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Cleveland and Cuyahoga County need new policies to help residents address property tax delinquency
by Chuck Hoven (Plain Press August 2024) Cleveland homeowners face foreclosure at a higher rate than the national average. A good percentage of those foreclosures are due to residents getting behind on their property tax payments. Cleveland and Cuyahoga County policy makers could do a much better job in assuring residents are able stay…
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Local politicians fund wants of the wealthy over needs of the poor
by Chuck Hoven (Plain Press June 2024) Cleveland bears the distinction of having the highest child poverty rate among big cities in the United States. Yet rather than addressing this critical issue, Cleveland politicians continue to prioritize the wants of the wealthy and powerful over the needs of its poorest citizens – Cleveland’s children…
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Tax incentives waste resources and cripple efforts to end child poverty
By Chuck Hoven (Plain Press January 2024) The City of Cleveland’s policies are not only not producing growth in population, but they are also driving people out of the city. One resident opposed to an inappropriate development proposed for Lorain Avenue and some residential areas north of Lorain between W. 45th and W. 44th…
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Civics 2.0 students plead for funding for their program
by Chuck Hoven (Plain Press, November 2023) Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) students that participate in the extracurricular Civics 2.0 program came out in force to testify at the September meeting of the Cleveland Municipal School District Board of Education. The students were advocating for restoration of funding for their extracurricular program. During the…
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Have the Haslams and Gilberts been priming the pump?
by Chuck Hoven What should local politicians do when billionaires come calling for a handout? A recent post on a social media site featured a photo of Star Trek’s Spock, a character dedicated to logic. Underneath the photo is a comment about billionaires who claim they need a public contribution to make a…
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Additional funding needed for mental health programs and services
Additional funding needed for mental health programs and services by Chuck Hoven (Plain Press, October 2022) Individuals suffering from mental health crises often find themselves in court when it would be more appropriate for them to receive treatment that would allow them to have a path toward recovery from their illness. Instead, many end up…
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Cleveland’s approach to community development should put people before developers’ profits
Cleveland’s approach to community development should put people before developers’ profits by Chuck Hoven Plain Press, May 2022 The City of Cleveland’s tax abatement program is coming up for renewal at the end of May. For many years, the City has used tax abatement as a means of attracting new residents and improving its housing stock…
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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…
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Low voter turnout allows small pockets of voters to determine results in Cleveland’s Primary Election
Low voter turnout allows small pockets of voters to determine results in Cleveland’s Primary Election by Chuck Hoven Only 15% of Cleveland’s 247,742 eligible voters voted in the Primary Election. A total of 38,360 Clevelanders cast votes in the primary according to the unofficial preliminary results from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. 13,506 of…