The Recent History Series
The Battle Cry
An Omen of Things to Come
An introduction to the Recent History series
The Master Plan – Not!
Lessons from 2001 & 2002
Renovations to the Landfill
Lessons from 2003
Lessons from 2004
Lessons from 2005
Lessons from 2006
Lessons from 2007
We need more money! Lessons from 2007
The History lessons have come to an end. We have arrived at the present.
The money Tree is almost bare and the taxpayers are once again left with new requests for money and given new promises of accountability.
School officials want voters to approve another bond issue that will be funded by the already tax strapped property owners of Cleveland. The school officials are requesting $217 million more dollars because they have carelessly spent the monies from the 2001 bond issue and will not have enough money to cover the 26 schools in the final phases of the project.
School officials are now stating that the 5 year old building and renovation project will run out of money in 2012 and at least $500 million more will be needed to complete the project. This number will be subject to change without warning. Citizens who own taxable property will have to supply millions, while the state would provide at least $300 million to make up the difference.
This proposed plan by school officials, (most of whom do not live in Cleveland nor pay property taxes in Cleveland), will add nine more years of debt to the current 28 year bond issue. Since the majority of school officials do not live in the city, they show no concern about the financial strains that will put on the taxable property owners of Cleveland.
Why should the school officials be concerned? It’s not their money.
I have to pose some questions to the taxable property owners of Cleveland:
Have you studied the lessons from recent history?
Are you prepared to take the test by casting your vote next spring?
If some of you have refrained from voting in the past, have these stories motivated you to vote next time?
Will you encourage your fellow property taxpayers to vote?
Accountability of our city and school leaders is truly in your hands! Your vote can make a difference.
Here are a few stories from 2007 to ponder.
In what sums up the recent history series, here are two fine stories from Scene Magazine.
Bait and Switch
Sanders’ Sales Job
The first is a story written by Lisa Rab entitled the “Bait and Switch”. The story speaks loud and clear about broken promises and lack of accountability. The second story was written by Pete Kotz.
Mr. Kotz reminds his readers of the same old promises made by the same old people who continually try to convince the voters of their grand visions for Cleveland.
I am glad that there are still writers out there who speak the truth. Yet, they are at times hard to hear when the main stream media uses smoke and mirrors to squelch thier efforts.
Personally, I am tired of the heavy smoke and mirrors. Aren’t you? The city seems to have an endless supply of visionaries and do-gooders who have an endless supply of ideas and experiments that will be funded by the property taxpayer. Speaking with their fancy words, they try to convince the voters to “expect great things”.
April 2007
The leaves from the money tree are falling fast. If only money actually grew on trees.
Click Here
May 2007
A cash shortage? School closings? A shrinking student population? What gives? Where did all the money go?
Try to call the CMSD and ask why their promises are being broken. If you get through and actually get an answer, you might be told that it is the taxpayers and voters fault.
Click Here
June 2007
Remember the celebration on the steps of city hall? Remember the CMSD moving up to a continuous improvement status? Just to bring things back into perspective, check out this story about the dismal graduation rate of the CMSD. Cleveland seniors fail the graduation test – just terrible. Oh the humanity!
Click Here
June 2007
Here are some assorted stories for your enjoyment.
Click Here
July 2007
Build less schools yet the CMSD says they still need more money! Accountability has become a rare commodity. But that’s OK, the promises of 2001 are ancient history. Remember those teachers from the last lesson telling us to move on already? Here are their words once again.
Teacher 1 - “It's the end of 2007 and your putting up press from 2003 to 2005!!! We've all lived it. Everyone is aware of BBB's $. There’s a new CEO can't you whine about him for a while? I mean he's going to get a complex if you don't take notice!”
Teacher 2 - “Old news, old administration. Like my example with the car, do you think that a new owner should answer for the old owner's moving violations?”
Click Here
July 2007 Continued
Business as usual. the CMSD flying by the seat of their pants again
Click Here
August 2007
But hold on, don’t lose hope, the do-gooder engineers have reinvented the wheel once again!
Click Here
Sept 2007
The teachers get to take the brunt of their management’s politics of blame. I mean someone has to be held responsible and it won’t be the management, so why not the teachers. What amazes me is that the teachers and their union allow management to push them around like this.
Click Here
Click Here
Click Here
The bond accountability Commission is still trying to get their act together. It has been 6 years but they still need more time.
