We Want Choice Ohio Says: How About Some Healthy Competition for Cable Provider Service in Ohio??

Do you get as aggravated over not having a choice in cable companies as I do? At least with high speed cable I had a few choices. But cable TV? If it's Cleveland it's Adelphia er, now, Time Warner. Anyway, I hate the monopoly idea and did not know until a few minutes ago that there was a grassroots non-profit group working on this issue.

We Want Choice Ohio (WWCO). They make good points: competition can increase quality of workmanship, customer service (customer service was one of the main reasons I got rid of my cable TV service back in March). Prices could come down...apparently this has been true in areas where competition was allowed. Competition breeds creativity; creativity could be awesomely cool new features, and maybe - dare I say - less expensive ones.

What's up with Cleveland anyway? Just how long is their contract with Adelphia/Time Warner? Competition was just arriving in Lakewood when I moved back to Cleveland from Lakewood in 2005.

WWCO makes the point that since 1995 cable rates have increased 90 % Nationally and that here in Ohio rates have far outstripped the rates of inflation.

CNET.com did an article this month on a study done by the Univ. of California at Berkeley. They were estimating the kinds of savings that could occur in California alone, once telephone companies were allowed more inroads into the cable provider business. They were estimating a total of 690 million to 1 billion dollars a month for California consumers. Yes, per month! That got me looking at other articles on the competition issue and that led me to WWCO.

We Want Choice has a cool website. They have a 'take action' section. You can contact your elected officials. That's a great choice but the one I like is writing letters to local newspapers. They even have suggestions for things to mention in a letter if you need help.

One of the mantras here on this blog is jobs jobs and more jobs...can we have them please. Well, competition among cable companies would bring jobs for the laying of the cable as well as customer service, etc. Many good points on this website, check it out and see if there isn't a 'take action' item you might want to put into practice. The squeaky wheel, especially if we made it a lot of squeaks and not just a few, could get some results! Peace Out - 3C

April 18th update: A shout out to George Nemeth for pointing me to the fact that WWCO may be a non profit financed by AT&T and others with a vested interest. While I think they have the right to lobby us, I would prefer they do it openly and not disguised as a grassroots consumer group. Now for sure the phone company will not be my 'other option of choice' (not that they were anyway). Go to George's comment below to read more.

April is Cuyahoga County Sponsored Toxic Waste Month

Ok, yesterday it was Spring cleaning in Cleveland; now it's County wide. Do you have old cell phones you want to dispose of? Old hard drives? Computers? I have an iMAC I need to get rid of and local schools have refused it.

Cell phones, computers, hard drives etc., all have toxic materials in them like lead for example. So this month Cuyahoga County will take your cells and pagers and hard drives .

For the rest of this month you can contact the RET3 Job Corp office on East 40th Street in Cleveland. They are the drop off point for these items.

They will erase your hard drives for you (at least that is what they say lol).

Call 216-361-9991 for details. Peace Out - 3C

Free Coffee Today

Check out Cleveland Jim's Bargain Hunter's website. Not just for the free coffee (and yes, apparently Denny's is giving it away today in honor of Tax Day), but because it's a cool, fun site. I love seeing what he ferrets out as freebies.

Thanks, Jim! Peace Out- 3C

Mayor Jackson Announces the Clean Cleveland Initiative

My parents (and their siblings) were very serious about Spring cleaning. They washed walls, curtains, blinds, driveways, the street got swept! Turns out the City of Cleveland is going to start doing some Spring Cleaning of it's own. Maybe this is not a new initiative, but, it's the first I've heard of it.

The Clean Cleveland Initiative kicked off today. Apparently we can expect to see various City departments at work giving Cleveland a good Spring cleaning (this is what it says on the City website).

Along with that, they want residents to be the 'eyes and ears' for them. For example:

1. Report high weeds, graffiti, traffic light outages, abandoned vehicles, etc.
2. Report illegal activity (!) around abandoned buildings

You know how there can be vacant or abandoned lots and the back sides of shopping strips that seem to be magnets for people to dump trash? The City would like us to call 216-664-DUMP (3867) and report illegal dumping.

I guess it's time for me to get out and clean up my yard for the first time this year. Not to mention trim back the wild rose bushes before they start to sprout. Now while we are all cleaning up, apparently we will have company...City workers! Well, from 8am to 4pm anyway lol.

