As reported in Fox News Digital, the food and drink website Tasting Table just published its annual survey of America’s best dive bars, which it defines as drinking establishments that are “unapologetically unpretentious.”
Proud to report America’s number one dive bar is Cleveland’s Harbor Inn. Open in 1895 as a hub for sailors and dockworkers on the nearby Cuyahoga River, it is my neighborhood bar of choice when we’re in Ohio.
Offering over 100 different brands of beer, it is a home away from home. Google it and stop by; ask for Kenny, the owner. He will take good care of you.
No reservations needed because he doesn’t serve any food. If you’re hungry you can bring in a burger from McCarthy’s next door. In the winter Harbor is closed Monday and Tuesday. Summers, you can find me in The Station Bar, in Quoque, Long Island.
Which reminds me, the best party I ever attended at Harbor here in Cleveland was one of our own makings. It was during the longest government shut down in history, December 2018.
At the time I had a radio show here in town and one morning decided to invite my listeners, particularly those government workers furloughed because of the shutdown, to have a drink on me at Harbor Inn. I expected maybe a couple of dozen listeners to take me up on the offer.
Then they kept coming, by twos and threes and fours, sidelined government workers ranging from air traffic controllers to environmental protection administrators. They came crowding in as we drank and lamented the disruption of so many lives.
Then President Trump announced that the shutdown was over, and that a compromise had been reached. The bar exploded in cheers, and I convinced my radio station management that the big bar tab was all on them.
This current government shutdown, has not been nearly as much fun. Too many federal workers fear that President Trump will take the opportunity presented by the government shutdown to fire furloughed workers and eliminate their jobs.
My prime concern is the budget cuts to community programs for the developmentally disabled. Billions in cuts have been threatened to Medicaid and other programs this population relies on. The fear is that home and community-based services for people with disabilities will be gutted.
The hope is that state governments can fill the void as the federal government retreats. What is certain is that the disabled may be denied benefits sufficient for them to live independent lives in humane surroundings. The alternative is that the indigent will seek medical attention in emergency rooms, homeless shelters, jails or God forbid, in filthy horror house institutions like Willowbrook.
The state governments are the last hope for adults and children who have suffered far too much over the generations. Contact your local representative. Let them know our disabled friends and family should be among the highest priorities of government.
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