CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Republican-controlled panel has approved new ballot language for State Issue 1, the proposal to make it harder to change the Ohio constitution, a day after the Ohio Supreme Court ordered that the language be rewritten to remove inaccuracies.
We’re talking about how they did what they required to, but no more, on Today in Ohio.
Editor Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with impact editor Leila Atassi, editorial board member Lisa Garvin and content director Laura Johnston.
You’ve been sending Chris lots of thoughts and suggestions on our from-the-newsroom text account, in which he shares what we’re thinking about at cleveland.com. You can sign up here: https://joinsubtext.com/chrisquinn.
Here’s what we’re asking about today:
How did the Ohio Supreme Court rule on the challenges to the wording of Issue 1 on the ballot in the Aug. 8 special election Issue 1, of course, is the attempt by Ohio’s elected Republican leaders to persuade voters to give up their power to change the state constitution, concentrating more power in the hands of the Legislature and less in the people?
Why did a judge emphatically rule that former Ohio House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger does not have standing as a victim in the corruption case of Larry Householder, the former house speaker destined for many years in prison when he is sentenced later this month?
Is Ohio in line to be the next state where social media companies would need parental permission before signing up children for accounts?
Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne has picked his site for the new Cuyahoga County jail, and it’s one that has stood out from the beginning. Where is it, and what’s next?
How is Ohio now trying to help people who were socked financially by the East Palestine train wreck?
The sunny streak lasted 21 glorious days before we got hit with cool rainy days of late. What do the numbers say about just how wonderful the streak was?
What strategy is one Cleveland City Council member pushing to get more people to seek jobs as Cleveland Police officers?
We didn’t get to this Monday because of all the news, but Cuyahoga County’s most notorious corrupt politician is out of prison early. What’s the story?
We’re starting to see a steady stream of charges against people for running scams during the pandemic, hauling in the emergency relief cash that was in large supply. What’s the case against an Akron tax preparer?
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Read the automated transcript below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it contains many errors and misspellings.
[00:00:00] Chris: I am starting to wonder whether there’ll be a day before August 8th where we don’t talk about issue one on this podcast. It’s not today. It’s today in Ohio. The news podcast. Discussion from cleveland.com and the plane dealer. I’m Chris Quinn. I’m here with Lisa Garvin. Laura Johnson. And our city hall reporter, Courtney Alfi, we got issue one to talk about.
Let’s start talking. After the Ohio Supreme Court ordered errors out of the wording of issue one on the August 8th ballot, how did Secretary of State Frank LaRose and the ballot board change it? Did they per chance drop the pretense and convert the wording into something that truly conveys what’s at stake here, Laura?
What do you think?
[00:00:44] Laura: What’s, what’s your desk? Are they gonna do the right thing? No. They did what they had to do. They did what they had to do to make it clear about the number of. Registered voters that need to sign a petition in every county, which is 5% up from the [00:01:00] last vote, uh, for a governor rather than the eligible voters.
And they changed that one word for any, but they didn’t, you know, change, elevate, or anything that would make it actually clear to people what they’re voting on. And rather this connotation of like, this is a good thing.
[00:01:16] Chris: Yeah, I, I, it’s not surprising they had the chance to do the right thing. They had the chance to lay out in the ballot language what this is about.
They’re not, and because the Supreme Court is pretty much party all the way, they weren’t ordered to, so this, this isn’t a surprise. It is interesting though that there’s, there’s an inkling. Because of what’s happening on places like this podcast, that there’s much greater interest in this August special election than anybody would’ve predicted, and that people do understand it, even if the wording is a lie, and they’re gonna go in and vote on what this really is about.
[00:01:54] Laura: Well, I think most people don’t go blind to a ballot and just read the language there. Right? They [00:02:00] understand or they’ve been, they think they understand what they’re voting on because who goes into the ballot and just reads the language for the first time and has no idea what they’re voting on beforehand.
The reason they’re going to vote in August is because they’ve been informed. There’s an election.
[00:02:16] Chris: Yeah. And they’re, and they’re excited about it because they, they see it as damaging. I’ve had some interesting communication. Uh, this shouldn’t be a partisan issue. This shouldn’t be Republican, Democrat, cuz this affects everybody the same way you are taking away the power of the people to change their constitution.
