Writing in Cleveland 3

After almost a month, I have fallen down on the job of writing frequently.  I only did every other day these last two weeks.  I tried to do some cover letters for potential jobs, but could not find the motivation.  I did not write any letters these last two weeks. I sent a couple of longer e-mails and posted on twitter regularly.  The cold was really rough and was exhausting.  January is the roughest month for the population which I previously served.  It is cold and depressing living in Cleveland.  There is no spending time with family and friends like in November and December.  As a matter of fact, families often break up in January.  A Grandma or wife will push their family members out after the holidays when bills get tough or being in close contact for so long strain relationships. Property taxes were due which is always tough.

I did spend some time writing these tweets:
1/29: No matter what we do or what we offer there are always a handful of people who will stay outside in the extreme cold. The key is to have enough caring people in our society to keep an eye on these people and visit them frequently to keep them alive. #PolarVortex2019

1/28: Dear Mr. Schultz: Do you actually think that America will perceive you (the former CEO of Left Coast Coffee) as a centrist? Every comedian knows that it is an easy laugh to substitute "Starbucks" for progressive-liberal-cale-eating-Birkenstock-wearing-safe-space-left wing nutjob.

I am never watching another Trump State of the Union. Last year I took a sip of Dortmunder Gold after every LIE uttered. I was so drunk by the first half hour that I had to take the next day off of work. Bad memories and much sickness everytime I see Trump Lie now.

1/27: Vintage Wall Porn: Remember those scenes of the guard towers over the Berlin Wall and people caught in the barbed wire after being shot by the East Berlin guards. Great times and it was remarkably effective in building pride in Making East Germany Great Again.

I think Reagan would die if we brought him back to life and he saw his beloved GOP embrace Russia and walls. What happened to "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall?" Also, Reagan was the last President to grant amnesty to those working in the US.

1/25: I have to admit that I was wrong about Nancy Pelosi. I said that she was too old to be Speaker again, but I now see she was the only person to be able to own Individual 1. I see now that no other Rep could have kept this coalition together. Many props Nancy!

I am so happy to see the arrest and indictment of Roger Stone because that is one day closer to the indictment and arrest of Don Jr and Jared Kushner. They are coming for you Donny!

Remember for the future that the allegedly fiscally conservative @senrobportman wants to waste $5.7 billion on a vanity wall that is easily circumvented and did not support opening the government while negotiations go on. His whole career is a throne of lies

1/23: Does this longest shutdown in history show us that we do not need a US Senate? They are undemocratic (equal votes by NY and Wyoming) and they are no longer a deliberative body. They are extremists voting out minority opinions. #ENDUSSenate

[Regarding the creation of a "Lead Elimination Coalition"] I believe we have had a volunteer lead reporting program since 1980 in Cleveland, and it has not worked. We have heard every Mayor say it is a "public health crisis," and then do nothing. This is more of the same.

1/21: I feel a great deal of Twitter pressure to quote MLK today, but I can't get beyond the anger I feel after a racist President defiled the memorial to a compassionate and great man today. I know that MLK would want us to turn the other cheek, but it is so hard in the face of evil.

The inept [Cuyahoga} Co Executive office, selecting staff based on their political connections, & placing unqualified people into vacant @CuyahogaCouncil slots by the Dem party is the reason I left the @CuyahogaDems. They only want to reward Dems & not solve problems.

1/20: They are talking expulsions at Covington Catholic HS over the confrontation Friday of Omaha Elder @ the March for Some Life. They should expel the principal who booked the students going to a political rally without the proper knowledge of true dignity of all life,

I went to a Catholic Jesuit H School & am torn apart by how one issue (abortion) has taken over social justice teaching. What happened to welcome the stranger? Opposition to the death penalty? The dignity of all men? Love thy neighbor as yrslf? Shameful!

1/19: I tried to get a name plate for my desk that said, "The Buck Stops with Everyone," but the company turned me down saying that it was stupid and refused to waste their engraver's time. The downfall of capitalism?

