Letters to the Editor
What would City Council reduction mean to West Side Wards?

To the editor: (Plain Press, November 2008) If people want to hear screaming next year in our city, passing Issue 39, the council reduction issue, on this November’s ballot will guarantee that it will happen.

After all, if the wards grow with reduction, what does that mean for the west side neighborhoods?

The first question we do not have an answer for is, “Who will volunteer to leave council on the west side?” If there are no volunteers then, “Whom will Council President Martin J. Sweeney choose to draw out of a job?”

When Sweeney sits down with his political consultant and other close allies to increase wards to 25,000 people, one of the first things he will do is draw Ward 14’s Councilman Joe Santiago’s new Hispanic ward. He will not risk a federal lawsuit by messing with the Hispanic area. Federal law demands that minority populations are kept together while drawing political districts.

Ward 13 Councilman Joe Cimperman will find his ward pushed further west as east side wards are experiencing the most population losses. His ward currently almost reaches Detroit Ave and West 65th Street. His personal campaign war chest by being the downtown councilman makes it difficult to see him being challenged even by any possible redrawing.

Ward 16 Councilman Kevin Kelly is the majority whip for council. His reward should be his Old Brooklyn Ward annexing some of the stable Ward 15 Old Brooklyn areas north of Broadview Road.

Ward 18 Councilman and former Council President Jay Westbrook is Sweeney’s former mentor on council. If Westbrook does not take this “opportunity” to retire on the great PERS public employee system or accept a city hall position, does anyone really believe Sweeney will do anything but give Westbrook what he wants in a new ward?

Wards 20 and 21 in West Park must grow to the east along Lorain Ave. since they are hemmed in by surrounding suburbs. Plus Sweeney will hardly punish himself in redrawing his own ward.

Thus Ward 19 Councilwoman Dona Brady will find the center of her ward, Lorain Ave. and West 117th Street becoming the eastern border of either Wards 20 or 21. At least 25 to 30 percent of Ward 19 will be drawn to her western neighbors.

Ward 15’s Councilman Brian Cummins proposed even further council reduction than the two or four wards we would see next year. That was bravado considering the likelihood of the Old Brooklyn losses to Councilman Kelly and the loss of Hispanic areas by MetroHealth and West 25th to Councilman Santiago.

This is not a good time to be considered a council maverick like Cummins is.

Ward 17’s Matt Zone area will indeed be squeezed if Westbrook decides to stay as will Brady’s area.

Did this confuse everyone? Give them headaches? Wait until Issue 39 passes. Ask what this means for Ohio City, Tremont, Detroit-Shoreway, Brooklyn Centre and anywhere else. There are no answers to be had, as a Cleveland Ward would grow larger than almost any suburb one can name.

I urge you to Vote No on Issue 39

Richard May,
Treasurer, Reduction---A Republican Plan

Another perspective on the Ashbury Towers redevelopment

To the editor: (Plain Press, November 2008) While I have no doubt that the developer of this project (Stalled development on Fenwick leaves residents in limbo, Plain Press, September 2008) may have made many mistakes, the fact of the matter is this: the success of a project, like any other, is dependent on market timing. If the project would have gone off in 1999 with a sales period from then until 2003, during the bull years of the residential real estate market, this project, like the other 20 or so projects the company did would have done very well.

Did this company make mistakes? I do not know, but probably. However, the fact is that this company gained some control of this property in 1996 and the usual petty, inadequate bureaucracy of local government delayed the approvals and thus it’s groundbreaking until 2004 when the market was petering out; so while this company may have had problems beyond just this project, the City has only itself to blame for it’s petty politics that delayed this project until one of the best real estate cycles this country has ever known came to an end.

Before we burn the developer at the stake, let’s look at the career politicians and their lack of any intelligence as a contributing factor. The fact is that more often than not, people with no real estate development experience and unfortunately, sub-par intelligence, decide the fate of developments in municipalities. It may be true that this developer made many mistakes, but let’s not let the “red tape” politicians off the hook either.

Michael Sedley

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