What the Hell is Going On at City Hall?

Just so you know where we’re coming from:

Ever since a politician decided to tear his African American opponent (in last year’s mayoral race), to shreds in public (and calling her a criminal), we decided to take our focus off national politics, and zero in on a local political scene.  

Please do read our headline … part of which says “we’re progressive, political, controversial, provocative, thought-provoking  ...”   We also “connect the dots” when other folks won’t.

If you’ve been following us for years, you know that Clevelands Secret Club members are predominantly African American.  It now appears that a local politician (and/or his supporters) set his/their sights on finding out just who our members are, and taking close aim at who they think are the members.  It also appears that this politician or politicians (and/or their supporters) took aim, and/or are now taking aim at the African American women who were endorsed by the CC and local Democratic Party, and/or are taking aim at those who stood by his opponent.

The one thing we won’t tolerate is intimidation or being harassed by politicians (elected officials), because (to us) harassment means that the politician, and/or politicians (and/or supporters) doing the harassment, have something to hide, and/or are extremely dangerous and vindictive. 

Especially be leery of any politician who tries to bully people; and politicians who try to intimidate people with threats of lawsuits against them.

Our club has always been critical and leery of politicians, as is most of the world.  These politicians have made the decision to become public servants, and so they’ve opened themselves up (and rightly so) to public scrutiny.  If they don’t like the public scrutiny, then they probably should leave public office.

Outside sources told us, that an African American former councilwoman had two police officers show up at her home to demand that she give them two keys to city hall (?).  Now, correct us if we’re wrong, but we believe that every council member gets one key to city hall(?).  And why was it necessary to have police officers show up at her home, when (we were told) she called ahead of time, and told them she was going to city hall to drop off her key.  This same former councilwoman’s son was beaten before the elections; and then after last year’s elections (she ran for council president) her home was burglarized. 

We don’t know if all these things are just coincidental, or related to the elections, and/or her former position; however, we won't tolerate having her and her family victimized, and we will be paying close attention to all public employees  that may be responsible.  We (their employers) have given them tremendous power over our lives, and all of us should be extremely watchful of what they do. 

Our suggestion, again, to every resident in any local municipality ... make sure you  have a civilian review board, and report any suspicious activity by politicians and/or police, to federal authorities.  Intimidation is what unscrupulous people use to get what they want, and in  this day and age, there is a plethora of unscrupulous and dangerous people.

Addendum:
Word to the wise.  If after you've criticized a politician, or a member of law enforcement, or some law enforcement agency, ... and police start driving by your house at all times of the day and/or night (and you've never encountered this kind of thing before),  jot down that cars tags and anything else that will help authorities identify who the culprits are.  If you get audited for taxes, or something having to do with a government agency and it happens within a month or two, or three, etc. of the time you've criticized that politician or member of law enforcement or law enforcement agency, you need to contact your lawyer a.s.a.p., your friends, your family, your congress person, the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and anyone else you can think of.  Definitely keep your friends close, because they may go after them too, and a pattern of behavior can be documented.  If you feel you're being followed, turn into a side street to see if they continue following you.

If you contacted that offending law enforcement agency about a prior matter unrelated to your critique of them ... they may see that as a vulnerability and they may prey on that vulnerability.
 

Be aware that GPS devices like cell phones and smart cars can pretty much locate you at any time and any place if you are in the same vicinity as devices and cars w GPS installed.  Because there are a host of unscrupulous politicians, etc.,  get some exercise and start walking w/o these devices, etc. around (smile).  Sorry if that sounded a bit paranoid (again, smile)   


Helpful:  Install some good mobile security software on your cell phone 


Also be aware that these unscrupulous people have no problem with bugging your car, your home, etc. ... and may even use these and other spy tactics under the guise of homeland security (which will allow them to use the local police or GPS tracking or bugging your property).   



Don't let them worry you ... just keep a  journal, and note anything that seems suspicious.  You can't remember everything, so write it down, and have back-up copies online just in case your home is burglarized.  [You may think this is funny; however, if it happens to you in the future, you'll thank us.]

