East Cleveland mayoral debate tomorrow; 75 more police face suspension for chase roles

East Cleveland mayoral debate set for tomorrow at city library

Most of the news coming out of East Cleveland over the past year has been the stuff of misfortune and tragedy. To cite only a few of the lowlights: the city descended once again into fiscal emergency, the mayor called the police to escort the council president from his office, the school board rejected the favorable terms of offer to merge its shrunken and overburdened library system with the county’s acclaimed library system, more than 100 police officers from Cleveland gave chase to an unarmed pair of suspects, first cornering them in a school parking lot and then executing them on the spot, and finally, just last month, the decomposing bodies of three women were found in one of the city’s more desolate areas, victims of an apparent psychopath.

These and other issues are likely to be part of what should be a lively debate when the three Democratic Party candidates for mayor meet on stage at 1 PM tomorrow at the East Cleveland Public Library.

Residents will get to hear Mayor Gary Norton, City Council president Joy A. Jordan, and Vernon Robinson share their visions of better days ahead for their city, along with perhaps their plans for achieving their vision. Each candidate will have fifteen minutes to address the audience. A question and answer session will follow, moderated by Charles E. Bibb, Sr., president of the Ohio Eighth House District Black Caucus, the debate’s sponsor.

Bibb told the Real Deal yesterday that all three of the candidates have confirmed their plans to attend and participate.

The three candidates will square off in the Democratic primary to be held October 1. The winner will be the city’s next mayor as no Republican filed for the office and the city’s charter does not permit write-in mayoral candidates.

A suspect was indicted and arraigned this week in the suspected serial murders. He is being held in county jail in lieu of bail. No criminal charges have been filed as yet in the deadly 100 mph chase by dozens of police cars that led to the 137-bullet volley that killed Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams. That case, like the serial murders, is in the hands of County Prosecutor Tim McGinty.

Cleveland police to discipline 75 officers for role in deadly chase

Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath said today that 75 policemen would be disciplined for their involvement in the police chase last November that ended in the neighboring city of East Cleveland with the deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams.

None of the officers facing discipline is among the 13 who shot at the victims. Eleven supervisors have already been disciplined, including one who was fired.

Nineteen of the 75 officers will be referred to Cleveland’s Department of Public Safety and face temporary suspension.

Of the 75 officers facing discipline for violating police protocol, 19 will be referred to the Department of Public Safety for disciplinary hearings and could face temporary suspension, McGrath said.

Cleveland/Cuyahoga's incredibly shrinking daily newspaper is community loss

This is a sad day for Cuyahoga County residents and most of them don’t even know it. The area’s principal daily newspaper, in the callous emotionally unintelligent manner for which its ownership/management is becoming known, delivered pink slips in the form of phone calls to fifty or so of its editorial personnel. Those laid off — a euphemism, given the likelihood of their recall is de minimis — include reporters and others who carry much of the paper’s institutional memory.

Among the departed are reporters Margaret Bernstein and Stan Donaldson. I can say without fear of contradiction that no Plain Dealer writer has ever covered Cleveland’s black community with more insight, sensitivity and affirmation than Margaret. Her eyes and voice will be sorely missed.

Stan Donaldson brought a professional approach to his reporting that will likewise be missed. He worked with unflinching focus on uncovering real community stories.

While I have never been a PD fan, I have always been a regular reader. The fact that they left so many stories untold or and skewed others with serious myopia or prejudice does not obscure the positive values of having a community wide source of information. Staying informed about our community has just gotten harder.

Nonprofit Thursdays: Phillis Wheatley, Ruby Dee, and more

Ruby Dee returns to Karamu tomorrow. Story below.

Phillis Wheatley annual meeting today; Phyllis to speak!

Once upon a time, the Phillis Wheatley Association was black Cleveland’s premier service organization, a centerpiece of community civic and social engagement. It has stood in midtown for nearly 80 years in a landmark building at 4450 Cedar Avenue.

The agency will hold its annual meeting today starting at 5:30PM featuring the aptly named Phyllis Cleveland, Ward 5 city councilwoman.

The visionary Jane Edna Hunter founded the agency in 1905 to meet challenges and struggles of prejudice that she and other African American women faced in housing and employment and housing. Today the agency’s services include daycare, musical training, programs for seniors, and environmental education/team building and experiential education programs. Phillis Wheatley owns and operates Camp Mueller, one of less than a handful of African-American owned and operated residential camps in the country.

