Plain Press

  • Passing of ADAMHS Board of Cuyahoga County CEO Valeria A. Harper and designation of Acting CEO

    (Plain Press, February 2018)        On January 10, 2018 the Alcohol Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County (ADAMHS)  issued the following statement announcing with  “great sadness and broken hearts” the untimely passing of its Chief Executive Officer, Valeria A. Harper. Ms. Harper was a staunch advocate for those living with mental illness…

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  • Cleveland’s poverty rate – how we compare with Cuyahoga County, Ohio and the nation

    by Chuck Hoven (Plain Press, January 2018)          How does the poverty rate in Cleveland compare to the poverty rate in Cuyahoga County, the State of Ohio and the rest of the nation? A City of Cleveland profile, published by The Center for Community Solutions, indicates the percentage of the City of Cleveland’s population living below…

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  • Panel discussion addresses opioid epidemic in Cuyahoga County

    by Chuck Hoven (Plain Press, November 2017)      Residents, community agency representatives and local experts joined together to listen to and interact with a panel addressing the opioid crisis. The panel discussion held at Cleveland Clinic Lutheran Hospital’s Castele Center Auditorium on October 11 was titled Heroin, Fentanyl and Carfentanil: The Triple Threat on our…

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  • Greater Cleveland Congregations challenge “the politics of privilege”

    by Chuck Hoven (Plain Press, September 2017)     Greater Cleveland Congregations (GCC) has a simple idea, if we can raise huge sums of public money to benefit a downtown development project like the expansion of the Quicken Loans Arena (the Q), we should be able to raise a similar amount to address real needs of Cleveland…

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  • IT IS JUST THE SAME OLD STORY—SELLOUT!

    IT IS JUST THE SAME OLD STORY—SELLOUT! by Roldo Bartimole (Plain Press, September 2017)     Fifty years ago, this headline appeared in the Plain Dealer: “NEGRO PASTORS TO SHUN ORGANIZER ALINSKY” Things don’t change much in Cleveland, do they? Not in 50 years anyway. Unless you truly understand—they do change. They get worse. I wrote that story…

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  • QUICKEN ARENA DEAL OFF/BACK ON: AS PREDICTED

    QUICKEN ARENA DEAL OFF/BACK ON: AS PREDICTED by Roldo Bartimole (Plain Press, September 2017)     (As this was being written the biggest sell-out in Cleveland history and likely the most damaging one for a community activist group in America took place. The Greater Cleveland Congregations, just as Mayor Jackson, Kevin Kelley, Armond Budish, Dan Brady, and…

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  • Roldo weighs in on Ohio Supreme Court Decision on Quicken Loans Arena Referendum JACKSON, KELLEY: PURPOSEFUL BUNGLED BLUNDER

    Roldo weighs in on Ohio Supreme Court Decision on Quicken Loans Arena Referendum JACKSON, KELLEY: PURPOSEFUL BUNGLED BLUNDER by Roldo Bartimole The Ohio Supreme Court ruling really says that Mayor Frank Jackson and Council President Kevin Kelley played an underhanded trickster game not only with the people of Cleveland but with democratic process itself in…

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  • ADAMHS Board of Cuyahoga County announces new CEO

    (Plain Press, August 2017)   The Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) Board of Cuyahoga County formally announces its unanimous decision to select Valeria A. Harper, MA, CDCA, as the organization’s Chief Executive Officer effective August 1, 2017. Ms. Harper follows William M. Denihan, current CEO who will be retiring on July 31, 2017, to lead…

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  • Greater Cleveland Congregations’ campaign sheds light on deal for Quicken Loans Arena

    by Chuck Hoven (Plain Press, March 2017)             Greater Cleveland Congregations’ campaign to create a Community Equity Fund with a dollar to dollar match of any new public money pledged to upgrade Quicken Loans Arena (The Q), has brought increased public scrutiny to the proposal to expand the arena. The testimony, at the February 21st…

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  • Juvenile Court Judge urges more state dollars for residential treatment programs

    (Plain Press, March 2017) Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Judge Michael Ryan urged Cuyahoga County residents to lobby their state legislature for an increase in funding for residential treatment programs for juveniles in Cuyahoga County. Judge Ryan said if judges had the option of sending more of the youths they see in Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court…

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