PLEASE.....................................and when's the last time that CIMPERMAN funded WARD 14 ANYTHING????? PLEASE GIMME A BREAK???!!!! 

what about the PEOPLE OF WARD 14 having their funds stay in the community after the last 6 years of shipping our funding to your underperforming organization that can't figure out business sustainability without public funding??? 

WHAT ABOUT all those other councilmen sending some of their funds back to us in Ward 14 for the next 10 years anyhow???? 

What about that for God's sake??? You all are a bunch of corrupt jerks who retaliate against citizesns who speak out against your collusive and gentrifying actions anyhow! COMICAL!!!

poor TWCDC! boo hoo! Like what's up---don't know how to do development that covers your administration costs after being in business for over 30 years??? Then, you don't deserve to be a not for profit or you should cut some of the pork off the overhead!!! You all are a bunch of greedy incompetent developers who don't know how to function without public welfare from our CDBG funds!!! You are worse that those needy folks you insult (See Catania Videos!). 

And how much are your staff members at TWCDC making and what are you all doing that deserves funding? PLEASE! How many citizens actually support your organization that QUALIFY as low income, disabled, or senior  citizens or are they all rich yuppies? QUOTAS, please? 

Fund the OSS before you fund the TWCDC....

Fund the organizations that are RIGHTEOUS by the actual residents...NOT THE CORRUPT CDC's.... with "CATANIA's" at the helm.

My respect level for Mr. Cummins is increasing daily.

I respect Cummins outspoken position and fight against Mayor Jackson's scheme with the LED bulbs, and I really like and respect his position to remove funds from Tremont West Development Corporation.

According to Councilman Joe Cimperman's comment, "I'm sorry to be the harbinger of this information, I don't understand with an organization, a neighborhood, and a community like ours, how a decision could be made with such little regard to people.",  it is also apparent that Brian Cummins has a brain and uses it. 

By removing funds from Tremont West Development Corporation, Cummins deserves the REALNEO award of the year.

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 getting real here: Cummins is giving the money to the Detroit Shoreway CDC. one hand washes the other. Come next summer, Detroit Shoreway will get over $400,000 of ward 14 funds for a satellite office that is shared with Cummins.  

"new collaborative"?? from one problem CDC and Cimperman in 3 to another problem CDC and Zone in 15 without input from ward 14. Progress? NO!!!!

Thanks Guy for this transmission--I am not in favor of any more funds going to CDCs at this point, until the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County Executive implements a system of accountability for these funds. 

City of Cleveland is not the only recipient of CDBG funds.  Inner-ring suburbs also receive this funding and there needs to be a county-wide measure of improvement where those funds are distributed. East Cleveland should be the barometer.  This is where the most egregious abuse of CDBG funds is taking place right now. 

Brian Cummins does not deserve any recognition for taking OUR money from one CDC and giving it to another. But, I do commend him on being able to recognize and not tolerate blatant arrogance at Tremont West for their continued employment of Sammy Catania, after he is documented using intimidation to scare a resident of that neighborhood.

IT'S UNETHICAL.....

IT'S UNETHICAL....

IT'S A CONFLICT OF INTEREST....

IT'S REALLY UGLY....

IT'S REALLY BAD...

FIRST OF ALL, A HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ONE AND ALL

Second, over the past few months, I have been attending (by invitation) a number of meetings called by Councilman Cummins in Ward 14 Tremont.

Not only have the meetings been run more efficiently but Councilman Brian Cummins has no qualms in letting TWDC know that if the services are not top notch, he's taking the money away.

The current contract ($100,000) ends in June, 2010 and if he is not satisfied with performances there will not be a new one.  His concern is the quality of services rightly deserved by the Ward 14 residents.  Sammy C. will be providing a number of those requirements but since Councilman Cimperman has called him up to continue his Ward 3 Tremont Services but tagged him on for Ohio City, the Flats and he is also listed to provide technical assistance for Detroit Shoreway as well as Ward 14 Tremont.

In attending some of the meetings (Ward 14) I felt a difference in attitude and level of respect.  Councilman Cummins came prepared to answer question and did not go around in circles avoiding straight answers.   He has also made it plain that businesses in his Ward were not going to be rewarded for breaking the law and that he planned to do more extensive outreach to the residents who do not feel compelled to attend meetings as well as those that do.

