County Reform

Last night, I felt very civic-minded after attending one of the forums held here at the Levin School. (Of course, I was REQUIRED to go for a class). Some powerful people came out to discuss long awaited and much debated reform of Cuyahoga County. My friend Dan did a story about the forum for WCPN.

I've also covered this issue in the past, but it still really confuses me!

Here's what I understand. New Cuyahoga Now -- represented last night by Parma Heights mayor Martin Zanotti and State Senator Nina Turner -- wants to totally revamp the county structure in the name of economic development. They say having an executive and an 11 member council - doing away with electing positions like coroner and recorder - will help us create more jobs. I am not smart enough to understand exactly how this would work - except that if government is more efficient, that's good for the economy. But I do know that Allegeny County (that's Pittsburgh) did something similar to New Cuyahoga Now's proposal and Pittsburgh is enjoying a much heralded rennaissance. This reform proposal has undergone many iterations - I think - but you can vote for it in November. Issue 6. If it passes, the county would adopt the charter drafted by New Cuyahoga Now. Any kinks can be worked out later, Zanotti says.

On the other side is Real Reform Done Right. They have Issue 5 on the ballot and they say New Cuyahoga Now is moving too fast, the plan has lots of flaws, and they say let's look more at what would work best, get more people involved and in a year, put a reform proposal on the ballot. If you vote for Issue 5 - this is what you're voting for. You'll get a 15 member comission to study some more, and then next year, they will draft their own charter.

Further complicating things is the looming possibility that BOTH could pass. Then we'll have a new charter, and a commission drafting a newer charter.

In writing this, I may have cleared things up for myself. I think I get it. I still cannot tell you if having a county executive rather than three commissioners is the key to solving our economic woes, but I will say this: Nina Turner and Martin Zanotti are impressive specimens. They knew what they were fighting for and man, can they deliever a line. Maybe Real Reform Done Right is a great idea, but the Harriet Applegate and Betty Pinkey did not argue for their cause with the same vigor.

For me, the jury is still out. I need to do some more reading. I've heard from more than one smart person that this is just a Republican ploy to get more power. Well there are Republicans here in Cuyahoga County. They do deserve a voice. I'm still befuddled. I just want things to get better around here.