Kucinich Blasts Haslam's Lawsuit against Cleveland

For Immediate Release

 

KUCINICH, AUTHOR OF MODELL LAW,SAYS HASLAM WANTS TO STIFF AREA TAXPAYERS FOR $350 MILLION, NULLIFY LAW    HE PROFITED FROM TO BUY COLUMBUS CREW. 

"THIS IS REALLY ABOUT A MAJOR DEVELOPMENT SCHEME”

 

CLEVELAND (Fri.) Oct. 25 – “The owner of the Cleveland Browns, who is worth at least $8 billion filed a lawsuit against one of the poorest cities in America, where the median income is $25,000, a city whose taxpayers invested $350 million in keeping the team in the City of Cleveland,” said Dennis Kucinich, who authored the “Modell Law,” in 1996, to protect taxpayers’ investment against another move. “So now it’s the Browns vs Cleveland, on the field and off the field,” Kucinich said. “We gave the Browns $350 million and they are still suing us.

"This is a legal maneuver by the Browns.  They claim the law is vague.  Nothing could be more vague than Haslam’s plan for financing for a new stadium, which borders on fraud. The Modell Law wasn’t vague in 2018 when Haslam took advantage of the law to purchase the Columbus Crew.  It makes one wonder if Haslam’s talk about Brook Park is actually a pretty mirage as he plans to move the team elsewhere for a bigger pay day.  

"It is clear the Browns want to head off a taxpayer’s suit in state court. I was prepared to move forward if the city did not, to protect the taxpayers’ investment. 

"Now the City of Cleveland MUST defend not only the Modell Law, but the $350 million investment which Clevelanders made in the team, an investment which has benefitted Haslam greatly.

"Let’s tell the truth about what is going on in our community. Haslam, an out-of-state multi-billionaire, has put forth a pie-in-the-sky proposal which will cost taxpayers billions of dollars, and not just for the stadium, but for new sewers, new roads and for cleaning up a toxic waste site on which the Haslem wants to build, the excavation of which will be a danger to everyone in Brook Park and the surrounding communities. 

'"The people of Brook Park, population 17,896, are pawns in Haslem’s scheme.  If Haslem can stick it to Cleveland, population 362,565, they will do it to the people of Brook Park in a minute, where the median income is $35,472. 

"If this development was to ever occur, it would force Brook Park's homeowners out, as taxes and sewer rates would go up.  It would create massive traffic jams on game days.  It would build a stadium where most people would not be able to afford to buy a ticket for the game.  The team would not be called the Brook Park Browns, but the Cleveland Browns.

"This is essentially a development scheme, using the Browns as a front, to  build not only a new sports palace but a new shopping area which will sink Crocker Park, kill downtown’s Rocket Mortgage Field House, in which the taxpayers have invested over $185 million, and will damage Jack, the downtown casino.

"Haslam would wreck over a hundred downtown businesses, including restaurants, bars, hotels, Arcade shops, street vendors and others who rely on the Browns to meet already thin profit margins, force them out of business or cause them to sell their businesses at a cut rate.  

'In sum, this represents an unfriendly takeover of downtown Cleveland.

"The other part of the development scheme is to tear down the lakefront stadium, and get even more tax dollars to build high income apartments.  

"Cleveland isn’t a token on Haslam’s monopoly board.  It is a great city which is struggling economically, and, no thanks to Haslam, must struggle again, not only to keep the team, but to protect its entire downtown against an obvious development scheme.  

'The Bibb Administration, which has been less than transparent during the entire period of talks with the Browns, has a moral obligation to put up a real fight in Federal Court,”  Kucinich concluded.

 

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