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Ward 14Submitted by Rebecca Kempton on Wed, 09/11/2013 - 22:48.
OPEN LETTER TO THE EDITOR Nelson Cintron's response to Jose Feliciano. Open Letter to the Editor: Ward 14 is now home to an International Constituency. The New Ward 14 is a diverse, multicultural community comprised of many ethnicities other than just Hispanics. In my opinion, Ward 14 is not solely an “Hispanic Ward” any longer in consideration of the fact that the Cleveland City Council used old data from the 2010 Census to draw the maps without consideration for the true demographic transformation which has occurred over the last few years in Ward 14. While walking throughout the New Ward 14 boundaries during the campaign; I met a diverse community at large. Neighborhoods that were once highly concentrated Hispanic areas are now occupied by many other ethnic groups; including a growing number of new African American families. The housing stock is now also comprised of enumerable abandoned homes or vacant lots which once were homes to Hispanics. Many of the Hispanic residents have moved out of the City or out of the State. While I am glad to have met so many beautiful new residents in Ward 14; I must be realistic using the “Hispanic Ward” as a guiding post. All residents from all backgrounds deserve equal representation. We must acknowledge this respectfully as we progress forward. Ultimately; I am proud that I have met so many beautiful residents who have supported me from different cultures. No matter what background our residents come from; they all seek a quality of life to provide for their families. Parents of children want a good school system; safety; and a sense of security. Citizen complaints require responses to all persons. The inflated costs of living in Cleveland including higher property taxes and utilities with less quality infrastructure services continues to be a determining factor in people choosing to leave our area. If the Hispanic Leadership wants to have an “Hispanic Ward” at large; then perhaps they should sell their homes in the suburbs and return to our community and lead by example to rebuild our city. I challenge the leaders who believe in our Ward 14 residents to commit themselves to improving the lives of all of our residents; not just the select few. Nelson Cintron, Jr.
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Polarizing Politics remain in Ward 14
Always Appreciative, "ANGELnWard14"
Comments from PD about Ward14...
no one disputes or even brought up your other points. garcia is only looking for legitimate votes not yet counted. just like any politician would.
they should ignored him? then they would really not be doing their job.
As Mr. Cintron points out in his letter attached to the article about Mr. Feliciano - old data was used. There are many streets with large Hispanic populations that were cut out of the original map. Mr. Feliciano does NOT represent the Hispanic population or any of the residents of Ward 14. As for Ms. Garcia - any candidate who has felony charges pending now, a drug related criminal background, issues keeping her own business afloat (is being evicted from her business office for not paying her rent) AND lives way too far away from Ward 14 - would have stepped down long ago.
1) "ludicrous gerrymandering" is not unique to ward 14. not even as bad as your words suggest. ludicrous is wards 6, 10 and 12. could be done better fits wards 3 and 14. each redistricting brings this complaint. there is no way to redistrict the whole city and to keep all the small neighborhoods whole.http://www.clevelandcitycouncil.org/media/document...
2) "Hispanic Roundtable. 'Major organization' - debatable." why? the board of the organization does represent many of the prominent hispanics of the town. people i know who are involved and actually work on community issues. if feliciano was the founder of the organization that is a feather in his cap. for a list of the board members see:http://www.convencionhispana.org/#!about/aboutPage
3) "there was no problems with the Cleveland ward redistricting until he interfered." the lack of attention to problems does not mean that there are no problems. perhaps i should read your sentence as 'i didn't think there were problems, but he did, and i feel i lost out.'
4) "To insist on singling out one nationality...." after the number of african-americans in cleveland (about 51%), european-americans (about 35% total, including all the english, irish, germans, italians, different eastern europeans), then come the hispanics (about 37,000: 9.6% of cleveland). generally to have that many people in a population and not to have any representation in their government is not good for the whole. everyone else had and is having their chance at power. it is to be expected that those in the hispanic community would want to maximize their opportunity.
5) he does not live in the community. so? to be an effective voice of a community one does not have to live there. he is not an elective official. yes, you and i will live with the results. again, i doubt that they will be anywhere as awful as you suggest.
6) as the ward stands the hispanic vote is still a minority, a large minority, but still a minority. if they do not stand together then they have no chance. even if they do get together they still have to get at least 8% of the votes from other groups. that has the making of interesting politics and is not unfair to anyone.
7) as to ms garcia, her fate is in the hands of the voters and i need express no opinion one way or the other. as to mr cintron, he has been removed from contention as most knew would happen. his supporters have dwindled and now he is but a spoiler to other candidates.
