Issuu

LOOK BACK | THE BLACKOUT FOCUS | LEGAL AFFAIRS: Law schools adapt instruction for the COVID-19 classroom. PAGE 10

NEO had a big role in a dark day for many. PAGE 23

CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM I AUGUST 10, 2020

SMALL BUSINESS

Flexibility key for employers and working parents

RETAIL

AILING MALLS FACE ANOTHER THREAT WITH COVID-19

Uncertain school year presents many hurdles BY RACHEL ABBEY MCCAFFERTY

In March, everything changed. On the fly, employers had to find ways to accommodate employees who were suddenly balancing child care and work in a new way, as schools went remote and child care centers closed when the COVID-19 pandemic came to Ohio. This fall is sure to hold similar Child care, with conditions: Ohio child care centers can return to pre-pandemic student-teacher ratios, but they must follow a host of safety and hygiene measures. Page 21

SouthPark Mall in Strongsville is seeing a slow return of foot traffic, despite social distancing requirements. | DAVID KORDALSKI/CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Foot traffic, a key indicator of mall health, has fallen 40% from January numbers BY STAN BULLARD

Northeast Ohio’s already ailing enclosed malls are wrestling with growing problems as the COVID-19 pandemic lingers, with shoppers continuing to stay away after lockdown orders ended and more tenants shutting shops, declaring bankruptcy and closing down. Foot traffic is a key indicator in mall performance, following only sales and rents. Information from Orbital Insight, a geospatial data provider based in Palo Alto, Calif., show how Northeast Ohio’s remaining 11 enclosed malls are suffering, even since the

Ohio stay-at-home order ended. Foot traffic at the malls as of July 25 is running 40% below what it was in January, according to Orbital. And that’s an improvement from the 85% decline they suffered as Ohio’s March shutdown order hit. The question that will plague the owners of the properties, and increasingly the communities where they are located, in the future will be how many come back as the coronavirus lingers and prompts legions of shoppers to test online buying and permanently alter their spending patterns. See MALLS on Page 22

Losing traditional anchor stores like the Sears at Great Northern Mall in North Olmsted is another reason malls are suffering. | STAN BULLARD/CRAIN’S

challenges. The only difference? Employers have time to plan ahead for the inevitable. And how they respond now could have implications for the future. In the spring, there was a tangible end in sight for those balancing work and their children’s virtual learning. “It felt like there was a term to it,” said John Bernatovicz, founder of staffing and consulting firm Willory in Bath. “We can do this for four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks. I can figure this out, even though it was stressful.” Heading into the fall and the new school year, there’s more stress, he said. School districts are all handling the start to the year differently, and there’s the knowledge that, no matter how they start, schools could have to go remote again. And this uncertainty could last the whole year. See CHILD CARE on Page 21

NONPROFITS

Nonprofits face challenges in engaging volunteers during pandemic NEWSPAPER

P001_CL_20200810.indd 1

BY LYDIA COUTRÉ

After the pandemic put many volunteer opportunities on hold, nonprofits have spent the summer working to safely bring back volunteers, who are a vital component to the work of many organizations. But social distancing requirements and other protocols to mitigate risk of COVID-19 spread have meant working with far fewer volunteers. Some

organizations have been able to bring them back at a fraction of previous capacity in new or modified ways, while others are still largely unable to put their volunteers to work again, including many nonprofits that are heavily reliant on their volunteer workforce. At the same time, 33% of nonprofits reported an increased demand for their services, according to a July survey by Business Volunteers Unlimit-

ed (BVU), which works to connect businesses and nonprofits to solve community issues in the region. Organizations are doing more with less, asking themselves daily how to best serve the community, said Nancy Dzurnak, program manager at Greater Cleveland Volunteers, an organization that connects volunteers with about 100 nonprofits each year. See VOLUNTEERS on Page 18

8/7/2020 3:00:35 PM

SMALL BUSINESS

Tent rental companies navigate a bust-to-boom year Pandemic initially produced spree of cancellations, which were followed by businesses getting flood of calls BY MICHELLE JARBOE

For Ramsey Duqum and his brother, Brandon, 2020 has been a maelstrom. Their tent rental business, AAble Rents, stalled in March when the novel coronavirus pandemic spurred widespread event cancellations and a statewide ban on large gatherings. In recent weeks, though, the Euclid-based company has been swamped. Colleges, universities and private schools are turning to tents as outdoor classrooms. To protect vulnerable congregants, churches are taking services outside. Restaurants need tents to accommodate expanded al fresco dining. And brides, frustrated by public health restrictions at venues, are opting for backyard ceremonies and receptions — sometimes on very short notice. Event rental businesses, many of them small, family-owned companies, are struggling to respond. On the heels of layoffs and a precipitous decline in revenues, they’re now faced with a surge of demand from nontraditional clients, some of them from neighboring states. “I’ve never had a period of time like this,” said Ramsey Duqum, the CEO of AAble, a 50-year-old business that traditionally deploys more than 200 tents a week from mid-April to mid-October. First, he watched reservations dry

Brothers Brandon (left) and Ramsey Duqum, the owners of Euclid-based AAble Rents, stand in front of a tent their company recently erected at Hawken School’s Lyndhurst campus. The market for the tent rental industry busted in March, but is now booming with demand from private schools, restaurants, brides and other clients moving activities outdoors. | MICHELLE JARBOE/CRAIN’S

up. “In Q1 and Q2,” he said, “there was this emoji going down that line, day by day, with a blowtorch for eight weeks. Everything was canceled.” Then, the trickle of calls started. And turned into a flood. Hospitals needed tents for COVID-19 testing. Parents of high school seniors sought out stages and backdrops for makeshift graduations. Before the Cleveland Metropolitan School District decided to go virtual for the first nine weeks of the academic

year, one group of families was pooling funds to rent a tent their children’s elementary school couldn’t afford. “The real story is just how incredibly resilient people are,” Duqum said. Administrators at Hawken School recently reserved six tents for the private day school’s campuses in Gates Mills, Lyndhurst and University Circle. Ranging from 20 by 30 feet to 82 by 82 feet, the tents will accommodate open-air instruction, lunches and breaks between classes.

The long-term rentals are likely to be Hawken’s third-largest pandemic-related expense, after HVAC upgrades and additional housekeeping staff, said Scott Looney, the head of school. “It’s a lot,” he said. “More than I’d like to spend. I’ll just say that my board has been great, but all in, this will be hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Old Trail School also expects to pitch rented tents on its 60-acre

property in Bath Township, nestled in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. “We understand that being outdoors is a huge mitigation factor,” said Sarah Johnston, head of the private school. In a happy accident of timing, Old Trail is putting the finishing touches on a permanent outdoor classroom — with a canopy, benches and a green roof — that was in the works long before the pandemic turned the business of education into a risk analysis exercise. “That was going to serve as a place that would be a hub for connection outdoors. Now, we’re going to be using it to rotate classrooms and grade levels out there,” Johnston said. For schools that aren’t similarly situated, tents are a swift solution to the need for extra space and the emphasis on fresh air. Building codes allow such temporary structures to stay up for about six months. Certain types of tents can withstand the winter, if they’re heated and don’t become heavy with snow. Duqum stressed that long-term rentals require additional staking, especially at schools. “They need to be over-engineered,” he said, “by the tent company, not the renter.” See TENTS on Page 21

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SPORTS BUSINESS

Flats is set to land $600,000 platform tennis center Local advocates of the sport create nonprofit to build facility in Cleveland’s Rivergate Park BBY KEVIN KLEPS

Platform tennis is poised to be the next addition to a growing outdoor sports scene on the East Bank of the Flats. A nonprofit formed by local advocates of the sport, which is played on heated courts surrounded by wire fencing, is planning to construct a $600,000 facility on the grounds of the Cleveland Rowing Foundation. The Cleveland Platform Tennis Foundation is awaiting final approval from the city that is expected soon, board chair Sean Richardson said. Once that arrives, construction would begin and the facility, located in Rivergate Park, would be ready for play later this year. The timeline would be ideal for a game, which the American Platform Tennis Association dubs the “most addictive sport you’ve never heard of,” that’s primarily played in the winter. Platform, or paddle, tennis is played with rackets on elevated surfaces that are smaller than tennis courts. Below the playing decks are heaters that are used to make the courts playable — not to ensure that the wintry weather feels more comfortable to the competitors. “The only thing that really stops us is ice, and sometimes that can be melted, and rain is not so good for our game,” said Richardson, who is

the Cleveland region president for Huntington Bank. “But other than that, we can play in any condition.” There are about 800 active platform tennis players in Northeast Ohio, Richardson said. But the vast majority of the participants, along with the 30-plus courts, are east of the city. The foundation is hoping the new center will increase awareness, along with access and diversity, for a sport that Richardson and other board members say is only available in private clubs in the region. The center will have an after-school program for middle and high school students, who will alternate between on-court lessons and activities that will take place in an indoor “paddle hut” that will be surrounded by a pair of outdoor courts on each side. It’s what Karen Nejedlik, a former president of the Cleveland Paddle Tennis Association, calls a “grassroots effort of a bunch of paddle players joining together, forming a foundation and saying, ‘We’re going to build this in the inner city, and we’re going to really try to democratize and diversify our game.’ ”

‘Winning project’ Richardson and Nejedlik credit David Bebout, the Cleveland Platform Tennis Foundation’s president

perfect fit for a center that hopes to be a popular hub for the game. “The fact that we have that association is a really big deal and makes this a winning project,” Bebout said.

‘Long-term game’

The Cleveland Platform Tennis center will include four elevated courts and a paddle hut that will double as a schoolhouse. The facility will be built on vacant land next to the Cleveland Rowing Foundation’s headquarters in Rivergate Park. | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

and a 35-year veteran of the game, with the idea for the center. Bebout said a meeting with Robert Valerian, the former president of the Cleveland Rowing Foundation, got the ball rolling, and additional conversations with Kirk Lang, CRF’s executive director, led to a deal. The platform tennis foundation is in the first year of a 30-year lease for vacant land owned by CRF. Located at 1003 British T:10.25" St. in Rivergate Park, the property is next to Merwin’s

Wharf and is in an area that features The Foundry, a year-round rowing and sailing center, along with the Crooked River Skatepark and the Ohio City Bicycle Co-op. Bebout, who coaches paddle tennis, said as he got older, it started to bother him that the sport wasn’t available to more people. CRF’s location and the fact that its prime months are May through October (opposite of paddle’s preferred season of October to April) made it the

The Cleveland Platform Tennis Foundation is nearing the 75% point in its $600,000 fundraising effort. Richardson said the 11-member board is contributing about 10% of the funds. The project has more than 200 donors and has received corporate backing from the likes of Huntington, KeyBank, Medical Mutual, Sherwin-Williams and Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP. The board includes an architect, Kent Whitley, plus specialists in marketing, IT and finance. Nejedlik was the catalyst in CPTF receiving a pair of grants, including one in the midfive figures that Richardson said is the largest in the history of the American Platform Tennis Association. When the center is up and running, a part-time racket pro will be on staff. Everything else, from court scheduling to operations, will be board- and volunteer-driven. “We have such a passion for the game that we don’t think we have to hire out,” Richardson said. See TENNIS on Page 18

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FROM THE EDITOR

RICH WILLIAMS FOR CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Your thoughts on going back to the workplace

EDITORIAL

Connections S

ay this for the pandemic: on some things it provides clarity and reveals where we’re not keeping pace with the need for change. One such issue is home internet connectivity throughout Northeast Ohio, which has become a matter of significant public concern as the pandemic has led many school districts to plan for a start to the academic year in which students are working in part, or in full, from home. There’s a lot of anxiety over schools, the quality of instruction they can offer and the social consequences of at-home learning. One thing that should not be part of that anxiety is whether students have the digital connection needed to have a productive school year. That’s why it was satisfying to see Cuyahoga County Council last week approve spending $1.5 million to provide, as Cleveland.com put it, “internet hotspots, unlimited data and computers to students for remote learning” during the pandemic. The county is teaming up in this effort with the Cleveland Foundation and the nonprofit PCs for People. The county’s money comes from its share of federal coronavirus aid, and that’s a sensible and forONE THING THAT SHOULD ward-looking use of funds. The Cleveland Foundation NOT BE PART OF ANXIETY also is kicking in $1.5 million, for a total of $3 million OVER SCHOOLS IS in an effort that will “proWHETHER STUDENTS HAVE vide up to 5,000 internet two years’ worth THE DIGITAL CONNECTION hotspots, of unlimited data and up NEEDED TO HAVE A to 10,000 laptops to school children,” Cleveland.com PRODUCTIVE YEAR. reported. All families with K-12 students enrolled in public or charter schools in Cuyahoga County are eligible for the program. Meanwhile, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District is working on an effort with The George Gund Foundation to bring hotspots to its students. And on the state level, House Bill 13, legislation that would help fund the expansion of broadband access across Ohio, has passed the House and been referred to a Senate committee. The bill would establish a grant program to fund the construction of broadband projects in unserved areas of the state.

