Cleveland’s Stupidity
Legalized gambling is nothing more than a tax on poor people, and I want to restate my personal opposition to it based on philosophical grounds right from the beginning. Now with that said, the argument that Ohio should allow casino-style gaming made sense on the grounds that people were simply going to bordering states to engage in it, thus taking dollars elsewhere.
So when voters approved casinos the only logical thing to do was to try to insure that the jobs and revenues produced by gambling are distributed equally and fairly … continued opposition makes little sense.
City Fathers in Cleveland find themselves in a similar situation with Internet sweepstakes cafes … which, by all outward appearances, is gambling. Proponents, however, contend that it’s not, and give the following cites:
Publishers Clearinghouse for years have offered sweepstakes prizes in the millions; McDonald’s offers prizes with its Monopoly game; and Coke used to offer prizes under the caps of its bottles. These three companies all have one thing in common: You buy something and get entered into a sweepstakes. That’s what these cafes are offering: The customer buys a phone card which they can use at one of the computer terminals to go online to, say, check the weather on the Internet — or they can try to win cash prizes, just like at McDonald’s.
So, how can City Hall stop Internet cafes from basically doing the same thing, or, put another way, how can the folks at City Hall pick and choose who to prosecute? Based on what?
If the issue is as legally muddy as the folks in the Law Department says it is, why not let the business owners stay open until the courts make a definitive ruling? Why chase people (and dollars) out of Cleveland and into the suburbs that will allow the cafes? At the end of the day Government can’t stop people from engaging in behaviors it deems harmful, but it can tax such behavior.
It would be far better for the City of Cleveland to set up a special tax fund and use revenues generated by the sweepstakes cafes for school uniforms, classroom computers, and scholarships. That is, if city lawyers can’t find a way to kill such an idea.
Cleveland’s Face
Cleveland was fortunate enough to land a national conference, Reclaiming Vacant Properties, which brought close to a 1,000 folks from across the country to town Oct. 13-15. I attended the conference and was very proud that my vineyard was one of the sites selected to be on the bus tour conference attendees took to view the progress we’re making here in Cleveland in regards to turning empty lots into green revenue producers.
The conference put the national spotlight on Cleveland, and what face did we (at least in part) show the nation? One that said … while we are making progress on the “green” front, we still are woefully lagging behind on the “diversity” front.
On the website for the conference, http://reclaimingvacantproperties.org, is an icon under the heading of “Explore Cleveland.” Of course we would want our out-of-town guests to see our nightlife and relax and enjoy themselves in the evening. Clicking on the icon leads to the site east4street.com which features about 15 folks enjoying themselves in the East 4th Street entertainment district … but, the problem is, all 15 of them are white. This lack of diversity left a couple of conference attendees (one black and the other white) scratching their heads in disbelief. They concurred that something like this would not happen in their hometowns.
When I raised the issue of the lack of inclusion on the site to a city official, her response was that I was making too much of it … that young people today really don’t see color anymore, so whoever designed the site just was not paying any attention to race. In essence, it’s a harmless oversight. I then asked, what her (and the public’s) reaction would be of all of the images on the site were of black folks … I’m willing to bet that race would become an issue real quickly then.
I wish I believed the lack of inclusion of black faces on the site was simply an oversight … but I don’t. I’ve witnessed systematic racial exclusion in Cleveland for too long to remain that naive. This lack of focus on simple fairness and inclusion is part of what is causing friction in the Warehouse District, and I can virtually guarantee you that sooner or later that same racial discord will morph over to East 4th Street if the issue of diversity is left unaddressed.
We sorely need a diversity czar in Cleveland … but to create such a position first requires that we admit to having a problem … something, at least to this juncture, certain people in town have been very reluctant to do.
Cleveland’s Gem
Shame that it took so long for us to visit the renovated Hanna Theatre. The new, cozier facility is truly a magnificent venue in which to enjoy theatre, and my wife and I had a splendid time the other evening at the Great Lakes Theater Festival’s first-rate production of “Othello.” The cast in this starkly modernized and stylized version of Shakespeare’s classic tale of deceit and treachery was every bit as impressive as the venue … the only drawback to the evening being the audience. Yes, the audience.
Perhaps the Great Lakes folks should require that all patrons read (or re-read, as the case may be) classic plays before they are allowed entrance, and then be given a quiz … in that way the laughter at inappropriate moments will perhaps be kept to a minimum. Some bumpkins even found the sight of Desdemona’s desperate hand clawing at Othello’s shoulder as he strangled the life out of her body somehow amusing enough to evoke laughter. In New York such un-sophisticates would be strung up on Times Square, their bodies left to be feast upon by theatre rats … who have more taste and erudition than some of these local yokels.
I found myself wishing cast members had bushels of rotten tomatoes strategically placed on stage so they could pelt dunderhead audience members who — with their lack of discernment between drama and comedy — can ruin the mood, tension, and entire evening for intelligent theatergoers. Crass audience members aside, it was a wonderful and entertaining evening. Go see “Othello.”
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://www.neighborhoodsolutionsinc.com.
3 Responses to “Mansfield: Cleveland’s Stupidity”
rob hawkins
Is that link to frombehindthewall.com correct?
Hank Wait
A minor point. Publishers Clearing House does not require you to purchase anything.
Tom
It became clear to me after several trips to Las Vegas over the past decade, that gambling is, and should only be considered, entertainment. The problem is that people who NEED the money, shouldn’t gamble away what they have, and those who have the money and can afford to gamble, win or loose, don’t really need it. Equally, to win big, you have to bet big, so wealthy gamblers could conceivably bet more and win larger returns. And their losses go to the casino operators anyway. So you are exactly right. Gambling primarily takes from the poor and winds up in the pockets of the rich one way or another. But for those who oppose casino gambling, it’s a bit late to the game. The Ohio Lottery has been taking middle- and lower-class money for decades. I see people of all races and ages betting daily, sometimes $10-$20 or more. Over the course of a month, that’s money that could be spent on basic needs or saved for an emergency. Adding lottery kiosks and sales terminals doesn’t create any jobs since they go in established retail operations. Casino gambling certainly has its cons, but Cleveland needs the pros more: jobs and the tax revenues that come with them, attractive entertainment options to bring tourists and take more of THEIR money instead of that of our own, and as a attractor for the convention business at the new Med Mart and convention center.