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SPEAKING UP Chuck Williams signing the slogan “BLACK LIVES MATTER”

Clevelander Charles “Chuck” Williams has been fighting for Black Deaf lives for more than 70 years BY ERIN FEHER

| clevescene.com | May 5-18, 2021

CONTENTS MAY 5-18, 2021 • VOL. 51 NO 34

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UPFRONT NEWS

Photo by Eric Sandy

Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams’ Romantic Relationship with Subordinate Raises Concerns, Draws Silence from City Hall

AS CLEVELAND POLICE CHIEF Calvin Williams went through a divorce last year from his wife of 24 years, there were whispers that he was romantically involved with a junior Cleveland police officer with whom he had at least one child. According to police and City Hall sources, it was more than a rumor. Documents also show that when his wife filed for the divorce in May 2020, Chief Williams’ mailing address listed with the court was a southwestern suburban home owned by that junior officer, Sgt. Sherrie Flores. Flores worked for Chief Williams on the east side when he was a district commander and was promoted to sergeant in early 2020. She now works in Community Policing. Neither Chief Williams nor Flores responded to a request for comment. In the divorce complaint, Loretta Williams called the relationship “incompatible” but said facts “will be more fully adduced” at trial, records show. The complaint makes no

mention of infidelity and the couple has no children together. Neither Lorettta Williams nor her attorney responded to requests for comment. The relationship with a subordinate raises concerns over how Williams, 57, can hold officers accountable. The city’s response to the relationship raises continued concerns of transparency. The city of Cleveland didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment from Scene, including questions of whether the relationship was disclosed before Mayor Frank Jackson administered the sergeant’s oath to Flores in January 2020. Reached on his cell phone, Public Safety Director Karrie Howard, who according to sources was aware of the relationship, told Scene to call his desk line. Nobody answered. Cleveland City Council President Kevin Kelley said he doesn’t “know all the facts” about the relationship, but called it a perception issue. “I believe one of those two should leave their position,” Kelly

told Scene. “You shouldn’t be in a relationship with someone you supervise.” Eight other city council members, at least one of whom was aware of the relationship, either declined to comment on the record or didn’t respond to requests for comment, though one said, “City Council leadership needs to force a change. This isn’t right.” Capt. Brian Betley, president of FOP Lodge 8, said he didn’t know about the circumstances between Williams and Flores. The FOP contract, which covers supervisors, includes a provision that a supervisor cannot supervise a family member or someone else with whom they’re in a relationship, Betley said. Cleveland police union president Jeff Follmer, when reached, told Scene: “When we do something that reaches the public, the city files charges for diminishing the esteem of the department. Accountability is a two-way street.” Ed Obayashi, a veteran Northern

California deputy and attorney who specializes in teaching police ethics, said the public’s default perception would be “an unfavorable impression” on the relationship. With so much scrutiny of law enforcement in America today and even if Flores had an impeccable career, the promotion could create a controversy if so few knew about the relationship, Obayashi said. “It creates the appearance of a conflict,” he said. “To me, that is the key. Who knew what and when? It’s not the right situation a department wants to be seen in.” “Everybody in the department knows about this,” one Cleveland police officer said about the relationship. “It’s not earth shattering. He should hold himself accountable.” Prior to the divorce, a family disturbance occurred at the Williams’ eastside home in January 2019. Chief Williams denied rumors of a domestic violence incident and called stories an attack on his -Mark Puente character. | clevescene.com | May 5-18, 2021

(Mark Puente is a former investigative and crime reporter at The Plain Dealer, Tampa Bay Times, The Baltimore Sun and Los Angeles Times.)

An Appeals Court Overturned Two Cleveland Men’s 2007 Attempted Murder Convictions. Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Still Think They Got It Right On March 18, the Eight District Court of Appeals in Cuyahoga County handed down a new trial order for Kenny Phillips and Michael Sutton, two men who were convicted of attempted murder—of a Cleveland police officer—in 2007. They were originally sentenced to 92 years and 46 years in prison, respectively, and now, it seemed, a sense of clarity was beginning to leak into their case. The men’s families were elated. “Everybody was so excited,” Sutton’s mother, Roberta, tells Scene. “It’s about time! Somebody heard us. Somebody got it right.” The good news didn’t last long, however. Just a few hours later, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley’s office pushed back on the ruling and filed a motion for stay of all proceedings for 45 days. A bond hearing was set for May 3. The waiting game began again. One week later, the state filed a motion to reconsider this new trial decision, insisting that the county court’s 2007 conviction stood on its merits. New witnesses had emerged, yes, new narratives challenged the original story, but O’Malley’s office wrote that the appeals court ruling “places the proverbial cart before the horse.” So, what happened here? Phillips and Sutton had been friends at South High School. They hadn’t been super close, but they were known to one another’s families. Phillips had a habit of showing up at Sutton’s house and borrowing his clothes. He had a sharp sense of style, his mother says, even if half his wardrobe was on loan. On May 28, 2006, Sutton was out front of his house in Union-Miles, washing his ’87 Chevy Caprice—a graduation gift from his parents— fresh from a local auto repair shop. He was going to meet up to celebrate his pal Kenny Phillips’

| clevescene.com | May 5-18, 2021

Kenny Phillips, Courtesy family

UPFRONT

18th birthday. After a night at Moda on West 25th Street, the guys congregated with a pack of friends at the Shell gas station that anchors one corner of the five-point intersection at East 55th Street and Woodland and Kinsman avenues. That night, as usual, the place was busy. Cops were posted up the Marathon across the intersection (now Hanini Petroleum). Around 2:30 a.m., the four friends—Phillips and Sutton, along with Deante Creel and Akeem Tidmore—piled into the Caprice and aimed their way toward Woodland Avenue. Nearby, a black Lincoln pulled out onto the road. Inside were four men. Sutton noticed a gold car pulling adjacent to the black Lincoln in front of him on the road. Someone in the gold car extended an arm out the passenger window and fired shots into the driver’s side of the Lincoln. The gold car peeled off. The strange moment passed quickly. Cleveland Police Officers Daniel Lentz and Michael Keane took notice, pulling out of the Marathon parking lot and giving brief chase. Sutton veered gently toward the curb to let the cops drive around him, but he soon realized they were pulling him over. He eased the car onto East 65th Street, “panicked,” as reported by court documents. Sutton remained with the car. It was his, after all, a gift entrusted to him. His car. The other guys ran—fearful of getting caught up in something that didn’t involve them. “But you know how it is,” Creel would later say in court. “Like it’s like I don’t want to say, racial profile or whatever. I don’t know how it is. But we knew they was going to try to put it on us.” A foot chase ensued, and here’s where things get a little complicated. The officers, Lentz and Keane, reported that two of the men had guns and fired at Lentz during the pursuit. Lentz reported at the trial that he saw muzzle flashes lighting up the yard off East 65th. Guns of multiple calibers were firing on him, he said. Keane reported that he heard, but did not see, a similar volley of bullets. Before too long, the three men were apprehended. Sutton was in custody back at the car. In subsequent investigations, no guns were found at the scene. No bullets. No bullet holes. No shell casings. It wasn’t until the following summer, in 2007, that the young men found themselves at trial, where Sutton and Phillips were

