Susan’s Suggestions for the November 2nd Election

Susan’s Suggestions for the Tuesday,  November 2 Elections

Voting has begun.

This is it.  The general election  will actually decide who sits in office. No matter who you supported in the primary, you can vote for whomever you choose in this one.

Every year I write that your vote is important. Here’s why it’s important this time.  Safety – Who you choose to represent you as Mayor and on council will affect your police staffing and police support. This is your safety. Services – Cleveland Heights is in transition. Even without a transition on the way, services and the smooth running of a city depend on productive, focused and experienced representation in office.  Taxes – The school board can raise or lower taxes.  This is the first time our community can choose a fiscally conservative slate that promises a pro-public school position that isn’t dictated by the unions and the pro-levy campaign. Good things can happen to the district without the need to increase our property tax rate further.  Real fiscal change can only happen if we all get out and vote. In the recent elections our community showed up 20 something percent  which served us well in low voter turnout elections. Only by all coming out to support our candidates with 100% of registered voters can we expect to see good things in the areas of Safety, Services and Fiscal Security.  This is the time. If you don’t vote, we don’t count. Please Vote –

You can still apply to vote by mail. Mail in ballots must be postmarked by Monday, November 1 or returned directly at the Board of Elections downtown. If you applied to vote by mail and didn’t, you can also vote at the polls by using a provisional ballot. Local elections effect everything – our shuls, our streets, our community. Early voting has started.  By all means, everyone, please vote.

Congress 11^th District: Shontel Brown (D) or Laverne Gore (R) (Jvote did not vote on this office)

Mayor of Cleveland Heights: Barbara Danforth  (JVoted)

Cleveland Heights City Council (vote for 4, 4 year term) Craig Cobb, Tony Cuda, Davida Russel, Alocius Snodgrass (JVoted)

Cleveland Heights City Council (vote only 1, 2 year term) Robert Koonce (JVoted)

CHUH School Board: Slate: Mordechai Rennert, Charles Drake, Maureen Lynn,   (Vote for only 3!)   (JVoted) See comments below

Issue 31 – Improves and Updates how Cleveland Heights City Council will appoint to council when a vacancy occurs – Vote Yes.

UH Mayor – see comments below along with JVote update. I don’t endorse for UH races, but  am reporting that JVote endorsed Barbara Blankfeld

Wherever it says JVoted, it indicates a JVote endorsed candidate. JVote did not vote on the Congressional seat nor on issue 31.

Your finances, safety, and quality of life are all on the line in this election. “All Politics is local.” They say. Locally is where you can make the biggest difference. Please Vote.

Expanded Edition –

Congress 11^th District: Shontel Brown (D) or Laverne Gore (R)  Both women deserve a good look. Both are strong on preserving religious freedoms and in support for good Mid-East policies that support our ally, Israel.  They differ on economic and domestic policy down party lines as would be expected. Both are solid choices that should see support from our neighborhoods.  I would favor the Republican, Laverne Gore on policy alone; clearly she best represents our value, However given the strong Democrat leanings in this Democrat carved out district where typically 80% vote Democrat, support for the more moderate Democrat, Shontel Brown sends a message to that party that the more progressive and anti-Semitic will not be supported in this area. (Nina Turner is considering running again after redistricting if it favors her)  There is merit in the argument that support for Brown will help maintain the friendly reltationship built with her during her  primary run which could result in more support for Israel’s security needs. In summary we have two strong  women as candidates with good reason to support them both. Choose one

Mayor of Cleveland Heights: Barbara Danforth     This is the very first time we get to directly elect a full-time mayor in Cleveland Heights. After 100 years, we have changed the government to include someone full time in the office directly representing our needs. The call for that included a call for leadership and accountability. Experience matters and although I’ve written positive things about Khalil Seren who has been supportive of our community’s needs in the past and we can look forward to having him represent us either on council or as mayor, Barbara Danforth’s wealth and years of experience running organizations is what is needed as we transition to this new form of government. As a former prosecutor, Danforth understands and supports good police policy. Both candidates have strong ties to our community, but Danforth’s largess of experience and strong policies on policing put her over the top and earned her the JVote endorsement.  Vote Danforth

Cleveland Heights City Council (4 open seats, 4 year term) Craig Cobb, Tony Cuda, Davida Russel, Alocious Snodgrass. All four candidates have reached out and taken time to get to know our concerns. All are good listeners. They all favor strong economic plans including economic development of the Milikin property. They understand our needs for Taylor Road’s future and the particulars of development for large, Kosher families.  All support maintaining a strong police force.

The discussion of equity in Cleveland Heights also focusses on economic equity and Councilwoman Russel has led the charge to make sure that the two underserved neighborhoods in Cleveland Heights are finally getting some economic input bringing significant funding to the Noble / Taylor Road areas. It’s long overdue. She deserves our thanks.

