TEN MURDERED IN CLEVELAND - FINALLY NOTICED

Submitted by Roldo on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 17:12.

The biggest story this day after the election isn’t approval of County government reform or approval of a monopoly casino for a billionaire.

 

No. The biggest story is about the numerous murdered bodies found in the middle a city neighborhood. In fact, not far from famous Shaker Square in the new 4th ward.

 

That it could happen with little notice says so much more about Cleveland, its priorities and what it cares about than any election issue. Residents count little in this world.

 

The question is how does this happen? Why did it happen? Why did it happen so easily? Why did it escape notice so easily? For so long?

 

Where were the police? Where were health officials? Social workers? Community development personnel? Community activists?

 

Let’s build a new convention center. Let’s build a new casino. Can we build any new stadiums? Theaters? Fancy restaurants?

 

Anyone can see reform and casinos don’t answer what really ails Cleveland. You can’t hide it behind glitz or change for the sake of change.

 

Poverty and its relatives are eating away at the very life of the city. Giving recognition to this is step one.

 

But we are being sold shoddy goods instead.

 

The Pee Dee won big yesterday. The newspaper – surely looking for relevance – piggybacked on a vile corruption scourge in County government to change its form. Not its nature.

 

Where does this constitute a change in the nature of our government? I don’t believe it does. It may be a hope that it will.

 

Chalk up another victory for the Pee Dee in the vote for a casino.

 

The Pee Dee strongly backed both issues. Even the news columns were used to push the platform.

 

The newspaper got on a train that was already speeding. However, the paper did use all its power – which is still substantial – to promote passage of both issues.

 

Take a bow, Ms. Goldberg.

 

Corruption and joblessness were the twin engines prompting voters to vote for Issue 3 and Issue 6.

 

Rotting dead bodies, however, tell a more frightening, real picture of our situation.

 

What to do about it raises even more problems.

 

With the residency law killed by the all-Republican Ohio Supreme Court soon there will be even fewer police living in the city they patrol. The distance between the police and community can’t be helped by the distance between where the police live and where their eyes and ears are needed.

 

Some thought had better be given to hiring neighborhood people, not as police, but as monitors – eyes and ears – in the neighborhoods. There needs to be intelligence on the ground, methods of gathering information so that whether someone is a drug addict, a prostitute or an upstanding citizen, he or she is guarded as humanly as possible.

 

That isn’t happening now. Cleveland can’t survive as a thriving downtown and nothing more.

 

Let’s see if the Pee Dee can wrestle with this one. Honestly. Without pretensions. And not for circulation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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intelligence on the ground

Submitted by westward on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 17:48.

 There was signs of intelligence on the ground, Roldo, but either the police ignored neighbors, raped women who made reports, families with missing relatives, or the lack of police officers is worse than we thought. Or maybe the police administration is so incompetent that they could not file the reports with the right department. More on this needs to be revealed. All that aside, when the casino is built, guess where those few police resources will be sent? Will those living in the neighborhoods of Cleveland that voted for issue 3 realize that they just gave themselves a royal screw over in so many ways?

Cleveland can thrive as a

Submitted by ward14resident on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 18:19.

Cleveland can thrive as a triving downtown and nothing more, but....all the residents would have to move out of the area.  I am thinking that Cleveland would be better as just a place for business...it is not a very good place to live and raise a family.  Just read the newspaper and you will see where the priorities are in the City of Cleveland.  I raised my family here because I couldn't afford to move, but I wouldn't recommend it as a good place to raise a family. Just look at the schools for an example. Maybe if the powers that be would put as much effort into caring about the needs of the people that live here as they put into caring about the needs of businesses, it would be a good place to live. 

It will be interesting to see who will step into the new county executive role and what changes will be made and what impact those changes will have on the people that live in the inner city of Cleveland

who will step into the new county executive role

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 19:13.

$1 billion+ per year question. I can't imagine who will step into the new county executive role, as I do not know of anyone here I consider well qualified to lead at that level.

As a business person, I can't wait around here for the next few years to see how this grand experiment starts to unfold... and for a decade to see what gambling does to here... I can't afford to stay, especially as it has become so unsafe here and, as you mention, the schools are not progressing well.

Add the point source and mobile pollution and you have a real losing combination not planned to be improved upon by any current leaders...