These are vital efforts to bring a level playing field to remote learning. Keep them coming.

Test anxiety O

hio didn’t need any more political drama, but that’s just what it got last Thursday, Aug. 6, when Gov. Mike DeWine received a positive test for COVID-19, and then later that day tested negative. The obvious first reaction for all Ohioans to the latest development should be relief. DeWine, who is 73 and has asthma, would be in the high-risk category if he contracted COVID-19. On a personal level, then, we’re heartened that the second test — using a procedure known as polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, which is more time-intensive than the antigen test he first received — produced a better result. The episode does underscore a few things, though. First, if you spent any time on social media looking at the reactions to the first, positive test, you can get a pretty dim view of humanity. DeWine in a follow-up videoconference on Aug. 6 noted he received several “I told you so” text messages related to his advocacy for wearing masks, despite the growing body of scientific evidence that masks help to reduce (not eliminate, folks) the potential for COVID-19 spread. Also, this shows that DeWine needs to continue his push for more and better testing in the state. The antigen tests that returned DeWine’s positive result represent “an exciting new technology to reduce the cost and improve the turnaround time for COVID-19 testing, but they are quite new, and we do not have much experience with them here in Ohio,” the governor’s office said. “We will be working with the manufacturer to have a better understanding of how the discrepancy between these two tests could have occurred.” The initial positive test came even though DeWine had no symptoms. There are actual positive cases in which people display no symptoms, and this is a continued reminder of the value of staying masked, so asymptomatic carriers don’t unintentionally infect others, and of expanding testing. Nothing is simple in 2020. Keep up safe practices so we can get past this as fast as possible.

Publisher and Editor: Elizabeth McIntyre (emcintyre@crain.com) Managing Editor: Scott Suttell (ssuttell@crain.com) Contact Crain’s: 216-522-1383 Read Crain’s online: crainscleveland.com

Several weeks ago, I wrote about my experiences returning to the office and asked for your thoughts about going back to your workplace. And I heard from many of you. The clear message? It’s all about the office and how — and whether — you’ll use the space. Some of you are rethinking your office footprints, lease renewals Elizabeth and relationships with your landlords. McINTYRE Please know this is strictly anecdotal and by no means a data-driven survey of Northeast Ohio office dwellers. This is just a sampling of a dozen or so readers who shared their thoughts about returning to the office, some of whom requested not to be identified by name or company. For Margy Judd, president of the human resources consulting firm Executive Arrangements, working remotely was “pretty much chaos the first month until we all settled into a routine of sorts.” For the past month or so, Judd and about a third of her 16 employees are regularly going into their “cozy little office” of about 600 square feet in Cleveland Heights. She’s been underwhelmed, though, by her landlord’s response to her questions about safety and cleaning protocols. “I can keep my employees safe once they walk through the door into my suite, but they need to use the shared restrooms, open doors to the building, etc.,” she wrote in an email. “I had to buy my own HEPA filter to put into my THE CLEAR MESSAGE? HVAC unit because they were not willing to invest in the IT’S ALL ABOUT THE higher quality. They were not OFFICE AND HOW even willing to have a sign that said, ‘Face masks required if — AND WHETHER you enter this building,’ until — YOU’LL USE THE DeWine mandated it in public SPACE. places. “Believe me, this has me evaluating whether I will continue to be in this space when my lease renewal time comes this fall,” Judd said. Several responders echoed that sentiment. Another small business owner, this one with a downtown office, is weighing the cost of staying downtown vs. just having a professional office address in Beachwood or Hudson. He currently has office rental overhead of $8,000 a month, plus $1,200 for employee parking. He mused that we could easily find other places downtown to meet clients, such as the Union Club. “Even if I spend — pick a number — 1,000 bucks a month on meetings, I’m saving $7,000,” he said. “That’s real money.” His fear, though, after recently signing a long-term lease, is this: “I don’t want to wake up when this is all over two years from now — and I hope this is all over two years from now — and say I gave up the greatest office in the world.” Still, others expressed gratitude in some ways, like I did, about being back in the office. Janine Rybka, director of the Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District, spoke for many of us when she said she was “Zoomed-out after about three weeks” of working from home. Working for a government agency, she felt it was important to be in the office. Although only about a quarter of staff have returned, she’s enjoying being back. “The lighting is fantastic, I have air conditioning, and I get a change of scenery driving to and from work,” she emailed. I hear you, Janine, and all who replied. Please continue to share your thoughts.

Write us: Crain’s welcomes responses from readers. Letters should be as brief as possible and may be edited. Send letters to Crain’s Cleveland Business, 700 West St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113, or by emailing ClevEdit@crain.com. Please include your complete name and city from which you are writing, and a telephone number for fact-checking purposes.

Sound off: Send a Personal View for the opinion page to emcintyre@crain.com. Please include a telephone number for verification purposes.

6 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | August 10, 2020

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Why isn’t Ohio listening to science anymore? BY CAROLINE SCHUERGER

This July, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany in a briefing stated that “the science should not stand in the way of” students returning to school this fall. The press briefing was the latest in a national push to return to normal life — and one that is paralleled in Ohio. Back in March, the world applauded Ohio’s initial swift response to the pandemic. Gov. Mike DeWine worked with then-Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton to shut down parts of society to limit the spread and consequences of the coronavirus — and it worked. With careful and logical opening up, cases in Ohio remained steady. But a recent surge is being attributed to people not wearing masks and returning to bars, restaurants and indoor gatherings. The data on the benefits of mask wearing speaks for itself. The Cleveland Clinic and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have published on why masks are helpful to fight the spread of coronavirus and prevent others from getting sick. A study produced by JP Morgan Chase shows that surges in cases are linked to people going to restaurants and bars, a finding that has been confirmed by the Ohio Department of Health. The evidence is apparent, yet little is being done to stop the nonstop increasing coronavirus cases in Ohio. Americans consistently trust scientists and say they should play an active role in policy debates on scientific issues. Even through the pandemic, Americans still trust scientists. However, the guidance from scientists is being ignored and vilified.

Why aren’t Ohioans listening to them? The answer lies in both the quality of information being conveyed to the public, as well as our general knowledge of science to receive and make sense of that information. The median age of Ohioans is 39.4 years old. With most Ohioans last studying science in high Schuerger is a school, that education took place senior doctoral at least 20 years ago — before student at Case Western Reserve smartphones and wireless internet. The scientific community’s University, understanding of the natural world where her thesis has improved tremendously in research is in that intervening period, especially finding new our knowledge of medicine and bibladder cancer ology. There is a knowledge gap therapies. that many Ohioans have to overcome to make sense of the coronavirus. To overcome that gap, we all rely on the news media to communicate the necessary information, but their performance in providing coronavirus information has fallen short. Additionally, the news media has to overcome abundant misinformation — both deliberate and innocent. Americans mostly hold positive views of the news media’s coverage of the coronavirus, but the media has had difficulty in conveying our evolving knowledge of this novel virus, as well as communicating risk.

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SCIENCE

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The fault also lies with the failure to communicate effectively by scientists. The World Health Organization has repeatedly misstepped in delaying public guidance in response to the coronavirus and has walked back claims about the virus. In addition to the CDC, Dr. Anthony Fauci is frustrated and is “very concerned” that the CDC’s public health message on coronavirus is not resonating with the American public. Effective health communication by scientific experts to both the public and policymakers is a key factor in fighting the pandemic and important to maintain trust in the scientific and governing institutions. Scientists need to work to better communicate the rapidly evolving data to policymakers, as there are very few members of Congress with scientific backgrounds. Why does this matter? As politicians must start deciding when and how children and teachers should return to school, if citizens should be voting in person or not, and whether workers should be beginning their daily commutes, policymakers should have all of the facts for making these decisions. They need the public to trust that these are the right decisions for everyone. Science-based policymaking is therefore particularly important right now to ensure that trust in both science and political leaders remains. There are clear benefits of science-based policymaking during the

Dr. Amy Acton, then the director of the Ohio Department of Health, signed the state’s stay-at-home order in early April during a live broadcast of Gov. Mike DeWine’s COVID-19 update. Acton has since stepped down as Ohio’s chief advocate to combat the virus, in part due to pushback from citizens. | THE OHIO CHANNEL SCREENSHOT

EFFECTIVE HEALTH COMMUNICATION BY SCIENTIFIC EXPERTS IS A KEY FACTOR IN FIGHTING THE PANDEMIC AND IMPORTANT TO MAINTAIN TRUST IN THE SCIENTIFIC AND GOVERNING INSTITUTIONS. coronavirus times beyond imposing lockdown and mask mandates. Scientists are informing politicians, busi-

nesses and community leaders of their options to respond creatively. Restaurants are now able to expand outside seating, as the virus transmits at a lower rate outdoors. Delivery and digital businesses are thriving during the pandemic as people change their daily activities. This is how science can inform and support policies as we all adapt creatively and find a “new normal” that is economically viable while also ensuring public health. Scientists and policymakers need to work together to make good public policy based on evidence that will help Ohio as we continue to brave the coronavirus pandemic.

Congratulations

Newly Elected Officers and Board Members of Cleveland Plumbing Contractors’ Association

Timothy Lavelle

Michael J. Gallagher

Board Member Gorman-Lavelle Corp.

Vice President John F. Gallagher Co.

Scott Wallenstein

Layne Kendig

Board Member Neptune Plumbing & Heating Co.

Treasurer Relmec Mechanical, LLC

John Marotta

Keith Willkomm

Chairman of the Board Ridge Plumbing, Inc.

Board Member United Mechanical Contractors, Inc.

Jeffrey Epstein

Board Member Commerce Plumbing

Thomas J. Wanner

Executive Director

Daniel Miller

President of CPCA President of Miller Plumbing & Heating Co.

