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$2.00/OCTOBER 31 - NOVEMBER 6, 2011
County’s $100M fund would aid small firms
THERE’S VALUE IN VINYL Manufacturer finds his groove in resurgent music medium By TIMOTHY MAGAW tmagaw@crain.com
Plan also would help leverage its business attraction efforts
V
ince Slusarz collected vinyl records for much of his life. But when he saw his oldest daughter, Emily, take an interest in what some had perceived as a dying format, the entrepreneur embarked on a venture to combine two of Cleveland’s greatest assets: music and manufacturing. Mr. Slusarz’s record manufacturing plant, Gotta Groove Records, is just 2 years old, but this year the company is poised to turn its first profit since it started running its presses in 2009. The survival of vinyl records first had been threatened by the introduction of compact discs in the 1980s and squeezed further by the rise of digital music files in the 1990s and 2000s. However, judging See VINYL Page 17
By CHUCK SODER csoder@crain.com
Nathan Kelly wants to see Cuyahoga County get serious about playing “small ball.” Under a proposal drafted by the Cuyahoga County Department of Development, the county over the next few years would spend a total of $100 million, mostly on projects geared toward helping small businesses grow. The proposal suggests that the county should borrow $25 million so that it could start financing projects Kelly next year, said Mr. Kelly, deputy chief of staff for the Department of Development. The plan — which first was proposed by county executive Ed See COUNTY Page 16
INSIDE Indians raise season ticket prices JANET CENTURY
Vince Slusarz, the founder of Gotta Groove Records, in the company’s plant on Cleveland’s near East Side.
The team has begun its season ticket renewal process, and with the exception of two sections, will raise prices 3% for the 2012 season. Page 12
CRAIN’S EDITORIAL: ISSUE 2
No matter SB 5’s fate, legislators must meet in middle
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ublic opinion polls indicate Ohio voters on Nov. 8 will reject Issue 2, thereby gutting the inflammatory Senate Bill 5. If they do, Republicans in the Legislature on Nov. 9 should start crafting a new collective bargaining bill. It is one that should reduce the cost burden on local governments and school districts without setting off another Armageddon-like referendum campaign to block needed
change in the issues that are subject to negotiation in public employee contracts. Unless Ohio wants to go the way of California and govern itself by constant referendum, the majority party in the General Assembly must work with the minority to create bills that won’t cause powerful constituencies to launch petition drives to reverse or bypass the legislative process. That approach requires
members of both parties to stop the extremists among their ranks from setting their legislative agendas. The majority should not impose its will on the minority simply because it can. Likewise, the minority can’t play the loyal opposition continuously by appeasing only their campaign supporters and not thinking of the greater good for the people of Ohio. SB 5 does not fit the model of legisla-
tive compromise we just described. The Republican majority pressed its advantage and passed a bill that neutered the collective bargaining power of public employee unions. Democrats, intent on protecting the interests of the unions that feed their campaign coffers, stood shoulder to shoulder with public employees in opposition to the bill. See TRY Page 10
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SPECIAL SECTION
BUSINESS OF FOOD Crain’s analyzes the local economic impact of the industry’s main sectors ■ Page 13 PLUS: ATTRACTING CHEFS, TOURISTS ■ OUTSIDE PERCEPTION
Entire contents © 2011 by Crain Communications Inc. Vol. 32, No. 44