(thoughtful music) - The Cuyahoga County Jail saga has taken another turn.

Voters will decide Issue 1 on Tuesday and this weekend offers the final early in-person voting hours.

And Cleveland seeks input as it reimagines its lakefront.

Ideas is next.

(exciting music) Hello and welcome to Ideas.

I'm Mike McIntyre.

Thanks for joining us.

More drama this week over Cuyahoga County's efforts to select a site for a jail complex.

County Council said no for now to the plan to buy a Garfield Heights site proposed by County Executive Chris Ronayne and said the idea of extending a quarter percent sales tax to pay for it needs to get public approval at the polls first.

The final days of early voting are here for state Issue 1.

On Tuesday, voters will decide whether to make it harder to amend the state constitution.

Cleveland is seeking input as it puts together a plan to reimagine the lakefront, connecting it to downtown with a land bridge over the shoreway and railroad tracks and possibly including a football stadium.

Cuyahoga County Council though is skeptical about partnering with the city to form a non-profit to lead the development.

And should you be required to dress up to eat at an upscale restaurant or should you be able to eat your tuna tartar in a T-shirt?

Ken Stewart's Grill in Akron ignited a big social media tiff over the issue this week.

Joining me on the round table from Ideastream Public Media, Reporters Abbey Marshall and Zaria Johnson.

And in Columbus, State House News Bureau Chief, Karen Kasler.

Let's get ready to round table.

The Cuyahoga County Jail saga isn't close to its final chapter.

County council this week voted against executive Chris Ronayne's plan to purchase land in Garfield Heights for a jail campus and said his plan to pay for it with a sales tax extension won't fly unless it's voted on by the public.

That doesn't mean the Garfield Heights land is off the table, but wrangling continues over a project that has dragged on for years while the current jail remains inadequate, ruled inhumane in a US Marshal's report five years ago.

The majority of council members still appear to favor the Garfield Heights site, Abbey, but there were some particulars about the purchase that divided them, quivels over acreage and price.

- Right, yeah so like you said, a majority, so seven of 11 members supported this Garfield Heights site, which is Ronayne's preferred site.

It allows for 72 acres, which makes way for this campus style idea he has.

It's not just a jail, it would have additional resources, programming, mental health support, that kind of thing to really rehabilitate people before they reenter.

And he says nothing really in the city can match that kind of land.

- [Mike] Right.

- And this proposed purchase price is $39 million.

Unlike some of these other sites, he says it'll be actually easier to acquire because it's just one seller as opposed to kind of a piecemeal approach of buying from a bunch of different people.

In addition, it's also cleaner.

Some of these other sites have some environmental concerns which would require the additional remediation.

So all that considered, Ronayne says it's the best spot, but not all the council members are sold yet.

- And in fact, even those who supported the site voted no in a vote this past week.

So like I said, it's not over, but there's still a lot of wrangling to do about how it's done.

Also, there are some members still that prefer a site on the city's east side, Eddie Road and Kirby Avenue, and they give a reason for that.

And that is most of the people in the jail are people that live in those neighborhoods.

- Right, exactly.

So it makes sense to locate a jail where it's accessible to not only the the inmates or closer to the court, but also for families.

And a lot of these families do rely on public transit.

So getting out to Garfield Heights may be a little bit trickier, which is the idea for some of these council members.

Why not locate a jail where the population will be using it most?

- And one of the why not's is 'cause that would need more remediation.

It'd be more expensive.

- Exactly.

- We were talking about how to pay for it and there was unanimity in the council on the request for a sales tax extension.

Well, not unanimity, most vote council members.

I think 10 of the 11 said they want a vote of the people in order for there to be a sales tax extension.

That's exactly what Chris Ronayne proposed on the campaign trail, isn't it?

- It is.

Ronayne has supported that sales tax extension since the campaign trail and did say that he wanted a vote for it and that the people should be able to decide.

