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Jan

3

Boiling down Gaza and Isarel

Filed Under BlogHer, Foreign Affairs, Gaza, Israel | 1 Comment

You can read how I do that at my latest post at BlogHer.com.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:31 am January 3rd, 2009 in BlogHer, Foreign Affairs, Gaza, Israel | 1 Comment 

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Jan

2

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson learns of delay from…Plain Dealer, not commissioners

Filed Under Business, Cleveland+, Government, leadership, med mart, Ohio, Politics, Taxes | 3 Comments

Little more than 24 hours after the Plain Dealer published news that the Cuyahoga County Commissioners agreed to the Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. request for an additional 30 days (I posted about that request here just a couple of hours ago), the PD’s blog has another post about the matter.  This one is titled, “Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson fumes over Med Mart delays.”

A one-month delay isn’t a lot of time for a project that has been in the works for two years, but the postponement irked Jackson because he learned of it by reading a story in Thursday’s Plain Dealer. The original deadline for deciding on a medical mart site was Jan. 15.

“If someone would have called me and given me the rationale as to why it needed to happen and if in fact it made sense,” the mayor said, “I would have done what I have done so far, which is work with them in order to come up with the best solution for the city and the region.”

I guess he wants to be one of the in-crowd, with the rest of us who are fuming, or, as Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones says, “The mayor is entitled to have the same level of angst that everybody else does about this,” Jones said. “I don’t begrudge him those feelings at all….” Hope he doesn’t begrudge the rest of us the same angst – especially given that it’s our money being spent.

Speaking of which, in my previous post on this topic, I took a dig at MMPI saying that they want to keep the project to $400 million but that the Tower City site would cost about $583 million.

In this latest PD blog post, Mayor Jackson addresses MMPI’s scaling it down code language related to MMPI’s responsibility for cost overruns:

“The convention center is not just built for the medical mart,” Jackson said. “It’s built for every other convention that comes to use it. So I can’t have a scaled-down version that doesn’t accommodate anything but a medical mart and does not accommodate all the other conventions that we could get here. And so I need to be competitive and I need the connectivity.”

I’m with Jackson on that multi-purpose perspective.

So far, the only party we’re not really hearing anything from is…MMPI.  Development isn’t my expertise but from what I know about negotiating, that isn’t a good sign.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:01 am January 2nd, 2009 in Business, Cleveland+, Government, leadership, med mart, Ohio, Politics, Taxes | 3 Comments 

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Jan

1

On being named 2008 Most Influential Person of Pepper Pike by Chagrin Sun

Filed Under Politics | 28 Comments

So, you know how nobody reads blogs? Or how bloggers aren’t journalists? Or how bloggers are people who live in their parents’ basement and stay in their pajamas all day, never interacting face to face with anyone? Or how bloggers are people who just want attention, focus on traffic and want to figure out how to make money without lifting a finger?

Well, if the front page of this morning’s Chagrin Sun doesn’t bust a few of those myths, then, in my estimation, it will have busted at least one other myth: that newspaper people resent, hate, don’t understand or otherwise wish ill toward bloggers. I don’t know anything about how I was selected as the 2008 Most Influential Person in Pepper Pike beyond what the paper published. But I will say that I’m humbled, honored and incredibly impressed that the description the paper uses to explain why they think I deserve this recognition specifically and unabashedly credits my blogging. To me, that too is something worth recognizing.

I’d also like to congratulate the other people chosen on their achievements.

A note on this image: because it was oversized for my printer/copier/scanner, I could not reduce the size of the entire front page and then scan it in (I won’t bore you with the details of the ways I tried – I’m going to have it done properly tomorrow). So I removed the above-the-fold four most influentials from the other four towns the paper covers and placed the below-the-fold two people there instead.  Again, I will replace this image tomorrow after I get the front-paged re-sized and scanned.  (The electronic version is not available yet – I don’t know if they make it available but will keep checking.)

Here’s the text under the main headline:

Once again, the Chagrin Sun is naming a Most Influential Person for the year just ended.

The staff searched for the person who left the biggest footprint – for better or worse – in 2008 in each municipality served by the paper.

We hand-picked people with the moxie to take the lead, to take on a challenge, to stand up to the status quo or poke their heads above the crowd.  Or, they may have worked behind the scenes to make a difference.

