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!!!