Cleveland Cavaliers withdraw from deal to renovate Quicken Loans Arena, making a referendum vote on the City of Cleveland's $88 million contribution to the project moot during this year's mayoral election....The withdrawal is a win for the Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus, SEIU, and the Greater Cleveland Congregations, the groups that opposed the project and collected the 20,000 signatures needed to put the referendum measure before voters.... By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com, Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, and Imperialwomencoalition.com, Ohio's Black digital news leaders
CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland Cavaliers have withdrawn from their commitment to help fund a $140 million Quicken Loans Arena renovation project, removing the issue as a political football as Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson faces eight challengers in his bid for reelection this year and the Ohio Supreme Court recently ruled that the city must accept some 20,000 petition signatures collected by the Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus, SEIU, and the Greater Cleveland Congregations to put the initiative before voters.
In essence, the controversial Q-Deal is all but dead for now with the Cavs having pulled out of the initiative, their funding portion of the project also at issue.
A team spokesman said Monday that the referendum issues, with mayoral candidates Jeff Johnson and Zack Reed and others pushing the city to put the issues on the ballot for the Nov 7 general election, would cause the groundbreaking of the Q transformation to miss the current construction cycle, thereby raising construction costs.
The Q-Deal was vehemently pushed by Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish, City Council President Kelley, and Mayor Jackson, the city's three-term Black mayor.
Budish, Jackson and Kelley say the deal will bring in jobs and monies to the city, and the region, and will keep the premiere basketball franchise on equal footing with competitors.
Opponents say it is an elitist agenda and that the tax dollars could be put to better use, including the revitilization of Cleveland's debilitating inner city.
Led by megastars LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, the Cavaliers, a premier major sports team, are the 2016 NBA champions who lost the title this year to the Golden State Warriors, whom they beat last year.
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Cleveland City Council sealed funding for the Q-deal in April before a crowded room with protesters on hand, voting 12-5 to throw some $88 million toward the renovation project, which followed a vote a month earlier by Cuyahoga County Council for the county as to its financial support toward the $140 million aspect of the project.
Cuyahoga County is 29 percent Black and includes the city of Cleveland.
Nearly a third of the 17 member Cleveland City Council, including mayoral candidates Jeff Johnson and Zack Reed, and Ward 8 Councilman Michael Polensek, opposed the deal .
Johnson, Reed and Polensek publicly trashed the deal.
, Ohio's most read digital Black newspapers with some 4.8 million readers on Google Plus alone. And the ClevelandUrbanNews.Com website stats reveal some 26 million hits since 2012. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
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