1/18: I am having English Muffins for breakfast in the hopes that it prompts the British to have a second Brexit vote now that their eyes are open. The first vote was as corrupt as the 2016 US Elections!

That is something, I think

Brian Davis

Writing in Cleveland 2

Ten days and I have written everyday.  I wrote some letters and for the blog to keep in practice.  I looked for writing jobs, but could not find any honest work.  I got about 2 dozen hits on the blog, but no comments.  I don't think I made my goal of three readers to things that I have written yet.  Work in progress.  I am looking for something to keep me active, but not in a leadership role.  I do not want the weight of the world on my backs and I do not want to be the person to keep the doors open.  I did that for 20 years while trying to push a social justice message on the world.  I don't think one person can piss off the leadership of many in the community at the same time as that person begs for money to continue to do the work.  Both are valuable, but need to be done by two different people.  "I hear you that you are angry with my tone in my social media post, Mr. United Way.  I know that I metaphorically blew the doors off your office with my rhetoric calling attention to your hypocrisy in funding decisions, Mr. United Way, but I was wondering if you could spare a couple of thousand dollars to relocate some angry homeless people into housing?"

I took myself out of the social justice struggle two days after a narcissist, misogynist, grifter, and racist won the Presidency of the United States.  I think I finally realized we lost, and we were not going to see a civil rights type of change in our society for the next in my lifetime..  I had spent the previous 23 years of fighting complacency and input-free decision making in Cuyahoga County, but saw that the times they were a changin'.  I had to fight those in power who felt that they knew better than those on the bottom of the economic prosperity ladder.  I had to battle some of the biggest "do-gooders" in our community who I saw were keeping people poor, isolated and docile.  Once I realized that poor people were never going to take power from the current leaders, I tried to get those at the top to at least listen before they allocated money or made policy decisions over the management of poverty.  I failed.  I saw the number of deaths increasing while the number of shelter beds decreasing locally.  I saw civil rights and justice rotting on the tree of liberty.  Things have gotten worse over the last 2 years culminating in an awful state election in Ohio for 2018.  While progressives made great strides in much of the country, deeply red Ohio went backwards.  It is unlikely there will be the flood of money coming to Ohio in 2020 to get out the vote since we will no longer be perceived as a battleground state.

We can boast of high infant mortality and a huge brain drain in Ohio.  Residents are getting older and far less likely to embrace change.  In our pitch to attract new residents, Ohio can champion a high local tax rate, while paradoxically features a poor public educational system for the majority.  We do not have very good public transportation, and a shrinking population and thus a shrinking tax base.  We have a large number of people who would like to take us back to the 1950s including our position on diversity.  All of these issues and we keep voting against our own interests by electing Republicans.   A majority of Ohioans elect people who boast of hating the government that they want to run.  It is like hiring Rep. Steve King selected to head La Raza, the Hispanic empowerment movement.   If you do not want to solve problems and make it better for "we the people" then stay in the private sector selling cars or farm equipment. I have given up on Ohio and see good ideas and progress exclusively on the West Coast. The best Ohio will do is manage the crisis after people have died.  Ohio is East Indiana or North West Virginia.

Onward.

Brian Davis

Worst of 2018: Cuyahoga County Scandals

It is the beginning of the new year so time to look back at 2018.  I decided to put down on paper the worst of 2018 list and top of my worst list was Cuyahoga County scandals.  It is amazing to me that "We the People" went through all those perp walks, trials and resignations for what?  We threw out the "We Three Kings..." form of government and went forward with a new charter that is not even a decade old and is showing cracks. There were lots and lots of meetings, a vote, and more meetings to arrive at investigations, resignations and grand juries.  There was the creation of the legislative body which was supposed to be a check on the executive, but in my opinion we have a way more corrupt County government than we had in 2006.  I mean, we all understand bribing politicians and those who sought a public position in order to enrich themselves and their friends, but people are dying in our jail today.  We all knew Jimmy Dimora and his crew were taking a piece of the action, and his defense was that he was just taking gifts from friends. He got greedy while the others in the County just took the normal going rate for graft or looked the other way.  Now, we have ignorance, incompetence, and a power dynamic that result in people dying. Also, in 2008 when this corruption broke there was one issue of corrupt employees being bribed by corrupt business folks. Today, the corruption seems more wide spread with a heaping helping of stupid decisions and a side dish of "see-no-evil."

