Last Friday morning, reporters, the mayor and his campaign staff boarded Lolly the Trolley outside Jackson鈥檚 political headquarters.
Businessman Ken Lanci is challenging Jackson this year. And as the trolley toured through the city鈥檚 neighborhoods, Jackson seized on what鈥檚 becoming a central theme of his campaign -- that he鈥檚 an experienced mayor who knows Cleveland.
鈥淎nd that鈥檚 why people who want this job just be having a good conversation," Jackson said. "But I do the work.鈥�
Work, Jackson says, that requires difficult and unpopular decisions -- like laying off city workers, including police officers, as he did several years ago in order to keep the city鈥檚 budget under control after cutbacks in state funding.
He says that鈥檚 in addition to combating issues like poverty and crime 鈥� issues Lanci says the mayor has failed to overcome in his eight years on the job.
Jackson says Cleveland鈥檚 a real city with real problems.
鈥淲e are an urban center 鈥� a real urban center," Jackson said. "We鈥檙e not Disneyland鈥e're a real urban center with all the feel, and the smell, the taste, the sound of an urban center. We鈥檙e not a bedroom community where we can have the luxury of ivory tower, wine-and-cheese conversations about what you should do for poor people or urban centers. We live this every day.鈥�
But Jackson had another point to make, one he repeated often on the trip: Cleveland is not a monolith; it鈥檚 full of neighborhoods, each with different assets and challenges.
At Kamm鈥檚 Corners on the west side, Jackson showed off refurbished portions of Lorain Road, with new streetlights and electrical wires buried underground. In Detroit-Shoreway, the mayor pointed out the revitalized Gordon Square Arts District.
In the Central neighborhood, the mayor took a detour to show reporters his house. As the trolley weaved through public housing projects, the mayor reminisced about the neighborhood鈥檚 better days.
鈥淭hat was the hub of Central," Jackson said. "55th and Woodland. You had the farmer鈥檚 market like the West Side Market, open-air market. You had hotels, you had nightclubs, you had all -- everything. And it was a heavily -- it was commercial.鈥�
Now, there are fast-food restaurants and gas stations at 55th and Woodland.
The mayor said the neighborhood is still recovering the practice of redlining, in which banks refused to offer loans in economically troubled and largely African-American neighborhoods. And he said the area is feeling the effects still from the demolitions that came with urban renewal projects in the 1960s and 70s. Jackson also wasn鈥檛 shy about pointing out vacant land where a factory once stood, or abandoned homes and buildings.
Cleveland State University professor Norman Krumholz was city planning director in the 1970s, one who opposed urban renewal demolitions. He says it鈥檚 going to be difficult to revitalize some of Cleveland鈥檚 most distressed neighborhoods.
鈥淎bout a third of the people who live in the city of Cleveland are living under the poverty line," Krumholz said in a phone interview. "In some neighborhoods, everybody is poor鈥hat do you expect them to do? They have no resources. And so if you don鈥檛 have any money in the neighborhood, it鈥檚 difficult to turn it around.鈥�
Jackson acknowledges these places face significant challenges today. But throughout the tour he claimed he鈥檚 making progress, describing law enforcement efforts to crack down on crime, and pointing out streets that workers were resurfacing. He reminded reporters that those were city dollars at work.
And he argued he can make further progress 鈥� if given another four years at the city鈥檚 helm.