I find his approach for uniting the different Wards bordering his area refreshing.  Out of the four Councilman invited to participate in this collaborative effort Councilman Cimperman is the only one who did not attend nor take part in his plans to bring some of the West Side areas together.

Cummins also spoke on his plans to reach out to the minorities and make sure their needs and concerns were taken care of.

Time will tell.

I remain steadfast that after uncountable years of being violated by the public officials and their abusive, politically all powerful allies-that the citizens of Ward 14 are hesitant to participate one way or the other.

While our lifers will remain steadfast, the transient population is less interested in partaking in these events because they never answer the big question of "WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?" 

People are on survival mode in many cases...and I asked Councilman Cummins to provide the residents with detailed info about several items of interest that may help them reduce their budgets and to address code enforcement issues.

1) Since Cleveland Public Power is not PUCO regulated, why won't our elected officials make CPP abide by HEAP PIPP guidelines??? Since CEI and Dominion have reduced PIPP Guidelines to 6% and 6% of a low income person's income-many families have gotten a new kind of relief never known before. Meanwhile, CPP does not honor the PIPP system commensurately which puts residents in a continual rollercoaster when they rob Peter to Pay Paul in their low income lives.

2) Water Department has a Homestead Exemption for Owner Occupied Low Income/Disabled/seniors and also has a 20% discount provided through CHN for low income owners. However, what can be negotiated for landlords of low income housing to make it more affordable to the trickle down residents of units? 

3) Can the City of Cleveland make a WAIVER of PERMIT FEES or A REDUCED COST FOR PERMITS for these same low income owner occupied homes to assist them in working on the necessary improvements to their properties...particularly when every penny counts. Right now, the underground of work that is getting done by the majority of the families is without permits because it's so unfriendly from the administration to the city inspectors.

4) Business Owners of Ward 14 are being hit with Code Enforcement that is not inviting them to partake...While many people were interested in seeing how Cummins would enter this Ward and behave....most that are getting cited from their webbed weave of code enforcement already feel the negative connection of interacting with the leadership or the CDC reps.

5) The "MASTER PLAN" has not been fully communicated via mail with open and honest points about upcoming meetings, plans, or anything. That is not acceptable. The public at large deserves to have some kind of idea of what's going on other than by flyers posted in SELECT locations... Lack of public notice results in steering who they'd like into meetings and keeping out the people who genuinely refuse to accept unethical practices.

6) I support working with the people and not being inconsiderate of the fact that in Year 6 of our funds being shipped out of the ward....no one trusts the future plans for Ward 14 wholeheartedly because the citizens are not getting communicated to with open, transparent, notices of upcoming meetings. If it costs our ward money to do mailings and track the mailings that have dates, times, and so forth about meetings-then so be it. It's about time that people of interest had a right to say what's going on with various issues and that they got mailings. We are going in to year 2... They had dozens of illegal meetings that were used to decide our future, destroy 2 CDC's, invite outsiders into our ward, and totally disregard the residents in the mix. I am appalled by that move.

I recognize the efforts, but find it a little bit amazing that they keep getting away with such dishonorable actions and trying to act like we are not noticing...so keep on going . I WANT TO KNOW THE 12 MONTH PLANS FOR COUNCILMAN CUMMINS AHEAD. We the people should have a right to be involved, offer our input, and to be kept abreast of plans about our community...but apparently-we are specifically not given info so that we don't disrupt their plans, operations, and many times-abusive practices.

Best of wishes to the people who are trying to do positive things here-specifically the new wet behind the ears kids running the CDC who don't have relationships with the public yet... Be careful how you treat our people here... Be fair, kind, and considerate that our previous leadership has been quite abusive...

HAPPY TURKEY DAY! 

Fully aware that uncountable Ward 14 citizens write/watch/read RealNeo, he ceased keeping us abreast of everything since he took office on this forum... It's like a bait & switch....same with being a Democrat who refuted the GREEN Party status during the election but in less than a year-he fully came out about it...

Yes, lots of excellent leader qualities and absolutely awesome political moves that he's is manuevering in this realm.... But I am highly disappointed about the underground, behind the scenes, nonpublic, and underhanded methods being portrayed on us by not only him-but also his fellow council persons... They are playing God with our CDBG funding and acting as though we support it when they are not being up front and honest before hand about their choices...like in July 2010 after we asked him or over 9 months what his plans were....and he kept them hidden...That is not PUBLIC PARTICIPATION....

Okay...enough beating the dead horse.