Frank Jackson is not your typical politician. Most mayors would jump at the chance to highlight their accomplishments, but when 90.3’s Eric Wellman asked him a pretty softball question in a recent interview, Jackson just wouldn’t bite:
WELLMAN: Is there anything you can point to as being a defining moment for you in your administration?
JACKSON: I don’t look at things that way.
WELLMAN: Well we do here in the media.
JACKSON: I know you do. But I try not to just adapt myself to other people’s definition, particularly if I believe it’s not going to be accurate in defining things.
That’s Frank Jackson: Self-effacing, not much of a showman, somewhat defensive and stubborn. His public speeches rarely last more than a few minutes. He doesn’t hog the limelight; he seems more comfortable managing things from City Hall.
HILL: This is a person who gets great satisfaction in serving the city of Cleveland.
Ned Hill is dean of the Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University. He says Jackson doesn’t have the kind of ego you’d expect from a big city mayor.
HILL: He doesn’t seem to have ambition for higher office. He doesn’t have ambition for money. But he does have ambition about the quality of life of his constituents, and he bleeds for the city. That’s not bad.
Jackson said years ago that he never really aspired to be a councilman, nor council president nor mayor…something he echoed at this week’s mayoral debate at the City Club.
JACKSON: I will continue to do my job, not because of the benefit it brings to Frank Jackson, because if that were the case, I’d probably retire. (laughter).
Jackson says Cleveland voters should re-elect him—not for his personality, but because he’s provided steady leadership for the last four years. Put another way, Jackson’s biggest argument for re-election seems to be: nothing broke on his watch, even as the world economy was collapsing.
In his 90.3 interview, here’s how Jackson describes his first term accomplishments.
JACKSON: We balanced the budget, we reduced crime, we’ve identified all of our neighborhoods, and positioned them in a way that we invest in our neighborhoods based on what their assets are and what their challenges are. We’ve positioned Cleveland for the future. We made decisions on Burke Lakefront Airport, made decisions in moving the Port. We really began to implement a lakefront plan that looks at not just residential, commercial, and office buildings, but green space, recreation, we’re moving on that. We established a five year capital plan that we’re implementing and there are probably many other things that I can’t think of now.
What does the record show about those claims? It’s true that despite the crippling recession, Cleveland has avoided layoffs, serious service cuts, and a tax increase. Jackson says cost-cutting efforts and efficiencies he implemented early in his term helped the city weather the economic downturn.
Chris Ronayne is president of University Circle Incorporated.
RONAYNE: Nothing has fallen apart in the city of Cleveland over these last four years. That’s a credit to the mayor. He’s kept the budget intact.
Ronayne is widely said to be interested in the Mayor’s job someday. He’s sitting this election out, though, saying he’s focused on developing the University Circle neighborhood. But there’s another reason not many people want to challenge Jackson this go around: there are big challenges for the next four years.
Experts say, despite the mayor’s handling of the budget, a big crunch could be in store for 2011. And there’s a lot of other unfinished business.
Education, for one, has been mixed for the mayor. A handful of the city’s specialty schools have seen great success, but the district overall is still graded at about a D level by the state…. Jackson, using one of his favorite phrases, says change comes slowly.
JACKSON: There is no panacea. There is no silver bullet. Anyone who tells you there is, is either naive or they’re just blowing smoke on you.
Crime has also been mixed. Murders, for instance, rose sharply in 2007—the second year Jackson was in office, but levels have dropped off since then.
On economic development, the mayor says the balanced budget has allowed the city to plan for the future. There have been some blows, though. Eaton Corporation, one of the largest companies in Cleveland, decided to relocate to Beachwood.
Even though the city will continue to get tax revenue from Eaton at its new location on city-owned land in the eastern suburbs, it’s a psychological blow for downtown, and some say the mayor didn’t fight hard enough to keep it in the city limits. And, finalizing the much heralded Medical Mart project took many months longer than most expected…more than a year after the county raised sales taxes to pay for it. Some say the mayor was on the sidelines too often; others say it’s unfair to blame the mayor for what is after all a county government initiative.
Despite that mixed record, Jackson has not garnered much competition in this race. The four running against him have raised little money and at the recent debate, had few direct attacks or policy differences.
The biggest knock from his competitors and detractors has to do with his quiet, pragmatic style. They say this city needs some inspiration and cheerleading, and comforting. Again, Chris Ronayne.
RONAYNE: He knows the times when people think he probably should have provided more of a voice: Eaton is one of them, the convention center is another one of them, the school shooting as well.
To all the talk of his demeanor, Jackson says:
JACKSON: if the criticism is style over substance, I’ll take the criticism and keep working on substance.
The primary is on Tuesday and the election is November 3rd