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LEGAL AFFAIRS

In-person classes this fall at the University of Akron School of Law, seen here, will have limited capacity and feature safety measures, such as masks.

| CONTRIBUTED

NEW TRIALS FOR LAW SCHOOLS Region’s institutions adapting instruction for the COVID-19 classroom

``BY DOUGLAS J. GUTH | Law is a face-to-face field where in-person training is vital in preparing young attorneys for

the rigors of the courtroom. But as federal judges provide digital deliberations from their kitchens, so too must law schools adapt to the reality of COVID-19 as they prepare to reopen their campuses in a few short weeks. Nationally, law schools are readying hybrid learning models that combine online and in-the-flesh instruction. Masks and social distancing are just a few of the measures schools are implementing for the on-campus experience, often following parameters set forth by parent universities. On the local front, higher education officials aim to preserve traditional instruction while prioritizing the health and safety of students, staff and faculty. Recognizing the fluid situation presented by the coronavirus pandemic, leaders at the University of Akron School of Law will offer limited classroom capacity for both firstyear learners and certain upper-classmen courses that don’t lend themselves to online instruction.

“We especially want first-person contact for new students – it may not be essential, but it’s optimal,” said Akron law school dean Christopher Peters. “For law students, their first year is a different culture from what they were used to in undergrad. Having classmates they can study

with is important, and we’ll do everything we can to cultivate that.” Similar to many of the 200 American Bar Association-accredited law schools nationwide, Akron’s law school is taking its reopening cues from the larger university. Masks, for example,

are required in the classroom, barring medical or religious accommodations. First-year fundamentals courses begin on Aug. 13, with students having the option to learn either remotely or in-class. See LAW SCHOOL on Page 13

``U sero

PAG

“WE ESPECIALLY WANT FIRST-PERSON CONTACT FOR NEW STUDENTS – IT MAY NOT BE ESSENTIAL, BUT IT’S OPTIMAL.” ——Akron law school dean Christopher Peters

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FOCUS | LEGAL AFFAIRS

Bar associations lean into challenges created by COVID-19 Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association wants to prove its indispensability to members, community BBY JEREMY NOBILE

Legal and business communities have looked to the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association for news, insight and resources seemingly more than ever amid the COVID-19 outbreak and the uncertainties it is causing. Despite that, like most professional nonprofit associations and small businesses today, the CMBA is grappling with resources and income issues just like the attorneys and law firms it helps support, all while potential members and backers reel in expenses deemed nonessential. While the pandemic rages on, though, the CMBA has been a hub for updates on local court systems, a go-to resource for legal questions raised by employers, a convener for discourse about protests and public safety amid the Black Lives Matter movement, and a counselor for firms large and small on how to best manage their businesses when times are tough. The organization has been busier than ever, said CEO Rebecca Ruppert McMahon. The pandemic has presented an opportunity for the CMBA to further prove its indispensability, particularly in a smartphone-enabled world where access to information and connectivity with others — two things professional associations like regional bars have historically offered — have never been easier to access. Yet, building membership — which provides about one-third of the CMBA’s approximately $3 million in annual revenue — has become a more acute challenge as a pandemic-induced recession prompts a tightening of belts. “I think it’s easier to forget the critical mission that we serve when you’re living through a pandemic and it’s all hands on deck for everyone trying to get from week to week, month to month,” McMahon said. “It would be easy to be lost in the shuffle as another expense-saving mechanism, but we’ve been battling to prove value and step up engagement and show how critically important we are to our members and beyond.” That battle is all about showing that the CMBA should be viewed more than just a discretionary line item in someone’s budget to be trimmed when times are financially tough. “We’re committed to making us the indispensable go-to organization in Northeast Ohio on matters of law and justice,” said Joseph Gross, a Benesch attorney and the CMBA’s 2020-2021 president. “I’m not sure we’re there now. But we will be there someday.” That’s why, despite the cancellation of in-person events at its offices at One Cleveland Center, the CMBA not only has flocked to virtual formats for everything from panel discussions to offerings for Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits, but also increased output of overall programming in recent months. The CMBA has hosted 200 virtual programs since going remote in midMarch, all of which were not even on the calendar prior to then and have been offered to the community atlarge free of cost. But with all that free programming and some memberships being canceled, between March and the group’s fiscal-year end on June 30,

the CMBA lost about $300,000. The organization is grinding harder but bringing in less money, trying to provide “more value for the same dollars,” Gross said. The CMBA sees that as the cost of executing on its mission today. The hope is that it translates to community and business support. But with core membership stagnating around 5,000 in recent years, and fears of some members dropping out amid the pandemic, the CMBA feels an urgency to engage potential members, donors and the overall

pandemic presents,” McMahon said. “That has meant not only rethinking how we deliver services to members, but in some ways, more importantly, rethinking what our members and community need from us.”

Apt to adapt McMahon

Augsburger

community to retain its viability of years past. “We have absolutely leaned into the challenges and opportunities the

Such challenges are not unique to the CMBA, said Mary Amos Augsburger, CEO of the Ohio State Bar Association. Augsburger is also member of a statewide coalition of association CEOs in different indus-

tries, all of whom are facing similar issues with membership and resources right now. The OSBA has about 22,000 members, but that level has been slowly declining since the Great Recession — something happening more with older lawyers retiring and fewer attorneys coming out of law schools. The association brings in about $12 million in annual revenue, according to its latest tax filing, about half of which is dependent on member dues. See ASSOCIATIONS on Page 14

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FOCUS | LEGAL AFFAIRS

LGBTQ ruling should prompt an ‘honest’ cultural review After Supreme Court decision, companies should look at inclusiveness efforts, emphasize worker protection BY JUDY STRINGER

Even before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that employers can’t terminate workers based on their lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ) status in June, companies were moving toward nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, according to two local employment attorneys and an LGBTQ advocate. Still, they said, now that it’s officially the law of the land, employers should redouble efforts to protect LGBTQ workers. And, for some, that might involve some pretty big cultural shifts. “Almost every company of any meaningful size includes within their anti-discrimination policy or statement that they do not discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and that practice has been trending for many, many years,” said Ann-Marie Ahern, who leads the employment law group at Cleveland-based McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman. “The difference is that previously if an employee or company violated their

own policy in that regard, there was no legal recourse. Now, there is,” she said. In its June 15 decision, the court interpreted the word “sex” in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — the federal statue prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, color, Adinolfi religion, sex or national origin — to include sexual orientation and transgender status. While the three cases combined in the ruling involved terminations because of the plaintiffs’ sexual orientation or transgender status, Karen Adinolfi, a labor and employment attorney and shareholder with Roetzel & Andress in Akron, said the decision’s impact reaches beyond hiring and firing practices. It also prohibits employers from treating LGBTQ employees differently terms of compensation, training, promotion, discipline or any other condition of employment. “In the wake of the ruling, employers should be looking to amend — if they have not already — their EEO

Ahern

Turan

(equal employment opportunity) statements in their employment handbooks and polices to explicitly list sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes,” she said. Adinolfi contends the word “sex” alone is too vague to adequately “alert” or “trigger” all employees that nondiscrimination policies extend to gay and transgender people. Further, she and Ahern said employers should provide training to ensure that managers and other decision-makers understand the ruling, how it affects hiring, disciplinary and termination issues and cultural factors that can contribute to LGBTQ bias. “It is a subject that a lot of people

and companies have not always felt very comfortable discussing,” Ahern said, “but it needs now to become part of the dialogue.” Eliana Turan, director of development at the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland, recommends employers seize the opportunity to “take an honest assessment” of their culture before initiating additional training. Cultural and climate surveys that allow employees to respond anonymously and employee-based focus groups conducted by a third party, she said, are a few of the strategies organizations can use to get a better picture of “inclusiveness” in their culture and whether LGBTQ employees, in particular, experience negative workplace interactions related to their sexual orientation and gender identity. “The thing with culture is that it is hard to see, and it can be very hard to change,” Turan said. “One training session that is LGBTQ 101, when it has never been done before, will not be sufficient to change a culture. It will take a more extensive strategy.” Consider how race has been a protected class for over 50 years, she added, but black and brown professionals still report high rates of “discrimination, such as microaggressions, gaslighting, being passed over for promotions and disproportionately laid off.” Too often policies and procedures on paper “are not reflected in everyday practices,” Turan said. “As an LBGTQ person, it’s good that we have overt, explicit legal protection now and good a lot of organizations are codifying our protection in their nondiscrimination policies — all these visible things are being done,” she said. “But what is being done to stop shadow or subvert discrimination or prejudice under the surface? That is harder to get rid of, but it needs to be done.” Ahern said companies that embraced these categories as an “area of diversity and inclusion” voluntarily prior to the ruling are the ones best positioned to react to this develop-

ment in law. On the other hand, those that have not necessarily taken a stance, she said, or “don’t really do anything to promote diversity around sexual orientation or gender identity” are “at particular risk.” “This population of employees tends to be pretty informed about their legal rights, so I think to the extent that there is a perception that discrimination was part of the decision-making process, [LGBTQ] employees would be likely to raise their rights in a way that they are legally entitled to,” Ahern said. She anticipates new filings alleging discriminatory terminations, failures to hire, harassment and hostile work environment, all based on the sexual orientation or gender identity of the applicants.

Lingering questions The jury is out on how the Supreme Court decision will impact businesses with fewer than 15 workers because Title VII’s protections don’t apply to companies that employ 14 people or fewer, according to Adinolfi. And, she said, the court left open the question of whether religious beliefs may supersede the Title VII protections. In both instances, however, Adinolfi thinks the momentum toward recognizing LBTGQ employees as a protected class means judicial rulings will tend to favor LBTGQ rights. “So even if you are a smaller employer in Ohio — say you have 10 employees, for example, and you are not covered by [Title VII] — my advice would still be to include those classifications in your policies,” she said. “To me, it is really not going to be any different than, say, race or religion. It has no place in the hiring process. It has no place in the decision process, the disciplinary process or anything like that,” Adinolfi concluded. “I don’t think this is going to be a huge step for employers, most of whom have been practicing these things for some time.” Contact Judy Stringer: clbfreelancer@crain.com

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From Page 10

Technology may be changing how we learn, but interacting in the same physical space with classmates and instructors should be maintained, Peters said. The law school dean points to mock courtrooms as a particular challenge in the age of COVID-19. A would-be attorney cross-examining a live “witness” under a professor’s step-by-step guidance is ideally accomplished face-toface, even though UA did use video conferencing platforms for this task during the spring lockdown. Peters also knows a surge in virus cases may introduce a more significant shift to online. Legal clinics — where students under instructor supervision represent real clients in landlord/tenant disputes and other cases — are currently done remotely. “There are different settings in which we’ll sit down with a client to talk about issues, or go to court and argue a motion on their behalf,” Peters said. “It’s doable (online), but it’s a matter of adapting to technology. Courts are working on that now.”

‘Scenario-planning on steroids’ While Cleveland-Marshall College of Law — the law school of Cleveland State University — is providing remote and in-person learning options for its first day of classes on Aug. 24, dean Lee Fisher expects the situation to evolve in line with the nation’s pandemic response. “It’s important to have scenario-planning, but this is scenario-planning on steroids,” Fisher said. “Everything we do involves multiple scenarios and multiple contingency plans.” CSU officials tapped into a law school dean Listserv to determine best practices, ultimately allowing faculty to choose their preferred online education experience — either synchronous or asynchronous — when classroom instruction isn’t possible. Synchronous learning is distance education that happens in real time, whereas asynchronous learning occurs through online chan-

Dean Christopher Peters addresses a class at the University of Akron School of Law. The student experience will be different this fall as many law schools plan to mix in-person and online options because of the pandemic. | CONTRIBUTED

“IT’S IMPORTANT TO HAVE SCENARIOPLANNING, BUT THIS IS SCENARIOPLANNING ON STEROIDS. EVERYTHING WE DO INVOLVES MULTIPLE SCENARIOS AND MULTIPLE CONTINGENCY PLANS.” — Lee Fisher, dean of Cleveland-Marshall College of Law

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nels without real-time interaction. CSU is currently training staff for both scenarios, though Fisher encourages students to be part of the process. The school has been holding virtual student town hall meetings since late July that are scheduled to continue throughout the academic year. “When you’re dealing with a crisis, there’s no such thing as overcommunicating,” Fisher said. “Students have to be strong advocates for themselves if they’re not getting what they paid for. Some faculty members are not used to online teaching, so students will come to us and we’ll have to help them get as much as they can from a virtual learning experience.”

