Cleveland and Cuyahoga County are damned to implode upon the profound stupidity and intellectual dishonesty of Dennis! Kucinich and his followers like Frank Lewis. Please sweep up a little after youve finally ground this region into dust, okay?
Staggering pollution? Blatant segregation? Ingrained corruption? Sorry, no time for that, theres a point to be made! Cleveland was a capitalists and workers paradise, and now its a ghost town. Gillespie gets from Point A to Point Jeez by sprinting through decades, stitching together disparate incidents — the Hough riots, the Cuyahoga River fire, school busing protests, Boy Mayor Kucinichs deult, even The Fumble (again with the strained sports metaphors) — into the ugliest patchwork quilt youve ever seen.
Wake up!
Taking pot shots at him, and telling him to get off his t ass and do something is not doing any good.
No wonder they only way this circulates is by giving it away for free.
Its about libertarianism or socialism.
Poor Mr.Lewiss estimation of himself r exceeds any notoriety or success he will ever recieve when all he can offer is ad hominem claptrap. Shame on Scene for lambasting someone, whom many rightly consider a local hero, with a horrific cover, just to get people to read 2 pages of the basest reporting known to the field.
We have something that no other city in the world has..The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Libertarians - are you willing to say to the rich people in that area - get rid of the historic districts and zoning which protect the not particularly interesting mansions of that area? Or is this just a bunch of ideology? Do you have a clue what I am talking about?
Of course you are. I should never have doubted you. So SCENE, stick with your bigger government, bigger unions, anti-school choice, anti-business agenda. Its obviously worked so well for the poor people of Cleveland over the past 40 years.
From the article:
It all sounds great, right up until the point you remember the last time you reviewed your options in the midst of a problem with — or just had a question for — your bank, or your credit card company, or your insurer, or your cell-phone provider, or your cable company, or a private utility company. Or just the last time you stood in line for 20 minutes in Wal-Mart or Marcs because there was one cashier on duty on a Saturday afternoon. Or paid $20 to park downtown and had to walk three blocks because when you made your dinner reservations, you forgot that the Browns or Cavs were at home that night.
The Ass is Wrong_ cheerleading poster ideas,Comedy, Sid Caesar once said, has to be based on truth.You take the truth and you put a little curlicue at the end.
Today, in addition to hostingThe Price Is Right,Carey offers us a different stereotype: the celebrity who feels that we all really need to hear about his politics. And just as he took risks with his sitcom — attempting live shows, musical numbers, even a cartoon-character cameo — Carey one-ups openly liberal actors like Alec Baldwin and Martin Sheen by deigning to share with us, his fellow Clevelanders, a step-by-step plan for saving this mously struggling town.
He HAS done something. Hes done research, and is offering solutions.
I cant wait for the next Flats proposal to get everyone huffy/excited then cry when the plans ll in the shredder. Hows that ghost town, down there? Whaaaaa Cleveland... whaaaaaaaa.
In any case, Cleveland will never be as important relative to other cities as it was in the early-mid 20th century.
Hey, Frank would you be ing about Jeanene Garafolo or Sean Penn if they had similar suggestions about how to save Cleveland? I doubt it because youre a typical hypocrital Amy Goodman-listening douche who cant think for himself. Go yourself!!
Its the forward thinking of Tim Hagan and Jimmy Dimora and Peter Jones and every other hack Democrat ilure elected to county offices that will make this county and city great again. Just as soon as theyre finished burning it to the frThe Ass is Wrong_ cheerleading poster ideaseakin ground, that is.
You know, normally I just breeze by the little Scene stands you see everywhere downtown. Normally this little doesnt appeal to me in the least (partly due to reporting like this). But when this is the cover story, this is the thing they use to as an opportunity to offer a counter-point to what could be an honest and forthright discussion about solutions for this city, instead we get this.
I know that Cleveland is broke, said Carey in a phone interview withThe Plain Dealer, whose wning, Sunday front-page promotion of the video series made no effort to analyze its messages. Its like one of the poorest cities in the nation right now. And I was like, What the hell, man?
And since the article didnt provide a link to the videos, I will do so:
The PD gave Carey a pass on the political agenda at work here, but make no mistake, these are not mini-documentaries so much as elaborate campaign commercials, selling an ideology instead of a candidate.
And yet City Hall puts a lot of obstacles in the way of clubs having live music.
And had Sean Penn had espoused Bolshevism in the name of Obama and for saving Cleveland hed be a lauded genius, too, right?