It will be nearly. All but impossible. But there is some partisanship to it cuz Republicans led the charge. And so people that are hugely loyal to the Republican party ha keeps coming up with these, what they think are rational arguments. It’s like, you know, the US Constitution is hard to change. This should be when they’re nowhere near the same document.
If we, if the US Constitution in the Ohio Constitution were the same, you wouldn’t need the Ohio constitution because it’s already covered. It’s much [00:03:00] more the operators manual. The latest one is, Hey, Ohioans can already change the law. You know, we have the initiated statute provision, and what that completely ignores is the fact that you, we could change the law tomorrow.
We could have a law that we initiate that, that say legalizes abortion, and the legislature could undo it. The very next day. The constitutional amendment changes. The only one immune. To legislators run amuck. But it’s interesting that they’re trying to grasp onto these lame arguments, whereas the people who are opposed to this have all the meat and all the substance.
This is an attack on democracy. It’s an attack on the power of the voters, and you really get a sense that’s building
[00:03:42] Laura: well, and the reason that. It, it’s a partisan issue is because of the why it started to to kill the abortion amendment. Right. And I think, I mean the Republicans, that’s not part of their playbook at this point.
But let’s look at who doesn’t want people to have a voice? They don’t want the popular [00:04:00] opinion to have sway. That’s why they want minority rule, and that’s why this is a partisan issue through and through. If you look at the ballot board, three Republicans, Two Democrats. You look at the Supreme Court, majority Republican.
You look at the, the legislature who passed it, both sides, Senate House majority Republican. This has been a rep Republican dominated. Plot the entire time.
[00:04:21] Chris: Yeah. But I think a lot of independence who are in the middle recognize this is just an assault on the democracy. They have to have voters be complicit in it.
The voters have to give up that power who. Whoever would think that that’s a good idea. Let’s give away our ability to control our destiny and put it in the hands of cuckoo birds and gerrymandered legislature. But, but it’s fascinating the way it’s going. So I, in the end, I don’t think the wording is going to harm the way people vote.
I think there’s enough going on and you’re getting the sense from people involved in this fight. The people understand it. It, it’s getting out, [00:05:00] you know, look, no one’s doing more about this than we are. Mm-hmm. We are spreading the word every day in multiple ways, but you we’re, we’re a little more than two months out and you feel like this is effective.
Yeah.
[00:05:11] Laura: And, and I mean, I think maybe that’ll have an actual opposite effect. Like, people might be mad at the way that they’re trying to be played with the word elevate. Maybe that’ll say, Hey, you’re trying to trick me. I don’t wanna be tricked. Yeah.
[00:05:23] Chris: It’s craven politics by Frank LaRose who’s supposed to.
Support the voters and protect the voters, and he’s the one assaulting the voters you’re listening to today in Ohio. This is a weird one. The Ohio Senate wants to cut the money being budgeted for programs that help people stop smoking. But Lisa, is it actually cutting any service that is already
[00:05:43] Lisa: provided?
It certainly doesn’t look. That way because it seems like the annual allotment is not being used up every year. So Republican senators are proposing to cut the 14 point a half million dollar annual budget for smoking cessation programs about in half. Governor [00:06:00] DeWine said he wanted to increase it to 20 million a year, and he generally supports anti-tobacco measures.
But Senate Finance, uh, committee chair Matt Dolan, the uh, Republican from Chagrin Falls says, uh, programs are still. Fully funded compared to recent annual spending. They say they don’t spend their annual allotment most years. Um, so he’s proposing about 7.5 million a year for these programs. And in the past, these programs have spent between 6.3 million and eight.
0.6 million over the last five years, and these figures are confirmed by the Office of Management and Budget, but they have already spent about 10.2 million in fiscal year 2023. Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff says that tobacco use, including vaping, has increased 125. Percent in middle school students and 52% in high school students.
So he says, you know, there is a need there. And he says the program does work. Smoking declined seven and a half percent among among [00:07:00] adults from 2011 to 2 20 21. And he said more money would expand the number of schools that adopt comprehensive tobacco-free policies, and we would allow them to hire more than 9,000 new.
Quit line participants. So, yeah, I, I’m not seeing anything nefarious here, but you know, there is a need and Dr. Vanderhoff is absolutely right. This, this is not going away.