Click Here
Instead of ensuring that security standard operating procedures are being followed, Dr. Sanders has decided to implement airport security in all schools to deal with the domestic terrorism that has plagued the city schools. Cleveland has been ranked this year as the 10th most dangerous city in the United States. But we are also ranked the 4th poorest city in the nation. So how will this crime ridden poor city afford the 3.3 million it will take to implement the airport security?
Give up?
The CMSD will use some 2001 bond issue money!
You know - that money the taxpayers are paying to renovate the crumbling schools. I guess the Building Accountability Commission missed that one. But that’s ok, the CMSD will just ask for more!
Click Here
So ends the history lesson series. I hope the lessons weren’t too hard.
Keep what you have learned fresh in your mind. The test is coming. There is a good possibility that the test will be given in 2008. Take your notes to the polls. Share them with your neighbors. Get the word out.
As a firefighter, I generally put fires out. But in this case, I hope the spark of my blogs catch and spread like wild fire.
I hope that you have found the recent history lessons from 2001 to 2007 informative and entertaining.
I have been posting all of these lessons on the Cleveland.com education forum. The responses have been wide ranging. Notably, the responses from the Cleveland teachers have been mostly negative. They chimed in to accuse the taxpayers who had voted "no" on school levies and bond issues of abandoning the students of Cleveland. Not one teacher stated that their administration was doing anything wrong. It was always the voters that were at fault for not wanting to support the kids. There was also feedback from others who admittedly did not live in Cleveland. These folks had plenty of ideas from the safety of their homes in their prosperous suburbs outside of the city limits of Cleveland.
Though the teachers who posted on the Cleveland.com education forum only represented a minute portion of the teacher population, their opinions spoke loud and clear that the problems of the CMSD are the fault of the taxpayers.
As the ballot issues get nearer, I will be posting more stories to stoke the fires.
The politicians, administrators and teachers have made their beds but they haven’t had to lay in them. They would rather the taxpayers lay in them. The CMSD continues to operate by the seat of their pants, and promises of accountability continue to be broken. Taxpayer monies are spent like money is going out of style.
It is up to the taxpayers to get out and outnumber those voters who do not pay property taxes when money issues are thrust upon them.
Let these leaders know you do exist and that you are unhappy with how they have been running things.
You can make the difference!
The History lessons have come to an end. We have arrived at the present.
The money Tree is almost bare and the taxpayers are once again left with new requests for money and given new promises of accountability.
School officials want voters to approve another bond issue that will be funded by the already tax strapped property owners of Cleveland. The school officials are requesting $217 million more dollars because they have carelessly spent the monies from the 2001 bond issue and will not have enough money to cover the 26 schools in the final phases of the project.
School officials are now stating that the 5 year old building and renovation project will run out of money in 2012 and at least $500 million more will be needed to complete the project. This number will be subject to change without warning. Citizens who own taxable property will have to supply millions, while the state would provide at least $300 million to make up the difference.
This proposed plan by school officials, (most of whom do not live in Cleveland nor pay property taxes in Cleveland), will add nine more years of debt to the current 28 year bond issue. Since the majority of school officials do not live in the city, they show no concern about the financial strains that will put on the taxable property owners of Cleveland.
Why should the school officials be concerned? It’s not their money.
I have to pose some questions to the taxable property owners of Cleveland:
Have you studied the lessons from recent history?
Are you prepared to take the test by casting your vote next spring?
If some of you have refrained from voting in the past, have these stories motivated you to vote next time?
Will you encourage your fellow property taxpayers to vote?
Accountability of our city and school leaders is truly in your hands! Your vote can make a difference.
Here are a few stories from 2007 to ponder.
In what sums up the recent history series, here are two fine stories from Scene Magazine.
Bait and Switch
Sanders’ Sales Job
The first is a story written by Lisa Rab entitled the “Bait and Switch”. The story speaks loud and clear about broken promises and lack of accountability. The second story was written by Pete Kotz.
Mr. Kotz reminds his readers of the same old promises made by the same old people who continually try to convince the voters of their grand visions for Cleveland.
I am glad that there are still writers out there who speak the truth. Yet, they are at times hard to hear when the main stream media uses smoke and mirrors to squelch thier efforts.