There are a great many problems within the County that I could chose from, but I tried to narrow it down to the bottom 10.  There was the issue of the Juvenile Detention Center construction and on-going issues with treatment of young people who break the law within the facility. The racial disparity that still exists in the county and the disproportionate impact of poverty on African Americans. The inability to pass legislation that would cross municipal jurisdictions to improve the lives of all County residents. The expanding power of quasi-government agencies without elected oversight such as the RTA, CMHA, Land Bank, and the MetroParks. The bogus use of tax dollars to renovate playgrounds for the rich and the crazy deal made with Greater Cleveland Congregations to withdraw the petition drive over funding for the Q Glass Menagerie project.  The huge outlays of money to upgrade County computers, data, and communication systems that seem to be stuck on endless repeat.  The cozy relationship with Hyland software by County staff.  There is the on-going question over why did the County Executive intervene to get a MetroHealth employee fired from the jail?  Anyway, there are plenty of scandals to probe.  It is too bad there are not more journalists in this community to investigate all these issues.

I narrowed it down to the issues that impact the largest number of people in 2018 or had the most serious consequences.  Here are my bottom list.

10. Contracting process. Many of the scandals involve improper awarding of contacts. For all that they did to protect tax payer dollars in the reform, there are still major issues.  Even with County Council oversight things are messed up.  I have seen really disorganized and near bankrupt groups being awarded contracts out of convenience or a lack of competition.  I have seen County employees steer contracts to groups that they favor or because staff were unfairly influenced by powerful people in the community.  I don't know how to protect taxpayers, but the current system gives too much power to the bureaucrats.  There is favoritism in awarding contracts that is ripe for abuse and does not serve the best interest of tax payers.

9. Chief of Staff issues.  Have we resolved the fact that we were paying the County Executive's Chief of Staff to go to school or to not be in Cuyahoga County doing work on our behalf?  Are we sure that this cannot happen again with the new Chief of Staff?  It brings up the competency of the County Executive who allowed this situation to exist, and the judgement of the people he has hired who thought that splitting time in Columbus could benefit Cuyahoga County taxpayers.

8. No Competition in the Election.  This may not be a scandal, but it is troubling.  There was no real candidate to challenge the County Executive or in the County Council during the general election.  Are the elected jobs so useless that it is not worth competing or have the parties taken control of the process so that they award the jobs to those who have earned it? Are we electing the best and the brightest to solve problems or are we electing the people who we are told to by the party?  What incentive do they have to serve the constituents if they have a guaranteed job?

7. Hiring Practices and Overtime.  The hiring procedures are not a unique issue with the County since most government agencies provide jobs to friends and donors.  My experience is that the County hiring process is unfair and full of patronage, nepotism and based on who you know.  This would be fine for the mom and pop shoe store, but these are tax payer dollars.  We need people who want to serve and want to solve problems in these jobs.  We want someone who cares giving out food stamps and not someone who would sell those stamps for 50% of face value.  We want people who care about the elderly in those jobs not someone who would say,  "I am sorry, but since the senior does not have a fixed address, we cannot prove she is a resident of the County so I can't help her." I do not see how merit is involved in the hiring process.  Then there was the matter of paying salaried staff for overtime which the County Executive had authorized as a part of this scandal. Then the Executive just re-wrote the new personnel rules himself.  Strange?

