The Plain Dealer did an excellent job of displaying and explaining the divisions of the County Reform ballot proposal the newspaper supports. But I’m wondering if “division” isn’t the operating word in its presentation.
The PD’s presentation is found on Cleveland.com: http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/08/county_reform_plan_has_somethi.html [1]
The map on the front page of the Sunday PD gives one the impression of 11 new fiefdoms being created.
And the way the PD described the new governmental “wards” – highlighting racial and ethnic characters of proposed new districts - also raises questions. Is that the way reformers want the public to think about this proposal?
I think it may suspicions among voters.
I’d love to see a poll of what voters think after they view the outline offered by the Plain Dealer. The newspaper editorially strongly backs the ballot proposal.
I’m not sure anyone at the PD imagined what voters might take away from its offerings.
To me it says, “Wait a minute. What are we doing? I need to know more about how this will work.”
Links:
[1] http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/08/county_reform_plan_has_somethi.html