The weirdest, wackiest and downright worst uses of COVID-19 stimulus dollars in Northeast Ohio: Stimulus Watc – cleveland.com

Parma Animal Shelter will benefit from a golf outing at Ridgewood Golf Course on June 19. (Carol Kovach/special to cleveland.com)
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Readers often ask me how it is legal to spend pandemic relief money on things like dog parks or firetrucks.
That’s because a portion of the American Rescue Plan Act that allows municipalities to use money for “revenue replacement,” lets them put ARPA dollars into the general fund in order to replace revenues lost during COVID-19.
In the City of Cleveland’s case, the “revenue replacement” dollars – determined by a federal formula – likely exceed the amount of actual revenue lost during the pandemic, Cleveland Chief Finance Officer Ahmed Abonamah said at a December committee meeting.
As a result, local governments have perhaps more latitude to spend than originally envisioned, and some of the results have been… interesting.
Several of the projects listed below were the result of Cuyahoga County’s controversial $66 million in community grant funds, which evenly divided ARPA money among council’s 11 districts. The community grant funds are controversial because they were conceived in secret, allowed individual council members full control over how projects were solicited and introduced and drew criticism from an architect of the county charter who said it violates the charter.
Government officials often take the approach that ARPA dollars are a way to implement long-desired projects without borrowing, raising taxes or draining their general funds.
However, this is a myopic view of ARPA. Economists across the political spectrum agree — $1.9 trillion in ARPA spending has driven some portion of the country’s inflation. So, government officials ought to be asking if the ARPA-funded projects they’re proposing are worth the rise in cost of consumer goods, even if ARPA’s contribution to that increase is small.
Recently, cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer highlighted some of the most promising uses of ARPA dollars in Northeast Ohio. Now, we’re highlighting some of the weirdest, wackiest or just plain worst ideas for spending a once-in-a-generation federal cash infusion that could be transformative, so long as it isn’t squandered.
Air show: France has Bastille Day. China has its National Day Parade. And here, in the United States, we have air shows. No, the military doesn’t explicitly conduct air shows, but let’s be honest, they’re promos for the military and the multibillion-dollar companies that make its machines. The Blue Angels, Thunderbirds and the uber-cool F-22s adorn advertisements for the shows, which remind both the American public and its adversaries that no country comes even remotely close to matching America’s air power. While Russia has only a handful of stealth fighters — which have seen limited use despite its full-scale invasion of Ukraine – the U.S. has so many we can cart them around for PR. However, Cuyahoga County still allocated $75,000 in ARPA money to support the Cleveland Air Show, which saw reduced ticket sales during the pandemic. Air shows are fun, and I’m not trying to rain on the parade. I, too, enjoy air shows and even had a childhood obsession with fighter jets that hasn’t completely gone away (thanks, Tom Cruise.) But this is obviously not a smart use of once-in-a-generation money. General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, et al. benefit the most from these shows. Let them foot the bill.
Mushroom houses: While it was not selected to receive funding, we couldn’t leave this one out. Cleveland-based company redhouse studios claims to have an innovative technology that feeds building debris to mycelium – the underground fibers that connect mushrooms – and uses the product to create eco-friendly building materials. The technology, while promising, is still young and needs “tens of millions” of dollars in investment to reach its full potential, the company’s founder has said previously. File this one under the “wacky” category, but expect to see more mycelium-based innovations in the future.
Fresh Fest festival: Should the government be spending taxpayer money supporting an arts and food festival? Most people, I imagine, would say no. However, Cuyahoga County Council approved $50,000 in ARPA money to support the Fresh Fest Cleveland: Urban Farm, Food, Arts & Music Festival earlier this year. Don’t get me wrong, arts and culture are a huge part of a city’s identity, and the Fresh Fest seems to have its priorities in order by lifting up marginalized voices and feeding people healthy food. But $50,000 is a lot of money. For that price, you could hire a social worker to help vulnerable children, fund scholarships or fix more than a few potholes.
Golf course clubhouse: Nobody who has been following Stimulus Watch should be surprised to see this on the list. Cuyahoga County approved spending $4 million for a clubhouse and community center at Ridgewood Golf Course in Parma, which was among the county’s first proposed uses of its controversial community grant funding. What makes this project stand out is the fact that there were other groups serving vulnerable, COVID-affected populations that needed the money; the way all community grant funds were approved remains questionable and the city of Parma could have probably paid for the improvements itself by borrowing against future revenue.
Police chief bonus: New Matamoras Police Department in Washington County received $4,200 for a bonus for the police chief through the Ohio Violent Crime Reduction Program Grant. While other departments listed their chief as among officers to receive a bonus, the New Matamoras chief’s bonus was the only use listed in an official state database of these grants. At a time when police continue to seek a larger and larger share of municipal budgets, this sends the wrong message to residents.
NEON Hough: In the twilight hours of Mayor Frank Jackson’s tenure, the City of Cleveland rammed through a proposal to spend $2 million on NEON following a devastating fire at its Hough Health Center. The health center provides crucial services to people who live in the area, but the nonprofit itself is troubled. NEON pays its CEO more than $500,000, while patient numbers are declining, according to the most recent available tax filings. A year and a half after the fire, the Hough center remains closed, and the nonprofit refuses to talk publicly about when it could reopen. For the city’s part, it has not released the $2 million to NEON.
Dog park: The wisdom of using once-in-a-generation federal funds to improve an existing dog park is questionable at best, but Newburgh Heights found a way to make that even worse. After the city submitted an application to spend nearly $220,000 improving Washington Dog Park, two of the city’s own council members testified at a Cuyahoga County Council meeting, asking them to reject their city’s own request. The city council members said only a few people use the park and that it would essentially be a waste of money. Rather, the city council members said the money should be spent on a housing repair fund – which is actually much cheaper than the dog park – as it is a more pressing need.
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