Four local leaders were honored today with the Cleveland Heritage Medal. It’s the second year for the award that is meant to honor a lifetime of service to the city.
If you look at a cityscape of Cleveland you can’t miss the work of this year’s recipients of the Cleveland Heritage Medal.
The Gateway complex, Tower City, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are just a few examples that former Mayor Mike White, Carole Hoover of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association (now Cleveland Partnership), and Forest City executives Sam Miller and Albert Ratner helped shepherd.
Ratner has been an urban design expert on Forest City projects all over the country.
“I don’t judge cities by buildings,” says Ratner, “I judge cities by people. So I look around and say ‘I think we understand each other better and I think we’re doing better but we can do much better.’”
Ratner says he wants Cleveland to go from good to great and his thoughts were echoed by former mayor Mike White.
“I see the big buildings downtown and I think that’s important. I see people renovating one empty building after another – I think that’s important. But the long run future of Cleveland is going to be the revitalization of its neighborhoods.”
White lives 100 miles away in Newcomerstown making wine and raising alpacas on a farm with his wife. But he is still involved in Cleveland as a consultant for the Mandel Foundation, coaching young people to be the leaders of tomorrow.