 Both Cobb and Cuda support these initiatives as well and we have a good standing relationship with them both. Cobb was recently appointed for a second time to council and has proved to be a team player and supportive of our needs.

 I’ve personally worked on issues with Tony Cuda and know he is someone who has the kind of experience that gets things done. With his decades experience as a civics teacher and his work leading Citizens or an Elected Mayor, he is the one to lead this team in guiding our city through the upcoming transition from having one branch of government to two with the newly elected mayor. It will be tough year in transition. Cobb’s work on the Charter Review Commission and Cuda’s experience will see that it doesn’t take longer and failure to get it right will set us back greatly.

 Al Snodgrass. Snodgass has expended much effort getting to know us and our issues. In his comments to JVote, he demonstrated that he understood our needs regarding housing development and building codes that support large families, elder living needs, and kosher kitchens and though young, he has real political experience having worked in Cheryl Stephens office and been on various city committees. He, along with the other candidates Voting for four candidates helps ensure we get a full and good slate. Cobb, Cuda  Russel, and Snodgrass.

Cleveland Heights City Council (1 seat, 2 year term) Robert Koonce  This is a special election to fill the vacancy left by Councilwoman Mary Dunbar and is therefore only for the duration of her term, the two years. Both Josie Moore and Robert Koonce impress in terms of likeability and good ideas. Both have reached out to our community and are genuinely interested in it’s success, but Koonce is the candidate who most directly reflects our values and, as a Catholic private school parent, is similarly positioned regarding school board He is committed to Milikin development as part of his comprehensive plan to bring in new residents which increases the tax base and provides relief. Seven names will appear on the ballot making it anyone’s race. Your vote can make a real difference.  Vote Koonce

A further note about CH City Council: On a council of 7 it takes a majority of four. It’s therefore not enough to get on council. You have to be able to govern. The above group have demonstrated the ability to get things done in a collaborative way that suggests they would be able to work together for the city’s benefit in the new, more legislative, nonexecutive roll council will have.

CHUH School Board: Slate:  Mordechai Rennert, Charles Drake, Maureen Lynn, or Mario Clopton-Zymler   Vote only three.

This school board election is electrifying this year. For the first time, there is a slate running opposing the incumbent board members. This slate is stepping up to to address some of the financial issues voters have long had with our high per pupil costs and high taxes. The slate is socially and fiscally conservative.  Additionally, should you not choose all of the slate members, one other has stepped up to address some of the same thing and is more liberal on social issues. Mario is a strong candidate worthy of consideration.

All four of these candidates are strong on issues that are important to us. They are all calling for fiscally conservative considerations.  They all favor divesting the Milikin site to stop the leaking costs to the taxpayers, over half a million and counting, likely over a million given recent events there, all for a building not used for education. That site once developed would be a new source of tax revenue for the district that the current board is denying itself in its refusal to sell. These four candidates all want an educational environment in which every student is respected and can flourish. They want an increase of accountability and trust. All these candidates are classroom and student centric and want to see our district do well academically and fiscally earning all four a Jvote endorsement.  You may vote for only for three.

There are many hyperbolic claims out there on social media that should be completely disregarded (such as that they are anti-mask, anti student, and anti-public education).It’s hard to imagine anyone stepping up to do this job that pays a maximum of $5000 annually if they did not care about public education. All four promote inclusiveness and are stepping up as a breath of fresh air in terms of inclusiveness in the district in ways that include all students, both public and private, and their families as respected stake holders in the district in direct contrast to the pro-levy camp and the incumbents on the board who have tolerated and sometimes exacerbated the hate speech directed towards private school parents and specifically religious private school parents. As the most visible community in that segment, we appreciate those stepping up and must reciprocate the effort and step up ourselves to support these candidates.

Rennert, Drake and Lynn make up a slate of Republicans.  Rennert has promised to bring light to IEP students in private schools that seemingly have a harder time qualifying for state mandated benefits than their counterparts who choose district schools. Lynn and Drake have a history of working in the district to help keep taxes low in previous levy cycles over many years. They also all support and favor a performance review to determine best use of funds.   Mario as a Democrat, has greater support district-wide and has called for a more targeted audit focused on administrated costs only, but also calls for budgetary transparency like Rennert Drake and Lynn by way of use of the Ohio Checkbook.