[00:07:23] Chris: But if they keep putting the money in the budget and it’s not spent right. This is kind of like what Mayor Justin Bibb in Cleveland is doing with the police budget.
He has a bunch of open police positions that he simply can’t fill. That ties up a lot of money. So he cut back on the number of vacant positions. Still looking to increase the size of the police department, but not locking up money. It seems like what the senate’s trying to do is not pointlessly lock up money that that is.
Clearly at this point not necessary. So it sounds on the surface like it’s a bad move, but once you look a little bit deeper it doesn’t seem like it
[00:07:57] Lisa: is. Yeah, I think they’re just trying to, you know, they’re [00:08:00] trying to look for unused money. I think probably all across the budget. And this is just one
[00:08:04] Chris: example.
Well they gotta, they gotta find it somewhere cuz they want to give it all to the wealthy people through tax cuts. So, and they gotta pay for that
[00:08:11] Lisa: election,
[00:08:13] Chris: right. You’re listening to today in Ohio. Today is flag Day to celebrate the nation’s flag, but this is a story about a different flag. It’s a question that we are asking in the newsroom.
Is it appropriate for people who are not L G B T Q to fly Rainbow pride flags. To celebrate Pride Month, Courtney Brenda Cain took a look at this.
[00:08:35] Courtney: Yeah. And the answer to that question is of course, uh, yes, you can of course sell, fly a, a, a pride flag if you’re, if you’re not a member of the L G B T Q community, because allies are important.
Um, that’s what we learned when Brenda spoke to different L G B T Q leaders in Ohio. That message was clear, especially in the face of all the legislation we’re seeing at the State House and [00:09:00] intimidation outside drag shows. You know, the climate in Ohio’s rough for L G B T Q Ohioans and they say having allies is important and displaying, uh, the cheer in ally.
Can go a long way towards just visibility, knowing that folks are out there, neighbors and, and, and just bringing attention to L G B T Q issues in Ohio. But, but then Brenda King kind of explored this notion of the, the corporate profit angle to this pride gear. You see, you know, you go into, Target or, you know, different stores and, and you see rainbows all over during the month of June.
And, and that kind of practice, while it does raise the visibility, has kind of drawn a different criticism called rainbow capitalism. And that’s a term that’s used to describe. You know, big business selling pride merchandise to turn a buck. And then after June they kind of slip back into their business practices as usual.
And so those criticisms are out there. But we spoke with Phyllis Harris, executive director of the lgbtq plus [00:10:00] Community Center and, and said, really the key here is to make sure that companies aren’t rainbow washing. So when you’re looking to spend your money and, and potentially acquire. Pride gear. You know, look at the companies, make sure that their everyday operating procedures, policies, and traditions are inclusive, that you’re not, you know, given your money to a group that then isn’t inclusive, saying it’s hiring practices or things when it’s not June and when they’re not making money off that gear.
[00:10:31] Chris: This question came, uh, from Layla Tassi cuz she wa she wanted to be supportive of Pride month, but she didn’t want to offend anybody if she flew the rainbow flag for, for the various reasons. You wanna be supportive, but you don’t want people to think like you’re taking advantage of them. She tracked down.
What I is called the ally flag. Which, which it, it’s, it’s very unusual looking. And I said to her when she sent it to me, I said, if you were driving down the street and you saw [00:11:00] that, would you have any idea what it is? And she said, no, of course not. Uh, so I wonder if publicity about an ally flag might make sense or is it just the sense fly the rainbow.
You’re fine.
[00:11:12] Courtney: That, that’s the vibe I’m getting there is that option for the, for the ally flag, which you could go with, and there is, you know, some rainbow colors on that ally flag, so you can kind of tell if you’d see it out in a wi in the wild that it’s. Supportive of L G B T Q issues, I’d assume cuz it carries that rainbow motif.
But it sounds like showing support, you don’t have to necessarily get a special flag to distinguish yourself from the cause you’re supporting, you know? Uh, feel free to, to celebrate pride. Like I said, those leaders in, in Cleveland that we talk to say representation matters. Visibility. Getting it out there, having it be part of our cultural conversation and understanding is important.
