TUESDAY, JULY 26
Cuyahoga Valley Church
American Red Cross
Cleveland Clinic
WCRF 103.3 FM BLOOD DRIVE
7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
5055 East Wallings Road at I-77
Click below to donate (best open time slots are 10 am-noon and 1-4 pm)
Details:
http://cvconline.org/index.php/site/frontpage4
Donate: http://www.redcrossblood.org
sponsor code – cvconline
TUESDAY, JULY 26
Cuyahoga Valley Church
American Red Cross
Cleveland Clinic
WCRF 103.3 FM BLOOD DRIVE
7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
5055 East Wallings Road at I-77
Click below to donate (best open time slots are 10 am-noon and 1-4 pm)
Details: http://cvconline.org/index.php/site/frontpage4
Donate: http://www.redcrossblood.org
sponsor code – cvconline
I’ll be volunteering here — and giving blood as well.
Another gas well going up in Broadview Heights
NOTE: Broadview Heights’ revenues dropped MORE than the area average in 2008-2010, according to a story in the Thursday, July 28 PLAIN DEALER.
See:
http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2011/07/job_loss_slows_in_suburbs_incr.htmlWhy are three different people running against Samuel Alai for Mayor? Aren’t things being managed well in Broadview Heights?
No they’re not.
Tax receipts are down, and commercial and office vacancies have been rising.
Also rising are the number of gas wells in the community, to alarming levels.
At a time when residents are hurting due to the Great Recession — losing jobs, losing homes, losing hope – Mayor Alai isn’t responding to their needs. Instead, he’s fixated on convincing us how great things are.
Well, let’s examine the situation from two perspectives:
INCOME TAXES DOWN, VACANCIES RISING
The numbers are in on income tax collections, and they don’t look good. Mayor Alai took office in December 2007. In 2008, Broadview Heights collected about $9.4 million in income tax – taxes paid by people who work here or residents working elsewhere through their RITA tax returns.
By 2009, tax collections went down by 5% to a little less than $8.96 million.
By the end of 2010, income taxes declined another 6% to less than $8.4 million. That’s a loss of 11 percent in just two years.
In due fairness, let’s point out the income tax receipts are on the upswing in 2011. But a major part of that increase (nearly 40 percent) is due to a huge Ohio Lottery winner who paid taxes on the winnings. In other words, luck has helped turn the 2011 numbers around. But the numbers are still below collections in 2007, before Samuel Alai became Mayor. Web links to the Ohio Dept. of Taxation and the City’s web site, below, verify these numbers.
Declining income tax revenues in BVH
So we have a loss of revenue. Now, take a walk. Visit the office buildings on the east end of I-77 and Route 82, all of which sit in the city of Broadview Heights. You’ll see large numbers of vacant offices.
Go up Broadview Road, and you’ll see a vacant Andy Sims Buick dealership as well as vacancies across the street where Marc’s is located. The city is not succeeding in attracting the number of new businesses we need to grow. The proof is in the income tax statistics…and the “available” signs all over town.
A 2,150% INCREASE IN GAS WELLS
Samuel Alai has held elected office in Broadview Heights for eight years now. He was Council President Pro Tem, 2003-05, Council President, 2005-07, and then Mayor.
When he took office in 2003, Broadview Heights had FOUR gas wells in the city. It rose to about 50 wells when he became Mayor in 2007. Today it has EIGHTY SIX (86).
That is a 2,150 percent increase in eight years.
Beginning in 2004, with the passage of HB 278, Broadview Heights adopted a policy of collaborating with gas drilling companies to obtain income. That’s how we ended up with gas wells on city-owned land near City Hall and another just a stone’s throw from the Fire Station at Broadview Road.
Examine the Council minutes and the records. You’ll see that, as a Council member, Samuel Alai voted in favor of these gas wells. Same when we was Council President. It wasn’t until 2009, whenAshley/Lenwood residents became appalled at the proliferation of these wells in neighborhoods, that Mayor Alai talked about changing course on gas wells. He said he’d appeal one well all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court. Of course that didn’t happen.
You have to examine the entire record when it comes to Samuel Alai and a matter as vital to the health and safety of Broadview Heights as gas and oil wells. This 2,150 percent increase has come during his eight years in elected office in our city.
What else has happened with this? Factsforbvh has found contributions from people involved with gas well companies and gas mitigation representatives going into Samuel Alai’s campaign committees, going back over the past eight years.
In fact, there are a couple of dozen questionable campaign contributions, some from convicted felons. Email me at jdkprof@gmail.com and I’ll be glad to provide you with a list of what I’ve uncovered … and I have done just a cursory look at the campaign finance records.
VISION?
If you examine campaign literature and web sites in the Mayoral campaign, you should look for truth about a vision for a better Broadview Heights. Mayor Samuel Alai’s site is big on accomplishments. Compare that to just these two areas – gas wells and income tax receipts – and judge for yourself if this person, who’s been in elected office now for eight years, deserves another term.
Rachel Manias and Tish O’Dell have good information on their web sites. Of course it’s difficult to assess their track record, as neither has held public office.