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In the meantime, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on law school admissions remains a question in search of a clear answer. According to data from the Law School Admissions Council, applications to ABA-accredited law schools dropped by 2.5% since June of last year. Cleveland’s three law schools — CSU, Akron and Case Western Reserve University School of Law — are

encountering different enrollment scenarios as fall approaches. In 2019, UA had 445 law students; CSU, 144; and CWRU, 122. Fisher of CSU is unsure how disruptive COVID-19 will be on new admissions, as a delay in the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) may result in a wave of late applications from individuals who took an online version of the test this summer. “We think enrollment will be lower; the question is how much lower,” Fisher said. “We’re encouraging more advanced law-related degrees such as the master of legal studies and LLM (master of laws) degrees in addition to the traditional juris doctorate. We’ll adapt to provide the best possible instruction.” Akron’s law school is projecting firstyear enrollment to rise 33%-40% over 2019, due in part to affordability — tuition is under $25,000 annually — as well as the possibility of learners wanting to ride out a rough job market in law school and other graduate programs. “I think there’s also students staying home rather than traveling for school,” said Peters, the UA law school dean. “Students want that in a time when it’s hard to make personal connections.” CWRU, which is currently installing its reopening plans and declined to comment for this story, projects enrollment at its law school to remain the same as last year, according to codeans Jessica Berg and Michael Scharf. Peters thinks the pandemic has accelerated academic trends in which traditional in-person teaching is complemented by technology. Although a person-to-person scenario always will comprise some portion of a core law school education, institutions heading into an uncertain year must keep all options open. “We’re not going to have the holodeck from ‘Star Trek,’ but virtual reality or other experienced can put a student and professor in the same space at the same time,” Peters said. “The move toward more online or hybrid content was happening (before COVID-19). Law schools have to be more flexible to reach prospective students.” Contact Douglas J. Guth: clbfreelancer@crain.com

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“As lawyers are impacted by the economy, and many of them are, they also have to tighten their belts and direct resources to where they need it most,” Augsburger said. “And you also have law students graduating on average with $98,000 in student debt. When you’re just starting out, putting together resources for numerous bar memberships can be difficult.” Both the OSBA and CMBA have been offering tailored membership rates because of financial concerns. The OSBA offers free membership for two years to new lawyers, discounted membership between two and seven years, and discounts for retiring lawyers that include CLE credits. The CMBA has bundles with discounts for small and solo lawyers and packages that include different options and services, such as one that offers marketing-grade services like the ability to take a professional headshot and counseling on using social media to boost one’s practice. A menu of creative pricing is one avenue to attract members when finances are tight. The CMBA has been adapting to a more challenging environment even before the pandemic, supplementing income from dues and donations in creative ways, including renting out its conference spaces — an income stream that was growing preCOVID-19 — and partnering with other Ohio bars to establish the Ohio Notary Services last year. The fall would normally see the CMBA hosting more than 100 CLE programs, and all of those will be converted to livestream formats. At some point, there may be some “hybrid”

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which, unlike its state-level counterpart in the OSBA, does virtually zero lobbying — are advocating hard for access to stimulus funds like the Paycheck Protection Program. The PPP prohibits participation from 501 C (6) organizations, which include nonprofit professional associations like attorney bars because of their lobbying abilities. But McMahon is hopeful lawmakers provide an exception for groups that do little of it, like hers. The CMBA has 19 full-time staff members, with two positions still furloughed and two others permanently

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events, McMahon said, where some people come to the conference center but the whole event is still webcast. Despite leaning into the pandemic to prove its relevance and value, which is bringing bar engagement at both the OSBA and CMBA to new highs, budget shortfalls are all but guaranteed. McMahon said she’s working on scenarios for the new fiscal year, which ends next June, projecting revenue dropping between 10% and 50%. These challenges are why professional associations like the CMBA —

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eliminated. And it’s provided more support and free services to the community at-large than the largest law firms in this market, which vacuumed up millions of dollars in PPP funds. Despite all of the challenges, the CMBA points to opportunity in the situation as it continues its mission to promote justice and advance the legal profession. “It’s an opportunity to be important to this community in the kinds of ways lawyers are important to their clients,” Gross said. “We are going to take advantage of this time to make ourselves even more important.” Jeremy Nobile: jnobile@crain.com, (216) 771-5362, @JeremyNobile

Women and minorities continue to be woefully underrepresented in Northeast Ohio’s legal community, which shrank slightly over the past year, according to the Crain’s 2020 Law Firms list. (Page 16) Compared to 2019, the total number of in-market lawyers decreased 1.2%, more than erasing a slight gain from the previous year, according to data from 76 firms on the full digital list. They range from global firms with a presence here to boutique outfits with a couple lawyers. The 10 largest law firms in the market represent 41% of all in-market attorneys accounted for in the survey. With 172 local lawyers, the largest firm in Northeast Ohio remains Jones Day, though it’s dwindled in size here quite a bit over the past decade. The firm has reduced local lawyer headcount by 27% compared to 2010 levels. Most of the market’s biggest firms have shrunk their attorney benches here in the past decade with the exception of Tucker Ellis and Benesch, which have increased local lawyers by 56% and 39% in the past 10 years, respectively. Despite the drop in attorneys, in-market partners grew by 1.5%. Those promotions contributed to small increases in the number of female and minority partners. However, the total number of local female and minority lawyers

overall decreased year-over-year a shade more than the 1.2% contraction in total lawyers. Female lawyers decreased by 1.8% and minority lawyers decreased 2.3% between May 1, 2019, when last year’s data was gathered, and June 30, 2020. Overall, among all in-market attorneys in the 2020 list: 71% are men; 29% are women; 94% are white; 6% are minorities. Among local partners: 79% are men; 21% are women; 96% are white; 4% are minorities. Law firm diversity is something the industry at-large continues to grapple with. A study by the National Association for Law Placement examining 1,000 offices of major U.S. law firms found that in 2018 women made up about 35% of attorneys at those firms, while ethnically diverse individuals composed 16%. Of that same group, among partners, 23% were women and 9% were diverse. That diversity issue remains an area of focus for the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, which has struggled to get local law firms to buy in to a plan to attempt to address it in the past. The CMBA is working on a refreshed diversity initiative that could materialize later this year. Data editor Chuck Soder contributed to this report. Jeremy Nobile: jnobile@crain.com, (216) 771-5362, @JeremyNobile

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CRAIN'S LIST | LAW FIRMS Ranked by number of local attorneys

FIRM

LOCAL ATTORNEYS/ PARTNERS

LOCAL PARTNERS FEMALE/ MINORITY

JONES DAY, Cleveland 216-586-3939/jonesday.com

172 62

BAKERHOSTETLER, Cleveland 216-621-0200/bakerlaw.com

LOCAL STAFF

FIRMWIDE ATTORNEYS

PRACTICE AREAS

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE

15 0

621

2,500

Full range of litigation and corporate practice areas

Heather Lennox, Cleveland partnerin-charge

160 86

20 2

371

978

Six core practice groups: business, digital assets and data management, IP, labor and employment, litigation, tax

Brett Wall, chief operations partner

BENESCH, Cleveland 216-363-4500/beneschlaw.com

146 83

17 3

261

259

Corporate and securities, litigation, real estate, IP, health care, labor and employment

Gregg Eisenberg, managing partner

TUCKER ELLIS LLP, Cleveland 216-592-5000/tuckerellis.com

142 74

12 5

272

223

All types of trial, transactional and IP matters

Joe Morford, firm managing partner

THOMPSON HINE LLP, Cleveland 216-566-5500/thompsonhine.com

129 70

14 3

307

375

Litigation, corporate, real estate, construction, product liability, finance, environmental, cybersecurity, immigration, bankruptcy/restructuring, benefits, IP

Deborah Read, managing partner; Kip Bollin, Cleveland office partnerin-charge

CALFEE, HALTER & GRISWOLD LLP, Cleveland 216-622-8200/calfee.com

125 63

12 2

237

161

Corporate, M&A, securities, litigation, IP, government relations, labor, benefits, commercial, real estate, tax, estate planning

Brent Ballard, managing partner; Arthur Hall III, firm administrative partner; Cleveland partner-in-charge

SQUIRE PATTON BOGGS, Cleveland 216-479-8500/squirepb.com

104 46

10 2

301

1,500

Full suite of corporate, disputes, regulatory and public policy services

Michele Connell, managing partner, Cleveland; Frederick Nance, global managing partner

MCDONALD HOPKINS LLC, Cleveland 216-348-5400/mcdonaldhopkins.com

87 49

8 1

165

149

Corporate, litigation, IP, restructuring, estate planning, real estate, M&A, health, banking, benefits

Shawn Riley, president

ULMER & BERNE LLP, Cleveland 216-583-7000/ulmer.com

86 43

13 2

169

166

Litigation, financial services, product liability, business law, real estate, IP, benefits/ERISA, immigration, employment, cybersecurity

Patricia Shlonsky, partner-in-charge, Cleveland office

ROETZEL & ANDRESS LPA, Cleveland 216-623-0150/ralaw.com

81 53

14 2

176

166

Banking/finance, employment, energy/environmental, estates, health care, transportation, franchise, government, education, real estate, IP

Robert Blackham, chairman, shareholder; Douglas Spiker, partnerin-charge, Cleveland

PRACTICE AREAS

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE

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FIRM

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LOCAL ATTORNEYS/ PARTNERS

PARTNERS FEMALE/ MINORITY

LOCAL STAFF

FIRMWIDE ATTORNEYS

WALTER | HAVERFIELD, Cleveland 216-781-1212/walterhav.com

81 48

11 0

142

Business services, education, IP, labor/employment, hospitality and liquor control, litigation, public law, real estate, tax and wealth management

Ralph Cascarilla, managing partner

BROUSE MCDOWELL LPA, Akron 330-535-5711/brouse.com

71 46

17 1

124

Business restructuring/bankruptcy, corporate, cybersecurity, environmental, estates, health care, insurance recovery, labor/ employment, litigation, real estate, construction

Daniel Glessner, managing partner

HAHN LOESER & PARKS LLP, Cleveland 216-621-0150/hahnlaw.com

68 40

6 3

141

131

Commercial litigation, business, IP, estate planning, labor and employment, construction, creditors' rights, reorganization, bankruptcy

Stanley Gorom III, managing partner, CEO

FRANTZ WARD LLP, Cleveland 216-515-1660/frantzward.com

67 44

8 1

105

Bankruptcy/creditors' rights, construction, corporate, education, estate planning, health care, insurance, employment, litigation, real estate, tax

Christopher Keim, managing partner

REMINGER CO. LPA, Cleveland 216-687-1311/reminger.com

66 53

9 5

190

150

Medical malpractice, workers' compensation, estate planning, D&O and employment practices, professional liability, oil, natural gas, utilities

