News

Jan 27, 2024

Ohio AG Dave Yost says it is perfectly fine for Issue 1 to be misleading on the August ballot: Today in Ohio

Today in Ohio, the daily news podcast of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.

Today in Ohio, the daily news podcast of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Ohio officials acknowledge they made a mistake in the ballot language they wrote summarizing State Issue 1, the proposal to make it harder to change the state constitution. But they say it doesn't matter.

We’re talking about misleading voters on Issue 1 on Today in Ohio.

Listen online here.

Editor Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with impact editor Leila Atassi, editorial board member Lisa Garvin and content director Laura Johnston.

You’ve been sending Chris lots of thoughts and suggestions on our from-the-newsroom text account, in which he shares what we’re thinking about at cleveland.com. You can sign up here: https://joinsubtext.com/chrisquinn.

Here's what we’re asking about today:

Is there even one Republican elected leader in Ohio who will stand up to the hypocrisy going on with Issue 1, the special August election aimed at reducing democracy in Ohio. Attorney General Dave Yost, who has proven himself to be the most prickly stickler imaginable when it comes to ballot language being precise, is defending the August ballot while admitting it is seriously flawed. Did he do it with a straight face?

Is the Ohio medical marijuana industry in trouble because of having too much supply and too little demand, or is this a claim aimed at reducing competition? Where is the truth in the claims?

The latest story in our continuing day care series examines what happens when a worker at a childcare center calls in sick. How often does this turn into a crisis for a working parent?

Cleveland City Council has been working on new rules to ensure minority business owners get a piece of the city's contracts – an effort that, surprisingly, is opposed by the Greater Cleveland Partnership. Monday was the final council meeting before summer recess. Did council impose the rules or defer to the GCP?

What kind of tactics does a Flats bar owner say his landlord is using to drive him away from his location?

Strawberries are an early summer crop, and when early summer comes with an extended period of no rain, as it has this summer, what does it mean for people looking for locally grown berries?

Going back the Cleveland City Council, did the effort to modernize parking meters pass? What about expanding the hours when people have to pay the meters for parking?

St. Ignatius High School is well known in Cleveland, and it's looking to buld a big expansion. But first, it has to appease the Cleveland Landmarks Commission. What is the rub?

Sara Lioi became a household name a little over a decade ago, as the judge presiding over the notorious corruption case of Jimmy Dimora, the former Cuyahoga County commissioner. She just got a promotion. What is it?

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Read the automated transcript below. Because it's a computer-generated transcript, it contains many errors and misspellings.

[00:00:00] Chris: Sounds like we have Canada to blame for the high haze that's keeping the sun a little bit dimmer in our skies. A lot of smoke. Lisa says that's coming in over our atmosphere. It's today in Ohio. The news podcast discussion from cleveland.com and the plane dealer. I’m Chris Quinn here with Lisa Garvin.

Lela Tassi and Laura Johnston. And we’re gonna start with Layla. Is there even one Republican elected leader in Ohio who will stand up? The to the hypocrisy going on with issue one. The special August election aimed at reducing democracy in Ohio, attorney General Dave Yost, who has proven himself to be the most prickly stickler imaginable when it comes to ballot language.

Being precise is defending the August ballot, while admitting it is seriously flawed. Layla, did he do that with a straight

[00:00:52] Leila: face? Yes, he did. You know, while he acknowledges that there are problems with the ballot language, he says it doesn't really matter. [00:01:00] One person, one vote, who's the group that is opposing issue.

One is asking the Supreme Court to reject the ballot language and force it to be rewritten and their main. Arguments are that number one, that the ballot summary does not describe the status quo for amendments, including failing to tell voters point blank that the proposed new 60% approval threshold is higher than the current 50%, which to me is funny that avoiding that plays right into the proponent's new campaign strategy of downplaying the super majority threshold, doesn't it?

Uh, another argument they’re making is that opponents, they say, um, they take issue with the fact that the ballot language describes. The changes as elevating the standards for proposing amendments. One person, one vote contends that elevate is not a neutral term and the language should say, modify, raise, or increase.

