CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCEMENT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, April 20, 2023

[UPDATE 4/26/23 — Covered so far by The Athens Messenger and The Athens County Independent]

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To help Ohio swing blue again, Athens Democratic leaders must stop opposing student turnout, contested races, and any Democrat who grows a spine. 

I’m running for mayor against the Dems this year to help make that happen. 

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By Damon Krane

Here’s a thought experiment. Imagine some Democrats lived in Athens. How would they help their party win local, state and national elections?

First, Democrats would be hard pressed to miss the fact that Athens is a college town, 80% composed of young people, where about 70,000 Ohio University students live each decade before moving on to every corner of Ohio and America. 

Next, it would be just as difficult for Democrats to miss the fact that young people generally don’t like Republicans. Voters under 30 preferred Democrats by a 28-point margin in the 2022 midterms, and youth turnout of 51-55% ushered in the last three Democratic presidents – compared to just 40-44% for their Republican counterparts. 

So, given that young people… 

1) overwhelmingly prefer Democrats, 

2) make up by far the largest portion of our city’s population, 

3) pass through here in droves before moving everywhere else, and, 

4) by virtue of being young, have the most votes left to cast in their lifetimes 

…if some Democrats lived in Athens, wouldn’t they do everything possible to maximize youth turnout? 

Wouldn’t Democrats’ top priority be turning OU students into habitual voters? 

Wouldn’t every election be a precious opportunity to do this?

Well, as it turns out, some Democrats really do live in Athens – including the Democrats who occupy every elected city office. But here’s where things get weird. Instead of nurturing habitual student voting, Athens Democratic leaders have actively opposed it, along with Democratic voting more generally. I know from running against them – not as a Republican, but as an independent democratic socialist. 

Running for mayor in 2019, I allied with Ellie Hamrick, an independent socialist running for city council. While registering students at OU dining halls, we never encountered Democrats doing the same. We became the first candidates to text bank to students about a city election. Democrats never followed suit. I encouraged student groups to hold a campus candidate forum before the voter registration deadline. By the time they wrangled the Dems, the deadline had passed.

Running for city council in 2021, I was again the only candidate calling for a campus forum. One was scheduled in response to Democrats’ stated availability, but after a meeting with their county chair the Dems all announced they would not attend – opting instead for a campus forum held after the registration deadline, from which independent candidates were excluded, and which the Dems still failed to promote.

Meanwhile, Democratic Athens Mayor Steve Patterson (not even up for re-election in 2021) didn’t just snub overwhelmingly Democratic students, he secretly colluded with the county Republican chair to boost Republican turnout against progressive independents, even though this would also hurt vulnerable (and ultimately defeated) Democratic Congressional candidate Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington), whom Patterson had publicly endorsed in that year’s special election for Ohio’s 15th Congressional District. 

To Patterson’s dismay, not all Republicans were willing to keep his shenanigans a secret. Instead, some Republicans recorded the nominally Democratic mayor as he met with them behind closed doors; regurgitated far-right talking points to mobilize local Trump supporters against progressives; praised Larry Householder protégé, state representative Jay Edwards (R-Nelsonville); failed to defend fellow Democratic officeholders from Republican attacks; told more lies about me than I’ll list here; and joined Republicans in laughing off Iris Virjee – a young woman candidate of color – as merely a “girl” and “bartender” whose non-Anglo Saxon name Patterson said he couldn’t even remember. Then Republicans leaked the full recording to the press, and it was front page news the day Patterson hosted Russo’s visit to Athens.

Worse yet, Patterson’s reprehensible behavior is apparently the best local Democratic leaders can muster, since they’ve consistently failed to give Democratic voters any alternative to Patterson in a Democratic primary race. (Not in 2015, not in 2019 – and not even in 2023, after the debacle of 2021.)

And speaking of Democratic primaries, it’s certainly hard to turn young people into habitual voters –or to keep Democrats of any age in the habit of voting– if you won’t even give them an election to vote in.

Never have local Democratic leaders failed to find a Democrat to run for every city office, but very rarely do Democratic voters get to choose between multiple candidates in contested Democratic city primary races. With 11 city offices up for grabs this year, (including the mayor, every city council seat, law director and auditor) exactly 11 Democrats are running, so Athens city (and Athens County) will not even hold a Democratic primary election this year. And with no Republicans running for any city office, the city general election in November may be the same as no election at all.

Athens Republicans know that preventing contested city races is the best way to reduce Democratic voting here. That’s why Republicans don’t run in Athens – only two have run since 2011, and none has been elected since 2003. It’s not just that Republican candidates would lose here – it’s far worse than that. They would actually harm their party by running. Republicans are so greatly outnumbered in Athens by both registered Democrats and would-be Democratic student voters that if Republicans gave their opponents someone to vote against, Republicans would only bring about a net increase in Democratic turnout and habitual Democratic voting among young people. So Athens Republicans very wisely sit out Athens city elections to encourage would-be Democratic voters to get used to staying home on Election Day.

Yet when Athens Democratic Party leaders prevent contested Democratic primary election races (in addition to opposing student voting), this depresses Democratic turnout and habitual voting just as surely as when Republicans prevent contested general election races. By failing to give our city’s overwhelmingly Democratic-leaning population any reason to maintain or begin the habit of voting, both parties are doing the same thing here in Athens, and it’s as smart of Republicans as it is dumb of Democrats.

Granted, back in 2019, Democratic County Treasurer Ric Wasserman told me party leaders like him were not to blame for there being little reason to vote in city elections. “We would never discourage anyone from running,” he assured me. Yet the very next year Wasserman and then County Democratic Chair John Haseley told The New Political they both actively discouraged Democratic Athens City Council Member Pete Kotses from challenging Wasserman in the 2020 Democratic primary for County Treasurer, and Haseley said that’s just standard operating procedure for him – he always works to protect incumbent Democratic officeholders from the threat of Democratic voter choice. 

After Democratic leaders turned on Kotses for giving voters a choice, not only did Wasserman trounce him in the treasurer’s race, Kotses resigned from Council and bowed out of local politics, while issuing a statement criticizing local government’s lack of diversity. Democratic leaders then appointed Ben Ziff to council to fill the seat vacated by Kotses in April 2021. But after Ziff’s wife put up a yard sign in 2022 for independent Bill Hayes (who committed the sin of giving voters a choice in the County Commissioners race), party leaders turned on Ziff, too. 

Now, keep in mind, local Democratic leaders never censured Mayor Patterson for mobilizing Republicans to the detriment of a Democratic Congressional campaign. Yet the same party leaders opted to punish Ziff for his wife’s yard sign by removing him from the very executive Democratic committee on which Patterson still sits. 

So now, like Kotses before him, Ziff is also finished with city government, having declined to run for re-election. And once more Democratic party leaders have lined up exactly one candidate to replace their outgoing officeholder, allowing Democratic voters no choice in the matter.

Granted, Democratic voters almost had one contested primary race to vote in this year. Two Democrats attempted to run for the Third Ward council seat, but one of them, Jason Schroer, failed to collect the 25 valid petition signatures he needed. In comparison, with only a small socialist organization behind her in 2019, Ellie Hamrick gathered over 200 signatures. Her fellow independent council candidate, Chris Monday, single-handedly gathered about 100 signatures – just as I did in 2019 and again in 2021, and as Iris Virjee did in 2021. Yet we’re supposed to believe the local Democratic Party –with all its resources and expertise in election rules– couldn’t give Schroer the support he needed to collect a measly 25 signatures so Democrats could have a primary to vote in this May?