We will remain pollution and poverty central #1, meaning murder #1.

Not a place to raise kids, or send them to college.

Disrupt IT

new county executive

Submitted by westward on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 19:14.

Will be picked by Bill Mason. The newly reformed county government will be built on the current corruption.

No, the new county executive

Submitted by ward14resident on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 19:38.

No, the new county executive will be elected by the few that vote.

Yes, the new county executive

Submitted by westward on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 20:05.

Will be picked by Mason, campaign and ads and fundraising by Mason, and the few that vote will fall in line. How is that for cynicism? 

Sadly, you are probably

Submitted by ward14resident on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 21:59.

Sadly, you are probably right.  Unless...there is a strong voice from the residents that speaks the truth...and...people listen and get out and vote. 

organize

Submitted by westward on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 23:11.

I say it again. I won't stop saying it. Until a few people come together and win something as small as a traffic light or bigger, such as better police patrol in a problem area, why should they be part of the electoral process? Apathy feeds on itself.

I think people would come

Submitted by ward14resident on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 01:05.

I think people would come together on a particular issue, such as the demand for police protection for the people that live in Cleveland, but it seems that this rarely happens.  When people get together it seems that they start adding on their own personal agendas to the gathering instead of focusing on what they came together to accomplish. 

Even those with differing views on some issues can agree on others, but too often the differences prevent us from presenting a united front when we find common ground. 

 

 

Submitted by bj on Thu, 11/05/2009 - 10:02.

 

All day helicopters over corpses

Submitted by Jeff Buster on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 18:48.

The local media is noisily hovering.   No yellow crime tape can keep the aerial cameras at bay.  

This is news in Cleveland.

Corpses.

in a poverty stricken neighborhood.

Lots of corpses.

Naked women falling out of second story windows.   After their car keys.

Not to worry.

34,000 new casino jobs.  And Proposition 6 shill Bill Mason will get those Lake Erie windmills built.  You just watch and see.

Where is the GIS of missing persons in NEO? 

Chief McGrath:  Does the Cleveland Police Department maintain a GIS of crime in Cleveland?

Link me up please.

 

I contacted

Submitted by noner on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 19:08.

 my realtor today....

If you have a view of the steel mill

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 19:15.

You'll get top dollar in Tremont!

Tell the realtor it's an SII.

Disrupt IT

the local news

Submitted by westward on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 19:29.

I still have not caught up on this story; JBuster does a stark summary that says it all. When I try to catch the local news, a local "anchorperson" chirps about "Cleveland is getting a new casino (smile, smile)", "in other news, the body count is up to eleven". Click. 

Click

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 19:49.

We finally got a digital converter for our antenna yesterday - saw our first local TV news in about a year.

Click.

Disrupt IT

DWebb:

Submitted by Roldo on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 20:32.

You are right. The casinos will get special treatment, especially since some police actively campaigned for it.

 

When Jacobs Field was built, Mayor White had a contract with Dick Jacobs to provide a certain number of police officers - a substantial number - at games with 35,000 fans or more. You will remember that the Indians had 420 or so straight games with full capacity. Many police officers must have come from neighborhoods or at overtime.

So the concern that a casino will get special treatment is a valid one.

Mike White and the police

Submitted by westward on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 20:57.

 Mike White, during his first campaign, pledged an increased police force and said that downtown activities (football and baseball, pre-Gateway) had taken our police out of the neighborhoods. No more, he said. Not only would we get more officers, we would charge the owners of the teams for the police needed for these events. Music to the ears of the people in the neighborhoods and the groups that worked on safety.

What a sales job. A few months later, White announced that the City of Cleveland had about 2,000 officers, plenty to go around. He justified that with the size of the force compared to other cities of the same number of residents. The size of the city did not change between the campaign pledge and his new position. He then promoted the Gateway development and pulled officers out of the neighborhood to make it "safe" for the folks who went to Jacobs Field and Gund Arena.

We are not any better off today. That was brought home last night as we drove through downtown and passed the Quicken where Gilbert & Jackson we about to celebrate their victories. Cleveland Police officers all over the streets there and the casino has yet to come. 

and the teams..

Submitted by westward on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 21:02.

 And we still don't have the world class teams for "the world class showcase" that Mike White promised.