The City Club of Cleveland Podcast

President Dwight Eisenhower established the first Law Day in 1958 to mark the nation\'s commitment to the rule of law. The 2021 Law Day theme - Advancing the Rule of Law, Now- reminds all of us that we the people share the responsibility to promote the rule of law, defend liberty, and pursue justice.\r\n\r\nNo society can thrive, or even continue to exist, without the rule of law and respect for institutions of law. The Constitution is the foundation of law in the United States, but its significance is much deeper than simply outlining America's legal structure. The Constitution is symbolic; it is both a codification of our common values and a set of ideals to continue to strive toward. It is a tool of accountability, but perhaps even more a social contract, a contract that commits Americans to the pursuit of equality, justice, and peace.\r\n\r\nPeter N. Kirsanow is a partner with the law firm of Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff, working within its Labor and Employment Practice Group. He is a Black civil rights commissioner and a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, serving his fourth consecutive six-year term, which he was reappointed to by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer in December 2019. He is the longest-serving member among the current commission.\r\n\r\nJoin us for our annual Law Day forum, a conversation about the fundamental intersections between law and democracy. Mr Kirsanow will be introduced by Joseph N. Gross, 2020-2021 President of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association and Partner with Benesch.

For years, researchers, experts, and journalists have raised alarm bells about the rising numbers of Northeast Ohio children presenting with elevated blood lead levels and lead poisoning. One study even found that the rates of lead poisoning in Ohio rivaled that of Flint, Michigan. The region\'s industrial past and aging buildings and housing stock laden with lead paint are often cited as culprits.\r\n\r\nBut there is a concerted effort underway to prevent lead poisoning and curb the \"poisoning-to-prison\" path of school struggles, juvenile crime, adult incarceration, and homelessness that many young people face. Launched in January 2019, the Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition is comprised of more than 450 members, 120 organizations, state and local governments, and families impacted by lead all working together to address the issue of lead poisoning. While from different backgrounds, they all agree that no child should ever be poisoning by lead.\r\n\r\nThe Coalition supported the passage of groundbreaking law to proactively require rental units be lead safe certified in the City of Cleveland. And last year, to complement the law, the Coalition launched the Lead Safe Home Fund, a first-of-its-kind, public-private fund to help families and landlords comply with the new Lead Safe Certification requirement.\r\n\r\nThe Lead Safe Home Fund has a target budget of $99.4 million over five years to support a Lead Safe Resource Center, train lead safe workers, and provide landlords with lead safe home loans and grants. Today, these services are open and available to the public. The Coalition has had tremendous success fundraising for the Lead Safe Home Fund but is pressing on in order to create a lead safe Cleveland.\r\n\r\nJoin us as Coalition leaders share their progress and challenges, and discuss how this lead safe model can and should be replicated in other communities.

While the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe over the last year, experts forecasted a \"parallel pandemic\" of declining mental health due to the stress, isolation, loneliness, and anxiety brought on by job loss, economic uncertainty, and work and social restrictions. For those who already suffered from mental health and substance abuse disorders, the pandemic often exacerbated their symptoms and created new barriers for treatment.\r\n\r\nMental distress during the pandemic occurred against a backdrop of high rates of mental illness and substance use that existed prior to the current crisis. A recent survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that four in 10 U.S. adults now report symptoms of anxiety or a depressive disorder, up from one in 10 adults who reported these symptoms at the same time in 2019. Another 11 percent reported having seriously considered suicide in the past month. The increase in symptoms was most striking for young people aged 18-24. In addition, in December 2020, the CDC reported that the 12-month period ending May 2020 had the highest recorded number of drug overdose deaths in the United States, more than 81,000.\r\n\r\nAt the same time, Americans, especially people of color and people with marginalized gender identities, are finding it even more difficult to access behavioral health services. President Biden, initially criticized for not including mental health services in his COVID-19 recovery plans, has included $1.5 billion for community mental health service block grants and another $1.5 billion in block grants to fund substance-use disorder prevention and treatment in the recently announced American Rescue Plan. But is it enough, especially for states like Ohio?\r\n\r\nJoin us as local experts discuss the current mental and behavioral health crisis and share new approaches to help improve the mental health of Northeast Ohio residents.

