A Conversation with Mayor Frank Jackson

The Mayor and his team continue to integrate Cleveland and Cuyahoga County into a 21st century Northeast Ohio, through regional promotion. The Avon I-90 Interchange Agreement, recently approved by the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA), is a revenue-sharing alliance between Cuyahoga and Lorain County. The accord anticipates a new highway interchange in Avon, as early as 2009, to reduce traffic congestion in the growing community. The Cleveland Water Department fosters area waterline service concensus as well.

During our Cool Cleveland interview, the Mayor defended Parochialism, and its role in Northeast Ohio's regionalism negotiations. He also defined who constitutes "the least of us" in society...

The Cleveland Plus Campaign, unveiled in April, is a collaboration between the Cleveland Plus Marketing Alliance, which includes The Greater Cleveland Partnership, the Convention & Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland, and Team NEO. The movement is primarily aimed at people outside of Northeast Ohio who make or influence business and travel decisions. The drive looks to unite Akron, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown (and every town in between), as a powerful, dynamic region, with over four million residents and 6,000+ square miles. More than $3.5 million is being invested in the campaign this year, with another $5 million plus, pledged for the next two years, and beyond. The campaign rallies every Northeast Ohio citizen to embrace its mission, and educate family, friends, and coworkers, about its merits (visit http://www.clevelandplus.com to learn in-depth knowledge about the cause).

Whether its Northeast Ohio's "Cleveland Plus," or Metro Louisville, Kentucky's "Say Yes to Unity" Campaign, such slogans underscore the need for area cooperation in the 21st century. Today's spatial orientation of economies, housing markets, infrastructure, and labor markets are not locally focused. Regional unity can assuage the juggernaut of globalization. The contest, is determining an effective approach for each marketplace. Northeast Ohio boldly confronts that challenge via the Cleveland Plus Campaign.

Mayor Frank Jackson talks Regionalism, today in a Cool Cleveland exclusive interview. You decide...

Cool Cleveland: What three essential elements are needed to ensure a successful Cleveland Plus Campaign?

Mayor Frank Jackson: First, regionalism needs to be defined, as people use many different geographical boundaries as reference points.

We need to build regionalism around productive outcome areas, such as No Poaching policies, regional, economic procurement, revenue sharing, and services review to reduce governmental costs. Initially, we need to avoid contentious areas, like government restructuring.

Lastly, we need to incorporate education into regionalism dyamics, allowing everyone to prosper in its newfound existence. Eliminating educational discussions will ultimately lead us back to the table for similar talks. I'm not necessarily advocating one regional district, but instead, creating objectively measurable academic standards, ensuring every child, regardless of district or location, achieves those standards.

Every leader has a different regionalism definition and approach. As the Mayor of Cleveland, how do you envision successful regionalism in Northeast Ohio, and what are your methods for achieving it?

Elected officials have different definitions of regionalism, which, can be said of other communities as well, including, corporate, higher learning, and philanthropic institutions.

I approach regionalism from areas where we're most likely to succeed in the shortest amount of time. The Avon I-90 Interchange, recently approved by the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA), is a good example. This revenue-sharing project between Cuyahoga and Lorain County is advancing regionalism in Northeast Ohio.

The Cleveland Water Department continues to ink service agreements with surrounding communities, helping both the populace and political networks.

These economic developments of sharing costs, revenues and delivery of services, and my No Poaching, Procurement, and Academic Application policies, model my regionalism methods.

I always say that the measure of our success is whether or not the least of us (not through charity and welfare), are better off. If our efforts don't improve the social, economic and political conditions of the least of us, then our regionalism approach is rhetorical.

The Cleveland Plus Campaign's website mentions that their research found that Cleveland has a "negative chip on our shoulder." Is this still the case?

I used to think that, as a city and region, attitudinally, we were "clinically depressed." It's like someone who awakes in the morning, and no matter how great things are, the sun could be shining, and we could be sitting on pots of gold, we'd still say that the world is coming to an end. I no longer believe that's true. Clevelanders now recognize the city's assets and great resources.