[00:11:57] Chris: There has been a good bit of talk in recent years [00:12:00] about the appropriation of the US flag that there are people in America that when they see somebody with the US flag on the back of their car or whatever, They’re, they’re seeing that as almost symbolic of racism and it’s not the celebration of the nation.
And one of the ways people can avoid having that is if they fly a US flag to fly a second flag underneath it, like the pride flag or a peace sign or something like that. Uh, but it, there’s a lot of discussion going on about. The US flag and what it symbolizes to various populations. We have a story.
We’ll be publishing about it from northeast Ohio sometime before July 1st. I just,
[00:12:36] Laura: I wanna add that I feel like it’s, and yes, Sabrina Eaton is working on this story, we’ll have it, but it, it, to me, it was more of a. Conservative thing, not necessarily racism, but like it tends to be more Republican and you look at, um, Courtney was talking about all the gear for the rainbow gear in June.
We get into July and you go into Joanne Fabrics and there’s like faith, freedom, family, you know, like floor mats [00:13:00] and you know, flags and porch decorations. And I just feel like that tends to be more Republican and I think it’s a really interesting. Idea. I fly an American flag. I also fly a Canadian flag.
But yeah, it’s a, it’s a way of putting out your pride for whatever you believe in.
[00:13:16] Chris: Although there have been stories where, where national news organizations have talked to different populations and when they’ve gone out and talked. To minority communities. The minority communities said they’re, they’re feeling uncomfortable because they do think some people are flying.
That us flag to wrap around the white supremacy, which is, which is a shame because it’s the US flag
[00:13:37] Laura: and you look at the capitol riot and that, that’s what they, those, I mean, they had lots of different flags, right? But lots of American flags there.
[00:13:45] Chris: Okay, you’re listening to today in Ohio, we have the name of another state park where a company has a bid to build to drill for oil and gas.
Laura, which one
[00:13:54] Laura: is it? This is Wolf Run State Park in Noble County. They wanna drill under all two. Thousand [00:14:00] acres. Of course, we don’t know the company making this request because state law shields that and other details of the offer. I love that this is technically known as a nomination, which sounds like an award that we’re going to give, which I guess we’re going to award you the rights under our pristine state parks.
So the oil and Gas Land Management Commission gets to decide this, whether it’s to accept the nomination and if it does, the leasing rights go out in a competitive. Bidding process, the according to the nomination, and there’s no surface impacts to the park. But we’ve talked about this before, that doesn’t mean there won’t be all sorts of machinery and roads and trucks and drilling equipment just on the periphery.
[00:14:40] Chris: This feels like such a betrayal. Of the purpose of the parks. When, when, whenever a, a new park is dedicated, there’s usually, usually comments about how this puts this into perpetuity, that people will be able to come and enjoy the natural serenity and the, all the words that are said when parks are dedicated.
[00:15:00] And Ohio has just put ‘em up for sale. It’s, i, it, it feels like a betrayal of everything the parks are supposed to be about. I get it. They’re not gonna have the, the, the drilling rigs. On top of the park, but it changes the whole dynamic of Park. Can you imagine if they were doing this at like Yellowstone or Yosemite?
[00:15:18] Laura: I mean, and the thing is they’re not drilling on the parks now that it, it, it feels like a slippery slope, right? Well, we’re already drilling under, it’s not really a big deal to drill on it. And yeah, I, I think when you think about a state park, you go there for nature and relaxation and to get away from the world and instead, You’re gonna have like some big lights on chugging, you know, machinery with noise.
They’ve got fishing, hunting, boating, and swimming. The OD N R calls it, uh, the park is known for its scenic, peaceful woodlands, and cool clean waters for a quiet retreat until we have like, You know, drilling equipment on it. But, but
[00:15:57] Chris: the parks are also a promise to [00:16:00] future generations. We’re going to make sure to preserve some of what was here so you can all experience it.
And this Mike DeWine came into office saying, he’s the ne, he’s the parks guy. He believes in the parks, and yet he’s the one that. That is behind all this. It just, it feels like the state has just gone upside down. We’re having drilling under parks. It’s a, it’s just kind of astounding. You’re listening to today in Ohio.