Again, the most important thing is to keep good records and don't keep silent.  Put them on the defensive.  It's a shame, and while most public employees are good people, all it takes are a few bad apples to ruin an entire profession (as we've seen in the past and present).

It would be great if the offending politicians/agencies/departments clean house.

Black Girls Rock

I'm over 60 years of age, and I thought I'd seen alot; but (a few days ago) when I witnessed a room full of Black (so called) men allow a white man to disrespect two sisters without any repercussions, ... I was through. Did you hear what I said? ... I was through ...

First, I don't dislike men, ... but what in God's name has happened to Black men?  Our voting rights are being rolled back, women's rights (and that includes a "sister's" rights) rolled back, unemployment sky-high in Black communities, poverty rates climbing in Black communities, Black men continuing to be incarcerated in unprecedented numbers,  ... and what do (far too many) Black men do? .... Many do nothing; and some of them do worse than nothing (if that's possible).  ... Yep, ... they do the "Uncle Tom" or "Stepin Fetchit".  Yes sa, Mr. White man, ... go ahead and disparage, disenfranchise, and spit on my mother, my grandmother, my sister, and my aunt. 

So why should I be surprised when I see a room full of Black males allow an arrogant, "full of his own self-importance",  Caucasian male,  disrespect two good sisters and a lot more before that?   Why? .. because I'm a sister, ... and what I witnessed made me nauseous, and shocked the hell out of me.  I can't help it, but I really do expect so much more from Black men than what I've seen.  

Sisters have been fighting the good fight since before slavery, ... Strong Black sisters, who despite all the racism, unspeakable horrors, and disrespect they've had to endure through the centuries by (too many) Black males and (far too many) white males, ... still rock on. ...

They still rock in their community, ... They still rock going to school, and work, and then church on Sunday, ... raising and feeding their family (and sometimes other folks children) ... They rock on. 

A couple of weeks ago, I watched a show called "Black Girls Rock" on BET.   Hosted by Tracee Ellis Ross (co-star of "Reed Between the Lines") and Regina King (co-star of "Southland") , it was an awesome celebration of Black women, and dedication and tribute to Black women who have  amazing accomplishments.  If you can, catch it in reruns.

Award recipients:

Grammy award winning legendary gospel singer, Shirley Caesar

Civil rights activist, writer, professor and scholar, Angela Davis

Philanthropist, businesswoman and powerhouse president of the Women's National Basketball Association , Laurel Richie

Academy Award-nominated actress , Taraji P. Henson

Young, Gifted, and Black actress, Tatyana Ali

Imani Walker and Malika Saada Saar

Performers:

Mary J. Blige

Erykah Badu

Jill Scott

Shirley Caesar

Estelle

Mary Mary

Melanie Fiona

Elle Varner

I am so proud of these strong, talented Black women,  and many, many more (African American women - athletes, singers, song writers, playwrights and other authors, politicians, mothers, grandmothers, aunts, performers, producers, directors, community activists, scientists, physicians, lawyers, teachers, engineers, businesswomen) who did not receive an award that evening.

Everyone of you ... Keep Rocking!

Be sure to catch "The Help" on DVD or Blu ray.

Update:
Just published in the online Washington Post, 1/22/2012 / 9:21pm ..
Survey paints portrait of black women in America

And the Razzle Dazzle Continues in Maple Heights

Okay, we've got the skinny on last night's Maple Heights City Council Meeting, and lo and behold, the Mayor orchestrated another grand display of "Razzle Dazzle". 

[Background]
When "Extreme Makeover" came to town, the mayor robocalled all the residents; but when Richard Taylor, the man who was elected to represent district 5, died before being sworn into office, no one bothered to  robocall all the residents in district 5 of that man's passing. No one robocalled residents of district 5 to let them know what course the law director, the mayor, and the council president were considering to fill that council seat or ask for suggestions. [There are still residents in district 5 that don't know Mr. Taylor died.] We were even told that a resident of district 5 called the law director asking for a special election, but the law director asked her was she going to pay for it. So clearly, there were other courses of action that the mayor, the law director, and city council could have taken. They chose the path of disenfranchisement ... and they used the (what some say as ambiguous - open to interpretation) city charter to do it.

