Three Minute Speech on Why I Wanted to Be District 10 Councilman

Each of the four candidates were only given three minutes to provide the 70 people gathered a reason for why they wanted their vote for the vacancy of District 10 Cuyahoga County Council person.  The elected officials voted before anyone spoke and selected the staff person for Armond Buddish, Michael Houser, as their choice to fill the vacancy.  Then each candidate was given three minutes to make their pitch to the Ward and Precinct leaders who showed up.  I believe that they needed a minimum of 26 to have quorum while 46 showed up to vote.  Two of the candidates, Cleveland Hts City Councilmember, Cheryl Stephens, as well as Houser have long experience with the Democrats and campaigning for office.  In fact, Ms. Stephens was a precinct committee chair so was also allowed to vote.  They both had called and contacted the Democratic Central Committee to campaign for the job.  All this was fair and above board, but I just don't understand why the other candidates did not say what they planned to do if elected.  Isn't that the point?  Here is the three minutes that I gave.  It obviously was the absolute wrong approach since I only convinced one person to vote for me.

My name is Brian Davis and I was the executive director of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless in Cleveland.  I know that I am the long shot candidate here since I am not African American and 60% of the district is.  I am not a Democratic insider and not a major fundraiser.   But I promise I will work extra hard to overcome these deficiencies to make you proud that you cast your vote for me.

I do have a history of registering thousands of Democratic voters in Cleveland, and provided hundreds of rides to the polls to assure that those I registered participated in the election.  I understand election law having sued the state on a number of occasions over access to voting.  I have a strong Civil Rights background in protecting a largely African American constituency.  I know the county from the side of those who are trying to access services and those trying to have their grievances resolved.

I am very good at solving problems by working collaboratively as demonstrated by coordinating all the services for those who sleep outside in the County.  I have a history of listening to my constituents and then proposing public policy solutions.  I want to do the same for those in Cleveland Hts, East Cleveland and University Hts. I have a clear set of goals that I would work on as County Councilmember including reducing poverty, reducing segregation and restoring confidence that Cuyahoga County can solve problems especially for individuals. I am also a good writer and will remain in regular contact with ward and precinct leaders.

Why am I running for office?  I am not sure that the Council has lived up to its potential by providing good constituent service to those who are having a problem with the County or those trying to access help.  I am committed to improving human services in Cuyahoga County. I want the County Council to be a venue to discuss problems and propose solutions.  I want the County to be the neutral arbiter to work through the financial issues in East Cleveland.  I believe that I have the proven background to be successful in my work amplifying the voice of homeless people.

Some of the specific projects that I want to work on include a public hearing with the local banks to hear their commitment to the Community Re-Investment Act and the Fair Housing Act in order to generate more funds for human services or housing development.  I also want to work on reducing the 22,000 evictions in Cuyahoga County especially those facing retaliation by their landlords, those victims of domestic violence, and also passing a County wide ordinance to make lead a nuisance to make it easier for the courts to protect lead poisoned kids.  This is all that I have time for, but I do have a long agenda for the Council so I hope that you will give me your vote.

Some other items that I did not have time to mention:

1. Reduce infant mortality by convening religious groups to open a shelter for pregnant women like every other large county has in Ohio. 
2. Integrate all the anti poverty programs to work together like CMHA, MetroHealth, and addiction services. 
3. Set a numeric goal for reducing poverty every year and put the Dept. of Human Services Director in charge of meeting this goal.
4. Host the Land Bank in a discussion of how to expand their services including the development of an urban homesteading program. 
5. The County needs to take the lead in improving the quality of education throughout the 32 districts in Cuyahoga County.  How do we help every child succeed?  Should we share revenue or eliminate the geographic barriers to lift every boat?
6. Expand food stamp usage by expanding Foodbank Benefit Bank outreach including going to meet with Tri-C students.  
7. Drag every state legislator into the County Council to demand action on the RTA budget shortfall.  Use the bully pulpit to demand state action to protect public transportation.
8. Are all seniors receiving the services that they deserve esp those living in cities that are suffering with municipal cuts and those living in the shelters. 
9. All publicly funded programs should be evaluated on their impact of improving the lives to the tax payers.  Ex: How many jobs were created by a training program and how much did each of those jobs cost the County? 

by Brian Davis