convicted in June. “I cried every day, trying to figure out how I’m going to do that,” Sutton’s mother, Roberta, says. Those sentences were eventually reduced (to 65 for Phillips and 41 for Sutton). Creel and Tidmore were both acquitted. As far as the people in the black Lincoln, the victims in this case, two passengers sustained gunshot wounds to the head—resulting in permanent injuries. The four men in the Lincoln were unable to say who was at fault in this case, although other witnesses would later single out a man who’d been at Moda earlier in the night. “The victims could not identify the vehicle but none of them believed that the shots were fired from the Chevy,” according to court documents. In 2015, several breaks emerged in the case. By this point, the Ohio Public Defender’s Office and the Ohio Innocence Project had come onboard to represent Phillips and Sutton, respectively, and the attorneys set to work on bringing new accounts to light. Not only were additional witness identified—other people who’d been out with the presumed shooter that night—but

two police officers began telling a different version of events from May 28, 2006. The officers signed affidavits that cemented their perspectives in the court docket: Lentz and Keane’s story wasn’t holding up. According to those affidavits, officers Gregory Jones and John Lundy were at the East 55th Street intersection that night, too. In fact, they were parked in the same Marathon gas station parking lot as Lentz and Keane, and they heard the shots fired from the gold car. Lundy reported the shots via radio. Jones said that he watched his fellow officers pull over Sutton’s car—and watched as the passengers fled the vehicle. “From that point on, I heard no additional shots fired,” he said. “Later, Office Lundy and I told a supervising detective about what occurred that night,” he said. “We told him that we did not hear shots fired at the officers. He told the prosecutor, but no one asked me about that again.” Lundy concurred in his own affidavit: “I assisted in apprehending the four suspects in the Chevy after they pulled their car over and a foot pursuit began. At no point did I hear additional shots

once the foot pursuit began.” As these countervailing narratives entered the case, O’Malley’s office pushed back on the officers’ credibility—pointing out that Corrigan had deemed Jones’ testimony “suspect.” “We couldn’t understand it,” Roberta says. “If we can follow the rules, why can’t they follow the rules? It’s the justice system. That’s what they say. So, I figured you all should listen to what the courts have the say. We listened to you all for 14 years. And now that we’ve got the right, and it’s not in you all’s hands, now you’re deciding to take it and put a 45-day stay on it. That was horrible.” Judge Corrigan had resisted setting bail and, last week, recused himself from the case. The waiting, it turned out, would be worth it. Sutton and Phillips were released on bond Monday as the legal process continues to play itself out. “As expected, we are appealing

DIGIT WIDGET 4,000 Estimated number of trees to be planted in Cuyahoga County, with grants in round two of the county’s Healthy Urban Tree Canopy program.

10.9 Cleveland household rating (TV viewership) for the NFL draft, the highest host city rating on record since different cities began hosting the draft in 2015, according to the NFL.

$3,525,000 Most expensive home sale in Northeast Ohio in 2020, a 5,885 square foot mansion in Moreland Hills.

16 Northeast Ohio homes that sold for $2 million or more in 2020. 112 sold fore $1 million or more.

this decision,” Prosecutor Michael O’Malley’s office said in a statement. “We owe nothing less to victims of this crime. In the end, we must allow the entire legal process to run its course and we will be satisfied with whatever the outcome may be.” “The state’s case has unraveled and to be blunt, they had their shot, they had their trial, they cheated,” Joanna Sanchez, a defense attorney for Phillips, said. “They held back evidence and they deprived these two young men the opportunity to have a fair trial.” For now, Michael Sutton and Kenny Phillips are on court-Eric Sandy supervised release.

Sandra Williams Announces Candidacy for Cleveland Mayor Flanked by Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish and colleagues from the Ohio legislature, State Sen. Sandra Williams announced her candidacy for Mayor of Cleveland Monday morning. Williams is the first serious female candidate in the 2021 race, and, if elected, would be the first African American woman to hold the office in Cleveland. Having served for 16 years in the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate, Williams said she has experience working with both Republicans and Democrats and is the only candidate who’d walk into office on day one with the ear of legislators in Columbus. “No one in this race can compete with my record,” she said. (That record includes, unfortunately for Williams, co-sponsorship of HB6.) In a campaign video, Williams outlined her vision for Cleveland under her administration: one where inequality is extinguished, education is improved and crime is reduced. Monday, she elaborated on some of the policies she’d pursue to lessen inequality, including creating an office for community wealth building and advocating for minority and women-owned businesses to win a larger share of city contracts. When asked about the field of current candidates in the mayoral race, Williams touted her lengthy legislative record and her existing relationships with those in power. She also noted — it’s impossible not to — that the field is dominated by men. In her campaign video, Williams said that she was running so that “young women and girls across Cleveland could see that their futures are unlimited.” -Sam Allard

CLEVELAND oCTOB E R 8 -1 4, 201 8 MAY 17-23, 2021 | CLEVELANDTACOWEEK.COM | clevescene.com | May 5-18, 2021

UPFRONT Another Day, Another Mockery of the Democratic Process as Phyllis Cleveland Resigns from Cleveland City Council It’s difficult to comment with any originality on the news that Ward 5 Cleveland City Councilwoman Phyllis Cleveland has tendered her resignation and nominated a veteran community activist named Delores Gray to replace her. This anti-democratic process, council’s so-called “appointment tradition,” is universally reviled. It has been criticized to death for years by local media and by residents, who naturally object to their ongoing marginalization by the very people who are supposed to be representing them. Council does not care. They continue to resign before the conclusion of their terms at a startling clip. The stated reasons for their resignations vary, but the outcome is the same. They get to personally select their own heirs. This tradition is among the most sacred on council, and it is honored, at each iteration, with unanimous support. City legislators simply cannot part with this final exercise of their beloved power and influence. Martin Sweeney, Joe Cimperman, Mamie Mitchell, Martin Keane, Dona Brady and Matt Zone have all resigned in recent years. They all hand-picked their successors. Among them, only Cimperman gestured toward the idea of a process. He allegedly interviewed multiple candidates before settling on Kerry McCormack in Ward 3, whom he’d been eyeing all along. The rest simply presented the name of their chosen replacement to council, after which council ratified the new member without a word of protest. Council President Kevin Kelley always invokes the Unit Rule to ensure unanimity on these votes. Welcome to the club! The process is a double-edged insult to voters: That elected representatives routinely don’t bother to finish their full terms should be an outrage, first of all. The sense of entitlement is appalling! Some of them, like Marty Keane, get sick of the job and its rigors. Others, like Mamie Mitchell, experience the onset of age and/or related ailments. Still others, like Joe Cimperman and Matt Zone, want to explore local leadership opportunities in the private sector. The “fiefdom” mentality dictates that

| clevescene.com | May 5-18, 2021

sitting councilpeople believe it is their right to exit the position whenever they feel like it. They also believe it is their right to ignore voters completely in what they view as succession planning. Phyllis Cleveland, to whom council ascribed unspecified “health issues” last week, may truthfully be very sick. Who can say? If she is, she has her colleagues to thank for the fact that most voters will regard the explanation as hogwash, given that it’s arriving only a few months before the election in Ward 5. Even if she’s suddenly so enfeebled that she has to retreat from regular meeting assignments, the summer recess is on the horizon and slack could be picked up by her colleagues and/or her assistant until a new representative is elected in the fall. But then, she wouldn’t get the special privilege of sidelining voters to pick the ward’s next representative. There was no mention of Cleveland’s illness at the caucus Monday afternoon, no somber get well soons. Cleveland announced Delores Gray as her heir and everyone took turns thanking Cleveland for her years of dedicated service. They all promised to stay in touch and said they expected to see her around. Real retirement party vibes. Like Jenny Spencer and Charles Slife most recently, Delores Gray may be well-qualified as a replacement. Her various organizational affiliations (Burten, Bell, Carr, CMHA, ACLU, Legal Aid, Sisters of Charity), are listed on her bio, which by the way already appears on the city council website as the Ward 5 councilwoman. If she were to run in a Ward 5 election, she might even win! But the point is: that’s for residents to decide. (Gray is a twin, incidentally, and her sister Deborah has pulled petitions to run for City Council in Ken Johnson’s Ward 4.) It was impossible to watch the caucus Monday without rage at the persistence of these anti-democratic antics. But the steadfastness of council’s refusal to change and the discipline with which they’ve ignored citizens’ pleas has led to more direct assertions of impatience. A wave of new candidates are running on pro-democracy platforms citywide. And at the same time, broad coalitions of citizens are organizing to foist democracy on the mewling narcissists at 601 Lakeside whether they want it or not. Enough is -Sam Allard enough.

