our suburbs. How do you come back if you set "one goal" and then fail to accomplish that goal? If community leaders and advertisers only set one goal for the year and then you do not accomplish that goal, what is next? Will we be gun shy to make any other goals, after this failure? I could understand if a big giant city such as Los Angeles, New York or Chicago stood in our way, but our goal was extinguished by a fake city like Orlando. Maybe we need to take over a few neighboring cities to regain our confidence?

I am especially concerned for the future of Cleveland and the suburban communities over this Ohio Supreme Court decision last week with regard to home rule. An overwhelming majority of citizens support our tax dollars going to pay the salaries of our neighbors. The clear majority want our safety forces to live in the city that they patrol. We want them to have a stake in the future of the Akron, Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, and Youngstown. I love Cleveland, but can't image the city without police, fireman, and city workers living within its borders. Sure many were skirting the law right now, but it was an important statement that employees receiving salary from the City care enough to own property within the Cleveland. This is going to be a killer for many cities. We already have 10,000 empty units in Cleveland. Where do we go from here? I am worried that any progress made in addressing poverty and homelessness will disappear because of the reduction in property taxes and city services.

We need to hold a town hall for all of us to weigh in on the future of the City. Where do we go now that home rule is as outdated as hats with buckles on them? What are we going to do in the next few years when a large number of our safety forces live outside the city? We need to set some realistic goals that are not entirely wrapped up in the fate of our sports' teams. With a state government on the brink of massive human service cuts, and the beginning of big migration at the local level, we need to do something that involves all the residents and tax payers in Cleveland. Since the safety forces always point to the sad state of the Cleveland schools, maybe we need to start over with the schools. We have tried everything including Mayoral control, and the state report card still gives us a D in the management of the school. Ask the city employees to hang in for two years, while we start over with the school system. We need some assurances that civic and government leadership recognize the problem and are working on a solution.

Brian
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