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.

My blog lacks focus.

I'm going to sit down and come up with a plan.

On Glen Beck...

Dear Glenn Beck,

Please dry your tears. Yes today is September 11, 2009 - the eight anniversary of the worst attack ever carried out on American soil and nearly 3,000 innocent people died. But your September 12 project is crap. All you're trying to do is recall those awful moments of hysteria in the immediate aftermath of the attacks when most of America was so shell shocked that we allowed ourselves to be bamboozled into wars and give up our civil liberties in the name of security.

See - that's what Glenn Beck wants to recapture. He's says be that person you were on Sept. 12. I remember who I was. I was scared out of my mind!

OK, I don't like this man. But I am an equal opportunity hater. I don't love Keith Olberman either. I think his blind attacks on Republicans can be just as damaging. It's the fact that these people have a platform on cable news and that many Americans consider them serious journalists and purveyors of fact that bother me.

There are so many problems in our country and guys like Glenn Beck and Congressman Joe Wilson just keep on throwing up smoke screens. New Census numbers say poverty levels are at a 12 year high in this country. About 39.8 million people live in households with annual income below the federal definition of poverty. Do you know what the poverty level is? $22,025 for a family of four. I am in grad school and I probably make more than this for just me (barely!). But imagine making that and having to split it between four people. As of last year, Cleveland was the second poorest city. Just drive around and you'll see it all over. It's not just here. People are suffering all across the U.S.A. Meanwhile, Mr. Glenn Beck is pointing out "communist symbols" at Rockefeller center like a maniac. He's getting Van Jones fired. How did we cede so much power to this crack pot?

Frank Jackson Seems Cool

Whether or not Frank Jackson is the type of major Cleveland really needs - I'm not sure. At least he seems like a nice guy.

Here's my friend Dan's story
on the mayor's relection bid. It really sums it all up.

Jackson seems to be like the little Dutch Boy with his finger in the dyke. He's holding it together pretty well. My parents say they wish he was more like Mayor Tom "Mumbles" Menino from Boston. Mayor Menino isn't the most articulate guy, but he's a tireless champion for the city. Listen to some of Mayor Menino's mumblings at this site. It makes me miss Boston to much to hear him! Nothing beats that accent.

Granted, Jackson is a lot better at talking than Menino, but at least Menino talks!

Am I a Cat Lady?

Some people have been calling me a cat lady as of late.

But am I really?



First - let's go back to how this all began. It started with Manny back in NYC. You can see Manny in my profile photo. Back in 2005, after my old roommate Les moved back to Texas with her two cats, I decided to get one of my own. I always had a cat growing up. Prissy was really the first. So I went on 1-800-Save-A-Pet.com and found a cat I liked. I went to this apartment on the Upper East Side and this woman who lived there had 15-18 cats. Only two were her own, the rest she rescued and tried to find them homes. The stench was unbelievable and this was only a two bedroom - and a tiny two bed room at that. So I got Manny. Right away he developed chronically runny eyes. I took him to the vet and I discovered that he has a case of feline herpes. That's what cats catch when they live on the mean streets of NYC.

Manny and I have been companions for 4 years now. When I moved to Cleveland into a one bedroom apartment without a roommate (who had a dog) - I realized that Manny seemed lethargic. He had lost some of his pep. I determined that this must be due to loneliness and decided I needed to get another cat. So my friend Jessica (I now inhabit her former apartment) called me and said: "Hey, I know you're in the market for a kitten. We just found a really cute stray out back. You have to come see him!" I did. I fell in love. So I adopted Barry.

Meanwhile, Jessica had five cats of her own. Three were actually hers. The other two belong to my cousin Anne. Anne had just moved back to Cleveland from Baltimore. Her husband was sent to Iraq and she moved back home. My aunt and uncle said "we don't want those cats in our house so you better have someone take them until Joe comes back." Anne passed the cats off to Jessica. The cats are, after all, the daughters of Jessica's two cats, Sonny and Appolonia.

Now, time passed and Jessica moved back into her childhood home when her mom moved out. She called me and said - take over my apartment, it's super cheap! I thought that sounded good, but there was a catch. I had to take over the care of Anne's cats. My aunt and uncle will give me some money to help cover the cost of their food and litter, but I now have four cats to wrangle.