It occurred to me as soon as I heard Drew Carey was taking time to try and educate Clevelanders about the superiority of free markets. Oh crap, I told friends, just wait until the leftist mouthpieces of the Cleveland media get a hold of this one! But wait: would they really do a hatchet job on one of the few beloved, mous Clevelanders left alive? One who escaped this backward, quasi-socialist hellhole to build a succesful career for himself, just as hes trying to help the people still stuck there? Are the propagandists at Scene and Plain Dealer really that bloodthirsty? That blinded by ideology?
But offering only anarchy as its replacement.
And lets not even get started on Enron or oil price spikes or the financial meltdown that triggered the Great Recession. Your private-sector dollars at work.
So heres my suggestion for Drew: If you care about Cleveland as much as you say you do, if you really want to make a difference, then dont just preach from the safety and luxury of sunny California. Get off your trademark t ass and do something. Give up the panache of L.A. and the easy money ofThe Price is Rightand move back to Cleveland. Start a production company, open a comedy club — hell, run for office, the race for the new county executive position is wide open.Dosomething. Or shut the hell up.
Decentralize control, and let smart, motivated principals, teachers and parents decide what their students really need — on its ce, it makes a lot of sense, and sometimes it works brilliantly. Sometimes. The Reason video blithely ignores the obvious, market-based question — if charters are so great, why arent they rapidly replacing traditional public schools everywhere? — and even implies that teachers unions are to blame for keeping this revolution in check, without ever presenting their point of view.
Sincerely,
Whenever I hear the Libertarians I think about Leftists. Its never about Cleveland, or the war, or the economy or health care.
As for myself, I wouldnt take Frank Jacksons problems if they were wrapped in 24 carat gold.
The introductory video opens with a jaunty theme song and shots from around the city, everything from PlayhouseSquare marquees to boarded-up homes. This leads into a quicky history lesson, beginning post-World War II, when Cleveland was the sixth largest city in America and its economic strength was mirrored on the playing fields of the NFL and Major League Baseball. As if the two have anything to do with each other. But the narration — by Nick Gillespie, editor-in-chief ofreason.com— continues in that vein, like a slapdash movie adaptation of a richly detailed novel. The montage of the supposedly idyllic 50s even includes a clip from a cheesy film reel of the period, and I dont think Ive ever seen such footage used without irony. The obsequious, chipper narrator lilts, Almost two million people live and work here, and recognize this area as The Best Location in the Nation.
Ever wonder why most, now mous, people leave Cleveland to get any recognition? No local media support, unless its trendy or anti-trendy just to be argumentative.
Both shows lasted nine years. In comedy, stereotypes work.
after reading this, I understand why Denis Kucinich is from Cleveland lol
how about a local guy putting in his 2 cents to a situation thats frustrating for us all....and YES i believe a good, no a GREAT education is monumental in our new global world, so YES we need to do something drastic to fix it now. i dont see anyone else coming up with anything POSITIVE. so instead attacking a guy whos trying to help, maybe we should redirect that energy to create something that works, instead breeding all this resentment and negativity...for our kids and citys sake??!!!
As for Frank... Drew Carey quiting a high paying job in Los Angeles to go lose money in Cleveland is the dumbest solution or even suggestion Ive ever heard. Hosting the price is right is giving Drew the power to actively work on behalf of causes he feels strongly about - and hes using that power to hopefully support a change in ideas that can make the town better. What YOURE doing by whining about it without offering a single substantive critique or alternative solution - and by supporting consistently iled ideas - is whats useless and bad for the city you live in.
As for you and the idiotic tea baggers, I would say:
And to Joe: Speaking as a libertarian, if the historic districts are valued then they can be kept alive via trusts, non-profits, historical societies and local residents. There is no direct reason some developer would tear all that down, especially if they dont actually own the property! Duh... Zoning or not, that doesnt give non-owners of property the right to come in and bulldoze everyones houses. This is why, youll note, that the only way companies & developers get to do stuff like that is through eminent domain abuse - which is something that we evil libertarians have fought against for decades (see the Institute for Justices supreme court case against New London, CT, for instance).
The next installment presents another libertarian hobbyhorse, privatization, and pretty much dispenses with even the pretense of balance. Gillespie makes the case for selling two regional gems, the West Side Market (because some vendors complain about the cilities) and the Metroparks public golf courses (because the owner of a private course says his is better, and a couple guys in a bar agree). Seriously, the case is that thin. But that doesnt stop Gillespie from lobbing this softball to Carey in an interview (probably conducted in L.A.): Is it surprising to you that the publicly owned and operated markets and golf courses are inferior to the privately owned ones?
