At a Cleveland City Council hearing Monday to discuss the need for building a proposed convention center in Cleveland, Council President Frank Jackson said that the meeting was an opportunity for the corporate community to make its case for the convention center directly to the people.

Throughout the hearing, Jackson, on several occasions, gently encouraged the corporate presenters, who were led by Greater Cleveland Growth Association President Dennis Eckart, who wore a cream-colored suit that looked like the tailor-made design worn by LeBron James at the NBA draft, and Joe Roman, executive director of Cleveland Tomorrow, to make their case. By the end of the nearly four-and-a-half-hour session, Jackson acknowledged, "They didn't make the case." 

That was an understatement. Not only did the panel not make the case, but they seemed hell bent on reducing the entire hearing to a set of sports clichés. They chanted: "We can compete!" "We can be better than Pittsburgh!" "We can be better than our peer cities [Columbus, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Buffalo, etc.]!" The problem with their choreographed mantra was that it was very short on specifics.

In fact, the panel of seven provided no details to the committee about their claims of job maintenance/growth, convention business, tourism expansion, increased city revenue, or how the project provides any secondary benefits to the residents of Cleveland.

The lack of specifics drew sharp response from Michael D. Polensek (Ward 11).

 "I've heard this all before," Polensek said. "The only figure [with all the other projects like Gateway, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame…] that has increased is the unemployment figure."

Polensek went on to say that Cleveland was in trouble due to decisions made by persons like those sitting at the table. "The quiet crisis," [taking a slap at the WVIZ/ Plain Dealer series on the proposed convention center] Polensek said, "is not so quiet in my neighborhood."

Jackson, who seemed uneasy with the panel's lack of attention to details, asked the presenters to return next Monday with specifics about the claims they made. Moreover, he added an interesting caveat: Jackson said unless some of the details surrounding the project can be negotiated before the next hearing, he would cancel that hearing and the remaining three, and walk away from the project. "Without a consensus this week," Jackson emphatically said, "there will be no convention center."

Given the panel's reliance on sports imagery, if the negotiations do fail, the corporate leaders still might have another option. They could ask LeBron for some support. Maybe he is looking for a tax shelter and doesn't need the details.