Stephen Walters, president, managing partner

TAFT STETTINIUS & HOLLISTER LLP, Cleveland 216-241-2838/taftlaw.com

58 36

8 3

100

605

Venture capital, real estate, M&A, litigation, public law, employment law, IP, private client, tax

Jill Helfman, Adrian Thompson, copartners-in-charge, Cleveland

BUCKINGHAM, DOOLITTLE & BURROUGHS, Cleveland 216-621-5300/bdblaw.com

57 43

7 2

106

Business, litigation, employment and labor, real estate and construction, health and medicine, trusts and estates

Steven Dimengo, managing partner

KRUGLIAK, WILKINS, GRIFFITHS & DOUGHERTY CO. LPA, Canton 330-497-0700/kwgd.com

54 38

8 0

104

Corporate/business, commercial litigation, labor/employment, workers' compensation, oil and gas, real estate, health care, environmental

John Tucker, managing partner

VORYS, SATER, SEYMOUR AND PEASE LLP, Cleveland 216-479-6100/vorys.com

50 23

3 2

344

Corporate, litigation, bankruptcy/restructuring, health care, real estate, financing, IP, labor/employment, financial institutions

Anthony O'Malley, managing partner, Cleveland; J. Bret Treier, managing partner, Akron

BRENNAN, MANNA & DIAMOND, Akron 330-253-5060/bmdllc.com

48 31

6 1

Health care, litigation, business, labor and employment, real estate, M&A, tax, estate planning

Matthew Heinle, president; Jack Diamond, CEO; Anthony Manna, chairman

KOHRMAN JACKSON & KRANTZ LLP, Cleveland 216-696-8700/kjk.com

44 27

8 2

Corporate, litigation, employment, real estate, commercial, brand enforcement, IP, health care, incentives, startups, estates, domestic relations

Jon Pinney, managing partner

GALLAGHER SHARP LLP, Cleveland 216-241-5310/gallaghersharp.com

40 27

4 0

Litigation, insurance, legal malpractice, professional liability, railroad, trucking, aviation, maritime, product/employer liability, mass/toxic torts, appellate

Timothy Brick, managing partner

MEYERS, ROMAN, FRIEDBERG AND LEWIS, Woodmere 216-831-0042/meyersroman.com

38 24

6 0

Corporate, finance, employment, real estate, tax, litigation, construction, family law, estate planning, blockchain, cybersecurity

Seth Briskin, managing partner

MCCARTHY, LEBIT, CRYSTAL & LIFFMAN CO. LPA, Cleveland 216-696-1422/mccarthylebit.com

37 23

4 0

Transactional, estate planning, tax, litigation, domestic relations, banking, property, personal injury, employment, alternative dispute resolution

Robert Glickman, managing principal

WESTON HURD LLP, Cleveland 216-241-6602/westonhurd.com

35 26

3 0

Business advice, litigation, insurance, estate/probate, construction, employment, white collar crime, professional liability, real estate

Daniel Richards, managing partner

Researched by Chuck Soder: csoder@crain.com | Data as of June 30, 2020. Firms with equal numbers of local attorneys are ranked by worldwide attorneys. Information is from the companies.

Get 76 firms, +300 executives and more contact info in Excel. Become a Data Member: CrainsCleveland.com/data 16 | CRAINâ€™S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | August 10, 2020

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The Port of Cleveland expects its shipping revenues to decline only by a few percentage points in 2020. | BOB PERKOSKI, WWW.PERKOSKI.COM

PORT

From Page 4

The steel and manufacturing deficits created by the pandemic, Gutheil points out, have been offset in part by a higher demand for other commodities shipped in and out of Great Lakes ports, including grain, road salt, wind turbine components and specialty high-grade metals. “One of the specific commodities in demand is the metal to make food grade cans,” Gutheil said. “The demand is high because there are more people staying home cooking more and not going to restaurants. More groceries mean a higher demand for canned foods.” The Port of Toledo, which has experienced a 15% drop in cargo tonnage through June, is looking to narrow those declines with increased exports of American grown grain,

which is in high demand overseas, according to Joseph Cappel, vice president of business development. “We have surpassed 3 million total tons this season, and we remain hopeful that we can close the gap with last year if the grain harvest is good,” Cappel said. Bruce Burrows, president and CEO of the Chamber of Marine Commerce, a binational association that represents the marine industry, said industry leaders are cautiously optimistic about making up losses in the second half of the Great Lakes shipping season, which usually runs from mid-March to January. “In context of the last five years, these cargo declines are abnormal because we have been on an upward trajectory,” Burrows said. “I think that the ports are hoping to see a bit of a turnaround in the fall, but how much remains to be seen. It would be

“IT WOULD BE NAÏVE TO THINK A RECOVERY WOULD TOTALLY BRING BACK THE PREVIOUS CAPACITY.” — Bruce Burrows, president and CEO of the Chamber of Marine Commerce

naïve to think a recovery would totally bring back the previous capacity.” There are headwinds, cautions Daniel Shoag, an associate professor of economics at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management, that could hamper even a marginal recovery. He pointed to recent Gross Domestic Product figures that showed the steepest decline in modern U.S. history in the second quarter and national unemployment numbers that remained elevated through mid-July. “The region’s rebound or jump

back could be quicker if the Federal Reserve Bank remains committed to keeping interest rates low and the Small Business Administration keeps pumping out loans,” Shoag said. Even with a rebound, ports like Cleveland have an opportunity to re-evaluate commodity demands in light of the emergence of new supply chain lines and reshoring opportunities, he added. But Shoag said that if people temporarily unemployed due to COVID-19 shutdowns become longterm unemployed, and large numbers of businesses close permanently, the economy could be derailed for an extended period of time. Nevertheless, the Cleveland port’s Gutheil is anticipating the automotive industry coming “back up to speed” and the region’s economy “experiencing a turnaround in the next few months.”

“That is what we anticipate, and that is what we are hearing from our customers,” he said. At year end, he predicts the port will only be off 2019 shipping revenues by a few percentage points. Gutheil noted that the port is undertaking two major capital projects using $11 million in funds from the U.S. Department of Transportation and matching funds from the state — one to reopen Dock 26 West, which was shuttered in 2018, and the other to increase capacity and modernize Dock 24 — that in the future will help recoup losses experienced this season. “We are also using this time and this year to start two huge infrastructure projects that are really going to help us handle more cargo when they are done,” he said. Kim Palmer: kpalmer@crain.com, (216) 771-5384, @kimfouroffive

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8/7/2020 12:02:42 PM

VOLUNTEERS

From Page 1

Heaters, or “melters,” will be located under the elevated courts at the Cleveland Platform Tennis center. In the middle will be an indoor paddle hut that will double as a schoolhouse. | CONTRIBUTED RENDERING

TENNIS

From Page 3

The Huntington executive said he played a lot of tennis growing up, but he made the permanent switch to paddle about a decade ago. The game, sometimes played at night in single-digit temperatures, is a great way to unwind after a difficult day of work, Richardson said. Nejedlik plays even more often than her counterpart on the CPTF board, as many as five times per week in the winter. She loves that the outside elements — because the dense, rubber ball won’t bounce nearly as high in colder temperatures — can determine a player’s strategy. Balls remain in play after hitting the court

and bouncing off the screen. And it doesn’t hurt, Nejedlik said, that platform tennis is a “long-term game” that she’s seen played by groups of women who are approaching their 80s. The sport is played with doubles teams, which could help CPTF accommodate 32 kids for the after-school program — 16 playing on the four courts and 16 gathering in the paddle hut that will double as a schoolhouse. Orange, Conn.-based Riley Green Mountain, one of two builders in the country who specialize in platform tennis construction, according to Richardson, will build the courts. The board is in the process of selecting a contractor for the schoolhouse. Should a permit from the city “magically appear in our inbox to-

day, we could break ground within days,” Richardson said on Aug. 3. When the work is finished, funds from dues-paying members, with a 35-and-under group receiving discounted rates, are expected to cover the facility’s costs. Interested players will be able to pay a one-time fee to try the courts, with the hope that they’ll become frequent guests and fans of the sport. The foundation also will offer free clinics as another promotional tool. “There are zero barriers to entry,” Richardson said. “If you’ve got sneakers and a hat, because we play in the cold, you can come out and play. And there’s an element of this that’s a bit addictive.” Kevin Kleps: kkleps@crain.com, (216) 771-5256, @KevinKleps

“I think everyone is reassessing,” she said. “Everyone’s looking at how do we move forward?” During the pandemic, 35 nonprofits in Greater Cleveland reported nearly 130,000 volunteer hours lost, according to WeCareForCLE, a website created by Social Venture Partners Cleveland and community partners to help the area’s nonprofit community track and respond to COVID-19. According to their data, those lost volunteer hours are valued at more than $3 million. Nonprofits are working to find new ways for volunteers to contribute, including outdoor and remote opportunities. From home, volunteers have been baking, stuffing stacks of envelopes with donor thank you letters, phone banking, connecting with clients virtually, sewing masks for staff and community members, and more. And for the volunteers whom nonprofits can’t immediately put to work, organizations are getting creative in finding ways to continue to engage with them. To help fight social isolation and maintain a sense of community among volunteers, organizations are hosting virtual book clubs, sending birthday grams and organizing video chat meet-ups for volunteers to catch up with one another or playing bingo. The City Mission, which helps those in crisis overcome homelessness, invited volunteers to put on a parade in July at its Laura’s Home Women’s Crisis Center. Thirty cars drove by, tossing out candy.

“The real hard thing is so many volunteers — especially those that are retired — are doing this for the socialization,” Dzurnak said. “They’re doing this to have a purpose, to give back to the community.” Many organizations’ volunteers skew older, putting them in the highrisk category for COVID-19. That’s the case at Southeast Clergy Meals on Wheels, where most volunteers are at least 60 years old, and a few are in their 90s, said Dinah Mouat, treasurer and administrator for the nonprofit. Meal delivery to people who can’t fix themselves nutritious meals has always been a critical service, but the stakes are now higher than ever. And organizations are hamstrung by limitations in engaging volunteers. Unable to risk exposing volunteers

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Volu Bank seni eme

to th on a volu mea seve thro driv goo mea thei “Th can A Ban tion tribu back wor zatio K even thin unte doin men chec han gne affa Ban wor com 15,8 two K prov nee som hou doo deli to d ners said nato Si com war help thou the the tion with A rely whil gram staff at o effec cont Jaim man Th som mea ing tion July

