Kickbacks are all legalized with the right connections: 

1) Remember, even though they bought them for $1.00...they were able to give an EQUITABLE VALUE to these properties that empowered them to use them as a leverage in the big scheme of capital investments towards leveraging dollar for dollar grants...Thus if they said the property was valued at $50,000 as a buildable vacant lot...then they got credit for that value and that much in funding towards their building project along with HOPE grant subsidies...it's an extraordinary web of money laundering for high end development! Below is a 1996 HUD outline of some of the original funding outlines! 

a) Brownfield Development Funding (See the properties of Battery Park as an example).

b) 15 year tax abatements

c) Tax Credits for new development that is supposed to be low-moderate income housing...

d) HUD Funding for administration costs:

        1) Empowerment Zone funds (East side of Cleveland) 

          2) Enterprise Zone Funds

          3) Supplemental Empowerment Zone Funds

          4)  Home Ownership Zone funding collaboratives VISIT THIS LINK below for the outline of funding to our area...

http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/affordablehousing/programs/hoz/funding/hoz96/ClevelandOh.cfm

Can I get a copy of the landbank properties from you?

for working so hard with all the others; especially, since, you are so busy with your personal life, and still find the time to "TEAM" with all and provide us with vital information...on this site. A blessed and Merry Christmas to you and yours.

was my Grandma's description of these corrupt sharks...who try to make the people BELIEVE "THEY" are doing us a favor...

https://www.crainscleveland.com/politics-policy/cleveland-cdc-churn-mean...

McCormack previously suggested “swapping funding sources” — moving from using community development block grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to provide for CDC operations to using funds directly from the city of Cleveland’s general fund.

“The federal funding through HUD has a level of vague guidelines that determine how they can be used,” McCormack said. “Using them limits the scope of what they can do and means a ton of compliance paperwork that creates a big challenge for the CDCs.” 

Moving to a different funding mechanism could help those dollars go further, he added. The measure stalled before council went on summer break, but McCormack plans to bring it up again as members reconvene this month. 

CLEVELAND CASE STUDY SUMMARY MODEL PRACTICES IN TAX FORECLOSURE AND PROPERTY DISPOSITION OVERVIEW:

The Cleveland Land Bank serves as the primary vehicle for the acquisition and disposition of tax-delinquent properties to community based organizations in the City of Cleveland. A 1976 state statute allows any Ohio municipality to establish a Land Reutilization Program (or, a land bank) for purposes of acquiring, managing and disposing of delinquent land to reinstate such properties to tax revenue status. In 1988, House Bill 503 strengthened the 1976 state statute.

MODEL ELEMENTS OF CLEVELAND'S SYSTEM:

1. Cleveland Land Bank: • Property taxes in Cuyahoga County are collected twice a year. After a year of missed payments, property is certified as tax delinquent at which time foreclosure proceedings begin. The County generates a list of all tax delinquent properties against which foreclosure proceedings have been initiated or are pending. From this list, the city identifies the properties it wishes to acquire for the land bank and submits the list to the County. • Upon receiving Judgement of Foreclosure and Order of Sale, the parcel may be made available for purchase at a Sheriff's sale, which are conducted three times a year (property owners have a redemption period of fifteen days for properties sold at a Sheriff's sale). Parcels not sold after two Sheriff’s sales are deemed forfeited and the City/land bank declared the winning bidder (approximately 1,000 properties are transferred to the land bank following Sheriff sales annually).

• Properties that have not been identified by the City for transfer into the land bank are forfeited to the State of Ohio to be sold at an Auditor’s sale to the highest bidder.

• Property entering the land bank is title free and clear of all other private leans and interests, and subject only to covenants and easements created before the tax delinquency arose.

• CDCs must submit a proposal for reuse to be evaluated by land bank staff, a neighborhood planner, and a neighborhood advisory council who must recommend councilmatic sign-off. Priority is given for new construction.

• Property remains in the land bank - tax exempt - until a development proposal is submitted and approved.

• The City maintains a public record of all parcels found in the land bank, typically 5,000-6,000 properties at a time.

• Each year, 200-300 properties are gifted to the land bank by property owners in lieu of foreclosure.

• The 1976 statute was strengthened in 1988 by House Bill 503 (see below). 2. Enabling Legislation: In 1988, House Bill 603 was approved as a means of enhancing existing land acquisition legislation.

