1994 Retrospective

THE PLAIN DEALER . SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1999 5-G OURCENTURY 1994 ATA GLANCE Schools’ independence bid fails again It looked as though the school board might regain control of Cleveland schools for the first time since 1978. U.S. District Judge Frank Battisti modified his desegregation “re- medial order.” If the board carried out Super- intendent Sammie Campbell Parrish’s “Vision 21” plan, he said, the system could be self- governing by 2000. Voters had defeated a 12.9-mill levy, putting in doubt the system’s ability to complete the plan. Battisti ordered the state to contribute $295 million over six years. In October, Battisti unexpectedly died at the age of 72. In a eulogy, the Rev. Thomas Acker said of the judge, “He suffered willingly the arrows of public fury, a martyrdom in pursuit of justice for children.” In November, voters again defeated the school levy, despite a $400,000 campaign to pass it. In December, a consultant reported that 60 of the district’s 127 school buildings needed major repairs and 12 needed to be re- placed. Dwayne Gardner of Planning Associ- ates said many buildings were “literally fall- ing apart.”A $60 million bond issue passed in 1987 had been mismanaged, he said. As the year ended, the hopes for independence had faded. Officials feared a new judge would turn control over to the state. • The temperature dropped to 20 below the night of Jan. 18. That was one degree colder than Jan. 24, 1963, the old record. Six deaths in Greater Cleveland and nine others in Ohio were blamed on the cold. University Hospitals treated seven cases of frostbite. The cold spread across the Midwest and East. It was so cold, The Plain Dealer reported, that Hell, Mich., froze over. • PLAIN DEALER FILE PHOTOS Gov. George Voinovich led a Republican rout in November, winning re-election over Rich Amaral of the Seattle Mariners watches the first pitch in Jacobs Field on April 4. Democrat Robert Burch with more than 70 percent of the vote. Lt. Gov. Mike DeWine be- came the first Ohio Republican elected to the Senate since 1970. He defeated Democrat Joel Hyatt, son-in-law of outgoing Sen. Howard Metzenbaum. Indians open new field and era Steven LaTourette, the Lake County prose- cutor, ended Democrat Eric Fingerhut’s one- field stands and the rest of downtown, term stay in Congress. Republicans retook the By Fred McGunagle spread out behind the bleachers. Ohio Senate. Out-of-town papers raved about But one notable Democrat bucked the Re- Red, white and blue balloons Cleveland’s comeback. soared into a cold, clear, blue sky. publican trend: Dennis Kucinich, whose only Forgotten were the cost overruns office in the previous 15 years had been a brief The spirits of Clevelanders soared with them, their hopes as bright as for the stadium and for Gund Arena, term on Cleveland City Council, ousted a nearing completion next door. For- scandal-plagued Republican State Sen. the April sun. On green grass smell- gotten, too, were the broken promises Anthony Sinagra. ing of spring, President Bill Clinton wore an Indians cap as he threw out that the teams would pay most of the • the first pitch in Jacobs Field. cost and that the project would mean 28,000 jobs, $33 million a year in Cleveland won its first professional sports The game was worthy of the occa- championship in 30 years. It was the Crunch taxes and up to $51 million for devel- sion. Seattle’s Randy Johnson mowed opment of the surrounding area. that did it — Cleveland’s indoor soccer team. down the Indians for seven innings. Also overlooked was the loss of rev- Hector Marinaro scored six goals — the last But Sandy Alomar’s single broke up enue caused by the strike. The Indi- one in double overtime — in Game 4 of the Na- the no-hitter in the eighth inning and ans were charged no rent on the first tional Professional Soccer League champion- Manny Ramirez’s two-run double tied 1,850,000 fans. With attendance ship series to beat the St. Louis Ambush three the score. games to one. stopped at just under 2 million, they The Cavaliers had a new coach for their 20th The Mariners scored in the ninth paid $1.2 million. Had sellouts contin- and last season at the Coliseum — the diminu- but the Indians tied it again with two ued, they would have paid 10 times as tive but fiery Mike Fratello. They lost 14 of out. And when Wayne Kirby’s 11th- much. their first 21, then rallied, winning 11 straight inning single brought in Eddie Mur- The arena, meanwhile, was now in February and March and their last eight of ray for a 4-3 win, the day’s ending $30 million over original cost esti- Indians great Bob Feller is honored