One of our greatest strengths is the cultural diversity of our people. We're approachable, nonarrogant, and generous too. Even during challenging economic times, we continually raise money for various charities, like the United Way. We have an excellent Arts and Cultural community, including our Waterfront, museums, and world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra. Our transportation ease, higher learning institutions, and potential growth areas like health care, Biotechnology and advanced manufacturing are laudable as well. Visitors, and people who relocate here, acclaim Cleveland, and they often become our biggest ambassadors.

The Cleveland Plus website displays a Projected Population: County Totals chart, through the year 2030. Consistently, Cuyahoga County foretells population loss. An August 19th Plain Dealer article, entitled Our Shrinking City Looks Down the Road, complements those projections. Kent State University's Urban Planner, Terry Schwarz, says, "It's about figuring out how to make an opportunity out of the city we've turned into, and stop pretending we'll be Chicago someday. Reflecting on Cuyahoga County's population predictions, and our current and future assets, including health care and the Euclid Corridor Transportation Project, etc. how do you envision Cleveland's generational change in the year 2030?

I can't predict the population totals for Cleveland and Cuyahoga County in the year 2030. I do however, agree with Schwarz regarding celebrating Cleveland's assets and maximizing its attributes, regardless of size. I always say that Cleveland's self is a good thing.

As our regionalism actions progress, we'll create a better economy, quality of life, and an even less expensive place to reside, although, Northeast Ohio already sports a lower cost of living, in comparison to many other urban areas. Effective regionalism can reduce the cost of doing business here, and tax rates as well.

Factor in excellent educational opportunities for every student regionwide, and our potential growth areas, like Biotechnology and Clean Tech industries, and I think our regional economy and population will grow. What those numbers will be in the year 2030, will depend on our regional success.

The Euclid Corridor Transportation Project , scheduled for late 2008 operation, will showcase Hybrid vehicles. Can you highlight other eco-friendly projects the city is undertaking?

There's a collaboration between the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County that's being driven by the Cleveland Foundation. County Prosecutor, Bill Mason and the City of Cleveland's Sustainability Director, Andrew Watterson, are looking at Wind Turbines as an Alternative Energy source. We're examining practical ways to incorporate environmentally sound actions in city decisions, and now approach major, capital, facility investments with a green-built, energy-efficient mindset. It's no longer a feel-good issue, but one of necessity.

City Council passed a continuation of the 15-year Residential Tax Abatement. We had hoped to tier the abatement, based on the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Green Building Rating System. Residential construction adopting the benchmark design protocol would have received the full 15-year tax abatement. Conventional residential construction would have received a 12-year tax abatement. Our proposal didn't pass this time, but it's a future goal. Currently, we're addressing Green building options via City Planning and its Building and Housing codes, and construction approval.

Cleveland jokes about its longstanding East/West mentality. Now we're being asked to promote Akron/Canton PLUS Lorain, PLUS Youngstown, Ohio etc., via the Cleveland Plus Campaign. What will it take for Cleveland to embrace a more progressive mindset vs. one of Parochialism?

I don't think Parochialism is a bad thing. Cleveland, Parma, Strongsville, etc., each city has their own identity. I'm sure that our regional success won't require compromising our communal identities, or our own particular interests.

Let me clarify what I mean. Less affluent people reach the right conclusions faster than more affluent people. That's because society's challenges negatively impact them sooner than the more affluent. Cleveland was losing population and experiencing reduced median income. Now Cuyahoga County and other municipalities are following suit.

Clevelanders haven't been the regionalism opponents, they've realized its merits for some time. The surrounding inner-ring and suburban communities have been the adversaries.

Regionalism in Northeast Ohio will happen. It's now a question of what that consummate change will look like. So I don't have a problem with people being parochial. It says that they're looking out for their own interests, which they should. In this regionalism discussion, we can't assume that "right" is going to happen, just because "right" is the right thing to do. It will only happen by influencing the discussions and debate.

So you don't think Cleveland could benefit from a more progressive, 21st century mindset?