But now his interim chief of staff seems to say that this needs to happen now.

It's not fair for taxpayers to continue funding this defunct facility and in the meantime people are really suffering in this jail.

So funding in a new site need to happen ASAP in their mind.

- And Councilwoman, Council Member, Sunny Simon, said that she wanted to make sure that the payment was ready in full before the land was purchased.

That's one of the reasons why Jack Schron, a Council Member, voted no even though he said he wants that site, he said that's a poison pill.

So we've got all kinds of questions about how this funding will happen and when.

- Right.

And that kind of makes sense, right?

$39 million isn't chump change and that's just for the purchase of this land.

The actual project itself will cost $750 million or more as we continue to draw this out.

Costs, inflation go up, that sort of thing.

And the money does need to come from somewhere.

- Garfield Heights residents are meeting later this month to discuss this issue.

The mayor there and the officials are all in favor.

But County Council President Pernel Jones, who represents Garfield Heights, says he wants to hear from the constituents first.

So he's been accused of flip-flopping because he was for the site, voted against it.

He says it's 'cause he needs more public input.

- Sure.

And again, that makes sense for a representative.

They wanna make sure that they are representing their constituents.

So this is something that has the potential to affect residents nearby, wants to hear from them.

That makes sense.

And we're hearing from a lot of public commenters, not necessarily from Garfield Heights, but they are coming out in droves to these meetings to oppose this jail.

They're saying that they do want better conditions for the people inside, but at the same time they wanna actually see a reduction in jail beds and use that money to services for residents awaiting trial.

Because most of this jail's population are people that are waiting for trials.

So they want to see that money go toward assisting them.

- You mentioned it making sense, but Martin Sweeney, the Council Member, didn't think it made a whole lot of sense.

He accused Pernel Jones of flip flopping, said it's the first time he's seen anything like this in governance, which I find hard to believe, but essentially calling for him to step down as a result of this.

- Right.

- I think we've got a little bit of political intrigue and some infighting on that council.

- Sure.

Yeah and Jones says he has no intention to step down.

When I say it makes sense, I mean from a political aspect.

You wanna hear from your constituents as a politician.

(exciting music) - We are in the final days of early voting, before Tuesday's special election that will decide state Issue 1, which will make it harder for citizens to amend the state constitution.

Tomorrow and Sunday are the only in-person voting weekend hours available.

Vote at your County Board of Elections between 8:00 AM and 4:00 PM on Saturday, 1:00 and 5:00 PM are the hours on Sunday.

There's no early in-person voting on Monday as there's been in previous elections.

That was one of the changes made in the elections overhaul bill signed into law this year.

Early voters who are using mail-in applications must have their ballots postmarked by August 7th.

And polls on election day this Tuesday, August 8th, will be open from 6:30 AM to 7:30 PM.

A lot of them have changed, make sure you check.

Karen, let's talk about turnout for early voting.

It's been above what we saw at the same point for the two primaries held in 2022.

Still too early to know if that means people voted early and then would've voted on election day.

Or if it means we're gonna have a ton on election day plus the early voting so we're gonna have a massive turnout compared to other certainly August elections.

- Yeah, and especially since you've got both political parties encouraging early voting, which is interesting.

It's a departure for the Republican party because you might remember former President Trump, other Republicans have said that they don't like early voting.

That early voting is problematic.

But yet this time the Republican Party even has a slogan that says it's okay to vote that way.

So they're really encouraging people to go out and early vote.

Democrats have typically, we can see used early voting in the past and so on election night, we're expecting the results to really come in at first to be very strongly against Issue 1.

But what will be interesting to watch is not only the lines on election day, but also what those final results do end up being and where it goes through the course of the evening.

But I have to just say, it's so extraordinary to see lines outside the early voting center for an August special election that wasn't even on the calendar until May because there was that state law that banned most August special elections last year.

So this is just really an extraordinary turnout, whatever it turns out to be.

