Fairness Vs. Public Confidence
One of the aspects of the county corruption scandal that has largely gone unmentioned is race. Except for a couple of instances, virtually all of the now-disgraced players have been white … and there’s a reason for that: Corrupt “good ‘ol boys” networks tend to only reward family and close friends. That’s why I wasn’t surprised when I discovered that all of the 36 highly-compensated appraisers on the payroll of former Sheriff Gerald McFaul were white (and only four were female).
So, following that logic I should be rooting for all of the members of the county boards of revisions to fall under the axe. I can virtually guarantee that the makeup of those boards is racially skewered towards whites. And under this incoming regime I’m certain that new boards will more closely mirror the racial makeup of the county — persons of color will have a fairer shot.
Yet, still I’m troubled about wholesale firings of board members simply to give the appearance of no-nonsense toughness, or to appease the voracious appetite of the media. Now, any board members that obtained their positions due to an incestuous political relationship, or if they have been spending part of the workday screwing the pooch, they should go, no question about it.
However, if (and I know this is a huge “if”), but if they obtained their employment in a fair, open and honest manner, did a full day’s work for a full day’s pay … then they should not be in jeopardy of losing their jobs. It’s simply too easy for people who have never been out of work in their entire lives to throw someone else under the unemployment bus.
Granted, a case can be made that even honest, hard-working employees can and should still be held accountable if they were aware of the misdoings of others and failed to report it. The problem was, who were they going to report it to? Russo? His hatchet-lady Sandy Klimkowski?
I can just see an honest employee walking into Klimkowski’s office and saying, “Sandy, you do know that Prunella, your second cousin once-removed on you mother’s side, is spending all of her afternoons at Thistledown, don’t you?”
In the rotten climate that existed in Cuyahoga County, with no well-defined whistleblower statues in place … the most likely result would have been the employee reporting the wrongdoing just might have been the one disciplined or fired … not Prunella. When it comes down to personal integrity versus paying the mortgage, it’s not hard to figure out which one is going to come out on top — at least in the real world that most workers exist in.
There’s a term for a political climate in which the nominally innocent are indiscriminately punished right along with the guilty: It’s called a Witch-hunt … and if we are not careful hereabouts the backlash engendered by real and imagined corruption could land us right back in Salem in the 1600s.
Moving forward we certainly want to inculcate a county work climate and ethic where folks are expected to do their jobs — and not be putting on makeup, eating their breakfast, catching up on their personal email or taking a long lunch break to go shopping when they are supposed to be doing the county’s business.
And FitzGerald has already (and wisely so) put an inspector general in place to insure accountability — we certainly need one. But the last thing we should want to become is a county of quislings … where a bunch of little snitches are sneaking around, peeking over cubicles, and conjuring up all kinds of false reports on co-workers as they seek to ingratiate themselves with the new powers that be. That would be a disgusting outcome and by-product of well-intentioned reform.
Urban Homesteading
When I’m not pecking away at my keyboard I’m involved in a number of urban land use projects. In addition to putting a vineyard in across the street from my home in Hough this past summer, I’m also the project manager of a new, six-home mini-development in my community. However, as anyone knows, houses aren’t moving too well right now, so I’m going to try to get creative.
The model home we built on 79th Street is surrounded by a half acre of land — on which we were planning to build five additional homes. Now we’re going to attempt to sell this as an urban homestead: Buy the home and we’ll let you farm the land surrounding it.
For those looking for a bigger spread, I know of a huge site situated in an inner-ring suburb where eight new homes are just sitting, and much of the ground work necessary for farming has already been done. My guess is … the bankers in control of the property would be amenable to someone buying the homes and farming the dozens of acres rather than just letting them sit there and grow weeds for the next 20 years. Yeah, I know, it’s outside-the-box, but hey, someone has to go there on occasion or we keep doing the same old things.
For all of the naysayers, who are skeptical and believe that small urban farmers will never be able to compete with large agribusiness, the answer is, they’re right, they can’t. But there’s more to it than just price. Figuring out how to make urban farming profitable is akin to figuring out how to make the Internet profitable — it’s going to be tough but some very bright and innovative people are now successful at doing both.
And in regards to food production, price should not be the only (or even main) factor when considering urban farming. Freshness, no pesticides, and local job creation all have to be figured into the equation. When that ‘s done you come out with solutions like Will Allen’s urban farm operation in Milwaukee, Growing Power. His operation has proved that healthy, locally grown and reasonably priced foods and profitability are not mutually exclusive … we just have to learn how to do it.
Standing up for the Right
At the risk of being labeled gay (as I once unjustly was — and perhaps still am — for standing on the steps of City Hall a few years ago and declaring my support of legislation friendly to my LGBT brothers and sisters) I have to again raise my voice in applause of the abolishment of DADT. It’s about goddamn time. And when it comes down to what people may think of me … I guess I’d rather have brave gay friends than so-called friends who really are homophobic bigots.
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.