It’s burger time with Dan Gilbert, Frank Jackson, Marky Mark, and Donnie from New Kids on the Block

May 17, 2017

Let’s check in on Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, who showed up last Thursday at a “VIP red carpet preview event” for a Wahlburgers location in some retail space owned by Dan Gilbert, across the street from Gilbert’s JACK Casino in downtown Cleveland and just underneath one of the most magnificent land-bridges to ever connect a casino […]

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Why is Armond Budish communicating absurd threats on Dan Gilbert’s behalf?

March 2, 2017

Last Tuesday afternoon, Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish stood at a packed County Council meeting and emotionally pleaded for Council to approve the most recently proposed $70 million public handout to Dan Gilbert for upgrades to Quicken Loans Arena. Even though there is no legal obligation for the public to provide the proposed subsidy, the […]

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Mayor Jackson and Armond Budish rubber-stamp Dan Gilbert’s latest public-cash grab

December 15, 2016

A few points about Dan Gilbert’s latest $70 million cash grab—apparently lost on the relentless cheerleaders at Cleveland.com—clarify what a bad deal this is for the public and just how badly Frank Jackson and Armond Budish have failed their constituents in rubber-stamping this deal the way they have. First, note that this $70 million is not from […]

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The Cavs want $70 million more in public money to renovate the Q

November 18, 2016

Last evening, The League of Women Voters of Greater Cleveland hosted a panel on “Sports Stadium Financing in Cleveland” where I was one of the panelists with Cavs and Quicken Loans Arena CEO Len Komoroski and Tom Chema, former CEO of the Gateway Economic Development Corp. The panel’s moderator, Peter Krouse of Cleveland.com, made clear […]

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Good grief, it’s Browns season again

September 11, 2016

After last season, on top of every other Cleveland football season and non-season since 1995, it seems all there is to appreciate about the Browns anymore are the parallels between the spectacular deterioration of the franchise and that of Cleveland’s middle class, job market, and social safety net. Will Hue Jackson and a bunch of Ivy-degreed technocrats give us any reason to think that what […]

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The Chosen One Makes Good

June 21, 2016

He did it. LeBron James just wrote the greatest story imaginable in modern pro sports. To echo a common refrain about his infamous “Decision” to leave Cleveland for Miami in 2010, it’s not just that he ended Cleveland’s impossible 52-year championship drought, it’s the way that he did it. A run-of-the-mill title run wouldn’t have […]

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The Browns are a supernatural conflagration of disappointment and despair

December 6, 2015

After the Browns finished 7-9 last season for their best record since 2007, the NFL schedule-makers were encouraged enough to reward them with a slot on Monday Night Football for the first time since 2009. The Browns rewarded the schedule-makers in turn by arriving for the showcase event with a 2-9 record, helping to make […]

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The Greek debt crisis has everything to do with Cleveland sports

August 5, 2015

The New York Times recently published a column by Michael Powell titled “Sports Owners Dip Into the Public’s Purse, Despite Their Billions in the Bank.” The piece focused on Cleveland and last year’s county-wide ballot issue on the “sin tax,” in which the local pro sports owners, with the help of their corporate sponsors, spent […]

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Golden State is a fraud

June 4, 2015

With the Cavs set to face off against the Warriors in Game 1 of the NBA Finals tonight it’s especially important to point out that California should hardly even be a state, let alone a “Golden” one populous enough to support four NBA franchises. It’s one thing to note that the state is experiencing an […]

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Mayor Jackson was wrong about Ferguson and Cleveland

November 25, 2014

Last week, a spokesman for Mayor Frank Jackson brushed off the idea that Cleveland had anything to learn from Ferguson, Missouri, where the killing of an unarmed young black man, Michael Brown, by police has caused massive protests and civil unrest. “Questions about lessons learned from Ferguson and the preparations Cleveland might take ahead of […]

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