Given local Democratic leaders’ vociferous opposition to student voting, contested primary races, and any Democrat who grows a spine, it’s no surprise that turnout in Athens elections is extremely low, especially among OU students — and not only in city elections.

To be certain, local turnout is at its worst in city elections. The most populous, student-heavy voting precincts often contribute one vote each in primaries and barely more in general elections. When rare contested city general election races do occur, Democrats win in a landslide, but with the support of only about 10% of eligible voters.

But what about mid-term elections, when Athens city voters help determine the outcomes of races for Ohio Governor, US House of Representatives, and US Senate?

In the 2014 mid-term, Athens County had the second lowest voter turnout of all of Ohio’s 88 counties. Worse yet, from the 2018 midterm to the 2022 midterm voter turnout only fell by 3% nationally, but here in the City of Athens –population center of Southeast Ohio’s only blue county– turnout plummeted by more than 10 times that amount –a whopping 35%! That is, from the already low turnout of over 7,600 voters in 2018, to fewer than 5,100 voters in 2022.

Athens is a city of 25,000 people, with an eligible voting population of more than 20,000. So for Athens to have been on par with national turnout, about 10,000 people should have voted here in 2018, and 9,500 in 2022. So while Athens turnout was already about 24% lower than national turnout in 2018, Athens turnout fell to the incredible low of approximately 46% below national turnout in 2022!

Thus while all across the country in 2022 high turnout (especially among young people) decided key races for Democrats and enabled the Dems to maintain a slim Senate majority, here in the college town of Athens, Ohio, Democratic leaders oversaw an absolute nose dive in turnout that helped elect JD Vance.

Local Democratic leaders may be proud to have found a way to win local elections without voters (or with only 10% of eligible voters), but beyond Athens the Democratic Party still needs voters to defeat Republicans, and local leaders are failing to deliver those voters.

To maintain their personal stranglehold over local political power, Athens Democratic leaders have thrown their own party’s statewide and national prospects under the bus – and along with that, all the people their party claims to represent. Outside city limits –in state and national races, far and wide– it’s Republicans who reap the benefits. And contrary to the popular belief of some of our city’s most privileged residents, Athens really isn’t a bubble. State and federal legislation still affects us here. Supreme Court rulings do, too.

As for me, I’m not a Democrat but a leftist who supports reproductive rights and doesn’t want the US to fall to fascist insurrectionists. So while I oppose Democrats where Republicans are not competitive, I support Democrats where Republicans are competitive. I want Ohio to swing blue again. 

Therefore, this year I’ll be doing for the Democratic Party what its local leaders have refused to do. By running against Mayor Patterson again as an independent democratic socialist  with my usual social justice platform and 25 years experience as a progressive community organizer, I’ll be giving Athens Democrats a reason to keep up the habit of voting this November – even if it’s only to vote against me! 

More importantly, I’ll be giving Athens Dems the chance to stop opposing student voting. 

Instead of Athens Dems continuing to boycott a campus candidate forum held before the registration deadline and open to all candidates, I challenge Democratic leaders to do the single most important thing they possibly can to fight back against Republican control of Ohio and Republican power nationally. I challenge Democratic leaders to nurture the development of habitual OU student voting by campaigning for city races on campus, registering a substantial number of new student voters this year, and investing their party’s resources in the organization of a heavily-promoted, large-scale campus candidate forum for every contested general election race. 

The 2024 presidential election is looming, with Trump once again the Republican frontrunner and DeSantis his reprehensible runner up. It would be outrageously negligent of Athens Democratic leaders to not use this year’s city election to start activating the overwhelmingly Democratic-leaning OU students who make up by far the largest portion of our city population.

So what do you say, Athens Dems? Are you ready to stop sabotaging your own party? If so, I’m here to help.

Damon Krane is a longtime progressive community organizer, independent journalist and founding member of United Athens County Tenants. He ran unsuccessfully for Athens Mayor in 2019 and Athens City Council in 2021 but succeeded in pushing Athens Democratic leaders to diversify the makeup of city council and helped to pass the city’s most pro-tenant legislation in decades. The Toledo Blade published a column by Krane in January criticizing Athens Democrats’ opposition to student voting.

A New Year’s Resolution for Complacent Ohio Democrats

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By Damon Krane
January 6, 2023
Toledo Blade(Toledo, Ohio) 
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In 2023, Ohio Democrats should make a meaningful New Year’s resolution to maximize the number of new young voters. 

Voters under 30 preferred Democrats by a 28-point margin in the 2022 midterms. Youth turnout of 51-55% ushered in the last three Democratic presidents, compared to just 40-44% for Republicans. 

Yet here in Ohio – a red state that used to swing blue – Democrats have not always welcomed young voters.

Consider my home of Athens, location of Ohio University, where students are 70% of the population and the median age is 21.5. Athens city is population center of Athens County, the only blue county in Southeast Ohio and only county to oppose Ohio’s 2004 anti-LGBT constitutional amendment. Democrats hold every city office. Republicans don’t even run. 

Yet student turnout in city elections is extremely low. The most populous precincts often contribute one vote each in city primaries and barely more in general elections. Winning city candidates receive the support of about 10% of eligible voters, and the county has registered Ohio’s second lowest turnout. 

This is because Athens Democrats have actually opposed youth turnout. I know from running against them – not as a Republican, but as an independent democratic socialist. 

Running for mayor in 2019 I allied with Ellie Hamrick, another independent socialist running for city council. While registering students at OU’s dining halls we never encountered Democrats doing the same. We became the first candidates to text bank students about a city election. Democrats never followed suit. I encouraged students to hold a campus candidate forum before the voter registration deadline. By the time students wrangled the Dems, the deadline passed. 

Running for city council in 2021 I was again the only candidate calling for a campus forum. One was scheduled in response to Democrats’ stated availability, but after a meeting with their county chair the Dems all announced they would not attend – opting instead for a forum after the registration deadline, from which independents were excluded. 

Meanwhile, Democratic Mayor Steve Patterson (not even up for re-election) didn’t just snub Democratic-leaning students, he tried to secretly boost Republican turnout against progressive independents, even though it would also harm Democratic Congressional candidate Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington), whom Patterson had endorsed in the special election for Ohio’s 15th District that coincided with the city election. 

Republicans recorded Patterson attempting to woo them with right-wing talking points; praising Larry Householder protégé, state representative Jay Edwards (R-Nelsonville); and joining Republicans in laughing off Iris Virjee – a young woman candidate of color – as merely a “girl” and “bartender” whose name Patterson said he couldn’t remember. They leaked everything, and the story was front page news the day Patterson hosted Russo’s visit to Athens. 

All this happened under then-county party chair John Haseley – former chief of staff to Ted Strickland, Ohio’s last Democratic governor and six-term Congressman. So I doubt Ohio Dems’ antipathy toward young, would-be voters is unique to Athens. 

I don’t air this dirty laundry to tear down the Ohio Democratic Party. I oppose Democrats where Republicans are not competitive, but I support Democrats where Republicans are competitive. I want Ohio to swing blue again.

If Ohio Democrats also want this, they should turn heavily Democratic young people into more frequent voters by not only mobilizing them in presidential and Congressional elections but in local elections, too. The more young people vote, the more they’ll vote in the highest stakes elections. If students become frequent voters at school, they’ll take the habit many more places after graduation. 