• Streamline foreclosure process: The bill established a 5% set-aside of income collected from delinquent taxes to fund efforts to expedite the foreclosure process including a research department, a computerized service to conduct title searches and related-costs incurred by the offices of the County Prosecutor and Treasurer.

• Tax abatement: HB 603 “allows for the abatement of delinquent property taxes when a parcel is placed into the Land Bank. Previously, land banked property carried the delinquency until it was purchased by a private owner.”1

• Elimination of in rem proceedings: County must identify all persons with any right, title, or interest in the tax delinquent property foreclosed upon, by certified mail. 3. Subsidy Sources:

• Cleveland Housing Trust Fund: established to provide grants to support housing initiatives driven by CDCs. • Neighborhood Development Activity Fund: provides 21 council members with $275,000-300,000 each to be allocated at their discretion to fund community activities within their jurisdiction. • Cleveland Neighborhood Partnership Program: (CNNP) comprised of LISC, The Enterprise Foundation and Neighborhood Progress, Inc. IMPACT: • Nearly 90% of all CDC properties are acquired from the land bank.

• On average, 500 land bank properties are sold to CDC on an annual basis.

CONTACTS: 1. Evelyn Sternad, Land Bank Manager, City of Cleveland Land Bank, 216-664-2869 2. India Pierce Lee, Senior Program Director, Cleveland LISC, 216-830-2791 1 Abandonment of Cleveland’s Housing Stock and Potential for Redevelopment of Vacant Land, Mark C. Hoffman, Housing Policy research program, The Urban Center, Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University, June 11, 1990.

CLEVELAND CASE STUDY SUMMARY MODEL PRACTICES IN TAX FORECLOSURE AND PROPERTY DISPOSITION The Cleveland Land Bank serves as the primary vehicle for the acquisition and disposition of tax-delinquent properties to community based organizations in the City of Cleveland. A 1976 state statute allows any Ohio municipality to establish a Land Reutilization Program (or land bank) for purposes of acquiring, managing and disposing of delinquent land to reinstate such properties to tax revenue status. In 1988, House Bill 603 was introduced and approved to enhance the existing land acquisition legislation with provisions to expedite the foreclosure process (5% set-aside on income collected from delinquent taxes supports a research department), authorize tax abatement of land bank properties and eliminate in rem proceedings (limited notification of the sale of property made title companies reluctant to conduct quiet title action). A strong cooperative relationship among the city, county and CDCs serves as the bedrock of this highly successful disposition system. Property housed in the land bank is acquired by way of a Sheriff's sale or as a gift in lieu of foreclosure. A Sheriff’s sale is the auction of property whose owner has defaulted on the mortgage and has been foreclosed upon due to delinquent mortgages or real estate taxes. Cuyahoga County provides the city with a listing of all tax delinquent properties against which foreclosure proceedings have been instituted or are pending (exhibit A: foreclosure process). Subsequently, the city identifies properties it hopes to acquire for transfer to the land bank and submits the desired inventory to the county. Parcels not sold after two Sheriff’s sales are deemed forfeited and the city is declared the winning bidder whereupon parcels may be transferred to the land bank (or forfeited to the State of Ohio to be sold at an Auditor’s sale to the highest bidder). A property owner retains a right of redemption up to fifteen days following a Sheriff's sale, after which, the city takes title free and clear of all other private liens and interests, and subject only to covenants and easements created before the tax delinquency arose.

In Cuyahoga County, Sheriff's sales take place three times a year. The city may pass good title to a CDC or private party who wishes to redevelop a property or it may hold the land for future development (land bank property is tax exempt until sold).* All prospective buyers of land bank parcels are required to submit a proposal for reuse in written form. Priority on the sale of a property is given to individuals or groups proposing new construction. Site plans are submitted to an appointed Neighborhood Planner for review and subsequently forwarded to the Neighborhood Advisory Council (NAC) for recommendation. All NAC recommendations must be approved by the City Planning Commission and City Council and Board of Control and must include: (1) holding a project for future research, (2) placing a parcel in the land bank for future development, or (3) legislation or councilmatic sign-off. Legislative approval for buildable (4,800 sq. ft. or more) and non-buildable (less than 4,800 sq. ft.) parcels serves as authorization to move forward on a proposed project. “Upon approval, the buyer executes a purchase agreement with the city agreeing to pay the purchase price, to use the property in accordance with the proposal, and to observe all requirements imposed by the city as to the payment of real estate taxes, and maintenance and use of the property.”2 Under the Land Reutilization Program, the price of the land is its fair market value. "The city may add any covenants or restrictions to the use of the land as it sees fit to ensure its effective reutilization.”3 Community development corporations seeking financial assistance to conduct development projects may solicit or lobby for grants from various pools of funding sources in Cleveland. These include: the Cleveland Housing Trust Fund (established for the purpose of providing grants to support housing initiatives driven by community development corporations); the Neighborhood Development Activity Fund (at their own discretion, council members allocate $275,000-300,000 to fund community activities in their jurisdiction); and, The Cleveland Neighborhood Partnership Program (CNNP) comprised of LISC, The Enterprise Foundation and Neighborhood Progress, Inc.

