The Observation Deck

The Cleveland Port Authority was originally created to manage Cleveland’s port. In 1993 their mission was expanded to allow the Port Authority to finance non-port related projects like the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame and the Cleveland Browns Stadium. The port is funded by $3.1 million in property taxes each year. Most of the money is used for the salaries and benefits of Port employees.

At that time Cleveland was a manufacturing power house exporting products around the world. Today the port exports very little. The two hundred ships serviced each year import products from around the world.

As its original task withered the Port authority’s bureaucracy has continued to expand.

http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/st ... thispage=5

As manufacturing and exporting declined the Port Authority reinvented itself as an investment bank. The Port Authority authorized itself to issue bonds for projects that have nothing to do with its mission of managing and improving Cleveland’s port. Most recently the port authority has sought to issue bonds to help build new retail space.

http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2008 ... nce_r.html

That is a priority that seems a bid odd given the glut of retail space in the Cleveland area.

http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2008 ... argea.html

The Port Authority has also tried its hand at general development projects. Most recently the authority negotiated a secret deal with Eaton Corporation to finance Eaton’s new corporate headquarters in Beachwood.

http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index. ... arkin.html

According to the report there is come evidence that the Port Authority may have sabotaged the City of Cleveland’s efforts to keep the headquarters building in downtown Cleveland. Under the proposed deal the Port Authority would issue bonds and secure State financing to build Eaton’s new headquarters building. The Port Authority would own the building and lease it to Eaton. Can anyone say conflict of interest?

http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2008 ... reaks.html

http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2008 ... highl.html

The Port Authority’s latest development idea is to spend one billion dollars to move the port to East 55th Street.

http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2009 ... ustri.html

An experienced transportation expert has doubts:

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindeal ... xml&coll=2

Cuyahoga County residents have raised and spent billions on government sponsored development projects that have done nothing to stop the economic decline. Who made more money from the Gateway Project The Jacobs Group or the City of Cleveland?

The question is: Can the Port Authority serve two masters?

The answer is: No. It can either serve itself or the region. To me it looks like the Port Authority is out to serve only itself.

it is a scam.

they don't deserve to exist.

Robert Moses would be impressed.

the paradigm of globalism is moving capital and manufacturing around as fast as possible to save on labor. presumably this makes all manufactured goods cheaper. or at least frees up revenue to spend on advertising.

the paradigm of globalism is that it somehow costs more to get everything else done. to build a school, a public hall, a theatre, a functional port, a rail station. to run schools, to retire, to fight a fire, to get five stitches on your finger at a hospital.

The Port Authority is set to spend $1 billion on this boondoggle:

http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2009 ... _to_d.html

I just wish at least one political leader would speak out against this propsal. Such opposition might generate enough light to stop it before it's too late.

Do we really need a $1 billion dollar increase in property taxes to move the port? If we are going to spend $1 billion dollars on the lakefront is this way to spend $1 billion dollars?

I don't expect anyone to even ask the questions. This is so frustrating.

When the Panama Canal is widened to accomodate container ships much of the cargo now unloaded on the West coast will be unloaded on the Gulf or Atlantic coasts. There is no reason in the world ships would want to make the extra 1,000 mile journey, unload at Cleveland and then leave empty.

If it's such a great idea why will the port need an operating subsidy?

This isn't about jobs for Cleveland. Its about the sinecures for the people who run the port. (which is losing money by the way).