Therefore I challenge Ohio Democrats to make a New Year’s resolution. Launch new youth mobilization efforts in 2023 – including major local candidate forums on college campuses.

Turn over a new leaf, and you might just flip Ohio. 

Damon Krane is an Appalachian community organizer, independent journalist and occasional political candidate. A collection of his writing and media coverage of his work can be found at www.damonkrane.com  

United Athens County Tenants Investigation

Apartment ceiling collapse followed 14-year history of negligence by landlord and city officials at property whose owner is both a landlord and city official
United Athens County Tenants
November 15, 2022

City code obligates officials to shut down overcharging towing companies

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By Damon Krane
November 24, 2021
Athens News (Athens, Ohio) 
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By Damon Krane

The recent Post article, “Towing in Confusion,” conveys the current mood about towing fees but misses the most important facts and implications. 

First, the confusion: The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio caps the towing fee at $129; daily vehicle storage fee at $17; and after-hours retrieval at $150. However, Athens City Code caps towing at $50 for any vehicle under 15,000 lbs.; daily storage at $6; and after-hours retrieval at $10. So if you’re towed in Athens, what can you be charged — the city maximum or the PUCO maximum? What if you’re overcharged?

Next, facts to dispel the confusion: In 2003 the Ohio General Assembly established Revised Code 4921.30 (later re-numbered 4921.25), which was only two sentences long. The first sentence subjected towing companies to PUCO regulation; the second barred municipalities from regulating towing. In the 2014 case of Cleveland v. State, the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the first sentence but struck down the second as an unconstitutional violation of home rule. So in 2015, and again in 2017, legislators re-wrote 4921.25, removing the ban on municipal regulation and creating a longer law linked to additional statutes. Nothing in the current law prohibits municipal regulation, and the linked statutes acknowledge municipal authority to license towing operators (4513.601) and set towing fees (4513.60). 

One passage of 4513.60 refers to “Payment of all applicable fees established by the public utilities commission in rules adopted under section 4921.25 of the Revised Code or, if the vehicle was towed within a municipal corporation that has established fees for vehicle removal and storage, payment of all applicable fees established by the municipal corporation”; another states an owner who discovers their vehicle about to be towed may regain possession by paying either half the PUCO fee or “if the vehicle is within a municipal corporation and the municipal corporation has established a vehicle removal fee… the owner or operator may pay not more than one-half of that fee.”

Meanwhile, 4513.601(B)(2) states, “If a municipal corporation requires tow trucks and tow truck operators to be licensed, no owner of a private property located within the municipal corporation shall cause the removal and storage of any vehicle… by an unlicensed tow truck or unlicensed tow truck operator.”

Thus city Law Director Lisa Eliason is right to say that Athens City Code, not PUCO, regulates local towing. However, she is wrong to suggest the city has no enforcement power — that someone overcharged can only file suit against the towing operator.

Athens City Code 7.06.03 states towing operators must be licensed by the city to operate here. If any “required information” on the operator’s license application “is found to be misrepresented or untrue, rejection of such application or revocation of any issued license shall be mandatory.” Finally, 7.09.99 (T)(1-2) establishes the following penalties for any towing operator who engages in “illegal towing.” 

“Any owner or operator who violates Sections 7.06.01 to 7.06.23  of the Athens City Code [author’s note: Section 7.06.17(A) establishes city towing fees] other than Section 7.06.03 or 7.06.05 or the provisions of Section 7.05.30 of the Athens City Code, or any towing regulation as promulgated by the service-safety director as provided for in Section 7.06.22, shall be guilty of illegal towing and shall be fined not more than $25.00 for the first offense and not more than $100.00 for any subsequent offense…”

“Any owner or operator who is convicted of three [such] violations… during the one-year licensing period shall have his license to own or operate a tow truck within the corporate limits of Athens suspended by the service-safety director for a period of not less than 30 nor more than 90 days.”

Athens is not unique. Nearly every Ohio city I’ve researched so far establishes its own towing fees — including Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, Cincinnati, Columbus, Kent, Oxford, Mansfield, Dublin, Canton, Dayton and Chillicothe. Youngstown is among cities with a process for revoking licenses, fining, criminally charging, and even jailing towing operators who violate its regulations. Akron just updated its fees a few months ago. 

Yet when I emailed City Service-Safety Director Andy Stone, he said he and his predecessors have not followed city towing regulations since 2004 and he’s not about to start now. 

“The sections of the ACC you referred to were rendered moot by the state legislature several years ago when they superseded local legislation.. placing towing companies under the jurisdiction of the PUCO,” Stone stated incorrectly.

I explained the relevant case law and statutes, but Stone maintained, “While the ACC notes my office holds the responsibility, I do not intend to reinstitute a [licensing and regulatory] program that has not existed for at least 17 years which I believe at least partially conflicts with state law.” 

I asked if Eliason and Police Chief Pyle (who Stone said he would consult) share his legal beliefs. Stone replied, “it is our opinion that… [ACC] 7.06 is antiquated due to conflicting laws and case laws,” although he did not cite any. 

So, finally, the implications: In one of the poorest and most income-unequal places in Ohio, Athens city administrators have spent many years defying local regulations and misrepresenting state law to enable towing companies to charge fees that, for many local workers, are equivalent to an entire week’s wages.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, it begs the question: Why do administrators believe they can pick and choose which portions of code they follow? Council holds legislative power; the administration’s job is to implement Council’s legislation. If administrators can arbitrarily ignore legislation, then our city is not governed by the rule of law but by the whims of individual officials. Why then even have a Council– or law, for that matter?

-Damon Krane is a longtime community organizer focused on reducing inequality and increasing democracy. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Athens in 2019 and City Council in 2021.

Mayor Patterson can still surprise me

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By Damon Krane
October 14, 2021
Athens Messenger (Athens, Ohio) 
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By Damon Krane

There’s nothing surprising about the vitriol and lies Athens Mayor Steve Patterson directed at me this week. Nor is there anything surprising about Patterson allying himself with Trump’s people to try to defeat local progressive independents, despite the fact (or rather because of it) that we independents have endorsed many of the same policies as all four of this year’s new Democratic city candidates — Democrats who the mayor’s right-wing allies denounce in the same breath they denounce us. The mayor has always managed to put on a passable act for liberals when he needs to, but I’ve known the real Steve Patterson for too long to be surprised.

Steve Patterson is the former psychology professor who forged his tenure application, then turned to politics after he got caught. He’s the mayor who lied about code enforcement records to deny the existence of rental housing problems when I ran against him in 2019. And he didn’t just lie about those records once, but over and over again for five months until the Athens News finally called him out on it.

Patterson is the mayor who — along with his allies on Council, Sarah Grace and Chris Fahl — touted the city-subsidized construction of new quarter-million dollar homes at University Estates as an “affordable housing” initiative, then used a short-lived lumber price bubble as an excuse to make the homes even less affordable.

He’s the mayor who — once more assisted by Councilmember Grace — purchased the city’s $91,000 racial equity course from his own organization, The National League of Cities REAL Council, to which Patterson was appointed while in the midst of brokering the purchase. (Note: The mayor’s blatant self-serving conflict of interest notwithstanding, the even bigger problem with the course is that it’s as empty a performative gesture as it is an expensive one. Given that Patterson and his allies still refuse to conduct the racial equity review of city operations that Council promised 16 months ago, the course can’t be directed at solving any specific problems and its effectiveness can’t be measured, which makes the $91,000 course no more valuable than a PBS documentary on racism city employees could have watched for free, and which reveals the course to be more about covering up systemic racism than correcting it.)