scene@clevescene.com @clevelandscene

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CLEVELAND oCTOB E R 8 -1 4, 201 8 MAY 17-23, 2021 | CLEVELANDTACOWEEK.COM | clevescene.com | May 5-18, 2021

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# C L E V E L A N D TA C O W E E K | clevescene.com | May 5-18, 2021

Chuck Williams: “I’m Deaf and Proud”

| clevescene.com | May 5-18, 2021

AMBER FORD

Speaking Up Clevelander Charles “Chuck” Williams has been fighting for Black Deaf lives for more than 70 years By Erin Feher THE LAST TIME CHARLES “Chuck” V. Williams was pulled over by a police officer, he did what he always does: he didn’t speak a word. Instead, he signs the simple 3-sign phrase “I am deaf.” The rest, he says, is up to the officer. Even though he has some lip-reading comprehension and has the ability to speak, he will often refuse to respond to verbal or even written commands. As a Black man, the risks of this approach are many. As a Black disabled man, they are multiplied exponentially. But for Williams, risks like these are ones he’s taken his entire life — all 90 years of it — with the purpose of advocating for the Black Deaf community at large. Williams, who is profoundly deaf, explains that under the Americans With Disabilities Act, police officers are required to communicate with deaf and hard of hearing people in their first language — in this case, American Sign Language. So, Williams will sit silently and wait for an in-person or video-relay interpreter to be provided. “The police officer looks at me and thinks I’m dumb, and thinks I can’t communicate,” says Williams. “Well, back at you, because I want police officers to face that and see how they have to communicate with me.” He says the high-profile police brutality cases that are currently dominating the news are no different from the injustices he’s been battling on behalf of the deaf community for over seven decades. “In the deaf world, this is nothing new for us. Policemen have not learned, they haven’t been educated

how to deal with deaf people. George Floyd said ‘I can’t breathe.’ Well, I can’t sign. They handcuff us behind our backs and we can’t communicate,” says Williams, who explains that for a deaf person, a simple “hands on the wheel” command is equal to shoving a gag in their mouth — without their hands they can’t communicate. Shining a flashlight in a deaf person’s eyes is taking away the one sense — vision — they need to comprehend anything that is being said to them. Williams, a lifelong Cleveland resident and an iconic leader and activist within the Black Deaf community, recently celebrated his 90th birthday. For he and his family, it was an opportunity to look back on an exceptional life, as well as give back to the community that has been Williams’ focus for nearly a century. On March 25, the family publicly announced the formation of the Charles V. Williams Scholarship Fund, which provides financial support for tuition for Black deaf or hard of hearing students seeking a degree from Gallaudet University, with preference given to Black Deaf students from Ohio. Williams’ own educational journey was transformative — if often unjust. It launched him into a lifetime of activism in which he personally fought for (and won) significant parts of the policy and protection disabled Americans benefit from today. WILLIAMS STILL VIVIDLY remembers the day in 6th grade when

his teacher walked up to his desk and smacked him over the head. He had his nose buried in his textbook and he didn’t hear her approach his desk, so the sting was mingled with shock. The offense? She thought Williams was ignoring her. The year was 1943, and Williams was a student at Case Woodland Elementary school in Cleveland. The incident resulted in Williams’ mother, Irene, marching right into the school demanding to meet with the teacher. Williams remembers the two women speaking in the hallway, but not being able to discern what was being said. After the meeting, both his mother and teacher walked Williams straight over to the nearby Alexander Graham Bell School for the Deaf on East 55th and Quincy Avenue to have his hearing tested. As they passed by the playground, Williams spotted his brother Ted happily signing with his friends. Ted had lost his hearing after contracting German measles as a toddler. The reason behind Williams’ hearing impairment was a mystery — doctors simply diagnosed him with a sensori-neural loss — but the test revealed a loss of 90%. He was 12 years old. “They gave me hearing aids — the old fashioned ones you wore around your neck and in your pocket. They drove me crazy,” recalls Williams. He subsequently enrolled in the Alexander Graham Bell School himself, where the practice at the time was to encourage lipreading and speaking. Sign language was not part of the instruction. (Sign language was not permitted in Ohio schools until 1977 when P.L. 94-142

was passed into law, guaranteeing a “free and appropriate public education to each child with a disability.”) The signs his brothers and his friends used were considered “home signs,” a colloquial form of communication they used with each other, but that would result in getting their hands smacked if they were caught doing it in the classroom. “My dad would be so doggone disgusted [to see us signing]. He’d force me to use the hearing aids, and he made me learn to lip read. And I just had to put up with it.” Williams’ parents, especially his father, Theodore, a respected Cleveland judge, held the line. Even his brother, older and preoccupied with his friends, would brush him off when he asked what he was signing. “He’d always say ‘I’ll tell you later.’” Wililams was frustrated that no one would teach him to sign and felt left out socially, so when he learned about the Ohio School for the Deaf in Columbus — a residential institution that allowed sign language instruction for students who were termed “oral failures” — he imagined a place where he would finally fit in. “I told my parents about it and they said “No, no, no — you can’t go there,” says Williams. So, he wrote a letter to the school on his own, and was admitted for the 10th grade. Those first months felt like he was dropped into another country and couldn’t speak the language. “I went to class and the teachers were all signing. I didn’t understand it, I | clevescene.com | May 5-18, 2021