And the state officials said, you know, those are all functionally the same. I, you know, I don't think. Raise the standards or increase The standards are [00:02:00] neutral, either because it's the word standards that's problematic. It suggests that if you don't vote yes, you must have low standards. So the freezing should be modify the requirements, don't you think?

Um, and also one person, one vote argues that the ballot summary inaccurately describes how the amendment would require future amendment campaigns to collect a minimum number of voter signatures from all 88 Ohio counties compared to the current 44 counties to qualify for the ballot. Office concedes that there's a technical difference between what the ballot language says, which is at least 5% of eligible voters in each county, and what the amendment actually would require, which is at least 5% of the ballots cast in each county during the most recent election For governor, that is a huge.

Difference. But state officials are saying that's not a material defect. Voters can just hunt down the language of the amendment on their own if they wanna figure out what it will actually do. And if they wanna know what the current voter approval threshold is for a [00:03:00] constitutional amendment, yo says, they should just look at the context clues because their own ballot would say re, you know, requires a majority.

Yes. Vote for passage right next to issue one. So come on.

[00:03:13] Chris: What what makes this absurd is that Dave Yost has regularly rejected the language for ballot questions. He did it just last week, uh, because it's not specific. It's not exact. I mean, over and over, he's done this. He's come back and said, Nope. It doesn't accurately depict it.

You gotta redo it. For him to go to the Supreme Court and say, yeah, it doesn't accurately depict it, but no big deal. Everybody's gonna figure it out anyway, is total hypocrisy. So we got Mike DeWine being. Total hypocrite in pursuing this because he knows he signed a bill to ban August elections. You got all the lawmakers who voted for this total hypocrites because they said nobody votes on August elections.

We shouldn't have ‘em. And now Dave Yost has joined the pack going [00:04:00] into the Supreme Court and saying stuff that he has dead set opposed to in. Pretty much every previous ballot question, it's, it's shocking. It's one thing to go in and put up the lame defense cuz he's the attorney General, but to make that kind of species argument, it really does compromise his integrity.

[00:04:20] Leila: I agree. And also, Really that, if you wanna say that, elevating standards, raising standards, if that's splitting hairs, okay, fine. But this question of of whether at least 5% of eligible voters is the same as at least 5% of the ballots cast in the most recent. Gubernatorial election that is dramatically different.

And he, he cannot say that there's no, uh, substantive difference there. That, that is, if the court doesn't throw that out, I just, uh, I’m done.

[00:04:53] Chris: Well, but the court, and, but let's face it, the court has proven the, the, the leaders of that court have proven that it's party [00:05:00] over. The law party over the people. The dissents that the current chief Justice wrote in the gerrymandering case were preposterous.

The, the, the, they were defending, violating the, the Ohio Constitution, pat DeWine did too. So I have no faith. They’ll do the right thing. If they were doing the right thing, they’d cancel the whole election because it violates Ohio law passed by the legislature. Signed by the governor. Mm-hmm. We have outlawed these elections, and yet they put one on the ballot anyway.

Sad that Dave Yost is doing such things, cuz I believe he wants to run for higher office and this seems like it’ll compromise his credibility. You’re listening to today in Ohio, is the Ohio medical marijuana industry in trouble because of having too much supply and too little demand? Or is this a claim aimed at reducing competition?

Lisa, where is the truth?

[00:05:52] Lisa: I think it's somewhere in the middle. Uh, marijuana industry groups, uh, say that new and expanded growing space in recent years has [00:06:00] resulted in an oversupply of marijuana in the state. Matt Close with the Ohio Medical Cannabis Industry Association says Senate Bill Ninex, which it proposes expansion of growing and processing space, comes as the industry has a lot of extra marijuana and it threatens to destroy the industry and kill 6,000 jobs.

Now this. Sponsor of Senate Bill nine. Senator Steven Huffman, the Republican from Dayton says, I don't believe that he says business is, you know, the businesses that are behind the just like alcohol ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana are against Senate Bill nine because it would allow new growers and you know, the petition that is circulating for this initiated statute, you know, says that they want.