6. Homeless Families. I have not kept on this issue since 2017, but things were bad at that time.  The City Mission twitter feed still says they are turning away families everyday.  I am sure that if things had improved, government would have championed it on the front page of the Plain Dealer. It seems that this is a scandal that no one is covering in this city. Children have no place to go.  There are no services for pregnant women.  Families are regularly walking the streets during the afternoon and weekend without a place to be inside.  School is suffering and children do not have a safe place to rest their head or assurance they will have a place tomorrow.  That shit can really mess with your head--even an eight year old's mind.

5. Children and Family Services. A number of children have died after the County opened up a file on their caretakers.  They are overwhelmed because of the opioid crisis, but they have either not asked for enough personnel or they are poorly managed or both.  This should be a topic of discussion every week at the Council.  Again, we need more journalists to find out what is wrong with this agency.

4. Education Disparity and Brain Drain. We have 20 school districts and now a bunch of charter schools with every level of quality within the County.  If a child is born on the east side of Cleveland, they will most likely get a poor education while those in Beachwood get a top notch education.  We are destroying the future by not preparing these kids for the future.  We are selfishly maintaining geographic segregation with our tax dollars to assure that our own kids are taken care of while others use 30 year old textbooks.  We have full time nurses and computer classes and guidance counselors at one school while in other schools those are luxuries.  This cannot be solved school district to school district and the State has washed their hands of this situation.  It is up to the County to bring answers.  The results of not doing this is a workforce ill-prepared to work and those who are lucky enough to win the education lottery move out of the state.  Who wants to stay in a state that is poorly governed with high taxes paying for assistance to those who can only find low paying jobs?

3. Housing Instability in the County.  There are many issues within the County housing stock from the sharp rise in property values to the large number of exceptions made.  Some journalist needs to examine this issue to see if there was impropriety.  Is there a lead issue in the suburbs like in Cleveland?  The loss of the Cleveland Tenants Organization to protect the rights of people has to have an impact on the rental market.  The vacant and abandoned property along with the empty land that pock mark our suburban landscape are all issues that need further investigation. This is another under reported story that we never got our head back above water after the crisis.

2. East Cleveland.  It is still in free-fall and there is no hope in sight.  They still have only 30% of the population paying any taxes with needs for about 300% of the population to pay for the needs.  The population is shrinking in East Cleveland, but so is the viability of the city.   The streets are bad, there are few municipal services and public safety spending is low.  A mostly African American population is suffering and no one in the County is doing anything.

1. The Jail.  This is by far the worst scandal facing the county.  The conditions are deplorable and guards do not seem to have much supervision.  The bail system has not been fixed, and people are dying in jail.  We have not fixed the need for mental health issues at the jail, and the health care system is broken.  Overall, the jail is a scandal of epic proportions, and one that our new shiny government has ignored or covered up or both. They have meetings to discuss the issue, but no one is taking responsibility for the scandal and proposing immediate or long term fixes.  It is all talk, talk, talk.

by Brian Davis

Can You Make Reservations at Federal Prison?

Federal Correctional Facility in Morgantown Assistant to the Warden: "Hello, Morgantown Correctional Institute, Warden McClendon's Office."

Donnie Jr: "Hi, I was wondering if I could make a reservation for September."

Warden McClendon's Assistant: "I am sorry this is a federal prison."

Donnie Jr:  "I understand, but I am concerned that...something is going to happen in the next few months and I will be sent to a place like OZ. No offense, if you worked there in the past.  I was talking to Congressman Renzi and he said that your facility was top notch with the bocce ball court and the movie theater. How do I secure a spot at Morgantown.

Warden McClendon's Assistant: "That is not how things work with jail, sir."

Donnie Jr:  "Why not?  Why can't you reserve your space if you know what is coming down the line?"

Warden McClendon's Assistant: "Sir, that is just not how it works.  The judge, the federal prosecutors have some input, but the Bureau of Prisons makes the final decision where you serve your time."

