Cuyahoga County Commissioner Tim Hagan tossed a spasm recently over an I-Team report that the FBI was investigating an aspect of the deal for the Dick Jacobs property.  The County paid Jacobs $22 million for the long abandoned and empty buildings at East 9th & Euclid Avenue.

The TV report involved the awarding of a contract by the commissioners for asbestos abatement to a bidder some $1 million more than the low bid.  (Reference “How much can this community stand…”).  Hagan and Jimmy Dimora voted for the deal and Peter Lawson Jones against.

Since purchasing the properties, Hagan and Dimora have decided the County does not have the dough for a planned new administration building.  The properties are now up for sale.

I have said before that the County deal with developer and multi-millionaire Jacobs stinks.  This never should have happened.

Now, someone has forwarded me the deed on that deal that shows how stinky it is, thanks to at least two bend-over County Commissioners.

The real estate deed filed with the County insures that real estate tycoon Jacobs, one of Cleveland’s wealthiest skinflints, will be honored with two by three feet plaques on the buildings.

The owner of the buildings will...

“Install on the exterior of the building or buildings located on the real property at street level two plaques in honor of and containing the name of Richard E. Jacobs, one of which shall face Euclid Avenue and the other of which shall face East 9th Street. Each plaque shall be not less than 36 inches by 24 inches and shall be located in an unobstructed and visible location.”

Why not name the town for him?  Jacobsville anyone?

Here’s what the deed shows in the sale document recorded at the County Recorder’s office for the plaque...

“In recognition of over 50 years of endeavor and achievement, the Board of Cuyahoga County Commissioners, on behalf of its citizens, gratefully acknowledges the significant contributions of

Richard E. Jacobs

Mr. Jacobs has consistently and selflessly devoted his insight, skills, and resources to the development, redevelopment, and preservation of Downtown Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. This complex, which includes the historic Rotunda, symbolizes the legacy that Mr. Jacobs has established through his leadership in development and owning many of this County’s major commercial, retail, and recreational facilities.”

No, kidding, it’s in the deal made by the County Commissioners!

Jacobs is a millionaire maybe 400 to 500 times over.  His legacy to Cleveland has been that he’s squeezed out as much as he could, particularly with the help of politicians such as Hagan, George Voinovich and George Forbes.

In return, he has done nothing but grab for more.

He is a prefect example of a greedy businessman.  Never satisfied.

His passion is snatching a few more bucks, sucking up more government welfare subsidies.

Now, as he comes near the end of his life, he apparently needs more than mere financial gain.

He needs honors.  He wants plaques.

By the way, they’re to be “of durable material” and lettering in “relief or carved.”  They must also be maintained “in good condition and repair.”  Presumably, in perpetuity.  What chutzpa.

And the County Commissioners – Tim Hagan who has given so much for so little – has acceded to his wishes.

Honors for all times.

As the person who alerted me to this latest civic obscenity notes...

“This could be the basis for a new VISA commercial:

-  Name on a Major League Stadium:  $10,000,000 annually. (Actually, $1 million annually.)

-  Gain on sale of baseball team:  $280,000,000.

-  Sale proceeds from a building no else wanted:  $22,000,000.

-  Two commemorative plaques of durable material:  Priceless.”

You could add numerous other gifts.  Twenty-year tax abatements, zero interest 20-year loans on downtown buildings, the most satisfying deal at Chagrin Highlands, and other sweet deals flowed to Jacobs during the Voinovich-Forbes administration.

How sweet it is for Dick Jacobs.

Of course, if the right person wrote the plaque, it could be different.  Not what Dick might enjoy.

How about, “This property was once owned by the city’s stingiest multi-millionaire – Dick Jacobs.”

Or “The greedy grinch Dick Jacobs made a bundle on this building by selling it to Cuyahoga County, thanks to his buddies Tim Hagan and Jimmy Dimora.”

Possibly “This plaque is dedicated to Dick Jacobs, an ingrate, a money grubber and an All-American swine.”

As for Crybaby Hagan, he recently laid into TV news, in particular the I-Team, for its report that the FBI was investigating a contract involving the E. 9th & Euclid property.  Of course, the FBI will not acknowledge or deny an investigation so it cannot be assured that there is an investigation.  The report by Bill Sheil of Channel 8 didn’t say that Hagan or any other Commissioner was under investigation.

However, Hagan took it that way.  A six-minute harangue...

“The town sucks with these kind of people who think that all they can do is exploit people…”

“My 17-year old daughter yesterday was asked, ‘Is your father in trouble with the law?’  Because this creep at Ch. 8 during sweeps decided to run a story that on the face of it was false.”

Sheil had asked Hagan for an interview, prior to the story, and though in a previous interview Hagan promised to sit down and answer questions, he failed to respond to repeated requests for an interview.

To satisfy Hagan a reporter must offer only bouquets of honor.  Maybe a plaque.

Hagan, as Sheil said, “mocked” reporters with this...

“The position we’re confronted with is they are the Truth, the Way and the Light and all of us in public life should be questioned and that the FBI is investigating all of us.

“We have no protection in public life, those of us who serve in public life, from the god damn press, attacking our integrity at every turn.  It’s an outrage,” said Hagan.

Tim Hagan has lived a charmed life in Cleveland's news media. He has his protector – Brent Larkin – at the Pee Dee and he’s always portrayed well there.

Hagan (pictured glad-handing disgraced former Governor Bob Taft) sees himself as a strong fighter for the underdog even as he does the bidding of such parasites as Jacobs.

The last fig leaf Hagan has of himself as fighter for the underprivileged is his support for the county’s health and welfare levy.  He’s been hiding behind that reputation for years.

The Pee Dee reported in its TipOff column that Hagan was pressuring county vendors for money for the levy’s support...

“They’re not contributing to me, pal. I’m asking for a corporate contribution for a levy to help kids in this town” Hagan is quoted saying.

He wants to raise $600,000 for the campaign.  A worthy cause, however, I wonder how much, pal, will be used for the aggrandizement of Mr. Hagan and pals.

Maybe he forgot to ask tightwad Jacobs for a hefty contribution for the health and welfare levy.

After all, Hagan enriched Jacobs more than any of us will ever know.  I do know five years after Gateway was finished, the Gateway Authority was in “technical default,” according to then Ohio Auditor Jim Petro, who had helped Jacobs also.

Jacobs, however, at the same time was rolling in baseball money.  He paid himself the handsome annual salary of $467,424.  As a board member, he earned another $15,000 minimum and shared heavily in another $35.5 million distribution.  What a lucky man.

As I wrote then in 1999, “Dick Jacobs continues to use a vacuum cleaner to suck up the cash from the house that taxpayers built.”

We must give honor to the man?  Truthfully, the plaque should state here was a man whose greed was unbounded and tasteless.