To keep growers, new growers out of the business for two years after it passes. Now, the state's medical marijuana control program is not concerned either with oversupply. As a matter of fact, they’re doubling the number of dispensary licenses and think that that will help with the [00:07:00] oversupply issue. So, Senate Bill Ninex, it does expand cultivation licenses.

Um, it increases the patient population by adding autism disorder, opioid use disorder, and other conditions to the approved list. But close says, That's more patients, but it's not enough to offset the oversupply, which has in uh, in turn reduced, you know, prices and the patient population is flattened. So, yeah.

And I remember the first time they tried to pass marijuana, there was a deal. Everyone was upset cuz the growers wanted a monopoly. So this sounds like they’re trying to do that again. Yeah.

[00:07:35] Chris: We live in a capitalist society, so business competition is generally regarded as healthy and good for the consumer.

If you lock. Competitors out then it's not good for the consumer raises prices and it leaves you fewer reasons to try and be efficient and deliver a good service. This seems very much like they’re trying to get back to what you discussed, the monopoly. They want to control the whole [00:08:00] thing and then there's no demand.

Of course there is competition, right? Just across the state line. You can buy marijuana anywhere you want. So they are, they do have serious competition elsewhere. Uh, we’ll have to see if their complaints land any blows. Your list and, and prices

[00:08:17] Lisa: have dropped rapidly. I mean, I just wanted to point that out.

In 2021, the first quarter of 20 21, 1 pound of flour was $769, and that's. The wholesale price, it dropped in the fourth quarter of 2022 to $168, you know, for a pound of flour. So yeah, that's a big drop. But others have pointed out, even at that wholesale price, that's not what you know, patients are paying.

It's good

[00:08:44] Chris: for the consumer if the price drops, and they should be looking out for the Ohio consumer you’re listening to today in Ohio. The latest story in our continuing daycare series examines what happens when a worker at a childcare center calls in sick. Laura, how [00:09:00] often does this turn into a crisis for a working parent?

[00:09:03] Leila: It's

[00:09:04] Laura: not a common occurrence, but I wouldn't say it's totally rare either. Thankfully, I never experienced it when my kids were in childcare centers or about. Seven years, but it depends how many backup plans a childcare center has and who's calling off that day. And it is a lot harder to hire and keep those workers now than it it used to be.

So 80% of childcare providers reported staff shortages in November, 2022. And if you don't have the required staffing, if you can't meet the state ratios required, which is one in six for an infant, Uh, classroom, then you have to close. Like you cannot operate and just be like, well, I’ll just bop back and forth between these rooms.

So I’ve talked to childcare directors who say they fill in, they substitute teach, but this is a whole new idea called Sunflower Childcare Substitutes. It's a new company operated just over a year, serves 45 daycare centers in northeast Ohio. [00:10:00] And basically if you need a sub, you can call this company whether you know it's gonna be in the future or you need it.

Day of, and they will supply someone to you. And the Akron Y M C A is is one of the childcare providers that uses them.

[00:10:14] Chris: You’ve heard from many people in a response to the stories that you’ve been coordinating on this topic. Have you heard from any parents that did show up at daycare and, and get told, Hey, sorry you can't drop your kid off today.

We’re closing, and if so, what did they do? No,

[00:10:30] Laura: I haven't heard from those parents. So if anyone's listening that's happened to them, please love to hear your story. And it wouldn't be like the whole childcare center. It would be like one room. So the toddler class that day wouldn't be able to serve. I, I don't know what you do.

That's, it's, it's a crisis, right? That's when you’re like, I. Scrambling to find anything, or you just take a day off because you don't have a childcare option. And that's why childcare is such an important factor to the economy because if we don't have reliable childcare, then we can't have [00:11:00] reliable workers.

And that's why I see this as everybody's problem, not just the parents. And it sounds

[00:11:04] Chris: like a good solution that will. Help take care of a lot of parents Stories on cleveland.com. You are listening to today in Ohio, Cleveland City Council has been weighing the idea of improving Cleveland's parking meters to make them payable by credit cards.

So what a shock. But they’ve also been considering lengthening the hours deeper into the night and making people pay on weekends. Layla, yesterday was their last big meeting before their summer recess. Did they move that legislation? Are modern meters coming and will we have to pay late into the night?