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Volunteers at the Greater Cleveland Food Bank pack food boxes to be distributed to seniors, for kids’ backpacks or for emergency use. | CLEVELAND FOOD BANK

to the virus, Meals on Wheels focused on about 25 of its relatively younger volunteers, who shifted from daily hot meal deliveries to weekly deliveries of several frozen meals to last clients through the week. Those who couldn’t drive meal delivery routes baked goodies that could be added to the meals or began calling the clients on their route to check in. “They’re involved in any way we can get them involved,” Mouat said. After the Greater Cleveland Food Bank sent volunteers home, the National Guard began helping with distribution and packing boxes and backpacks in the warehouse. The workforce was critical as the organization faced a huge demand. Knowing that the guard would eventually leave, the food bank began thinking about how to bring back volunteers safely and was able to start doing so in early June with requirements for mask wearing, temperature checks, gloves, social distancing and handwashing, said Mary LaVigne-Butler, vice president of external affairs for the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. In June and July, 454 volunteers worked 4,029 hours at the food bank, compared with 3,893 volunteers and 15,877 hours for the corresponding two-month period last year. Kids Book Bank, a nonprofit that provides free books to children in need, has also been able to bring some volunteers back to its warehouse. After temporarily closing its doors, Kids Book Bank launched a delivery program using 23 volunteers to deliver 4,370 books in May to partners that distribute the free books, said Colleen Watt, volunteer coordinator for the organization. Since reopening in June with a completely new arrangement in their warehouse, 358 volunteers have helped to sort and pack books. Although this is a little more than half of the number of volunteers seen during the same time last year, the organization has been able to nearly keep pace with the number of boxes packed. At the City Mission, staff members rely on volunteers working with kids while their mothers engage in programming. Without volunteers, the staff can’t take care of all of the children at once, which has created a “domino effect” of necessary adjustments to continue access to other programs, said Jaime Buxton, community engagement manager for the organization. They have been able to bring back some volunteers — including for meal services, landscaping and sorting donated clothing — but at a fraction of what they’d typically have. In July, the organization logged 318 vol-

unteer hours, compared with 2,173 in the same month last year. In working to ensure safe volunteer opportunities, Buxton recognizes that decisions to return will be personal. “Their heart says, ‘Yes, I want to be there. I want to come back, and I miss the opportunity,’ but there’s still a lot of hesitation in the community, and rightfully so,” Buxton said. “Every person’s decision is unique to their family circumstances.” Though they’ve been growing, virtual volunteer opportunities are not as simple as setting up a Zoom call between a mentor and a young person, for instance. There’s a lot more to consider. Initially, most of the virtual volunteer options were those that had previously existed. Nonprofits have created more in the past few months, though the demand for these opportunities far outpaces organizations’ ability to create them, said Heather Englander, BVU’s director of business and community engagement. The American Red Cross of Northern Ohio has been able to successfully set up remote volunteering. Those who typically respond to a disaster site (in Northern Ohio, typically home fires) have been doing so by phone, connecting with clients to assess needs and verifying damage with the local fire department. Financial assistance via a debit card is dropped off in a socially distant manner. Barb Prociak, ombudsman specialist and volunteer coordinator for the office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, was also able to shift volunteer opportunities to remote work as the hundreds of nursing homes, assisted living facilities and residential facilities they work within were closed to outside visits. There are currently 30 volunteers following up on complaints in these facilities in Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain and Medina counties. After going through 12 hours of virtual training, the volunteers connect with residents and families over the phone, with some video chats, too. Continuing the work remotely was important “to assure residents and families that we really are watching, and we do care what’s going on inside the facilities,” Prociak said. In addition to direct service experiences, volunteers lending business expertise or creative solutions to some of the challenges nonprofits are facing can also be incredibly valuable. Recognizing nonprofits’ need for information and guidance, BVU waived fees for its webinars and consulting services and quickly saw requests for its pro bono consultants increase. “Volunteers bring in an outside perspective and fresh ideas,” Englander said. “Lend your brains to the nonprofits, because, again, I think it’s always helpful when you can get an outside perspective.” Holden Forests and Gardens has more than 1,500 volunteers who work at the Cleveland Botanical Garden and the Holden Arboretum, said Jill Koski, president and CEO of Holden Forests and Gardens. Because the organization has so much outdoor space, it’s been able to bring back 120 volunteers in positions that lend themselves to distancing and safety protocols, including bluebird monitors, gardening assistants and trail monitors, who monitor wildlife issues at the arboretum’s 3,500-acre campus. “They truly are the base of who we are, and we look forward to bringing them all back, because they’re a part of our family and a part of our community,” Koski said. Lydia Coutré: lcoutre@crain.com, (216) 771-5479, @LydiaCoutre

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intact to delay aggressive entry and mitigate blasts; and decorative custom films are now in high demand with designers. With COVID-19, Suntrol has become a key contributor for hospital systems throughout the region and the state. Custom film is being used to create a more sanitary environment for operating rooms, emergency rooms and medical centers by removing drapes and blinds that can trap viruses, bacteria, dirt and dust. Suntrol’s current project for the Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic Health Education Campus’ Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion is a perfect example of Suntrol’s ability to meld aesthetics and practicality. The pavilion’s glass design is complemented with custom film that showcases the interior while also providing privacy and safety.

Brown, who came to Suntrol after a career in construction, was the ideal choice to oversee the Health Education Campus project. “I’m an out-of-the-box guy,” he says. “I look for ways to make things happen. The technology of film has advanced so far … it’s opened up a lot more avenues for us.” Those advances are far removed from the early days of the company, but Hansen’s dedication to the business remains strong after 45 years. “It’s bull-headedness and stubbornness on my part,” he laughs. “And my employees are the cream of the crop.” As for the future, Hansen sees interactive films that will function like computer screens and materials that will be able to transform films into solar cells. “If you can dream it, it will happen,” he says.

“Suntrol is kind of like my kid,” says Hansen of Suntrol’s 45-year success story. “I’ve watched the business evolve and grow alongside the industry. When we started, we were a novelty, but I wanted to make this a mainstream business.” Once limited to five basic options – smoke, bronze, silver, light opaque and black opaque – window film now is technically advanced in its design and manufacturing. Micro-layered films provide solar control and energy conservation for commercial and residential users; security films for banks, schools and airports keep glass

The $515 million Health Education Campus is a jointly owned project of Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic. Window film, installed by Suntrol, is used throughout.

This advertising-supported feature is produced by Crain’s Content Studio-Cleveland, the marketing storytelling arm of Crain’s Cleveland Business. The Crain’s Cleveland Business newsroom is not involved in creating Crain’s Content Studio content. AUGUST 10, 2020 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 19

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AKRON SMALL BUSINESS

Ohio State Waterproofing to expand in Macedonia The company plans a new building next to its original location on East Highland Road BBY DAN SHINGLER

Macedonia is getting a corporate expansion, and likely some new jobs, thanks to continued growth and a recent surge in business at Ohio State Waterproofing. The company, which already has its headquarters in the city in northern Summit County, is adding a new building next to its original location on East Highland Road. “We’re looking to build another building next door. We’ve just seen a lot of demand for our services over the years,” said Ohio State Waterproofing president Paul Trecarichi. “We currently have about 30,000 square feet, and we’re looking to add another 10,000 square feet,” Trecarichi added. The new building is needed because as the company has grown, it has run out of space to house its people and equipment, he said. “They’re all our employees. We don’t subcontract any of our work, so we need more space,” Trecarichi said. He added, “We’ve grown so quickly, we have a lot of vehicles outside.” The company has grown steadily since it was founded in 1978 but has really taken off in the past five years. During that time, its total employment in Macedonia — where all but a

vices to date, which Trecarichi said are because of, at least in part, the COVID-19 pandemic. “With COVID, we’ve actually been swamped,” he said. “With people staying home, people are doing more home improvement than ever before, and that’s affecting us. … Our phones have been ringing off the hooks.” COVID-19 also has effectively shrunk some homes, as entire families are at home together far more often than before — turning unused basements into coveted spaces. “With people spending more and more time in their homes, they want more space. ... The average home can create an additional 800 square feet of living space if you finish off the basement,” Trecarichi said. The pandemic also has led to increased revenue from other streams at the company, which is best known for waterproofing home basements with its patented systems but also does things like install air-quality control systems. “A lot of people in this day and age are spending more time in their homes. So it’s not just finishing someone’s basement and making sure it’s dry. It’s making sure the air is healthy, too,” Trecarichi said. The company hopes to begin construction on the new building as soon as the city of Macedonia ap-

Ohio State Waterproofing’s new building in Macedonia will be next to the company’s original headquarters on East Highland Road. | OHIO STATE WATERPROOFING/LS ARCHITECTS RENDERING

handful of its employees are housed — has roughly doubled, from about 150 employees in 2015 to more than 300 today, Trecarichi said. The privately held company does not disclose its revenues. It needs to hire still more people, too. “We’re running 23 crews now (and) we’re looking to expand that by up to five to six crews,” he said, noting that each crew has five or six employees assigned to it. The new facility, which is the com-

pany’s third expansion in Macedonia following the construction of an additional 7,000 square feet of space about 10 years ago, will be a mix of office, warehouse, dock and vehicle space, Trecarichi said. The company so far has not put a price on the project. “We’re working on that as we speak,” Trecarichi said in an interview on Wednesday, Aug. 5. In the meantime, the company says it’s dealing with some of the biggest increases in demand for its ser-

proves its site plan and a zoning variance for the property. Trecarichi said he’s confident that will happen soon. “We have to go to one more meeting, but I think it’s pretty much passed,” he said. Macedonia Mayor Nicholas Molnar said that he supports the company’s expansion. “It’s a company that’s been in our community for quite some time, and it’s their headquarters for the entire company. It makes me especially proud to have a company like that in our community. … I can only say positive things about a company that’s able to expand during COVID-19,” Molnar said. The company has a satellite facility to serve Youngstown, and it has 15 franchises across the country, including in Toledo, Cincinnati and Columbus. However, the Macedonia facility is by far its largest, Trecarichi said. The large concentration of Ohio State Waterproofing employees in Macedonia, including its more highly paid headquarters staff, means the company is important to the city, Molnar said. “With the number of jobs and people working there, that’s a positive,” he noted. Dan Shingler: dshingler@crain.com, (216) 771-5290, @DanShingler

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CLOSE DATE: Aug. 14 | ISSUE DATE: Sept. 21 20 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | August 10, 2020

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

S E P T E M B E R 3 - 9 , 2 018

PA G E 21

SMALL BUSINESS

Child care centers face difficult balancing act during pandemic Facilities can return to normal student-teacher ratios, but that comes with rules, challenges BBY RACHEL ABBEY MCCAFFERTY

Child care centers in Ohio are faced with tough choices right now. The state is allowing them to return to normal student-teacher ratios and class sizes as of Aug. 9 after months of COVID-19-related restrictions, but they are still expected to follow a host of safety and hygiene measures. Employment is a challenge for many, as is enrollment. Gov. Mike DeWine has said that centers can opt to maintain lower ratios and get a subsidy, instead of returning to pre-pandemic ratios, but details on the subsidies that will be available have yet to be shared. Absent information on the subsidies, Andrea Kimmel, founder and CEO of Sweet Kiddles, plans to raise the ratios at her centers, though still aiming below the maximum number of students allowed at the different age levels. At this point, she’s just trying to break even, making enough to pay for the essentials like wages, food and curriculum supplies. “So can we do this for six more months like this without additional

CHILD CARE

From Page 1

It’s important employers be communicative and empathetic during this time, Bernatovicz said. That’s the approach he’s taking with his own employees, and it’s the advice he’s giving clients. Willory has about 45 employees. The company typically serves middle market companies, offering services like HR technology and temporary HR support. Bernatovicz said he has set up meetings with individual employees to discuss their plans for balancing working from home with the needs of their children. Each solution has to be customized for each employee. That might mean following a more flexible work schedule, shifting an employee’s working hours later in the day or cutting back. That flexibility is key, and it’s an extension of how Willory always tries to operate. Companies that are too rigid, during the pandemic and otherwise, are likely to struggle in terms of inclu-

