By Roldo Bartimole
As I remember it when I first came to Cleveland and had the occasion to visit Cleveland City Council, the 33 members used a room outside the committee hearing chamber as their office. One office fit all.
There’s a reason I’m telling you this.
They called it “the bullpen,” says a former Councilman.
The 33 members operated out of the one room, making and taking telephone calls from constituents. Doing business. It was low budget government. Worked as well as those things do.
Things change, as you know.
Not only did they have cramped quarters but they shared the room. With reporters. Lots of them. At the time there were two newspapers with more than one assigned reporter each. There were TV stations with news reporters. And there were radio stations- lots of them – that provided daily news. What a surprise.
Now there are 19 council members. All have aides. They have staff too. Most of the reporters are gone.
And private offices. Not huge but adequate. (And where once reporters and Council members rubbed shoulders, now the members operate under rather closed doors. You can’t even see the corridors. Never mind walking and talking with these “representatives.” They’ve blocked themselves away by glazed glass. PUBLIC NOT WANTED!)
The budget says the 19 Council members – down 14 since 1965 – have 62 employees with a proposed budget this year of $6.5 million. That’s a hefty fund. More than three helpers per member.
Is that living high off the hog? I think so.
I’d say it’s a far cry from 1965 and the Bullpen. Of course, there are some 350,000 fewer citizens to serve, too. But don’t tell anybody. The $6.5 million might be embarrassing. Though it’s tough to embarrass at City Hall.
Here’s the reason I’m telling you this:
I thought of it when I saw that Cuyahoga County Council members want some $500,000 for personal aides. A foot in the door. A down payment on the future.
Believe it – this is only the beginning. A bad beginning.
The first step toward another useless bureaucracy. One that only promises to get bigger and more costly.
Another “part-time” monstrosity.
We exchanged this for three blind Commissioners?
Not a good trade.
The one possible good thing: These people are dealing with a County of residents who should know how to protest before this partying gets out of hand. There are constituents with some power.
I’d urge some of the heavy hitters to let the County Council members know that we didn’t exchange three bought Commissioners for a squad of mini tribal chiefs with a bunch of clerks to do their jobs.
Especially when they don’t really have a job.
It’s time to nip this bud before it’s an oak.
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Hey Kindergarteners — You’re Rich!
Now to the other side of County government. Ed FitzGerald’s bailiwick.
We’re going to park $100 in the bank for every kid in Cuyahoga County for some 20 to 25 years? At five years old. Some 15,000 of them. Until they’re, if unused, in their mid twenties.
Sounds like a good deal for banks. Not sure about children. Or parents.
The total amount set aside would be $1.5 million a year. (Though there will be other costs for the county.)
Say half (to be generous) of those kids actually will use the $100 for a college education during the 20 or so years.
That means that $750,000 could sit in some bank vault annually. Times a possible minimum of 20 years – more or less. So $750,000 times 20 years equals $15 million. That’s what will be awaiting the half of kids likely not to go to college.
That’s some $15 million the banks have on hand, likely at the lowest, if any, interest rate. Nice reserves.
Seems to me like a good deal for banks but a rotten deal for spurring educational desires among the young.
Couldn’t they find a better way to invest County money to help those who need a boost and are really going to go to college?
It seems they didn’t think this one through.
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Stop Violence on RTA Buses the Easy Way
There’s a lot of anguish over a problem between RTA drivers and RTA riders. They’re beating each other up.
Some of it is blamed by some on stress among many people. That’s only going to get worse as our new economy keeps driving more and more of wealth to the upper reaches. At the same time it continues to crunch those at the other end.
The solution: Free public transportation.
Yes, free. That’s what I wrote.
If I – and many, many others – can drive free on all city streets because we own a vehicle why can’t those without vehicles ride the same streets at the same cost. Zero.
I don’t care how you finance public transportation but make it free for those who use it.
As our society keeps “rewarding” free streets to all with private transportation, why shouldn’t those same streets be free to those without private vehicles?
Don’t they really need it much more? Of course, they do.
We keep finding ways to reward those who don’t need bonuses and we keep finding regressive ways to damage those who need.
It just doesn’t make sense.
Get rid of the fare box. Get rid of the stress. Give those with needs a bit of a break. And save some cracked heads.
Roldo Bartimole has been reporting since 1959. He came to Cleveland in 1965 to report for the Plain Dealer where he worked twice in the 1960s, left for the Wall Street Journal in 1967. He started publishing his newsletter Point of View in 1968 and ended it in 2000.In 1991 he was awarded the Second Annual Joe Callaway Award for Civic Courage in Washington, D.C. He received the Distinguished Service Award of the Society of Professional Journalists, Cleveland chapter, in 2002, and was named to the Cleveland Journalism Hall of Fame, 2004. [Photo by Todd Bartimole.]