Home prices in Cuyahoga County have been on an upswing for a while, but Lisa, have they recently taken a tumble? They
[00:16:34] Lisa: have in the last month. Uh, the May median home price in Cuyahoga County fell after steady increases in the winter and early spring. They’re down $3,000 to $170,000. And I always like to point out that the median home price, that means half the home sell for more and half the home sell for less.
It’s not the average price. So in Cleveland, they saw a similar decrease. The May median home price was [00:17:00] $75,000. That’s down $5,000 from April and it’s down $10,000 from May of last year. Now in the suburbs it increased slightly, um, from $208,000 in April to $210,000 in May, but that’s down from May of last year by, by about a thousand dollars.
[00:17:22] Chris: Yeah, I, I mean, I think you see swings, mortgage rates are, are high enough where you’re going to see swings. I don’t know if this should strike terror into anybody’s hearts about the housing market collapsing.
[00:17:32] Lisa: No, and, and inventory issues are still a problem, I think.
[00:17:37] Chris: Okay, you’re listening to today in Ohio, Laura, we keep seeing people on social media saying, ticks are everywhere this spring, that they’re overrun with them, their dogs are covered with them.
Are they actually worse now than normal and how do you avoid
[00:17:50] Laura: them? Yeah, they’re worse than they’ve ever been. I had a friend that warned me when she found a tick on her golden retriever coming in from the backyard. I know a middle school student who ended up [00:18:00] with Lyme disease and in the hospital and took a long time to get diagnosed.
So this is a real. Threat in Ohio and it’s something when I grew up, I never worried about, I was never, you know, we go to girl scout camp, no one ever told us to check for ticks the way they say watch for poison ivy. But it’s really growing in Ohio and you can get them all 12 months of the year thing year here.
So obviously it’s a lot more common when we’re outside in the summer, but, um, that obviously will co could carry Lyme disease or another tick-borne disease. And the numbers have gone really up in Ohio. The number was 67 cases of Lyme disease. In 2012, we had 590 cases in 2021.
[00:18:40] Chris: Is this part of the warmer winters that they’re just not dying in the cold?
Why?
[00:18:46] Laura: Why? Yeah. They don’t die in the cold. They like burrow in and and come back out when it’s not so cold out anymore. And climate change though is. Increasing that. Also the expansion of ticks range because of like the way that the weather works and [00:19:00] more wildlife that live close to people. So all those deer, Chris, that you think are super cute in your backyard, they are one of the reasons we have a lot more ticks.
[00:19:08] Chris: Yeah, I know. They’re crawling with ticks. That’s uh, that’s one of the problems is they are bringing them in. Okay. So I guess what we see on social media is always true. Eight 12th. Okay, we’ll
[00:19:18] Laura: stop you there. But dogs by the way can get Lyme disease. So you need to watch out for that. Check for ticks when you come in.
You can wear log pants, long sleeves wear, uh, bug spray. But please be safe.
[00:19:31] Chris: Okay. You’re listening to today in Ohio. How is Ohio? Senator j d Vance protesting the indictment of Donald Trump in federal court in a way that. Could gum up the Justice Department. Courtney?
[00:19:44] Courtney: Yeah, the Ohio Senator announced yesterday.
He’s going to be delaying approval of all Justice Department nominees that that come through the Senate to protest what he’s calling the unprecedented political prosecution. Of Trump, and you [00:20:00] know, Vance is out here saying that Trump is the latest victim of a DOJ that cares more about politics than law enforcement.
He said, quote, if Merick Garland wants to use these officials to harass Joe Biden’s political opponents, We will grind his department to a halt and vance’s plan to do this comes through a Senate rule involving unanimous consent. So basically, you know, when Biden puts force nominees to be US attorneys in the, in the doj, I.
If nobody objects to those, they, they move forward via unanimous consent. Well, Vance’s plan is to object and, and that will, will move these nominees to a floor vote, which will prolong the timeline here and, and just drag things out. And that’s the mechanism he plans to use here.
[00:20:47] Chris: Yeah, that’s not the purpose of advising consent, though.
The, the purpose of these confirmation processes is to see if somebody’s qualified for the job. The, the government needs people in positions to [00:21:00] get the job done and the senate’s. Role is to deem whether or not they’re qualified. He’s bastardizing the process for political purposes, which is shameful. Uh, we have a u we’ve been without a US attorney in northeast Ohio for longer than ever before, and we, we’ve had one nominated and now that’s gonna get stopped.
