Its not going in the Intercity Yacht Club

It is not going "in" the Intercity, Yacht Club. It's ships will go "by" the Intercity and dock at the East 55th Street Marina. They will also go "by" Dike 14 and Gordon Park - what remains of it.

I am not sure how boaters and yacht clubbers feel about this issue. Perhaps you will let us know. It just seems to me that instead of gaining access to the lakefront, we are making more of it inaccessible to the public. Granted, lakefront parks open to the public do not include clubs or marinas which require membership. Burke Lakefront takes up an inordinate amount of our lakefront and private properties have chainlinked off the rest of it. So being able to walk to the water's edge at will, without a host or a guide or a key is a rare experience in Cleveland. 

Once there was a lakefront plan. Many people I am told gave their input to that process. For what? To what end? So that it might be scrapped for the Port's new plan? Did we not spend hours discussing and meeting about the Innerbelt and bridge planning only to have "ohmigod!!! just build a bridge any bridge anywhere you want" last minute panic planning?

We have good planners here, but I wonder if their skills are really being utilized. Their participation in some projects has been so opaque as to have been nonexistent. In other words, someone may have asked them for their suggestions and if their suggestions did not align with the desires of the powers that be, they were excused from the process. 

I am sure it is a struggle to find the right mix of uses for the lakefront and I am no planner, but I wonder still; what do the folks at Intercity and 55th Street Marina and Dike 14 think now that the port plan has come to their side of the inner harbor? Further, I wonder just how much port we need here in Cleveland. Acres of current port land sit underutilized. The plan for better using them for the next 15 years seems to be the addition of some metal buildings that can be used by manufacturers. I just don't get the idea that an underperforming business should geta big outlay of tax dollars when the time comes. And I don't get that a long time in coming lakefront plan can be shelved just like that. The lakefront plan may have had its flaws, but at least its process was open. This port relocation and expansion is just being plunked down - like it or lump it. 

I like the idea of moving cargo by water - that pulls at me whenever I listen to this Short Sea Shipping idea. I want to better understand though why that shipping needs to come and go from Cleveland's lakefront and not another piece of Lake Erie Shoreline.

I don't really "get" port authorities. They seem to have a lot of authority. I am watching and listening and trying to understand, but it has not become clear to me yet. You? Please share your views and insight here so that I can learn from your perspective. Since you have chosen "hawk" as your online moniker, you must have a keen eye.

Okay I have attented some of these meetings and the late Ed was there also,First there is no guarantee they are going to get the bussiness they are telling you,they are hoping,Second the big freighters are not coming in,they hope to have feeder ships go out around the locks and bring the loads in. Most people who are not close to this project thinks its a great thing. This port will be a monster---forget about seeing stars like you were seeing because the port will so bright it will kill the view. Than they are creating this International Trading Zone from E 18th street to MLK drive,from the lake to Superior. You are right how does the public get to the lake---its not because of the clubs or marina. The freeway is what stopping the public from directly getting to the lake---at one time they were going to change that by closing that part of I 90 another dream. If the port was trying to help the public why are they planning to deveople the old port when they move into more high dollar condoes do you think you are going to walk thru them?  I can go on but thats enought for now. P.S Watch em like a Hawk

the level of deceit and underhanded dealing that is going on at TWDC. Jerleen is not the only one given that answer - its their standard response. It should also be mentioned that three different candidates - all willing to run on a social equity issues platform have all dropped out. I know two of them dropped because they heard from other ex board members what hell TWDC makes your life if you dont go along with their plans.

And if you bring any objections up - its all "negativity". hmmmm maybe by that analysis the FBI isnothing but a bunch of naysayers...

As expected, Chris Garland, Executive Director of TWDC, ignored my request for the number of active members of TWDC, he didn't even reply with this is a "privacy concern" this time.  I guess they don't take me seriously.  I haven't figured out yet if we're reading from the same set of rules. 

The By-laws I'm reading from says that "the membership is the ultimate authority of TWDC." 

