One Hundred Million Dollars a Mile

OPPORTUNITY ALERT

Whether you are were an avid supporter or an adamant foe of the most expensive highway project — One Hundred Million Dollars a Mile — ever envisioned for Greater Cleveland, the Opportunity Corridor project is coming along full speed and has consequences and opportunities you need to be know about.

Section 2 is about to begin even as Section 1 continues to move forward.

• What could this mean for your business or your career?

• What does this mean for your constituents, your customers, your clients, your commute?

The Ohio Department of Transportation and the lead contractor, Great Lakes Construction Company Team, are co-sponsoring a kick-off info session, “Opt-In for Opportunities, the Opportunity Corridor – Section 2 Workforce & Business Development”, to answer your questions.

The event is being held this afternoon from 5PM to 7:30 PM at Karamu House, 2355 East 89 Street, Cleveland OH 44106. This is a chance for you to learn what Phase 2 entails and the opportunities it holds for your community.

During the second part of the event, from 6 PM -7:30 PM, attendees can:

Learn about workforce and future business opportunities

Access job/career opportunities in the construction industry

Network with industry experts and professionals in the transportation sector

This is a must attend event if you live or work in or along the Opportunity Corridor, or provide services to those who do. It’s equally vital for those seeking to start or advance careers in construction, or expand their business possibilities.

Call, text or go online NOW! to reserve your seat:

To register online, visit: https://opportunitycorridorsection2kickoff.eventbrite.com

To register by phone or text, the number is 216-220-7010.

Opportunity is knocking!

D-Wade to Cavs in Free Agency?

I've been thinking off and on the last couple of days about Dwayne Wade coming to Cleveland in free agency. What a sensational backcourt that would be: D. Wade and Kyrie!

Of course it’s a long shot, but then who expected LeBron to bolt to Miami in 2010? And who expected him to return in 2014? And who expected the Cavs to be the first team in NBA history to rally from a 3-1 deficit in the Championship Finals?

LeBron and Wade are the best of friends. They now have the same number of rings [3]. They entered the league together. They arguably had the most success together [Four Finals, two Championships]. LeBron went to Wade’s team in free agency. It would be delicious symmetry for D. Wade to bring his talents to the North Coast in free agency, and join LBJ, Kyrie, Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson, a much stronger nucleus than Miami put together.

Assuming Wade leaves Miami this year, why would he head West where he would have to battle several top teams for a chance to return to the Finals?

The big question is salary. Wade wants to get paid after sacrificing millions so that the Heat could build a stronger team. The Cavs are over the cap but if there is a way to do it, Cavs management is savvy enough to find it, and Cavs owners are rich enough to fund it. It would mean the departure of several Cavs players — Delly and Mosgov for certain, perhaps Shumpert and J. R. as well — but they’d all be leaving with rings.

Topsy Turvy Series tilting Cavaliers' way for Game 5 with Green suspension

I was surprised that NBA suspended Warriors forward Draymond Green for tonight's game. Likely it was either the cumulative effect of his unsportsmanlike behavior during the playoffs or a "make up" call for his knee to the groin against the OKC center in the prior series, an act for which he should have been suspended. There's also the possibility that conspiracy theorists will endorse: ABC wants the series to go 7 games. 

Golden State will likely be a very diff team without Green & his unique skill set. His absence will significantly affect all phases of the Warriors game: their set offense, their transition offense, and perhaps most of all, their defense.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr has not yet announced who will start for Green or how the team's rotations will be adjusted. One thing is for certain: Green's versatility means that Kerr cannot simply plug & play a substitute.

None of this guarantees the Cavs a victory tonight. Golden State typically plays with a fluidity that makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts. And they have some pretty spectacular parts.

Muhammad Ali On Face The Nation

Muhammad Ali displayed uncommon grace, candor, humility and intelligence in this 1976 appearance on the Sunday public affairs show, Face the Nation:

Civil Rights Icon still Answering the Call

Few Americans of any stripe fought harder, longer, or more successfully for civil rights progress than Nathaniel R. Jones. After his appointment by President Carter, Judge Jones served for 23 years on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. Prior thereto, Jones’ distinguished career brought him to Cleveland as the first African American to serve as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. Later he served a decade as NAACP General Counsel [1969-1079]. He also taught at Harvard Law School and has been a pioneer for civil and human rights both at home and abroad.

Jones is the featured and honored guest at a continuing legal education workshop this afternoon from 3pm-5:30pm. The event is co-sponsored by The Cleveland Branch NAACP along with Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. Admission is $35, which includes a copy of his recently published memoir, Answering the Call. The book is an incredibly rich, frank and intimate account of his years in the civil rights struggle, beginning with his years growing up in Youngstown.

Cleveland NAACP president Michael Nelson will moderate the program, which will also include attorneys James Hardiman and Cheryl Mabry Thomas, director of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. For more information, call the NAACP office, 216.231.6260.

