Reason Saves Cleveland, Part 4 - Embrace Business

Great quote in the first minute: "It's easier to move out than it is to move in". This, and the idea that people have choices, seems utterly lost of Cleveland's elected officials. It was true when I left nearly eight years ago, and seems unchanged. A telling stat at 3:15 is that Cleveland's tax burden was 45th heaviest in 1977, but 7th worst in 2007. And they wonder why population is flowing out. Well, duh.

"Cleveland seems to be more focused on tax revenue than it is on the overall business climate". Unfortunately, this seems also true of the Fishers Town Council. One of the phrases I use when talking local politics is "Let's not reinvent Marion County". Yes, that's Indianapolis, but the same thing applies anywhere, and that's the point. Policy matters, more than weather or cultural attractions.



Great series!

Oh, did you get a load of Joe Cimperman? He's certain that Cleveland offers a great business climate, but when told that some business owners disagree, his reaction wasn't, "What policy offends them?" but "Who are they?" I'll never forget first seeing this attention hound at a rally surrounding St. Michael's Hospital, which was going to be closed because it was losing money hand over fist. Cimperman wanted to force them to remain open. Yes, force.

Cimperman is a big help though! He took one poor business owner and reduced his red tape hell from 10 years to 1.5 years!

Hey Joe. Psst. Nobody wants to wait 1.5 years to expand a parking lot. They're going to leave. 1.5 weeks should be the maximum time on that.

Reason Saves Cleveland, Part 3 - Privatization

One of the mistakes Cleveland makes is to do a great many things that private industry could, and shoud, do. For example, Cleveland's city employees collect the trash from residences within the corporate limits. If I wanted a private company to do that, I couldn't. It was forbidden by municipal ordinance. Here in Fishers, we have four different companies competing to collect trash, and none of the things I was told would happen in Cleveland have come to pass. My streets are not strewn with trash. I do not have an endless parade of trucks creating traffic, noise, and smell nuisances. We do not have people stocking trash in the backyard in order to avoid to bill. I get a bill for $70 every three months. My property taxes are about a half of what they would be for comparable property in Cleveland. To save $2,000/year as opposed to pay $280? I'll do that trade all day long, every day of the year.

Reason suggests that Cleveland should inspect its services while applying the 'Yellow Pages Test'. That is, if there are commercial enterprises offering services provided by the City, the City should privatize. The gain would be a decrease in the public payroll and legacy costs into the future.



It is no surprise to me that Reason identified trash collection among 10 things Cleveland should privatize.

Reason Saves Cleveland, Part 2 - Schools

I really loved seeing the solutions that are working in places like Oakland. Look at these kids, who are excited about learning and success, and are thinking ahead to college!



Cleveland needs this. Heck- Fishers great school system and all could use this kind of overt pro-college thinking. I love it!

Reason Saves Cleveland, Part 1

With much anticipation on my part, Reason.tv has begun to release "Reason Saves Cleveland", in installments.

Just an intro, but for those who don't know Cleveland's story, or have never seen much of the city, Part 1 is a nice primer.

I can't wait to see more of the series! Libertarian principles applied to Cleveland. What a concept!