Williams was Deaf from an early age, though this fact was unknown for a long while. | COURTESY WILLIAMS FAMILY

was so frustrated,” recalls Williams. “But I am using my eyes and trying to take in everything I can, and being really patient, and after about three months of this, I started being able to communicate.” Socially, he blossomed, joining the basketball and football teams, and forming more friendships. “I felt like I was fully Deaf now. I accepted myself for who I was.” But just when he felt that he had found a place he belonged, he discovered there was something that still kept him from being fully embraced and respected within his new-found Deaf community — the color of his skin. The school was almost entirely white, and Williams remembers the look of shock on his classmates faces when he moved into the dorm. “They were like ‘Whoa! he’s Black! Then they would tell me ‘My mom and dad said I shouldn’t be socializing with Black kids.’” Williams was able to brush off the countless experiences with racism as a nagging annoyance until one day, when they would dramatically change the course of his life. It was 1950, just months before he was set to graduate. Word was going around campus that the superintendent’s car had been vandalized. Not only did Williams witness the occurrence from a distance, but a few of Williams’ white classmates had confided in him that they were the culprits. They were panicking, “Please don’t tell them,” Williams

| clevescene.com | May 5-18, 2021

Williams found friendships and compatriots on the football and basketball teams at the Ohio School for the Deaf. | COURTESY WILLIAMS FAMILY

says they begged of him. “Our parents are going to be really angry with us. Don’t rat us out.” So when Williams was called into the office and asked who vandalized the car, he replied that he didn’t know. “And they told me, ‘If you won’t tell us who the kids are, you need to pack your things and go home right now.’” He claims a mix of youthful ignorance and loyalty, but he didn’t tell. “They made me pack up and leave right away. It was nighttime — they drove me straight to the Greyhound bus station.” He remembers the bewildered expressions on his parents’ faces when he walked through the door, and when he explained what had happened. “My parents were so doggone upset.” Despite his parents’ best efforts — they drove the two hours back out to Columbus to try and “hash things out” with the administration — the school wouldn’t readmit him. “There were no ifs, ands, or buts...they kicked my butt out of school.” Williams recounts the event with a chuckle, but it’s clear that 70-plus years hasn’t erased the injustice. “I was ready to graduate in two months. And I was very disappointed that I didn’t have the opportunity to get a high school diploma and graduate,” says Williams. “I was afraid when kids would ask me, ‘Well, what high school did you graduate from?’ I didn’t know what to say….I had to swallow it and live

with it.” THAT WOULD BE ONE OF THE last times Williams would “swallow it and live with it.” Back home and temporarily adrift, Williams often ran errands for his mother between home and his father’s office at the downtown courthouse. His foray into activism happened organically — after a lifetime of hanging around the local courthouses with his dad, he had a familiarity with the people and the processes that his other Black Deaf friends did not. He was friendly with the other lawyers and judges. Soon he found himself acting as a liaison between the Deaf and hearing worlds. Word got around that Williams could help other Deaf people navigate the court system — anything from paying parking tickets to communicating with a judge. “Deaf people would come to my house and ask for help. And I would be willing to go down there to the courthouse with them and kind of mediate between the lawyers and these Deaf people — just helping them solve their problems,” says Williams, who still had partial hearing back then and remembers instances of trailing lawyers into the restroom to plead the cases of his Deaf friends. Not all his advocacy was in the legal arena — or even legal, for that matter. Williams also became known as “that Black Deaf guy who could

get you a driver’s license.” He explains that most of his Black Deaf friends had come to Cleveland from the South and faced additional challenges navigating the hearing world. Most hadn’t completed much schooling (some schools for the Deaf were still segregated in the south until 1978, and the education for Black Deaf children was often abysmal), had difficulty reading and writing, and used a Southern style of sign language not understood by local interpreters. “At the time, driver’s licenses didn’t have pictures on them. So I would get their info and go over to the West Side, like to Lakewood, and I’d take the test and say that I was that person and get the driver’s license for them.” Many of Williams’ stories from this time end the same way — with a good-natured chuckle and the disclaimer, “You gotta remember, I was a kid at the time.” A natural helper, his early activism was shaped by a recognition of his privileges — he was educated and came from a respected family — so he did everything from write letters on behalf of Deaf people to potential employers to mediating for them in courts and police stations. “I loved to advocate and help Black Deaf people, especially in the legal arena. That was my favorite thing to do.” It was Williams’ dream to become a lawyer like his father, but with no high school diploma — and the lived reality of Black Deaf people

The Black Deaf conference in 1981 — that’s Williams in the bottom far left. | COURTESY WILLIAMS FAMILY

at the time — it wasn’t possible. “In the early 1950s, I tried to apply to Gallaudet University, the only fouryear college for deaf and hard of hearing students in the United States, and was told they weren’t admitting Black students,” says Williams. Instead, he got a job at the Cuyahoga County engineer’s Department, where he worked for 35 years. But his day job didn’t keep him from his activism. He was an influential campaigner for his good friend Carl Stokes, and helped him become the first Black mayor of Cleveland in 1967. “The Stokes brothers — Carl and Lou — we grew up in the projects together. I lived across the street,” says Williams, who remembers the young brothers as avid readers. He also worked on the campaign for Ohio governor Richard Celeste. He says both Stokes and Celeste offered him jobs after their wins, which he ultimately turned down. “Dick asked me to move to Columbus. I said no way, I am a Clevelander, I’m going to stay, but thanks, anyway.” Plus, something about fighting for change from the outside suited him. In 1980, he turned his sights to the national political stage. Through his involvement in local politics, he had come to some disheartening conclusions. “A lot of Deaf people did not vote,” says Williams, pointing out that the political process was not accessible to them at the time — there were no interpreters at debates to conventions or accessible options at the voting booth.

In 1980, the Democratic National Convention was happening in Detroit, Michigan. “And I was very personally upset that they did not provide ASL interpreters on the platform,” says Williams. “I had no way of finding out what was happening at the convention, and I couldn’t participate.” So, he sued the federal government. In August of that year, Williams arrived in D.C. preparing to file a class action suit against the National Democratic and Republican Conventions for their refusal to televise a Sign Language interpreter for linguistic accessibility throughout the proceedings. Williams and his lawyer, Jeffrey Friedman, who was also disabled and in a wheelchair, set up a de facto office inside the Model Secondary School for the Deaf, a junior high on the campus of Gallaudet University. “It was closed that time because it was summertime. But I knew Carl Kirchner, who was the principal, and he connected me with Sharon Carter who drew up some briefs to be filed in court,” remembers Williams. “I saw him as the ‘David’ who courageously went after the country’s political ‘Goliaths’ on behalf of deaf voters,” says Dr. Ernest E. Hairston, the first Black deaf person to earn a Ph.D. in Special Education Administration from Gallaudet University, and who went on to hold senior roles in the U.S. Department of Education for three decades and co-author the book Black and Deaf in America, Are We That Different?, which also featured

Williams. The biblical reference rang true for other reasons, as well — despite asking some of the larger national Deaf organizations, such as the National Association for the Deaf (NAD) for help, he was on his own. Williams says the NAD didn’t want to risk the generous federal funding they received by being named in a federal case. On the day of the trial, “I was wetting my pants to be honest with you, I was so nervous. In the courtroom, there was a whole cadre of young lawyers for Ted Kennedy, who was running at the time, and for Gerald Ford. I looked over at all of these lawyers, and thought, ‘You did this all because of me? Me? This one little Black Deaf guy here?’” The hearing didn’t go Williams’ way — the judge said that whether or not to have televised interpreters was an FCC issue, and he was picking the wrong fight. But after the hearing was over, “a few of Ted Kennedy’s attorneys came over to talk with my lawyer, and insisted that they would be sure to take care of this business on TV with interpreters.” And they did. “We were partially victorious because they did have interpreters on the platform,” says Williams. “Kennedy even emailed me a copy of the remarks he planned to give at the convention, and an autographed picture of himself. I was happy that maybe this victory would start things off.” And as he recounts watching the most recent Democratic National