Joe Marinucci will retire from the Downtown Cleveland Alliance (DCA) at the end of April, after serving as President and CEO since its inception 16 years ago. Created in 2006, DCA manages services within a district that stretches from the Cuyahoga River to East 18th Street and includes areas in and around the Flats. The Alliance\'s most visible presence is in the form of the yellow-clad Downtown Ambassadors who walk or ride bicycles throughout the neighborhood, encouraging a cleaner and safer environment for residents, workers, and visitors.\r\n\r\nDuring Mr. Marinucci\'s tenure, Downtown Cleveland changed dramatically. The city center is now home to 20,000 new residents, wecolmed several new hotels, re-opened Public Square, and hosted the 2016 Republican National Convention, the NBA Finals and a World Series. He helped bring $7.3 billion dollars of investment to Downtown and formed the Downtown Recovery Response Fund that helps small businesses deal with the effects of last year\'s civil unrest and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.\r\n\r\nNow, as Cleveland begins to recover from the pandemic, Downtown faces both new opportunities and new challenges. Within the next 12 months, Cleveland will operate a mass vaccination clinic at the Wolstein Center, host the NFL Draft and the NBA All-Star Game, and re-open Playhouse Square. While construction continues on new apartments and housing, concerns remain about the long-term viability of some small business and restaurants, as well as the future of Downtown office space as many companies increase the number of remote workers.\r\n\r\nJoin us as Mr. Marinucci shares how the tools, resources and investments of the last 16 years can help pave the way for Downtown\'s future.

The lack of public comment at Cleveland City Council meetings has been a source of resident anger and frustration for decades. Except for a brief time in the 1920s and 1930s when the city was under a city manager form of government without an elected mayor, Cleveland City Council has not routinely held a space for public comment in its regular meetings. This is in stark contrast to other Ohio cities like Columbus, Akron and Youngstown, all of which allow residents to provide live public comment at their city council meetings. Cuyahoga County Council also permits public comment.\r\n\r\nClevelanders for Public Comment is a growing grassroots coalition comprised of dozens of organizations, elected leaders, candidates for office and residents of all 17 wards. They have conducted research, drafted an ordinance, and are urging City Council to act quickly in implementing a public comment period in 2021.\r\n\r\nThis forum will consist of a moderated conversation featuring Jessica Trivisonno, author of the proposed ordinance, and two City Council members who are in support of its adoption. Following the conversation, there will be 30 minutes of a simulated public comment session.\r\n\r\nAnyone interested in participating will have up to three minutes to make a comments about any matter that concerns the legislative, administrative, or public affairs of the city. Commenters are also encouraged to make comments on how to best invest the $541 million in stimulus funds slated to come to Cleveland from the American Rescue Plan. Individuals can sign up to make a comment by completing the Mock Public Comment Form at cle4publiccomment.com or by e-mailing cle4publiccomment@gmail.com.

Last year, the United States commemorated the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Women and men of all races, ethnicities, and identities fought for-and against-women's right to vote. The national movement that led to the women\'s right to vote is not only a story about women's rights, but is also an American story of race, class, citizenship, gender, immigration, political identity, and values.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a story that continues today. Black women are now the largest voting bloc in the United States and they had a dramatic impact on the 2020 election. All across the country, Black women worked to ensure that all eligible voters have their voices heard at the polls. In Georgia, former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is credited with dramatically increasing voter registration and voter education which lead to Georgia to flip from red to blue for only the third time since 1972.\r\n\r\nPaula J. Giddings, the Elizabeth A. Woodson 1922 Professor Emerita of Africana Studies at Smith College, is known for her writings on the complicated history of Black women in America, including Ida: A Sword Among Lions, the award-winning biography of anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells. She\'s also written extensively on the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, one of the largest Black women\'s organizations in the United States.\r\n\r\nJoin us as Giddings discusses the 19th Amendment: the political tradition of African American women, their struggle to be enfranchised, and how their activism led to the influence that Black women have on today's electorate. This is a history far too little known and one which adds depth, complexity, and richness to the quest for women's rights.