If you want to commend (or otherwise) any of the work that is done by the various City departments, you can call The Clean Cleveland Hot line at 216-664-2510 or you can email them at: cityofchoice@city.cleveland.oh.us.

Peace Out - 3C

Do You Remember Yuri Gagarin?

Every now and then, when I turn to Google to search for who knows what, I know something special is up by the change in the logo. Lo and behold, today, April 12th, is the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's launch into space....in 1961! This was when the 'space race' between the U.S. and The Soviet Union was in full force. He became the first human to orbit the earth. A thorn in the side to the U.S. government, because Nikita Khrushchev took great delight in promoting the U.S.S.R's superiority due to this accomplishment. Politics aside, it feels good to be able to celebrate such a pioneering event and fellow human's success on the anniversary of his orbit.

According to Wikepedia, Gagarin is called the 'Columbus of the Cosmos' in Russia. Cool name yes? He enjoyed quite a bit of celebrity, as you can imagine, until his untimely death in a plane crash in 1968. NASA does a good job on their website called Starchild (geared appropriately for young people) explaining Gagarin's accomplishments.

Here is a Time Magazine article from May 1961 when Alan Shepard was launched into space; it talks about both Shepard and Gagarin's flights. They say Shepard was fired into space and it all sounds so primitive now compared to the Space Shuttle.

Okay, so it's not Cleveland news. I couldn't help myself, it fascinates me... people were/are willing to be 'the first' at something like this. I mean, no one knows if it's really going to work or not! So Happy Anniversary Yuri.

And a shout out to Google for doing this. The next time you see the Google logo looking a bit different...they just might have other historical events to learn about and celebrate. Who says the Internet is evil :-) Peace Out - 3C

Would You Believe: Cleveland Ranks in Top Five Hottest Job Markets According to Monster Board

Ok, MonsterBoard, the job finding phenomenon, looked at job growth as it related to on line job demand, and came up with some interesting statistics. These are the five hottest job markets, according to Monster:

1. Houston
2. Dallas
3. Atlanta
4. Cleveland
5. St. Louis

For more of the story, check out the source at Monster® By the time you get to number 27 and 28 on the list (San Diego and Washington DC - Washington DC?) there was zero percent job growth on line. Surprised me! And btw, Monster stats show Cleveland with a 10 percent growth in one year. Peace Out - 3C

Tax Abatement Changes Proposed By Mayor Jackson and the City of Cleveland

Apparently the Cleveland Community and Economic Development department has made a recommendation to Mayor Jackson that some changes be made to the tax abatement policy.

Instead of a 100% across the board abatement, it would be more like this:

• 100 % Abatement for 7 Years on new construction
• Increased Abatement Policies on Rehabbed Homes
• Homes Meeting Certain Energy/Green Standards Could Receive an Additional 5 Yrs of Abatement

I'm personally in favor of the increased abatement on rehabbed homes. And a 7 year abatement sounds like a reasonable compromise. I may be in the minority on this, I'm not sure. There are arguments about how suburban 15 year abatement might now win residents over Cleveland. But we certainly can't afford to keep giving blanket abatement. Just my opinion. For example, taxes are lower in Cleveland anyway, so 7 years at 100% and then a lower tax than some of the suburban communities....that has to still be enticing.

I would have liked to see longer abatement for some of the still 'needy' neighborhoods...identified in the Mayor's CIP Plan as fragile. Maybe there is more news on this as the plans - proposal becomes available to the public.

Joe Cimperman, whose district has benefited greatly from abatement, has lent a disapproving comment or two about this. To read more about it, check out the story by Jay Miller in Crains Cleveland.

It would be nice to see the economic figures to back this proposal up....can they show that the tax monies received will outweigh a potential loss of new residents due to the lower abatement period? Inquiring minds want to know. At least I do! I know the CSU study was very bullish on abatement. Peace Out - 3C

April 17th Update: Local WKYC news showed a reporter ( I could not catch the name) taking a straw poll of sorts, asking Cleveland's Councilmembers if they wanted to continue the current abatement program or support Mayor Jackson's plan and there seemed to be no hands up in support of his plan.