Convention in 2020, he’s still in awe of all he saw. “We saw disabled people represented. We could watch it with a live interpreter on YouTube. They were phenomenal. These interpreters that they had, they were out of this world. I couldn’t believe it. In my time, that wasn’t the case.” But in large part thanks to Williams, it is now. While he was in D.C., Williams connected with some local Black Deaf friends and activists who, like himself, had long felt marginalized within the larger Deaf organizations, specifically the NAD, which held large annual conferences for members. The NAD prohibited Black membership for 40 years until 1965, a year after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. And even then, the participation of Black members was extremely limited. Out of the 4,000 people who attended their annual conference in 1980, only 25 were Black and Deaf. In response, a Black Caucus was formed at that year’s event to call out the NAD’s refusal to address the concerns of the Black Deaf community, as well as the lack of representation within the delegates of the NAD. “And we decided,” Williams recalls, “because our concerns were not addressed, we were going to start our own organization.” So, during his time in D.C. that year, Williams was invited to work with a local Black Deaf committee to plan a mini conference for and about the Black Deaf experience. Less than a year later, in June of | clevescene.com | May 5-18, 2021

Linwood Smith, Williams, Lottie Crook and Ernie Hariston were some of the co-founders of the National Black Deaf Advocates, which has been active since 1981 and has about 38 chapters nationwide. | COURTESY WILLIAMS FAMILY

Williams, with wife Patricia Cangelosi Williams and their daughters, Jessa and Carla, at a 1986 ASL rally in Columbus. | COURTESY WILLIAMS FAMILY

1981, nearly 100 Black Deaf people gathered at Howard University for the very first Black Deaf Conference. Williams organized a chartered bus from Cleveland to D.C. for the event. It was something of a test run for a national organization centering Black Deaf people. “The 1981 Black Deaf Advocates Conference was important on two counts: it marked the first time Black deaf people came together to discuss issues important to them, and it became the model for future Black Deaf conferences,” says Dr. Hairston, who helped plan that inaugural event as well. The two-day conference featured workshops on the topics of education, family, social services, health and mental health, employment, and interpreting. The National Black Deaf Advocates — founded by Lottie Crook, Ernest Hairston, Williard Shorter, Linwood Smith, Elizabeth “Ann” Wilson, and Charles “Chuck” V. Williams — has hosted a conference every year since (with the exception of 2020, due to COVID-19), and now has approximately 38 chapters across the country. The 30th National Black Deaf Advocates Conference will be held in Birmingham, Alabama in Summer 2021. Needless to say, the ’80s were a busy time for Williams. He met and married Patricia Cangelosi, a certified sign language interpreter, in September of 1981. The following year, the NDBA held their first official national conference, themed

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“Black Deaf Strength Through Awareness.” It took place in Cleveland, Ohio at Stouffer’s Inn on the Square and drew more than 300 participants. In addition to birthing a brand new advocacy organization, in 1983, Williams and his wife welcomed their first child, a daughter named Carla. Two years later, her sister, Jessa was born. Throughout the ’80s and early ’90s Williams would juggle his advocacy work with the responsibilities of being a devoted stay-at-home dad, while his wife cofounded a sign language interpreting business, Deaf Services of Cleveland. “My daughters at that time were early elementary school age, and I became Mister Mom, so I cooked while my wife went out to work,” Williams remembers fondly. But his parental duties didn’t diminish his reputation as a firebrand who would fight for the Black deaf community at every opportunity. In 1987, Williams served as the first deaf juror in Ohio. He recalls getting the summons in the mail. “I showed it to my dad, and he said, ‘Oh, no, no, they’ll excuse you. You can’t serve on the jury because you’re Deaf.’” One would think that by now his father would know better. Williams went to meet with the judge assigned to the case. “And he kind of hemmed and hawed,” recalls Williams. “I had to show this judge proof. I had to do some research and show them that there were other Deaf jurors that had served in the

United States.” He presented an example in Philadelphia, where a Deaf juror had served. This time, the judge decided in Williams’ favor, allowing him to serve. The trial wouldn’t be his last — in subsequent trials he was even voted to serve as foreman by his fellow jurors. Friends and colleagues recall countless times he spoke up on their behalf. Evon Black, the former president of the National Black Deaf Advocates, and the Associate Director of Recruitment in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions at Gallaudet University, still clearly recalls what happened when she was initially passed over for a job at Gallaudet three decades ago. “When Chuck learned that I did not get the job at Gallaudet admissions office in 1989, he walked up to the HR office at the university: ‘What happened to Evon Black?’ He literally hollered at people, ‘Don’t you dare tell me that Black Deaf people are not good enough to get the job in the Admissions office,’” says Black. “He was the Black Deaf Moses who was ready to beat the Pharaoh king with his tongues. Every word that came out of his mouth was enough to knock people down.” Then, in 1995, Williams got an unexpected phone call. It was the superintendent from the Ohio School for the Deaf — the same institution that had unjustly expelled him sent him home on a middle-of-the-night Greyhound bus nearly four decades earlier. “They asked me to come and speak at the graduation ceremony,” says Williams. “I was really

surprised.” While he had mixed emotions about the invitation to give the keynote address, he ultimately saw it as good for the Black Deaf community at large, so he graciously accepted. When the day came, he and his wife drove to Columbus for the day, leaving their daughters with a close family friend in Cleveland. The superintendent gave Williams a cap and gown to wear while up on stage. And as he was giving his speech he spotted some familiar faces in the audience. “I saw my two daughters,” he says, “And I started crying, and I couldn’t figure out why they had come.” He found out moments later, when the superintendent joined Williams on stage to present him — 45 years later — with his high school diploma. It would seem, after all the time that had passed, the formality of finishing high school would be purely symbolic. But instead, like so many recent high school graduates, Williams headed off to college. Baldwin Wallace College came calling first, asking Williams to come on as an adjunct professor of American Sign Language. That same year he was asked by Gallaudet University to serve as a member of the Board of Trustees. For Williams, who had fought for the underrepresented his entire life, this wasn’t just another position to add to his resume. His spot on the board at a venerated institution like Gallaudet was yet another opportunity to speak truth to power. “It wasn’t easy for them, I think, because, you know, I showed my

“In the early 1950s, I tried to apply to Gallaudet University, the only four-year college for deaf and hard of hearing students in the United States, and was told they weren’t admitting Black students,” Williams says. He has since set up a scholarship fund for the exact kind of student he was himself. | COURTESY WILLIAMS FAMILY

attitude. I told them outright — straight, very blunt. I was not going to accept anything secondhand for Black Deaf students.” He called out unequal treatment anytime he saw it — he demanded to know why Black students would get suspended for “smoking a little pot” or other minor infractions, while their white peers were let off. For Williams, more than 50 years may have passed since his own unjust punishment at the Ohio School For The Deaf, but it was clear many of the same inequities persisted. Williams also advocated for other marginalized students. When a group of deaf Indigenous students asked the board for permission to light fires on campus for their spiritual services, Williams fought on their behalf. “I spoke up about that. I said, ‘We need to let them have their ability to have religious freedom and pray, in their ways that they are used to, and culturally accept what they are asking.’” Denied the opportunity to attend college as a young man, Williams ended up spending over a quarter of his life on college campuses. He taught American Sign Language at Baldwin Wallace College for 24 years, and then Cleveland State University up until his retirement in 2019. And after serving 13 years as a member of the Board of Trustees for Gallaudet University, he was awarded a Doctorate of Humane Letters in 2008, officially making him Dr. Charles V. Williams. “I didn’t go to college, but here I am having been elected and served for 13 years. Back then, I couldn’t get in, couldn’t get a degree,” says Williams.

