MICHENER'S WARM & FUZZY "NEW" CLEVELAND

Charles Michener, wearing sports coat and tie, and sitting in a low chair at the front of the small Case classroom, recounted how his in-progress book about today’s Cleveland was structured around mini-biographies of real people living in Cleveland whom he had recently met and interviewed.
Some of those people are Ronn Richard head of the Cleveland Foundation, Toby Cosgrove head of Cleveland Clinic, Baiju R. Shah head of BioEnterprise Cleveland, Mayor Jackson, a flutist from the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, and a 13 year old kid from the West Side of Cleveland (to “balance” the elite interviews).

From what I heard from Mr. Michener last night I think that his new story will be more “we’ve got it all together” fuzzy warm fiction about Cleveland. And if you look at Mr. Michener’s background – he is not a radical urban analyst. Indeed, as an employee of the New Yorker he appears to have focused on Opera, symphony, and high end restaurant reviews [1].

There was a vivid contrast in his assuredness when Mr. Michener spoke about what he is familiar with in Cleveland – mostly the aspects of Cleveland associated with affluence – and what he was unfamiliar with – and, as he said two or three times, “couldn’t get a handle on”.

A few of the things in Cleveland that Mr. Michener “couldn’t get a handle on” were:

1. why there were so many abandoned buildings which hadn’t yet been demolished along Carnegie Boulevard.
2. why the Burke Lake Front airport wasn’t closed
3. what the Medical Mart was all about….

Without a “handle” on these, is Mr. Michener discussing the real Cleveland?

Instead of interviewing Ronn Richard whose Cleveland Foundation continues to cripple Cleveland by prostituting creativity to cow tow to Foundation grants, I suggest Mr. Michener make his book a muckraker – interview the FBI about why there was so much political corruption in Cleveland. Interview Micheal Kennedy, Fred the Fixer Nance, and Tim Hagan about why they chose not to put the MedCon tax to a popular vote, and interview the Federal Census taker about why the population in Cleveland has shrunk every year during the past 40. Interview National City’s Debarko [2] and Raskin about why they lied to Cleveland and Bank stockholders for the last decade. Interview City and County governments to find out why there are 20% more government employees (per population) here in Neo than across the rest of America. Interview suburban mayors about our not-too-disguised racism.

Audience member Ted Gup waxed mythological, recounting a Greek story where the Gods told the Greeks that they would not win Troy if injured soldier Philoktetes [3] was left behind – and Cleveland cannot “win” dignity nor social or economic confidence if our social and education policies in NEO do not allow all our citizens to progress together.

Mary E. Davis [4] graciously hosted the Baker Nord lecture [5] series event, with wine and cookies generating gregarious audience interaction after the Q & A.
Until we are honest with ourselves here in North East Ohio, Mr. Michener’s nice stories will not staunch the Shrinking City.