Maybe we're wrong, but it appeared to us,  that council and others who attended caucus last night, met behind closed doors the previous day to put the finishing touches on a scheme to calm any rustling of dissent from the employers (taxpayers) in district 5 (those who knew of his passing wanted to vote for their council person to replace Mr. Taylor).  In addition, it also appeared to us, that council and others wanted to  make sure that most of the residents in Maple Heights didn't catch wind of the economic tsunami coming their way (actually its been coming their way for quite awhile now -  see Kasich budget cuts back in June 2011, and previous audits and budgets of Maple Heights).

City council's hand-picked African American councilman for district 5  .. (who we understand may have been asked by the mayor, or someone in his inner circle, or someone on the city council, to apply for the vacant council seat in district 5), was sworn in by his wife, Pamela Crews who is the President of the Maple Heights Board of Education.  From what we've gleaned, Mayor Lansky and the perhaps the council president have a close relationship with the Maple Heights Board of Education. 

Next, the mayor bestowed praise and honors on a group of young African American males for coming to the aid of a man who needed help. 

Heads of various departments then gave their reports,  and then the  employers (the constituents/taxpayers) were allowed to speak, and trust us ... district 5 did not bite their tongue.  They believe (and we believe) that their civil rights and political rights (yes Mr. Mayor ... there is such a thing as political rights)  were violated by the mayor, the law director, and the members of city council when they decided that members of council (who are from different districts) would choose district 5's council person. 

What is absolutely astounding is that the mayor, the law director, and council members are pleased with what they've done.  They seem pleased that they've disenfranchised their employers.  They state they were simply following city charter ... the law.  Well, we know what that charter was built upon ... a city that has  had many civil rights violations, real estate redlining, segregation, ... / case laws going back to 1924, when African Americans could not own a home in Maple Heights, and racism was rampant in the great state of Ohio.  What a fine legacy.


When you glance across that council table, you see a sea of white faces (fire chief, police chief, heads of other departments) ... and now 2 lone African American males who are council members who work  for  a  city (of an est. 23,100) that has about  68-70% or more African American residents (with unemployment numbers for African Americans around 10-15%).  If you haven't read our previous posts regarding Maple Hts, please do so.   [Would have been a sign of good faith to the predominantly African American community if the recently retired fire chief had been replaced by an African American fire chief ... but, oh well ... he wasn't.] 


Ask the mayor's administration about the people who lost their homes to foreclosure ... We bet most were African American ... and the number of African Americans in Maple Heights who have lost their homes to foreclosure, or are in jeopardy of losing their homes to foreclosure continues.  If they receive real help to stop foreclosure ... that help will almost always come from outside Maple Heights.

To continue:
We were told that, despite the fact that petitions (re: district 5's right to choose their own council person) were presented to city council from residents in district 5,  the mayor kept nastily harping on one, of several online petitions that were meant to bring social media attention to the issues that residents of district 5 were dealing with.  When you bring social media attention to an issue, you don't really care if the signers actually live in the area. The idea is to put pressure on the people who are the source of the problem.  Signature goals are chosen  by the organizer of the petition, however, the standard goal is 100.   Again, district 5 decided to do online petitions (several) and going door to door.  They would have continued going door to door; however, at a district 5 meeting attended by Ohio Senator Nina Turner, Senator Turner advised them to not waste their time pursuing their goal to vote for their council person.  Senator Turner has ties with the suburban mayors and business community - (she sided with them regarding issue 6, thereby causing a fire storm in the African American Cleveland community who supported issue 5).  Interesting note: She used the same wording Lansky used.