TENTS

From Page 2

Before the pandemic made landfall in the United States, the equipment and event rental industry expected to exceed $60 billion in revenues this year — about $4 billion of that money tied to parties and other gatherings, according to the American Rental Association. The trade group said in midMarch that revenues were off by more than 60% for a majority of its members in the events business, largely due to scrapped festivals and corporate, private and charitable events. In Parma Heights, ABC Rental Center lost 95% of its business overnight, manager Charlie Waugaman said. “In the first two weeks, I don’t think there was a single phone call,” he said. “It was pretty scary.” Heavy equipment rentals bounced back first — and grew, because homeowners sheltering in place decided to

support? Maybe, but it’s hard,” she said. “Maybe we’ll break even in August. That’s without upgrading things that need upgraded. That’s without needing repairs.” Child care is a labor-intensive business that runs on low margins, said David Smith, president of the Ohio Association of Child Care Providers and executive director of the Horizon Education Centers in Cuyahoga and Lorain counties. The association represents owners and directors of child care centers across the state, and about 700 of the state’s approximately 4,000 centers are represented in its membership. Raising the ratios gives the centers a “fighting chance” at reaching sustainability, Smith said. A lot of centers don’t have lines of credit or cash reserves to rely on during these lean times. But returning to regular ratios won’t be a panacea, as some families are still hesitant to place their children in group settings and other centers face challenges to restaffing, either because of wage or safety concerns, Smith said. “There are a lot of factors out there

that are against us,” he said. Take Sweet Kiddles, for example. Kimmel had to do significant layoffs early in the pandemic, letting about 100 of her 120 full- and part-time employees go. Employment is now back up to about 80, but Kimmel is struggling to hire more. She’s found herself spending time in the classrooms, alongside directors and assistant directors, because she doesn’t have enough teachers. And she thinks the additional stimulus funding to those on unemployment has made that search more challenging. “Our access to qualified labor right now has been nonexistent,” Kimmel said. Child care centers typically operate at a capacity that allows them to break even or make a small profit, said Julia Hohner, communications and development director for Columbus-based public policy and research organization Groundwork Ohio. Many centers that did open with reduced ratios during the stayat-home orders operated at a loss. Costs for facilities and personnel

are tough to cut. And revenue is limited to tuition dollars, either from families or the government for the limited number of families that qualify for publicly funded child care. “And there’s not a ton of room for creating economies of scale,” Hohner said. Groundwork Ohio is advocating for the next federal stimulus to include dedicated funding — $50 billion worth — for the child care sector. The Early Childhood Enrichment Center in Shaker Heights opted to reduce employees’ hours, keeping them employed and with benefits, instead of doing layoffs, said executive director Beth Price. The center closed for a time during the pandemic, but to help make up the difference once it reopened it significantly increased its tuition for families who don’t have a child care subsidy. Price said she hopes that increase is temporary. Additional government support would help her lower the tuition for her families and bring teachers back to their full hours. People need child care in order to go back to work, she said, but

child care also has to be affordable enough for them to use it. The center hasn’t had a problem with enrollment since reopening, but Price plans to keep capacity where it is now, at about 60%. “For the health and safety of our children and staff and families, we will continue to do the lower ratios,” Price said. The center typically serves students from the time they’re 18 months until they go to kindergarten, and it usually has 12 classrooms with about three teachers in each. Under the lowered ratios, each open classroom has one teacher, Price said, and teachers who float between two or three classrooms to help out. And it’s still in the works, but the Early Childhood Enrichment Center plans to temporarily expand its services, adding school-age rooms for students in kindergarten through third grade, Price said. The goal will be to give students somewhere supervised to attend virtual school on their own devices.

sivity and diversity, Bernatovicz said. “To me, it’s a broader opportunity to employers to really walk this walk and talk the talk,” he said. There are always one-off issues outside of work that require flexibility from employers, but the challenge now is how many employees need that flexibility at the same time, said Jacquelyn Valek, founder and president of Anchor Solutions Consulting LLC, a North Olmsted HR services firm that primarily serves small businesses. The biggest challenge employers are facing this fall is that, barring putting a child care center on site, there’s not really a one-size-fits-all solution, Valek said. Employers need to have honest conversations with their employees about the challenges they’re currently facing and the ones they think they could face as the year goes on. “So one of the things I keep telling businesses is to make sure you’re having those conversations early and start now,” Valek said. “This is where the relationship between leaders and employees will pay dividends for the organization.”

Not all companies can just let employees work from home on their own schedule, Valek said, so they have to find different solutions. That could include varying start and end times to the work day or allowing block scheduling: working just in the morning or afternoon, or taking set breaks in the middle of the day. Or employers like manufacturers, who need workers on site, could encourage more temporary or permanent shift trading. The Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association is taking a flexible approach to working through the pandemic, said CEO Rebecca Ruppert McMahon. Some employees took time off, while others have opted for less conventional work hours. The quality of the work is more important than the quantity of hours put in, she said. “Flexibility has been the name of the game,” McMahon said. And she’s hearing the same from the sectors she works with: law firms, inhouse legal counsel and the court systems. It’s all about customized, flexible solutions for employees’ specific

needs. Some aren’t planning to return to a physical office for the rest of the year; others are making it voluntary. While the child care challenges raised by the pandemic are heightened, employers should consider this kind of flexibility for families all the time, McMahon said. The early childhood years, when employees typically need more flexibility for home life, are temporary. It costs more to replace an employee than it does to keep them, and when employers treat employees well, they’re more likely to stay for the long term. It just makes “good business sense,” McMahon said. Cleveland-based law firm Thompson Hine has long made this kind of flexibility a priority. Sarah Flannery, a partner in the firm’s Cleveland office and firmwide chair of the women’s initiative, said that when she had her son 14 years ago, she was able to work from home two days a week. That kind of flexibility got its start through the firm’s women’s initiative, she said, but today, those programs are more broadly used by both men and women.

Offering flexibility helps the firm stand out as an employer in a competitive environment, said firmwide managing partner Deborah Read. “A law firm is a talent business,” she said. “We are as good as the talent that we offer.” Thompson Hine went to a workfrom-home plan in March and started bringing employees back to the office in Ohio and Georgia in June, staggering schedules so fewer employees were on site at any one time. But it is still offering exceptions to that in-person schedule for staff or lawyers with child care needs at home, Read said. To offer more support during the pandemic, Thompson Hine also has been sharing resources online and offering opportunities for connections. For example, the firm rolled out virtual “caregiver coffee chats,” led by senior leaders who had experience working from home with children, Flannery said.

“IN THE FIRST TWO WEEKS, I DON’T THINK THERE WAS A SINGLE PHONE CALL. IT WAS PRETTY SCARY.”

Rental companies are operating with reduced staffs and anticipating the loss of some longtime players in the industry. If businesses fail, they won’t necessarily be replaced. The tent rental sector is tough to get into, with considerable upfront costs and steep learning curves around installation techniques and safety. Demand for months-long rentals already is making it tough to find a tent for a weekend event, but few short-term users are booking more than a month out. If scientists succeed in bringing a safe, effective coronavirus vaccine to the market, there’s likely to be an outpouring of requests for reservations next year, Duqum said. And the battered industry won’t be able to keep up. “This is really going to affect the supply chain,” he predicted, “for many years to come.”

——Charlie Waugaman, ABC Rental Center manager

tackle projects. Tent rentals are recovering slowly. Sales are nowhere near last year’s levels, but Waugaman is “crazy busy” thanks to last-minute wedding arrangements. Sarah D’Angelo had planned to hold her July 18 wedding reception at a party center in Willoughby. But two weeks beforehand, to exert more control over the event, she booked a 30-by-30-foot tent instead. D’Angelo and her husband, Anthony, were married in a church ceremony followed by a party in their front yard in Broadview Heights. “It was a bit of a project to find a tent,” she said. That search might only get harder.

Michelle Jarboe: michelle.jarboe@ crain.com, (216) 771-5437, @mjarboe

Rachel Abbey McCafferty: (216) 771-5379, rmccafferty@crain.com

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MALLS

SouthPark Mall in Strongsville is one of just a few mainstream enclosed malls in Northeast Ohio that some analysts expect to survive after a tumultuous time for the retail industry. | DAVID

From Page 1

KORDALSKI/CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Pandemic’s effect on Northeast Ohio malls An aggregate of the difference in week-to-week foot traffic in NEO malls shows that visits were down nearly 90% during the height of the shutdown. Although foot traffic is returning, it is less than 40% of what it was before the state-ordered closings. 0% Difference in week-to-week foot traffic

Estimates for the gain in e-commerce at the expense of bricks-andmortar stores are being revised upward. For example, Brown Gibbons Lang & Co., an investment banker co-headquartered in Cleveland and Chicago, forecasts online sales will climb to 16% of retail sales by 2023 from 10% in 2018. Moreover, more of those sales are coming from luxury items, BGL said, which many shopping center landlords viewed as a safe haven for tenants. Mall tenants are at the vanguard of retailers shutting down or declaring bankruptcy and enabling wholesale store closings, from apparel stores such as Lane Bryant and Justice to the J.C. Penney department store. That comes as Hoffman Estates, Ill.based Sears Holdings conducts a liquidation sale at Great Northern Mall in North Olmsted, shutting the door in Northeast Ohio for the company that created the department store model. It’s a staggering decline from a nearly ubiquitous presence in the region. Sears, J.C. Penney, May Co. (now Macy’s) and Higbee’s (now Dillard’s) were the vital ingredient shaping mall creation in the past century. Now, competitors and online shopping are challenging their survival. Alec Pacella, president of Medina-based Pleasant Valley Corp., said, “They were the foundation for development of the rest of the mall. And if the foundation is weak, how strong is the rest of it?” Disappearing department store anchors give credence to forecasts for the continued decline of malls. Emerick Corsi, the principal of EDC Advisors LLC of Russell, thinks Northeast Ohio will wind up with just three mainstream enclosed malls when the dust settles. Likely survivors he points to are Beachwood Place in Beachwood, Summit Mall in Fairlawn and SouthPark Mall in Strongsville. Pacella and others share that view. The mall industry, though, rejects such a dour forecast. Stephanie Cegielski, spokeswoman for the International Council of Shopping Centers trade group, said several hundred malls would need to close in the next couple of years for such forecasts to become a reality, and ICSC does not see that happening.