From there, we are treated to several more minutes of unbridled cheerleading for privatization. Every interviewee lauds the private sectors unquestioned ability to deliver services better and at less cost than any government. Theres a quick, positive review of Chicagos privatization of parking meters — theyre solar-powered! They accept credit cards! — and for balance, we get a three-second shot of a news headline (Meter Meltdown: Chaotic changes — and higher rates to boot). Again, no time for details that might slow down the narrative. Critics are marginalized as selfish, paranoid union members. West Side Market manager George Bradac is made to look like a fool.
You dismiss Drew under the ground that a celebrity or think thank cant save a city will the purpose of the video was to present ideas that can save the city SO people can put them in practice
Pity your intelligence was stunted in grade school. Otherwise the concept of LIMITED GOVERNMENT might have trumped your allegiance to the Nanny State.
You should not be driving to dinner, dont be a feckless suburbanite; you should walk, take the rapid or a cab if needed. No wonder this city is dead - people who work for the progressive city complain about parking! Move to dallas you chump.
Mayor Frank Jackson, predictably, has played it safe. The people of the city of Cleveland will save Cleveland, he told the PD. And we welcome all suggestions as to how we can move in that direction and all assistance that can come along with it.
It appears, that FLewis, LIKES the current economy and excuses of Cleveland, and by offending celebs that are trying to help, I doubt the city can get more positive attention. Remove this writer, and other like-minded negative thinkers........that would be a great start for our city.
The Official Publication of the Dennis Kucinich Fan Club accusing Drew Carey of offering -minded, self-aggrandizing political platitudes devoid of any substance? Now thats rich!
No civilization ever evolves into anarchy, they degenerate into anarchy.
What are you doing? If you have better ideas, Id love to hear them!
The problem isnt whether freedom works for libertarians like Drew Carey. Its whether freedom is even allowed.
Three blocks, oh, the horror! And if you watch the entire series, youll notice that Reason is very down on corporate-welre sports stadiums.
Yeah, Drew. You had me at t, dorky and bland. Just like Seinfeld, or -- uhh, well -- you still had me bra.
But Jacksons right about being our own heroes. No think tank or celebrity will save Cleveland. The citys best hope lies in each resident breaking off a piece of one of the massive problems, as much as he or she can handle, and trying to fix it. One child, one abandoned building, one teetering community, one council ward at a time. Cleveland is what we make it.
Absolutely certain that the establishment must be destroyed.
At the risk of repeating the other comments... This whole article isnt remotely a review of the ideas or arguments made, but is instead one giant fest about the supposed condescension of people who are actually offering solutions to the town that is repeatedly described as Americas worst city.
And see if he really can do any better.
Or he could build his own Westside Market, golf course and charter school.
One example of the endless red tape Carey talks about.
Maybe its time that the socialists of the world recognize that their ideas dont work. The idea that you can control economies & centrally plan the lives and behaviors of millions of people is not good in theory... Its ridiculously stupid in theory, and downright catastrophic in practice.
A Cleveland boy — even a Cleveland boy made good like Drew Carey — should know better.
IF YOURE NOT PART OF THE SOLUTION, YOURE PART OF THE PROBLEM.
So, just keep your feet pressed down on the throats of Clevelands urban poor, who, thanks to you, will never have a chance at a decent education or a high-paying professional career. As long as you sustain Clevelands national reputation as a left-wing cesspool thats hostile to capitalism, the decades-old cycle of decline and deterioration will keep grinding on. And youll sit there at you
Craig Thomas
Reason is doling out new videos each day this week. And I admit that Im curious to hear what they have to say about using public money to build sports arenas and convention centers (and, presumably, medical marts). On that topic, we might find some common ground. But that wont blunt the stunning arrogance of Reason and Careys stunt. The whole thing drips with condescension. Its one thing to promote your ideas; its quite another to wrap them in your own press releases and present them as a gift of value beyond measure.
Thats the freemarket.
Id like to know some other opinions, but from my point of view Cleveland-ites are y, opinionated, whoa-is-me, snobbish pricks. I have been known to show these traits as well.
Cleveland, OH
This was a really rotten article. Why so much venom toward Drew Carey? Hes trying to suggest ideas on helping the city. Even I dont think they are all good ideas, but he loves Cleveland and wanted to try to help it. Critiquing the ideas is fine, but the personal attacks are not. Cleveland is in bad shape and saying Screw You to someone on the front cover of your news to someone who is trying to help makes Frank Lewis and the Scene part of the problem.
