Plain Press

  • Clevelanders for Public Transit speaks out on proposed RTA service cuts

       (Plain Press December 2025) On Tuesday, November 18, during a presentation to the Board of Trustees on its 2026 operating budget, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) announced its plans to reduce bus service in 2026.    Service cuts are a life-threatening blow to a transit agency already struggling for relevance. People have…

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  • Truth is: We can no longer afford pro sports

    by Roldo Bartimole    (Plain Press August 2025) If the Browns domed stadium in Brook Park tiff tells anything it says loudly that Cleveland and Cuyahoga County taxpayers can no longer afford the rapacious desires of billionaire sports owners.    We simply cannot pay their tab any longer.    It is a hard truth for…

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  • Cleveland residents urged to address school district’s funding crisis

    by Chuck Hoven      (Plain Press April 2025) At the March Board of Education meeting, Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Warren Morgan reached out to school staff and community members to help the CMSD find $160 million in savings in over the next three years. Current projections show school district facing…

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  • Local governments violate Constitutional rights of protesters

    by Chuck Hoven      (Plain Press January 2025) Powerful interests seem to be at work to suppress the First Amendment rights of protesters engaged in bringing attention to Cuyahoga County’s $16 million investment in Israel Bonds that support a government in Israel which Amnesty International says is engaged in a genocide in Gaza. Protest March…

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  • When Ohioans Vote, We Win

    PHOTO COURTESY OF STATE SENATOR NICKIE ANTONIO’S OFFICE by Ohio Senate Democratic Leader Nickie J. Antonio    (Plain Press November 2024) In the past year, politically savvy Ohioans may have noticed an interesting phenomenon at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus. When members of the legislature discussed issues like protecting abortion access or legalizing recreational cannabis,…

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  • Cleveland leaders ignore their people

    by Roldo Bartimole      (Plain Press November 2024) Where are the political activists? Where are the Citizens?      Cleveland needs them badly.      The city has sunk into a silent obedience of acquiescence. Voters are in hiding. Leaders hide from them.      This is a serious problem.      A prognosis for a dead city.     …

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  • Time to tote the score in city of corporate welfare

    By Roldo Bartimole (Plain Press October 2024) In sports we keep records to see who is ahead and who is behind. It’s simple. Get the scores. It tells the story. I thought it was time to put up a scoreboard that gives us some feel for what the tally is on downtown public subsidies. Where the…

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  • Teacher calls for funds to be restored to Comprehensive Extracurricular Activities Plan

    by Errol Savage    (Plain Press, November 2023) The Comprehensive Extracurricular Activities Plan (CEAP), funded by the citizens of Cleveland for the benefit of children, is being robbed. COMMENTARY    Back in the 1990s our football stadium was built by taxpayers; the private owners of the stadium received a lifetime exemption from paying property taxes…

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  • Tremont residents should examine how to maintain a diverse neighborhood

    Tremont residents should examine how to maintain a diverse neighborhood by Chuck Hoven (Plain Press, October 2022)  Tremont residents should be encouraged to participate in Ideastream’s Justin Glanville My Changing Neighborhood discussions where there is an examination of how to maintain a diverse neighborhood when gentrification is occurring.    The Tremont neighborhood could use some…

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  • 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…

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