October 08, 2009
Posted by:
Joe Roman
In less than a month, Cuyahoga County will be standing at the crossroads of opportunity. Voters, on November 3rd, will decide the important question of whether we want to go on as we have been, or take a real chance at transforming/improving our future.
We’ve been at this intersection before, so here’s hoping that this time Cuyahoga County turns the correct way.
Yes, we are experiencing some tough economic times, but that doesn’t mean we can’t change so as to prosper.
Issue 6—an improved, reformed structure of county government—addresses some of the county’s real needs and challenges, and better positions us to realize our full potentials. Instead of three county commissioners serving as both the executive and legislative branches of county government, the commissioners would be replaced by a single, elected county executive and an 11-member county council. Every community in the county would have elected representation.
Some county offices that now perform similar duties would be consolidated. Hiring would be done in a more professional manner. This streamlined, more efficient form of government would place more emphasis upon economic development and job creation throughout Cuyahoga County. This is a prime reason why the Greater Cleveland Partnership supports Issue 6, and it should be an equally important reason why every voter in Cuyahoga County supports it. Savings from these efficiencies can be invested in our region’s assets, leveraging other private dollars at the same time in order to realize growth in jobs and income.
We can realize new investment levels without raising our taxes by weeding out expenses that have little or no impact on our daily lives. Even social service agencies benefit little from the county employing more staff people than our peer counties.
We simply can’t tread water any longer. The status quo isn’t good enough. All of us who live here – irrespective of which political party we may support, where we work, or what we do for a living – share a nervous apprehension about greater Cleveland’s future.
We need to find ways to make our county more economically viable. We have competitive strengths, such as our lakefront, which distinguish our area as a place where investors could see value. However, if we don’t better make better use of our tax resources for economic development purposes, we’ll squander these assets. Further, we are likely to wake up and realize our kids and grandkids haven’t come back to northeastern Ohio as we all hoped.
One way to better position us to compete is to make Cuyahoga County government more efficient, more responsive to the public and more focused upon economic development and job creation. Issue 6 alone won’t solve all that ails us, but it is an important step toward those goals.
Issue 5, on the other hand, is a call to stand still. Issue Five proposes yet another study of our county government that is likely to lead where previous “studies” ended up…nowhere. While this costly, time-consuming study is being conducted, Cuyahoga County government would continue as is, with its sputtering engine stuck in neutral, when acceleration is needed. That’s’ not good enough for me, and I hope it’s not good enough for you.
The time for study has come and gone. We need to move forward. Now!
Vote for our future. Vote yes on Issue 6. Vote no on Issue 5.
Category:
Advocacy
Tags:
issue 6,
issue 5,
cuyahoga county,
charter reform