Richard C. King, Jr. is the agency’s interim executive director.

Call Anissa Ali-Jackson at 391-4443, ext.12 and let her know you will be there.

Leadership training offered

Interested in improving your leadership skills and helping to create a better Cleveland? Consider signing up for the Neighborhood Leadership Development Program. Applications for the next cohort are being accepted until this Monday, July 29.

To apply, or for more information, visit the NLDP website at www.nldpcleveland.com or contact Yvonka Hall either by phone [216.776.6170] or email [yhall@NLDPCleveland.com].

Ruby Dee’s towering presence returns to stay at Karamu

The legendary Ruby Dee, star of stage and screen, who first performed at Cleveland’s Karamu House in the late 1940s, has returned as an iconic presence on Karamu’s west wall.

Tomorrow, local artists and the community are invited to attend the unveiling and installation of the Ruby Dee Mural at the corner of East 89 Street and Quincy Avenue in Cleveland’s Fairfax community.

The ceremony starts at 4PM and festivities will conclude at 7PM.

Sankofa Fine Arts Plus commissioned nationally renowned muralist Kent Twitchell to work with select local artists and community members to honor Dee as part of “Artovation” mural project.

Twitchell is a faculty member at the Fresco School in Los Angeles. His monumental murals have become tourist attractions in Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

The Ruby Dee installation will be forty feet tall and thirty-six feet wide.

Founded in 1999, Sankofa Fine Art Plus was founded in 1999 as a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing, educating and advocating for African American and other underrepresented visual artists through community collaboration. For more info, call 216.200.6737 or e-mail info@sankofafineartplus.org.

 

Interfaith Ramadan dinner this Sunday

Cleveland’s Council on American-Islamic Relations will host its annual interfaith Ramadan dinner this Sunday, July 28.

The event begins with registration at 6:30 p.m. at the Islamic Center of Greater Cleveland, 6055 W. 130th Street, Parma.

Deepa Kumar, a Rutgers University professor and author of Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, will be the featured speaker.

The event is open to the public and free to interfaith guests. Reservations are required and may be made by calling 216.830.2247.

Ramadan is an annual month-long period of prayer, fasting and reflection observed by Muslims.

Benefit Golf Outing this Monday

The Cleveland Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program [MOTTEP] and The Leonard C. Rosenberg Foundation will host the 8th Annual "Gift of Life" Golf Outing at StoneWater Golf Club in Highland Heights this Monday.

Proceeds from the day's events will support the programs and services of Cleveland MOTTEP. 

To participate call 216.229.2690.or email lindad.kimble@cdcare.org.

For more information about Cleveland MOTTEP and details regarding the upcoming golf event, please visit www.clevelandmottep.org

Hold these dates:

August 25: Cleveland’s One World Festival, featuring, among many: Nana B. Kool (Afro Pop from West Africa), the Kasthan Ukrainian Dance Ensemble, the Shaw High School Marching Band, belly dancers, and stilt walkers.

For early info, visit http://clevelandoneworldfestival.com/.

August 28: local commemoration on the 50^th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Kaleidoscopic Creative Cohort Convenes in Cleveland; Trayvon trial aftermath on local airwaves this weekend

A healthy segment of Cleveland’s African American creative class convened in University Circle last night to network and glean insight and inspiration from some of our town’s under the radar professional talent.

Jacinda Walker, right, chats with videographer Aaron Clement and his daughter

The occasion was a well-conceived DesigNation networking event sponsored by the Organization of Black Designers [OBD], a national group of design professionals from across a spectrum of intellectual workers: graphic artists, industrial designers, videographers, fashion designers, video gamers, product designers, architectural, interior, and multi-media designers, etc.

 

OBD national president David Rice, swaps ideas
with Scott "Spike" Radway, of Richmond Heights-
based Team Spike Consulting LLC

OBD is a national organization whose local presence is represented by the yearlong effort of Jacinda Walker to develop a regional chapter.

The group’s national leader, David Rice, was at last night’s event, which was held at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Rice encouraged attendees to toot their own horns, to lift each other up, and to work collectively to strengthen the network of black designers.

