I made request for TWDC documents last December. My request was for seven years going back. I was informed they had 2007-08 (one fiscal year july-june) prepared for review. I scheduled a review and went down to city hall. Half of the documents were illegible, apparently "the printer must have run out of ink". I reviewed them all and asked for those documents in a readable form as well as several email attachments not included, referenced documents that were not included, copies of select documents and the next fiscal year.

I was told it should take a few weeks. I never heard back. I've called Ms. Roberson numerous times and my calls have not been returned. 

Seems like TWDC thinks their business is no one's business.... hell, I could use a thousand bucks...

You could go about redefining, the relationship, Jeff has already. When you say that the CDC is s sub-division of government you are out on a limb. If everything that received government funding was a sub-division then its all just matter of degrees of separation.

The CDC’s are not fully funded, they operate an independent budget. They apply for grants, or are they now getting regular amounts? If so then they need to address that, it was never there charter to do be a branch of government.

The responsiveness of the CDC to the community is proportionate to the public funding they receive. Not fully funded…not fully accountable?

The CDC model is not perfect, but really should be operating on federal grants that are allocated by the city. Per project and that empowering them to operate on enough of a margin. But they were tainted, they began to placate and patronize, they pursue money in conflicting areas. In an extreme analogy you could say they fund the Neo Nazi and then also fund the Orthodox Jew. The typical whore I think, has no morals and does not care who the John is, hey its all green. Then they blanket it all with, the quintessentially PC motto can’t we all just get along.

She is only the friend of the homeless when there is funds for them, she is always friends with anyone with money to spend.

Do you really expect her to give up the contact list? Is the crack whore on welfare a government sub-division.

  Add my name to the list of folks denied information on the Denison NRP housing trust application.  What's the next step?
 

good luck with that . . .

I wonder if you had very talented people with a fixed income, would they a do better job?

Not if you think the 300K townhouse can be next to public housing.

People that are fully subsidized are a good representation of levels of breakdown in society. The homeless shelter is not the same as affordable and open to everyone. It actually seeks out the most dysfunctional. The schizophrenic and drug addicts, the most disruptive.

The worst get the most and then ideally all integrated into society? UGH

Stratifications across larger areas, then all connected to one budgeting model, then the higher market that produces more profit funds the lower end that produce less…the lowest should breakeven and nothing but those that are truly dysfunctional funded in excess of actual costs.

The CDC today is attempting to do that in a limited area, that’s insane. It is unstable in every way.

That’s why they have to discount it with abatements and discounted interest rates, other wise and even then it is hard to sell.

It is interesting because mixed income is best and so in a diverse economy, but not attainable in too small of an area. The CDC are to small in area, they cannot be or attain diversity they generate conflict. Case in point? We are all product of our environment.

Stratification and defined margins within, in layers that transition that over lap but are not directly in conflict. That is about people that manage the activity and direction with less conflict. The trouble with getting real investment is related to the troubles with real value and attempts to redefine the predominant.

We are not a classless society, we are a multi class society. Integration is imperative, but must be done in stratification and layers. The CDC are attempting to do that in a confined area and that is inherently conflicting and all this is a product of that.

I'm not sure if it's a snow job or if somebody is getting the message, but I will say that of late, there has been a tidbit of improvement.  There is a lot to be done and it's going to take a lot of work and, whether it be request for public documents,  fair and equal treatment for the long-time residents, no double standards between code enforcement of prima dona business owners and low income home owners or making sure that federal monies are fairly expended throughout the neighborhood, it has been and will continue to be a collaborated effort as well as residents taking a stand.

Jeff, I think it's great that you are undertaking to see how far you can get with this request.  I can personally tell you,  it can be a long and frustrating battle. 

Shoot, as co-chair of the Central Tremont Block Club, I made a request for copies of receipts for grant monies spent and was promised those receipts by  the treasurer of TWDC that I would have those receipts in two weeks, but that was a ruse because a couple of days later, they gathered a clan and sent over the ex-co-chair to oust me as co-chair.  I must say, I was sternly warned that if I wanted to stay in the game with TWDC, I had better never question their finances.  Well, I didn't like that game anyway.

  I was run off the TWDC board, when I also asked about finances in the nineties...nothing changes, it's one of the worse CDCs.  Frankly, they're all fairly useless for the money shelled out.  A few decent folks work at some of the CDCs--recent grads mostly, who quickly learn that BS is what it's all about and the smart ones get the hell away from non-profit work as soon as they can...
 

  The web and social aspects of the web tend to amplify the emotional content of everything said...this is rational discourse, not hysteria or conspiracy theory...all good information to get out there...and legitimate questions to ask.