-

This bunch ... city council, mayor, law director, ... are out there selling Maple Heights, ... telling folks that Maple Heights is a wonderful place to live in, do business in, etc.  Well, that's one of their jobs.  They take credit for whatever good happens in Maple Heights, and can place blame elsewhere for things that go wrong.  They won't talk much about burglaries, thefts, foreclosures, unemployment rates, poverty rates, or bad things that happen in Maple Heights, or even if they're doing a lousy job making Maple Heights a vibrant, prosperous city, where residents thrive and local businesses (owned by residents) flourish.

If you were to call the mayor regarding the concerns of  his employers from district 5, we could almost guarantee that this mayor would state that what he, city council and the law director have done is legal, and the people making all the noise about their civil rights are just sore losers and whiners. 

"It's unfortunate, but this mayor's behavior (I feel) demeans the office of mayor, because he is disrespectful, and has belittled not only his employers, but also others.  This is the same mayor who chose to smear the character of an African American woman who ran against him in last year's mayoral election.  It's bad enough that he belittled African American women senior citizens in council meeting, but he did it when there were African American children in the room" [Quote by Maple Hts resident]

Council members probably won't cross him ... **Remember, the law director used a 1924 case law to declare the district 5 council seat vacant; stating that the leadership (or a majority of council members) could declare any council seat vacant, for any reason.  Seems to fit  right in with that whole climate of intimidation.

This dear friends is why blogs like ours are crucial.  We give no one a free pass ... not a Democrat or Republican.  Our job is not to sugar coat.  Our job is to shine a light on what's underneath all that razzle dazzle.

Three more things ...

1. With the city in such dire financial straights, will the mayor take a nice, big ole pay cut, or if that's not possible, give back some of his pay voluntarily?

2. Will council take a pay cut,  or if that's not possible, give back some of their pay voluntarily?
 

3. Is there a conflict of interest with the appointment of Mr. Crews?

    a. His association with the UAW (a local UAW [someone let us know which local] endorsed Mayor Lansky for mayor last year).   Remember, this is the mayor who smeared his African American female opponent.  Makes you wonder how any  UAW (local or otherwise) could endorse a person who would do this.  This is very troubling.

    b. Married to the President of the Maple Heights Board of Education - teacher's union endorsed Lansky for  Mayor last year, and the mayor appears to have a close relationship with the board. 

    c. Did the mayor or a member of council or both, approach Mr. Crews (or his wife) to ask  him to apply for district 5's council position? We understand that around 9 people had applied.

    d. Lansky backed Jackie Albers for council president, and we believe she may have close ties with the board and/or teacher's union. 

    e. So is this appointment of Mr. Crews (married, parent, African American, associated with labor and the school board), really all about the mayor and his agenda (which could also include his getting himself elected again), and/or needing someone to rubber stamp whatever the mayor and/or council leadership wants?   Remember, the council president rode in on the coat tails of the mayor (who, it appears, has gathered an all white administration).   Without the mayor (Remember that slick campaign piece?), Ms. Albers could very well have lost the election (as council president) to Carolyn Gamble (who spent very little money campaigning, and had some, but no major endorsement outside of a poorly supportive Democratic endorsement). 

Question:  How many council meetings has Mr. Crews attended in the past?  Ask him.

We predict: Now that Ms. Albers has her ducks in a row, she will instruct her minions to follow a plan to take money meant for residents who abut the railroad in districts 3 and 5.


Just to be very, very clear ... Any politician, or public servant that threatens, intimidates, harasses, or tries to disenfranchise anyone, or take money or land meant for African Americans (even under the guise of legality), ... they will be scrutinized and called to task.  We don't tolerate illegal, or unconstitutional,  or unethical (especially a pattern of) behavior from any politician.   They will be reported to the proper authorities if warranted. 

We're going to be digging deeper into this ...

[to be further edited]

**Related post:

Who Does John Montello, Law Director for the City of Maple Heights Really Work For?

