It's time to upgrade CLE politics and the way CLE is perceived to the world.

A letter that finally needed to be written.

I’m sitting here writing this because I am waaaaay beyond confused and tired of hearing the same old $hit over and over and over again. This is THEE main reason why I hate politics. #WeThePeople deserve not to be treated like idiots. We are not cattle that need to be herd from place to place listening to the same ole thing. This talking political code and campaign jargon gets really old and monotonous. If you want to get the point across to us, talk to us in plain old English.

Let’s talk about Cleveland politics. We got a HUGE dose of Cleveland politics in this last election. The same old promises. Jobs, jobs, jobs. Every campaign speech is a repeat of the last one. OK so let’s talk about jobs. Where are all of these jobs coming from? Who’s creating all of the jobs? First off, Cleveland is not a magnet for huge job creators. There is a ton of work to do to remedy that but first the attitude has to change. Politicians can scream about jobs until their blue in the face but that’s not changing anything. All across Greater Cleveland there seems to be this “do it half-a$$” mentality when it comes to work ethic. The mentality of “oh it’ll get done, right now I need my 15 minute break.” Where is the go
getter mentality? That hunger to get things done and get it done with Attention to Detail? Cleveland will never attract companies that employ thousands with this lackluster attitude towards work.

Next up. What is local government doing to attract big business? Shouldn’t local government set the standard of what they want to see in companies that moves here? How can any local government say they’re looking for companies to come to Cleveland and bring jobs when getting things done, with the utmost excellence, isn’t a priority? Is that the way to set the tone for potential new businesses? Cleveland local government needs to be doing their job better and better every day. This attitude needs to start at the top and filter its way down the chain of command. The guy mopping the floor should be the best floor mopper possible and take pride in his work.

Infrastructure. It’s HORRIBLE. Plain and simple. Do you honestly think developers are going to flock to Cleveland and invest millions in this horrible Infrastructure? Why is it like this? Was every plan to fix it exhausted? OK some will say budget. Budget huh. Well where was the talk about BUDGET when it came time to vote for the Glass Atrium on the basketball arena? The same goes for the football stadium, that doesn’t have a retractable top for possible NCAA Bowl games. This goes back to that MENTALITY that I’m talking about. The forward mentality is just not there.

Marketing Cleveland to the world. In my travels for work I’ve met and worked with some of the brightest minds in Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations. They tell me the marketing of Cleveland to the world is lackluster. A failed attempt to show Cleveland to the world. Is there any possible reason why Cleveland can’t be a bigger tourism location? Is anybody seriously trying or is the current job the best they can do? Cleveland has amazing attractions to offer. Not just Cleveland but other areas in Ohio as well. Yet the tourism industry is extremely weak. How long is RNC 2016 going to be used as the beacon for Cleveland tourism? Maybe it’s time to form the Northeast Ohio Convention and Visitor’s
Bureau and staff it with seasoned professionals that have experience in bringing in big conventions, corporate meetings, annual Music Festivals and other events that can use Cleveland as their backdrop but at the same time experience what Cleveland has to offer. 

Cleveland sits between Chicago and NYC. Where is the music scene in Cleveland? A concentrated area where you can get a taste of multiple types of music on a daily basis, that’s promoted worldwide. Does that even exist in Cleveland?

In order to be THE BEST you have to hire THE BEST and let others learn from THE BEST. Working closely with THE BEST you learn quickly catch on to that being THE BEST mentality. The Attention to Detail. Going the extra mile to separate Cleveland from the rest. It’s not about having a big ego. It’s about having extreme confidence that you’re doing your job at a high level and giving the customer an AMAZING EXPERIENCE. Make Cleveland attractive to the world to the point that people save money all year to come to Cleveland for a week or 2 to have a great time. This will never happen until a “treat the customers like gold” mentality is put in place. Customer Service in Cleveland is horrendous. Just ordering
a pizza is an ordeal. Management is supposed to set the tone for workers to follow. If the workers aren’t projecting the “treat the customers like gold” mentality, then that has to fall on the management. It’s up to management to train and instill this into all of the staff.

OK back to the politicians and public servants. That is what you are right, PUBLIC SERVANTS?? Working for THE PEOPLE?? I’ll leave it short and simple. Cut through the bull$hit and tell us exactly how you’re going to fix the problems. We don’t wanna hear the written speeches that every candidate seems to manipulate to make his/her own. We wanna hear about how you’re going to do better than the incumbent and talk to us like we’re sitting at the dinner table having a normal conversation. Stop trying to pull the wool over our eyes and stop with all the pep rallies. 

How are you going to make everyday life better for us?