Joe Price has both good information and video “testimonials” from residents on his web site. He’s been tough on gas well growth from the get-go since entering Council in 2009, and he also have advanced some outstanding economic development ideas, such as utilizing Tax Increment Financing. Our neighbors to the northeast, Independence, have adopted TIF to attract 800 to 1,000 jobs from the Cleveland Clinic to their community. 100% of those TIF Districts have been structured to generated a positive cash flow for Independence. The TIF Districts proposed by Joe Price follow the exact structure.
The income tax revenues from 800 to 1,000 Cleveland Clinic positions would sure help improve finances in Broadview Heights. That’s vision.
Web sites supporting some the information in this post are below. VOTERS – Please print out the chart on Income Tax revenues and keep it in mind as you choose whom to vote for in the September 13 Mayoral primary.
INCOME TAX DATA
http://www.broadview-heights.org/PDFs/MonthlyIncomeTaxReceipts.pdf
Give the gift of life! See details at bottom about local blood drive on Tuesday, July 26
READERS — There will be a political post later on this week. Like the listing of all the Mayoral candidates’ web sites (which I did a while back), the information below is being presented to help connection you with activities of interest.
Look for a SPORTS HERO post on my regular blog on July 19. It’s at:
http://jkerezy.wordpress.com.
UPCOMING ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS
Tuesday, July 19
Rachel Manias for Broadview Hts Mayor Fundraiser
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Attire: Casual
Beef O’Brady’s 9174 Broadview Road
Appetizers and beverages, suggested donation of $30.00 per person
Contact: rachel@rachelformayor.com
Wednesday, July 20, 12 noon
COMPLIMENTARY GOODWILL LUNCHEON
BoneYard Restaurant in Broadview Heights
Thursday, July 21, 7 p.m.
“WAR HEROES AND THE HOME FRONT”
Brecksville Library
FRIDAY, JULY 22, 10AM
CULTURAL CERAMICS
Brecksville Library
SATURDAY, JULY 23
BVH’s OUTDOOR MOVIE NIGHT AND 2ND ANNUAL CAMP-OUT
Movie “Despicable Me” (PG) on Sat., July 23
See the city’s web site or call Call 440/838-4522 for reservations ($10 per family/tent)
Information about some of these can be found at:
http://www.broadview-heights.org/eventspecial.html
TUESDAY, JULY 26
Cuyahoga Valley Church
American Red Cross
Cleveland Clinic
WCRF 103.3 FM BLOOD DRIVE
7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
5055 East Wallings Road at I-77
Click below to donate (best open time slots are 10 am-noon and 1-4 pm)
Details: http://cvconline.org/index.php/site/frontpage4
Donate: www.redcrossblood.org
sponsor code – cvconline
I’ll be volunteering here — and giving blood as well.
Again, the next political post will be later on in the week.
Sometime yesterday afternoon, FACTSFORBVH surpassed 1,000 visitors to its page.
It seems people are longing to know more about what’s going on in Broadview Heights with respect to how the City is being run, and what’s unfolding with the upcoming Mayoral Primary Election.
I’m very appreciative of you — many people have told me “way to go – thanks for the information” and expressed support of this blog.
The next post is planned for tomorrow, Friday, July 15. Look for it.
“Facts are stubborn things.” John Adams
Imagine if President Obama used federal funds and paid government workers to put the word “Hope” on signs all over the U.S. Suppose you saw this slogan at every international airport and on the signs entering the U.S. from Canada, placed there at taxpayer expense. How would the public respond to that?
Suppose President Obama then kept that same slogan for his 2012 re-election campaign? Wouldn’t that constitute using taxpayer funds to support his own election?
Well…that’s precisely what Mayor Sam Alai is doing right now in Broadview Heights.
Alai developed the phrase “Believe in Broadview Heights” and used it in multiple literature pieces during his campaign to get elected Mayor in 2007.
Fine.
Then, he “governmentized” the slogan by putting it on signs, posters, city-owned buildings, and other City of Broadview Heights materials. Anyone traveling through town knows that the words “Believe in Broadview Heights” appear on the back side of virtually all of the “Welcome” signs into the City. The Mayor then used taxpayer funds to add his name in a prominent location to the signs – something that had NEVER been done before in Broadview Heights.
But why not promote yourself and your campaign slogan that way?
“L’État, c’est moi” is the phrase that French King Louis XIV supposedly said. It translates to “I am the state.”
With re-election time here, Mayor Alai is now “politicizing” his government. The slogan at the bottom of the invitation his campaign committee mailed out for his June 26 fundraiser was – you guessed it – “Believe In Broadview Heights.”
(By the way, he TOOK OFF the slogan from the bottom of the fund raiser invitation that appears on his campaign web page …but has it on the literature he distributed in neighborhoods on July 2-3.)
This probably breaks Ohio Election laws but – more importantly – it shows Mayor Alai’s inability to separate politics from government.
Here are some more examples:
Mayor Alai isn’t the only one who can’t separate campaigning from government. His wife Terry Alai has used the Brecksville-Broadview Heights Schools’ email to solicit campaign contributions.
Mayor Alai earned his bachelor’s degree in political science. He should know better.
So as the September 13 primary election day approaches, every time you see “Believe in Broadview Heights” on a city sign, ask yourself: Is this a government message, or is it a campaign message?
If you can’t tell the difference, Mayor Sam Alai is glad.
After all, in his eyes, L’État, c’est moi.
(NOTE: President Obama’s 2008 logo and poster was created by Shepard Fairey)
factsforbvh 