CLEVELAND, Ohio - The city's refusal to accept petitions seeking repeal of an ordinance that allowed use of city tax dollars to renovate Quicken Loans Arena has sparked a bigger issue about democracy, lawyers for proponents of the referendum said Friday.
The lawyers, representing activists for Greater Cleveland Congregations, sent the city a letter threatening a lawsuit if the city does not accept their petitions to start the referendum process.
"People have decided that rules and fairness and democracy don't matter," attorney Subodh Chandra said. "This is the kind of thing that happens in banana republics that America mocks where politicians try to subvert the democratic process.