Donnie Jr: "What the hell are you talking about? This is 2019! There is Airbnb, Priceline...Have you heard of God damned KAYAK? I should be able to log into a website to secure my spot.  I ran a big company and should be provided some consideration.  I am special, and need a friend here.  How much do I have to donate or pass along to get a space at Morgantown."

Warden McClendon's Assistant: "Calm down, sir. Are you attempting to bribe me?  I cannot help you..."

Donnie Jr:  "Me, calm down, I am going down for helping my family. No, I am not trying to bribe you, but I know money can buy anything.  Do you understand that I have a new girlfriend, am going through a divorce and all you have to say is, 'calm down.' What is your name?"

Warden McClendon's Assistant: "My name is Michelle Gonzalez  and my family is from Puerto Rico.  It is a crime to harass and bribe a Bureau of Prisons employee, sir."

Donnie Jr:  "They can add it to my plea deal.  What are those misdemeanors, lady?  I am sorry that your family is from a foreign county, but I have nothing to do with the federal government.  I have big problems that could result in serious time. [pauses...breaths deeply].  Ms Gonzalez, I helped undermine a U.S election so harassing a federal employee is nothing.  No one in history has committed the level of crime that I am accused of.  Look, I need to get into Morgantown and cannot be sent to Oz.  The Muslims, Latinos, and the Homeboys are not big fans of my family, and they would take it out on me. I am sure I could get help from the Aryan Brotherhood and that J. Jonah Jameson guy who led them, but I don't want to have sex with men.  Please, get me in Morgantown. I would spend the next 10 years in solitary if I go to Oz. You got to help me, Michelle."

"Hello...Hello. She hung up on me."

Donnie Jr spent the rest of the day unsuccessfully attempting to use Suri to find a website that allows a person to reserve a space in a specific federal prison.

by Brian Davis

Is Pink Floyd's Mother About Individual 1

I know that Pink Floyd's Mother was created in the late 1970s by a group of British Rockers, but the words fit Donald Trump so perfectly.  He has mommy issues and maybe Roger Water's met Trump on a trip to the States.  Maybe he saw this playboy real estate scam artist and wrote a song about him.  Maybe the whole Wall album is some masterful premonition or psychedelic nightmare for the future.  President John Barron is obsessed over the Wall that he crashed the U.S. government, so it makes sense that the album is about him.  Or maybe in his partying days of the 1980s, he saw the movie and became obsessed with building a Wall so that he would be remembered.  He only ran for President to feed his obsession, because he realized a private citizen cannot build a "Great Wall." 

Did David Dennison come before the movie or was the movie the inspiration for isolated dangerous character occupying the White House?  Will we soon see Trump without eyebrows and all his hair removed marching around the West Wing goose stepping and giving the crossed hammer sign?  Anyway, I altered the words only slightly to fit with our new reality.  It works.

Individual 1’s Mother

Adapted from the Pink Floyd Song

Mother, do you think they'll drop the bomb?
Mother, do you think they'll like this scam?
Mother, do you think they'll try to break my balls?
Mother, should I build a wall?

Mother, should I run for President?
Mother, should I trust the government?
Mamma, will they put me in Viet Nam?
Should I say my feet are flat?

Hush now baby, baby don't you cry
Mother's gonna make all of your nightmares come true
Mamma's gonna put all of her fears into you
Mamma's gonna keep you right here under her wing

She won't let you fly but she might let you sell
Mamma's gonna keep baby cozy and dumb
Ooh babe, ooh baby, ooh babe
Of course mother's gonna help build the wall

Momma, do you think she'll put up with me?
Momma, do you think she's dangerous, to me?
Momma, will she tear your little boy apart?
Mother, will she break my NDA?

