Please, tell me I’m having a bad dream.
George Forbes indicted. On mere
misdemeanors!
After all the questionable deals Forbes
pulled during his long tenure in City
Council, much of it as its president, he
gets caught taking little grub and a couple
of flights. You gotta be kidding.
Moreover, the crime is NOT reporting the
gifts. Spare me.
Has
Cleveland sunk so low that even its Premier
Power Broker proves to be a minor league
delinquent? How embarrassing.
I loved his interview with Tom Beres of
WKYC,
Ch. 3.
Forbes, almost straight-faced, told Beres, I
didn’t even know my daughter worked for the
company that lost $200 million. Forbes was
interviewed in his backyard sporting a
grilling costume to show his humble side.
You know, just a simple common guy enjoying
July 4th, toasting up ribs.
My memory may fade but a “misdemeanor guy”
is not the Forbes I’ve known.
Is this the Forbes that cut a secret deal
that allowed his good friend Dick Jacobs to
walk away with the highly desirable Chagrin
Highlands development land, worth untold
millions of dollars? Thereafter, Forbes left
public office and his firm represented the
same Dick Jacobs. And how many flights to
New
York City entertainment venues did George
take with Dick on his private plane?
Is this the same George Forbes who became a
partner with the late James Carney when
Carney was Democratic Party boss and a
wealthy businessman with numerous downtown
interests? (Same interests as nephew John
Carney strategically located on the same
Port Board today).
Is this the same George Forbes who took
paper bags of money in the carnival kickback
days only to be ruled blameless by a retired
judge sent up to Cleveland by Gov. Jim
Rhodes, another of Forbes’ Republican
backers? Forbes is a Democrat in name only
and long has played with Republicans to
advance himself.
Is this the same Forbes for whom a shipping
firm was established as a minority firm but
turned out to be a white front? It was later
sold to Pickands-Mather, one of
Cleveland’s
old-time corporations, with Forbes walking
away with a cash settlement. The firm got a
favorable loan from the Nixon
administration, despite staff objections
about the nature of the firm.
Is this the same Forbes who joined with
Squire, Sanders & Dempsey’s managing partner
James C. Davis when the firm was trying to
help CEI steal the city’s municipal light
plant, as Davis helped Forbes with the first
black law firm in the bond counsel business?
The same Davis – called the Great White
Father by Forbes – who tried to have Gov.
James Rhodes take over the city to thwart
Dennis Kucinich’s term as mayor and who
wanted to fund (by bonds, of course) a
jetport in Lake Erie?
Is this the same Forbes who when Republic
Steel wanted an ore dock to itself on Lake
Erie served on the above-mentioned company
board with a key Republic Steel official in
the ore dock deal? Forbes in hearing
legislation said of the land desired by
Republic, “I’m almost willing to give it to
them for nothing.” Mayor Dennis Kucinich
nixed the deal and caught plenty of flak.
Is this the Forbes who a city employee who
claimed to be a Forbes relative and got more
than $1 million in minority contracts for
asbestos removal and demolition from Dick
Jacobs at the subsidy-soak complex - the Key
Center and Marriott hotel?
Is this the same Forbes who went into
business with landfill and trash owner Pete
Boyas? At the time I wrote, “Boyas has had
many scraps with city and state officials
and seems to get gentle, if not special,
treatment. The firm intended to produce oil
and gas commercially from nine to 17 wells
located in
Ohio.”
Is this the same George Forbes whose wife
got a $200,000 loan on a deal from a bank
that had recently help toss the city into
default?
Is this the same George Forbes who blocked a
$250,000 a year tenant (Regional Sewer
District) from occupying a city building so
that the tenant would rent at a building
owned by someone who gave his law firm
business?
Is this the same Forbes who went into
business with former Mayor Michael White in
a partnership to rehab two former
Cleveland
schools? The deal involved schools purchased
cheaply from the Cleveland system.
Is this the same Forbes who held up
legislation for the building of a parking
lot by Joe Cole behind the old Press
building to force operation of the new
facility into the hands of a favored parking
lot operator he represented?
Is this the Forbes that tried to hold up the
Red Cross by stalling legislation – ready
for months, said city officials - that could
expedite the purchase of land for a new Red
Cross building? Forbes’ law firm represented
the owner of the property who bought it for
$46,500 in 1980. His client reportedly
wanted $1 million for the property housing a
seedy bar.
Is this the same Forbes who pushed through
tens of millions of dollars for Jacobs and
the Ratner downtown hotels at zero interest
loans and with 20-year, 100 percent tax
abatements?
One can’t just make this stuff up. It’s the
material of at least a cheap novel.
