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George Nemeth · A PDF of Mayor Frank Jackson PD OpEd titled “Cleveland is a Great City”
December 2nd, 2008
Here’s a PDF version of an OpEd column titled Cleveland is a Great City by Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson.
Good thing it’s not just a bunch of happy talk:
The opportunities before us now are substantial. In a time when municipalities and states across the country are facing large budget deficits, laying off employees and cutting services, Cleveland has a balanced 2008 budget and is proposing a balanced budget for 2009 without layoffs or service cuts. When cities like Detroit are scrambling to hold onto their traditional economic bases of auto manufacturing, Cleveland is working to attract investment in new economies, like advanced manufacturing and renewable energy, which is why I’m in Germany this week on a trade mission. While cities like Chicago are seeing increases in violent crime, Cleveland’s violent crime has declined by 14% over the last two years.
Please add your thoughts in the comment section. Joel Libava AKA the Franchise King has posted his thoughts on the NEOBiz Blog.
Last 5 posts by George Nemeth
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- O Opens - February 5th, 2010
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December 2nd, 2008 at 4:38 pm
I like this quote: “What has not changed however is my ability to believe in the potential of the City of Cleveland to not only survive this latest economic challenge, but emerge from these uncertain times as a place reinvented, with a downtown that is alive 24-hours a day and with neighborhoods that are the envy of any city in the United States. I believe this because the City of Cleveland has the natural and cultural assets.” Got a fav excerpt?
December 2nd, 2008 at 5:49 pm
OK… I’ve crawled out from under my rock to address the fact that I practically blew my morning coffee out of my nose when I read this in today’s fishwrap.
I’m glad the Mayor didn’t sign the letter, because there’s no way he wrote it.
Memo to the Mayor’s staff – if you’re ghost writing for your boss, it helps if you write in their voice.
“Waxing poetic…” seriously, you expect me to believe those are his words?
December 2nd, 2008 at 6:46 pm
George,
Thanx for the shout! Some spin. Maybe it’s the cold crisp air in Germany.
Our area is doing so well, that I have to move from my Chagrin Blvd. office, and set up a “home office.”
Happy.
But, it will get better. Know of any young, energetic potential Mayoral candidates?
New leadership would be a fine start.
Joel Libava
NEO REALLY small biz owner
December 2nd, 2008 at 7:05 pm
I believe Chris Ronayne might have an idea or two about who’d make a good young charismatic and energetic mayor. His energy level, understanding of the issues/players/region and superior people skills seem a tad better suited to the times than Mayor Mumbles, the king of anti-charisma.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Thinking about thinking ahead…Who is developing contingency plans for the collapse of GM and Chrysler?
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Ok, so hers is another person who has been at the helm of leadership while everything is imploding around them and they have the ability, with a straight face, to say that somehow they have acquired the leadership skills needed to pull us out? When will someone in the public or private sector say, “You know what? I’m going to step aside because my last 20 years as (fill in the blank) hasn’t made Cleveland nor the region any better”?
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Good point, Ed. I’d also like to know the answer to that. Come to think of it, perhaps some inquiries are in order.
December 3rd, 2008 at 4:41 pm
To that point about a plan for dealing with the domestic auto industry meltdown, it’s important to remember that this affects not just the assembly line folks who work for the Big Three in the region and the first and second tier equipment and parts suppliers, but things like auto dealers (who are the largest taxpayers in many cities and suburbs, as the NYT pointed out the other day). And the lead story in today’s Ad Age (link below) is about the shock wave in advertising from the automakers admission that they’re going to cut $600 million from their ad budgets. That will in turn affect magazines, as auto ads have traditionally been the leading category of advertisers for most of them. The shock waves and ripple effects will stretch out as far as the eye can see. In fact, they already have been.
http://adage.com/article?article_id=132961
December 3rd, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Congress will not allow the Big Three to fail. The bill from the UAW to Barack, Nancy and Harry has come due for putting them in power.
Perhaps the bridge loan will allow the Big 3 to reorganize sufficiently enough (by retooling and renegotiating onerous labor contracts) to make the Big 3 attractive enough for acquisition by foreign automakers in the US.
It’s clearly in all of our interest to preserve auto manufacturing (by both “domestic” and “foreign” companies – whatever that means now) in the United States.
December 3rd, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Hi All,
I’ve thought about how to plan for Ch. 11 bankruptcy for GM and plain old shut-the-doors Ch. 7 for Chrysler: the problems are beyond what any city, county or even state can do. One harbinger: Ohio can’t make up for the shutdown of the Moraine assembly plant in Dayton and the simultaneous closure of the nearby DHL hub in Wilmington. On the plus side, Toyota, Ford and Honda will become the Big 3. All have production facilities in or next to Ohio (KY, WV, IN).
And to Hugh’s point, the only politician who EVER said anything close to that was LBJ. “I shall not seek, and I will not accept the nomination…” More of them should step down, but it’s not in their genes.
