CCPC West Side Summer Outdoor Celebration / FundraiserTuesday, August 13 from 6 to 8 pm@ Madison Park Pavillion, 13201 Madison Ave. Lakewood 44107. We had so much fun the last time we were in Lakewood, we thought it would be great to do it again! The fundraiser part of the event is optional and only for those willing and able to make a donation. The main agenda item for the evening is to spend some quality time with your fellow progressive activists.CCPC will provide food and drinks but if you would like to bring something to share that would be great. The pavilion has picnic tables but if you’d prefer, bring your most comfortable lawn chair. Candidates and elected officials are welcome to also give a few short remarks. But mostly let’s have fun and enjoy being outdoors!If you can’t make it but can make a donation please click here.
And in case you missed it
Randy’s Rants
Randy’s Rants is a series of essays by legendary Cleveland author, activist and CCPC Member Randy Cunningham. We’ll be featuring a different one each week for as long as Randy is willing to write them.
Local
It’s Brook Park: $3.6B+ Stadium to be RevealedThis is not an official announcement. It’s from the blog NEO Trans with unnamed sources. But this blog has been right all along about Brook Park speculation and some believe it is being used by the Haslam’s to get things out before they themselves go public. The price tag for taxpayers appears to be $600 million from the state, Brook Park is pitching in with TIF financing so the projected increase in property taxes can go back into the cost. The county’s response is below.
Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne, Council President Pernell Jones say no to any Browns stadium in Brook ParkThe letter they sent to Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam stated ” The proposal to build a new stadium in Brook Park does not make fiscal sense for Cuyahoga County residents and taxpayers.” And they’re right. But it has become very apparent that the Haslam’s want the domed stadium in Brook Park ( see above and below). The question now is are they willing to finance most of it with their own money?
Coincidentally ( or not) the Browns released this the day after the NEO Trans blog we posted above. The renderings and the video sure does look great, doesn’t it? And of course no specifics on the funding. And are the Brown’s really undecided? They released a slick and glitzy portrait of the Brook Park plan but no mention of what a renovated lakefront stadium would look like.
Cleveland Unveils Latest Lakefront Master Plan, Calls for Major Shoreway Overhaul With or Without Brown’sThe plan, which is nearing the end of its community involvement phase, is meant to ameliorate the anxieties and problems caused by car traffic near the shoreway. And it will provide more greenspace near the shores of Lake Erie. Of course the major question concerning overall lakefront development is what will happen if the Browns go to Brook Park?
State
Ohio redistricting amendment backers raised $22 million, and have intentionally spent even moreThe last filing report shows that the group has no cash on hand, so for now there are no funds to spend close to election day. But $16.8 million has been spent to reserve TV ad time for ads that haven’t aired yet. And that also means no money to look into if Attorney General Dave yo – yo Yost decides to investigate if the contribution’s violate the new state law banning foreign contributions
Brown is leading Moreno by 4 points in Senate RaceThe poll released last week showed Brown ahead with 46 percent support to Moreno’s 42 percent, while 11 percent were undecided and 1 percent supported another candidate. An interesting demographic of this poll is that Brown is supported by 90 percent of Democratic voters while Moreno is only supported by 75 percentof Republican voters. Brown is also leading among Independents by a 46 percent to 34 percent margin, although 20 percent of Independent voters are still undecided.
Pressure is rising on Ohio’s food banks, now serving more people than everThough there are signs that the U.S. economy is strong, millions of Ohioans are still struggling to afford the basics. And in the 17 months since the federal government ended pandemic – related food benefits, demand has been rising at food banks and food pantries in Ohio. Before the pandemic, food banks and food pantries were serving about 2 million Ohioans each quarter. Now that number is approaching 4 million
How effective are citizen police oversight boards in Ohio?There’s good news and bad news on this front. The bad news is that it can take years for a community to really feel change from civilian police oversight boards, And in Cleveland, Akron, Columbus and Cincinnati, citizen police oversight boards have only been in place a few years. But the good news is that in all of these jurisdictions, there is now more transparency and legitimacy in the complaint process.
National
Tim Walz liberal policy agenda hits 2024 presidential raceAs governor of Minnesota, Walz backed a progressiveagenda includes 20 weeks paid family and medical leave, signed a law protecting abortion rights, legalized recreational marijuana, restored voting rights for felons on probation, pushed aggressivepolicies on climate change and renewable energy, provided universal free school lunches and allowed undocumented immigrants to get drivers licenses. This is all great, but will he help Harris defeat Trump?