Men - is this a turnoff to you? My mother said it would be. But I am a take me as I am type of girl so if you don't like my cats, then that's your problem. I didn't see myself accumulating so many cats so quickly, but you never know where life will lead you.

This brings me to my recurrent cat dreams. I keep dreaming that I accumulate cats - so many cats that my life spirals out of control and I am unable to care for all these cats. My favorite cats usually end up perishing due to my negligence. I think there is symbolism in this dream - unrelated to cats. That's another post.

My friend Eric said more than three cats and you're a cat lady. But I didn't want four. I wanted only two. I am doing my country a service by housing my cousin's cats. I don't mind having them around. I enjoy the vitality they bring to the home. But I am not actively seeking more. In fact, if my dreams are indication, acquiring more cats is a great fear of mine. No, I say, I am not a cat lady.

Yes, this blog is intended for me to ruminate about pressing urban issues facing Cleveland. But I am sure there are many cat ladies throughout the metro area. Are there more rural or urban cat ladies? Is there a correlation of place to number of cats? Do cat ladies prefer rural areas because of the space or do they prefer urban areas due to the abundance of cats? These are pressing questions. What are the income and education levels of cat ladies? I would expect them to fall on the lower end of the spectrum but I could be wrong. Is there a matrix? When is the "cat lady" tipping point reached? I might suggest to my professors at Levin that we study these issues.

Introduction

Hi - I'm Caitlin. I used to be a journalist. I hope I still am. But right now, I have made a career detour and find myself back in school at Cleveland State's Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs. I'm working towards my Masters in Public Administration and meanwhile, I'm working here at the college doing research. Today I am charged with researching the feasibility of building an aerotropolis around Cleveland Hopkins Airport. What is an aerotropolis you ask? Well, according to University of North Carolina professor John D. Kasarda it is an “aviation-oriented businesses cluster around these airports and along transportation corridors radiating from them…stretching up to 20 miles (25 kilometers) outward from the airports…the Aerotropolis consists of an airport city core and outlying corridors and clusters of aviation-linked businesses.”

I will discuss aerotropolises later. It's pretty interesting.

I'm back in school because I wanted to have a deeper understanding of the work I did as a journalist both at WCPN/WVIZ ideastream and at NOW on PBS. Before those two gigs I was harassing Lindsay Lohan's publicist, wondering why her client showed up in public sans panties AGAIN! I am not sure if I will continue in journalism once my degree is done or if I will join the public sector. We'll just have to see what opportunities arise. In the meantime, I must keep writing so I don't lose it.

Coming up with an appropriate name for this blog was difficult. I was going to go with "City Was Gone," but it's sort of negative and there is enough negativity in this town. I hope people easily recognize that I pilfered the title from a song by The Pretenders, "My City Was Gone." Everyone probably knows this line: "I went back to Ohio and my city was gone." These words really aren’t applicable to me – but I do think they would resonate with my mother, if she ever listened to decent music. I took the liberty to replace "was" with "not" because I really believe that Cleveland is going to make it. We're going to figure this thing out.

I grew up in Boston and am a typical East Coaster. My higher education took place exclusively (until now) in New York universities. I always loved Cleveland mostly because I love my mom's family – an expansive Irish clan from the West Side. My mom moved to Boston to attend Boston College. She met my dad and stayed there for about 40 years. Five years ago, she retired and they decided to move back to Cleveland. She cannot stop talking about the changes that have occurred since her youth. Most of them negative. When she was a kid, Cleveland had 900,000 people and it was the country's 7th or 8th largest city. Through a painful process of industrial attrition, the population has dwindled to around 400,000. We all know about the rampant foreclosures, poverty, on and on and on. So my mother is often frustrated and mystified by what she sees her.

At the same time however, I don't know many other cities with the same sense of community and heart. Maybe that's why I love Cleveland and why I want to stay here. I'm hoping my studies at Levin will better help me to understand the issues causing the decline of Cleveland's (and Detroit's, and Buffalo's and Youngstown's...) economy and maybe I can someday do something to help. I also really love my friends here and am always having a lot of fun.

I hope you enjoy my blog. I am going to do my best to keep up with it and write thoughtful things. Thanks!
-Caitlin

PS - Thank you to my dear friend Kate O'Mara Chandler for letting me use her awesome photo in my header.