Perhaps, my condemnation of CDCs, specifically TWDC, is harsh to some, but from experience I have not seen measureables quantified or achieved.  TWDC works for developers, when it should be working for residents.  In fairness, TWDC does do a better job of community organizing and coordinating communication with block clubs, so I can't condemn them for that effort, becuase it is one of the original social missions of CDCs.  In my current neighborhood, the CDC puts out a newspaper (which I suppose can be argued, fulfills the informed public mission) and it has a lot of internal meetings--no block club coordination or community organizing.  The one recent community organizer on the staff at OBDC (mercifully let go), spent her time ridiculing residents.  Recently, OBDC acquired HUD properties.  When I was at TWDC, property management was a larger part of the CDC mission in collaboration with Cleveland Housing Network--lease to own programs etc.   To my knowledge, this type of outreach and community assistance does not exist at any of the current 50+ CDCs...if so, please prove me wrong.

Our local media does not touch these quasi-governmental institutions and there is no oversight.  The confusion over whether they represent the City of Cleveland 's Dept of Community Development and/or residents is intentional and when answers are forthcoming this blurry identity/mission is used to full advantage.

At the very least, if my rants seem irrational to some...please prove me wrong.  Recently, OBDC has improved somewhat in at least marketing the neighborhood.  I applaud this improvement in their service to the community, but they have a long way to go to prove that they are worth our investment of tax dollars...especially, as the many of these CDC staff folks live in outlying suburbs...and see their hefty salaries as "charity work."

do not find your posts or postings lmcshane as anything but informative.  not getting any sense of "conspiracy theory" from the content you publish.

so far as:

>> . . . these CDC staff folks live in outlying suburbs . .  and see their hefty salaries as "charity work."<<

i do not think most live in outlying suburbs BUT yes i have witnessed that depending on audience, CDC staff and boards are quite capable of condescending to those they'd rather not address.

but that is simply a Human Issue - not a CDC issue.  a handy way to marginalize someone is to marginalize their voice and concerns, condescention/talking down to is a traditionally class-based way to achieve that.

yes the web does not allow for voice inflection, facial expression, "gestures" - but i assure that what i write is simply my personal observations, no judgment intended or implied to anyone OR any organization.

and yes i am attempting to figure out the social context of this site, but am likely to just watch, as there seems to be much subtext of which i am unaware, based on some of the responses that seem to far outstretch anything that i see in the plain text i have read at RealNeo.

thanks though interesting/insightful stuff.  truly. 

1. The Ohio Supreme Court split 4 to 3 on both Oriana and Nova.   The dissenting Justices would have ordered that the records sought in both cases be provided.
2. The make up of the OSC is not the same now as when these decisions were written.   Some of the same Justices who supported publicly funded non-profit secrecy are still on the bench, and there are a few new Justices.  
3. Before someone in the State of Ohio decides to take legal action against a publicly funded non-profit, it would be very helpful if the views of the new members of the OSC were known on this matter. If there is still clearly a majority on the OSC who support secrecy, then beginning a case which – after going through the long appeal process – reaches the OSC and is again defeated is, perhaps, not the best use of open record challenge resources.
4. OSC are ELECTED by public vote.    Candidates in the next election need to be clear on their public records stand, and the public must vote in OSC candidates who are pro-public record release.
5. In the case of Oriana the records where sought by Ms. Montgomery, the State of Ohio auditor at the time.   So this was a situation in which the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that even the State Auditor did not have the right to certain financial records of Oriana House, a non-profit totally publicly funded which provided rehabilitation for ex – Ohio prisoners.   Here is a link to Oriana’s web site. Oriana House also operates in Cuyahoga County. Oriana has a facility across the street from the Alternatives Agency half way house which was involved in the recent FBI investigation as reported here on Cleveland.com
6. Many, Many other state non-profits (and for profit companies who work with public bid contracts)  filed AMICUS briefs in the Oriana case. All these “friend of the court” briefs apparently supported Oriana’s position that publicly funded non-profits should be able to keep their records secret.   (I did not read any of the Amicus briefs.) This means that probably every non-profit in the State of Ohio (and across the country for that matter) does not want the public to be able to review their records. So the battle for Community Development Corporation (CDC) records is much bigger than just CDC’s
7. In the case of Nova – a publicly funded mental health non-profit – there were allegations that a Nova counselor acted inappropriately (sexually) with a female patient and a local newspaper made requests for records and was denied.
8. The OSC used the same “functionality” test on Nova as on Oriana and found that Nova was not a “public institution” and was thus not a “public office”.

How did Tremont West development corp. become an organization controlled by the City of Cleveland? 

If that is the case, then our councilman would be the Captain of the ship so to speak?  So basically, we have a community organization that has been infiltrated by powers out of our control who are pulling the strings and (not in our favor) we are at their mercy.  This means we are a community under seige of the leadership of TWDC - there's something wrong with that picture.  This is a free country, how did we end up a community under the dictatorship of our own organization that was created to help aid the less fortunate?   They want your old beat up old house - and you don't give it up, they gonna send over the gestapo to take it.   What it boils down to - no more no less.