Patterson is also the mayor who pushed Council to eliminate any opportunity for public comment on the REAL course’s purchase in order to conceal all of the above, just as, more recently, he tried to eliminate opportunity for public comment and oversight by Council in his rushed hiring of his family friend and wife’s co-worker as the city’s new Arts Parks and Recreation Director. (And yes, yet again Councilmember Grace assisted the mayor in both cases.)

But all that said, I’ll give Mayor Patterson credit for one thing. He might be a consummate liar and walking assortment of ethics violations. He might lie about me and call me names. But at least the mayor can be troubled to remember my name!

That’s far more respect than he’s shown to City Council candidate Iris Virjee — the young, working class, woman of color with a degree in urban planning and a history of community organizing work, who Patterson joined with Republicans Tuesday in denigrating as merely “a girl” and “a bartender,” whose name Patterson said he couldn’t even remember while the Republicans present struggled to pronounce it.

How’s that for another sign of city leaders’ commitment to diversity and inclusion? The mayor and a bunch of other affluent old white men bonding over the sheer casualness of their shared sexism and classism. Just when I thought my opinion of Patterson couldn’t be any lower, the mayor showed he can still surprise me.

If all this still isn’t enough, what exactly would it take for Athens Dems to finally wise up and dump the mayor and his allies? Our community deserves so much better.

Press Release: Candidate Damon Krane’s response to Athens (Ohio) City Council considering banning discrimination against Section 8 tenants

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, April 13, 2021
FROM: The Committee to Elect Damon Krane

I’m very happy Athens City Council is finally considering expanding affordable housing by prohibiting landlords from discrimination against Section 8 tenants within Athens city limits. 19 other states and 10 other Ohio cities already prohibit source of income discrimination — it’s past time for Athens to catch up! 

The issue was put on Monday’s council meeting agenda by 1st Ward representative Arian Smedley. (The full meeting can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/CityOfAthensOhioInfo/videos/922174201968914/ )

A lot of folks have worked long and hard for this policy, and I am among them. But you’re not likely to hear our local political establishment acknowledge my role in advancing this issue, or the role played by United Athens County Tenants, or the role played by 2019 independent socialist city council candidate Ellie Hamrick, whose team is responsible for first raising the issue locally. That’s because we’re the ones pushing the city establishment in a more progressive direction than it wants to go. And if our city is going to continue to change for the better, it’s important to understand how positive local change happens.

I’ll review my record on this issue more closely now.

OPERATION SLUMLORD SMACKDOWN 

Not only did my April 8 campaign announcement include my call for banning source of income discrimination as the second policy initiative listed — I have been calling for a local ban on source of income discrimination ever since I ran for mayor of Athens in 2019. That year I included a SOID ban within my package of proposed housing policy reforms, “Operation Slumlord Smackdown,” at the urging of Ellie Hamrick’s city council campaign. 2019 council candidates Ellie Hamrick and Chris Monday both ended up endorsing OSS with the SOID ban included.

THE 2019 CAMPAIGN & CANDIDATE FORUMS

When OSS supporters questioned all the 2019 candidates for Athens City Council At-Large about an SOID ban during an October 24, 2019 candidate forum, Democrats Sarah Grace and Beth Clodfelter both joined Hamrick and Monday (as well as independent candidate Pat McGee) in endorsing a SOID ban. Beginning at the 1:47:17 mark in the video of that night’s candidate forum, Grace said in no uncertain terms

“Yes, absolutely. I support a ban on source of income discrimination. In fact, I’ve already brought it up in committee in City Council. This is something that came forward from discussions with members of the Affordable Housing Commission. This is something that we decided, this can happen very quickly and can take effect right away.”

At the 1:51:52 mark, Clodfelter replied, “I’ll be very brief because we’re near the end of our closing time. Yes, I would support a ban on source of income [discrimination].”

(Note: The full video can be viewed here: https://www.facebook.com/CityOfAthensOhioInfo/videos/552020318904409 ) This 2019 candidate forum was hosted by the Far Eastside Neighborhood Association and moderated by Alan Swank, now himself a 2021 Democratic primary candidate for Athens City Council who also has endorsed a SOID ban, while his opponent, 12-year incumbent Chris Fahl, has not).

But after Grace and Clodfelter won the 2019 city council election, they failed to introduce a SOID ban to Council, then stopped acknowledging the issue and even ignored constituents who questioned them about it on Facebook on March 26, 2020.

While Grace, chair of Athens City Council’s Affordable Housing Commission, stated in October 2019, “This is something that we decided; this can happen very quickly and can take effect right away,” it would take 17 more month of continuous pressure from housing justice activists, and finally the threat of new left-wing campaigns for city office in 2021, before a member of council other than Grace or Clodfelter — Arian Smedley — would finally introduced a SOID ban to council yesterday.

UNITED ATHENS COUNTY TENANTS

In contrast to Grace and Clodfelter, I continued working for a SOID ban after the 2019 election, both individually and alongside other housing justice activists as a member of United Athens County Tenants. This is reflected in UACT’s social media posts and an October 19, 2020 Athens Messenger article ( https://www.athensmessenger.com/news/housing-authority-says-hud-and-prokos-incompatible/article_89051e3a-b703-5735-a562-deba3b4a8e8d.html ), which reported the following.

Damon Krane, also a member of United Athens County Tenants, ran for Athens City Mayor in 2019, using a platform of increasing the city’s housing code, to update the city’s housing infrastructure, and increasing the Code Office’s budget to help the office crack down on infractions. He says the issues have not changed, despite endorsements of better housing options for low-income residents of the area from two members of city council: Sarah Grace and Beth Clodfelter.

They specifically expressed support of a ban on income discrimination which would prevent landlords from choosing not to offer housing off that criteria.

“Since elected Grace and Clodfelter haven’t followed through with any proposed ordinance, and a few months back they both chose not to respond when tagged in questions about the issue on the SEO Mutual Aid Facebook page,” Krane told The Messenger on Thursday.

He also noted that according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s nation-wide 2020 County Health Rankings and Roadmaps program, Athens County has the worst housing problems in the entire state of Ohio. The severe housing issues is listed as a health factor regarding an individual’s physical environment, utilizing data from 2012-2016.

To help address the issue, Krane and [fellow group member Lori] Boegerhausen say the United Athens County Tenants group will be seeking action from the city council to create a ban on income discrimination. Whether this can be extended across the county remains to be seen, as does whether the Athens City Council will be receptive and supportive to the measure.

URGING SOLVEIG SPJELDNES TO TAKE UP THE ISSUE & PRESENTING THE LEGAL ARGUMENT

Furthermore, as part of my individual advocacy for a SOID ban, on January 8 of this year, when new 2021 Democratic candidate for City Council’s 1st Ward Solveig Spjeldnes first announced her candidacy on the Athens West Side Facebook page, I replied to the post, once more criticizing Grace and Clodfelter for dropping the issue of an SOID ban, and challenging Spjeldnes to commit to introduce a SOID ban if elected to council. 