No. We already have it. Cleveland leads many communities regarding their regionalism approach, don't you believe? Who's promoting regionalism, and helping to define Northeast Ohio's economic landscape, through revenue sharing, and procurement cooperation, etc.? I am. The Avon Interchange Project, and the city's Anti-Urban Sprawl policy, are progressive actions. Cleveland already embodies a 21st century-regionalism mindset. We're not behind on this issue.

Cleveland needs to maintain its parochial attitude during regionalism negotiations. We can't assume people are going to do right by Cleveland, because it's the right thing to do. Bay Village, Westlake, Akron, Youngstown, etc. shouldn't think that either. Regionalism heralds new dynamics. If you're not at the table, you'll lose. Your interests need to be spelled out.

What about the naysayers of the Cleveland Medical Mart?

It's a pointless debate now, as the facility will be built, barring an impasse, such as site location. The money is there. Now the question is, how do we spend the funds wisely, and create a competitive, state-of-the-art medical trade show facility for Cleveland?

How can Cuyahoga County residents be assured of transparency of funds allocated for the Medical Mart/Convention Center project?

The Cuyahoga County commissioners and I, have appointed Fred Nance, and his originating committees to assure transparency of funds. The transparency isn't in raising the money. It's there. Transparency equates to doing the project correctly, and building a medical mart that will enhance Northeast Ohio's economy.

The medical mart exemplifies my point about the "least of us" benefiting (not in terms of charity or welfare). We need to employ regional success metrics (because this is a Cuyahoga County tax not a City of Cleveland tax). Utmost, the medical mart must provide cross-sectional career opportunities, and enhance the region's social and economic conditions. If only a select few benefit from the project, then ultimately, it will have failed.

Mayor, you speak of the "least of us." An August 26th Plain Dealer article, entitled, "It Worked in Louisville, But Can It Work Here?" highlights regionalism in Metro Louisville, Kentucky, and racial interests in their "communities of color." How do you think race will influence Northeast Ohio's regionalism success?

It's interesting how people tend to equate "the least of us," with the African-American population. That's not necessarily always true. Hispanics, Whites, African-Americans, etc., any ethnic group, for a variety of reasons, has constituents who are vulnerable to mainstream America's challenges. That's why education is an important prerequisite to competing in the 21st century, whether one chooses a career, professional, or trade path.

Often, the "least of us" are judged by economic standards, as opposed to quality of life. There are affluent people who don't necessarily enjoy a great quality of life. They may suffer from a host of life's challenges, including Alcoholism, or Drug abuse, etc. A prime example is the recent Predatory Lending debacle. I'd say that the victims of those practices have become the" least of us." They're now exposed, and many of those victims are affluent people. It's apparent that the most prevalent underprivileged demagraphics are associated with minorities, but not exclusively.

Regarding race and regionalism, a continual focal debate point is the political dilution of power among traditionally disadvantaged populations, such as African-Americans and Hispanics.

Regionalism needs to define ethnic and racial boundaries that allow for equitable representation.

Once we create equity and parity in the non-political arenas, people will begin to have more confidence and trust in each other. They'll feel more empowered to voice their opinions. That's why Parcochialism isn't a bad thing.

If you focus on political structural change before social and economic change, regionalism will fail. It has to be the other way around.

In Louisville, Kentucky, Urban League President, Benjamin Richmond, urged blacks to accept a smaller share of a growing pie. Young black professionals supported his efforts, but every elected black official, and 70 % of black voters in the county and city, opposed the merger. On December 1, Johnathan Holifield becomes CEO and President of the Urban League of Greater Cleveland. Do you know him? How might his leadership influence Northeast Ohio's regionalism dynamics?

I've yet to meet Mr. Holifield, but again, your question addresses the need for every demagraphic, including traditionally, economically challenged groups like African-Americans and Hispanics, to support regionalism. Once they do, political concerns become minimalized.

Wealth will always invest in politics to protect its own interests. If you don't have the wealth for political investment, then you'll be living off the nature and good deeds of others, which will probably be to your disadvantage.

Black professionals accepted the merger because they're part of the prosperity, and have an affinity for more empowered positions. If the black Legislature and 70 percent of black voters rejected unification, it signifies their skepticism. To convert the opposing black population, they need to believe that they'll share in the prosperity. Otherwise, why would they relinquish political power, confident that their interests will be in the hands of those they don't trust?