-10% -20% -30% -40% -50% -60% -70% -80% -90%

Jan 19

Feb 16

Mar 15

Apr 12

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SOURCE: ORBITAL INSIGHT

On the other hand, ICSC thinks the fallout will be muted by the creativity of mall owners to maintain their operations. “We believe that in the next 18 months, you will see mall operators rolling out enhancements that might have been in the planning stages for several years in the future,” she said. “You’re already seeing that with our members who are offering pick-up locations inside or at the curbside.” Corsi, who supervised retail ventures for years at the former Forest City Realty Trust of Cleveland, said failing bricks-and-mortar retailing puts mall operators in tough positions. “In the past, the question was

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

Jun 7

Jul 5

CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS GRAPHIC

whether the mall would remain viable while you pursued multiple options to back-fill the department stores,” Corsi said. “With the problems in retail, you can no longer look to a new Target or Walmart or other brand to replace them. The problems are piling up.” Northeast Ohio’s economic woes already have put it ahead of the curve in redoing malls for industrial uses. Euclid Square Mall and Randall Park are now home to Amazon operations; another conversion is underway at Rolling Acres. A CBRE report last month characterized Cleveland and four other Midwest cities as the leading edge for

retail-to-industrial conversions in the U.S., finding 59 such projects nationwide. Cleveland, with five projects (including former Walmart operations in Willoughby and Bedford Heights), has had the most mall-turned-industrial space in the U.S. in terms of square footage. Some 3.5 million square feet of retail has been replaced by 2.5 million square feet of industrial space. “We think that there are other malls here that may play out that way,” said David Browning, managing director of CBRE’s Cleveland-Akron offices. “Malls are complex creatures. If a department store closes, it could trigger co-tenancy clauses changing the terms for other department stores and tenants. But they have tremendous value in terms of sewer and water lines and electric power. They can become small cities.” The next use also is shaped by where the mall is located. Browning and others point to Richmond Town Square mall in Richmond Heights as a no-longer-viable retail location, but not an industrial one, either, because of its distance from the nearest highway. The worsening retail situation already shaped the way proposed redevelopment of Richmond Town Square is shaping up. DealPoint Merrill, a Los Angeles real estate developer, staked its first claim in Richmond Heights in January 2018, when it bought the shuttered Macy’s store. Its sole intention

was to convert the department store to a (now open) CubeSmart self storage center. However, after it bought an empty Sears store to build apartments there, it found it couldn’t demolish it without replacing some of the mall’s structural supports. When the J.C. Penney closed, DealPoint began pursuing the mall. Some big ifs remain, however. The developer has yet to consummate an incentive agreement with Richmond Heights schools and is negotiating a contract to buy the mall, said Jeremy Kumin, DealPoint’s communications manager for the project. He said financing also is in process. If DealPoint does not close a mall purchase, it could shift to a less expansive plan for what it calls “Belle Oaks” on the other parts of the parcel. Orbital’s data on Richmond Town Square also shows how short on shoppers the place is, plus surprising insight into other regional malls. Richmond Town Square ranks at the bottom of the region’s malls in foot traffic, with just 15,000 visitors last month, Orbital reported, compared to 39,000 in January. The next lowest figure is 32,000 in July at University Square in University Heights, which is at the precipice of a longplanned rejuvenation effort. The region’s high flier is Great Lakes Mall in Mentor, which had 208,000 visitors last month, down from 331,000 in January. That occurred as Great Lakes struggles with a long-empty Sears store, but Mentor economic development director Kevin Malecek said several real estate developers are considering making bids for the Sears site and that Great Lakes benefits from its distance from other malls. Chris Semarjian, the owner of Industrial Commercial Properties of Solon, was a partner with Los Angeles investor Stuart Lichter in redeveloping Randall Park Mall so Amazon could set up shop there. “Every one is different,” Semarjian said, in part based on whether a site still has retail relevance or is centrally located to serve as a warehouse. “But I believe that online is strangling traditional retailing. In the end, it may just be a question of the mall becoming a distribution center and the stuff is brought to your door.” Stan Bullard: sbullard@crain.com, (216) 771-5228, @CrainRltywriter

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22 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | August 10, 2020

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND LOOK BACK | THE 2003 BLACKOUT

Dark day for FirstEnergy — and many others Aug. 14, 2003, was a dark day in Northeast Ohio's history. Indeed, it was a dark day, literally, for many of the Northeast and Midwest states in the U.S., not to mention Ontario. That was the day that a tree, a power line and a software bug in a control room alarm system at Akron’s FirstEnergy Corp. caused a power outage in all those places. Some spots, including parts of New York City and Toronto, were in the dark for two days in what is still by far the worst blackout the U.S. has ever seen. It cut power to an estimated 55 million — nearly twice as many as the famous blackout of 1965. — Dan Shingler

``THE HISTORY The outage took place on a hot summer day, when demand for power on the electric grid was high. After a power line contacted a tree in Northeast Ohio, FirstEnergy’s alarm system failed and a surge hit the system at 4:10 p.m. Over about the next half hour, the resulting outages cascaded across Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Ontario, New Jersey and New York. The blame landed primarily in the lap of FirstEnergy. A U.S.-Canada task force later determined the company failed to understand and address inadequacies in its systems, which led to it not balancing electricity loads and causing the outages. According to the reported official analysis of the blackout prepared by the American and Canadian governments, more than 508 generating units at 265 power plants shut down during the outage. In the Cleveland area, more than a half-million homes were without power, and a curfew was declared. Getting the system rebalanced and getting all those plants online again

``IN THEIR OWN WORDS “All I could think was here we go again — it’s just like Sept. 11.” ——Catherine Donnelly, who worked at the New York Stock Exchange, as quoted by the New York Times

A full moon hovered over a darkened New York City skyline during the massive East Coast blackout. | THE LIFE IMAGES COLLECTION VIA GETTY IMAGES

took time. While most affected areas had restored power by midnight on Aug. 14, many areas took longer. Some parts of New York City and Ontario only got power the next day, as did Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and Toronto Pearson International Airport. It took until the following day, Aug. 16, to restore power

``WHY IT MATTERS TODAY The event was a wakeup call to U.S officials with regard to the reliability of the nation’s electric system. It led to federal reliability standards regulating the electrical grid being included in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The standards of the North American Electric Reliability Corp., a Georgia-based nonprofit promoting electricity reliability, were made mandatory for U.S. electricity providers. As the event took place only two years after 9/11, the nation was concerned that such blackouts left borders, ports and other federal sites vulnerable to unauthorized access, and that such blackouts could be exploited by terrorists. It also drew attention to how easily the grid could be taken down.

Technicians work on transmission lines near FirstEnergy Corp.’s power plant in Eastlake on Aug. 18, 2003. | JOHN QUINN/ BLOOMBERG NEWS

fully in New York and Toronto. While many affected urbanites enjoyed their first views of the Milky Way in the newfound darkness, others died. It was later reported that the event contributed to more than 100 deaths, ranging from fires and an auto accident to the failure of athome medical equipment. In Ontario, where citizens compared their province’s performances to Quebec and Manitoba, which had gotten through the event largely unscathed, the blackout was cited as a reason that Ontario voters elected a new provincial government in fall 2003. Many believe the blackout caused a necessary renewed focus on the grid and critical infrastructure generally that has helped avoid similar events. Others, however, point out that the nation never did really wholly update its electric grid, including by making a smart grid that could better monitor and react to local and regional changes in power usage and demand. There are still local outages in Ohio and other states. But, so far at least, nothing like the 2003 blackout has occurred again.

“The report makes clear that this blackout could have been prevented and that immediate actions must be taken in both the United States and Canada to ensure that our electric system is more reliable.” ——Former U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and R. John Efford, then Canadian minister of natural resources, in a joint report

“We are going to have a situation where people are going to have to walk a long distance. They need to be careful. … Our advice is to go home, open up your windows, drink a lot of liquids.” ——Then-New York Mayor Michael Blomberg, as quoted by CNN

“Having come less than an inch from potential radiation leakage from Davis-Besse, they’ve now succeeded in blacking out eastern North America.” ——A bond analyst with CreditSights, quoted by the New York Times

“Every system in Europe works better.” ——Former Energy Secretary and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, quoted by IEE Spectrum magazine

THE WEEK PUT TO THE TESTS: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine tested negative for COVID-19 following a previous positive result on Aug. 6 from a different type of test administered in preparation for his meeting with President Donald Trump. DeWine earlier that day took a test for COVID-19 as part of the standard protocol to greet Trump on the tarmac at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland. Trump was in town for a fundraiser. DeWine, his wife and close staff members then were administered a PCR test, which detects the specific coronavirus genetic material, in Columbus, and that result was negative. MAKING THE LIST: Redevelopment plans for the Tower at Erieview, a half-empty, 40-story office building in downtown Cleveland, gained trac-

Agency. The credits, announced twice a year, don’t actually flow to a project until construction is complete. A total of six Cleveland projects made the list. So did a former grocery store property in Lakewood and a four-building complex in Ashtabula.

Efforts to redevelop the 40-story Tower at Erieview got a boost with a $5 million historic tax credit award from the Ohio Development Services Agency. | DAVID KORDALSKI/CRAIN’S

tion this week with a $5 million state tax credit award. The 1960s tower was the largest winner in a fierce state-

wide contest for $31.2 million in historic tax credits awarded Aug. 5 by the Ohio Development Services

LABOR UNREST: The University of Akron’s faculty union voted down a tentative agreement with the university. That could put the outcome of planned layoffs of 97 bargaining unit faculty members in flux. The current contract between the union and the university will remain in place until Dec. 31, and negotiations for a new one will begin soon. The university’s board of trustees approved layoffs for 178 employees in mid-July; 97 of those positions were part of the bargaining unit faculty.

crainscleveland.com

Publisher/editor Elizabeth McIntyre (216) 771-5358 or emcintyre@crain.com Group publisher Mary Kramer (313) 446-0399 or mkramer@crain.com Managing editor Scott Suttell (216) 771-5227 or ssuttell@crain.com Assistant managing editor Sue Walton (330) 802-4615 or swalton@crain.com Creative director David Kordalski (216) 771-5169 or dkordalski@crain.com Web editor Damon Sims (216) 771-5279 or dasims@crain.com Assistant editor Kevin Kleps (216) 771-5256 or kkleps@crain.com Senior data editor Chuck Soder (216) 771-5374 or csoder@crain.com Editorial researcher William Lucey (216) 771-5243 or wlucey@crain.com Cartoonist Rich Williams REPORTERS

Stan Bullard, senior reporter, Real estate/ construction. (216) 771-5228 or sbullard@crain.com Lydia Coutré, Health care/nonprofits. (216) 771-5479 or lcoutre@crain.com Michelle Jarboe, Enterprise reporter. (216) 771-5437 or michelle.jarboe@crain.com Rachel Abbey McCafferty, Manufacturing/energy/ education. (216) 771-5379 or rmccafferty@crain.com Jay Miller, Government. (216) 771-5362 or jmiller@crain.com Jeremy Nobile, Finance/legal/beer/cannabis. (216) 771-5255 or jnobile@crain.com Kim Palmer, Government. (216) 771-5384 or kpalmer@crain.com Dan Shingler, Energy/steel/auto/Akron. (216) 771-5290 or dshingler@crain.com ADVERTISING

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Customer service and subscriptions: (877) 824-9373 or customerservice@crainscleveland.com Reprints: Laura Picariello (732) 723-0569 or lpicariello@crain.com

Crain’s Cleveland Business is published by Crain Communications Inc. Chairman Keith E. Crain Vice chairman Mary Kay Crain President KC Crain Senior executive VP Chris Crain Secretary Lexie Crain Armstrong Chief Financial Officer Robert Recchia G.D. Crain Jr., Founder (1885-1973) Mrs. G.D. Crain Jr., Chairman (1911-1996) Editorial & Business Offices 700 W. St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113-1230 (216) 522-1383 Volume 41, Number 29 Crain’s Cleveland Business (ISSN 0197-2375) is published weekly, except for the first issue in January, July and September, the last issue in May and the fourth issue in November, at 700 West St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113-1230. Copyright © 2020 by Crain Communications Inc. Periodicals postage paid at Cleveland, OH, and at additional mailing offices. Price per copy: $2.00. Postmaster: Send address changes to Crain’s Cleveland Business, Circulation Department, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI 48207-2912. 1 (877) 824-9373. Subscriptions: In Ohio: 1 year - $64, 2 year - $110. Outside Ohio: 1 year - $110, 2 year - $195. Single copy, $2.00. Allow 4 weeks for change of address. For subscription information and delivery concerns send correspondence to Audience Development Department, Crain’s Cleveland Business, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI, 48207-9911, or email to customerservice@crainscleveland.com, or call (877) 824-9373 (in the U.S. and Canada) or (313) 446-0450 (all other locations), or fax (313) 446-6777.

August 10, 2020 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 23

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8/7/2020 12:04:19 PM

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