Gloria Ferris

I Received the following from a friend of mine in Brooklyn Centre.  He is right. I have seldom if ever heard Bob speak his political views at a community meeting.  Therefore, I can only surmise that the incident must have been pretty reprehensible for Bob to send this missive to his email list.  I must concur that he is right this political season has had some of the most reprehensible and downright disgusting advertising I have seen in my lifetime.  And, yes, I have turned away and said nothing as so many, but where to start and how to end, but my friend speaks the truth.  We MUST fight back by not succumbing to their intimidation tactics and to use our own words to bring reason and sanity back to our political process.

Bob’s email:

Friends:
I try to limit my political views, but I can only do so to a point. I was at a community meeting earlier this evening where a local public official noted that it’s good we’re going to see "change" during this election. He didn’t clarify however whether he was referring to just county offices (thank god were seeing change there) or to all levels of government. (state and national) Just that we’re "going to see change".

What the hell is going on in this country that so many people are sitting back, accepting and even believing the Republicans, Tea baggers and other right wing extremists as they continue with their distortions and the type of political philosophy that got this county in the economic mess we’re now in? Not to mention their troubling domestic and international policy agendas.

Make no mistake folks, the bulk of the American public lies closer to the middle, despite the efforts of the major media (Plain Dealer included) that naively struggles to bring "balance" to their readership by steering them towards the extreme right. I’m afraid due to their success and the lack of courage on the part of so many others, this country will take a drastic turn for the worse. Please everyone – many of you being public officials yourself – prove me wrong, speak-up and spread the word that we need to stand up to the extremists and stay, and even strengthen the course, before its too late.  
Feel free to forward this message.

Robert H. Gardin
Cleveland, Ohio 44109

My response:

Well said, Bob!  Besides being an educated voter and voting EVERY time, I think that as citizens we need to do what you do Bob and attend these meetings and voice our opinions.  Unfortunately, I see too many people –elected officials, government employees, private citizens who do not express their opinions in public, and therefore, we have no dialogue only demagoguery.  We need to allow for differences of approach and ideas in civic engagement, but too often there is no civility.  I believe we need to embrace freedom of speech and have "true" town hall meetings.  Too often, one side or the other takes the reins and shouts down everyone else, and therefore, our society as a whole is made poorer because we have not been enriched by many ideas and actions, but are governed by only a few, not because the plan was made by using best practices but the loudest. 

My friend Jill Miller Zimon  has been incensed by how many well-qualified women candidates have either been vilified or ignored  by so many citizen and mass media journalists. My apologies for the choice but the title is just so wonderful and it gets readers to where I wanted them to go.   She has also called out Josh Mandel and his ill-disguised attempt to use religious intolerance to capture “voting by fear”. my term not hers.  How sad to see how far we have fallen because of silence.  I am truly blessed to have friends like Bob and Jill.  They keep me centered.

Cleveland Area History posted this article today and I commented.  Decided to also post the comment here since it speaks to a question, situation, or attitude  that residents in our park neighborhood  by the zoo contemplate and discuss quite often.

Here is my comment:

Unfortunately, in this town, building and housing codes are not enforced as a matter of course for  keeping the housing stock safe and healthy but too often as a big stick to whack at people.  I believe this situation is caused by a complaint driven system.  There are no systematic policies in place and too often absentee landlords or banks are allowed to skate until violations "expire".  We have seen this happen time and again while other neighbors almost seem to be subjected to a personal vendetta type of handling.  Building and housing has to be one of the more dysfunctional departments in our fair city. Also when the Landmarks Commission was put under the umbrella of planning instead of a stand alone commission, more and more it was used as a big stick rather than the advisory capacity that was envisioned for it. Hence, we have a city that does not pride itself in its rich historic heritage but rather one which almost has a "disposable mentality" which reinforces newer, shinier, functional, and cheaper are words of the day.

Just received this email from our friend Dennis, the inventor.

Come see the speakers at Euclid side of Halle
Building during the ingenuity fest   Please forward this to all your friends.

Sent from my iPhone
Dennis All-Tronics
Builders of one of the finest  speaker systems in the world.
WWW.Atssounds.com
WWW.all-tronics.net

He has invented the most awesome speaker I have ever experienced.   Yes, it is an experience-not hearing, not listening, but experiencing.  Everyone I talk to who has head them say it is hard to  describe  to those who have not yet seen them and sat in the seat to hear them.  Kind of like being right there in the concert hall.  And a piano, the sound of a piano at its best if you can’t be there live.

Stop by when you are strolling down Euclid Avenue enjoying the Engenuity Fest!

This is the annual Archwood Street Fair of renown.* We’ve been having it for so many years now I have to ask somebody else when it all started–I think it was in 1980-something. Originally, we tried to sell a lot of rehab and restoration items as well as antiques, and that is still the basic purpose. It now also functions as a way for all of us to clean house, so it’s taken on aspects of the huge neighborhood garage sale as well. Some of us who don’t live on Archwood actually haul our stuff in the night before. The inventory is usually pretty good.