She’s been put in as the temporary person so she can do the job, but she won’t be confirmed because of nonsense like this when his real role is to say, Is she qualified to do the job or not?
[00:21:35] Courtney: Yeah. Reporter Sarah Sabrina Eaton specifically asked about the northern district. The US attorney that’s been proposed to be here is Becky Lusko.
She’s in that pipeline. She’s not on the, the most immediate list of, of. Confirmations that would be held up by this Vance move, but she’s in the pipeline. And if you’re talking about law and order, you probably want a US attorney at the helm in, in Ohio. But, but Vance’s spokesman said [00:22:00] this isn’t gonna apply to the Marshall Service or judges.
So it’s just looking at, at doj, folks like Betsy. Becky Lusko, and you know Dick Durbin, the Democratic chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee said those two that are immediately going to get held up as a US attorney in Mississippi and the head of the DO J’S Violence against Women office. But like you said, Ohio’s gonna feel its impact.
Down the line.
[00:22:25] Chris: He’s not doing his job. His job is to study, look at the candidates and say whether or not they’re qualified not to make protest moves to gum up the government because he doesn’t like what the uh, justice Department is doing. He’s not doing the job. He took an oath to do the job. He should do the
[00:22:41] Laura: job.
I like that. He says the Justice Department is being partisan. Yeah, I know. Like hot
[00:22:46] Chris: kettle. Yeah, I know you’re listening to today in Ohio, Lisa, Northeast Ohio has had a never ending fascination with Jaggle Lake from memories of going to what had been the nation’s biggest amusement park to the haunting [00:23:00] videos we’ve seen of how rundown it’s become since it all closed.
Now comes new plans to bring the crowds back. What’s up? The
[00:23:07] Lisa: city of Aurora? Is planning to buy the Gaga Lake and SeaWorld property, and it’s Mayor Anne Wilmer. Benjamin presented a proposal to do just that to council Monday night. She says it’s the opportunity of a lifetime and it will guarantee lake access to surrounding residents.
And they will have green space instead of new housing development. So, um, they’re gonna, the sale price looks to be about four and a half million dollars paid to the current owner industrial commercial properties. 1.3 million of this will come from ARPA funds, and then the balance will come from the Aurora City budget.
So, uh, this would include, if I’m not mistaken, the 377 acres of g of Gaga Lake. And then the. 40 acres of lakefront property, which was the former SeaWorld. They wanna develop a public park so that the park would have amenities like a pool, a beach, and and [00:24:00] boating and so on and so forth. They think that they might be able to save some of the SeaWorld structures, possibly the aquarium might be converted to a restaurant.
The industrial commercial properties will build a lake. Loop trail and or a boardwalk that would go around the lake and they would pay a substantial portion of the demolition costs. So this looks really cool. They hope to begin site work about a year after the demolition takes place, and then the, what their plans would be, you know, uh, done in phases.
But yeah, this is a way to return some land that’s been sitting vacant for a long time. Back to area residence.
[00:24:35] Chris: What’s up? They don’t turn into a state park cuz then Mike Dew wine would drill into it. The, uh, I still can’t get over that. There was a SeaWorld in Cleveland. It’s just so bizarre to me that we, but the Yago Lake is, is something people are fascinated with.
You grew up here, so did you go as a kid?
[00:24:52] Lisa: We did, and we went to SeaWorld and I remember I worked at a Perkins Pancake House restaurant as a waitress. And it was like on the [00:25:00] route to Gaga Lake, so we saw a lot of people that were on their way to Gaga Lake that would stop for breakfast before they go. But yeah, I mean we have a lot of good memories of Gaga Lake.
[00:25:10] Chris: And Laura, you were saying yesterday, this was like the highlight of a year going to your visit Jago Lake.
[00:25:15] Laura: Absolutely. Every time we had cousins visit, like that’s what we would get to do. We’d either go to Gaga Lake or to SeaWorld, and I have these really, that’s why I took my kids to SeaWorld in San Diego is cause I had.