Spjeldnes’ initial response was to state that a SOID ban was not legally permitted. After I explained to her why that was not true, she thanked me and promised to do more research. To her credit, she did that research, and now she supports a SOID ban. I will briefly review the course of her evolution on the issue.

“If landlords decide not to accept Section 8 vouchers at all, it is my current understanding that City Council has no power under Ohio law to force them to do so,” Spjeldnes initially replied to me on Facebook. “Athens City Council has law making restrictions related to being a Statutory rather than a Charter city. Ohio law along with ordinances dictate when and how our city council can and cannot intervene.” 

I responded by explaining the following.

Thus far, all of the Ohio cities that have passed SoID bans are charter cities. However, that is not terribly surprising considering that, of all Ohio cities, 3 out of 4 are charter cities. And this does not mean that a statutory city like Athens is forbidden from passing an SoID ban by adding “source of income” to the existing list of classes protected from housing discrimination.

Indeed, if you compare the list of protected classes in Ohio’s current fair housing law –ORC 4112.01(H)(1)– to the current list of protected classes in the Athens City Code –ACC 3.07.62(C)(1)– you will see that Athens, to its credit, already includes two classes not protected by state fair housing law, those being “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression.” The latter was incorporated as a protected class in 2010; I assume the former was incorporated even longer ago.

And again, ACC 3.07.99 states, “Any person, firm, or corporation violating any provisions of Sections 3.07.61 through 3.07.68 of this Code, or any amendment or supplement thereto, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in accordance with Section 2929.21(D) of the Ohio Revised Code.”

Thus it seems to me that there is no reason Athens could not also add “source of income” to the list of classes protected from housing discrimination.

Spjeldnes replied, “Thank you for your well studied information on this issue. I really appreciate your thoughtfulness and time to prepare this, which I have copied and kept… I will continue to study and pay attention so I can be a productive advocate.”

(My entire exchange with Spjeldnes can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/groups/athenswestside/permalink/1818326744992166 )

Again, to her credit Spjeldnes made good on that commitment. Three months after our exchange on the West Side Facebook page, she spoke at Monday’s council meeting to express her support for adding “source of income” to the list of classes protected by Athens’ current anti-discrimination ordinance.

She described this as “an excellent first start” but added that to enforce the anti-discrimination measure against resistant landlords additional language may need to be added to city code regarding penalties for non-compliance.  

“I’m afraid some landlords are not going to be welcoming this change,” she said. “So I think if we can make this as appealing as possible, with some teeth — that might need to have some additional portions to this ordinance or a separate ordinance altogether — I think that would be beneficial for making this really work.”

RAISING THE ISSUE IN THE 4TH WARD COUNCIL PRIMARY RACE BETWEEN CHRIS FAHL & ALAN SWANK

Another example of my individual advocacy for a SOID occurred at the 4th Ward City Council Candidate Forum with Alan Swank and Chris Fahl, held by the Athens County League of Women Voters on March 23. There Swank and Fahl were asked the following question 49 minutes and 2 seconds into the event.

Many Ohio cities have outlawed housing discrimination against Section 8 tenants by adding ‘source of income’ to the list of ‘protected classes’ within their local fair housing ordinances. The Athens fair housing ordinance already goes above and beyond state fair housing law by protecting gay and transgender tenants from discrimination. If elected, will you push to add ‘source of income’ to the list of classes that are protected from housing discrimination in Athens?

As my email records show (I can provide a screenshot to media upon request) and the Athens County League of Women Voters should be able to confirm, I am the person who submitted that question via email to the candidate forum held over Zoom.

Swank replied, “Absolutely. Whether you’re getting your income from Section 8 subsidies, from a rich uncle in Utah or out of your bank account at the Hocking Valley Bank, it should not matter as long as you have the money to pay the rent… Source of income should not matter. It should not matter at all. We have a dearth of affordable, quality housing for our senior citizens, and similarly we have a dearth of affordable — and I’ll put emphasis on ‘quality’– housing for individuals who may not have a great deal of money.” 

Fahl replied, “I would have to see whether the state actually preempts those sort of things because the state does try to preempt some of the more progressive things that cities have been trying to do, especially over the last couple of years.”  

Fahl doesn’t appear to have investigated the issue herself since the March 23 candidate forum — but 1st Ward council member Arian Smedley did exactly that.

MONDAY’S COUNCIL MEETING

I attended Monday’s council meeting as a very interested observer, but I did not speak. Katherine King, my colleague at United Athens County Tenants, delivered public comment. In addition, Council invited comment from Southeastern Ohio Legal Services Senior Staff Attorney Peggy Lee, who in addition to SEOLS Managing Attorney Lucy Schwallie, has participated in UACT’s recent educational series of workshops and panel discussions.

(Lee and Schwallie also co-authored this December 29, 2020 Letter to the Editor of the Athens Messenger in which the two provided information on SOID bans — https://www.athensmessenger.com/comment/editorials/supporting-tenants-seeking-housing-using-vouchers/article_a9b45fe0-4612-510a-87a3-ef95b72e9fd0.html )

With King and Lee already providing the necessary information, I did not feel the need to add my voice. But I listened with great interest as Smedley explained “a little story of how we got here.”

“A resident on the West Side reached out to me [and asked] if the City of Athens would be in position to adopt an ordinance that would ban discrimination on source of income,” Smedley stated. “And included in the communication was a news article about how Bexley, Ohio had done this similar change about a year ago.” 

Smedley apparently was referring to a March 11 post made to the Athens West Side Facebook page by David Kurz, in which he described a SOID ban like that passed by Bexley as “A simple solution to help some of our most vulnerable people” and added, “It’s past due in Athens.” (See https://www.facebook.com/groups/athenswestside/permalink/1863958590428981 )

Kurz then tagged Smedley in the comment thread, and she replied, “Thank you for sharing. I will bring this up with Council Members.” 

Kurz and I both “liked” Smedley’s response.

At Monday’s meeting, Smedley explained that in response to the West Side resident’s Facebook post, “I reached out to Law Director Lisa Eliason for her to take a look.” 

“And my ask was simply, ‘Is this something we can look at, or at least talk about?'” Smedley continued. “And after some communications, she discovered and recommended that if this was something of interest for Athens that we could simply amend our current ordinance that’s called ‘Unlawful Discriminatory Practices’ by adding the language ‘source of income.'”

“This is a fairly simple change,” Smedley continued. “We’re including this ‘source of income’ as another thing we want to protect people for.”

This, of course, is the exact process I outlined back on January 8, also on the Athens West Side Facebook page, in my discussion there with Spjeldnes. 

“THE LOCAL BERNIE SANDERS EFFECT” CONTINUES

The bottom line here is Council’s enactment of a SOID ban (apparently now imminent) is just one more example of what I call “The Local Bernie Sanders Effect,” whereby new independent left-wing candidates and community activists are pushing the local Democratic establishment in a more progressive direction. 

In a city with no Republican officeholders, and usually no Republican candidates, the struggle between economic conservatives and progressives has until now mostly been a struggle between a Democratic establishment backed by local economic elites and Republicans (including the 15-year county GOP chair’s support for Democratic Athens Mayor Steve Patterson) and independent candidates and community activists mounting a challenge to the local Democratic establishment from its left. And that challenge is achieving victories. Even when candidates like me lose an election, we are slowly but surely winning the policy battles.