Challenges and obstacles associated with the Cleveland Land Bank include capitalization of projects, CDCs’ limited capacity to take and rehab land acquired from the land bank and time consuming administrative procedures - particularly the legislative process and aldermanic approval. Finally, CDCs are eager for the City take a more active role in acquiring parcels with structures on them or accepting land with possible environmental contamination.

They suggest that the city take a more aggressive approach in their overall land banking process by targeting properties beyond those that are tax delinquent. 2 Ohio Ethics Commission 3 Acquisition/Disposition Techniques: Profiles of Techniques Utilized by Municipalities to Transfer Property to CDCs, Prim Lawrence & Associates and Erica Pascal Esq., March 1999

2023 * Detroit Shoreway CDO WAS the major clearinghouse for city/county land bank properties. DSCDO's first director was Ray Pianka later Cleveland City Council member and then  Cleveland Housing Court Judge.  Neighborhood Progress Inc (NPI) aka Cleveland Progress is now stockpiling properties and has taken over from DSCDO as the major distributor of "FREE" properties for developers.  Matt Zone - former CLE council person for Detroit Shoreway Ward is now at WRLC where he helps broker disposition of properties to developers. There is a major shake up of the CDC backroom.  Tom McNair of Ohio City has been tapped by Mayor Justin Bibb to take over for Tessa Jackson, who was honorable and could read the writing on the wall here. TWDC is set to merge with Ohio City.  TWDC's Cory Riordan is going to NPI.

https://web.archive.org/web/20100825162339/http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/08/secretive_and_possibly_illegal.html

Secretive and possibly illegal process was used to decide nearly 26,000 challenges to Cuyahoga County property values

Published: Sunday, August 22, 2010, 5:30 AM     Updated: Monday, August 23, 2010, 9:47 AM

 Mark Puente, The Plain Dealer

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With gbaird [at] plaind [dot] com" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; color: rgb(48, 92, 182);">Gabriel Baird

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- More than $400 million in property values was wiped from Cuyahoga County's tax rolls without a public hearing in front of boards of revision in a secretive process that may be illegal and does not happen in the state's other urban counties, The Plain Dealer has found.

A newspaper investigation of county records shows that of the 78,000 home and business owners who have formally challenged their tax assessments since March 2007, 17,500 -- including the county prosecutor and four members of the boards -- had their values lowered by one, two or three members of a board without a hearing.

An additional 8,400 taxpayers had their claims rejected without being given a chance to argue their cases.

Based on questions the newspaper raised about the process, three county officials who recently took control of the boards have asked County Prosecutor Bill Mason to determine whether the handling of the nearly 26,000 cases broke the law. The prosecutor plans to issue a decision soon.

 

 

Find out more and help us out

If you appealed your property assessment since March 2007 and received a decision without being called to a hearing, your rights appear to have been denied. The property values for others were approved. We'd like to know if you spot anything suspicious. Search our databases and then fill out a Web form.

• Property reductions

• Cases rejected

 

 

In the urban counties of Franklin, Lucas and Summit, boards of revision make all decisions through public hearings. Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes, who has been in office since 1990, said closed-door decisions violate the law.

"We don't do that stuff," Rhodes said. "There is nothing in the law that would allow you to do that. That . . . sounds to me like something fishy."

Anyone who challenges the value of his property is supposed to get a hearing before one of the boards. But the nearly 26,000 cases uncovered by the newspaper were decided in a process called administrative review. In those cases, one to three board members made decisions without ever talking to taxpayers.

Mason and four board of revision members are among those who received assessment reductions by way of the secretive reviews, the newspaper found. Mason is the only elected county official to get an administrative review. And the paper file for one board member's review has inexplicably disappeared, leaving taxpayers with no way to know who signed off on the reduction.

The discoveries throw into question the fairness of that most fundamental of government duties, the collection of taxes to pay for services. Is everyone paying a fair share? Are the boards of revision cutting property values indiscriminately or fairly? Taxpayers may never know the answer.

