Cleveland's Mayor Needs an 'Overalls' Plan

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson needs to open up his Bartlett's Familiar Quotations and thumb though the section devoted to the aphorisms of Thomas Alva Edison.

There Hizzoner will find: "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

He should keep that in mind as he deals with the aftermath of the Ohio Supreme Court June 10 ruling that affects his city and his job. The ruling upholds a state law barring city residency requirements.

The court said no to Ohio cities, Cleveland included, arguing that home-rule provisions trump state statutes. Many of Cleveland's finest-the cops and firefighters who keep residents safe-had cried foul about the residency requirement, saying they were municipal captives. Now, with the court's decision inked and sealed, the word "exodus" is being used a lot in places such as Cleveland's West Park.

The city passed its residency rule in 1982, and Jackson liked it. Mayor Jackson is a lawyer who appealed the state law. Apparently, he doesn't think much of the Supreme Court ruling.

"At the end of the day, Cleveland will survive," he was quoted after the ruling, "We've been through difficult times before."

Memo to the mayor: No one dropped a nuke on Cleveland. The state's highest court merely rendered its decision on residency. Please refer to the Edison quote.

Now is the time for the mayor and his City Hall team to seize the opportunity to sell-that is, resell-the city not only to its employees but to the residents those employees serve.

The mayor needs to see that people who wear overalls and go to work in wealth-creating jobs make cities prosperous. Prosperity of that sort brings, and keeps, people in a city. Welders, plumbers, bank tellers, cops and firemen.

The mayor, along with other regional officials, should quit fooling with expensive and very questionable economic-development projects such as building a medical mart downtown. Instead, he should persuade manufacturers to move back inside the city's limits. Manufacturing is where the real money is. Of course, manufacturers demand safe streets and smart labor pools.

Accordingly, Mayor Jackson should announce that safety and schools-the S2 Plan-are the priority as of today. Quit spending cash on appellate lawsuits and invest that cash in crime prevention. Bring citizens together to build a plan to make Cleveland school places of genuine learning again. Places that can boast a graduation rate above 33 percent. Fashion a plan created, accepted and overseen by all the people of the community, not just the politically connected.

The mayor needs to say to everyone in the city: "I will measure my success as the city's CEO by the number of residents who opt to stay."

This week, opportunity has been presented to the mayor. It's time for him to break out his overalls.

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J.F. McKenna is a life-long Clevelander who has worked as a reporter, editor and communications consultant.