Even if it's only 30%, that's a lot.

It's a lot more than last year, it was like 9%.

- And it's not necessarily true that early voting means a particular party.

You would think early voting - Right.

- in the past, as you mentioned, was a democratic party thing that would then say early voting is mostly no people to state Issue 1.

Maybe it's a little bit more equal, but there's also geography at play.

And cleveland.com suggests that whereas urban and suburban areas led the early voting, rural areas appear to be catching up.

And the question is, does geography factor in here given the wide support and opposition?

You would think the urban and suburban areas might be more in line with the no vote and perhaps some of those rural areas would be more in line with the yes vote.

- Well geography always makes an impact here.

And I mean when you look at the Ohio's map, I mean to win as a Democrat, you only have to win seven, eight, nine urban counties.

And even if the rest of the state is bright red, if you win those counties, potentially you can win overall.

But like you said, this is not a Democrat versus Republican thing in many cases.

The coalition that has formed against Issue 1 includes a lot of democratic groups.

I mean, the Ohio Democratic Party, a lot of labor union groups, but also some prominent Republicans.

Last night I was at an event with Former Auditor and Attorney General Betty Montgomery, a very prominent Republican office holder once back in the day.

Also there, Former Democratic Governor, Ted Strickland.

You have Democrats, even some conservative groups like the Ohio round table, which is based out of Strongsville where they're very strongly pro-life because of course this is really connected to that abortion issue coming up in November.

But they've said Rob Walgate, their Vice President has said this is about more than just abortion.

This is about changing the constitution.

And if you're gonna do that, you should do it with careful thought and an election when a lot of people are gonna turn out to vote because this is permanent potentially.

I mean, yeah, there's another constitutional amendment that could come along and overturn it, but that's really difficult to make happen.

- You mentioned those groups that are opposed and how they're bipartisan.

Pretty vigorous group that's for Issue 1 as well.

- Oh sure.

And the anti-Issue 1 folks have been at this for quite a while because they mobilized very early on as the whole thing that became Issue 1 came through the state legislature.

So we've seen a lot of activity from them.

They were the first out of the gate with the ads on TV.

But now the pro Issue 1 site is really catching up.

The ad blitz for this August special election is $21 million, which is really extraordinary.

Half of that is just in this week leading up to the election and it's really coming very close now with the pro Issue 1 and the anti-Issue 1 sides airing a lot of TV and radio ads and that $21 million only counts TV and radio.

It doesn't count flyers and phone calls and all the other things that they're also doing.

- Karen, let's get some basics out here.

We've talked about the new election law signed into law this year was in effect earlier this year.

Now a lot of people are gonna be focusing in on that, but what do people need to vote in person?

You can do, as we mentioned, early in person tomorrow and Sunday, but not Monday.

So if you're not available this weekend, you're gonna go vote at the polls, what's different?

- Well, you do have to bring a photo ID and what counts for that according, and this is the second election that we've had this because this was also in place in May, a driver's license, a state of Ohio ID card, an interim ID form issued by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, a US passport, a US passport card, a US military ID card, an Ohio National Guard ID card, or a US Department of Veterans ID card.

So there's seven, there's several different types of photo ID.

But you have to bring a photo ID with you.

You can't bring a utility bill or some of the other things that you used to be able to bring.

Most people do show up with photo ID, but still some people might not.

And this is important to remember that if you're gonna vote in person, you need to do that.

- And this is kind of basic, but I've run across some people in the last week that weren't really aware of this.

You also have to be registered to vote.

- Oh, absolutely.

That's not new.

That's been a requirement for a long time.

And you can check with the state to see if your registration is still active.

We have passed the voter registration deadline.

And also one of the other things that you need to know with photo ID is it has to be current.

You can't bring an expired driver's license with your photo on it and that work.

So you really have to make sure that you've got all that together.

And again, most people do show up like this, but there are gonna be potentially fewer poll workers.

