Self-determination Comes to Hough
(And Maybe to Cleveland, Too)

The race to replace recently-deceased Ward 7 Councilwoman Fannie Lewis came to a surprising -- at least to some -- climax last week with the election of T.J. Dow, who outpolled incumbent Stephanie Howse (center) by the considerable margin of 53.4 to 46.6 percent. The reason many folks around town were surprised is that, with few exceptions, incumbency always wins, and Howse had been appointed to the seat by Martin Sweeney... with the concurrence of his fellow council members. What they (and everyone else outside of the community, for that matter) failed to realize was the depth of the feeling in Ward 7 for autonomy... for us to be in charge of our own affairs here in Hough.

Sweeny placed Howse in Fannie’s seat over the loud protests of virtually all of the precinct committee members, and many Ward 7 residents. We collected signatures on a petition and then virtually begged Sweeney to place a temporary person in the seat until the special election could be held (similar to what had been done in Ward 1 by Frank Jackson when he was council president) but he totally blew us off. But it came back to haunt him big time. Dow won the contest by running against Sweeney’s arrogance, not by running against Howse’s inexperience.

The race turned on whether Fannie — on her death bed — told Sweeney to place Howse in her seat or not. Sweeney said she did, but many others (including members of Fannie’s family) said she didn’t. Fannie herself was famous for saying “Get it in writing,” and Sweeney’s failure to do so doomed Howse’s chances — which is a shame since she’s a quality young woman that many people in the ward greatly admire — and for good reason.

Howse’s problem was her lack of political acumen. Some politically astute people suggested to her that she refuse the appointment from Sweeney and take her chances running with the rest of the field of 10 candidates, sans incumbency. However, she eschewed the idea, and lost a race that many people in the ward felt she would have probably won hands down had she made the right decision.

Former prosecutor (and now City Councilman) Dow seems to have a finer tuned ear than Howse, and he hears the residents of the ward loud and clear when we state unequivocally that we put him in the job to represent our wishes, not his own agenda, and after 28 years of living under the sometimes iron hand of Fannie Lewis, we will not hesitate to turn him out of office if doesn’t remain accountable to the residents. We’ve had quite enough of being dictated to, thank you.

I love the ward I reside in, and whenever I get the opportunity to give someone a tour they come away surprised and awed: The fairly large and relatively new homes that line the north side of Chester Avenue (starting just east of 55th Street) are not anomalies. Hundreds of similar upscale homes have been built in Ward 7 over the last 15-years, populated principally by professional folks who could have afforded to move to Solon, Westlake (or anywhere else in the county), but stayed in the inner-city — attempting to recreate the Black middleclass — because we are true believers in Cleveland.

Never mind the fact that the mainstream media ignores the progress we’ve made — we’re here, we’re stable, and we’re going to attempt to show the rest of the city how we fought City Hall and won. Our collective effort to defeat Sweeney’s hand-picked candidate can serve as a blueprint for others to take control of their wards.

This is not about the blame game: Sweeney isn’t the problem (although we cleverly portrayed him as the bogeyman to get Dow elected). Elected officials are not the enemy, and they should not be portrayed as such. The problem is one of construct: Instead of top-down politics run from City Hall, we need to change to a bottom-up, grassroots construct …that places control more firmly in the hands of the people. Wow, what a concept!

The problem is systemic and citywide. We’ve all become too complacent about our democracy; we’re too content to sit on our fat asses (me included) night after night, instead of going out to community meetings, interacting with our neighbors, and talking control of our political processes. We’re not suffering from a lack of leadership; we’re suffering from a lack of citizen involvement.

You can’t blame the Sweenys of the world when we’ve essentially abandoned the processes to them. For far too many of us (again, me included) we only get involved when we’re looking for someone to blame. Benjamin Franklin was certainly right when he said “People get the government they deserve.” If there is “blame,” to place, it really should be placed on us.

However, since Nov. 4 there’s been a bold new sensibility extant in the land — one that is almost palpable. “Change” is the new mantra emanating from Washington, and we’re hopefully about to be given new resources and tools to solve the myriad problems facing the nation… but it’s got to be up to us — not the politicians alone — to decide how to use them. Involvement is the answer.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com

Frazier's book From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available now. Snag an autographed copy from the author at http://www.frombehindthewall.com
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