Wow..........speechless.....................THESE ARE THE EXACT DIVISIVE PRACTICES KEEP CLEVELAND THRIVING OFF THE QUOTAS OF A DIVIDED POPULACE.................no love, no unification, no equality, no protection under the constitution for all...........just divide and conquer.................completely surreal.
One thing is for sure................the parents of young Hispanic Children should be taught about their US Constitution, Education, and Political Leadership so that they can aspire to return to this community and truly lead with dignity and respect to honor their culture while representing EVERYONE-not just their heritage and the same should go for all the other citizens of this ward and all wards. But; CLEVELAND LEADERSHIP THRIVES OFF THE IGNORANT DROP OUTS WHO NEED LABOR JOBS, WELFARE, AND SOCIAL SERVICES FOR LONG TERM PERIODS....it's all about their JOB SECURITY..You wouldn't want to actually EDUCATE THESE POPULATIONS THAT THEY HAVE CIVIL RIGHTS; now would you? Then you'd have a real revolt of people uniting to step against the devastating ways the historical leadership has gainfully abused the public at large? ..............and it's not only about the HISPANIC COMMUNITY...........once again..........engage the community at large; not just this voting block/census.
Given that choice, I would have stayed home too.
We are already seeing the PD's usual inept attempts to intervene in elections. What about Councilman Cummins, who actually won the election?
Maybe the hispanic community was underwhelmed by the choice between an drug felon and a Little Leila sould ask Jose Feliciano if he voted in this race. I'll bet not! Please also report the percentage of registered hispanic voters who bothered to vote. That would be an interesting part of this non-story.
thus the constitutional concept of one person, one vote is not recognized in ohio.
and if his challenger does show signs of overtaking him i am sure that an anonymous letter will be issued by some unknown person to muddy the water and smear that opponent. seems always to happen here.
As I recall.......part of Santiago's favor in being elected had NOTHING to do with him being Hispanic and EVERYTHING to do with being the first openly "Gay" elected council representative. Perhaps that is direct; but it was another divisive issue that went on then which is a huge current issue over by West 93rd and Detroit with that Cocktails bar which received a letter from the City after that guy got beat up which is being alleged as a hate crime. It's all so sad...............Ward 14 has been used; abused; demographically raped by the political regime under whatever quota driven methodology was available to them.............to benefit the CDC's etc for generations............
Why is it one of the "poorest in the city" wards? Because our city planning commission in collusion with our city council designed it that way and then every time a part of our ward became affluent or improved; they cut out that part of our ward to look good in another ward...just look at the WEST SIDE MARKET and all that development there................markedly afforded by our Ward 14 CDBG Funds; but who would give a damn????
The good people at all levels are simply tired and disgusted by the gerrymandering, the unethical practices, the political retaliation for speaking up, and the warzone created by such political games upon our lives. Family oriented development is a joke in this community. Business oriented development is another joke.
I have one big idea............why doesn't the board of elections find a way to filter out the registered voters that don't exist by comparing several things: 1) Death records; 2) Addresses of vacant, abandoned, and demolished properties, and other available resources. ??? Please.................all these numbers are outrageous.
Who cares anymore? Well; a little over a 1000 engaged citizens voted....that says it right there. You all steer out business investors; families; and anyone who refuses to serve your purpose of being a QUOTA!
This Ward and many more in Cleveland would be financially bankrupt without all the poor folks who support the TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS ANNUALLY DRIVEN BY THESE PHILANTHROPIC JERKS/PIGS WHO THRIVE OFF THE BACKS OF THE POOR.....................................................................................The end.
If ANY OF CLEVELAND'S LEADERSHIP used best practices developed nationally and in countless studies to IMPROVE the quality of lives and such----then countless programs would be defunded and those funds would be redirected into progressive actions to invoke a productive populace instead of perpetuating the "WELFARE STATE OF MIND" which sustains this community far more than anyone in the local government will ever acknowledge.
BTW: What about the other voting blocks; Seniors, Felons, Addicts, Mentally Ill, Disabled, Veterans, LGBT's, Immigrants, or how about the real minority in this Ward---white people? Just saying. I mean; we forgot about all those ignorant hillbillies who came up from the mountains of Appalachia to work at all these amazing places like Ford, Chevy, and the industries that have been steered out of Cleveland along with those working class people that came for those jobs.
This is simply another political nightmare in Cleveland that sweeps the real raw truths of diversity under the rug; but trips over it cyclically or uses it to collect federal tax dollars for non productive, inefficient programs to cycle the quotas again and again and again......sad. Destructive practices..........
Always Appreciative, "ANGELnWard14"