Plain Press

  • Board of Education and citizens tasked with reviewing plan calling for massive change in the school system

    by Chuck Hoven    (Plain Press December 2025) The Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) Board of Education and the citizens of Cleveland are tasked with reviewing a plan for the future of the school district that will have a profound impact on the future of the City of Cleveland. The plan is titled Building Brighter…

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  • The poor pay for Cleveland’s politics of privilege

    by Chuck Hoven    (Plain Press November 2025) Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Community Solutions Emily Campbell issued a report in September of 2022 that said “the United States Census Bureau’s 2021 one-year estimates show that nearly 105,000 people in the City of Cleveland lived in poverty in 2021. Of those, more than…

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  • TRUTH IS: WE CAN NO LONGER AFFORD PRO SPORTS

    Truth is: We can no longer afford pro sports by Roldo Bartimole    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…

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  • History shows that nutrition education should play a greater role in efforts to prevent lead poisoning

    by Chuck Hoven    (Plain Press July 2025) In a June 11th Opinion piece in The Plain Dealer titled “No more delays or excuses. Clean up the toxic lead now – before more kids are poisoned”, The Plain Dealer editorial board reproduced a chart from the City of Cleveland that shows “Nearly one in five…

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  • History says Browns stay put

      by Roldo Bartimole (Plain Press June 2025) Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne is trying to save Cleveland.    He has put his foot down on rejecting a get-out-of-town demand from Browns owners – the Haslam family.    They’re asking for a $600 million input from County residents. Borrowed, the cost will likely double for Cuyahoga County…

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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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  • Cleveland City Planning Commission approves demolition of buildings in Old Brooklyn’s Historic District

    by Lynette Filips PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF OLD BROOKLYN 2005 Photo that accompanied the application of the South Brooklyn Commercial District to be on the National Register of Historic Places: On Friday, December 6th, the Cleveland Planning Commission approved the demolition of four buildings on the corner of Pearl Road and Memphis…

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  • City Council must speed up ward redistricting to meet new deadline

    by Chuck Hoven      (Plain Press December 2024) A November 22nd article in The Plain Dealer by Kaitlin Durbin and Courtney Astolfi titled “Surprise state election has council in a holiday rush”, says that City Council will have to reduce the number of Council Wards to 15 and draw new ward boundaries by January 6th.…

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  • “Rats R Us” – City of Cleveland ranks as the 10th rattiest city in the United States

    by Arthur Hargate   (Plain Press November 2024) So why is the recent story on Cleveland’s serious rat problem flying so quietly under the radar?     Is it because the local media is so careful about negative stories about Cleveland? Is it because it would annoy the region’s powerful, privileged, and pampered elites, who only…

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  • Reducing Cleveland’s poverty rate should be a priority for policy makers

    by Chuck Hoven      (Plain Press October 2024) Cleveland continues to have the second highest overall poverty rate and highest child poverty rate among American cities with populations of 300,000 or more. An analysis of data from the United States Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey by the Center for Community Solutions shows these data…

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