In a city looking to promote itself in a positive light, via the Cleveland Plus Campaign, how can we rise above national notoriety for poverty and violence?

Frist, you can't deny problems. If we have a problem, then we have a problem. Our problems mirror similar urban centers throughout the United States, particularly in the midwest, where there's an upsurge in firearms crimes. Cleveland trumps many other comparably- sized cities, regarding lower violence statistics.

Violent, Par One crimes in Cleveland, are down by 13% to 15 %, but based on media reports, that's incredible. Homicides, however, have increased. That's directly attributable to several factors, including Organized crime, drugs, and easy availability of high powered guns in the hands of our youth. We continually challenge Ohio's Gun Laws.

Organized crime is buying and selling drugs, guns and sex in certain city neighborhoods. Cleveland interlopers are patronizing these crimes. Organized crime, not unlike legitimate neighborhood businesses, employs neighborhood kids. We need to understand those dynamics.

The City of Cleveland confronts Organized crime in collaboration with the US Attorney General's office, the District Attorney's office, the FBI, the US Marshalls Office and the Alcohol, Tobacco and Fire Arms (ATF) Agency. Over the last 20 months, we've arrested and indicted approximately 200 people involved in Organized crime, originating from Mexico, Texas, and Chicago. They're supplying drugs and guns to our urban center, and attracting our children. Seventy percent of Cleveland's homicides involve guns. Seventy percent of our crimes with guns involve 15 to 27 year-olds.

Addressing poverty. Cleveland is a very wealthy community, but poverty is measured by city dwellers. Now, I question the methodology used, considering Cleveland's variable, annual, Poverty rankings. Regardless, we still have a problem.

Eighty percent of the people who work in Cleveland, don't live in the city of Cleveland. Conversely, roughly 80 percent of Cleveland's residents, don't work in Cleveland. That's my reason for supporting a regional economy. If I can retain jobs, attract business, and create new investments here, Clevelanders are most likely to work here. If surburban employment rules, and Cleveland residents have transportation access, I'm still reducing poverty, by servicing the least of us.

Organized crime, poverty and violence produce notoriety. These are chronic, Cleveland conditions and nobody's listened. These social ills are encroaching the inner-ring suburbs, so now we have issues-violence, guns, drugs, and prostitution. When it was just in Cleveland, and certain parts of Cleveland-"It wasn't that big of an issue."

But it was an issue to those people whose children were pulled from academia into the street life, some of whom ulitmately died; and to those individuals who experienced a reduced quality of life. Now people want to tell you what to do, but like most Johnny- come- latelys', they don't have the experience of those who've endured these challenges for years. The solutions are there, it's not that complicated. What works for one child works for all.

I'll conclude this by asking, what do you think would happen if organized crime were to conduct business in area suburbs and affluent neighborhoods? What do you think would happen to their children? I don't think that they'd fare as well as Cleveland neighborhoods, or the people of Cleveland, who've endured these conditions for the last two or three decades. I don't think that their population would have remained as long as Cleveland's population has, and like Cleveland, many of their children would be devastated. Cleveland and its residents are strong. In spite of all of these challenges, we've survived and we're optimistic for the future.

All that I say and do is to help create a regional infrastructure, that provides great career paths through education, economic prosperity and an enhanced quality of life for everyone.

That's why the measure of our success is whether or not the least of us are better off (not through charity and welfare). Failing this, then all we've done is reinvited the same problems with more intense dynamics.

What concluding imprints do you hope to leave on Cool Cleveland readers?

Cleveland is a great city, with good, strong, people. It's Northeast Ohio's core strength, and has excellent potential. Our fate, as a city and a region, is in our hands. No one is coming to our rescue. Achieving successful regionalism will depend on every Northeast Ohio citizen doing their part. Lastly, if we're truly going to be a successful, model city for regionalism, then the measure of that greatness is whether the least of us are better off.

Interview by Cool Cleveland contributor Tim Zaun timATtimzaun.com. Zaun blogs on business, entrepreneurship, and the environment, at http://www.timzaun.com.

 (:divend:)