You mentioned a little while ago that there are different sites now because they're having to spread out poll workers over different sites in many counties.

And so there could potentially be lines on election day because of fewer poll workers and more turnout that was expected and that they have to check these photo IDs.

- Yeah, and some of those sites are different too because it's at a school and they're having the gym floor redone because it's summer.

- Right.

- So a lot of reasons why those places are being moved.

Let's talk about Secretary of State Frank LaRose.

He's one of the main voices in support of Issue 1.

He's been on the campaign trail.

He was in the city club debate.

He's also the person that's charged with running the election and the Libertarian party has filed a Hatch Act Violation complaint against him.

Tell me a little bit about that.

- Well, the Hatch Act is the federal law that basically governs what elected public officials can do when it comes to elections.

And I think, as I recall, I mean there's been several instances where former President Trump and his staff were accused of violating the Hatch Act.

But this one is really interesting that the Libertarian party of Ohio, which is against Issue 1 and that just kind of speaks to the breadth of the coalition that's against Issue 1, where you've got the Libertarians, you've got some Republicans, you've got a lot of Democrats, you've got a big, big group and the Libertarians are among that group.

They say that because the Secretary of State's Office administers federal dollars for elections, that Frank LaRose cannot be doing what he's doing in terms of promoting Issue 1.

And even calling on his opponents in the US Senate race to donate $1,000,000 each to fight against the anti-Issue 1 folks.

And so I'm interested to see what happens with this.

(exciting music) - Work continues on Cleveland's plan to reimagine the lakefront.

The city is still seeking input.

Cuyahoga County Council though is dubious about joining the city to create a private nonprofit lakefront development entity.

The county administration is all for it.

Abbey, Chris Ronayne's administration strongly favors the legislation.

- Yeah, I mean, Lake Erie's shoreline doesn't start and end in Cleveland.

It goes all throughout the county.

And like Ronayne and many council members said, the health of the county is largely dependent on Cleveland's economy and wellbeing as it is the largest city here.

So he's saying that this is a way to help steer Cleveland's economic and environmental recreational future, which in turn would benefit the county.

They think it's about being good partners with the city to do that.

But council members see it differently.

- And the council members also, Zaria, were concerned that the authority that would be created would be used as a way to fund massive renovations or a rebuild of Brown Stadium.

So the plans that you reported about this week don't necessarily say there will be a stadium there.

There's kind of a little placeholder, like maybe stadium, maybe something else.

- Yeah, there's like you said, a placeholder there right now.

And it's pretty cool that if there were a stadium there, there'll be a connection from the stadium to the Land Bridge, connecting that to the amenities at the shoreline and back to downtown.

But the plan right now doesn't include any new stadium build or stadium renovation.

So it's a little bit of a separate idea.

- Tell me a little bit more about the plan.

'Cause this has been talked about for a long time.

The problem is if you try to get to the lakefront in downtown Cleveland, your play Frogger.

You gotta run - Yeah.

- across the street.

Everyone's trying to get on the shoreway.

You can't cross the shoreway.

So there are only a couple of points, 9th Street and 3rd Street in order to get across.

What this would do would be where the malls are in downtown - Yep.

- would be a launching point where you can just take a stroll and be at the lakefront?

- Yeah, that's exactly it.

And looking at the design so far, it actually looks pretty cool.

So it'll be a land bridge over the shoreway, a curved land bridge.

So you can walk, like you said, from Mall C directly to the shoreline and they're gonna have all these really cool amenities at the shoreline.

They're thinking about how the space can be used year round, not just in the summer.

So you're gonna have spaces for swimming, spaces for bonfires, spaces for recreational activities that could happen in the summer, fall, and winter.

So they're really trying to find ways to make sure that the space is used by residents and tourists all year.

- It also would connect not just if Brown Stadium is a part of this, not just the stadium, but the other big attractions there.