Sincerely,

#WeThePeople of Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland Mayor Jackson blasting Trump and Kasich budgets

It seems that our Mayor Frank Jackson is the biggest HYPOCRITE of them all when talking about budgets of the State of Ohio and the Trump Administration. Jackson complains about getting less money from Columbus and Washington but he is soooooooo ready to give the NBA CAVS $88M for an arena "outdoor makeover" that the CAVS should pay for. Mayor Jackson also wants to build a $2M Dirt Bike track that will be placed in a residential neighborhood and they don't have a SOLID PLAN of how and who will be running this Dirt Bike track, along with projections on how the city will make that money back, plus profit.

Here are a few quotes from 2 articles on Cleveland.com, from Mayor Jackson and several Cleveland City Councilman:

"On behalf of the citizens of Cleveland I am writing to express opposition to the proposed FY 2018-2019 Ohio Biennial Budget," Jackson wrote. "The proposed budget includes provisions that continue to erode charter cities' 'home rule' authority. further deplete the local government fund and contribute to regressive tax shift."

In his letter, Jackson outlines potential losses to the city. They are:

$440,000 for a 1% fee charged against about $44.4 million in the business net profit taxes, based on 2016 collections. (Estimates for 2017 cited by Council President Kevin Kelley suggest collections could be as high as $75 million in business taxes, which would push the fee up to $750,000.)

$1.4 million less in 2017 than in 2016 under the new formula of redistributing local government funds.

$2.1 million less in 2018 and thereafter in local government funding as the new formula kicks in for a full year.

"Any tax cuts in the budget are a de facto 'tax shift', and have the net effect of pushing a larger portion of the tax burden onto the lower income residents of Ohio," Jackson wrote. "This is particularly harmful to urban areas like Cleveland with large populations living at or below the poverty line."

OK Mayor Jackson. So why don't you say these things when the BILLIONAIRE NBA TEAM OWNER sends people to ask you for city tax money to do a "lipstick job" on the basketball arena? The BILLIONAIRE NBA TEAM owner can pay for it himself.

Here is what Mayor Jackson says about the Trump Budget cuts:

"Trump has unveiled a budget that would slash or abolish programs that have provide low-income Americans with help on virtually all fronts," the Washington Post wrote Thursday.

OK Mayor Jackson. It's not to hard to understand that with both State and Federal budget cuts, that the thought of a Q arena "renovation" and building a Dirt Bike track makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE!!!

It's time for Mayor Jackson to admit that he is WRONG. The COMMUNITY needs all available dollars to go towards fixing our neighborhoods and HORRIBLE ROADWAYS, as well as giving Police Chief Williams all the necessary resources to battle and stop the crime in our city. We also need that funding to combat the Heroin dependency epidemic that has reeked havoc on our city.

If the NBA CAVS and the Gateway Corporation want to renovate the Q then why can't they raise the money through private partnerships??? We as residents and homeowners, in the city of Cleveland, drastically need our neighborhoods fixed NOW NOT LATER!!

Check the links below for the following articles:

Mayor Jackson about the Trump budget

Mayor Jackson about the State of Ohio budget

Q Renovation Plan - What the community would want IF we agree on this deal.

The total cost of the project, after interest and the creation of a rainy day fund, will be $282 million, of which the public will pay an estimated $160 million. The largest share of those funds ($88 million) will be borne by the city, via an admissions tax on ticketed events at the Q from 2024-2034. The reason why it won’t be activated until 2024 is because until 2023, this portion of the admissions tax will be used to pay off existing Gateway bonds — from the 1990's. 

This is a HORRIBLE DEAL for the community but in all fairness to the Labor Trade unions we as the COMMUNITY would be willing to negotiate only if the following terms are met:

1. The Cavs must pay off the existing bonds from the 1990's. We'd need to start a new deal with a clean slate.

2. The Cavs must pay back all money from new bonds plus 25% of whatever the final budget for the project will be. We the COMMUNITY would be putting services, programs and rebuilding our neighborhoods on hold to make this deal happen for the Cavs and the Q so we want an additional 25% for putting off work that is drastically needed to our neighborhoods NOW.

3. The Cavs must enter into a Revenue Sharing deal with the COMMUNITY for sales and ticket sales for Luxury Suites. If we're going to pay to enhance the arena to attract more big time events, we want a piece of the Luxury Suite cash as well.

4. Downtown Businesses must charge and pay a higher sales tax for all goods sold. Since the area immediately around the Q would benefit the most from all of these so-called events that the renovated Q would attract, downtown businesses would be thriving and a higher sales tax would ensure that our neighborhoods would benefit as well.

5. Labor working in Downtown businesses must pay an extra .5% of income tax. We as the COMMUNITY don't want to see jobs lost. So if Q deal will create more jobs then the COMMUNITY would need to benefit from all of those added jobs. The additional income tax would greatly help fix neighborhoods so that THE ENTIRE CITY AND COUNTY can be upgraded, not just Downtown.