Trump, Harris neck and neck in battleground states, nationallyThe CBS News poll found that Harris is now leading Trump nationally by 1 point. The battleground states Harris and Trump are tied in are Michigan, Pennsylvania and Arizona. Harris leads Trump in Nevada by 2 points. And Trump leads Harris by 1 point in Wisconsin and by 3 points in Georgia and North Carolina. This is about a 6 to 8 point swing for the Democratic candidate in the three weeks Harris has been in the race.
Young climate advocates think Harris can do more for the environment than Biden, despite hiswinsRepresentatives from 11 organizations devoted to elevating youth voters’ concerns about climate change said Harris’ record of going after big oil companies as a prosecutor and her co – sponsorship of the Green New Deal as a senator make her a more appealing candidate than Biden. To those of you who are climate advocates, what do you think?
Trump Remarks on Harris’ Multiracial Identity Overlook a Growing TrendAnd of course Trump had no idea that the country’s demographics have changed in recent decades, as more than 12% of Americans now identify as multi – racial. Beneath that fact is another lesser – known shift. The number of Americans whose identities include being both Black and Asian has tripled over the last 15 years to more than 600,000
Black Lives Matter
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 helped protect every American from discrimination anywhere in our country, But we are far from finished as born out by the data and research that we frequently feature in this space. Project 2025 maps out a plan to significantly undermine the federal government’s power and resources to enforce the provisions within the CivilRights Act thus effectively gutting it.
An election guide to misogynoir and negative media stereotypes about Black womenArgues that Trump and the Republicans simply can’t help themselves. With Kamala Harris now the presumptive nominee for president, Trump and the GOP are tapping into their reservoir of hatred for Black people and relying on misogynoir and negative media stereotypes of Black women as a main election strategy. Republican leaders have been warning their members not to make racist or sexist comments, but it isn’t working.
Illinois governor says sheriff who’s deputy fatally shot Sonya Massey should resignAnd of course he should. You may recall that officer Sean Grayson, Sonya’s murderer, had numerous red flags in his background before he was hired by the Springfield Police Department. And the sheriff knew about all of the red flags. Sonya’s family has said that they have tried to meet with the sheriff and he didn’t respond. The sheriff says he has reached out to Sonya’s family and they didn’t respond. Who do you believe?
Income gap between Black and white Americans shrank between Gen Xers and millennials, study saysThe shrinking gap was due to greater income mobility for poor Black children and drops in mobility for low – income white children. A key factor was the employment rates of the communities that people lived in as children. Mobility improved for Black individuals while employment rates for Black parents increased. This is good news, but not good enough until we get to no income gap between Black and white Americans.
Immigration
U.S. – Mexico border arrests are expected to drop in July to a new low for the Biden administrationThe July tally was around 57,000 border arrests which is down fromthe 83,536 arrests made in June. The reason of course is Biden invoking his power to suspend asylum. But that was when Biden was a presidential candidate trying to move to the right on immigration to attract voters. Now that Biden is no longer a candidate let’s hope he does the right thing and starts letting asylum seekers back into the country.
How trade can help the next president curb the immigration crisisOf course this can only happen if Kamala Harris is the next president.Poverty, violence, corruption and the lack of economic prospects in their own communities is what drives people to immigrate. Harris has traveled to Guatemala and Mexico to negotiate trade deals that include economic development, anti – corruption efforts and the promotion of human rights. In other words, why not deal with the cause instead of the effect.
Unpacking myths About Noncitizen Voting – How Heritage Foundation’s Own Data Proves It’s Not a ProblemHave you heard Donald Trump’s claims that millions of illegal immigrants are voting in our elections? According to the Heritage Foundation, which can never be accused of having a liberal bias, the total number of non-citizens who have attempted to vote since the 1980’s when the Republicans first started spreading this myth is 68. Want to take a guess on the number of people who have voted since then? It’s about 1 billion.
New US citizens could determine outcomes of key electionsThis may be big news since the article describes some battleground states. According to the American Immigration Council the number of naturalized immigrants now eligible to vote since 2020 outnumber the Democrats margin of victory in some key battleground states in 2020. And their numbers are actually larger than the number of swing voters in these states. The key though is going to be to get them registered and then to the polls.
CCPC September Meeting: Immigration Facts vs Republican Myths
CCPC September Meeting: Immigration Facts vs Republican Myths Tuesday, September 17@ 6:30 pm, As you probably know, immigration has become the top issue in this year’s presidential election. This is primarily because the xenophobic racist Republicans are spreading lies and myths about what’s really going on at the border. Deb Kline from the Immigration Working Group of Cleveland will be joining us to sort through the facts and the Republican myths. Please click here to register for the event. After registering you’ll receive an email with the Zoom link
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