Personally, I am tired of the heavy smoke and mirrors. Aren’t you? The city seems to have an endless supply of visionaries and do-gooders who have an endless supply of ideas and experiments that will be funded by the property taxpayer. Speaking with their fancy words, they try to convince the voters to “expect great things”.
April 2007
The leaves from the money tree are falling fast. If only money actually grew on trees.
Click Here
May 2007
A cash shortage? School closings? A shrinking student population? What gives? Where did all the money go?
Try to call the CMSD and ask why their promises are being broken. If you get through and actually get an answer, you might be told that it is the taxpayers and voters fault.
Click Here
June 2007
Remember the celebration on the steps of city hall? Remember the CMSD moving up to a continuous improvement status? Just to bring things back into perspective, check out this story about the dismal graduation rate of the CMSD. Cleveland seniors fail the graduation test – just terrible. Oh the humanity!
Click Here
June 2007
Here are some assorted stories for your enjoyment.
Click Here
July 2007
Build less schools yet the CMSD says they still need more money! Accountability has become a rare commodity. But that’s OK, the promises of 2001 are ancient history. Remember those teachers from the last lesson telling us to move on already? Here are their words once again.
Teacher 1 - “It's the end of 2007 and your putting up press from 2003 to 2005!!! We've all lived it. Everyone is aware of BBB's $. There’s a new CEO can't you whine about him for a while? I mean he's going to get a complex if you don't take notice!”
Teacher 2 - “Old news, old administration. Like my example with the car, do you think that a new owner should answer for the old owner's moving violations?”
Click Here
July 2007 Continued
Business as usual. the CMSD flying by the seat of their pants again
Click Here
August 2007
But hold on, don’t lose hope, the do-gooder engineers have reinvented the wheel once again!
Click Here
Sept 2007
The teachers get to take the brunt of their management’s politics of blame. I mean someone has to be held responsible and it won’t be the management, so why not the teachers. What amazes me is that the teachers and their union allow management to push them around like this.
Click Here
Click Here
Click Here
The bond accountability Commission is still trying to get their act together. It has been 6 years but they still need more time.
Click Here
Instead of ensuring that security standard operating procedures are being followed, Dr. Sanders has decided to implement airport security in all schools to deal with the domestic terrorism that has plagued the city schools. Cleveland has been ranked this year as the 10th most dangerous city in the United States. But we are also ranked the 4th poorest city in the nation. So how will this crime ridden poor city afford the 3.3 million it will take to implement the airport security?
Give up?
The CMSD will use some 2001 bond issue money!
You know - that money the taxpayers are paying to renovate the crumbling schools. I guess the Building Accountability Commission missed that one. But that’s ok, the CMSD will just ask for more!
Click Here
So ends the history lesson series. I hope the lessons weren’t too hard.
Keep what you have learned fresh in your mind. The test is coming. There is a good possibility that the test will be given in 2008. Take your notes to the polls. Share them with your neighbors. Get the word out.
As a firefighter, I generally put fires out. But in this case, I hope the spark of my blogs catch and spread like wild fire.
I hope that you have found the recent history lessons from 2001 to 2007 informative and entertaining.
I have been posting all of these lessons on the Cleveland.com education forum. The responses have been wide ranging. Notably, the responses from the Cleveland teachers have been mostly negative. They chimed in to accuse the taxpayers who had voted "no" on school levies and bond issues of abandoning the students of Cleveland. Not one teacher stated that their administration was doing anything wrong. It was always the voters that were at fault for not wanting to support the kids. There was also feedback from others who admittedly did not live in Cleveland. These folks had plenty of ideas from the safety of their homes in their prosperous suburbs outside of the city limits of Cleveland.
Though the teachers who posted on the Cleveland.com education forum only represented a minute portion of the teacher population, their opinions spoke loud and clear that the problems of the CMSD are the fault of the taxpayers.
As the ballot issues get nearer, I will be posting more stories to stoke the fires.
The politicians, administrators and teachers have made their beds but they haven’t had to lay in them. They would rather the taxpayers lay in them. The CMSD continues to operate by the seat of their pants, and promises of accountability continue to be broken. Taxpayer monies are spent like money is going out of style.
It is up to the taxpayers to get out and outnumber those voters who do not pay property taxes when money issues are thrust upon them.
Let these leaders know you do exist and that you are unhappy with how they have been running things.
You can make the difference!