Hush now baby, baby don't you cry
Mamma's going to check out all your girlfriends for you
And mamma won't let anyone dirty get through
Mamma's gonna wait up until you come in

And mamma will always find out where you've been
Mamma's gonna keep baby healthy and clean
Ooh babe, ooh baby, ooh babe
You'll always be baby to me

Mother, did it need to be so high?

by Brian Davis

I Need to Write

I originally started writing this blog in hopes of keeping connected to the social justice community in Cleveland.  I had hoped that it would become a place for the social justice folks to turn to exchange ideas or maybe it would be something like Roldo's "Point of View" that people had to read to stay in the know.  I also wanted someplace to document the hardship I went through in Puerto Rico after Maria.  I had no outlet and this was a place to put down my thoughts.  Maybe I thought it would lead to a job where someone would see this blog and e-mail me a job offer.  Maybe, I thought that it would keep me in the game after 23 years of working in the area of advocacy.  Anyway, I had to get income and no one was reading, so I fell off of writing.

I know now that all that was fantasy-land.  This is never going to be anything more than an exercise in keeping up my writing skills. That alone is important, and worthwhile, but I need some other incentive to stay on a regular schedule.  My goal for 2019 is to get 3 people a week to read this blog and provide some positive feedback. Check that...any kind of feedback.  It will not happen the first month, but I do have to have a goal.  I mean writing something that no one will ever read is useless.  So, even if it just family members I will try to interest 3 people a week with this blog.  I will have to post regularly in order to attract interest. Plus the more that you write the more likely you get a hit.

Brian Davis
PS: The Photo is destruction of most of the leaves on the trees in Puerto Rico in late September 2017.

When Did Active Shooter on Campus Become the New Norm?

On top of the list of items that should not exist is a Wikipedia page listing all the school shootings in the United States.  This has every shooting that has ever taken place at school since the founding of the Republic.  The first 83 years of the United States from 1776 until the Civil War, there were only two deaths of students at a school.  The killer in the one incident was never found while the other was a principal who strangled a kid who had killed his bird.

The schoolmaster had a tame sparrow and had warned the students not to harm it, threatening death. One of the boys stepped on the bird and killed it; he was afraid to return to school but did so. After lessons, the master took the boy into a private room and strangled him to death. The boy's father went to the school and shot the schoolmaster dead.^[6]

From the founding of the country until 1969 there were 68 students who were killed at school while in just nine years from 2000 to 2009 72 students were killed.  From the graph, it is apparent that the  trend line is dramatically escalating with more and more of our young people dying?  For the first 200 years of this country, students were typically killed because of an individual beef between young people or stray bullets from off campus.  Most of the violence on campus involved teachers or school staff who were killed by students for giving them a bad grade or by other staff.  All of this changed in April of 1999 in Littleton, Colorado when two students came onto campus to kill 12 of their fellow students.  We have yet to address this rise in violence as a country and we have not even studied why students have turned toward murder and suicide at such an alarming rate.

The reality is that for the first 210 years of this country a violent death at school due to gun violence was horrendous and unthinkable.  Now, it is planned for with "active shooter drills" and unfortunately no response by our elected government.  We are sending our young people off to school in the morning and they are sent home in body bags.  Our youngest Kindergartners are not even safe as we saw in Sandy Hook, and nothing changed.  We need to hire single issue elected officials who will wake up every morning working toward an end to gun violence in America.

After Parkland, I went through the Wikipedia page and removed all the adults who died on campus, and counted only those under 24 years old (the age a brain finishes developing).  I included suicides and the death of the shooter if they were under 24 years old and died on campus. I reasoned that they were not helped and something in our society triggered this violence.  From the list above, there were 106 of our young people who did not return from school just in the last seven years while six students died in the first 100 years of this country.  We need to work toward a goal of six deaths over the next 100 years. If this trend continues and we do nothing, by the 2023 school year we will reach 100 student dying every year.  This violence and mass shootings must stop.

by Brian Davis
PS: By the way, I looked at the school shootings with the largest number of student deaths and only one of those individuals came from a family of divorce (Umpqua Community College) and one student had their parents die (Parkland).  So, those looking for an easy answer will have to look somewhere else.