Back in 2019, Athens Democratic politicians mostly dismissed the issues progressive independent candidates like me raised. (See https://www.thepostathens.com/article/2019/09/election-change-rental-housing-policies-athens?fbclid=IwAR3_u5J6Fez6u8NoIdKZJEKVG0Ou3yJWpDK4FSxXGYaIzegJHY7xXpjfo4g )But even that year, Athens City Council responded to “Operation Slumlord Smackdown” by increasing penalties against landlords who repeatedly violate our housing code. (See https://www.athensnews.com/news/local/athens-election-challengers-city-enables-slumlords-over-tenants/article_d6a897d0-c9b8-11e9-9747-57846ebf9888.html and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgjeHuiLvJU&ab_channel=DamonKrane ) While that’s nowhere near enough to reign in predatory slumlords, it is also the most substantial pro-tenant legislation council has passed in decades. 

Now, two years later, all of the new Democratic candidates — Ben Ziff, Solveig Spjeldnes and Alan Swank — have adopted large parts of the 2019 candidates’ housing justice platforms, and Swank also has begun adopting racial justice activists’ positions on city issues, including policing.

I realize some folks get upset at me for demanding better things from city officeholders. That’s why my opponents have once again nominated me for “Politician We Hope Will Go Far Away” in this year’s Athens News “Best of Athens” awards. But like Frederick Douglass said about what he called “the whole philosophy of reform” — “If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters… Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” 

I am very happy to continue to be part of The Local Bernie Sanders Effect, as both a candidate for city office again this year and as a social justice organizer every year. Just think how much more I could do if elected to city government! 

But to win a much more just and equitable Athens, more of us need to be willing to rock the boat. It’s the sort of thing that will win you as many enemies as friends. People will say mean things about you. But it is what’s necessary to get the job done.

Athens, Ohio: Where have all the leftist candidates gone?

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By Damon Krane 
The New Political(Athens, Ohio)
Friday, April 9, 2021 
Athens News (Athens, Ohio)
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
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In 2019, I was one of 4 new progressive and leftist candidates for local office in Southeast Ohio — all of us working class renters, including Chris Monday and Ellie Hamrick, who ran for Athens City Council, and McCray Powell, who ran for Nelsonville City Council.

A January 25 Athens News headline declared, “Athens could have its most competitive election season in years, and it would be thanks to Damon Krane.” 

Damon Krane? That’s me — a social justice organizer and independent journalist here in Athens since 1999. In 2019 I ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Athens as a democratic socialist with a detailed plan to crack down on predatory landlords and improve rental housing conditions. Last year I co-founded United Athens County Tenants and Athens County Copwatch, organizations that have stayed busy fighting to improve tenants’ lives and combat racist policing, making plenty of headlines along the way. 

This year I decided to run for Athens City Council to continue advancing a housing, racial and economic justice agenda. But my main priority has been finding other like-minded people to run — hence the January 25 headline.

Unfortunately, though, it looks like that headline won’t come to pass. So an explanation is in order, as well as a final appeal to anyone who wants to see a better, more equitable Athens.

With all eight seats on Athens City Council up for grabs this year, I spent the past three months encouraging nearly 100 people to run. Seven people expressed serious to moderate interest, and we spent hours talking about logistics. 

I was proud of the prospective candidates I identified. While our current City Council is comprised entirely of affluent, white homeowners — all apparently cisgender and heterosexual with an average age of 55 — the prospective candidates I identified are all working-class renters and mostly people of color, including three students, two transgender people and a military veteran. At an average age of 28, they’ve all grown up in today’s world. Their intersectional, progressive, working-class politics are informed by lived experiences shared by the majority of Athenians, but not by any current Council member. 

Eventually, though, all but one of these prospective candidates decided not to run. 

If I group them with the several dozen more folks who immediately declined, the barrier to running most commonly cited was economic insecurity. Many potential candidates had to search for a job or housing outside Athens, couldn’t find the time to run between multiple jobs, were stretched too thin to handle the stress, or worried that opposing the city establishment would get them fired and blacklisted. Sometimes economic insecurity was compounded by additional factors making people feel vulnerable, such as having done sex work to pay the bills, having battled addiction or previously run afoul of the law, and/or having to endure the daily strains of being a member of an historically oppressed group. 

Back in 2019, a member of the Athens County Democratic Party Central Committee — also a landlord, business owner and officeholder — assured me that Athens rarely has competitive elections where voters get to pick who governs them because most residents are so happy with the status quo they can’t be bothered to run for office. He also said the mayor’s $90,000 salary would be “a pay cut for anyone qualified to hold the position.”

That’s an interesting take, considering we live in a city with a poverty rate three to five times the national rate, a median household income half the national level, and a rate of homeownership half the national rate, while located in a county with the absolute highest income inequality and worst housing problems in Ohio where nearly 40% of residents are paying more for housing than they can reasonably afford.

Outside the party leader’s fantasy world, the truth is that most of us aren’t in love with the status quo. We’re the ones suffering. That gives us the knowledge and will to solve our community’s problems, but also meager resources with which to do it. So, at the end of the day, we typically don’t run for office or even vote in city elections.

By abstaining from city politics, we withhold consent from politicians so blinded by their own privilege that they call the public subsidization of our most affluent residents’ luxury home-buying an “affordable housing initiative,” and they unanimously pass a sweeping racial justice resolution they never intended to implement. 

But unfortunately, these politicians don’t need our consent, and the wealthiest members of our community — typically about 10% of eligible city voters — continue to elect a local government of, by and for themselves. That’s why, if you’re an Ohio U student or a local service worker, you most likely live in over-priced, dangerously run-down rental housing.

Another shot from the 2019 campaign trail, this one taken shortly after I cast my vote on Election Day.

When I worked to register voters in 2019, most people looked at me like I had the plague or had just insulted their mother. I sympathize with those feelings of disgust toward electoral politics, but I’m also serious enough about revolution to realize that none is on the horizon. History isn’t coming to save us. So, while we build toward the more radical change we need, we must also make the most of every current opportunity, including local elections. 

Do you want to create an Athens that actually fights for housing, racial and economic justice? I do. But no one can do it alone.

After spending so much time encouraging others to run, I’m now down to the wire and need help gathering about 100 signatures by May 3 to get on the ballot. Will you sign my petition, help me collect signatures, or consider running yourself with my support? If so, email damon DOT krane AT gmail DOT com.

Yes, Athens (Ohio) police and politicians are racist, too

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By Damon Krane 
Athens News (Athens, Ohio) 
Wednesday, July 15, 2020 
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As the largest social movement in US history calls to end policing as we know it, local politicians from both parties are lining up on the wrong side of history.

Sunday, July 5, a few dozen people staged a “Defend the Police” rally in Athens to oppose the Movement for Black Lives. The crowd came equipped with more Trump flags, white power tattoos and guns than masks to inhibit the spread of COVID-19. Of about 50 total demonstrators, many chanting “all lives matter,” no more than 4 were masked — a considerable step up from Athens police officers present, who were maskless without exception. Demonstrators included not only Republican state representative Jay Edwards but Democratic county commissioner and former local union president Charlie Adkins.

Like Edwards and Adkins, Democratic city council member and Appalachian Peace and Justice Network board member Beth Clodfelter also defends the status quo. According to the Athens News, “Clodfelter said she recently met with Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle and was confident in what the department was doing to hold officers accountable in combating racism and police brutality” due to APD’s “implicit bias training and crisis intervention training; a ban on chokeholds and neck restraints; and a full-time social worker, as well as a former psychologist, who serves as an officer on staff.”

