Upfront

CONTENTS

APRIL 7-20, 2021 • VOL. 51 NO 32

Upfront .......................................5 Eat ..............................................9 Arts .......................................... 14 Music ........................................ 17 Feature ..................................... 18 Savage Love .............................. 22

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UPFRONT UPFRONT

NEWS

No Redface, Native American Headdresses Allowed at Progressive Field This Year

THE CLEVELAND BASEBALL

team announced last week that fans will not be permitted to wear Native American-style headdresses or red face paint inside Progressive Field any longer.

Coming in the middle of the franchise’s rebranding process, the move dovetails with the team’s efforts to distance itself from the racism and hurtful imagery associated with the Indians’ moniker and the Chief Wahoo logo.

Owner Paul Dolan has said no decision has been made on the team’s new name but he will know by the middle of this year if it will be in place by the 2022 season.

“As we take the necessary time to determine a new name and brand, the team will continue using the Indians name and branding,” Dolan said in December 2020. “We will also continue to listen, learn, and partner with local civic leaders, including those in the Native American community, to deepen our support of under-represented groups and make a meaningful, positive impact in our community.”

Native American groups and their allies have been protesting the Indians name and the Wahoo mascot for decades, partly because they permitted and even encouraged fans to dress in insensitive fashion dehumanizing to Native Americans. As detailed extensively elsewhere and in Scene, red face is no different than black face, and the team’s acceptance of such behavior was roundly insulting.

This year, it’s finally turned the page.

-Vince Grzegorek

Major Presumed Candidates Still Dawdling in Cleveland Mayor’s Race

We’ve got only ten weeks before the filing deadline in the 2021 Cleveland mayoral race, and major presumed candidates still have not officially launched their campaigns. Time, one would think, is of the essence.

Cleveland City Council President Kevin Kelley concluded a wardby-ward listening tour late last month — a tour for which he received largely negative reviews — but said that he would not make up his mind regarding his mayoral run until he’d heard from residents across the city. He has not yet announced.

Former mayor and congressman Dennis Kucinich has been content to send out holiday mailers and keep his name in the news with occasional statements sent to the media regarding hotbutton topics du jour. He has not yet announced.

State Senator Sandra Williams, who has openly considered running for the office, has been relatively quiet, but sources say she could be launching in the coming weeks. She has not yet announced.

Ward 7 Councilman Basheer Jones has pulled petitions at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections but has not yet formally announced his candidacy. In a fundraising email viewed by Scene last week, Jones told supporters that he was “seriously considering” running for Mayor, something he’s been doing for months.

UPFRONT

“I love the city of Cleveland. It’s the City that gave my family shelter. It’s the City that raised me. It’s the City that taught me invaluable lessons as a young man. And it’s a City that I came back to with the hopes of making it a city for everyone,” he wrote. “Cleveland is at a major crossroads at the moment. The current leadership has become too comfortable with the status quo all while many communities continue to be left behind.”

Frank Jackson is meanwhile trying to douse the flames of speculation after Norm Edwards, the stentorian leader of Cleveland’s Black Contractors Group, sent an email to supporters Thursday endorsing Jackson for Mayor and saying that Jackson informed him he planned to run again.

Jackson told cleveland.com that Edwards has misinterpreted statements he’d made over the phone and that he’d “tell the people first” when he ultimately decided one way or the other. Unlike in elections past, Jackson has not been fundraising, and the recent departure of top aides suggested to many that he wouldn’t be seeking an unprecedented fifth term.

Edwards, though, is insistent that Jackson told him he was running. Local veteran journalist Roldo Bartimole wrote in a blog post last week that he believes the Edwards blooper was staged so that Jackson might be able to detect which way the wind was blowing regarding a potential candidacy.

Jackson also made headlines last week by endorsing Nina Turner in the 11th District congressional race, putting him at odds with County Executive Armond Budish and other local leaders who have thrown their support behind Shontel Brown, the Cuyahoga County Councilwoman and Chair of the Cuyahoga County Dems.

“[Nina Turner] is battle tested and uniquely qualified to represent us in Washington — not just in her experience but in her commitment to the people,” Jackson said in a statement provided to the media. “I know Nina and have worked and served with her on many complex issues that positively impacted Cleveland residents, including greater educational and training opportunities for our children, new business development and safe housing for seniors.”

A statement from Turner’s press office announcing the endorsement said that Jackson’s “fingerprints on the economic vitality and future of Cleveland will be present for generations to come.”

Young executive Justin Bibb and former councilman and mayoral candidate Zack Reed have both launched campaigns and are actively gathering signatures at locations across town.

