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The Plain Press interviewed Ward 15's Council representative, Merle R. Gordon, for its November and December issues. The first part of the interview, already available at finer free distribution points south to Denison Avenue and west to 117th, paints a picture of Gordon as intelligent, hard-working, dedicated, but too much like the rest of Council in lacking political or economic understanding. It would be great if Gordon would learn and act more on the economic problems that can be addressed through wise application of existing government powers.
Ward 15 is southwest of downtown, running north to about Clark Avenue south to the Parma border, east to the valley, and west to a jagged line that you might say goes very roughly near Fulton Road. It includes all of Brooklyn Centre (Archwood-Denison to some), major chunks of Old Brooklyn and Clark-Fulton, and a little slice of Tremont. Big Ward 15 landmarks include MetroHealth Hospital, the Metroparks Zoo, the 2nd District police station, the Old Brooklyn RTA garage (the "bus barn" to Old Brooklynites), and my house.
Jim Rokakis was the Council rep here since 1977, succeeding Ted Sliwa, when this was the old Ward 9; Gordon had been his main assistant in 1996, when Rokakis was elected Cuyahoga County Treasurer. (An interesting aside: The Council seat was Rokakis's first full-time job since college. He campaigned at home on weekends before graduating from Oberlin.) Rokakis appointed Gordon to fulfill the remainder of his Council term.
Gordon appeared very much at ease with the most concrete questions about specific locations in the ward. She gave complete, detailed, insightful answers to direct questions about the Aldi store on Pearl and what services might be missing from the newish strip center between Archwood and Mapledale. Believe me, those things are important; there's nothing like being able to walk to the Revco (um, CVS) or the 24-hour coffee shop in two minutes. It's not a bad thing to know or care about. But Council is a legislature too.
She seemed particularly ill at ease answering open-ended questions about macroeconomic issues. To snip from the interview in the name of "fair use":
Q. ...It seems that current government market forces appear to encourage urban sprawl: highly mobile populations, lack of buy-in to local neighborhoods and dmoniation of retail and commercial spaces by chains, as you mentioned. What kinds of tools can be put in place, or do you see being used[,] to kind of balance those forces?
A. I think what needs to take place is an effort on all levels of government to make sure that areas of need in the central cities that there is encouragement in terms of financial assistance if the need be for the retention of business or maybe the attraction of commercial companies to come back into [the] central neighborhood.... It is a difficult question to answer because a lot of times it is up to me to knock on a business person's door and say "Listen, we have this great area here. Everybody drives up W.25th Street and Pearl going south; if you put your business right here it is guaranteed somebody is going to stop there and utilize that business." But it is a very difficult sell....
There is nothing wrong with knocking on doors and selling the neighborhood. But that is really the job of the community development corporations such as Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation and Brookln Centre Development Corporation. (Oops, BCDC got de-funded five years ago when some board members were openly critical of Rokakis, and it hasn't been heard from since.) But a bit later in the interview:
Q. ...you spoke mainly about marketing. But are there other tools, legislative tools? There has been talk about smart growth policies and different things like that go beyond marketing but work legislatively to encourage high density growth in the innter city and in the inner-ring suburbs as well. What are your thoughts on those policies?
A. To be honest with you I am not really familiar with those policies. I don't know how far they go in terms of necessarily encouraging as opposed to mandating that something happens. I don't know. I am discouraged that I have a new freeway [the Jennings Freeway, which will connect I-480 to I-71 by way of a strip just up the hill from the south part of the Flats] going through my ward which will be a very easy way for people to pack up and get on that freeway and just go where they want to go...
Again, we're seeing Gordon's focus on very direct, literal things going on right in Ward 15. Even though this isn't surprising, since she's the only elected official who represents this particular area, it indicates a general problem with the 21-member Council and strong-Mayor structure. It pushes our elected representatives, whose constituencies are as large as those of most suburban mayors, to act as "little Mayors" when it comes to city services and neighborhood privileges. The wards are too big to make services other than a full-time job for one person, and they're too small to give a Council member any sense of mandate for city-wide change.
My neighbor Bill (there he goes again) offers one alternative government model that turns this liability into an asset. Meanwhile, though, we're working within a structure where Council members act as both ombudsmen and legislators. In Gordon's case, as is usual, the more urgent concern is the constituent who is on the phone right now demanding sidewalk repairs, requesting police presence, or asking about a job.
If Council members are to be effective, even at least competent, as legislators, we must take away most of the community-service aspect of their mission. Unfortunately, it is the city's executive branch, which should itself be taking care of neighborhood services, that most benefits from devolving them to the Council membership. Don't expect this to change until a more aggressive Council is elected.
I'm also going to take issue with Gordon's complaint that "smart growth" policies may not be "encouraging as opposed to mandating" results. For some reason, the politicians who are supposed to be closest to the people have no problem with mandating a half-billion dollar sports complex or mandating tax increases to pay for other building projects of dubious economic benefit. When it comes to realistic land-use planning or tax policy--you know, things that are actually within the proper scope of government--they get nervous about intervening too much. The hypocrisy makes my head hurt.
There's still hope for Ward 15, lots of it. We do have a Council member who is fresh, excited about the job, and willing to learn. The rest can come from experience and continued exposure to good ideas. So hey Merle, how about lunch at Sforzo's?
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