Some places get to vote today. Our community, county and state have a couple of interesting items.
At the state level (Ohio), we have to decide whether it's OK for strip joint workers to be touched and who compensates their employers for lost wages if they can't be touched. (OK, that's sort of a simplistic, one-sided view of things...) It doesn't matter since it didn't get enough signatures, so (as far as I understand), voting one way or another doesn't matter.
At the county level, (Cuyahoga), we get to decide if we should continue paying taxes to our Port Authority. This is a same-millage tax levy, not an increase. I'm thinking No on this one, although there isn't an easy answer in sight. Mostly because I've been frustrated by the types of projects the Port has decided to fund, what they call their Development Finance Authority. This is the Port Authority, not the local bank. Focus on Port projects. DO something about Whiskey Island (or stop moaning about it). DO something about the Flats (or stop moaning about it). DO something about the land east of the Cuyahoga mouth (or stop moaning about it). Get out from under the County Commissioners' thumbs and show some real leadership.
At the city level, (Cleveland Heights), we have the usual bickering between city council members (and want-to-be members) and the usual posturing between school district board members (and want-to-be board members). Very frustrating on both counts. City Council doesn't seem to be able to do much planning for the future in some situations. There was a recent issue around Euclid Heights Boulevard and declaring some state of emergency. Did the road suddenly get worse? No, it's been declining as long as I've lived here. Wake up and plan for the future.
It's hard to talk about our School District (CH-UH) without talking about their leadership, too. Years ago (starting in 2004?), we, the voters, voted down three separate ballot initiatives to increase the millage on our property values for the school district. We said "No" three distinct times (or was it four?). CH-UH threatened to close schools, threatened people's favorite "Peace Programs", threatened all the usual stuff to get people's attentions. Then, the county guys planned to raise everyone's property values (I think the average was around 10%). The school district said (in effect) "OK, we hear you, this number X is too high, we'll go for Y". The deal is, they would make more money off of Y and the new property values than they would have with X and the old property values. The public didn't look under the covers very well (and they had it on the ballot in November, after the snow birds (who apparently vote No) had already left), and it passed.
Guess what? They closed a school anyway. And they allowed a library building project (really a testament to their greatness) to go over budget by millions. That's right, CH-UH owns our libraries, not the County system. (As much as I hate the County guys, we at least should join the County system.) We have a duplicate infrastructure that we get to pay for also. Then there's the two $100k contracts that got bought out when instead, the recipients should have been put on trial (probably).
Well, anyway, now they're threatening to close a school, stop everyone's favorite programs, etc. if we don't approve the increase. Message to School Board: How much is enough? When money gets tight in the Gifford household, we tighten our belts. We don't go running to mamma and asking for more money. The slogan on all the signs are something like "We can't stop now". Why not? The only folks who claim that more money equals better schools are the school districts, teachers unions, the teachers and the people they inform. The key is parental involvement. There's no direct correlation between money/student and better education. Go back 200+ years and you'll see a consistent theme: successful students had parents behind them who were involved and cared.
[I'm sure I'll get blasted by readers (if there are any) that I have my facts/dates all wrong. Fine. Send them to me in a comment (below) and we'll get a conversation started. I've been wrong before; it's been known to happen!]
Anyway, don't forget to vote.
