4-24-18

South Euclid Democratic Club Meeting

4-24-18

Welcome

Pledge of Allegiance 

Introduction of Candidates and Elected officials

Mayor Welo

Gregory Moore- Precinct Comm person 2D

Madelon Watts- PCP 1C

Laura Smith- PCP 4B

John Barnes- Senate District 12

Marty Gelfand- PCP 4A

Andy Santoli (texted in to Avery and Marty)- Judge of the Court of Common Pleas

Sunny Simon- County Council

No Elections, no quorum. Pushed off to May. Final chance for elections. May go through with elections in May with out quorum.

Youth Committee, Sara has called NDC several times and has gotten no response.

-NDC is now out for the summer

Memorial Day Parade: anyone interested in participating please let us know.

Email was sent out to all members, received very little interest. Will probably not                  happen this year.

Rock the Block: anyone interested in participating please let us know.

Email was sent out to all members, received a fair bit of interest. A schedule of times will be sent to those who returned the email with a positive reply.

Saturday Forum with all four Gov Candidates: Good turn out with standing room only. All four candidates were respectful, talked to the issues, and substantive. 

League of women voters are looking for volunteers for May 8. Post on our Facebook page to volunteer with them. 

Last months minutes are on the website and the comments are open if anyone wishes to respond.

From the Mayor: Grants are available through One South Euclid for block parties. 

JOE SCHIAVONI

Introduction by Zach Cramer (from Shake Heights and has worked with Mr Schiavoni for the past 4 years).  

2016 harde election cycle for Zach but when he was approached by Joe he had to say yes. No politician like Joe. State senator for last 10years from Youngstown. Joe was in the Golden gloves while growing up. Joe is the change we need. Fresh faced and different. 

Mr Schiavoni:

  -Grew up in Youngstown

-Worked in many fields including butcher 

          shop, landscaping, construction, steel 

          fabrication

-Went to OU and Capital

-Represented injured workers as a comp 

          lawyer

-Spent time at the industrial commission

-Not from a political family

-In 2009 Dem caucus was appointing a 

          state senator to replace a vacated seat

-Member of Big Brothers, Big Sisters

-Got through first year by listening, outworking everybody and doing people right

-By having conversations with people and bringing in experts, was able to draft  legislation and then push it

-Takes time and dedication. 

-Focused on education, blight removal, safety, addiction, job creation, neighborhood  redevelopment for Youngstown area

-Proposed legislation to deal with charter schools. Rebranded as HB2, passed. 

-Fought SB5 (collective bargaining): educated himself about collective bargaining,  worked with union attorneys, poked holes in plan and fired up the people to  override the bill.

Currently:

-Working on addiction

-Using rainy day fund to fund local government

-joeforjobs.com

-Cordray tried to get him on his campaign but Joe made promise to the people of  Mahoning valley. Created a lot of excitement and people want change. 

-Whole campaign is social media and print. No $ for commercials

Questions

-Q. Tell us a policy issue that sets you apart from the other Democratic Gov candidates? And what tough decision do you think you may have to sell us on?

-A. The need to raise taxes since taxes have been cut to the bone. Looking for creative ways to pay for universal pre-k, pay for infrastructure rebuilds for clean water and broadband access across the state. Will pay for this by closing the LLC loophole that allows them to not pay state taxes. Would not go after income tax or sales tax. May look to gas tax for roads and infrastructures. 

-He differs in his outlook on student loans. Has focused on a bill that would tie student loans with first home purchase. Every graduate that would sign a contract, buy house and stay in state for 5 years, the state would take on part of the students debt.

-Q. Education and HB70

-A. initially a bill that would invest wrap around services to schools that were struggling. But the bill was highjacked with an amendment that would allow the state to take over the school district over with an academic distress committee after the district has been in distress for a certain number of years. It is a blue print to destroy public education. It would run the schools like a business whose goal is to make money. Service is no longer the goal. Would like to strip down standardized test to the federal minimum. Would like to go back to something like the Iowa tests which allows teachers to determine and focus on areas that need improvement. 