 

 

Previous Plain Dealer coverage

• Stories on the Board of Revisions

 

Related stories

• Some strange things happened after The Plain Dealer's publisher challenged his property value
• Cuyahoga County boards approve reductions in property assessments to their own members behind closed doors

 

 

Why officials resort to administrative review is unclear. Some county officials suggest they did it for speed, to clear a backlog of cases that delayed decisions for a year or more.

And if county officials decide to offer hearings to everyone who has been denied a reduction in assessments, the result could be a retroactive cut in the tax rolls. That could leave the county facing the financially crippling prospect of refunding millions of tax dollars paid since 2007.

Wayne Lambert, one of the taxpayers whose challenge to an assessment was rejected without a hearing, became furious after learning of the newspaper's findings. Lambert's Pepper Pike house was valued at $1.14 million at the time, but he argued it should be $895,000. The native Texan bashed the way things are done in Ohio, Cuyahoga County and Cleveland. He is not surprised at the newspaper's findings.

"It's the way things are done up here," he said. "It's mind-boggling that things are so screwed up here."

Lambert, like everyone whose appeal was rejected through administrative review, was sent a letter explaining they could appeal to get a full board of revision hearing.

Disclosure of the closed-door decisions follows a series of scandals to hit the boards of revision since June, when a board member was accused of surreptitiously shaving $31,000 from the value of a Mayfield Heights townhouse. Since then, The Plain Dealer has discovered that:

• Board member Tom Bush worked a part-time job for several years as a salesman for a radio station while on county time. He resigned a day after the newspaper questioned him about the conflict. The Sheriff's Office has since launched a criminal investigation.

• Other board members worked less than six hours a day, according to a newspaper analysis of county parking records. The findings prompted deputies to expand their criminal investigation to all board members.

• Board member Brian Day resigned this month after The Plain Dealer asked him about an Ohio attorney general's opinion that says elected municipal officials should not hear taxpayers' complaints. Day is a Parma councilman.

• Someone tried to destroy several hundred tax-related records that could be evidence in criminal investigations. Board officials found the original documents, some of which detailed reductions to home values, in two blue trash cans and called the sheriff.

 

PD fileCuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason

Investigators seized the discarded records. They also carted away 11 white boxes containing more than 30,000 property tax-related records after learning that The Plain Dealer had reviewed the files as part of a probe into the boards of revision.

Sheriff's deputies turned over the records to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation for a wider probe of Auditor Frank Russo, whose office oversees the boards of revision.

Russo and county Commissioner Jimmy Dimora also are at the center of the biggest corruption investigation in the county's history. The federal inquiry, which became public two years ago with raids on the offices and homes of Russo and Dimora, have so far resulted in more than 30 officials and contractors pleading guilty to corruption-related crimes.

Among their many areas of interest, federal and state agents are looking at $21.4 million in contracts that Russo has awarded to V.A.S. Enterprises for commercial and industrial property assessments since 1998, when Russo became auditor.

The auditor and Dimora, however, have not been charged with crimes or identified by name in documents related to the investigations. They remain in office and maintain their innocence.

As the scandal mounted, The Plain Dealer learned earlier this summer about the closed-door decisions by boards of revision and obtained a database containing the records of more than 78,000 taxpayer challenges of property assessments since March 2007.

The database reveals that nearly 26,000 appeals were decided through administrative reviews. County officials reviewed the newspaper's analysis and confirmed the numbers.

"It's a very accurate reflection of the records in the system," co-administrator Marty Murphy said. "It's a very accurate number of records."

Another co-administrator agreed. "I cannot dispute any of your conclusions," Bruce Nimrick said. "Your analysis appears to be complete and accurate based upon the data you were provided."

Of the 8,400 taxpayers whose appeals were rejected without hearings, 2,000 fought back, successfully demanding hearings and winning cuts in their assessments, the records show.

Even when boards held public hearings, however, members rushed to clear cases. A county analysis released Friday shows board hearings typically lasted only six minutes, a fraction of the 20 to 40 minutes that officials said is needed to render fair decisions.

The nearly 26,000 administrative review cases since March 2007 should not be confused with cases in which taxpayers ask for informal reviews of their property values. The auditor's office reappraises all property every three years and comes up with tentative values. The office then notifies taxpayers of the values and gives them a period of time to ask for informal reviews. Once that period is over, values are set, and the only way to get them changed is through an appeal to a board of revision.