[00:11:37] Leila: Well, yes and no. Maybe. There you go. Those are the answers. Uh, council passed this legislation that authorizes the installation of the long awaited smart parking meters. Obviously, we don't carry around sax a quarters, so this is gonna make things much, much easier for people headed downtown. But they pump the brakes on, on the part of this [00:12:00] proposal that would let the administration expand the hours of meter enforcement and to increase the parking fees.

They wanna chew on that one a little longer to determine if that's in the best interest of residents in downtown. The council approval of this last night, let's. Mayor Justin Bib Strike agreements with Flow Bird and Park Mobile L L C to supply 700 new parking meters and provide a mobile payment platform that’ll let drivers pay using a credit card through an app or, or directly at the meter By scanning a QR code, you could still pay cash if you needed to at the meter.

The cost to buy and install these meters is expected to be around 5 million plus extra fees to process credit card transactions and connect the meters to the internet. Pay for enforcement, things like that. They’re expecting these to be installed within six months of the contract being signed. But you know, supply chain issues they might get in the way of that timeline.

BIB wants to make other changes, though, like you said, to the parking policies, including variable parking rates based on demand, new paid [00:13:00] parking spaces in areas of the city that haven't had. Uh, paid on street parking before and longer enforcement hours into the evenings and weekends as late as 10:00 PM in some cases.

He, he also wants the board of control to assume the power to set rates, but currently council gets to do that. And Council President Bling Griffin was concerned yesterday about some aspects of this new plan. Specifically, he was a, a little wrinkled by the idea of raising. The daily flat rate for special event parking at the municipal lot.

It's currently 30 bucks, uh, and BIB would like to raise it to as much as 70. So Blaine Griffin said he was also concerned about lengthening the enforcement hours, so they’re going to just kind of mull this over and revisit it maybe even by their next summer council meeting in July.

[00:13:48] Chris: I’ve been waiting for this because I lived through it 20 years ago when the Campbell Jane Campbell administration tried to lengthen the hours, and the city council led by Frank Jackson stopped it.

They, they just, [00:14:00] they thought it might heart business. They thought it was putting the onus on residents that have to pay more money. And I, I was wondering, would the debate come back or are all those concerns gone? In, in Courtney's story, it's clear those concerns remain. This, we all know you can drive to any suburban restaurant park for free and eat.

That's what you’re competing against. And if you extend those hours into the night, do you discourage? People don't know the answer, but clearly they’re having that question. One thing I, I think that was. Pushed along though, or, or at least it was stated, is that they could not add any new paid parking space on the street in Cleveland unless the, the councilperson representing the ward where it is approves No,

[00:14:46] Leila: I, I, I was that in our story?

I’m sorry. I missed that detail, really? Oh, okay. Well, yeah, Adam, I mean, so, so what's your, what's your read on that? Is that good policy?

[00:14:56] Chris: Well, it tells me that council is worried about resident [00:15:00] blowback by, by putting, making this more difficult to park. And business districts that don't have parking meters may resent having sudden parking meters because people can go elsewhere.

It, it, it's a great issue. I, you could see Justin bib looking at parking lots, charging 50 and $70 for big sports games, and Cleveland's not getting any of the money because at that time of the night, Parking is free on the street. He wants to tap into that, get the city share. But council is looking out for the residents and saying, this may not be the best way to go.

My feeling about

[00:15:34] Leila: downtown is that this is not, this would not increasing parking rates and going deeper in enforcement into the, the hours of the night. Would not affect downtown businesses. I really don't. I think if you’re going downtown to have a meal or to, you know, enjoy the evening, you’re going there for the environment of downtown, being in the suburbs is nothing like it.

So, and, and if, if the antiquated quarter. Pay, you know, pay [00:16:00] meters, um, haven't deterred downtown or you know, people from going downtown. I just, I think this, this new technology is, uh, is a step above that and people are not going to mind being charged past 6:00 PM.

[00:16:13] Chris: We’ll have to see what the council decides.

