Voters in Lorain County will decide Issue 20 this November. Known as the "seven-districts" plan, Issue 20 would change the look of government in Lorain County .
Issue 20 proposes to replace the current three at-large county commissioners with a board of seven commissioners elected from districts each drawn to represent roughly 45,000 residents in the county. The seven-member board would appoint a county executive.
If Lorain County voters pass Issue 20, the county would be the first to use this governance structure. Eighty-six of Ohio's 88 counties use the three-county commissioner model. Two, Cuyahoga and Summit, have charter forms of government with an elected council and an elected county executive.
We begin Wednesday’s “Sound of Ideas” talking to a supporter and opponent of Issue 20.
Later in the hour, a federal judge on Wednesday will hear the most recent status report on the Cleveland Police Department's progress fulfilling a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice. The new monitor overseeing the implementation of the consent decree, Karl Racine, issued the report last week.
The city entered the consent decree in 2015 after a Justice Department investigation found a pattern and practice of excessive force by officers. The agreement sets out requirements, including changes in policy, procedure and training to improve policing and repair the relationship between Cleveland Police and the community.
The monitor's report last week found that the department has struggled with implementing a philosophy known as Community and Problem Oriented Policing. It seeks collaboration with community members to address neighborhood issues, a two- way relationship in which police help solve community problems, rather than just making arrests.
We will talk to the city’s executive director overseeing the Police Accountability Team about the report and the progress the department has made thus far.
Finally, we hear from Dr. Andre Perry. He will be speaking at the HFLA of Northeast Ohio's annual conversation on Wednesday.
Perry has spent years studying how black communities across America have been systematically devalued and has written about his findings in his book. "Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America's Black Cities."
The book looks at how housing practices, school closures, and disinvestment in cities like Pittsburgh, Detroit, and New Orleans affect communities of color.
Guests:
-Dave O'Brien, Reporter, The Chronicle Telegram
-Ted Kalo, Clerk of Courts, City of Lorain
-Brian Hoagland, Citizens for Equal Representation for Lorain County
-Leigh Anderson, Ph.D., Executive Director, Police Accountability Team, City of Cleveland
-Andre Perry, Ph.D., Author, "Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America's Black Cities"
Watch video of today's show from the Ohio Channel in the player below.