Drue Thompson
Dru Christine Fabrics & Design

After an extended networking period built around a thematic game of Pantene Bingo, the crowd of roughly seventy professionals heard briefly from several standout designers, including fashion designer Drue Thompson of Dru Christine Fabrics and Design, Tamar Medina of J-Lynn Entertainment, Marshall L. Shorts Jr. of Soulo Theory [Columbus], and Eric Mathews of Madwerkz.

Tamar Medina, J-Lynn Entertainment

Medina, whose company designs video games, talked about the serendipitous discovery that his products were of special utility for the cognitive development of autism sufferers.

Marshall L. Shorts Jr., Soulo Theory

Eric Mathews described his nine-person company as the leading digital effects company in the Midwest. He wowed the audience after he modestly sketched his prior work with LL Cool J, NWA, his tenure with National Geographic magazine, his work in place as varied as Bosnia and Sierra Leone, and his association with a variety of well-known Hollywood films. He encouraged talented artists to contact his company for possible employment.*

Maurice Wingfield of Tiny Giant Studio was singled out for special acknowledgement for his contributions to OBD’s work here.

[L-R] CIA interior design student Jaliah Johnson and graphic designer
Amber Albergottie, a CIA graduate,served as hostesses for the event.

[L-R] Cleveland Institute of Art faculty members
Kidist Getachew, Mari Hulick, and David Hart, Ph.D.

Event organizer Jacinda Walker had many reasons to be smiling all evening. On top of the positive vibe she was instrumental in creating, she was sharing the news that the local OBD chapter would be participating for the first time in next month’s Weapons of Mass Creation FEST 4, which bills itself as the premier art, design and music event in the Midwest.

The event draws creative professionals, entrepreneurs, artists and musicians from around the country.

This year’s festival will be August 16-18 at the Cleveland Public Theatre in the city’s Gordon Square Arts District. [Visit wmcfest.com for more information and tickets. Use OBD for a discount code to save $10.]

Walker’s smile was a little bittersweet when she announced that Walker would be leaving town at the end of the month to enter a master’s of design program at Ohio State University.

* An earlier version of this post misidentified the photo of Marshall L. Shorts Jr.

Anatomy of a Tragedy

I continue to shake my head how anyone could have thought, even in the immediate glow of Barack Obama’s 2008 electoral victory, that this country was entering a post-racial era. The tragic case of Trayvon Martin, where George Zimmerman got off scot-free after profiling, stalking and killing an unarmed teenager who was minding his own business, should put a halt to all such nonsensical thinking for a long time. But of course it won’t.

The case will be the centerpiece of two local community radio programs this week. Former NAACP president and current ACLU Ohio legal director James Hardiman will be discussing the case with Meryl Johnson on “It’s About Justice”, which airs tomorrow on WRUW-FM/91.1 from 1:30-2:30PM. You can hear it online at wruw.org/.

On Sunday night, Mansfield Frazier will be discussing the Trayvon-Zimmerman case with C. Ellen Connally, president of Cuyahoga County Council and a retired judge, and Sheila Wright, executive director of the Cleveland NAACP. Mansfield’s show, “The Forum”, airs Sundays from 7-10PM on WTAM-AM/1100.

Board puts Jordan on ballot by unanimous vote

East Cleveland Council President Joy Jordan will be on the Democratic primary mayoral ballot on October 1 along with incumbent Gary Norton and Vernon Robinson.

The vote to certify Jordan's candidacy was 4-0.

Full story to follow towards end of day.

Board of Elections considering Jordan petition, may allow her candidacy

Full house for hearing on Jordan petition at Board of Elections meeting. East Cleveland Mayor Norton is in first row, 2d from left. Attorney Pittman, attorney for Council President Joy Jordan, is fifth from left, same row. Jordan is standing along the wall in turquoise blouse. Ms Stanton stands in front of Jordan.

Attorney Pittman has just dropped a bombshell, claiming that Ms Cheryl Stanton did not sign or agree to be an elector for Vernon Robinson, and that she was put on Mr. Robinson's petition without her knowledge or approval.

Mr. Robinson has been certified as a candidate in the Democratic mayoral primary, along with the incumbent Gary Norton. Ms Stanton's name appears as an elector on the petitions of both Mr. Robinson and Council president Joy Jordan.

The City of East Cleveland, per law director Ronald Riley, is arguing that East Cleveland's charter implies that an elector can sign AS AN ELECTOR, only one mayoral candidate's petition.

Jordan's attorney, Daryl Pittman, is making a very effective presentation on his client's behalf.