Go ahead. I just say,

[00:16:16] Laura: so I’m going to Detroit on Friday, um, and crossing my fingers that I could find street parking, which I know is hilarious cuz I’m going to Taylor Swift and there's a baseball game at the same time. But I have already downloaded the Detroit parking app, the city's app. They charged till 10:00 PM and I can imagine if they have flexible.

Pricing what it's gonna be like. Mm-hmm. But, um, I mean, we’ve said it before, we’re really far behind here, but I agree with Layla. I don't think it's gonna stop people from going downtown for anything. When, when

[00:16:45] Chris: I saw Bruce Springsteen in Detroit, we, they have a great system up there where you can get pretty much any garage ahead of time.

There's apps that get you your space ahead of time, so you don't even have to think about it. It's not the same in Cleveland. [00:17:00] It's much more challenging. To figure it out, even on the commercial side. So Laura, you have a newspaper box that is now sitting at your house somewhere. Will you bid for a parking meter if the city decides to sell them off after they replace

[00:17:14] Laura: them?

No, no. I’m not trying to create like an old fashioned street scape in my yard, although currently they’re building a barn in my backyard. So after be later.

[00:17:26] Chris: All right, you’re listening to today in Ohio. What kind of tactics does a flats bar owner say his landlord is using to drive him away from his location?

Lisa, this is a interesting slice of life story from Cleveland. Yeah, it sounds

[00:17:42] Lisa: like a strong arm tactics to me. Anyway, but let's discuss James Cleveland, who's the owner of Frozen Dery bar and Restaurant on Old River Road, which opened last July. Says his new landlord, G B X Group is trying to evict. Him because it's not part of their plans to redevelop the Flats East [00:18:00] Bank.

So Gbx bought a row of buildings that included the frozen Dery bar back in December. And um, you know, uh, Cleveland says his lease goes through 2026, but Gbx says, well, the lease with the former landlord is month. To month, and it wasn't properly opera authorized. They back in, uh, March Gbx filed a temporary restraining order against the frozen dary bar alleging that it was a nuisance business.

That was later withdrawn, but then they sent letters in March. Like on the sixth and the 7th of March demanding that the patio be removed because the prior permission for that patio is now irrelevant. So, um, Cleveland Fed says they’ve started intensifying. He said they started asking him to vacate his lease back in January.

They escalated to demanding that he leave and then taking legal action. And, um, then they filed in May for eviction claiming that, uh, Cleveland. Had late rent [00:19:00] payments and unpaid utility bills. And Cleveland, through his attorney, Andrew Yer, says That's completely false.

[00:19:07] Chris: Yeah, it does. It does sound like strong armed tactics, and I feel bad for the small business owner who's trying to make a go of it.

It's still a fledgling business. This can't be easy. Uh, and then, Oh, go ahead.

[00:19:20] Lisa: No, I was gonna say, and business has been good and you know, a lot of it I think is because of the patio, but they also, I guess Gbx tried to claim that a couple of crimes occurred at the bar. Although Cleveland said the one shooting that he talked about wasn't even at his bar, even though they tried to say that it was

[00:19:37] Chris: now moving, picking up, moving, setting up again will be very expensive.

So you can see why he's fighting to stay through his lease. You’re listening to today in Ohio. Strawberries are an early summer crop, and when early summer comes with an extended period of no rain following some frost as it has this summer, what does it mean for people looking for locally grown berries?

Barr, it's one of [00:20:00] a series of weather stories we’re doing in this long range period with no rain.

[00:20:04] Laura: Absolutely. And I went berry picking on Saturday. It was the first day often Campa Farm in Vermilion was open and they were only open for two days before they shut down again. Because there just aren't a lot of rip berries right now.

Remember that freeze that we had that lake spring freeze that really was not that long ago, I think was May 17th. Well, it froze a lot of the berries that were ripening. And those ones are done. You can't, I mean, they never ripened. They’re not edible. Uh, so that was really tough. And now with the drought, I mean we’re going on day six.

Teen, I believe they really need water. Apparently berries in the the final ripening stage really need a lot of of water. And so if you don't have an irrigation system on your farm, you’re gonna be outta luck. So a lot of these farms have Barry hotlines. I would really encourage you to, to call them or check out their Facebook pages because.