before the opening game. the season. was as perfect as its beginning. mates of $118 million. The Gateway Again, they met Chicago in the playoffs. This This time, for a change, the Tribe Corp. fought off lawsuits by contrac- time the Bulls didn’t have Michael Jordan, wouldn’t let its fans down. It won 18 tors demanding to be paid. who had retired to become a baseball player — straight in its new home, often with Somehow the facility opened on Art Modell said the structure could Richard Jacobs being lionized for the temporarily, it turned out. But the Cavs didn’t last-inning heroics. Capacity crowds schedule. More than 20,000 attended be modernized for $130 million. Indians’ upsurge in their new home have Brad Daugherty, out with a bad back. watched the Indians battle the Chi- a Billy Joel concert on Oct. 17. The and George and Gordon Gund being They didn’t have Larry Nance, victim of a cago White Sox for first place. “There’s no local money,” said Tim career-ending knee injury. They didn’t have Lumberjacks and Cavaliers drew Hagan, president of the Cuyahoga hailed as heroes for bringing the Cav- Until Aug. 10. John “Hot Rod” Williams, who broke his huge crowds for their early games. County commissioners. “The citizens aliers back downtown. thumb practicing for the playoffs. And they That’s when a strike suddenly Still, estimates were that arena rev- are unwilling to pay taxes for it and In his Stadium office he looked out didn’t have a chance against the Bulls. They ended the season. The Indians were enue would fall $7.7 million short of the governor has to take a leadership on a freezing Lake Erie and seethed. lost in three straight. one game behind the Sox. Had there costs. And on a hilltop in Richfield, role.” Browns owner Art Modell said his coach, been playoffs, they would have had a the 20-year-old Coliseum stood va- Gov. George Voinovich faced simi- McGunagle is a Cleveland free- Bill Belichick, was a new man since the re- wild-card spot. cant, surround by empty fields where lar pressure from Cincinnati. “Any- lance writer. lease of Bernie Kosar. With Vinny Testaverde Clevelanders were disappointed, Nick Mileti had dreamed of 350 acres body who thinks the state is going to E-mail: fmcgoo@prodigy.com at quarterback, the team went 11-5 for its first but the summer had been a huge suc- of shopping malls and resort hotels. pay for their stadium or stadiums is playoff appearance of the 1990s. Testaverde cess. The area around Gateway was There was another nagging prob- not thinking very clearly,” he said. Photo researcher: completed 11 straight passes as the Browns filling with restaurants. Network tele- lem a half-mile north of Gateway. The Mayor Michael R. White appointed beat the New England Patriots, 21-13, at the vision never tired of showing the Browns’ lease on aging Municipal a task force of a dozen business lead- David G. Jardy Stadium. three skyscrapers behind the left Stadium was due to expire. Owner ers to study the problem. Modell saw Plain Dealer Library But the next week, in Pittsburgh, Testaverde completed only 13 of 31. The Steelers rushed for 238 yards and coasted to a 29-9 win. • Where did Mike White, the consensus-builder, go? Air fares were down, and business at Cleve- land Hopkins International Airport was up. So Who was this guy masquerading as He outraged labor by proposing be in the same handwriting. Secre- don’t apologize.” Mike White? “privatization”— outsourcing — of tary of State Bob Taft ordered an in- were the tempers of Cleveland and Brook Park Parrish said, “The mayor is a good It couldn’t be the same sure-footed, city jobs. He announced a strict vestigation. When council refused to officials. Brook Park passed a new zoning law person, but I am beginning to believe consensus-building mayor who campaign-finance reform plan and put the charter amendment on the that could block airport expansion. Cleveland that I overestimated his understand- sued to invalidate it. Cleveland outbid Brook coasted to an easy second term in said he would bypass council by cir- ballot White sued, but eventually re- ing of education reform.” Park for land needed to expand Hopkins. 1993. culating petitions to put it on the bal- lented. Brook Park sued to appropriate the land. This mayor seemed to be deliber- lot as a charter amendment. He feuded with Cleveland Public Police Chief Oliver, meanwhile, Meanwhile, Cleveland City Council ap- ately provoking City Council with Library officials. He held an hour- irked police, citizens and eventually Unfortunately for White, his staff proved $160 million worth of airport improve- slights and insults.

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