Yet just as Minneapolis police had five years of implicit bias training before they murdered George Floyd, and San Jose police in May shot their own implicit bias trainer of three years, most or all of what Clodfelter cited has been in place for years. Nevertheless, Black people, while just 5.3% of Athenians, were subject to 8.9% of APD traffic stops and 7.7% of arrests from 2015 to 2020. And while Athens and OU are 84% and 78% white respectively, a full 59% of those cited or arrested for an open container violation were Black, Asian, Indigenous, or of “unknown” race.

Also, on September 28, 2019, Ethan Doerr (already facing two lawsuits alleging excessive force) twice punched in the face, tasered and, with fellow officers, pinned to the pavement African-American college student Ty Bealer before a crowd of outraged onlookers, all for Bealer’s alleged crime of attempting to elude police. Bealer’s charges were later reduced to minor misdemeanor disorderly conduct, equivalent in severity to a speeding ticket. 

After video of the arrest went viral, the Ohio University chapter of the NAACP called APD’s use of force “extremely unnecessary,” and OU Student Senate denounced the “discriminatory and brutal behavior” of the arresting officers.

Democratic Athens mayor Steve Patterson responded by convening a press conference September 30 regarding the incident, where he was joined by Athens police chief Tom Pyle and City Service-Safety Director Andy Stone.

Although Pyle acknowledged at the conference that APD had not yet completed any investigation into the use of force, he nevertheless issued his conclusions that the arresting officers were “justified” and “restrained,” while declaring, “I don’t see racism in this incident. I just don’t.” Patterson, meanwhile, took the opportunity to accuse those critical of Bealer’s violent arrest of spreading “misinformation.”

At a council candidate forum three days later, Clodfelter stated, “What is portrayed in the video [of Bealer’s arrest] looked to me like excessive force” but she expressed confidence in Pyle’s ability to properly handle the situation. No findings of any internal investigation ever were publicly announced, and Clodfelter did not address the matter again.

Perhaps most telling, on February 1, 2017 — 12 days after Trump took office — APD, Ohio University Police Department and the Ohio State Highway Patrol violated the civil rights of hundreds of anti-racists by illegally dispersing the textbook definition of a constitutionally-protected demonstration held in Baker Center to denounce Trump’s first travel ban and to demand OU and Athens become a sanctuary campus and city. 

While dispersing the lawful assembly, police targeted 70 anti-racists for the second largest campus arrest in OU’s 216-year history. And just as recent demonstrations across the country have been marred by police attacks on journalists, police arrested a journalist from The Post and threatened to arrest others from the Athens News and Athens Messenger.

Democratic city law director Lisa Eliason not only chose to prosecute those wrongfully arrested on their original false charges, her office managed to win 15 convictions by pressuring some anti-racists into pleading down to lesser but equally false charges before the original charges were thrown out in court — thereby concocting criminal records for people who, the court later agreed, never should have been arrested. 

City council then grabbed headlines by passing a toothless resolution denouncing Trump’s travel ban, while, in much finer newsprint, Patterson rejected the demand to make Athens a sanctuary city. 

Sound familiar? 

In response to the current uprising against racist police brutality, council passed another toothless resolution, this time declaring racism a public health crisis, while in the same breath Clodfelter denied such a crisis actually exists in local policing and rejected calls for change.

That’s not the only way February 2017 reverberates today. After city police and politicians signaled their willingness to violate the law in order to help OU suppress anti-racism, administrators imposed restrictions on campus speech and assembly the Ohio ACLU immediately denounced as unconstitutional. Public backlash forced OU to abandon several restrictions, but a ban remains on demonstrations in Baker Center’s 4th floor rotunda.

When the ban was created, and for the three years it has persisted, Patterson and OU President Duane Nellis have sat together on the Joint Police Advisory Council to coordinate APD and OUPD and met privately each month. Thus in 2020 we have every reason to expect a repeat of the Baker 70 incident, with city and university officials once again abusing police power to illegally suppress anti-racism. 

So Clodfelter is just plain wrong. 

Local police, city and university officials disproportionately target Blacks, other people of color and anti-racist activists for selective enforcement of the law, violence and illegal abuse of power. And they do so with impunity: no one was ever held accountable for the misconduct above. 

Instead, nearly $10 million dollars was spent last year on APD and OUPD — two departments whose jurisdictions are contained within a city of 25,000 (school year) to 15,000 (summer) residents, located in Ohio’s poorest county. That’s almost 20 times more than city spending on rental housing safety regulation, when our housing stock is 72% rental. It’s also more police spending per capita for just APD and OUPD than Ohio spends per capita on all campus, village, city, county and state police forces combined. Meanwhile, city government spends no money to directly alleviate local poverty. 

This is why police should be defunded locally as well as nationally.

Damon Krane is a longtime local social justice organizer and independent journalist who ran unsuccessfully for mayor last year as a democratic socialist on an anti-slumlord platform. He contributes to https://athenscountypolicingdata.org

Athens, Ohio’s response to COVID-19 highlights health hazards of landlord rule

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By Damon Krane 
Athens News (Athens, Ohio)
Thursday, April 2, 2020
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Beginning on March 12, municipalities all over Ohio and the U.S. began heeding the advice of public health experts by halting residential eviction hearings to slow the spread of COVID-19. Mayors, city councils, county officials and judges all stepped up to make this happen. But here in Athens County, elected officials either passed the buck or acted directly to carry out evictions for much longer.

When I urged local officials to halt evictions at the March 16 Athens City Council meeting, council President Chris Knisely replied, “I’m not sure that the city actually governs evictions,” and Athens Mayor Steve Patterson stated, “It would be a Municipal Court decision, in terms of managing evictions or putting a moratorium on them.” The following day, Athens County Commissioner Lenny Eliason told the Athens Messenger, “We don’t have any authority when it comes to that.”

Yet on March 16, Cleveland City Council announced it would halt evictions if Cleveland Municipal Court didn’t act first. Oakland, California’s City Council already had done the same thing on March 12. The mayors of Seattle and San Francisco banned evictions on March 13, as did the mayors of Los Angeles on March 15 and San Diego on March 16, with the support of their city councils. In Mayor Patterson’s former hometown of Portland, Oregon, Mayor Ted Wheeler and Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury jointly issued an eviction ban on March 17.

Meanwhile, beginning on March 13, municipal courts all over Ohio began halting evictions, including those in Franklin, Hamilton, Montgomery, Bellefontaine, Shelby and Adams counties, as well as Dayton Municipal Court and Toledo Municipal Court.

On March 16, Southeastern Ohio Legal Services Director Lucy Schwallie sent a letter to Athens County Municipal Judge Todd Grace in which she argued, “Proceeding with the eviction hearings now forces our clients to make a dangerous choice in light of a public health crisis: come to court and risk being exposed to the virus, or stay home and risk a default judgment that will result in homelessness down the line.”

That same day multiple residents spoke at Athens City Council’s meeting to urge local officeholders to halt evictions, and a petition signed by 800 residents (934 eventually) demanded the same.

Yet on March 16 and 17, Judge Grace publicly stated he would continue holding eviction hearings. By then courts covering all of Ohio’s major cities and many outlying areas already had halted evictions, and two days later, on March 19, the Ohio Supreme Court urged all remaining courts to follow suit. Thus it was not until March 23, on the eve of Ohio’s March 24 State of Emergency declaration, that Grace finally relented and suspended eviction hearings along with all other in-person hearings.

