Role model
Q. What city not far from Cleveland has all of the following:
- A county governed since 1984 by a home rule charter, with an elected County CEO, an Assistant CEO responsible for economic development, and a fifteen-member county legislative branch elected by district?
- An established downtown casino industry?
- A downtown waterfront free of industrial and port uses, with lots of park space, promenade access, hotels, office and residential development?
- A 2.4 million square foot downtown convention center — the nation’s 19th largest — with 700,000 square feet of exhibition space?
… not to mention thousands of recent immigrants, a growing feature film industry buoyed by an early-adopter state tax credit program, and a City Council elected entirely at large?
Where is this urban cutting edge, whose residents already enjoy so many of the reforms and innovations that Cleveland so sadly lacks?
(Hint: It’s not Pittsburgh.)
A. Detroit.
Yes, Detroit.
I said Detroit. Detroit. Detroit.
Feel better now?
October 28th, 2009 at 6:38 am
[...] Bill Callahan says Issue 6 will turn Cleveland into Detroit. [...]
October 28th, 2009 at 7:56 am
In an attempt to start a discussion, I see the failures of Detroit and Cleveland more as an indictment on who is running things rather than the structure being used. Those that believe one structure “will work” and the other is “doomed to failure” are overreaching greatly.
Leadership can adapt and thrive in any structure; incompetence can fail just as bad given the best structure imaginable. I believe our ‘leadership’ has failed us so badly and that they have such a lock on the system that there’s no way to win in a standard election. But I also can’t fathom how the proposed system is any better.
Maybe the answer is vote yes on both: throw the bums out and then let’s figure out what the system should be! yes, it will be expensive in the short run, but maybe we’ll have an honest discussion as to what the county government really should look like!