Which is why on March 25, 2021, on the day Williams’ 90th birthday, his family announced the formation of the Charles V. Williams Scholarship Fund. The funds are earmarked for Black and Deaf or hard of hearing students seeking a degree from Gallaudet University, with preference given to applicants from Ohio. “I’m so grateful to have this fund set up in my name,” says Williams. “I’m so thankful for the support I’ve received from the Deaf community through the years. Thankful for Dr. Ernest Hairston, Dr. Glen Anderson, Dr. Robert Davila, Dr. Carolyn Mccaskill and Dr. I. King Jordan, the first Deaf president of Gallaudet, and the former and present Board of Trustees at Gallaudet.” The gratitude goes both ways. “Chuck is the Deaf Mandela, John Lewis, Martin Luther King, and Malcom X,” says Evon Black, who says she’s often wondered, “Where would I be if he didn’t care and fight for me?” For Williams, he insists that his life’s worth of remarkable activism is just part of who he is. “I’ve always been a fighter, and I’m not afraid to speak up. I am very proud to be Deaf.”

This story was produced in partnership with Represent Collaborative (Rep Co), a San Francisco-based media initiative focused on issues of racial and social justice. Learn more at www. representcollaborative.com.

scene@clevescene.com @clevelandscene | clevescene.com | May 5-18, 2021

ARTS A LEGEND LOST

Acclaimed Cleveland artist Michelangelo Lovelace Sr. passes away at the age of 60 Courtesy Fort Gansevoort

By Shawn Mishak

THERE IS AN OUTPOURING OF grief this week from a community who lost a friend, a neighbor, a family member and an inspiration. Lifelong Cleveland resident and celebrated artist Michelangelo Lovelace Sr. passed away on Monday, April 26 after a long fight with pancreatic cancer. He was 60 years old. Early in his life, Lovelace got into some legal trouble and sat before a judge who asked him, “What can you do?” Lovelace responded, “I can draw, I can do art...” The judge said, “Well you better do that or the next time you’re in front of me, you’re going to prison.” Lovelace took the judge’s direction to heart and set off on a life-long successful career as an acclaimed artist. His work was an optic diary of how he experienced Cleveland and the world around him on a daily basis. His lively animations of people and cityscapes blister with color and exhibit an unfettered wonderment. He took content which might seem downtrodden and injected it with hope and vigor, portraying possibility and promise. His pieces were a societal commentary with

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socio-political leanings at times, but never pompous and always honest. “My paintings depict what it is like living in a community where anything can happen at any time, and where life can often be fast, poor, and short,” he said. “My paintings deal with many of the issues that affect poor inner-city communities in the United States: issues like poverty, crime, drugs, education, police brutality, health care, and other dayto-day happenings.” Growing up in many different areas of Cleveland, bricks were a common visual element of his surroundings and brick structures can be seen in many of his works, along with storefronts representing city neighborhoods and urban panoramas. Lovelace attended the Cleveland Institute of Art and spent 30 years working as a nurse’s aide at a senior care facility in Cleveland, Ohio outside of his career in art. His impressive accolades are extensive and might be jaw dropping to his childhood friends who teased him about being an artist, throwing around the nickname “Michelangelo” until eventually it stuck. Maria Neil Gallery in The

Waterloo Arts district represented Lovelace for a short period beginning with an exhibition in 2013. “Lovelace was always a believer in humanity, himself, and God,” said Adam Tully, co-owner of Maria Neil. “He believed that there would be an opportunity for all of us to see the good in one another. There is no one else we know of that can maneuver that razor-thin line of (dark) humor and harsh reality and communicate so effectively about the city’s problems. He learned about that kind of communicating from his mentor, Reverend Albert Wagner. Michelangelo spoke highly and lovingly of him, and his influence was clearly felt in the works that were created.” Tully and Maria Neil co-owner John Farina fostered Lovelace, promoted his work to collectors and institutions, helped him with marketing, and assisted him in networking and to get exhibitions outside of Cleveland. Later, he was represented by Fort Gansevoort in New York. “His work is a testament to the beauty of his community and the people he knew and

loved,” Gansevoort said. “It was a pleasure and an honor to work with Michelangelo and be a part of his journey. As you can see in his accomplishments, his art was seen and we will continue working for him.” “Seeing Michelangelo succeed as he did with his works shown at Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland moCa, acquired by The Cleveland Museum of Art, winning the Cleveland Arts Prize made me so happy,” said Farina. “Knowing that Adam and I played a part in that success is a source of pride and an honor I’ll always cherish. He was more than just an artist we worked with, he was a friend.” Lovelace’s work will be presented in ‘Next To You,’ an upcoming group exhibition opening on May 28, 2021 at the McEvoy Foundation for the Arts in San Francisco, California. “I’m one of those people who says, ‘Art saved my life,’ and it truly did,” Lovelace stated in an interview with MOCA Cleveland in 2015.

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

| clevescene.com | May 5-18, 2021

EAT

Photo courtesy The Last Page

THE FIRST WORD ON PINECREST’S NEWEST RESTAURANT

Amid a flurry of fast-casual openings, The Last Page is a well-executed breath of fresh air By Douglas Trattner THERE ARE WORSE PLACES TO wait for one’s table than the Green Room at The Last Page. Less a lobby than a well-appointed parlor, the elegant room provides a generous handful of guests with a comfy, appealing perch to linger. Not only does the space have luxurious soft seating, a luminous skylight and views to the equally impressive front patio, but it also boasts its own wellstocked bar. Time always seems to pass more quickly with a glass of wine or cocktail in hand. The “green room” label is an apt one as it fits into the larger design theme of the three-month-old Pinecrest restaurant. Owner Todd Leebow likens the blueprint to that of a theater, complete with stage, viewing boxes and orchestra floor. Here, those suites are the booths that ring the dining room while the limelight shines warmly onto the grand bar at the far end of the drama-filled space. In a blurry sea of fast-casual

| clevescene.com | May 5-18, 2021

monotony, The Last Page is a welcome detour. It’s a modern-day supper club, for lack of a better descriptor, where there’s more to

are no “appetizers” here, nor are there small plates, entrees or sides. Instead, there are approximately 25 different items that lean into various

THE LAST PAGE 100 PARK AVENUE, #128, BEACHWOOD 216-465-1008 THELASTPAGERESTAURANT.COM

the plot than simply the food on the plates. Timed almost perfectly to coincide with the return not only of indoor dining, but all out celebrating and socializing, the lively environment offers a delicious escape for those ready to exit isolation. If the setting doesn’t tip diners off to the fact that things operate differently, a server likely will. Guests are encouraged to “choose your own adventure” by ordering what and when they desire from a lengthy menu that avoids categorization of any kind. There

cultures and cuisines. In place of boring and predictable are creative, boldly flavored and compelling arrangements. As good a place to begin as any is the chive-topped smoked salmon belly spread ($11). When schmeared across the impossibly thin and crispy everything bagel chips, the taste evokes lazy Sunday brunches at the neighborhood delicatessen. For a quick trip to the corner sports bar, order the meaty Cracklin’ Ghost Wings ($14). If you think you’ve sampled it all when it comes