- Yeah.

- The Science Center and the Rock Hall.

- Yeah, and it's pretty cool to think about.

I mean, working downtown, it'd be nice to be able to take a stroll on down and see some of those amenities that I haven't really been to outside of stories when I don't think I've been to the Great Lake Science Center since I was a kid until I had to cover a couple things there.

But they're really thinking about better connecting downtown Cleveland with our staples that attract residents and tourists.

(exciting music) - Cleveland's rising rate of violence and city leaders plans to address it were the focus of a Cleveland City Council Safety Committee hearing this week where Chairperson Mike Polensek said he and other members have received a number of complaints from residents afraid because of increasing violence.

The city is also facing a shortfall of nearly 200 police officers and it plans to hold a summit on August 23rd to address issues of recruiting and retaining police officers and to talk about the violence problem.

Abbey, members of Mayor Justin Bibb's administration push back on criticism that the city isn't doing enough.

They point to a multifaceted approach that it's using.

- Yeah, they just ruled out this RISE initiative, which stands for raising investment in safety for everyone.

It's basically this holistic approach that includes technology solutions like expanding the city's shot spotter, which again can detect gunshots where they've been heard, point that to alert police, an expanded camera system where people can sign up to share camera footage that they have in the event of a crime, as well as some marketing to try to get some more police officers, regional collaboration.

They're saying it's not fair for some council members like Polensek to say that they're not doing enough or nothing at all, saying that they are acknowledging this problem.

And Mike, this is a huge problem.

Just yesterday, Stephanie Checkolinsky and I went out and talked to people on the sites of where recurring violence and incidents are happening and people are rattled.

But even more alarming, they're kind of resigned to this is the new normal, to the point of where if they have children, they're just planning to leave if they have the money to do so.

And it's just a really sad thing to see.

- Yeah, it just seems, there's always been violence.

It just seems this summer so much more, I guess all violence is senseless, but I'll use the word senseless.

People just driving by and shooting random folks, those kinds of things.

- Right.

- It just, it seems like that's building up and that affects the psyche of an entire city, but particularly the neighborhood that's suffering it.

- Yeah, absolutely.

And there are a lot of those pockets in Cleveland and people are just, again, just feeling like giving up.

We don't know what to do.

And that's really hard for those residents.

And then it's hard to tackle in City Hall where again, they can't address these issues of who can have a gun, who can't have a gun.

That's up to the state.

So there's only so much the city can do, but some council members again are saying it's not enough.

- And also Zaria, you need police officers to respond to these situations.

The city is trying to recruit.

It has a shortfall of nearly 200.

The last few cadet classes have produced basically three dozen.

They say they're not gonna come anywhere close to getting the number there.

The numbers are a problem.

- Yeah, and I mean, recruitment would be a good idea.

It does raise the question of where they might be thinking about recruiting from.

And I'm wondering if with this violence happening in these neighborhoods, if that'll maybe motivate more people to sign up and get involved or if it might deter them.

Maybe they don't wanna get any closer to danger than they already are.

- Right.

- Right.

Not an easy job.

- No, I mean, and that's what a lot of people, when I was out talking to them yesterday were saying that they only see police officers in their neighborhood when something bad happens.

And a lot of them aren't from the communities too, which makes it difficult for people to feel like they have a relationship with this police.

A lot of people did tell us yesterday that they would like to see more patrolling happening in their neighborhood aside from just responding to gun violence.

But some people say that they don't want an increased police presence because it can be harmful for these communities, which are majority black.

So they offer some other ideas on how to decrease violence.

But it's a tricky matter of balancing that.

- Karen, the state has directed highway patrol troopers to do more to help the city beyond traffic enforcement, but somewhat help specifically from Columbus, as Abbey just mentioned, to address gun violence and to allow cities to pass their own laws to address these types of issues.

- Right.

And there is a battle between cities and the states over local gun laws.