Our choices are on this page.

Happy New Year. Here’s to people who will leave their own footprints on 2009.

And here’s the text next to my photo:

Jill Miller Zimon “Writes Likes She Talks.”  She’s the chief writer and editor for her blog, which keeps a sharp eye on local, state and national politics.

City Council rescinded its restrictions on political signs in residents’ yards last summer after Zimon featured the issue on her blog.

In the words of Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, “She is very powerful, so be nice to her.”

I’ll write about what the heck this even means in a separate post.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:23 pm January 1st, 2009 in Politics | 28 Comments 

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Jan

1

Med Mart shocker: commissioners extend deadline

Filed Under Business, Cleveland+, Economy, Government, leadership, med mart, Ohio, Politics | 3 Comments

And wow, it was announced on December 31, 2008, published in the Plain Dealer (online) at 6pm – New Years Eve.  Big traffic time no doubt.  Maybe it was in the print edition today.

According to the latest article, MMPI asked for the extension – they’re doing their own site selection review, despite the appointed selection committee reportedly demonstrating a preference for Forest City-owned Tower City and appear to need more time:

MMPI is doing its own site analysis despite a similar site-selection study that the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the region’s chamber of commerce, completed in August. That study recommended the mart and convention center be built at Tower City for $583 million.

MMPI, which will be responsible for construction cost overruns, wants to keep construction costs to about $400 million. A representative for MMPI could not be reached on Wednesday.

But here’s the part I don’t get (among others):

County taxpayers are financing construction of the project through a quarter-cent sales tax hike that commissioners approved in 2007. The tax, which will be in place for 20 years, generated $42 million in its first full year.

Over the 20 years, the tax could raise $1 billion. The county intends to borrow money for the project, and use the tax to pay off the debt.

Cleveland has got to be a cheaper place to build than almost anywhere else. In construction terms, why is MMPI quibbling over less than $183 million when the tax being collected sounds as though it could easily manage to pay the higher amount for Tower City? (I also think MMPI’s number of $400 million is a ridiculous underestimation.)

And, if it’s true that “we” want to beat out NYC for this med mart concept, shouldn’t the expense of building in NYC be a barrier that Cleveland easily defeats?

Something just (still) doesn’t sound right.  I don’t know Fred Nance – I know he’s done a lot in this town.  But what exactly is he doing on this deal? Thoughts?  What would you be doing if you really wanted it to happen?

Additional reading: Roldo covers the situation as well, here, and puts into context with the rest of the money collected from us for…we’re not exactly sure what.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:38 pm January 1st, 2009 in Business, Cleveland+, Economy, Government, leadership, med mart, Ohio, Politics | 3 Comments 

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Jan

1

Obama Mia!

Filed Under Humor, Politics, Writing | Leave a Comment

You can listen live on NPR stations or WCPN now.

Here it and more here (you can download it as a podcast) from the Capitol Steps.  It includes songs like, “Dance McCain” and “Nieman’s is a Girl’s Best Friend,” Putin singing, “Leaving on a Midnight Raid to Georgia” and Obama, HRC and Bill Clinton singing, “Ebony and Ovary,” in a full hour of Politics Takes a Holiday.

Anyone else catch Bill and Hillary dropping the ball in Times Square last night?

Happy New Year.

More about the program from WAMU:

Say ‘yes we can’ to listening to the Capitol Steps’ annual year’s end award ceremony.

Join Barack Obama, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Oprah Winfrey, FEMA, everyone who owns a sub-prime mortgage, Hillary Clinton, and many, many more as the Capitol Steps bring you their hour long year in review. You have every reason to look forward to 2009, but not before we make fun of 2008 first.

And, in a stunning announcement – it’s official – Alaska has overtaken long-time winner Florida as the nation’s funniest state, by winning in both the ‘Best Home Renovation by a Politician”" and ‘Fastest Time Field-Dressing a Moose’ categories.

Should old acquaintance be forgot? Not if the Capitol Steps have a say! New categories this year include: ‘Worst Use of a Plumber by a Politician (since Nixon)’, ‘Best Shade of Lipstick for a Pig’ and ‘Most Creative Excuse to Buy $150,000 Worth of Clothes.’

Joe the Plumber even has a song.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:30 am January 1st, 2009 in Humor, Politics, Writing | Please comment 

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