to wings, the kitchen has a little surprise in store. A beguiling sweet and spicy dry rub tingles on the tongue, while a drag through the umami-seasoned ranch rounds out the experience. For an absolute explosion of flavors and textures, order the sesame brussels sprouts ($12). They arrive positively blasted in all the right ways, leaving them charred and crispy but pleasantly tender within. They’re glazed with ssamjang, an earthy, spicy paste, and they sit atop a slick of kimchi-spiced yogurt. Unlike at Broadway, “theatergoers” here needn’t queue up at the intermission bar for a midmeal breather. Few cocktails arrive with more panache than the Last Manhattan ($15), which lands at the table in a smoke-filled chamber. When the cloche is lifted and the clouds part, the woodsy rye-based cocktail appears like a magician’s prestige. Wine lovers are treated to a short but sweet list of glass pours and bottles studded with some predictable wallet-thinners. In terms of third acts, it’s tough to top the lamb chops ($36), a Mediterranean-styled platter with three expertly grilled bone-in chops served on a pool of silky eggplant puree. Also on the plate is cool, creamy and thick labneh, red chile pepper paste and stack of warm pita. Fried rice fans will definitely dig the version served here ($18), another umami bomb thanks to the addition of kimchi and the egg yolk topper, which oozes and enriches the grains below when pierced. We’ll definitely be returning to try the pho French dip, an ingenious twist on both the soup and the sandwich that replaces the classic au jus with the famous Vietnamese beef broth. And because there is nothing better than a well-built double smash cheeseburger, that has been added to “the list” as well. When we do try them, it likely will be while seated on TLP’s secluded front patio. For the restaurant, Leebow – also of Majestic Steel – assembled a talented management and culinary team. While that talent pool benefits diners at The Last Page, it also lays the groundwork for future expansion. The owner’s recently formed Kind of One Concepts plans to continue developing and operating hospitality ventures, both here and away, so it’s unlikely that this eatery is the end of the tale.

dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner

| clevescene.com | May 5-18, 2021

BITES

B Spot at Eton closed, will reopen as Mabel’s BBQ By Douglas Trattner MICHAEL SYMON HAS CLOSED the last remaining B Spot (save for the one inside FirstEnergy Stadium) in anticipation of converting it to Mabel’s BBQ. Located at Eton Chagrin Boulevard in Woodmere (28699 Chagrin Blvd.), the burger bar originally opened in 2010. “We just thought it was time for a change and we wanted to try something new,” explains partner Doug Petkovic. “The barbecue has been very good for us downtown. We feel like we’re doing it at a high level and we saw an opportunity to do barbecue on the east side and do it properly.” Like the original (2050 E. Fourth St., 216-417-8823), which recently celebrated its fifth anniversary, the new east-side outpost will offer smoked meats like beef brisket, pulled pork, turkey breast, kielbasa and pork ribs by the pound or sandwich (except the ribs) along with sides like fried potatoes, pork cracklings, poppyseed coleslaw and baked beans. A couple desserts, banana cream pie and chocolate cream pie, round out the offerings. “It will essentially be the same program as downtown, with lots of great whisky and cocktails,” Petkovic adds. “A high-end bourbon bar that serves barbecue.” The design and interior of the restaurant will be modeled after the original location on East 4th Street, with arched ceilings, industrial lighting and exposed brick to evoke the feel of the West Side Market. Longtime Symon collaborators Scott Richardson and Richard Lalli are behind the changes. “After seeing excitement and popularity around Mabel’s BBQ on East 4th Street, and being regular diners ourselves, we knew that evolving together meant introducing this creative concept to the east side of Cleveland,” states Lidia Richani, Executive Vice President of Leasing for Stark Enterprises, which manages the property. “We are looking forward to the future ahead with Michael Symon Restaurants, it sure looks bright!”

| clevescene.com | May 5-18, 2021

Photo courtesy Richardson Design

EAT

Beloved Asiatown Shop Koko Bakery to Open Second Location on Coventry For more than 15 years, Koko Bakery (3710 Payne Ave., 216-8817600) has lured Asian food fans to its downtown store for fresh-baked buns, colorful fruit tarts, cakes and pastries, hot lunches and delicious bubble tea. Come this summer, the popular Asiatown shop will open its second location, this one out east in Coventry Village. “A lot of American people come to my store and enjoy our pastry and buns, so we are opening the one on Coventry to let the people enjoy more of the best bubble teas and pastry,” says owner Jian Xu. The location is the former Piccadilly Artisan Yogurt (1767 Coventry Rd.) space next door to Pacific East. Xu says that the shop will be nearly identical to the original in terms of items offered. They will be outfitting the space with its own bakery. The goal is to be open by midsummer.

This Spring, Chef Eddie Tancredi Will Debut ETalian in the Heart of Chagrin Falls Eddie Tancredi’s Lakewood restaurant Distill Table did not survive the pandemic, closing last spring after two years. But already the chef is gearing up for another restaurant opening. Later this month he will open ETalian (as in Eddie Tancredi Italian) in downtown Chagrin Falls. He says that 2020 was a devastating year, but he’s not one to slow down or second guess his career path. “I’m always going to be in this industry, but after the past year I kind of wanted to look back and see what’s going to be feasible and make sense moving forward,” Tancredi explains. “I believe in this concept. I was already looking to do another place when this location came up. I’m going to focus on this place, be in a beautiful location and enjoy working there.” That place is a 1,200-square-foot brick building once home to the local blacksmith. The building (13 Bell St.), which is owned by Ed and Amy Weinfuert, sits right on Bell Park by the upper falls. Work currently is being down to ready the structure for its first restaurant. ETalian will specialize in Naplesstyle wood-fired pizza. The oven, an Acunto, was custom made in Italy

and has been installed in the open kitchen. The chef says the plan is to keep things simple, but fresh, focusing the operation on a handful of pies, salads and desserts. Diners will have the choice of dining in, picking up or getting delivery. Beer and wine will be available for both dine-in and carry-out. One big twist to the pizza is that they are all 9-inch pies as opposed to the conventional 12-inch build. Not only does Tancredi suggest that the personal pizzas be enjoyed uncut, but he also will be encouraging guests to enjoy them in a street food-convenient package referred to as “portafoglio,” in which the pies are folded and wrapped for portable enjoyment. “This is actually the traditional way that you’re supposed to eat it,” says Tancredi. “Now, a lot of people in America don’t do that, but if you go to Naples, that’s how they serve it.” Six different wood-fired pizzas will be joined by cheesy bread, three salads and pan con gelato. Tancredi says that a new window in the rear of the building will open up to the falls, giving diners at the counter great views. There will be seating for 24 indoors plus another 30 on the patio. The chef hopes to be open within the next month. “The biggest issue right now is finding staff, but I do feel that it’s going to be a strong summer for a lot of places,” he says. “I really do.”

