Letter to the Editor: Medical mart will keep new county council busy

The Medical Mart – boon or boondoggle? The new County Council Members will play a large role in answering this question. The outgoing Commissioners will leave us with a $425 million project budget – correction, it's jumped $40 million to $465 million. Oh, and total square footage has shrunk by 20 percent, from 400,000 square feet to 322,000 square feet. So we are paying more for less. The cost per square foot has jumped a whopping 36 percent – and a shovel hasn't even touched dirt yet! The new Council will have plenty to do.
 
Between the culture of corruption and the dancing budget, one thing is clear: We ought to stop the music before the new county government is seated – the government that we the people created. The Medical Mart / Convention Center will be the biggest business that the county will have to build and manage. True, it will be "managed" by MMPI, but we the taxpayers are footing the bill and we'd best have representatives on the new County Council who have business experience and will look after the taxpayers' interests.

That's why I'm supporting Dave Greenspan for Cuyahoga County Council District 1. He has the knowledge and experience needed to oversee this project, and make certain Cuyahoga County benefits from it. He has presented an ordinance that will require a county-wide vote to increase the county's portion of the sales tax rate. No more surprise sales tax hikes.
 
We need a person representing us who has business sense and common sense. We need Dave Greenspan for District 1.

Stephen Merkel
Bay Village

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Volume 2, Issue 20, Posted 6:34 PM, 09.30.2010