Photo Courtesy Port of Cleveland
UPFRONT BUDISH APPOINTS WONDOLOWSKI TO PORT BOARD AFTER BIBB JUST REPLACED HIM THOUGH CLEVELAND MAYOR Justin Bibb publicly chose not to reappoint labor leader Dave Wondolowski to the ClevelandCuyahoga County Port Authority board of directors, County Executive Armond Budish has now nominated him to replace another member in the middle of her term. In an April 1 letter to County Council President Pernel Jones obtained by Scene, Budish nominated Wondolowski for a seat currently occupied by local attorney Jan Roller. Roller is one of three board members, (out of the body’s total nine), appointed by the county executive. Roller was first appointed in 2012 and reappointed in 2016. Though she is serving a current four-year term that began on Oct 1. 2020 and runs through Sep. 30, 2024, she was not reappointed in 2020. The term is therefore technically unfilled. Roller is a Cleveland resident and was a prominent supporter of Justin Bibb in the 2021 mayoral race. The letter from Budish provided no additional details on the context or rationale for the appointment, saying only that Wondolowski was a resident of Broadview Heights (a resident and elector of Cuyahoga County), and that there were no known conflicts of interest that would complicate his appointment. Roller was not immediately available for comment. A county spokeswoman was unable to say whether Roller had intended to resign or whether Budish asked her to step aside to make way for Wondolowski. A City of Cleveland spokeswoman said only that the appointment was the executive’s to make and that the Bibb administration had no additional comment. Until his own term expired at the end of January, Wondolowski served
as Vice Chair on the Port’s board. The body oversees both the maritime operations in the Cleveland harbor and supports major infrastructure and economic development projects through its financing arm. Wondolowski was appointed to his four-year term by Mayor Frank Jackson in 2018. Wondolowski works by day as the head of the Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council. But he was also a provocative surrogate for former City Council President Kevin Kelley during the 2021 mayoral campaign. He was in fact responsible for some of the most hostile rhetoric in the leadup to the general election, calling on voters at a Kelley campaign rally to “kick the shit out of” Bibb on election day. Shortly after he won in November, Bibb made it clear that he wouldn’t ask Wondolowski to serve another term at the Port, a decision Wondolowski understood as a natural byproduct of his opposing political allegiances. Bibb appointed Dan O’Malley, Executive Secretary of the AFL-CIO, to replace Wondolowski, keeping a labor representative on the board. O’Malley even resigned his city council presidency in Lakewood in order to accept the post, to avoid a conflict of interest. Budish’s appointment of Wondolowski, mere weeks after Bibb showed him the door, has already been interpreted by some watchers as a slap in the face to the young mayor. This is not, however, the first time Budish has used a board appointment as a political weapon. Just last year, after Chris Ronayne announced that he would run for Cuyahoga County Executive, Budish removed him from the Port Board and replaced him with local businessman Andrew Jackson. -Sam Allard
Public Square Bollard Project to Replace Jersey Barriers Now Estimated at $3.5 Million The all-in budget for a project to replace the “temporary” concrete Jersey barriers on Public Square with a system of removable bollards is now $3.5 million. According to the project managers at the Group Plan Commission, the nonprofit that manages Public Square, the scope of work will also include repairing street damage on Superior Avenue sustained through five years of concentrated bus traffic. The new all-in figure, disclosed last week at a meeting of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) board of trustees, is $500,000 higher than the $3 million budget referenced in legislation currently under consideration by Cleveland City Council. If passed, that legislation would authorize the city to spend $1.5 million on the project and modify an existing contract with the Group Plan Commission to conduct the work. Representatives from the Group Plan Commission outlined the project scope and provided additional details at the board meeting. They said that RTA will be asked to
contribute $500,000 toward the project’s funding goal. “With the city’s contribution, that would get us to $2 million,” said Sanaa Julien, CEO of the Group Plan Commission. “And we are actively fundraising with proposals in market for the balance.” Julien said that the project budget takes into account a number of “nuances,” not least the so-called “Covid premium” affecting the global supply chain. Julien said, nevertheless, that she expected the project to ultimately cost less than $3.5 million, and that the Group Plan Commission would use whatever remained for ongoing bollard maintenance and repairs, as well as other Public Square operational costs. RTA’s Deputy General Manager for Engineering, Mike Schipper, provided commentary on the project as well. He could hardly contain his disdain for the so-called “temporary measures” that have been in place on the Square since 2017, mandated by former Mayor Frank Jackson to assuage his debunked concerns about terrorism. RTA has been working behind the scenes to come up with permanent solutions, Schipper said, because the jersey barriers have been an ongoing irritant for bus operations. They’ve April 6-19, 2022 | clevescene.com |
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