well yes we can appreciate simpleman for just DOING HIS JOB (for a rare occurence) to try and get rid of a problem business for the community (realize it is win- win for him). Did Mirage not get the memo to kiss up to this dude? His suck a$$ developer friend$ have a BIG proposed condo project sitting on the sweet Mirage property so you never know with this bird. The guy has about every fault in the book, a piece of phony dirt really, but racist, have not seen that side. yet. Unless you consider his turning over a new leaf lately to screw the poor.

 FYI......

Thanks to the SUN NEWS....

http://www.cleveland.com/westsidesun/news/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1195137347313630.xml&coll=4

"I just wanted to take a second and thank Councilman Cimperman for trying to get the Mirage shut down"

When did they move the Mirage to Tremont? Is all of Cleveland in Tremont now?

Councilman feeds the homeless

We would like to thank the councilman for offering to feed the homeless on Tuesday night at the Westside Market . Please encourage everyone to attend this joyous event. Tables will be set up at 5pm. Please also bring donations of canned foods for area shelters. Bus parking will be available and security will be provided.

HELP FIGHT THE RECALL OF 
CLEVELAND CITY COUNCILMAN 
JOE SANTIAGO

The Committee Against the Recall of Joseph Santiago will be holding a fundraiser on Tuesday, November 20th - 5:00pm-7:00pm.

Where: West Side Market Cafe
            1979 West 25th St. (Enter from Lorain Ave.)
            Cleveland, Ohio

Contribution Levels: $50, $100, $500, $1,000

Here are Sun News statistics to contemplate, regarding the Santiago recall: 

:::::City records show that, in the past two years, Santiago has given from his ward allocation $210,000 to Tremont West Development Corp., $194,000 to the Stockyards Redevelopment Corp., $60,000 to the Flats Oxbox Development Corp. and $40,000 to the Ohio City Near West Development Corp. All those development corporations have small areas of jurisdiction in Ward 14. :::::

as you may or may not know, each councilman has an equal share of block grant fund every year ($500,000). I think it is a fair question as to why Santiago has chosen to give such an exhorbitant amount to TWDC when so little of TWDC's area is in his ward. I think it also fair to question his completely shutting off Clark Metro Development Corp, which serves a majority of his ward. Even if he felt they were mismanaging funds, was there not a more constructive method to deal with it? 

do his decisions smack of favoritism?

another thing to put in your pipe to smoke - with the city's demolition budget tripling this year and possibly quadrupling next year - the homes that fall into city hands go directly to the councilperson. The councilperson makes the decision if they go to a non-profit (TWDC, CMDC, SDC, etc or habitat for humanity, etc) for rehab (this means the non-profit actually gains the title for resale at market) or if they are demolished and the land title given to the city land bank. This is a hUGe responsiblity and I think it wise to ask if Santiago has shown the level of unbiased responsiblity this requires or if his actions will result in cronyism and political favoritism.

Does anyone with a brain in their head really think that Ward 14 is better off with Cintron than Santiago?  For years, nothing got done in Ward 14.  Whether you agree with Santiago or not, he at least is a smart man and is doing something.  Cintron seems to me to have an IQ somewhere south of room temperature, and had a propensity to sit around with his thumb up his a**.  Anyone who wants Cinton back in office is either themselves a fool or on the take.

I AGREE!  The fact is the only thing that I remember about Cintrons councilship is complaints.  There was something about Cintron holding a liquor license in his own ward, improper funding that benefited his own business and so on.  And this bull about Santiago not living in his ward is crap.  I mean really, he lives about 2 streets over, not Bay Village.  Why should he move?  His house is one of the nicest on the street, obviously well kept and cared for. 

And I love all of these stats.  Are you really pissed that he contributed that much to steel yard commons (TWDC)?  Who do you think that these stores employ?  The home owners of the 400k houses in Tremont?  Who do you think shops there?  And Stockyard development?  People we are all one city!  If these neighboring communites need financial assistance to get a project started, I say help them out.  The time will come and 14 will need the funds from them.

Stop wasting my tax dollars.  You complian about misappropriated funds but jump at the chance to waste thousands of dollars on this recall.   Good move. 

Curious,

 Cimperman's empire stretches from W.25 all the way to East 65th or something.  It includes, downtown, Tremont, part of Ohio City, parts of Slavic Village, Mid-town (I think it is called) and the Flats. 

you could switch the name of Santiago for Cintron in the above paragraph (3up) and it would still read correctly. The recall removes Santiago, it does not vote Cintron in.

My concern is that Santiago has shown a high propensity to polical favorism and nepotism. I think Steelyard Commons would have been fine, without the benefit of our tax dollars (block grants). I believe it is private development. Perhaps had Santiago given TWDC $40k and Ohio City Near-West Development $210k, your argument would make sense. I was on the fence about him (despite watching him at city ouncil safety meetings, through public access channel, saying absolutely noTHIng, ever - i think he was writing out invitations to his next deck party) until I read those statistics. They are indefensible.

I also do not appreciate the way he is suddenly Johnny-on-the-Spot sikking Senyak on Touch nightclub and advocating against them. This after two years of complaints against Envy and LaCopa and his doing absolutely nOTHing about those clubs. We who live within view of Touch have never had any complaints with them. They are one of the few good neighbor bars and now Santiago is leading the crusade to chase them out. The question begs asking - WHY? They came onto that street when that area was trash and trouble and rode it out for 5 years. Now they occupy a valuable liquor license location.

I have carefully considered the fact that it is disruptive to the politics of our neighborhood to suddenly lose a councilman. But honestly - is that the only argument you've got? Given our area's propensity to elect incumbents, I don't think I want to takes my chances leaving Santiago in office. Political favoritism with our tax dollars is too high a price to pay - not to mention destructive to our community. Nope - I finally came to the conclusion last week - Joe's gotta go. But thats just mY opinion.

Touch is a great establishment. My gf and I had her birthday dinner there plus we've spent a few late nights there too. I can tell you this is a stand up place and the people are great. I don't know what Santiago could be crusading against. Obviously he doesn't have any vested interest in Touch, so he is trying to use it to steer attention away from his friends' bars which are the real problem.

Politics have and continue to destroy this city.  

[comment deleted due to name-calling. please try again. -AH]