Addendum:

While people are getting  a nice fuzzy feeling about those 5  new schools that cost residents about $50 million to build, ... and all that publicity around those new schools:

Here's something that's distressing to us.  A great number of residents started  losing  their homes beginning around 2007 while elected officials and the superintendent were pushing to pass a levy for new schools and other bond/levies, even through most of 2008.  [Property owners provide a major source of revenue in paying bond interest payments, etc.]  Their explanation for the new schools was the schools were becoming too costly too repair, and the state was going to give half of the money for those projects.  Why wasn't there talk of reducing  the number of schools, and letting private developers come in (with a requirement that they hire residents on projects)  to (develop that land) bring new businesses into the city that would create jobs for residents, and help train residents for the jobs of the future?  What about that rec center that was discussed?  What happened to that? Who really made money in the building of these schools (were any residents hired?), and just how did Maple Hts residents really fare?  How much money did residents really gain from these projects?


ALSO REMEMBER: REGARDLESS HOW MUCH THE POPULATION DECLINES, OR THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS DECLINE, OR HOW MANY HOMES GO INTO FORECLOSURE, THE PROPERTY OWNERS ARE STUCK (ON THE HOOK) PAYING BOND INTEREST PAYMENTS (FOR ANOTHER WHAT 20+ YEARS?)

A lot of money flew out of Maple Heights resident's pockets into a lot of pockets of people and businesses that did not reside in Maple Heights.  A lot of money appears to be still flying out of their pockets to pay bond interest payments, and into (still) a lot of pockets of people that don't live in Maple Hts,  and into the pockets of business owners and large businesses that don't reside in Maple Hts. 

Hey, if we're wrong ... show us where the money went.



5 NEW SCHOOLS (3 of which -BARACK OBAMA, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, JFK - are elementary schools - what?)  for about 3,900 students, [Update 8/2012:  3, 793] with a declining city population?  It may be good political strategy to build those schools if you want to get elected mayor in Maple Heights; however, we don't call that forward thinking.


Update August 2012
BIG QUESTION:
Are these 3 new elementary schools in a predominantly white area of Maple Heights, even though African Americans make up about 70+% of the population?  So, most African American children (of elementary school age) must either take a school bus or have their parents drive them to school?



Update August 2012:
BIG QUESTION:
Whatever happened to Raymond Elementary School (which was in a predominantly black area of Maple Heights)?  Someone said something about asbestos being found, so they had to knock the whole school down.  Who were the contractors on this project?  When last we looked, it looked like the school was completely demolished, and there was nothing but dirt and and chain link fences.



Update August 2012:
And get this:  The Maple Heights Board of Education, and administrative offices, etc. (it is said) will be moving to the predominantly white area of town and into the new school near Rockside Road.  Wonder what's going to happen to that old space they were working in?   Also, the board (?) made a lot of cuts to staff, programming, reduction in health care benefits, etc. ... How much did they cut off their salary?  Did they cut salaries, etc of school employees who lived in Maple Heights? (cause you really don't want to do that)



Update 2012:
There may be a tv mini-series (fiction/non-fiction?) that involves bank foreclosures, city officials, school officials, a football star, bonds, contract negotiations, contractors, budget cuts to cities, discrimination, racism, local UAW endorsement, teacher's union endorsement, a dying man, FBI or homeland security, or use of law enforcement/surveillance of people's home/persons for political reasons and not national security, state officials, resolutions revolving around a railroad, sloppy/incompetent/compromised investigative reporting by local news outlets, brand spanking new police cars, and a mayor who has high and lofty political aspirations on Capitol Hill .....  stay tuned.

What American corporatists are getting away with now

AWESOME JANE STILLWATER

From:
Jane Stillwater's Web Log

After I got my long hair caught in a vacuum cleaner the other day, my first thought was pure terror -- like I had just been attacked by werewolves or vampires with claws! But then my second thought was, "Gee, at least I HAVE a vacuum cleaner".

Despite the recent huge economic downturn, most Americans are still relatively well-off right now, even me. Sure, our infrastructure sucks eggs and we mostly have run-down schools and hospitals, but at least we still have them. Old and run down. But still functioning at least.

But wait! Perhaps help for our hospitals is finally on the way! Is it really true that American corporatists have recently decided to spend over nine billion dollars to build at least 20 brand new state-of-the-art hospitals in Georgia? According to RT News, yes indeed this is true.