So what gives?

Every single partisan office in Athens County is held by a Democrat. The Democratic Party is supposed to be on the side of low-income renters and on the side of science. It was Democrats who passed Oregon and California’s rent-control laws, which former Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris praised, and which Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders seeks to expand into a national policy.

Likewise, most officeholders across the U.S. who heeded medical experts’ advice and quickly halted evictions are Democrats. Yet here in Athens – the bluest county in Ohio – it took pressure from the Republican-controlled Ohio Supreme Court to get Democratic officeholders to stop hurting low-income renters and exacerbating a public health crisis by ignoring medical science.

And there’s no mystery as to why.

Judge Grace is a landlord. His wife, Athens City Council member Sarah Grace, is a landlord. Grace’s fellow council member, Pete Kotses, is a landlord. And while Mayor Patterson is not a landlord, the majority of top donors to his last two mayoral campaigns are four landlords who together own more than 1,000 bedrooms in the city of Athens alone and collect an estimated $6 million annually from residential city renters.

What we call the Athens County Democratic Party is actually a bipartisan coalition of landlords and politicians beholden to landlords. During last year’s mayoral campaign, Patterson bragged to The Post that Republicans don’t run against him because he’s already the mayor they want – and, indeed, his supporters included 15-year chair of the Athens County Republican Party, Pete Couladis, and major landlord Demetrios Prokos, who has donated $4,000 to Republican state Rep. Jay Edwards.

And it doesn’t take a global pandemic for local officeholders to put landlord profits before public health and safety.

Even after city negligence contributed to the Carriage Hill Apartments fire of 2017, the city of Athens still won’t hire enough rental housing inspectors to adequately enforce the housing code, and city Law Director Lisa Eliason (wife of County Commissioner Lenny Eliason) continues to violate the code herself by ignoring its stated penalties for violations in order to let offending landlords off the hook.

The only difference now is that local officeholders aren’t just continuing to put tenants’ lives at risk by refusing to adequately regulate the local rental market. Now, they’ve put all Athens Countians’ lives at risk by increasing everyone’s chance of contracting and spreading a deadly virus.

We can’t ignore this problem any longer.

_________________

Damon Krane is a longtime local social-justice organizer who ran unsuccessfully against Mayor Patterson last year as an independent democratic socialist with a platform focused on housing issues. He was actively involved in recent efforts to halt evictions.

When the Confederate Flag Wasn’t Racist for Me

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By Damon Krane
Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Athens News (Athens, Ohio)
Thursday, August 21, 2019
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__________________

(Note: The following column was written in response to controversy surrounding the sale of Confederate flag items at the Athens County Fair and the Nelsonville Parade of the Hills, both in Athens County, Ohio.)

I grew up in the country, and I grew up with the Confederate flag.

On the other side of the Ohio River I learned how to ride a horse when I was 3 and handle a gun by the age of 10. I requested a John Deere tractor on my 3^rd birthday cake and the monster truck Bigfoot another year. I spent my summers fishing in farm ponds, dodging livestock, and going to the county fair. Sometimes I wore a Confederate flag T-shirt.

I wasn’t an aspiring Klansman – I just liked Dukes of Hazard. It was the 80s. I liked Mr. T and Michael Jackson, too. I had a happy childhood, and the Confederate flag was part of it.

Aside from one machine gun-collecting neighbor who’d drop the maximum number of N-bombs in every conversation, I wasn’t aware of much racism as a child. Confederate flags were on pickups everywhere. But that was just Dukes of Hazard stuff, right?

Granted, my family didn’t have any friends who weren’t white like us. If we had, I wonder if they’d have liked the Dukes’ General Lee as much as we did. They probably wouldn’t have barbecued with our well-armed neighbor.

When I was 16 in 1995, I ran into my best friend from grade school, who I’d lost touch with after he moved to another district. Suddenly, he was eager to tell me all about “The 14 words,” Mein Kampf, and the new friends he was trading weapons with.

When I was 18 in 1997, a woman in an all-white town down the road began dating a southwest Asian man from out-of-town and some of her neighbors burnt a cross on her front lawn. The NAACP chapter from a nearby city organized a protest march in response. Protesters of the march wore swastika armbands and KKK t-shirts and stood together waving Nazi and Confederate flags. What they said to marchers made me angry, so I joined the march. They called me a “race traitor” and said I should be killed. A state trooper who escorted me out of town said, “You’re not from around here, are you?” I had never lived more than 15 miles away.

I got home and searched online for the KKK. The Confederate flag always was the first thing I saw. “Fly the battle flag with pride for we are at war again!” declared the web site of “America’s Invisible Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.” That wasn’t what the flag had meant to me, so I kept reading – not from KKK websites, but about US history.

I learned that in the lead up to the Civil War, 20 – 25% of the South’s people enslaved 32% of the South’s people, while the majority of people living in South Carolina and Mississippi were enslaved. And when that smaller group of rich Southerners who used government power to enslave a much larger group of Southerners went to war with the US, they did so to protect fortunes built on slavery, not to protect “states’ rights” – something clearly proclaimed in Confederate states’ secession declarations. And to symbolize the war they fought to keep slaves, they created the Confederate flag . Or, rather, they created a bunch of different Confederate flags.

The consistent version of the Confederate flag – the one we know today – didn’t emerge until many decades after the Civil War, when Southern Blacks began to organize to achieve greater democracy. In response, the KKK reformed with the modern Confederate flag as a main symbol, and its allies in Southern state governments ran that symbol up every flagpole and built monuments to heroes of the white supremacist cause.

But white supremacists weren’t trying to leave the US anymore – they were trying to go mainstream. That meant publicly pretending racism really wasn’t racism at all. This wasn’t a totally new trick. The KKK had always tried to portray itself as first and foremost a Christian organization, as it burned crosses and bombed churches. But now, a flag created to symbolize horrific white supremacist violence also became emblematic of an effort to cloak white supremacy in a fog of plausible deniability. “States’ rights,” “heritage, not hate” – those were all lies told to get whites who weren’t consciously racist to unwittingly support to racism, as the Confederate flag was marketed to rural white folks all across America as a supposed symbol of rebellion and freedom. People of color always knew better, but now when they criticized the Confederate flag, white supremacists could turn around and say people of color were the real racists, who hated both freedom and white people, and therefore didn’t deserve equality.

If swastika belt buckles and Nazi T-shirts were the only “war memorabilia” on a vendor’s table, you wouldn’t say the vendor was operating a single-attraction history museum in the middle of a bunch of beer and truck logos, or promoting German “heritage, not hate.” But if you’re one of the folks putting on the Athens County Fair or Nelsonville Parade of the Hills, you probably grew up with the Confederate flag like I did. And now some people telling you to get rid of it are white collar, college-educated, middle class transplants to the City of Athens. You might feel like they’re looking down on you and trying to push you around.

But that’s not what this is about. The Confederate flag isn’t about standing up to self-righteous, suburban snobbery any more than it’s about Christianity, muscle cars, sates’ rights, freedom, or country living. It’s about what it’s always been about – hurting people of color and trying to bring back history’s worst horrors.

So no one should have to force you to get rid of the Confederate flag. You should be able to do that all by yourself.

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Damon Krane is a member of the Southeast Ohio Democratic Socialists of America and an independent candidate for Mayor of Athens.