December 3rd, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Last month’s Ebony magazine also carried this interesting inquiry into how the auto industry meltdown is impacting the black community:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_1_64/ai_n30933291/print?tag=artBody;col1
December 4th, 2008 at 2:28 am
Bob:
I agree with your assessment. As I have written in BFD before, I was part of a consulting team that analyzed the cost differences between Mazda and Ford in 1983-4. We reached a very troubling conclusion (which still holds). The Japanese figured out how to manufacture a car with a fundamentally different business model.
US manufacturers — management and labor (including Ford, sadly) — have never fully understood the nature of the Japanese challenge.
They see quality circles, or JIT or other manufacturing techniques and try to copy them — without fundamentally understanding the nature of the business model difference. These disciplines are not simple practices that can be easily copied. They are manifestations of a different, more productive mindset.
The sad part, of course, is that the fall out for this unbelievable ineptitude from both management and labor will hit our communities hard.
My question to Cleveland, Cuyahoga County and the region is simple: Who is running the scenarios — the formal economic impact models — to understand our options in managing the downside?
December 4th, 2008 at 3:08 am
I would think Ned Hill & Co. at the Urban school might be getting into this at least a little, right?
December 4th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Maybe. Ask around for formal models like these: http://www.remi.com/
December 4th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I’m glad someone finally said it. I was disappointed that cleveland.com didn’t open comments on this story, because it’s this exact kind of piece where the positive, constructive commenters outweigh the nancy-negatives in droves.
I have two favorite excerpts:
“Cleveland’s biggest impediment to achieving civic greatness is the pessimistic, unenthusiastic mind-set of many within our region, particularly those with the ability to express their opinions to mass audiences.”
and
“I do not want Cleveland to be like Chicago or Pittsburgh or any other city. I want Cleveland to be Cleveland.”
I don’t think Frank Jackson is the best mayor in Cleveland history, but what I’ve always liked about him is that he’s not a slick, huckster-politician who’ll just tell you what you want to hear. And even though he’s not a real exciting or charismatic guy, nearly everything I have personally heard him say has seemed pretty reasonable and sensible. He’s a true public servant – the unflappable kind who keeps plugging along for years without succumbing to cynicism. And as a former public servant myself I’ve just got to say, that’s bloody hard and I respect him for it.
December 4th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
[...] via Christine Borne (written as a comment to ‘Cleveland is a Great City‘) [...]
December 4th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Hi Christine,
I have to respectfully disagree with you on the Mayor. I can count one one hand. No make that one finger…no make that…NOT. I have no idea what he has done economic development wise, for our city, because he is invisible.
A “public servant” needs to be in plain view of the public, especially in a region that is experiencing the kind of pain that Northeast Ohio is.
This is an old school administration that needs some new thinking, and new energy.
Or, we will just continue our free fall.
Remember:
“Nothing Changes If Nothing Changes”
Joel Libava
http://www.NEObizblog.com
December 4th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Joel: I’m not crazy about him myself, mainly because I don’t know what the hell he’s been up to all this time. I agree with you that he needs to communicate more about what he’s doing with the residents of Cleveland. I know what Sherrod Brown and George Voinovich are doing because I signed up for their electronic newsletters. Why doesn’t Frank Jackson have one of these? I don’t know, or maybe he does and I just can’t find it on the labyrinthine city website.
I agree with you too about new thinking and new energy. I tend to be a little suspicious about shiny new packages and marketing campaigns, though, or the idea that business/the private sector *always* knows best and is *always* preferable over government/the public sector. So the ideal candidate who I’d like to have in charge of things around here would *get* Cleveland the way Frank Jackson does, but also have the energy and ideas and visibility to make radical changes. But who wouldn’t promise pie-in-the-sky panaceas. *That’s* at the heart of what I like about Frank Jackson, that he’s willing to admit there’s not one thing that’s going to cure all of our problems. I think there are a lot of people here who want to hear and believe that there is.
That said, though, I’m still really glad he (or whoever, probably someone on his staff – it’s hardly unusual for politicians not to write their own stuff) wrote this piece. People need to hear this message, no matter who’s saying it. Cleveland is not that bad, and everyone needs to quit wallowing in it. Do you know when was the last time I heard a burning river joke? I NEVER HAVE, because I’m 30 years old and practically no one knew or cared about the burning river outside Cleveland by the time I started kindergarten.
December 4th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Christine,
I, too, don’t think we need a glitzy, pie in the sky Mayor. BUT, we do need some one with some {Fill in the blank}.
We need totally new leadership. Period.
Now, as you ponder that long comment, I am going to add your blog to the NEObizblog.com “Must SEE NEO Links”
JL
December 4th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Maybe my standards are too low, but I’m impressed with Jackson’s work on the city budget. This was the result of a sustained effort by the city that required leadership to execute.
Contrast this with Jane Campbell’s debacles on the Poverty Summit, Adopt-A-Can and the other high-visibility but no results efforts from her administration.
December 4th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Joel has said it well. But for those who don’t have as much time to read, let me boil it down to an executive summary:
If leadership equals communication (and I think it does), his inability or refusal to communicate frequently and well equals a failure of leadership. Period.
December 5th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
John,
Perfect.
Joel Libava