Low-key Larchmere affair affords rare sighting of Black Republicans

A famous dictum attributed to former US Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill declares,  “All politics is local.” While no doubt an exaggeration, it is probable that if black Republicans are ever to increase in number — especially given the current toxic national political environment — it will be due to the efforts of people like Laverne Gore, who is simultaneously and unapologetically black, proud, and Republican.

L-R: Arkeya Thomas, Laverne Gore,
Judge Michael Sliwinski, Sam Gantous

Gore has for sometime been convening groups large and small of black Clevelanders and bringing them together with local and national GOP hierarchy as well as rank and file party members. Last summer, for instance, she hosted a cookout at her home in the tidy CHALK neighborhood just north of Shaker Square featuring GOP national chair Reince Priebus. That brought black Republicans from all over the state, including Youngstown and Cincinnati. 

Gore has also been busy connecting with black conservatives around the country, facilitating get-togethers that put all manner of black people in the same space with Republican operatives and officeholders. Her diligent efforts began well before the GOP hierarchy decided to hold its 2016 convention here in Cleveland and will likely place her in the thick of much of the activity that surrounds a national convention spectacle.

An example of Gore’s efforts could be seen two nights ago

Shalira Taylor, GOP District 11 candidate for state
representative, between Rev. Jeffrey and Mrs. Lori Jemison

at the Academy Tavern, a well-known and popular eatery owned and operated for years by Sam Gantous on Larchmere Avenue. The restaurant is on the border of Shaker Heights and Cleveland, an area that has weathered ethnic and socioeconomic transformation far better than most neighborhoods in Greater Cleveland. Situated on the crest of the first foothill of the Allegheny Plateau — the beginning of the Heights — one can stand in the middle of the street and see clear downtown, though the route is fraught with many demographic changes. 

Larchmere turns into Woodland Ave. as it moves westward towards downtown, passing through areas once heavy with industry and residential areas full of European immigrants who could either walk or take public transportation to work in the factories, foundries, and machine shops that once comprised the heart of the city. Today, one traverses westward along Woodland towards downtown and the largest complexes encountered are housing projects, churches, and one of the city’s oldest cemeteries. Conversely, if you headed the other way, you could enjoy a serene walk into Shaker Heights, where former Mayor Carl Stokes lived during his years as the first black mayor of a major American city.

The history alluded to here somehow made the unpretentious and homey tavern’s rear patio an ideal spot for a low-key mingling of black Republican hoi polloi and adventurous white politicians. There were no speeches, no heavy-duty politicking; in fact, had you innocently wandered into the space — as some Academy regulars may in fact have done — you would have been hard-pressed to discern that you had stumbled upon a political gathering.

It just may have been the kind of political affair that could bring some healing to this era of political malignancy.

Black Design program tonight!

There are lots of exciting events going on in Cleveland these days but the one below just came to our attention and we thought it uniquely worthy of sharing. We reprint their announcement without editing:

“Please join us for the Design Diversity initiative's kickoff event, an ideas showcase Powered by Pecha Kucha. Scheduled during Black History Month, the social event will feature short presentations from six local African American designers, spanning a range of disciplines. Following the presentations, attendees are invited to stay and connect with other local designers, while learning more about Design Diversity's ongoing work.  

Event emcee:
Jennifer Coleman President, Jennifer Coleman Creative LLC

Presenters include:
Jason Eugene Boarde Project Support Specialist, Organizational Architecture, Inc.
Michele Crawford Intern Architect, Robert P. Madison International
Jason Russell City Planner, City of Lakewood
Diane Davis-Sikora Associate Professor, Kent State University College of Architecture & Environmental Design
Arlene Watson Principal and Creative Director, Möbius Grey LLC

We're very excited to have the event hosted at Take 5 Rhythm & Jazz, a locally owned live music venue conveniently located in downtown Cleveland. Happy Hour will be extended until 8PM, so feel free to arrive early, grab a drink and good seat to enjoy the evening. The event is FREE and open to the public, including all ages and backgrounds. 

RSVPs are encouraged, but not required, on the Facebook event page or via email at info@designdiversity.org.”

Cuyahoga Prosecutor appoints OH Attorney General as special prosecutor in Tanisha Anderson case

Press release issued by office of County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty:

Cleveland – Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office has been appointed as special prosecutor to investigate the death in police custody of Tanisha Anderson. 

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty said he asked the Attorney General to take over the case after investigators from the Sheriff’s Department yesterday informed prosecutors of facts that created a conflict of interest for the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office. 

Attorney General DeWine agreed to take the case, and a motion for a special prosecutor was filed Tuesday. Today, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Administrative and Presiding Judge John J. Russo signed an order appointing the Attorney General’s Office as special prosecutor. 

Ms. Anderson, 37, died on November 12, 2014, after struggling with Cleveland Police officers who had been trying to get her into a squad car so they could take her for a psychiatric evaluation.