It is not a normal berry picking season in northeast Ohio. Last year, I think I was out there for like 20 minutes and we had [00:21:00] five like court buckets, and this time I think we like wandered around for quite a while and ended up with some pints. So much, much more difficult this year.

[00:21:09] Chris: Yeah, I actually think today's day 17 and there's still no rain in the forecast for most of this week, uh, or all this week.

What, uh, what other crops seem like they might be in trouble? So I

[00:21:19] Laura: didn't realize this, but sweet corn, uh, is a problem. And part part of this is because it has to be wet to germinate. So obviously if you like your corn, which I do in northeast Ohio, you want it all season long, right? You want it. See the first stuff you can get in July and then eat it through October.

But if these. These seeds are not germinating, they’re not, they’re not wet, they’re not germinating, they’re not gonna start growing. So you might end up with a harvest everything at the same time, which these farms are worried about because you need that water. So, um, this is, and, and I guess you gotta go deep, deeper, uh, to plant, uh, if, if you’re plant corn when it's dry.

So I think [00:22:00] these are two of the favorites in northeast Ohio, and they’re gonna be affected by this beautiful weather that we’re having.

[00:22:06] Chris: Okay. You’re listening to today in Ohio. Let's talk about Cleveland a little bit more. Uh, Layla, there is an initiative being put on trying to be put on the ballot to allow participatory budgeting.

We talked about it last week where percentage of the city's budget will be placed into the hands of the people. Cleveland's finance director spoke up about. This is not crazy about the idea.

[00:22:28] Leila: Yeah. You know, well, first of all, it seems city Council. Might have really put the city in a pickle by rejecting outta hand the proposal to pilot par participatory budgeting in Cleveland because for a poultry $500,000 of American Rescue Plan Act money, they could have satisfied a movement of folks who wanna give residents greater power in deciding how city money is spent in their communities.

But council got kind of. On their high horse about it and said, the people elect us to decide what's best for their [00:23:00] communities, and now the people might just elect to force the city into participatory budgeting with this proposed city charter amendment that would give them 2% of the city's general fund to budget.

To the community's wishes, and that could amount to 14 million a year, and that has city officials really sweating right now. Finance Chief Ahmad told Courtney Alfi that if voters agree to this, it could significantly impair the city's ability to provide some basic services. I mean, to put it in perspective, the entire Department of Public Health's 2023 budget.

Amounts to 14 million. The whole building and housing department's budget is 14.4 million and 14 million is more than seven times. The Department of Aging's expected spending. So, you know, other cities that have brought into participatory budget, you know, have bought into participatory budgeting, have done it at a much, much lower.

Threshold than 2% of the city's overall budget. Most give it about [00:24:00] a million dollars. That's what they do in Philadelphia. Sacramento, New York City gives 30 million to participatory budgeting. But imagine what their general fund is. They’ve got billions there. So AMA says that they, this would be.

Extremely challenging for Cleveland, which this year has finally achieved a balance, but a balanced budget without dipping into reserves. Employee costs, which make up the vast share of the general fund, have increased 120% since 2001, but revenues have not kept pace. So

[00:24:28] Chris: I don't know, uh, it seems like spin here.

If, if you put that money into the hands of residents and they did what they’ve done in other cities where they put it in the sidewalks or roads or playgrounds or recreation. The city could adjust the rest of its budget accordingly. It's just these folks would say, we want the money to go to these streets, or these sidewalks or these playgrounds.

The, the, the city spends money on all this stuff. Anyway, all you’re doing is having citizens help direct some of it. I, I, I don't know that [00:25:00] this would be as crippling as they’re saying. Comparing it to the health department budget. Is a little unfair. This, the city has, what is it, up to three quarters of a, a billion dollars, uh, excluding the enterprise funds.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, it's, you know, they’ve, they, they have a lot of money in the budget. They spend it on a lot of things that are probably things that, that people would want. To focus this money on. So there's a way to merge the interests. I’m not sure it's the disaster and catastrophe. They want people believe.

[00:25:28] Leila: You see how, how many, how much time goes into budget hearings and, and just kind of pouring over every dollar in the city's budget deciding where it should go. It is kind of a big question mark. If you’ve got, you know, 14 million that's set aside, well, For no, for the public to decide what to do with it.

