• PB CLE stages community event at ThirdSpace Action Lab

    PHOTO BY BRUCE CHECEFSKY Sunday, May 15, 2022; Participatory Budgeting in Action event, ThirdSpace Action Lab, 1464 E. 105th Street: Laylah Allen, Chief Executive Officer of The Missing Link, COPE Inc., and David Van Horn, a community artist and organizer for Art Block, participate in this effort to have citizens help determine how a portion of…


  • How residents can address issues concerning tax abatement and the Cleveland Community Development Corporations

    How residents can address issues concerning tax abatement and the Cleveland Community Development Corporations To the Editor: (Plain Press, June 2022)          The May 2022 issue of the Plain Press has to be the finest edition of the Plain Press of all time. It should be framed and mounted on the wall of Cleveland City Council’s chambers: https://plainpress.blog/2022/05/ .      Here…


  • MetroHealth Park plans reviewed at community meetings

    MetroHealth Park plans reviewed at community meetings by Chuck Hoven Plain Press, May 2022        The temporary 3-acre park proposed by MetroHealth Medical Center for an area just across Scranton Road from its new Glick Center was the subject of a community meeting held at the Family Ministry Center on Fulton Road on April 6th. The meeting…


  • Residents urged to contact Planning Commission to prevent demolition of Farnsworth House and Byelorussian Church

    Residents urged to contact Planning Commission to prevent demolition of Farnsworth House and Byelorussian Church To the editor: Plain Press, May 2022             The full Planning Commission meeting where the MetroHealth (MH) demolitions and temporary 3-acre park concept plan may be voted on has been moved to May 6th @ 9am.       I’ve been talking with some of…


  • Participatory Budgeting Cleveland presents its 2022 Action Plan

    Participatory Budgeting Cleveland presents its 2022 Action Plan by Bruce Checefsky Plain Press, May 2022             Molly Martin took the microphone to address Cleveland City Council on the need for Participatory Budgeting using The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funding. In her three-minute talk, Martin, a member of the PB CLE (Participatory Budgeting Cleveland), a coalition of individuals…


  • Twenty groups protest anti-protest efforts that are happening locally and statewide

    Twenty groups protest anti-protest efforts that are happening locally and statewide (Plain Press, January 2022)           Defending Democracy and Dissent, along with 20 other organizations, held a protest on Saturday, December 4th, that began on Public Square and ended in front of the Justice Center. The protest highlighted recent efforts to criminalize peaceful protesting in Cuyahoga County…


  • American Rescue Plan Act survey responses provide window into what Cleveland needs now

    American Rescue Plan Act survey responses provide window into what Cleveland needs now by Zachary & Lee Chilcote (Plain Press, December 2021)                 This past summer, the city of Cleveland mailed surveys to more than 120,000 homes and businesses asking residents, “How would you spend $511 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to make Cleveland healthier and…


  • Tamir’s Campaign for Justice calls on officials to reopen civil rights case

    Tamir’s Campaign for Justice calls on officials to reopen civil rights case by Michael Indriolo (Plain Press, December 2021)                 Public square is always noisy; however, for a brief moment on Tuesday November 9th, a pocket of the Cleveland landmark was filled not with the sounds of busses and construction, but with song. A mother cries for…


  • Council of Cleveland Neighborhoods presents concerns to mayoral candidates 

    Council of Cleveland Neighborhoods presents concerns to mayoral candidates  by Bruce Checefsky (Plain Press, November 2021)        With the majority of registered Cleveland voters staying home and choosing not to vote in the mayoral primary, it remains uncertain whether they’ll decide to cast a vote in the general election on November 2 for either Justin Bibb or…


  • Muddy waters: Issue 24 raises heated debate about police accountability

    Muddy waters: Issue 24 raises heated debate about police accountability by Michael Indriolo (Plain Press, November 2021)   LaTonya Goldsby was a teenager when the story of Rodney King’s brutal beating at the hands of LAPD broke. Again, she watched her TV with burning eyes when George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin in 2012. Then, Mike Brown was…