11 Comments
User's avatar
KenMcEntee's avatar

Carnegie was from Pittsburgh

Expand full comment
M Test's avatar

This was eye-opening, thank you!

I recommend David Pepper Pepperspectives davidpepper@substack.com - the most knowledgeable person I know on all things Cincinnati, Hamilton County, and Ohio politics. You may be familiar with his book "Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call From Behind the Lines".

Expand full comment
Adam Dew's avatar

Outstanding overview Parma Sean.

Expand full comment
J. C. Rowland's avatar

Good start.

The unit rule is the root of much Cleveland dysfunction centralizing power opaquely-- there was a Green on council, Brian Cummins, for about 8 years, very good. They destroyed his ward once to get him out, but he managed to be re-elected, but not twice.

I'm sure you're aware, but going back through the decades, Roldo Bartimole is a treasure trove: https://www.clevelandmemory.org/roldo/

Expand full comment
Kevin Ronnie's avatar

Awesome. Depressing.

Expand full comment
Ross DiBello's avatar

Phenomenal Piece!

Couple edits:

-There is no Mother-Son pair on the common pleas bench (but they do share the same last name)

-Bibb! was not the only Mayoral candidate to support the initiative causes; and his support was pretty see-thru for anyone who really cared to see and wasn’t simply a booster or on that huge (big money-backed) team.

Expand full comment
Hold's avatar

Incredible piece. Seems like Columbus and Franklin County have hopped aboard a similar shit wagon. They have their own hayseed take on it however.

Expand full comment
Brad's avatar

Just a minor correction: The Irish consular is an honorary position, not an official consulate. The only official consulate in cleveland is the Slovenian one. Cleveland has a bunch of honorary consulates so having an Irish one is not a sign of much. There’s an honorary French consulate here as well for a very small French population.

Expand full comment
Brad's avatar

Sorry I should have led my annoying comment with the fact that this is a great article and I’m enjoying it very much! Great job!

Expand full comment
Brian Frederick Kirk's avatar

The alleged YMCA master baiter gives me Kucinich vibes. Perhaps he's got a political future? Great article.

Expand full comment
Christine's avatar

Great piece of writing! It’s been past time for a change how to affect the change I have no clue. Power has always been corrupted by said power. I don’t live in CLE but I have read PD for a very long time. You don’t mention Mike White or Kuchinich. Was there ever a mayor who actually looked out for Clevelanders? You are correct that Jimmy Haslem is the worst nfl owner ever!

Expand full comment