Further, some entrepreneurs now set up food stands and assorted flea market venues. It’s a real melting pot…Open source. It’s also ideal for bicycles and walking.

The stated hours are from 9 AM-6 PM on Saturday and 10 AM-5 PM on Sunday, and some people stay open a little longer, and some people wrap up early.

This year will also feature some fun, music, and art events.   Brooklyn Centre Naturalists will have a table set up near the action.  Stop by our booth and see how easy it is to become a wildlife habitat.  Buy one of our raffle tickets for a chance to win an incredible basket full of gardening treasures.  Any of you  who attended Earth Fest this year knows how incredible Greg Cznadel’s baskets were.  If you can, check out the joint gardening project of Brooklyn Memorial Church and us.

Although many of us kept our thoughts to ourselves because we were hopeful that the WIDE OPEN experiment would work, many of us thought that it was only a matter of time before the blog would be shut down for some nefarious reason.  Little did we know that it would happen so quickly and for not a predictable reason. Before continuing, I must disclose that I know Jeff Coryell who will always be “Yellow Dog Sammy” to me, and the gal who “Writes Like She Talks” Jill Zimon. They are personal friends of mine.  I have never met the two bloggers on the other side of the aisle NixGuy and BizzyBlog but I do know Bill Pierce who challenged Mike Dewine last year and he has nothing but good to say about the man behind BizzyBlog so that is good enough for me.  If these three stellar individuals were chosen, I can only believe that the fourth has the same credentials.

I do on a regular basis read all four blogs because I feel that the four bloggers stick to the issues, have integrity, check their facts, are perceptive, and give a wealth of information to people  who want the story behind the sound bite.  I commend Jean Dubail for choosing these four bloggers for the experiment.  He chose a stellar crew.  Unfortunately, a “tetchy” Congressman got “in the way”.  And, to me, that is the story behind the story.  If indeed the political conributions of the four had been an issue, the Plain Dealer would have asked the question before employment.  They, obviously, didn’t ask because probably none of the four would have been employable.  These are after all staunch supporters of each party. Bizzyblog opts out on political contributions.

In fact, that was what I thought was the point of the experiment.  Get four bloggers from both sides of the aisle to interact, drawing in readers and commentors to widen the dialogue and get us beyond these partisan “knee jerk” reactions and into a discussion of the issues that face us all-Republican and Democrat.  Few of us disagree on the problems or, in the end,  the solutions it is the path along the way where compromise and dialogue is needed that we all fall short.

The surprise in this series of events for me is that a sitting Congressman, Steve LaTourette, would  find a measly $100 contribution to a competitor’s campaign by a Northeast blogger to be worthy of his time and attention.  Does not his tenure speak for itself?  Many voters in Northeast Ohio believe that Congressman LaTourette is the reason that there is an ongoing construction project at East Ninth expanding the NDFS facility here. They credit his intervention for the positive outcome. Why would he find it acceptable to meddle in Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Speech?  And that is the bottom line. How dare he treat the Bill of Rights with such a cavalier attitude.  And for those of you who say we don’t know the whole story,  I have not seen one word from the Plain Dealer that says that Jeff was let go for any other reason than the contribution.  Jill backs this assertion with her post.

So we are back to Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Speech. The Plain Dealer has bowed to pressure as they have done time and time again. We have seen this more and more as the year has progressed.  First, there was the Breuer Tower, then there was the Medical Mart, and then, there was the County Sales Tax issue.  Now, we see  hints of what we all knew prior to the October 1st Tax increase, but the PD continues to tiptoe around major opportunities for investigative reporting.  Pulitzers for Investigative Reporting must not be in the game plan.

I doubt if Congressman LaTourette will sit down with Meet The Bloggers for an interview. An in depth conversation about this issue as well as the others facing us here in Northeast Ohio would be more beneficial than too many column inches being taken by who contributes to who and why therefore those people should be put in their place.  Bloggers being who they are on a regular basis contribute to political campaigns, so  I feel that he would decline based on that issue alone.  His challenger, Bill O’Neill,  who has Met the Bloggers  had a motto  during his recent Ohio Supreme Court race which was “No Money From Nobody”. For his congressional bid, he realizes that he needs money. He firmly believes that the way we elect judges needs to be reconsidered.  I would ask Mr. LaTourette his feelings on that issue as well.  Probably, he believes that “no money for nobody” should be the motto of all campaigns.

The voters who will make the final decision on these two men next year need to watch this race closely.  They need to attend town forums, fundraisers, anywhere they can find these two gentlemen and ask the questions relevant to each and every one of them.  It is their decision which will lead us in the Fourteenth District.  I would hope that they ask about Freedom of the Press and Speech and based on the answers they make the decision that they feel is right for all of us. We are only as strong as our weakest link and we need every strong link that we can muster in Northeast Ohio to lead us in Congress. 