So Drew Carey is a jackhole for suggesting Libertarian solutions to the utter ilure of Big Government and Trickle-Down Bureaucracy in Cuyahoga County.
Over and over and over, this entertainment mag confirms something for me. Cry about Cleveland, and when someone wants to make it better. I loathe the majority of Scene writers. Jaded stories pretty much on every topic, music, art, politics, etc.
I look forward to seeing the rest of the series, and hearing what they have to say.
And stellar, absolutely stellar reporting on how the free market doesnt work when you try to solve a problem by going through customer service. Since Mr. Lewis obviously doesnt care about genuine reporting, cts, statistics, or any kind of investigation at all, I may as well refute his knee-jerk anecdotal evidence with my own.
Clevelands solutions dont easily fit into a single framework. There needs to be a mergecheerleading poster ideasr of city and county such that Cuyahoga county becomes Cleveland. There needs to be an emphasis on high-skilled, high value-added manucturing.
Whats GaGa doing today?
So r, so good. But the report offers just one solution (market-based, of course): charter schools. Gillespie examines two successful charters, one in Oakland and one right here, Citizens Academy, and touts them as models for public education. But he never mentions that in Ohio, for every inspiring success story like Citizens Academy, theres been at least one crushing disappointment, like the International Preparatory School, the subject of a 2005Sceneinvestigation, or White Hat Managements many for-profit schools, whichThe Plain Dealerexamined in 2006. And asCleveland Free Timesreported in 2007, when White Hat found itself at odds with some of its own schools boards over dismal test scores, it got its friends in the state legislature to change the law and diminish the boards power.
Sorry but calling Drew a Fat Ass dont make you right ... even when you repeat it 50 times
We have met big government and he is us.
Or paid $20 to park downtown and had to walk three blocks because when you made your dinner reservations, you forgot that the Browns or Cavs were at home that night.
Carey and the Reason Foundation, a Los Angeles-based libertarian think tank, have teamed up to produce Reason Saves Cleveland, a series of short videos tackling, and ostensibly solving, our citys most pressing problems. From Los Angeles, where both Carey and Reason are based.
Yes, we have a clue what youre talking about. My guess is that 99-99.5% of libertarians would, in ct, be in vor of getting rid of historic districts. The Reason video has an entire segment criticizing zoning!
Yeah, Frank Lewis, this Drew Carey fella is a douchebag royale.
So, if Drew Carey knows so much about running Cleveland he should run for mayor.
Forget that crap. Democrats, Democrats, Democrats.
I think this was probably the worst thing I have ever read in Scene, or possibly any publication; or any stringing together of words that my eyes have ever come across.
Drew apparently does, but when he tries to make his case to the people, you all over him.
Frank Lewis comes off as every bit arrogant and condescending as he accuses Drew Carey of being. He smugly pooh-poohs free-market economics and those who espouse them without offering any solutions himself, just blind ith in the public sector. Quick-fix solutions? As opposed to raging against free trade and corporations, as if that would somehow magically restore our industrial base of half a century ago?
If I were a developer the first place I would want to build would be on the hills of the Heights. There would be an enormous amount of people who would want to live in a walkable urbanist area from Shaker Square, up Larchmere and Coventry to Cornell/Overlook/Mayfield/Univ Circle. All very close to CWRU and the Clinic.
Does it surpriseyou? responds Carey with a smirk. Thought-provoking, no?
They are thriving, and Cleveland and Detroit are not.
But the Socialist Dennis! Kucinich is a hero because he espouses statism.
If its all an elaborate hoax meant to satirize the breathtaking arrogance of celebrities, then Carey is a r greater actor than I ever imagined.
Ive never cared for Drews comedy, but at least appreciate that he got out of Cleveland and made a name/career for himself.
Fail.
flewis@clevescene.com
Why not look to other Cities like Houston and Chicago?
What really struck me were the petty pokes at Mr. Careys physique (doughce/well-fed/t-ass), t jokes are really the realm of 6th graders, and dolts.
The installment on schools, for example, cherrypicks cts with aplomb. Only 12 percent of Clevelands district and charter schools merit a state rating of excellent, or even effective, says Gillespie. Any plan to revitalize the city must radically improve K-12 education.
Cleveland needs all the help it can get. Who cares where it comes from. In a town of oh so many creative people, very rarely is a plan ever followed through with.
Its forced private enterprise to flee our ruthless taxation and despicable Democratic corruption. And as the businesses and entrepreneurs have left for locales more hospitable to profits and success, theyve taken all the jobs with them. But you dont understand that, do you?
From commenter Joe:
Puh-LEEZ!