The only problem here, however, is that the corporatists who currently own our country are now in the process of building these 20 wonderful new hospitals in the former Soviet-bloc state of Georgia -- not in the American state with the same name that's famous for peaches and Braves. http://rt.com/politics/us-georgia-iran-war-441/

How bizarre is that news?

And now I've just read where American corporatists have recently sent in the U.S. Coast Guard to break up a strike by American longshoremen. That's even more bizarre than getting one's hair sucked into a vacuum cleaner -- and even more painful. One can always just cut one's hair off, but forcing America's military to act like low-life strike-breaking scabs? That's a cut to our democracy that may never heal.

ILWU members had been promised jobs in Longview as a priority condition for allowing corporatists to receive massive federal subsidies to build a new terminal at the Washington state port. But after the terminal was safely built, greedy corporatist slugs then fired the longshoremen's union members point-blank -- and not only got away with it but used the U.S. military as their own personal enforcers and thugs. http://www.longshoreshippingnews.com/2011/10/san-francisco-unions-support-ilwu-local-21-at-egt/.

Am I the only one that finds this news a bit bizarre?

American coproratists seem to be getting away with EVERYTHING these days. Cheating on elections, throwing people out of their homes, never paying taxes, robbing our treasury blind, fighting undeclared wars for fun and profit on our dime, beating protesting citizens with clubs, buying off Congress, etc. But almost nobody in America seems to want to stop them.

Here's more bizarre news -- Stephen Cobert's video explaining how corporatist superPACs steal our elections: http://www.colbertsuperpac.com/

Had enough yet? Or do you want to read some even more bizarre news about what corporatists are getting away with now? Yes? Then take a long look at this: The unassailable New York Times, the esteemed Gray Lady herself, recently reported that the IAEA had accused Iran of using its nuclear program to develop military weapons. But guess what? The IAEA had said no such thing. Now the esteemed Gray Lady has lied to us (again) in order to get us into a useless and unnecessary war (again) that would only benefit corporatists. http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/times-errors-irans-nukes-sfs-voting/

Very deja vu. Very bizarre.

But -- to me (but apparently to nobody else) -- this is the absolute most bizarre news of all: Perry, Santorum, Obama, Romney and even Newt Gingrich and JEB Bush are all running on a platform of being good Christians. Huh? What?

NO ONE who either calls for the bombing women and children in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and America -- or is actually out doing it -- can EVER call himself or herself a good Christian. Ever. These people are no more good Christians than was Attila the Hun.

Send drones to kill babies? Where in the Bible does it say that Jesus did that?

Leaving the meek of the earth to starve to death and the peacemakers of the world to be jailed? Jesus is down with that too? Not!

"Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," said Jesus. Beating down non-violent OWS protesters with pepper spray, tear gas and truncheons? NOT CHRISTIAN. Not Christian at all.

Yet no one seems to be calling these monsters out on their uber-hypocracy. No one calls them out at all. That's bizarre.

And it's also rather bizarre that all these corporatist presidential candidates are happily telling us that they are in favor of "Democracy". There is NOTHING less democratic than a corporation. Face it, CEOs are tyrants. Corporatists worship the dictatorship model. To tell us that they want America to remain a democracy is absurd.

Corporatists by definition are top-down kinds of guys, "Do what I say or else you will lose all." Corporatists by definition are bullying-type authoritarians who spit on America's treasured democratic principles -- and don't you ever forget it!

Now let's turn to the comic-page section of the news.

The average American today seems to more and more resemble that Peanuts cartoon character Charlie Brown -- always trusting that somehow Lucy will let him finally kick the football. But guess what? No matter how many times you vote for the party of Bush-Obama-Romney-Santorum-Clinton-Paul or believe mainstream media reports or trust corporatists to finally hold the ball upright, you are still gonna get tricked every time. And you're still gonna land flat on your face while corporatist secretly laugh at you as you lie there in the mud. And it's still gonna hurt.

How's that for bizarre news?

by Jane Stillwater