I hope that Ms. Goldberg realizes that continuing to listen to the same advisors that Doug Clifton and Alex Macheskee used may be expedient but not prudent. The Plain Dealer faces a huge credibility gap in this region and others.  If she truly wants to make this newspaper a stellar publication,  she needs to widen her scope of whom she talks to in this town. She needs to include some new voices and not rely completely on the usual.  In fact, she has a few on staff that would be good candidates.  And if she sat down for a Meet The Bloggers conversation, my question to her would be why have advertisers and “leaders” of the community taken precedence over your readership?  And if they haven’t how can  you begin to convey that to the public so that your readership will be maintained and grow?

And in closing, the four bloggers that suddenly find themselves “unemployed” are not.  They never did it for the money.  They did it out of passion for what they believe.  The belief that blogs and bloggers can add a dimension to journalism that is missing-the indepth behind the scene story.  All four of them had the credibility and integrity to only enhance the Plain Dealer, but the Plain Dealer in its nervousness of trying anything new caved to the pressure of the tried and true and pulled the plug on Wide Open.  The four bloggers, still have their original blogs and will continue to do what they did prior to “the experiment”. Because they are doing it for the right reason for the love of it.  The only loser in all of this is The Plain Dealer.     

We hear that Ladder 42.1 will make an appearance at the regular Cleveland City Council meeting this coming Monday, which will be held off-site (outside City Hall) for a change, at Estabrook Recreation Center, 4125 Fulton Road, Cleveland 44144, at 7:00 PM.

Everything is just so incremental lately, as evidenced by the recent need to create a Ladder 42.1.

Stay tuned. Show up with a bucket. Galoshes will be optional.

I just read this post on Brewed Fresh Daily and I have a few questions regarding the latecomers to the party. For months we have been hearing how the blogging community takes itself too seriously, how we are not true ”journalists” and how “the power of the blog” is all in our own heads. Now, Doug Clifton is telling his political writers to blog. I have several questions concerning the blogging rights of PD journalists. If blogging does not add dimension to the dialogue, why do it? Will comments be allowed? If they are, will they be edited? If comments are not allowed, why blog?

When the Plain Dealer did the five part series on Forest City Enterprises, I was mystified by the lack of comment by the NEO bloggers. Then I realized what had happened. The printed material about Forest City was very laudatory and warned that if we didn’t watch out we would lose FCE because we don’t appreciate them. The added dimension of the blog gave a much more balanced report of FCE and the projects that they have ongoing around the United States. Since I know one of the players fighting Forest City Enterprises-NYC over the use of eminent domain to assemble the land needed for the Atlantic Yards project as well as some of the design elements that are unfriendly to the neighborhood I will restrict my comments to that article. My friend called me from Brooklyn asking me to save the articles for her. She said the PD writer, Chris Montgomery had spoken to her for over two hours, she had sent him almost two inches of documentation and she was really excited to see what would be printed. I was quite skeptical on whether it would be a balanced report, but she saw it as an opportunity for more exposure and support. She was greatly disappointed when the opening paragraphs in the printed article included the line “a rundown neighborhood in Brooklyn” and that there was very little mention of how this band of neighborhood activists have gone head to head with FCE and have had impact. The blog entry for that article was much more balanced, offered links to No Land Grab and other sites which enabled the article to seem much more balanced.

Herein lies the problem. How can the Plain Dealer in good conscience offer two different stories to their readers—the printed story and the enhanced story on a blog with links?
Reread the Forest City Series and then read the blog entries that enhanced those articles. Am I being hypercritical or is it a valid question?
Meet the Bloggers was formed to meet a need that the Plain Dealer was not filling—in depth interviews on the issues important to Clevelanders with the mayoral candidates. It is now filling a decided void when it comes to the discussion of policy issues on a statewide level. All candidates are welcome to participate and the citizen journalists try to include questions by those unable to attend. In fact, George, Tim, and Bill are constantly looking for ways to make the podcasts and transcripts more accessible to a wider audience. Unlike, the Associated Press who recently told Bryan Flannery that they would no longer include him in their reports on the Ohio Democratic gubernatorial primary race because they do not see him as a viable candidate, Meet The Bloggers strives to be inclusive and interview any and all candidates that would like to use the platform. Isn’t it the voter who should make the choice of the more viable candidate?

How will the Plain Dealer strive to make the blog entries accessible to a wider audience? Will they take a leadership role in demanding that an equitable and fair way of providing Internet access to all Clevelanders be found?

And, last but not least if and when paid Plain Dealer journalists attend Meet the Blogger interviews should they have the same access to the candidate as those participants who obtained the interview with the candidate, those who take personal time to attend the interview and those who produce the podcast without compensation in the name of citizen journalism and the voters right to know. The candidates tell us that they would like nothing better than to sit down with these paid journalists and have an in-depth interview but are unable to gain access. Should those interviews be conducted at the expense of a Meet the Bloggers interview? And why are political journalists not interviewing candidates for public office?

And as I asked at the beginning of my post, is it ethical?