Comedian Drew Carey and his California libertarian buddies have a plan to save Cleveland. Dont you feel SO much better now?
Or you can put a bland suit and dorky glasses on it, and shave its head into an old-school gym teachers buzz cut. That was Drew Careys shtick, and it was brilliant. In that thrift-store costume, he both mimicked and refuted the most successful comedian of his generation, Jerry Seinfeld. Both men crafted real-life caricatures out of their own personalities and backgrounds. But where Seinfeld mined New Yorkers reputed neuroses and self-absorption forSeinfeld,Carey went another direction entirely withThe Drew Carey Show, shioning himself into a portly poster boy for his fellow Clevelanders, earnest but hapless, loveable but hopelessly unhip.
As Alexander Winton told Mr.Packard.
-I had a problem with my cell phone bill 3 days ago. Spent 35 minutes getting it solved. 35 minutes better spent on doing anything else I could in that time. Like running for city congressman, opening a comedy club, or starting a production company for example.
But that wont blunt the stunning arrogance of Reason and Careys stunt. The whole thing drips with condescension. Its one thing to promote your ideas; its quite another to wrap them in your own press releases and present them as a gift of value beyond measure...get off your t ass and do something. Who does Drew think he is? Michael Moore?
The Libertarians and Tea Baggers all sound to me like the hippies of the 60s.
New ideas? Market-driven solutions? Personal responsibility?
Sure He cant pack a 50 minutes videos with lots of figures ... you see the idea is : People watch the video, get interested and then go to the Reason website and have a look
Judging from the three episodes I was able to watch before press time, What the hell, man? is indicative of the level of insight. Libertarians arent stupid — and they deserve credit for ignoring their conservative cousins obsession with the so-called culture wars — but they have a bad habit of peddling , quick-fix solutions to complex, longstanding problems. And their solutions almost always involve the supposed wisdom of market forces — the invisible hand, as its sometimes called, a term Carey uses in an interview.
Libertarians - are you willing to say to the rich people in that area - get rid of the historic districts and zoning which protect the not particularly interesting mansions of that area? Or is this just a bunch of ideology? Do you have a clue what I am talking about?
Do something. Or shut the hell up.
Someone finally has a refreshing idea on how to save Cleveland and this douchebag Green Party ass has to rain on his parade because he doesnt have any better solutions other than voting Dennis Kucinich into power so the government can make Cleveland a better place.
If you know so much about automobiles, build your own automobile.
This is the counter-point to a market-based approach? A condescending headline to grab attention and then a snarky sum-up of the videos followed by the intellectual equivalent of are you serious?
Drew Carey is espousing an approach to problem solving that is almost impossible to try anywhere. Its not impossible because it does not work. It is impossible because the places that need to try it are locked up in trying another approach. It seem appropriate in such circumstance to give only the one side: Freedom, Liberty, Justice. Why should he have to sell Control, Tyranny, and Bureaucracy? We are surrounded by it already.
What hes saying makes sense!
The libertarians can fight the socialists as long as they want - perhaps at the Unitarian Church just off Coventry. We need to fix the Cleveland area day to day.
But hey, when solutions are offered that exist in other places like Houston and Chicago, who needs to investigate? Who needs to pick up a phone and give a call? Find out if what they say is true? And how silly of this free market if all they do is take parking meters and make them easier for customers to use - I mean, how stupid is that?
So... education isnt doing something? The libertarian movement is entirely education based. The whole idea that one needs to provide explicit positive (rather than negative) answers to these problems is statist and counter to what libertarian philosophy. If you could just provide positive answers to these issues that would be an argument for the state. That it is possible of one person to know how others should live better than themselves. Providing the education in economics and liberty is doing something. Its providing people the perspective they need to fix the problems that the state creates themselves rather than expecting it to be fixed for them by those who created it.
Cities like Austin, Nashville, and New Orleans promote music and try to help it thrive.
-Went to build a deck on the back of my house. Took 3 weeks. 2 weeks was work. 1 week was waiting on the city government to bother to bring out an inspector to make sure the gaping holes in my yard was up to code. Granted, I cant imagine what I could have done in that week that I couldnt use my back yard. Probably nothing.
Take a million monkeys, ting on a million laptops, and you would have a million articles better than this.
But the doom and gloom is just the opening act. Is a Cleveland renaissance possible? asks Gillespie. Of course it is. And thats where the real fun begins.
So, if Drew Carey thinks he could do better he is welcome to run for mayor of Cleveland.
Chicago is a great model of a Great Lakes City that rose up during the industrial revolution.
