Join The Inner Circle to Put It On The Ballot

Submitted by Norm Roulet on Thu, 07/26/2007 - 13:06.
07/27/2007 - 12:30
07/27/2007 - 18:00
Etc/GMT-4

It is official - "Cuyahoga County commissioners voted 2-1 today to raise the sales tax a quarter of a penny to help bring a Medical Mart to Cleveland." Perhaps you'd like time to think about this more, and the opportunity to vote with other citizens on how you are taxed.  Other citizens feel the same and have formed a committee to "Put It On The Ballot"- a grass-roots campaign to collect enough signatures to force the 1/4% sales tax increase to be placed on a ballot. This Friday, July 27, there will be an Excellence Roundtable at The Inner Circle where some of the people involved with this campaign will join a discussion on this issue, from all directions.

To learn more about the campaign, visit http://putitontheballot.com - you'll certainly read more about this initiative on this site and on REALNEO throughout the coming months. 7GEN (developer of REALNEO) is providing this Drupal site for this initiative, and I look forward to learning more about the campaign and all related issues.

The Inner Circle will open at 12:30 PM and a buffet Hot Sauce Williams BBQ lunch will be offered at 1:00 PM - a $5 donation toward food will be appreciated but is not required. There is a cash bar, which will be open all afternoon - people are welcome to drop in at any time from noon - 6 PM... there will always be interesting discussions to join.

While we are convening at The Inner Circle, I'll share news on developments in East Cleveland and with the East Cleveland Observer, and I'm asking anyone who wants to help with the East Cleveland Observer to come by The Inner Circle for some informal planning and discussions... all are welcome. Also, you will be welcome to tour the old Hough Bakeries complex, and to swing by the historic house we are renovating in East Cleveland, at 1894 Roxbury.

I hope to see you at The Inner Circle soon.

Location

The Inner Circle Restaurant, at Hough Bakeries
1519 Lakeview Road
East Cleveland, OH
United States
See map: Google Maps
( categories: )

There there

Submitted by Sudhir Kade on Thu, 07/26/2007 - 14:32.

As always, omnipresent...  see y'all there!  

SALES TAX REFERENDUM

Submitted by Jeff Buster on Thu, 07/26/2007 - 15:30.

If you are interested in learning more about volunteering to circulate a petition to PUTITONTHEBALLOT  (the increase in sales tax) I'll be at the Inner Circle to help discribe the referendum process and connect you with petition signature forms as soon as they are printed and available. 

circus comes to town -- jeff buster in newsprint

Submitted by Susan Miller on Thu, 07/26/2007 - 18:05.

 

Operators Are Standing By Proponents Of The Convention Center/medical Mart Want Us To Act Now! in yesterday's Freetimes quotes our own Jeff Buster (he was also the "wag" who said and "our wallets"). She caught this much, "And while many project supporters ran over their allotted time, the only speaker cut off by Hagan was Jeff Buster, who said, "I think what we have is desperation and with desperation we become delusional. Everyone is assured of a return except the taxpayers."

(Today it was Tim Ferris who was asked by Hagan to sit down.)

Anastasia has the right tone for her lead in -- buy it now, place your order by midnight tonight to win big!  Doesn't this sound like a late night commercial from Time Warner or the pool guy in the Oh in Ohio?

The point is that we can't just change the channel on this tax or anything else we are expected to just accept. Good governance is farther on the scale toward consensus, but would they educate us on the issue? No -- they had made up their minds and the "hearing" was just that. They had to hear us, and they were allowed to drown us out with their paid employees.

 

The people from the medical and hospitality industries did not say, we will benefit -- tax us. They, like their leaders feel that it is best to ask everyone to pay so that they can benefit. I’m not surprised – illness stemming from poverty is big business for the medical industry.

 

A woman said that she felt she didn’t have enough information and wished that this had been a question answer session, but if it would help the schools, she would be for the tax. Not one of the commissioners told her that this tax has nothing to do with the schools -- that more taxes and levies will be right behind this one.

 

What a farce -- there was no hearing going on except that we were hearing each other (OK, maybe Peter Lawson Jones was listening). If it is a hearing to hear issues that would be taken under advisement, I could understand, but I feel that many regular folk who wound up there simply left feeling that there is "hope". I submit that the hope is for the rich, and that the more obfuscation and the faster this thing gets going the less well considered, less well communicated it is, the worse it stinks of corruption.

There is no plan -- hope is not a strategy. Why do we need to begin to raise the funds now if they won't be needed for a year or two? Why do we include Mentor and Elyria in the figures used to consider the impact on the hospitality industry? Why do we have to raise funds for no plan with no site, no cost benefit analysis and no forum? And where is Upton Sinclair?

I asked County Administrator, Dennis Madden if the sales of Medmart products would contribute to the overall money's going into the coffers to pay for the convention center. He said definitively, yes they would. The fact is that these purchasers will most likely place orders online and pay no tax to Cuyahoga County at all. So our taxes will support yet another non taxed venture for the region. Wow! What a great idea! The Medmart sales will not contribute to the sales tax coffers.

The only possibility here (after we put it on the ballot) is to make a law that says government can no longer be involved in taking land that is not already publicly owned off the tax rolls. If this Convention Center is sited at Forest City, I will be sad to say, I told you so… If more quarter cent taxes are needed in the near future and are passed without voters being involved, I will be sad to say, I told you so…

 

If a Convention Center is sited on the River and we see the repeat of the 1913 flood and the thing falls in, I will be sad to say, I told you so... I'll probably be blogging from faraway by then. Unlike Adam Brandon, I won't drive in to buy tires in Cuyahoga County to contribute. It will be interesting to see how many people will be buying furniture and appliances in surrounding counties. This should really drive sales in outlying counties.

Excellent COIL

Submitted by Sudhir Kade on Fri, 07/27/2007 - 23:32.

I really like this COIL beginning.  I would really like to start development of the Bioneers Cleveland COIL, so Derek , Jeff, and Norm, send me the specs I need to start development, please.  Been waiting on this a while and I've compiled the tech rider and needs assessment is well underway.

Peace!

Beatific Blogapalooza 2.0

Submitted by Sudhir Kade on Sun, 07/29/2007 - 09:08.

Just an update - I signed the ballot to Put it on  politely provided by Gloria (Ferris) at yesterday's Bloggapalooza event.  What a great time with fantastic bands on both Waterloo Festival and Beachland Ballroom stages.  I especially enjoyed the spoken word raps and rants of verbalists Ghetto Wisdom.   Thanks again to Gloria and Tim and George (Nemeth) who warmly greeted me with VIP wristband and welcome.

Bloggapalooza 2.0 Rocked!