-Sam Allard

Long Shot Republican Throws Hat in the Cleveland Mayoral Ring

While several of the major presumed candidates for Cleveland mayor continue to dawdle, long shot Republican Landry Simmons Jr. is actively campaigning.

The West Park resident told Scene that he formally launched his campaign in March, has pulled petitions at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections and has been gathering signatures the best he can, though he admitted it was slow going due to safety precautions and resident timidity due to Covid-19. (He said he had no doubt, though, that he’d manage to get the required 3,000 signatures by the June 16 filing deadline.)

Simmons, 52, is a 30-year veteran of local law enforcement and a current elected committee member of the Cuyahoga County GOP. He said he’s running for Mayor because the state of Cleveland and its leadership is “unacceptable.”

“The crime in this city has gotten worse than I ever remember it,” he told Scene in a phone interview Thursday. “Things have gotten out of control, and I think I can make quick and effective change.”

Some of Simmons’ proposed responses to what he characterized as an unprecedented crime wave sounded simple enough — increased accountability for officers, an emphasis on continuing education at all levels of public safety — but he also espoused more drastic measures.

“If I’m elected,” he said, “I’m getting rid of the Consent Decree. It’s done nothing but set the city back.”

Simmons had contempt for more than just the settlement agreement with the Department of Justice. He said he also wouldn’t think twice about altering the police’s pursuit policy — “It’s a no pursuit policy, and it’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen,” he said — and would strive to achieve a level of professionalism akin to the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department, which he said had much better policies and procedures in place. (Simmons works for the Sheriff’s Department.) He also rejected the idea of reallocating funds from public safety to other areas of the city budget.

“I’m against that 100 percent,” he said. “Law enforcement is expensive, and funds need to be allocated properly.”

On other topics, Simmons said he was interested in revitalizing Cleveland as a tourist destination and in attracting new businesses to Cleveland via tax abatements and other subsidies. He said that his three biggest post-pandemic priorities were ensuring the vaccination and safety of the city’s most vulnerable, especially the elderly; investing in small businesses to jump start the local economy; and prioritizing schools to ensure that students return safely, effectively and full-time.

Simmons balked at the idea that his Republican party affiliation should be treated any differently than other candidates running for office in Cleveland.

“I tell all people this,” he said. “It’s not about what party you belong to. It’s about doing right by the City of Cleveland. We’ve got to clean up this city. We’ve got to battle this crime. We’ve got to bring back jobs and bring up the schools. Those issues have nothing to do with your party.”

Like other candidates, Simmons said the status quo simply has to change. But also like other candidates, he harbored no ill will toward incumbent Frank Jackson.

“I know Frank. I know the Jacksons,” he said. “His brother Anthony was my boss at CMHA. Frank’s a nice guy. I tell people, you can’t get mad at Frank Jackson. Frank did nothing, sure, but he promised nothing, so how can you get mad?”

-Sam Allard

Let’s Remember How We Freaked Out about Blockchain Before We Freak out About Quantum Computing

this week that will make quantum computing, and the theoretical research therefrom, a key component of the new Global Center for Pathogen Research & Human Health, itself a cornerstone of the new state-funded Innovation District that pairs regional universities and hospitals with an eye toward R&D and job creation.

Quantum computing can get pretty esoteric in a hurry, so we won’t bother trying to hash it out beyond the basic premise, which is that there are some problems too complex for even the world’s biggest and most sophisticated supercomputers. Quantum computers deal with the sorts of problems for which there’s an almost incalculable amount of data, and in theory can crunch all that data in a hurry.

“Universal quantum computers” — this is from IBM — “leverage the quantum mechanical phenomena of superposition and entanglement to create states that scale exponentially with number of qubits, or quantum bits.”

Evidently, issues surrounding the world’s pathogens, including the ominous horizon of viral global pandemics, are ripe for investigation via this sort of big data computing. The so-called “Discovery Accelerator” program between the Clinic and IBM aims to do just that. The whole point, via press materials released last week, is to accelerate the pace of discovery in medical research.

As part of this partnership, IBM announced that it will install its first U.S.-based private sector “Quantum System One” on Cleveland Clinic’s campus in Cleveland. In a press release, IBM said it also planned to install “the first of IBM’s next-generation 1,000+ qubit quantum systems at a client facility,” also in Cleveland, in the coming years.

Much of quantum computing remains entirely theoretical, and the costs associated with the construction and maintenance of these high-tech machines remain under wraps, but if successful, these IBM machines will facilitate ongoing research in healthcare, and are being touted as key ingredients for medical and pharmaceutical breakthroughs. Like dozens of other fashionable partnerships and local real estate development projects in recent years, this, too, is being celebrated as an opportunity to put Cleveland on the map.

The partnership comes, however, after both Cleveland