There is a pretty interesting photograph of the tower under construction at http://www.clevelandskyscrapers.com/cleveland/clevelandtrusttower.html that supports some of the issues with regard to the Rotunda, specifically that it was not conceived as a freestanding building, but rather as a well articulated streetwall building. It would seem to me that surrounding the Rotunda with an open plaza is not beneficial to the Rotunda either aesthetically or functionally, and probably not so great in terms of the urban fabric either.

As you know, I have said from my first days in Cleveland that Joe’s only agenda is his political advancement. However, while County Commissioner may be a stepping stone, I think Joe’s goal is Columbus. I also think he will make a run at being elected mayor of Cleveland. All-in-all, this is just one more example of everyone who thinks they are someone sleeping with everyone else who thinks the same. Its called incestuous politics.

Frank

Our community needs more people like Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones. Throughout this whole process he has been such an excellent and effective spokesperson for historic preservation. I’d hate to see him leave as Commissioner, but he might make an excellent candidate for the U. S. Senate in a few years.

RTA is spending some $225-million or more on Euclid Avenue.

That public investment should attract - at one of the city’s central spots, E. 9th & Euclid - a private investment in an office structure, not another public building simply taking workers from other downtown sites and placing them were private enterprise should invest and bring in new employees.

The County takes a prime site, spends hundreds of millions of public dollars, destroys a historic building and muscles out a private investment at a strategic corner, formerly the center of Cleveland’s banking interests. Two of the three corner sites there are bank building offices.

What a lose-lose waste.

First, one would believe that one could get an adequate report
from
our single newspaper on such importand issues. Another example of why it’s so disturbing that so much coverage is given to a basketball team and so little to what this community needs - public disclosure, scrutiny and debate on crucial matters.

Joe C. - the chattering chipmunk, I call him - has been bought and paid for via campaign contributions for years. The hope of an independent, intelligent voice for local politics was quickly dashed as Joe’s ambition exceeded his public responsibility.

Yes, he’d like to be County Commissioner. Or mayor if that’s open. Anything but councilman.

However, this entire Breuer episode with the county demands a real public discussion of the County Commission and the County offices. There’s no need for all the offices - treasurer, recorder, auditor. These are functions that could be operated without elected public officials.

There needs to be - if we continue with three commissioners the
(see no evil, say no evil, speak no evil trio)- a renegade run for the next opening, be he or she Republican or Democrat. Let’s get rid of Hagan and Dimora - neither qualify as
public servants but are merely
private entrepreneurs for private interests.

I believe that bloggers can be a political force locally, as they certainly have become nationally, but they have to keep their eye on the target and, hopefully, do it in cooperation and without private political desires of power on their own agenda.

Obviously, if you’re right about Joe Cimperman, what we will see in the near future is not “transformation,” but rather, more of the same corruption and back-door deals that have gone on for decades at City Hall and the Commissioners’ office. It would seem that most of our leading local officials, whether city or county-wide, are feeding from the same trough of payoffs. I predict that we are heading for straits even more dire than we’ve seen thus far.