The current incumbents support a lawsuit, not yet filed, to make vouchers illegal in the state and they do so enthusiastically even after the state has altered the funding mechanism resulting in significantly increased funding to local public schools.  They do this despite the thousands of their own constituents who use vouchers. This is disrespect. They have failed to hear the public voice that voted down a levy and, being pro levy themselves and with a pro-union, pro levy PAC behind them, put up a second levy which did pass, barely. Despite utterings that they would look at not collecting the tax if the state changed its funding to benefit the district, they have not rescinded the tax even with the state’s auspicious changes. They do this knowing the clear damage this does to the cities they represent. Higher taxes hurt the elderly on fixed incomes, taxing them out of their homes, and the UH tax burden and impact on housing is no less clear. Cleveland Heights highest state tax rates and low senior living rates bear out that damage. Young struggling families are taxed out of their homes. This harms the education of their children.  All the while the per pupil costs remain unacceptably high.

Further, when the opportunity to develop Milikin has come up, the Board refused to look at or negotiate for the offers on the table despite unanimous support from Cleveland Heights City Council and prior work with James Posch and Jodi Sourini. Considering how Coventry found itself developed, it leaves the Jewish community wondering why not our neighborhood.  Is it us? Whispers, some pretty loud, that it is about keeping our Jewish community from expanding, which would be considered intolerable hate speech if another minority were substituted, are tolerated when said about the Orthodox community, which has created a climate where anti-Semitism, sometimes voiced by liberal Jews as well, has become acceptable. And in the city where All are Welcome is the slogan, this is just not okay.

All the endorsed candidates have seen this talk and called out its wrongness and promise a new respectful open relationship between private school families and the public school system, something that can effect all services and interactions between them.  What a breath of fresh air!

And it must be emphasized that their focus is student and classroom centric. The slate’s goal is to see funding go to the classrooms function. Their goal is to improve education in the district without taxing the citizens unnecessarily. On a board of 5, three of these, if elected, would be in the majority and could effect real good making it important for every single eligible voter to get out and vote for this new, exciting slate.

Vote for the slate for a district win:  Mordechai Rennert, Charles Drake, and Maureen Lynn,    (or Mario Clopton-Zymler )

Issue 31 – Improves and Updates how Cleveland Heights City Council will appoint to council when a vacancy occurs – Vote Yes.  Shortly after the election two years ago, Councilwoman Mellissa Yasinow resigned leaving two years to her term. It was City Council’s job to appoint someone to fill the position. Council sought applications, narrowed it down to the top four, but it took Council a full year to get the four votes needed to fill the vacancy. Council remained shorthanded way too long and during a year of Covid and the extra business of transition preparation, but they were deadlocked.  In 2016 there had been a a Charter Review Commission that made some recommendations on how to improve appointments. Then in 2017, the Charter Amendment passed changing the government from one branch (Council only) to two (Mayor and Council).  This Amendment, Issue 31,  if passed would address the change to an Elected Mayor form of government while using the essential recommendation from the Commission. It would incentivize the council to meet a reasonable deadline of 45 days for making the appointment. Should they let that time elapse, the choice would go to the Mayor to fill the seat.  There is no opposition. Vote Yes.

University Heights Mayor: I generally do not comment on races that I don’t vote.  I have been called repeatedly to ask my opinion on the UH Mayoral race. The stakes are clear: The viability of the shteiblach and the very relationship between government and the frum community. Early in the race there were three possibilities. 1. Everyone votes for Mayor Brennan having negotiated what that support would mean.2. Everyone votes for Blankfeld because she would resolve the strife, or 3.  Everyone votes for Phil Atkin because they like his message, he’s capable, and he would obviously resolve the strife. It is, however,  no longer early in the race. According those who gauge how elections shake out, Mr. Atkins has not secured nearly enough support to be competitive, but could siphon off enough votes from Blankfeld to give Brennan the win without the benefit of any negotiated deal, portending that hostility remains between government and the community and the schteiblach face challenges one by one. At this time, I am in agreement with those calling for community to unite behind one candidate. To that end, I defer to the vote of those who are actively seeking political progress in UH. UH has begun a JVote chapter and I recommend a united front in following their recommendation. Vote Barbara Blankfeld

A word about JVote  JVote is an organization that began in Cleveland Heights in 2010 to increase the esteem of our community with the local politicians and be a voice of advocacy. We maintain relationships with city officials and use the clout of our numbers and votes come election time with strong Get out the Vote campaigns. I believe working together with our University Heights counterparts on bringing a Shontel Brown primary victory to fruition and the need to unite on the school board election has been the catalyst to finally see a UH chapter formed, it is something our CH JVote has encouraged for a long time.  It is a welcome development.

Susan’s Suggestions has been around since the late 1990’s and remains my independent opinion. If and when I differ with a JVote recommendation, I make a point of explaining my reasoning to clear up any confusion. There are times when it is vital for our community to pool our votes while for other offices, splitting the vote sends the message that we are not a monolithic community which in turn telegraphs to politicians that we are community whose vote and opinions they should actively seek.  As always my suggestions remain suggestions and are there to help.