George Nemeth · Fannie Lewis – A Cleveland Original and a Treasure by Roldo Bartimole

August 11th, 2008

Fannie Lewis didn’t have a degree from Harvard University but her common sense wisdom could often exceed the judgments of the Ivy League learned.

I can’t count the hours I spent with Fannie at committee and Council meetings over 20 or more years. I do know she took up a lot more of my time than I wanted. She could go on and on and on.

Yet there were times during those long disputations when Fannie – that’s what most people called her – would zero in smack on the problem everyone else was dancing around.

The last time I saw Fannie Lewis was at a hearing more than two years ago.

I wrote: “Fannie often displays the wisdom of a hard life lived.”

And she did live a hard but productive life.

At the time I wrote, “I approached her as we both waited for an elevator. Age has caught up on her. I’m not sure she recognized me at first. She is bent by time but that’s physically. I believe she still could win re-election in Ward 7 even if she had passed. (And whoever runs to replace her better wish there isn’t another woman with the name Fannie Lewis.)

I went on: “I told her that I wished I had kept a record of her truisms through the many, many years I’ve observed her at City Hall. She simply smiled.

“She had spoken another gem that afternoon.

“Fannie told the standard lineup of suits at the table when millions of dollars were being discussed (for the Wolstein Flats project),

“’A hammer hurts whether it hits you in the hand or the head.’

“The context was about the power and damage of eminent domain.”

Fannie could be a tiger and she could be a gracious comforter. She knew when to be one of the other.

I always said you needed a visa to get into her Hough 7th ward. She controlled it that tightly and not always graciously. She didn’t appreciate competition.

During one long six-hour discussion as Council leadership tried to give Gateway boss Tom Chema cover, Fannie summed up what they were trying to do with disgust:

“Stevie Wonder can see what’s goin’ here,” she said.

At another long meeting about two parking garages the city eventually built for Gateway, Lewis had trouble with the demeanor of then Council President Jay Westbrook and Finance Chairman Jim Rokakis. They gave little time and much disgust to protesters who wanted to speak against the proposal.

I wrote that Westbrook “gave Lewis a look of condescension, asking her if she had finished in such a manner that the question took the tone of a put-down.”

Lewis was having none of it. “Quit being facetious with me,” she told Westbrook and then “caught him where it hurt, his past.” Westbrook had been a radical when he entered Council. “You and I came into this Council screaming about the same things (corporate rip-offs of public money).” Then she had a warning, “Don’t play me cheap.”

At the same meeting Lewis predicted what would and did happen with the garages built for Gateway – huge losses for the city in the millions of dollars each year.

Lewis, brought up on farm land, summed up the eight pieces of legislation used to complete the parking deal: “This ties up the city like you tie up a hog.”

Last 5 posts by George Nemeth

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Category: Cleveland
7 Comments »

7 Responses to “Fannie Lewis – A Cleveland Original and a Treasure by Roldo Bartimole”

  1. TimFerris Says:
    August 11th, 2008 at 8:30 pm

    I miss her wit and the way she engaged all of us. She was a communicator, an advocate, and a straight-shooter, a true humanist. I think she really enjoyed interacting with everybody, especially when she was mixing it up. I always thought there was a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

  2. Ed Morrison Says:
    August 12th, 2008 at 12:22 am

    A couple of years ago, I was working on a project with the public workforce system in Cuyahoga County.

    I was trying to understand why the system seemed so dysfunctional, why the merger between the County and City systems never really took place. In about 30 minutes, Fannie Lewis gave me a graduate education and the politics of Cleveland

    In my 20+ years of working in regional economic development, I’ve worked with scores of public officials. To my mind, Fannie Lewis ranks with Charlie Vanik as a consummate public servant.

  3. Russ Bonchu Says:
    August 12th, 2008 at 12:52 am

    Very nice article George. She sounds like a very special lady who shot straight as an archer.

  4. Carole Cohen Says:
    August 12th, 2008 at 12:55 am

    Straight shooters are hard to come by in politics. I hope we can find more people to represent us who don’t mince words.

  5. Jack Ricchiuto Says:
    August 12th, 2008 at 2:32 am

    What I will miss: her role modeling courage and relentless peer review. What I won’t miss: grassroots social innovators trashing their ideas because “Fannie won’t allow it.” We must be grateful for all we have gained from her, gains and lessons alike.

  6. Derek Arnold Says:
    August 12th, 2008 at 3:00 pm

    On the same weekend that Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes were called to meet their maker, Fannie passes.

    Though she wasn’t internationally renowned like the aformentioned entertainers, she was important here and I can only hope there will be more like her.

    She brought issues to attention that needed it (reminds me of some writer I know — not saying any names *cough* Roldo *cough*). I would trust a council of Ms. Fannies to make decisions like Medical Mart, more than I can say about PLJ and the two stooges aka the county commissioners.

    RIP Fannie.

  7. Go Run! grad Stephanie Howse to replace Fannie Lewis | Writes Like She Talks Says:
    August 19th, 2008 at 12:53 am

    [...] Howse’s appointment even though Fannie Lewis, who died last week (read more about her on Brewed Fresh Daily in a piece by Roldo Bartimole) and whose seat will be filled for the remainder of its term by a special election on November 18, [...]