There was a lawsuit filed in Delaware and Fairfield County over laws that are passed at the local level.

And it's interesting to note that these are counties where those laws weren't passed, but the state is challenging those in those particular venues.

The lawsuit in Fairfield County has been dropped, but the one in Delaware County remains because the Delaware County judge gave the state the court order they were wanting to stop the city of Columbus from enforcing its local laws.

So yeah, there's been a lot of push from local communities, cities that want to enact local gun laws, but are prevented from doing so from the state.

And it also is worth mentioning that today is the four year anniversary of the mass shooting in Dayton, where nine people were killed, including the shooter's brother and 17 people were injured.

And right after that shooting happened, Governor Mike DeWine went to Dayton and said he was interested in coming up with some sort of gun reform law.

And people were chanting, "Do something".

And the ideas that he's come up with have really gone absolutely nowhere.

(exciting music) - No shirt, no shoes, no service.

I think we can all agree on that rule.

But what about a basic dress code for an upscale restaurant?

When Ken Stewart's Grill posted one on its Facebook page, it launched a viral battle.

Carly Stewart, the General Manager of the Akron based restaurant said, "Some customers were dressed so poorly or smelled so bad, customers needed to be moved away from them."

But "No, dress codes are discriminatory and possibly racist," said another side of the argument.

Here's the dress code.

It's not black tie.

The restaurant owners say denim and dress shorts are appropriate, ball caps are not.

No one needs to wear a blazer or button down, but they can't wear gym or beach-like attire.

Zaria, it isn't Chipotle.

So is a dress code fair?

- Yeah, dress codes for restaurants obviously aren't a new thing, but it's raising concerns here that it might be alienating certain races, body types or classes.

Obviously it's one thing to clearly identify a formal dress code or maybe a black tie dress code that lays it out for the person dining there.

But when we get into banning specific items like oversized clothing or allowing gym shorts or not allowing gym shorts but allowing jean shorts, that's where it gets kind of confusing for patrons.

Management's gonna be deciding who gets to eat at the restaurant based on the dress code.

So we'll have to see how equitably the dress code's being enforced to see whether or not it's fair.

- And what's interesting about that is that the Ken Stewart himself said, "This has nothing to do with race, it has to do with clothing and appearance."

But when you look at the things that they don't allow, we don't allow beach wear, gym attire including sweatpants, sweatshirts or hoodies, athletic apparel, jerseys, hats, beanies, bandanas, ball caps, oversize or baggy clothing are prohibited.

And I think to myself, I know some friends who dress in oversized, baggy clothing that is more than my entire closet - Yeah.

- in terms of cost.

- [Zaria] Right.

- So the question is, and that's generally it's kind of made popular by hip hop, it's something that certainly has a racial distinction.

That's one of those sticking points it seems.

- Yeah, and obviously this, it's not surprising, it's not unheard of for dress codes to be discriminatory in this way.

We see it like all over the country.

We've seen it in the past, we see it today.

And some of the clothing they've banned, the majority of it is almost all of my wardrobe.

So I don't know if I'd be able to dine at this restaurant either.

But it does raise questions over who they're expecting or hoping to actually eat there.

It's one thing, again, to define business casual or formal attire, but cherry picking what's allowed is going to make some people, and it clearly has made some people feel excluded or unwelcomed.

And when we think about the racial aspect of it, a lot of the clothing people of color wear, some people of color, it does have a tie in to their race or their culture.

And that is not to say that people of color only wear baggy clothing or only dress in a certain way, but we do need to think about the language we're using.

- Yeah, maybe- - And that seems to be the question here.

- Maybe be a lot more specific.

- A lot more specific here.

Yeah, for sure.

(exciting music) - Monday on The Sound of Ideas on WKSU, Abigail Bottar discusses the East Palestine train derailment six months later.

I'm Mike McIntyre.

Thanks so much for watching and stay safe.

(peaceful music)