Political watchdog Catherine Turcer, who runs the Columbus-based Ohio Citizen Action, said taxpayers and school districts are being cheated out of money with the closed-door decisions by the boards of revision.

"We need to have trust and faith in the valuations," Turcer said. "You have to wonder if special favors are given out. It's horrifying to know that the hearings have been behind closed doors."

Why board members chose administrative reviews is not clear, but officials overseeing the office suggest one reason was expedience. The county has a backlog of thousands of taxpayer appeals, forcing some people to wait a year or more to get decisions. Nothing suggests the majority of taxpayers asked for special treatment.

Mason says he didn't. He received a $93,200 reduction on the assessment of his Seven Hills home. The prosecutor said he filed for a public hearing, following the same procedure available to all taxpayers, but never was called before a board. Instead, he said, he received a letter informing him of the reduction.

Michael Dembowski wanted to cut less than $5,000 off the $94,700 value of his Parma home, but he was rejected without a hearing. He said he should have been given a chance to make his case.

"It's worth even less now," he said. "I feel like I'm getting ripped off on my taxes."

Edward Whatley of University Heights is not surprised at anything done by Cuyahoga County government. The boards of revision rejected a 2008 complaint for his home.

"What do you expect from this government?" he asked. "We have to wonder if they are paying their fair share. This whole system needs to be fixed."

 

I've found new planners to take all this over for these crooks - they are called the Feds but aren't the FBI.

They are the Federal Government, et al, and they are coming to this unsustainable, socially unjust Green Zone and cleaning up, despite corrupt local leadership here, who made this such a toxic disaster. Time is up on The Evil Land Bank, Santakakis, and his little elves too.

Disrupt IT

 Cleveland taxpayer dollars at risk? Invoices, payments for Ohio City project raise concerns from city auditors https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2023/09/cleveland-taxpayer-dollars-at-risk-invoices-payments-for-ohio-city-project-raise-concerns-from-city-auditors.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20230402083529/https://ejbnews.com/neighborhood-progress-incs-shaker-square-deal-is-actually-37-million-and-not-12-million-as-its-falsely-been-reported-and-its-records-and-meetings-are-not-public-in-violation-of-federal-and-state/

The unlawfully secretive NPI wants $37 million and not $12 million in public funds to purchase and renovate a parcel of properties in Shaker Square; and its greedy officials want the money out of the $108 million Cleveland has already received from the United States government from its American Recovery Plan Act of 2021 funds.  $511 million is coming to the city altogether from Congress.  It costs $1 million according to Save-A-Lot to open one of its grocery stores.  One small corner of Cleveland wants the equivalent of 37 grocery stores out of money that could actually be used to finance them.  That’s about two new grocery stores per ward....

How did NPI bring Burton Bell Carr from Central on top of 5 CDC’s that are already in the ward?  Why is two percent of the $12 million or $400,000 allocated to Burton Bell Carr?  Why is Community Builders getting $20 million?   Who is Village Builders?  Why are they being asked to build.  Who sold Audubon to Burton Bell Carr?  Why is Burton Bell Carr buying the property?

Now this is FREAKY... the people behind this mess...the  Visiting Committee - Rokakis is on Visiting Committee

You don't get more made and corrupt than that... look at the friends he has, who will all be DISGRACED for their association with this - Lily, Angel, Jarleen... GO AFTER THE MEMBERS OF THE VISITING COMMITTEE BEHIND ROKAKIS AND ALL THESE PROPERTY THEFTS DIRECTLY - GO AFTER CSU, LIKE I HAVE - LET THEM KNOW PESONALLY THEY DO NOT DESERVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS - THEY SHALL NOT HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR

2010-2011 Visiting Committee Membership

Visiting Committee Chair

Jeri Chaikin
Visiting Committee Chair
Chief Administrative Officer
City of Shaker Heights, Ohio

