Lee Fisher is Right About the Road to Success

Lee Fisher, Dean of Cleveland State University’s law school recently wrote an open essay to Cleveland’s next Mayor. A committed Clevelander, former State Senator and Attorney General, Lee’s words rang a bell with me. I hear a similar call from neighborhood residents, local groups, civic leaders, and employers. There’s a sense of urgent priorities for the next mayor.

It starts with safe neighborhoods, reducing crime with accountable, equal justice. We must improve police training, redeploy cops behind desks to neighborhoods, add mental health, crisis, and violence prevention teams. We need stronger citizen review as a check and balance when there’s excessive force or racial profiling. It’s why I’m the only major candidate to support Citizens for a Safer Cleveland.

To make life in Cleveland safe, strong, and vibrant, we must invest as much in our neighborhoods as the hundreds of millions of tax dollars going to professional sports. American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds can rebuild much of our housing stock, replace lead paint and pipes, and clean up neighborhood pollution. It can begin to move grocery stores, health care, childcare, green space, city services, and other resources within 15 minutes of every resident.

We can also use ARP funds to seed revitalization of neighborhood commercial districts, small businesses, and clean manufacturers, technology, and services employers. We can create good jobs with benefits, improve pay, and create futures for Cleveland residents in Cleveland companies. And we must make sure Cleveland is job-ready to fill them. In this labor market, that’s a game changer. And we can do it.

Here’s how. To reduce inequality and increase opportunity for all, I will champion education and job training for every possible young person and adult. We will keep the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) moving ahead. Work to get more 3- and 4-year-olds high-quality care and pre-school. Bolster summer youth employment programs and internships. And with CMSD, Tri-C, CSU, CWRU, labor, and employers link education to good jobs. We can produce a stronger start for a stronger future.

As Lee Fisher says we must, we will work to build trust across the community. Performance counts: Reducing violence and increasing a sense of safety; ensuring equal justice being present with help for our neighbors; making safety and other city services more responsive, accountable, and equitable; and advancing every neighborhood according to its needs. Dialogue counts too. To end systematic racism and inequity, we must confront it, discuss it, and agree on lasting change.

The road to success demands commitment from diverse leaders and stakeholders in City Hall and in the community. My work helps mayors across the country create stronger, safer, cities. I am working with leaders here to do the same. I’ll build a talented, representative team open to full transparency, respectful of citizens’ calls for change, and dedicated to urgent action.

We must live by and be held accountable to the principle that every neighborhood is vital to our future as a city. By focusing on our most vulnerable residents — children, seniors, those with disabilities, veterans, people in poverty, we will take on all Cleveland’s needs — putting people and neighborhoods first — with energy to get the job done right.

That’s the road ahead to success. And we can do it.