La Copa, she says, will be a sports bar catering to the Latin community. But she wants nightclub zoning — required for dancing — so she can host special events, including weddings. But the neighborhood isn't having it. When someone says "nightclub," residents think of Moda, which closed after the owner was convicted of drug trafficking, or Envy, where a customer was murdered.

The skirmish over La Copa is one small piece of a larger battle brewing in one of the West Side's poorest neighborhoods over how it will develop and who will be in charge. Residents, churches and representatives from some existing businesses want it quiet. They want to continue the progress Clark Metro Community Development Corporation (CDC) has made toward safety, with security cameras and a foot patrol around Clark and West 25th. Clark Metro Executive Director Steve Kruger says a full hearing of neighborhood concerns about La Copa is part of that progress.

But Councilman Joe Santiago likes the idea of La Copa. He says a Latin-themed sports bar would add to the community by giving people in the neighborhood — many of whom can't afford cable TV — a place to watch boxing, soccer, the Indians and other events.

Santiago also claims that the CDC has not made adequate progress in terms of developing the neighborhood. He sat on the board at Tremont West for eight years and saw plenty of development there, and thinks Clark Metro could do more. So he's declining to give the group any of his $400,000 worth of discretionary funds, or to advocate for them in the city's community development funding process.

For the CDC, it's a crippling situation. The neighborhood with the greatest need for resources gets the least investment.

"This is why I'm different," says Kruger. "My definition of community development is not how many houses you build or how many bars you open, but what are the quality of life issues. If you build 20 houses or have all these clubs but it's not safe to live there, what use is it?"

"People say I'm [only] for businesses," Santiago says. "That's not fair. You have to have a strong business to have jobs, potential for high school internships. You have to look at what's best for the community in the long term."

But strong business in Clark Metro apparently means bars, and doing anything it takes to get them. Henry Senyak, who has battled against neighborhood liquor licenses in several locations surrounding his Scranton Road home for years, says Santiago lied to residents about having withdrawn objections to the transfer or renewal of five liquor licenses in his ward since taking office. Santiago also told the Free Times in a phone interview that he hadn't withdrawn the objections. But the city record is quite clear.

And in the first month of his term, Santiago wrote a letter to the Ohio Division of Liquor Control in support of La Copa: "Ms. Rodriguez is a new entrepreneur in our community. This new business will be the beginning of a rekindling of the business district in this area of Ward 14." He wrote the letter even though residents made sure he knew that a man listed in initial applications as co-owner, Raed Sadik, had been convicted of several crimes, including three counts of drug trafficking in a schoolyard. Senyak and several others believe that Rodriguez, who is 22 years old, is Sadik's girlfriend and is acting as a front for his interests. No one denies the relationship, but Rodriguez is the only name officially associated with the business now.

And now the CDC's service-oriented approach to community development is hurting at the bottom line.

In recent years Clark Metro enjoyed $70,000 in annual support from the city's community development program — almost the $74,000 maximum. They scaled back their request to $65,000 this year, knowing there had been cuts to the federal Community Development Block Grant program. But when it was time for the City of Cleveland's answer to come down, Santiago told Clark Metro that it was the second-worst performing community development corporation in the city, and that their funding level would be zero.

Clark Metro scored 37 out of 100 in its annual evaluation, Santiago says. The evaluation is based on progressive monthly reports on goals the CDC sets for itself. Kruger says the score is misleading, though, because of conditions beyond the CDC's control. For example, Clark Metro wanted to redevelop the Paris Theater as its office space, but the idea was nixed by previous Councilman Nelson Cintron.

"We were convicted without getting our day in court," Kruger says.

Now the futures of the CDC and the sports bar are yet to be determined. At Monday's Board of Zoning Appeals meeting, Clark Metro complied with Santiago's request and "neither supported nor opposed" La Copa. The Board of Zoning Appeals postponed a decision on La Copa's zoning variance until next month, urging Rodriguez to hold a public meeting with those who opposed the nightclub.

Meanwhile, Clark Metro adapts. Board president Randy Butchko, who manages the Clark Avenue McDonald's, says they were counting on the $65,000 for about a quarter of the organization's annual budget. Two staff people lost their jobs. Kruger says he'll also probably have to eliminate security cameras from the intersection of West 25th and Clark, as well as a security patrol the CDC sponsored there.

Santiago acknowledges the challenge.

"What [the funding cuts] mean to Clark Metro," he says, "is that board needs to really make tough decisions and look internally and see where they are missing the boat. That could mean a lot of different things — staff changes, a new business plan or getting a strategic plan in order."

Residents speculate that Santiago wants to shut the CDC down and divide its territory among the several other CDCs in his ward which adjoin the Clark Metro neighborhood, just as two CDCs recently merged in Old Brooklyn.

"I haven't given it complete thought," Santiago says. "I'm not going to say I recommend it because there would have to be a lot of meetings."

Kruger says the funding cuts, and businesses' response to them, could lead to big changes at Clark and West 25th. A sandwich shop at the corner is likely to close, the CDC is likely to move, and county offices upstairs are about to relocate, which will leave one corner of the intersection largely vacant.

"All progress of the last two to three years will go down," Kruger says. "The rug has been yanked out from us. But we're not closing. Not yet."