Members Patricia J.  Britt City Clerk, Clerk of Council City of Cleveland John J. Carney Landmark Management Robin C. Cottingham Senior Vice President Kay National Banking RISC Office William M. Denihan Chief Executive Officer Cuyahoga County Mental Health Board William B. (Barry) Doggett Sr. VP Public & Community Affairs Eaton Corporation Sari Feldman Executive Director Cuyahoga County Public Library José C. Feliciano, Jr. David S. Goodman Managing Partner, Cleveland Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP Raymond C. Headen Bond, Structured, and Public Finance Practice Group Bricker & Eckler LLP Christopher O. Johnson Vice President, Public Finance Economic Development Group Fifth Third Securities Jeff Johnson Jeff’s Nation, LLC Sally Conway Kilbane James Levin  Artistic Executive Director Ingenuity Cleveland Dr. Jared S. Levin Center of Orthopedic Surgery James McCafferty County Administrator County of Cuyahoga Valarie J. McCall Chief of Government Affairs City of Cleveland Randell McShepard Vice President, Public Affairs RPM, Inc. Petra Mitchell President and CEO Catalyst Connection Bruce Murphy President Community Development Banking KeyBank Anthony C. Peebles Jim Rokakis Cuyahoga County Treasurer Christopher Ronayne  President University Circle Incorporated (UCI) Alan Schonberg Tom Schorgl President & CEO Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC) Joseph M. Shafran Paran Management Company Michael Taylor  President and Executive Director National City Community Development Corporation Nina Turner Senator State of Ohio

Hector Vega Linda Warren Senior Vice President, Community Finance Neighborhood Progress, Inc. Brad Whitehead President Fund for Our Economic Future LEVIN COLLEGE, CSU Edward W. (Ned) Hill, Ph.D. Interim Dean Levin College of Urban Affairs Cleveland State University Wendy Kellogg, Ph.D. Associate Dean Levin College of Urban Affairs Cleveland State University Stuart Mendel, Ph.D. Assistant Dean Levin College of Urban Affairs Cleveland State University Steven A. Minter Executive-in-Residence, Cleveland State University Fellow, Center for Nonprofit Policy & Practice, Levin College of Urban Affairs Cleveland State University Faith N. Noble Director for Finance and Administration Levin College of Urban Affairs Cleveland State University Lisa D. Pastor Development Associate University Advancement Levin College of Urban Affairs Cleveland State University EMERITI MEMBERS Bruce H. Akers Mayor, City of Pepper Pike William S. Gaskill Allan C. Krulak Vice President, Director of Community Affairs Forest City Enterprises, Inc. Dennis Madden Executive Director Medical Mart Project Joseph A. Marinucci President and CEO. Downtown Cleveland Alliance James Mason Stanley R. Miller Executive Director Cleveland Branch NAACP Margaret N. Mitchell Deborah L. Neale Neale & Associates Betty K. Pinkney Richard W. Pogue Counsel Jones Day William J. Reidy Claire Rosacco Vice President of Government Affairs and Community Outreach Cuyahoga Community College Carlton B. Schnell, Esq. Partner, Retired Arter & Hadden Hilton Smith Vice President for Community Affairs Turner Construction Company Margaret S. Wheeler

Charge to the Maxine Goodman Levin College of
            Urban Affairs Visiting Committee
      The primary purpose of the Visiting Committee is to provide advice
and support to the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs in its
mission as a major academic, research, and community service unit of
Cleveland State University. Specifically, the Visiting Committee will:
         •  Assist in the refinement of a long-term strategic plan for the
            College of Urban Affairs that addresses the development of a
            strong academic capability and building of an urban research
            and technical assistance program; provide critical advice in the
            identification of relevant environmental factors, assessment of
            the College’s current capabilities, and the formulation of long-
            term priorities, goals and related program and personnel needs.
         •  Assist in designing an effective recruitment program to attract
            top quality faculty, staff and students.
         •  Provide a forum for interaction with employers of the College of
            Urban Affairs, students, and groups who can benefit from the
            College’s research, training, technical assistance, and data
            programs for the purpose of improving our academic, research,
            and community service activities.
         •  Report its activities and recommendations in writing annually to
            the Board of Trustees.

         The following overall goals support the aforementioned charges to
      the Visiting Committee:
            •   Develop an enhanced awareness of the Maxine Goodman
                Levin College of Urban Affairs’ mission, goals and objectives.
• Serve as front-line ambassadors for the Levin College of
  Urban Affairs and Cleveland State University.
• Provide intern opportunities, career counseling, and job
  placement whenever possible and appropriate.
• Support and enhance the College’s efforts to attract and
  secure funding from private and public sectors.
• Participate fully in the annual “In Tribute to the Public
  Service” fundraiser.
• Serve as guest lecturers in regularly scheduled classes or at
  specially convened forums.
• Share expertise with the Maxine Goodman Levin College of
  Urban Affairs faculty, staff and students.
• Identify funding sources for the Levin College of Urban
  Affairs.

 

Seems like some freaky cult to me.

Disrupt IT