Gateway Economic Development Corp. will soon officially tell the Cavaliers what everyone already knows: It doesn’t have the money for a new Humongotron at Rocket Arena.
The Cavs want to upgrade scoreboards and audio systems at the arena, which Gateway owns. The work will cost $37 million. Gateway is expected to call a special meeting in early October to address the request.
But as Gateway leadership has said before, there aren’t enough available proceeds from a Cuyahoga County tax on alcohol and cigarettes for more repairs at the arena and Progressive Field.
“I feel like a broken record to some extent,” Gateway Chair GiGi Benjamin said at Gateway’s meeting this week.
She noted that the nonprofit is obligated under its leases with the teams to pay for repairs. “And we still don’t have adequate funding,” she added.
Another $5 million in elevator upgrades and door replacements at the ballpark are also awaiting Gateway’s approval.
In the past, the Cavs have fronted money for repairs and waited for reimbursement. Two years ago, Gateway obtained $40 million from Cleveland and Cuyahoga County to keep up with the bills. But it still owes the Cavs about $4 million.
The teams have the option to play hardball — or throw elbows, depending on your sport. Their leases allow them to deduct repair costs from the rent they owe Gateway. The nonprofit uses that money to pay its staff and cover other operating expenses.
Convicted former Cleveland City Council member facing more trouble
Former Cleveland City Council Member Ken Johnson, a celebrated fixture of city politics before being convicted of public corruption in 2021, is headed back to federal court next month.
Johnson had represented the Buckeye-Shaker Square neighborhood for 41 years when he was sentenced to six years in prison. He was released early last November, after serving more than four years.
According to court documents filed this week, he has been summoned to appear before U.S. District Judge John Adams on Oct. 7 for a “violation of supervised release” related to “unauthorized lines of credit.”
Johnson, whose schemes included submitting false expense reports to Cleveland City Council and steering federal grant money to a local nonprofit that employed his adopted sons, could not be reached for comment.
— Mark Naymik