The charge usually reads, “High crimes and
misdemeanors.” But Forbes was never much of
a misdemeanor type of guy.
It’s hard to take that he gets caught for
what amounts to a parking ticket violation.
At least so far. It’s not over. Yet, I don’t
see him taking the Nate Gray way.
The greatest sin in Forbes long list of
offenses, however, may be that he stifled
black leadership in this town. He was
notoriously harsh on young black council
members, especially if they had the temerity
to defy him as Jeff Johnson did.
He didn’t care enough to train new
leadership – for fear of competition - and
the town is worse for it. If we one were to
write a history of the past couple of
decades, this would be Forbes’ legacy.
He played a pivotal role in Kucinich’s
downfall and the city’s default. He clearly
represented the Business Establishment in
its desire to dethrone Kucinich. He followed
by joining with now Sen. George Voinovich in
freely bestowing subsidies to the same
businesses.
Forbes was a wheeler-dealer. He lacked or
spurned vision unlike, for example, Carl
Stokes. Forbes possibly never had the
passion to spur a progressive city. The
civil rights movement wasn’t a spur to him
as much as something to ride personally.
He was not an inspirational leader, rather a
bullying figure.
He didn’t help lift a city. Instead, he
sowed division to maintain personal power.
His one-time political protégé Michael White
became a little dictator after Forbes was
forced from
Cleveland
politics in 1990. Council rebelled against
his leadership. This forced Forbes to run
for mayor. He had promised White his backing
for White to run for mayor. However, he
reneged. White defeated him anyway.
White turned out to lack the human touch
that Forbes sometimes reveals.
We here have all suffered the consequence of
these failed leaders.
Forbes told Beres, “I’ve done it all.” He
told the truth.
Developer Scott Wolstein says it’s essential
that
Cuyahoga County commissioners and Mayor
Frank Jackson straighten the Cuyahoga River
for his Flats project to be viable.
Wolstein says that a straightened
Cuyahoga
River will bring thousands more tourists to
Cleveland and offer new land for more
downtown housing or strip joints.
“I’m ready to invest in
Cleveland.
Cleveland has to invest in this project,”
he said.
“It’s essential for the future of
Cleveland,”
said the popular developer.
“I think he’s right, of course. We can’t
afford to be negative,” said Commissioner
Tim Hagan. “A crooked river gives the city a
bad image.”
“What the hell. Who’s it going to hurt?
There ain’t any fish there to eat,” said
Jimmy Dimora.
“If it’s good for downtown, it’s good for
the city, it’s good for regionalism. I’m for
it,” said Mayor Jackson.
“Man, that guy is phenomenal. Awesome. Why
had no one in all these years here ever
thought of this? I’m firmly behind this
project. It will wake up this city,” said
Councilman Joe Cimperman. Cimperman said he
would sponsor legislation immediately to
straighten the crooked river.
“Who wants a crooked river anyway?” said
Cimperman.
The Greater
Cleveland
Partnership (GPC) released a statement
indicating support. GCP offered a $5,000
grant for a study of how to straighten the
Cuyahoga.
“We’ve failed to take advantage of our
natural resources. Now here’s an
opportunity to spur economic development.
The community must rally around this idea.
Future generations will look back at this
time and be able to say that’s when
Cleveland
became the Comeback City,” said the
release.
“It will make the bike path easier, too,”
added GCP boss Joe Roman.
“This would make us,
Cleveland++,” added Roman.
“No,” interjected downtown booster Joe
Marinucci, “It makes us Cleveland+++.”
“I’m not completely sold yet,” said Plan
Commission chairman Tony Coyne. “Has anyone
checked if they’ve done this in
Chicago?”
“I’ll handle the details if you’d like,”
said managing partner Fred Nance of Squires,
Sanders and Dempsey. “Of course, we can also
handle the bond work. For the usual small
fee.”
The Plain Dealer reported 300,000 jobs would
be created, citing a study by
Cleveland
State University’s Urban Affairs dean Mark
Rosentraub. Rosentraub predicted property
taxes will rise by at least $1 billion. “The
city can use that money,” he said.
Rosentraub said there could be as
many as 500,000 permanent new jobs created.
“Rivers are an important urban asset,” he
said.
“I’m pumped up. It is definitely the
big push this community really needs,” said
Rosentraub, continuing, “I hope we have the
foresight to pursue it, even it if requires
a small increase in the sales tax to 12
percent. This is no time for public
cynicism. This is a win-win project. We must
rise to the occasion.”
“Who wants a crooked river,” said Pepper
Pike Mayor Bruce Akers. “I think the
suburban mayors will get behind this idea.”
“We’ll move the earth. Or at least some of
it,” said Wolstein.