-Q. Mass transit, State government has cut funding for it but more and more people are using it, especially younger populations.

-A. Need to give people the opportunity to have affordable reliable transit. we need to invest in transit, pipes, roads and education. WE have the funds to do all most of this, we just need to shift our priorities.

Welo idea: Pennsylvania doesn’t allow any alcohol sales unless it came through a  

         Port. Ohio has ports and following this example would increase jobs and revenue. 

-Q. Federal gas tax hasn’t been raised since 1993. This doesn’t keep up with inflation and infrastructure. The cost of which rolls down to our local government. Trump infrastructure: fed gov would contribute 20% and local government would contribute 80%. 

-A. Local governments have increased local levies to make up for the short fall in State and Federal spending from senior centers to roads. It is strategic to hurt the urban core and make local governments the bad guys. 

-Q. Opioids and medical marijuana

-A. No doubt this drug problem effects everybody. People say we are the epicenter for this. Local government money isn’t there to help deal with the problem, so the police are stretched thin. Not enough beds. Not enough after care after rehab. Proposed a bill that would tap 10% of the rainy day fund to invest in police force, jobs and family services, addiction specialists, mental health and reconnecting families. 

For medical marijuana, just passed a bill. it’s off to a clunky start but people will be able to receive medical marijuana for 15 medical reasons if their doctor prescribes. It’s the best we could do in a conservative administration. There are some people getting signatures for recreational use. Thinks it’s sensible. The way it’s worded, “legalize marijuana and we the people are mandating that the legislature put the rules together in 10-18 months”. 

-member suggests looking up Portugals approach to addiction

- member concerned with people driving high

-Q.  Pesticide water shed into Lake Erie

A. Mandated rules on pesticide use but to incentivize it. The state needs to invest in it to help farmers make the changes that will lead to  a better Lake Erie. Also, it is not just the farmers. Home owners spray pesticides on their lawns that runs off into the water ways. We need to stop doing that to. Did a bond bill with Senator Gardner from Toledo invest a billion dollars over 10 years for clean water infrastructure rebuilds. Experts estimate that 12billion is needed. Toledo only has one water intake and they need to rebuild. Put together a lot of initiatives to clean up water banks across the state and remove dams so we can have free flowing water. $2.7 million to remove one dam over 3 years.

Q. Criminal justice system, over crowding, housing for released persons.

A. If you don’t have safe and affordable housing, it’s hard to have anything. We could utilize those land bank properties to give people a second chance. Some people are against giving felons and drug addicts anything. But it comes down to what do you wan to do? Keep paying to incarcerate people and throwing them away or do you want to help and provide them a path for a second or third chance. Utilizing land bank stock would give people a chance to have affordable, quality housing. This then leads to healthier lifestyles. Ohio has a terrible infant mortality rate and it’s partly due to inability to access safe and affordable housing. Need to find ways to be creative. 

County council meeting, Sunny Simon

Passed concummer affairs legislation with teeth in enforcement.

John Barnes, Candidate for Senator District 12

Student cost: we need to quit pretending our school policies are effective. Last 40 years 3/10 students are going to college and 1.5/10 are graduating. Need to view our children as customers and education as a business. Need to look to career technical, vocational education with a focus to bringing in business. We can reduce cost by giving career tech education the proper accreditation.

HB70: intended to model the Oilers (?) school in Cincinnati. Intended to provide the requisite services that ameliorated at risk factors. 

Economic growth: 3 factors, make sure communities and economic policies provide access to capital, ready workers, and global market opportunities. HB600, helps small manufacturing company have market access. At one time Ohio had global offices that sold Ohio products around the world. We need to bring that back. 

Moment of silence for gun violence and family or friends in our club. 

Election of officers on May 29 if a quorum is reached. 

Adjourned