The immediate topic for Mayor Jackson was his big plan to re-develop 90 acres of the lakefront area, something he wants private developers to largely cover.
“You’ve been asking for it, so here it is," began Jackson. "Be careful what you ask for.”
While other lakefront proposals have come and gone, Jackson believes this plan has the best chance at succeeding because it’s practical – keeping the Port Authority where it is rather than moving it, and keeping Burke Lakefront Airport operating. Plus, he says, the plan benefits the downtown and West Shoreway areas, not just the immediate lakefront. He says there is already legislation to move the plan along before City Council, and he expects those bills to pass.
“That will really distinguish what is the responsibility of city and the port, and it will give us site control over that portion that will be developed. So we have site control and determination as to what major properties will be doing on the lakefront.”
The ambitious, long-term development will feature restaurants, shops, marinas, and pedestrian walkways…things that excite the Mayor but trouble others, like “Shaneequa”…a caller from the West Side. She wanted to know how money came to be headed toward lakefront and downtown attractions, but not so much to schools.
“It seem like every year, it’s schools being shut down," said Shaneequa. "Its’ more and more kids that are being put on this planet, on this earth, where are the schools? Where are the things for them to do?”
Mayor Jackson says he agreed with Shaneequa’s concerns, adding that education is the key to Cleveland’s success. But he says there is a direct link between developing the lakefront and boosting schools.
“All these developments create the kind of property tax that eventually funds public education. The other side to this is that as we do development, not only in downtown but in the neighborhoods, you have a choice made by people to live in those neighborhoods, to live downtown, to live in the city of Cleveland.”
On budgetary issues, Mayor Jackson defended pensions for public workers, saying workers who’ve stayed on for 30-to-40 years deserve them. A more heated topic involved the city’s ongoing audit of the Cleveland fire department’s payroll practices. Jackson says the audit isn’t targeting anyone, and that Cleveland’s fire crews are among the finest in the nation.
“But…at the same time….you have to come to work," continued Jackson. "And you can’t work only 12 days in 3 years or whatever that amount was… but it was an outrageous amount of not working. And so once that becomes apparent, you have to look at it. And when you look at it, you find things. If they correct it, then the audit’s over. If they don’t correct it, then you have to go deeper.”
“Sound of Ideas” host Mike McIntyre then brought up Westlake’s decision to switch from Cleveland to Avon Lake for its water supply. Mayor Jackson says that’s Westlake’s call to make, but it creates a new set of problems that Westlake will have to deal with.
“You have stranded costs here associated with the disconnecting of your system from ours...and because we’re not going to have our other customers damaged by this or have any interruption in service, we’ve invested tens of millions of dollars in pump stations to service that community in particular. So that’s a cost that we have to recover…..”
Big issues and ideas from an otherwise low-key politician. Mayor Jackson says it’s not like he’s finally emerged, but after many years, things have now come together…all at the same moment.
(You can find the entire hour-long conversation with Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson at http://www.ideastream.org/soi/entry/44204)