And, and you don't know what, what plans they might come up with and what one will win the vote. And I mean, I think that that kind of does leave you in a, uh, tough spot. It's, it's

[00:25:57] Chris: timing not a deadline. So when, whenever the [00:26:00] city begins its budgeting process, have these folks complete their work before then?

It, it, you know, if, say, say the city in earnest, cuz they have to pass the budget by what? The end of February or first? First April. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, the, the, they start an earnest on September 1st. So you would tell these folks, okay, you start June 1st and you have to have your plan in by August 31st. And then the city would incorporate their wishes into their.

Their own planning. It doesn't seem that hard, and if the goal is to get people involved in their city and raise voter turnout, which is abysmal in Cleveland, this doesn't seem unworkable. As unworkable as the council and the finance chief are trying to say interesting story. Check it out. It's on cleveland.com.

St. Ignatius High School is well known in Cleveland, and it's looking to build a big expansion, but first it has to appease the Cleveland Landmarks Commission. Lisa, what's the rub?

[00:26:59] Lisa: Well, because [00:27:00] St. Ignatius High School is a hundred years old as. And as a Cleveland Landmark, they kind of have to hue a certain, a aesthetics as it were.

So they changed their plans to upgrade its campus. After input from the Cleveland Landmarks Commission and the Ohio City Design Review Committee, uh, Richard Kling Shen, the former c f O of St. Ignatius, and currently a consultant says there were concerns over the use of white faux limestone on a campus that is full of red brick buildings.

So they’re gonna make that red brick, and they’re also tweaking the tower element of the new building to compliment the main building's clock tower. So the plans are to demolish the on-campus power plant. That's circa 1946 and the 1920s era. A Carol gym to make room for 55,000 square foot expansion with more classrooms and an athletic center.

It would connect to the main school building with a glass sky bridge on the second and third floors and would create an interior quad area. And they say they’re not doing it to enlarge their [00:28:00] enrollment, but they want more room for their current student body of 1400 students. It's a 30 million estimated cost that’ll be all raised by donors, and they hope to start demolishing in early 2024.

[00:28:13] Chris: I don't know. It feels like there's, there's a different standard being used here with St. Ignatius than there is with the Cleveland Clinic, which keeps putting up featureless ugly buildings that the Landmarks Commission is fine with. But St. Ignatius is having to have a rigor, which is good. It's it, it’ll keep it looking uniform, but it would be nice if they had done the same thing on the east side of town.

You’re listening to today in Ohio. We got one more. Sarah Le became a household name a little over a decade ago as the judge presiding over the notorious corruption case of Jimmy Deora, the Foreign me Cuyahoga County Commissioner. That trial was like hurting cats. If you’ll recall. Laura, she just got a promotion.

What is it?

[00:28:57] Laura: Yeah, she's now chief judge, so she's going to [00:29:00] oversee the administration of federal courts in northern Ohio. That's Cleveland, Toledo, and Youngstown. She will also continue to hear cases on her own docket and oversee those 300 employees in the district, so she’ll handle all the administrative functions.

That sounds like a lot. Of work. She takes over for Patricia Gogan, the first ever woman to be named Chief Judge in the district, and she was judged for the last six years. So Leis says she's proud and honored to serve in this role. She's 62. She was nominated to the federal bench in 2007 and was a Stark County common police judge for a decade before that.

[00:29:34] Chris: She really did, uh, become part of the atmosphere during that trial. I mean, her name was in our platforms over and over again, and it was one of the more challenging jobs to, to oversee that trial and all the, the motions and all the nonsense that went with it. And she navigated it pretty well. I mean, she took some criticism and there were appeals, but she seems to have that even handed [00:30:00] personality.

You need to manage a job like this.

[00:30:03] Laura: Yeah. It does seem like a huge job, doesn't it? Yeah, it

[00:30:06] Chris: does. It does. That's it for the Tuesday episode of today in Ohio. Thank you, Lisa. Thank you, Layla. Thank you, Laura. Thanks everybody who listens to this podcast.

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