Schumann's Cleveland Pages archives

This archive article is selected from The Cleveland Pages, the city's only weekly independent journal of politics and opinion on the Internet. Find out all about the Cleveland Pages here, or check out the current issue.

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News Stories We'd Like to See (13 December 1999)

CLEVELAND, December 13, 1999-- Economic development officials and Mayor Michael White today canceled plans to develop a new taxpayer-funded convention center in downtown Cleveland.

At today's press conference on St. Clair Avenue, in front of the existing Convention Center, Mayor White announced that "the cost-benefit just isn't there. We tried, and we tried, and we tried to make the numbers work. We simply couldn't find a way for this thing to cost-justify itself, no matter how hard Chris's people [referring to Economic Development director Chris Warren] worked the numbers."

"Two task forces appointed by the Mayor to plan the site location and financing for this thing have had their deadlines come and go," said one observer who declined to be identified. "They're so late they make that 'Cleveland Pages' guy look punctual... and that's saying something. You know, Schueller, Schroeder, Shulman, that guy?"

All parties conceded that the task forces ran out of steam when they realized the size of the discrepancy between the need for a new Convention Center and its likely actual cost. The task force on financing gave up completely when it became apparent that the city doesn't have the tax base or resources to spend another $500 million after paying for virtually all of the Rock Hall, draining tax-increment financing from Tower City, and undertaking three new sports facilities.

"I'd love to be able to announce the project details," continued Mayor White, "but the important thing today is that our everyday budgetary needs come first. Up until today, we never made good on our plans for a 2000-member police force, but we are doubling up our classes of police cadets for the next three years, using the extra cash that seems to have become available since this building project has been stricken from the projected budget."

When asked for his reasoning, White stated simply, "Our rationale was simple; 'superior services' is in our mission statement and 'new convention center' is not. That's because people care about timely police response and clean air more than they want new buildings that they hardly ever use."

"Our Health Department had been struggling to retain EPA certifications, and I'm happy to say that $10 million of what we'd expected to spend on the Convention Center will go towards strengthening health programs and improving administration of grant-based programs," White said. Ward 15 Councilwoman Merle Gordon, who chairs Council's Public Health committee, barely stifled a cheer.

Joe Roman of Cleveland Tomorrow took the lectern in agreement. "We've been shortsighted," he admitted. "In looking out for big-ticket building projects, Cleveland Tomorrow had forgotten the need for a viable city all round. We at Cleveland Tomorrow fully back the Mayor in this decision. Everyone knows that the projected job and tax benefits have always been pretty much made up... we learned that from Gateway... and in any case no remotely honest accounting could come up with half a billion dollars worth of payoff."

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