Such wonderful memories of going as a kid and, and seeing the shows and, and yes, I, I realized the problematic impact of, of that now. But the water skiing show was one of my favorites on Gaga Lake. And I just remember like being in sixth grade and going for a birthday party and getting to run out to like the raging wolf Bob’s, uh, roller coaster.
And that’s before it became, you know, the bigger park. It was just the family run park and it was, It was fun and I’m so glad that they’re going to be able to maintain part of this and, and put, you know, have a whole new generation of [00:26:00] memories on this park and not just have like, you know, a lot of retail and, and new neighborhoods.
[00:26:05] Chris: Yeah. My memory, we, we went there not. Long after I moved here in the nineties and it was it the latter days of it, it was pretty run down. I imagine Courtney growing up in Sandusky, you look at Jungle Lake, is this puny little nothing park compared to what you had in your
backyard?
[00:26:22] Courtney: Not once. Never interested in visiting.
I am. I’m Team Cedar Point all the way. What
[00:26:26] Laura: about, what about SeaWorld though? I mean, you did not have dolphins in a killer whale at Cedar Point.
[00:26:33] Chris: Because they’re indigenous to Ohio, of course you’d wanna go and visit them. I told
[00:26:36] Laura: you yesterday, I thought this was fascinating. Ohio was actually the second place to get a SeaWorld before Texas or Florida, and it’s because they looked at this massive population in between Pittsburgh and Detroit basically, that were like, we can put a park there and people will come.
And they did.
[00:26:51] Chris: All right. Very cool development, unexpected. It could be great to have a lot more Parkland for people to visit in northeast Ohio, and you’re [00:27:00] listening to today in Ohio. Courtney, what strategy is one? Cleveland City council member pushing to get more people to seek jobs. As Cleveland police officers.
We all know that we don’t have enough police. There’s not enough recruits in the classes. It’s desperation time because the city’s becoming more and more violent and dangerous. So what’s the plan here? Yes,
[00:27:19] Courtney: so. The safety committee chair on City Council, Mike Pesic is calling for the mayor to offer $10,000 bonuses to learn more folks into taking Cleveland police jobs and this, this growing deficit of Cleveland police officers.
Has been a continuing topic at the city for the last couple years. Right now we’re about 250 officers down from our target level and, and basically the academies that are coming out of new officers aren’t enough to make up for attrition year. The last two academies had nine and 13 people, respectively, and, and Mike Polex idea is to give new recruits a a $10,000 essentially signing [00:28:00] bonus, and they could keep it if they stay on at C P D for five years.
If they leave before then they’d have to pay it back essentially prorated and, and Mike Pesic said, you know, crime is spiking with so few police officers patrolling the streets. Their lack of of presence isn’t a deterrent to criminals, and that’s why he wants to use this to boost up the city’s ranks.
[00:28:22] Chris: Yeah, it doesn’t seem like enough. It seems like they need to raise the pay. I’m a little bit surprised that to get around the police shortage, That they’re not hiring more civilians to do things at the desks to get more police on the street or contracting with security companies to do the non-res stuff that police do.
Uh, the $10,000 might be an inducement, but it seems like it’s too little for the mammoth problem that they have right now.
[00:28:52] Courtney: Yeah. And that’s, that’s just the big question mark that Cleveland’s wrestling with that other cities all over the c how do you overcome the [00:29:00] fact that younger folks don’t wanna be police officers or at least just aren’t applying for the jobs?
That’s a, that’s a tough bar to overcome when you need to staff your force. Marie z Afus, who’s bib spokeswoman? So the city is exploring recruitment options. We’ve heard about this marketing plan that’s supposed to be developed. Uh, Polex been urging them to get a move on that for, for at least a good year.
Now, still don’t know what the particulars of that marketing plan is, but in the meantime, bibs. Spokeswoman said incorporating Signon bonuses is something city Hall was considering when it applied, when it applied for A D O J grant last year, and the city’s still in consideration as a recipient of the grant, that grant.
So it seems like she’s indicating SIGNON bonuses are at least potentially on the table if this federal money comes down.
[00:29:48] Chris: Well, it’s clear they need to get some urgency you’re listening to today in Ohio. That’s it for Wednesday. Thanks, Lisa. Thanks Laura. Thanks Courtney. Thanks to everybody who listens to today in Ohio.[00:30:00]