Mike, relax, relax everything is going to be ok.  Joe just wants to make sure you drink your Koolaid like a good newbie.  Everything is fine and beautiful in Tremont.  There is no crime.  Our Art Gallerys are the best in the world.  The sun always shines on ArtWalk friday.  All development is good development, unless we are talking about Steelyards.  ValleyView, ARRRRRAAARRR christ that hurts, sorry, Tremont Pointe is filled with folks as pure and inocent as a Norman Rockwell painting.  Drink your Koolaid Mike it'll be ok.  You don't even have to meet with Joe, just pick up a glass at TWDC or local Block Club meeting.  Drink it down Mike, don't think about it, you'll feel better.  Its ok Mike trust us just drink your Koolaid.

I have a copy of a great response written by Mitch Paul of Shaker Cycle. He brought it to me to review and it was wonderful! It's funny, too, so if you know Mitch, you'll get an even bigger kick out of it.

However the delivery, it is a very serious response.

Mitch feels he was misquoted, the police were misrepresented, and he is also bothered by the inappropriate comments about his hair and his laugh.

After I read Mitch's letter (which he had already submitted to the Scene) my will power broke and I couldn't keep silent... enter big mouth and opinion... I blasted my thoughts on their website. I had no idea my thoughts would go from web to print.

Mitch called the Scene that Wednesday to express his discontent that as a subject in the article, wanting to correct the reporting, was tabled.

This Wednesday, Mitch is in print... yet SIGNIFICANTLY edited.

It is an interesting read to compare/contrast the original letter (granted, quite lengthy) and the Scene edited version and what comments were hacked by the delete button. It provides further insite to the Scene's current reporting style.

I don't think Mitch would mind if we posted his full response on this site.

Adam?...

I can send you the file if you would like to post it.

BTW...

I've heard more people than I'll count talk about how bad the crime is here in Tremont while I'm bartending at Edison's... I ask where they live... so far, each one hails from a Cleveland neighborhood with crime ranked statistically higher than Tremont!

PROOF: Perception IS Reality.

Thanks Scene for helping all of our small businesses while you simultaneously pound the pavement for our advertising dollars.

I've also come across numerous folks (who live outside of the neighborhood)who've read the article and were frightened by its content. Like the rest of you I'm sure, I now find myself having to spend a lot of my own personal time with these persons undoing the blatently malicious and reckless myths that the article puked into northeast Ohio. It feels kind of like when a garbage bag full of styrofoam packing filler is torn open and the little pieces blow all over the neighborhood and for weeks you are still finding and collecting them.
Not only was the journalism unethical and just plain bad, but what was the point? Was it just a publicity stunt to generate controversy and increase their own name-recognition at the expense of our neighborhood's image and therefore viability?

honestly, after reading all this, i think that this neighborhood is nice and i do like living here and looking for a home to buy, i want to stay in this neighborhood.

on the other hand, there is crime. and although i like sitting at home with the windows open and not feeling like anyone will bother me, i have had some kids break in my house and steal my things. and i have had a crazy neighbor who didn't respect laws or common courtesy. my neighbors car was broken into. people have been robbed. this happens. and it happens everywhere. but don't ignore it happening here because "statistically" it happens somewhere else a little more or a little less. this is a neighborhood. and this is why i am drawn to this place. and this is why we should talk about these things and not ignore them or try to downplay them so we can have more people at the artwalks...

Those who use force have no strength. -Tao Te Ching

As I learn and see more I find Scene exaggerated the crime here also. And while I'm glad they edited my letter they also put sentences in different areas from where they were originally in my letter. Cimperman is going to be on my wife and my radio show this wednesday 6-7:30pm on WRUW 91.1fm. Tremonters, call in with your feelings. Cimperman has been very suspicious toward me asking strange questions that are none of his business. He even emailed me through our radio show website when I never told him the name of the show, what station, etc. Very interesting. I'm being stalked by a councilman all because I care about my neighborhood. Go figure.

 Politics & Money Funneling in Tremont

Mike you have a right to be suspicious. You are upsetting the apple cart. Its all about money, and you hit the nail on the head about Tremont Pointe.

Cimperman helped negotiate a "FEE" for TWDC to be a pass-thru non-profit for the building of the Second phase of this project.  

Their are many people that live by you that feel the same way you do. But Cimperman has his double-agents that know how to make people keep their mouths shut.

Its all about campaign money. The real term for this is "Street Tax". Do you want a Zoning Variance for a nightclub? cut a campaign donation.

Do you want me to get some-one from the Building and Housing Department to testify favorably?  Checkbook please!

Cimperman will have two of his agents starting a special committee that will soon start getting people sited for minor housing violations. This selective enforcement will target,

A) Elderly

B) Poor People

C) Non-Caucasians

D) Homeless People

E) People that have a descending opinion of Cimperman or TWDC

Some of these agents live on west 11th. I think the rest of the community needs to find out that Cimperman convinced these same people to come out to support the martyring of Frank Giglio. Cimperman has the house condemned and got TWDC to support wanting it torn down. Who will they target next?

They are using the HUD funding they receive to gentrify the community instead of helping the people the money is supposed to be used for.

You will soon see these people walking the Tremont community in their "SS" uniforms, and they cannot wait to turn you in for a piece of lead paint peeling off your porch. Get your pitchforks ready and show these bigots and elitists how you feel.

yu'all better make sure you ain't got no milkweed in yur treelawn neither, or they'll strip yur property down ta subsoil with a front end loader, mace yur dog and throw yur a@@ in jail...

all briught to you by yer councilamn....

all the employees of both the scene & free times were given a 3 week notice friday after both papers were bought by 'times-shamrock' of scranton pa. TS will merge the two papers and keep the 'scene' name and matt fabyan the former publisher of the free times will stay as publisher of the new 'scene'.

it is my understanding that any employee wishing to stay employed with the new [merged] weekly will have to reinterview for desired position.

there is further info here.

i imagine that whoever the paper hires as writers and editor, at least half the readers will be upset with what was written or edited, sometimes so much so that they feel that they have to promote said article here on tremonter and other blogs..

that just my guess.

Well, Cimperman never showed to do the radio show after he told me he would come on. So, I'm done with this nonsense from him. I'm glad my stupid letter hit him hard, but if he's not willing to have a good discussion about it then screw him. I've fried much bigger fish than him the past 10 years.