fabric of Cleveland is obvious and indisputable, and that they would join others in the social justice movement is welcomed given that fact, even if many of their sister organizations entered the conversation only after players used their leverage and star power to stop games. (To the Browns’ credit, the team formed a social justice committee in 2019.) Using their prominence and outsized voice, then, to register voters before the November elections was a natural decision to fulfill the alliance’s mission, and it came with glitz and star power. Custom t-shirts proclaiming “Cleveland Turns Up to Vote” were made in partnership with ILTHY, a PSA featuring Baker Mayfield, Kevin Love, Terry Francona and others was aired to spread the message, the Cavs posted voter registration information and worked with the county to open Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse as a voting location, and mascots were in attendance for the four-hour registration drive in September. “The Cavaliers organization has a long-standing record of supporting voter registration initiatives and promotions,” the team proudly said in a release. The effort, which the alliance tells Scene registered more than 1,000 voters, was laudable. That the Cavs participated with a straight face was laughable. They were, most seemed to not notice or care, advocating for participatory democracy in the House That Didn’t Quite Kill Local Democracy But Did Give It a Gaping Head Wound. The atrium of the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse was built as part of the Q Transformation deal, which Cleveland should never forget was a mortgage on the city’s future to sate its private masters, forged through a series of stunning, craven anti-democratic moves by all involved, including but not limited to: city council’s initial refusal to accept and certify signatures for a ballot referendum on the city’s $88 million portion of the bill; Dan Gilbert’s decision to petulantly and unilaterally pull out of the deal once the signatures were ordered to be certified by the Ohio Supreme Court, thus putting the issue on the ballot; the fear-mongering quotes from Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and others calling the death of the deal a death knell for the arena and a real reason the Cavs could leave town; and the backroom dealings and pressure
that forced the Greater Cleveland Congregations to pull the ballot initiative despite widespread public support garnered by one of the few successful grassroots campaigns in recent memory. So, yeah: A voter registration drive in that building given that history is more than a little ironic. And the irony isn’t beside the point. The irony is the point. If the pro sports team alliance looks around the local democratic landscape they’ll find a longdisenfranchised and/or uninterested electorate. Only 53% of registered Cleveland voters cast a ballot in the November 2020 election, fewer than in any presidential election since 2000. The numbers turn from bad to ghastly in local elections. Only 13% of Clevelanders cast a ballot in the last mayoral election. (Frank Jackson has presided over an abysmal era of voter turnout over his four terms, with 20,000 fewer voters in each election.) Turnout is even lower for city council races in certain wards, where a few dozen votes can swing a race. And no one, least of all Cleveland’s pro sports teams, should be surprised. As Scene’s Sam Allard wrote in the aftermath of the 2020 election: “For Cleveland’s leaders, the electorate is a thing to be marshaled and deployed every four years, at which time they are expected to fill in the bubble for the Democratic candidate. This is what voters mean when they say that they are ‘taken for granted.’ “For voters, it is not only a sense of apathy and despair over presidential politics that keeps them at home. It’s no doubt true that impoverished Clevelanders are so accustomed to their misery that they’re unlikely to be convinced that a vote for one or another candidate will improve the material conditions of their lives. It has not in the past. But it’s also true that they’ve tried to improve their lives, and every time they’ve done so at the local level, they’ve been shut out. “Though they’d deny it up and down, Cleveland City Council has made shutting out voters its preeminent mission. They communicate nothing with as much regularity and strength. Any councilperson bemoaning low voter turnout should recall that they forbid residents from offering public comment at council meetings; that they appoint their own successors, robbing residents of the ability to elect their own representatives; and that they work tirelessly to ensure
that citizen petitions are invalidated or sabotaged.” There’s no arguing with getting out the vote, and to the alliance’s credit, they told Scene, “We will continue our efforts to register fans to vote for the upcoming elections,” which will determine the city’s next mayor, and that Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse will hold multiple registration dates this fall. But if they’re looking for gratitude for handing Cleveland a Band-aid for the head wound they helped cause, they should look elsewhere. And if you’re looking for the alliance’s opinion on HB 294, a proposed Ohio bill that would restrict early and absentee voting, you won’t find one. You can, however, read an op-ed from Browns’ offensive tackle and Players Coalition member Chris Hubbard titled, “Fighting systemic racism now involves protecting our right to vote in Ohio.” “WE’VE MADE A LOT OF progress in less than a year, but it’s important to recognize we’re just in the initial phase and start of this long-term journey,” the alliance told Scene. “Staff members from all three teams have been meeting on a weekly basis as a full group since the beginning. Sub-groups focused on individual pillars of the CL3 Alliance have also been meeting on a regular basis as well.” On the education pillar work, the alliance had this to share. “The Education Taskforce has met with leaders in the education space, including CMSD, East Cleveland City Schools, Breakthrough Schools, Cleveland Foundation, Say Yes to Education – Cleveland and College Now Greater Cleveland,” the alliance said. “These discussions were focused on truly understanding the digital divide and equity in education landscapes in Cleveland and East Cleveland, our initial geographic areas of focus. The Alliance is now considering how the collective group will activate and support those points of focus in Cleveland and East Cleveland.” Cleveland’s digital divide is not new, and it is bad. According to the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, Cleveland is the fourth worst-connected city in the country, and the lack of access, mapped geographically, is concentrated on the east side and basically mirrors historic redlining maps. Nearly 30% of homes in Cleveland are completely unconnected. In Cuyahoga County, 51% of households making $20,000 or less don’t have internet access.
And the digital divide’s acute impact on low-income families was exacerbated during the pandemic as CMSD schools went fully remote for nearly a year in a city where CMSD families had little access to get their kids connected online: Nearly 40% of CMSD households lack internet and nine schools within the district are located in neighborhoods where that number climbs to more than 50%. To temporarily bridge the divide during the pandemic, CMSD spent $14 million on new equipment — partially funded by a $100,000 KeyBank grant and a $151,466 state grant — that included 13,500 WiFi hotspots (with data for one year at a total of $3 million) and 27,000 tablets and computers (that must be returned after graduation). Citywide, the efforts are similarly piecemeal. DigitalC, a nonprofit that brings affordable internet ($18/month) to low-income areas in Cleveland, currently services 1,000 homes in Fairfax, Hough, Central, Glenville, Clark-Fulton and Buckeye-Woodhill. Cobbling together grants and donations, it hopes to increase that number to 3,000 and then 6,000 by the end of the year. It’s doing so with a mix of technologies, including tapping into the citizens broadband radio spectrum. But, as DigitalC’s CEO Dorothy Baunach told Cleveland.com, “There’s no way to do this without fiber in the ground. But to dig up this city and do what we’re planning to do would cost, I don’t know, hundreds of millions of dollars to put fiber in the ground to every house.” Perhaps in the coming year the alliance chips in with a donation that would provide WiFi hotspots or equipment for families or cuts a $1 million check to DigitalC to further its work. (Cleveland Indians Charities last year raised $50,000 to help the Breakthrough charter schools in Cleveland purchase hotspots and Chromebooks for students learning at home.) Every little bit counts in closing the gap, and the more impetus and speed behind solutions, the better. But there’s little mystery here. It’s about money. “It’s how fast can we get our city connected,” Baunach said. “Because every day that a family isn’t connected is a day that their health suffers, their education suffers and their access to economic opportunity suffers.” But relying wholly on private investment won’t solve the problem, and relying wholly on private investment is how we got here in the first place. Samantha Schartman is the | clevescene.com | June 2-8, 2021
11
