Who is supposed to pay for next makeover?

Cleveland's Free Stamp sculpture lived up to its mission of providing public art with purpose in 2025. Anchoring Willard Park next to City Hall, the 48-foot maroon steel landmark was the rallying point for numerous events, especially demonstrations against the government.  

But the sculpture has been taking a beating from our weather and from visitors. It looks worn and tired, its paint is fading, chipping and peeling, and it bears scars of engraved graffiti. So it might be time someone starts thinking about giving it another paint job. It received its last makeover in 2014 at a cost of nearly $100,000. But today a mystery surrounds who is obligated to pay for the next one. 

The Free Stamp was designed by world famous artists Claes Oldenburg and his wife, Coosje van Bruggen, who were known for their giant whimsical sculptures of everyday objects. Sohio, which today is BP America, commissioned the project in the early 1980s for its building on Public Square, the building that today bears the name of Huntington National Bank. 

First designed to stand upright, the sculpture was ultimately rejected by oil company executives as not befitting the company culture. They later donated it to the City of Cleveland, which worked with the artists to redesign the sculpture for Willard Park, where it sits on its side, letters facing up, as if it was tossed from Public Square. (So the legend goes.)

Observers have ascribed many meanings to the sculpture and the word "Free," from a sly dig at soulless corporations to the freedom citizens take for granted. 

What everyone appears to agree on is that the sculpture is now a part of our civic pride – a gathering spot for celebrations, protests and festivals and a destination for tourists. 

When BP America donated it to the City of Cleveland, it promised to maintain it in perpetuity. BP covered the cost of refurbishing it 12 years ago. But some reports say that the city agreed around that time to take responsibility for its future upkeep. 

City Hall told Weekly Chatter that "we are currently working to identify resources to ensure it can be restored again to the artist's original specifications and returned to its full glory." City Hall went on to note that it would welcome any organization or individual interested in donating funds or other resources toward restoration. 

If Cleveland only had a global paint company nearby!

Legislation from 1991 shows that BP America is on the hook for cleanings and painting forever. No one has yet to find an agreement that spells out a new arrangement. BP America didn't respond to an inquiry seeking clarity on the deal. The ICA Art Conservation of Cleveland, which led the refurbishment in 2014, said it has had nothing to do with sculpture since. 

With uncertainty in the air, perhaps the next rally at Willard Park should be one to "Save the Stamp."

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Stuck in the waiting room

Former MetroHealth Hospital CEO Dr. Akram Boutros will have to wait a bit longer to get in front of a jury to argue he was wrongfully fired by the hospital.

It shouldn't be surprising. Most court cases drag on longer than a Cleveland Browns season. As first noted by Weekly Chatter, Boutros and MetroHealth were most recently arguing over missing emails the hospital said didn't exist but were just discovered by an employee and made available in a whistleblower complaint. Arguments about the emails took up much of Monday's pre-trial hearing and triggered new legal motions and discovery, which will delay the start of a trial in the new year. The judge has set the next pre-trial hearing for Jan. 14.

Party seeks past glory

The Cuyahoga County Democratic Party is trying to regain its status as the county that matters most to its statewide candidates. It was once the place to reliably stockpile Democratic votes to negate Republican votes from Ohio's many rural counties and right-leaning exurbia areas. But party turnout in Cuyahoga, particularly in Cleveland, has sagged in many recent elections, making it a second class citizen to Franklin County.

Dave Brock, the Cuyahoga County party chair, said locals have a plan to boost turnout. 

He said the party wants to see 500,000 votes cast in the Democratic-leaning county in the November 2026 election, which would be about 80,000 more votes cast here than in statewide races four years ago. He said the plan includes trying to register 43,000 new voters in the county. 

The party will start the new year with a modest $164,000 in the bank. The bulk of the recent contributions came from former State Rep. Jeffrey Crossman of Parma, who ran unsuccessfully for attorney general in 2022. He contributed $107,000 from his former statewide campaign, which is now closed. Crossman is running in the Democratic Party for a seat on the 8th District Court of Appeals. He faces John J. Russo. 

Developer loses again

Weekly Chatter has been chronicling the gassed up legal fights over the development of a service station in the Cudell neighborhood on the city's West Side. 

This week, a judge bounced a defamation suit filed by the gas station's would-be developer, Ibrahim Shehadeh, against Dallas Eckman, a political organizer with the Cleveland Liberation Center.

The suit centered on public comments Eckman made at a City Council meeting in the spring. Eckman asserted that Shehadeh, who owns multiple gas stations in Cleveland and the suburbs, was part of a group that had displayed "racist behavior" toward people who supported New Era Cleveland leader Antoine Tolbert. Specifically, Eckman described how Shehadeh, along with gas station co-owners and employees, followed members of New Era Cleveland, their supporters and children, out of City Hall and loudly made monkey noises, made threats toward them and and flicked cigarettes at them.

Shehadeh's complaint was dismissed under new Ohio anti-SLAPP laws. A SLAPP, which stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, is a legal action intended to silence or intimidate a person. The new laws are meant to reduce these and allow courts to toss out suits involving speech protected under the First Amendment. 

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Shannon Gallagher did just that following arguments from Case Western Reserve University's First Amendment Clinic, which represented Eckman. Gallagher found no evidence was presented that Eckman acted either with malice or that his statements were untrue. Next, the judge will decide what attorneys' fees and expenses Shehadeh will owe.

It was the second court loss for Shehadeh in a month's time. In November, Judge Kevin Kelley denied an appeal over a city board's refusal to issue a variance to allow the gas station to be built on the Madison Avenue property vacated by a CVS.

– Rachel Dissell

Finally, Chatter is taking a week off and will return to your inboxes on Jan. 3. Enjoy the holidays.

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