Yesterday, the day before Election Day 2012, after completing my last “knock on door and distribute literature” assignment as part of the Mighty Texas Strike Force, I drove from the Cleveland suburbs into the city, to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections building. This election location was open for Early Voting on election eve, and the lines were literally multiple city blocks long.
En route from suburb to city, I passed through neighborhoods featuring sagging front porches, roofs missing more tiles than remained intact, litter strewn and weed-overgrown empty lots, more businesses shuttered than functioning, and a depressing sense of bygone bustle and business. The main still-in-business entities I saw were bars. Read more »