• Debate over tax breaks for nonprofit Cleveland area hospitals is also about racism and redlining

    Debate over tax breaks for nonprofit Cleveland area hospitals is also about racism and redlining by Stephanie Czekalinski & Michael Indriolo  This is part two of a series examining the tax-exempt status of nonprofit hospitals in Northeast Ohio and how the loss of tax dollars impacts communities. Plain Press, August 2022        Nonprofit hospitals like the Cleveland Clinic receive…



  • Cleveland nonprofit hospitals get millions in property tax breaks. Many are asking, ‘Is it worth it?’

    Cleveland nonprofit hospitals get millions in property tax breaks. Many are asking, ‘Is it worth it?’ by Stephanie Czekalinski & Michael Indriolo Plain Press, July 20220                             Nora and David Brown live in a two-story single-family home in Cleveland’s Fairfax neighborhood. The modest home on East 100th Street, with a gabled roof and an enclosed porch, is just a block away…


  • Cleveland City Council passes new tax abatement legislation

    Cleveland City Council passes new tax abatement legislation Plain Press, July 20220                             At a special meeting held on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, Cleveland City Council passed legislation that will restructure the City of Cleveland’s tax abatement policy.       A press release immediately following the meeting from Cleveland City Council Chief of Communications Joan Mazzolini explains the new…


  • Local and state politicians show more empathy to developers than to Cleveland’s children

    Local and state politicians show more empathy to developers than to Cleveland’s children by Chuck Hoven Plain Press, July 20220                             Cleveland’s new tax abatement policy set to start on January 1, 2024, while better than the current policy, does little to address the glaring need to substantially increase the flow of property taxes to the Cleveland…


  • Students say farewell to Clark School with a return date in August of 2025

    Students say farewell to Clark School with a return date in August of 2025 Plain Press, July 20220                             On May 27th Students from Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s Clark School were outside enjoying a plastic climbing wall and other activities in the play area in front of the school at 5550 Clark Avenue. The celebration was somewhat of…


  • Cleveland City Council weighs proposals to change Cleveland’s tax abatement policy

    PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN Monday, May 16, 2022; Cleveland City Council Meeting, Cleveland City Hall, 601 Lakeside Avenue: During the Public Comment period at the Cleveland City Council Meeting, Ward 4 resident David Beach addresses Cleveland City Council on the issue of the reauthorization of the City’s residential tax abatement program.  Speaking of the Justin Bibb…


  • Ohio Fair Lending Coalition and City Council hold Public Forum to address fair lending issues

    by Bruce Checefsky (Plain Press, June 2022)                            The Ohio Fair Lending Coalition, a collaboration of organizations across the state of Ohio banding together to address fair lending and banking issues, sponsored a forum featuring the newly elected Cleveland City Council members Deborah Gray, Ward 4; Richard Starr, Ward 5; Stephanie Howse, Ward 7; and Kris Harsh, Ward…


  • Advocates calling for City of Cleveland to take measures to slow traffic, cite traffic fatality on W. 50th Street

    PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN Monday, May 16, 2022; Cleveland City Council Meeting, Cleveland City Hall, 601 Lakeside Avenue: During the Public Comment period, Ward 15 resident Nora Rodriguez testified about a traffic problem on W. 81st Street just north of Madison. Rodriguez said cars don’t stop at the stop sign at W. 81st and Lawn Avenue. She…


  • City Planning Commission votes to approve MetroHealth’s plan for a 3-acre park

    by Chuck Hoven (Plain Press, June 2022)          The Cleveland Planning Commission voted unanimously on May 20th to approve the final plans for a 3-acre park on the MetroHealth Campus. The park, expected to be completed by the end of this year, will be located between W. 25th and Scranton Road on land that now has a 250-car surface parking…