New Owner to Transform Former Crop Space in Ohio City to ‘Modern Supper Club’ For the past decade, the historic United Banking and Trust Building at W. 25th Street and Lorain Avenue in Ohio City has been home to Crop Bistro. Before the end of the year, the stunning interior will become Bartleby, described by its owner as a “modern supper club.” The new owner is Morgan Yagi, who also operates Hibachi

Japan Steak House restaurants in Cuyahoga Falls and Solon. He says that when the prospect of taking over such an iconic Cleveland space presented itself, he was thrilled. “It’s a beautiful, lovely space and we are super excited about the opportunity,” says Yagi. “It’s one of the best spaces in town.” The breathtaking room, designed by renowned Cleveland architecture firm Walker & Weeks, features 35-foot ceilings, an original mural and a lower-level vault complete with imposing steel door. The goal will be to make the cavernous room more inviting while preserving its impressive framework. “We’ve got some ideas that will hopefully warm up the atmosphere, but obviously the architectural features are great and we wouldn’t want to cover any of that up,” Yagi says. “Whatever we do will definitely be sensitive to the beauty of the space.” For the project, Yagi has surrounded himself with a highcaliber team of friends (i.e. industry professionals) to create a multifaceted restaurant, bar and private dining space. Colleagues who will be consulting on the project include Stephen Taylor of CBRE, chef Dante Boccuzzi and Spotted Owl owner Will Hollingsworth. Managing the restaurant will be Ryan Britton. The plan is to open in phases, beginning in late 2021, says Taylor. The main-floor restaurant and bar will be followed by the lower level private dining spaces. “There’s definitely going to be demand for larger groups, and I think it will continue,” says Taylor, a longtime restaurant real estate professional. “We definitely think Bartleby will be complementary with the other restaurants and operators in the neighborhood. And we hope to bring people in from the burbs, but also people who live and work in Ohio City and come to events downtown.”

dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner

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| clevescene.com | May 5-18, 2021

SAVAGE LOVE SWITCHED ON By Dan Savage Hey, Dan: You’ve said that everyone is entitled to a “zone of erotic autonomy.” I was wondering if you thought that “zone” extends to sending thousands of dollars to a “FinDom.” I’m a 33-year-old straight woman, and I love my husband and we have a great (or so I thought) sex life. He’s very dominant and controlling in bed and I’m very submissive, and I thought we were well-matched sexually. So it was a shock for more than one reason when I stumbled over evidence that he’s been sending money to a female sex worker who calls herself a FinDom. This has been going on for nearly three years! It seems clear from their messages (I have read them all) that they’ve never met in person (she clearly states that she never meets in person with her subs), but she sends him degrading personalized videos after he sends her money roughly once every other month. The amounts are small but they add up. We are more than comfortable, so the issue isn’t the money. And while my husband has never complained about what I spend on a personal trainer or my hair or body treatments (admittedly a lot), this is obviously different because he’s masturbating over these videos. I don’t really want to degrade him, and I obviously couldn’t dominate him financially as our finances are shared. My husband says he doesn’t want to be degraded by me, but he was nevertheless willing to pay a complete stranger to heap insults on him?!? I don’t understand. I thought we had a great sexual connection. I also thought I knew who he was erotically. I’m confused, and don’t know what to do. Feeling Insecure Necessarily, Doubts About Marriage Now First things first: You actually have a great sex life (from the sound of things), your husband clearly loves you (if this if your only issue), and his dominance in the sack isn’t an act, FINDAMN; it’s just that having control isn’t the only thing that turns him on. It’s just that every once in a while he wants to give up control. Maybe he should’ve come to you

| clevescene.com | May 5-18, 2021

to get this need met and couldn’t bring himself to ask — for fear of rejection, for fear of spoiling your D/s dynamic — or maybe he sensed you wouldn’t enjoy degrading him and/or that being degraded by you wouldn’t work for him. Backing up for a second: You say you’re “more than comfortable,” FINDAMN, which is filthy-rich person code for “we have tons of money.” So while I’m opposed to one person in a marriage spending significant amounts of money without their spouse’s knowledge, I’m going to climb out on a limb and guess that this isn’t money you missed. No mortgage payments went unpaid, no vacations were canceled. Even if your husband sent this woman $9,999 dollars over the last three years — the highest figure that keeps us in the “thousands” range — that works out to $278 a month. I’m guessing the actual amount spent was far less than that, FINDAMN, and in no way impacted your comforts. (But here’s hoping Joe Biden’s tax hikes on the wealthy do!) As for the seeming contradiction — your husband dominates you and submits to this woman — it’s not that hard to explain what’s going on. While you’ve probably never been to a big gay leather/ fetish event, FINDAMN, if you should ever go you would meet dozens of men who have both Doms and subs. So the guy you saw being dragged around on a leash on the first night will be dragging someone else around on a leash the second night. Because very few people into power exchange are 100% dominant or 100% submissive; one guy can bring out a gay guy’s submissive side, and another guy can bring out his dominant side. Similarly, you seem to bring out your husband’s dominant side — much to your delight — while this other woman brings out his submissive side. So it would seem your husband is a bit of a switch; in his case, FINDAMN, he’s mostly dominant but also enjoys being submissive, too. And being submissive to an online FinDom once in a while doesn’t mean there’s anything inauthentic

about your husband when he’s dominating you. If you don’t want to degrade your husband — if you or if he or if you both prefer your roles to be fixed (which is common among kinky switches) — and your husband is willing to keep this connection (1) online only, (2) below an agreed-to amount, and (3) to himself (if you don’t want to hear about it) or shared (if you do), I think you should allow your husband to have an outlet. Again, you can spare the money and your husband hasn’t done anything stupid — he hasn’t given this woman access to your savings accounts or written her into his will. He’s paying this woman for a little dominant time and attention every now and then. And while what your husband did (basically purchased some interactive porn) does feel cheating-adjacent … I gotta ask … have you ever hired a personal trainer just because he was hot? Have you ever chosen a hairdresser because you liked to look at him? Have you ever gone out of your way to get body treatments from a VGL male masseuse? And then thought about one of those guys — or all three of them — while you were masturbating or having sex with your husband? If you can identify any small zones of erotic autonomy that you’ve carved out for yourself, FINDAMN, allowing your husband to continue enjoying the small zone of erotic autonomy he’s carved out for himself might come a little easier.

Hey, Dan: I’m a 27-year-old gay man who’s having a hard time. I’m in a relationship with a spectacular guy. He’s a 25-year-old bisexual man. He’s smart, funny, extroverted, and has lots of friends and lots of ex-fuckbuddies. We are deeply in love, and neither of us has ever felt that before. It’s been five months and nothing could be better — except the fact that I’m deadly insecure. He’s got tons of friends, he’s extremely attractive, and sexually he’s perfect. He’s a top who knows how to use his big dick, and he has infinite endurance. I’m the opposite of all that: I have a few

friends, I’m an average/ugly guy with an average/small dick, it’s not easy for me to get a solid erection, and it takes me just a couple of minutes to come. I keep comparing myself to him: He’s perfect and he can fuck anyone, and I’m ugly and sexually inept compared to him. These feelings are killing me. I Can’t Be The Right One Your boyfriend, who could apparently have anyone, has chosen you. So you’re either far more appealing — physically, emotionally, socially — than you give yourself credit for, ICBTRO, or your boyfriend gets off on the power imbalance. But if the latter were true, if he was manipulating you with his looks/dick, you would know. You would be painfully aware of it, and you would’ve mentioned it in your letter if your boyfriend had leveraged his looks and/or his dick to get you to do things you didn’t want to do or put up with things no one should put up with. (If he had said something to you like, “You’ll never leave me because you can’t do better,” you would’ve included that.) So I’m guessing you’re a lot more appealing — physically, emotionally, socially — than you’ve allowed yourself to realize. Instead of worrying about whether this relationship will last forever (and most don’t), ICBTRO, try to enjoy the boyfriend you’ve got right now. Speak to a doctor about ED meds for your dick and speak to a shrink about your low self-esteem — because if anything is going to prematurely kill this relationship, it’s your insecurities. Your boyfriend may not want to be with you forever, ICBTRO, and you may not want to be with him forever. But if you want to be with him for as long as you can, you’ve gotta get a grip on your insecurities. He can’t help you with those. And if you can’t help yourself, ICBTRO, find a therapist who can help you.

mail@savagelove.net t@fakedansavage www.savagelovecast.com

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| clevescene.com | May 5-18, 2021