The crisis in Venezuela has been making headlines for years. As violence erupts in the streets, people without food, water, or electricity have been fleeing the country in droves. Unsustainable economic practices compounded by Nicol?s Maduro's authoritarian reign has created the perfect storm for a national catastrophe, and has inspired enormous demonstrations throughout the country, uniting people of all walks of life against the corrupt institutions that hold them down.\r\n\r\nThis ongoing humanitarian and political crisis in Venezuela was captured in the riveting documentary A La Calle, which tells the story of the Venezuelan people's attempts to reclaim their country's democracy. Over the course of filming, A La Calle captures opposition figures, grassroot activists, and every day citizens that work to uplift the voices of other Venezuelans and their fight against the Maduro regime.\r\n\r\nJoin us as those involved in the making of the film discuss the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela and its implications for every day Venezuelans and global citizens.\r\n\r\nA La Calle is part of the 45th Cleveland International Film Festival. Tickets to the film can be purchased here. Use code CITYCLUB to receive a discount.

Cleveland Browns\' teammates Andrew Hawkins and Joe Thomas are co-hosts of the popular The ThomaHawk Show podcast in addition to their current roles with NFL Media.\r\n\r\nAn undrafted wide receiver out of Toledo, Hawkins started his professional football career with the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes before joining the NFL in 2011, playing first for the Cincinnati Bengals before signing on with the Cleveland Browns in 2014. Hawkins also serves as the Director of Business Development for The SpringHill Company, a video-production and entertainment organization led by LeBron James and Maverick Carter.\r\n\r\nThomas was a 10-time Pro Bowl selection and played every offensive snap at left tackle (NFL-record 10,363 consecutive) during his 11-year career with the Browns. He is a two-time Browns Walter Payton Man of the Year honoree (2010 and 2016), which recognizes a player's excellence in the community and on-field performance.\r\n\r\nJoin us as Hawkins and Thomas discuss their NFL careers and how they continue to use their platform as professional athletes and on-air media personalities to raise awareness for important social justice topics, including creating equality and opportunities in sports, education, and throughout the entire community.

In America and other Western democracies, older industrial communities are in a painful process of economic transition. These geographic regions were once economic powerhouses, but have experienced a decline in manufacturing, and a subsequent decline in local economies, property taxes, education, and other community assets. Research has shown that when election season rolls around, residents of these geographic regions are also increasingly likely to latch onto populist candidates like Donald Trump or Marine le Pen.\r\n\r\nNeopopulism thrives in rust belt communities across the globe - communities where residents are responsive to the messages of nationalism, nativism, retreat from the international community, and nostalgia for days gone by offered up by right-wing populists. Yet, evidence also suggests that when these communities have economic hope, the appeal of populism wanes. Economic condition and the appeal of populism are inseparable, and if the United States and Europe do not address the feelings of alienation and desperation produced in these communities, they will continue to face the rise of angry electorates willing to give voice to chaos-causing, antidemocratic candidates.\r\n\r\nJoin us as national experts discuss the transatlantic effort to diminish the appeal of populism, revitalize rust belt economies, and restore democracy.

For the first time in more than a decade, the Democrats control the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. Their majorities in congress are exceptionally slim, requiring them to govern and legislate with unity-which they don't always have. United in their effort to deny President Trump a second term, they rebuilt the \"blue wall\" in the Midwest, expanded their base in the popular Sun Belt cities of Atlanta, Houston, and Phoenix, and turned Georgia blue for the first time since 1992. This was accomplished, in large part, due to the efforts of Black voters and communities.\r\n\r\nDespite success at the ballot box, deep divisions remain between the party\'s moderate and progressive wings. Progressives are pushing proposals such as Medicare for All, a $15 minimum wage, the cancellation of student loan debt, and a Green New Deal-and are willing to abolish the filibuster to ensure these policies are enacted. The moderates appear more concerned with job creation, lowering taxes, and, in many cases, support maintaining the filibuster and working across party lines to pass legislation, despite the difficulty of doing so. These divisions are reflected in their voter base which is arguably the most diverse in history and is likely become more diverse if demographic trends continue.\r\n\r\nGiven all these factors, what is the future for the Democratic Party? What should their priorities be? Who should make those decisions? And how should the Biden administration navigate the deeply rooted beliefs in different wings of the party? Join us for a conversation with two political strategists about the future of the country's oldest political party.