These ideas are a good start for a meaningful negotiation. As of right now the COMMUNITY doesn't want to do the deal because we are tired of being neglected over money going to Downtown Cleveland. We've waited and waited and waited. Enough already. If the Cavs want something from us then we need something + in return so we can transform our neighborhoods into WORLD CLASS neighborhoods. 

A championship alone doesn't do this!!!

Asphalt Pavement Distress Summary

There are many types of Asphalt Distress problems. Please view the pictures below and click on the link afterwords to find out the cause and solutions:

Alligator Cracking

Block Cracking

Edge Cracking

Longitudinal Cracking

Reflective cracking

Please click on the link below to find out how these and more distresses occur and how to fix them:

Asphalt Pavement Distress Summary

Pothole repair that lasts for years using Bergkamp FP5 Flameless Pothole Repair technology and InPave Management System.

Bergkamp Inc. was established in 1977 and has been manufacturing pavement maintenance equipment since 1980, working closely with contractors and government agencies throughout North America and the world. The All-In-One Flameless Pothole Patcher FP5 Model is used by major governmental agencies to perform maintenance on their streets and roads.

The Flameless Pothole Patcher FP5.

The InPave Pothole Management System lets you manage where and what potholes get done, time management for crew and is fully compatible with GIS map systems so you can fully track your work. Each InPave system is installed on board and features many sensors on the vehicle, while collecting all of the data while you work on fixing potholes. The data can be retrieved at any time via an internet connection.

InPave Pothole Management System

The Bergkamp FP5 Flameless Pothole Repair vehicle with InPave Management Technology would be a great addition to the City of Cleveland Division of Streets because every street doesn't need a complete resurfacing. There are many streets that have isolated pothole problems that can be repaired and those repairs can last 3-5 years, giving the city time to address the F grade street resurfacing while still fixing the many potholes the RIGHT WAY.

For more info message me for details.

 

City of Cleveland 50/50 Sidewalk Repair Program

Here is the description from the City of Cleveland website:


"The 50/50 sidewalk repair program was designed to encourage the repair of unsafe sidewalks. The City of Cleveland partners with residents and each pay 50% of the total cost to have the sidewalks . repaired. The program opens every spring, however the city's matching funds are limited and the program closes when all City funds allocated have been exhausted."


We had work done through this program. The idea is great. The program could help alleviate a lot of bad sidewalk issues. Most of the issues come from trees that were planted in tree lawns in the 90's. Most tree lawns in the City of Cleveland are very narrow and the tree roots push up concrete.

Here are before and after pictures of our front yard. As you can see the tree has greatly damaged the sidewalk and the tree roots had taken over the entire front yard. It took us 2 weeks of digging and cutting out roots to get the front lawn to a much better look.

Road resurfacing by the City of Cleveland - East 82nd st

Here is a project that was done last year by the City of Cleveland's Division of Streets. East 82nd street from Hough ave. to Superior. The job turned out great!!! The newly paved road gives life to that street . Greatly enhances that part of the neighborhood. Now if we can get more road work like that the entire neighborhood would take a turn for the better. Freshly paved roads are the start to turning around the blight and providing an atmosphere to be proud of.

We all know that every roadway will not get a full resurface but there are many different Asphalt technologies that the City of Cleveland should be looking at to provide quality pothole repairing that will last at least 2-3 years, until a full resurface can be done. Maybe bringing in several different Asphalt Repair Manufacturers, to demonstrate how their process works, would be a good start.

F grade street conditions in the Wade Park district, Cleveland, Ohio

This is my street. Hasn't been resurfaced in over 30 years. All they city does is do a bad "Throw and Go" every years and they never come back to fix the patch up. There are so many bad pothole patches that driving down the street feels like an Off Road coarse.

East 84th street and Decker

Hot In Place Asphalt Recycling using the Martec AR2000

This is the Martec AR2000 Super Asphalt Train. It heats up the asphalt, mills the asphalt, creates a tunnel of milled asphalt down the center of the AR2000 train, it picks up the milled asphalt via conveyor and deposits it in a large mixer. While in the mixer Rejuvenator is added to the recycled asphalt and then moved to the paver to be put down on the road surface. All done in one pass. No numerous loads of hot asphalt to bring in via truck, no huge carbon footprint from hot asphalt and no burning the road surface with hot flames from other types of heating devices. Fast, Efficient and takes less labor to run vs. conventional methods.

The City of Cleveland Division of Streets would benefit greatly using this technology because road surfaces could be updated and fixed very quickly and this type of system can run all your round.

Welcome to Fix Our Streets 216 blog

Hello and welcome to Fix Our Streets 216. We will be talking about ways to fix our broken infrastructure in Cleveland, Ohio. Our streets are crumbling, water mains are breaking, sewer catch basins are filthy of crumbling and bridges need to be repaired or replaced.

If you know of any of these issues in your area, please share with us the address and problem.

Thanks.