We have invited a group of neutral election monitors (law students) from Cleveland State - under the direction of Professor Candice Hoke to the dinner and election - and if there's any flack, make a motion to override the boards decision and let the membership  vote to allow the monitors present during the counting of the ballots 

In researching online the legal requirements of a Community Improvement or Community Development Corporation in Ohio I found several sources which interpret the Ohio Public Records laws as REQUIRING a non-profit community improvement or community development corporation like Tremont West Development Corporation to make all their records public with one tiny exception {That exception(R.C. 1724.11(A)(1) and (2) "Certain financial, proprietary, and other information submitted by an entity to a community improvement corporation acting as a political subdivision's agent” has to do with certain business or other propriety records submitted to the Corporation by entities looking for Corporation support. (See below “IS THE CIC ACCOUNTABLE” which is from North Canton, Ohio’s Community Improvement Corporation web site.)} One example of a situation in which the Ohio Public Records law requires public disclosure: The University of Toledo had a Foundation which fundraised for the University. The Toledo Blade wanted to see who donated to the private Foundation. In this law suit The Ohio Supreme Court found that the Foundations donor records were public records and must be disclosed.

Other Ohio public records law cases can be found at Privatization vs the Public’s right to know.

Here is a similar community development corp. case in New Jersey:

If the Tremont West Development Corporation receives or spends public money, then its records are public records. NOTE:  From what I understand, the board of the  TWDC is not composed  with a number of public officers as is the North Canton CDC. But this is only one prong of the public records test.   Let the TWDC point to the legislation which exempts them from the public records law.

I suggest that you send the Tremont West Development Corporation a certified Public Records Request letter requesting membership records and voting records and Frank Giglio (with his street address) records.

If you wish, post your Draft Public Records Request here on Realneo and there may have a user or two who can help proof read it. It is important that the sunshine all over Cuyahoga County and in Cleveland in particular.

I suspect that the TWDC has very few members, that they are spending public money with very little public support, members, or involvement. Being sensitive to this flaw, the TWDC does not want to make public their meager “membership”.   What credible reason can the  TWDC have for secrecy?

Is the CIC accountable?  Yes, the North Canton CIC is accountable.  It is/was created by virtue of Ohio Revised Code.  It is/will be audited by the State Auditor annually.  The CIC has eight (8) members.  To reiterate, City Council has two (2) members on the CIC and appoints two (2) more.  The Mayor is on the CIC and appoints two (2) more.  The Director of Administrator, who is appointed by the Mayor, and confirmed by City Council is a member of the CIC.  The voters and City Council have control and accountability.  All votes by the CIC must be in public meetings and public records are maintained.  The only thing that is NOT public, pursuant to Ohio Revised Code Section 1724.11, are financial and proprietary information submitted on behalf of a business in connection with the relocation, location, expansion, improvement, or preservation of a business.  That just makes sense.  Would you apply for a bank loan if all your financial and personal history were made public?  Of course not.  The same can be said for businesses.  If a business with one hundred (100) jobs paying Sixty Thousand ($60,000) each per year wanted to locate in North Canton and went to Council for a loan, all their financial and business records submitted would become public record.  With a CIC, their records can remain confidential, while the loan and vote by the CIC would still be public.  Without a CIC in North Canton, the business could always go to Canton, Jackson Township, Massillon, Green, or Stark County who already have CIC’s and can maintain confidentiality of their business records.

Everyone's information is public record at the Board of Elections, City Hall, the County, etc., etc.

So, why does it become a privacy issue when you get to the CDC level?

Cuz Jon Boylan said so.

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." ---USConstitution.net

Had to post it... somehow... so many of our leaders large and small have either forgotten... or have twisted it so far and hard that the words almost seem foreign or horribly meaningless.

How did we get this far?

nice call Jerleen. and I can answer this:

 "Councilman Cimperman needs to get off his sorry behind and clean up his CDC and since it is his CDC "

Or more accurately - Cimperman is answering that question himself - with his silence. 

It was our anthem... Let the Sunshine In Did they forget?

The Cleveland Cuyahoga County Port Authority offers a premier executive level maritime opportunity as Port Director; relocating the Port, creating a trade district surrounding it, and establishing short sea shipping. This is your chance to help create the Port of the future and be a part of the transformation of the region. Position demands strategic, logistics professionals with a track record of results. 

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