By Mansfield Frazier
When Frank Jackson’s campaign manager invited me (along with a number of other members of the media) to take a tour of the City of Cleveland with the mayor, at first I demurred, since my mind is already made up in regards to whom I’m going to vote for in November — and no, I’m not telling. But when he told me that my vineyard, Château Hough, was one of the stops on the tour, how could I say no?
Since my good friend and fellow Cool Cleveland writer Larry Durstin was sitting right behind me on Lolly the Trolley, and we occasionally exchanged droll quips, I actually enjoyed myself. I really do love my city … every neighborhood, every block, every inch of it.
But my love — and knowledge — of Cleveland completely is overshadowed by Mayor Jackson’s. His deep understanding and appreciation of all of Cleveland’s 36 distinct neighborhoods is encyclopedic. He even knows which roads are about to be paved, and can look at a street and estimate how long ago it was paved. For a dude not given much to emotion, he was downright effusive for the entire 4-plus hour trip.
Except at one point. As we made our way down W. 25th Street from Detroit, heading towards the West Side Market, we rode past the six-acre Ohio City Farm, located behind Riverside Towers, immediately south of Bridge Avenue. At the time of its construction a few years ago it was the biggest contiguous urban farm in the nation — and still might be. And today, locals and immigrants from all over the world work diligently to make one of the best such farming operations in the country. It’s garnered much noteworthy and well-deserved national — as well as local — attention since the first crops were harvested.
But Mayor Jackson didn’t even bother to mention it, and when his communications director whispered a reminder to him (I was sitting near the front of the bus, so I heard it), all the mayor said was, “Oh, yeah.” He clearly wasn’t interested in the farm … I mean it wasn’t even close to being on his radar.
Virtually the same thing happened when we drove past Green City Growers, the huge lettuce growing operation on Kinsman Avenue, which has created a number of full-time jobs for residents since it opened last year. When another aide mentioned the facility to him as we drove past, the mayor did acknowledge its existence … but barely.
While Mayor Jackson did know a little about the wondrous composting/crop growing/fish farming operation in the Forgotten Triangle known as Rid-All Green Partnership, most of what he knew was at least partially — or totally — wrong. Clearly, he had not visited the cutting-edge facility … of if he did, he wasn’t paying attention when he took the tour.
But in all fairness to the mayor, he virtually gushed when the trolley pulled up to its last stop at Château Hough. He knows all about our vineyard and has visited on a number of occasions, and a while back one of his drivers even told me that when the mayor in the area he’ll make a detour if he has time to see how the grapes are coming along. This could be because he has grapevines in his own backyard. Who knows? He also was interested in our upcoming BioCellar, encouraging me to tell the other journalists about it.
But Mayor Jackson is not alone in his lack of knowledge and enthusiasm in regards to the urban farming sprouting up (pun intended) all over Cleveland. With the exception of Joe Cimperman and Zack Reed, I don’t know any elected officials who really “get” the potential of what we urban agriculturists are on to. With almost all of them, their eyes glaze over when you attempt to engage them in conversation about this aspect of the green and sustainability movement.
But we pioneers know that we’re going to eventually create real jobs and feed people fresh, healthy food … all while improving neighborhoods. Bet on it.
When I mentioned my dismay at the mayor’s lack of interest in urban ag to my good friend Richard Andrews, a blogger who was also taking the tour, he smiled and asked, “How many people live on those farms?”
“Huh?” I replied. “No one lives on them.”
“Exactly,” he said, “and bell peppers don’t vote.”
I had to admit, he does have a point. Now, the question is, how do we elevate the urban ag movement in the eyes of decision-making politicians? I’m open for suggestions.
And if you guessed that I’m still going to vote for Frank Jackson in spite of his tin ear on this issue, you’d probably be right. I want him back in office at least one more time so that I can educate him on this issue, win him over, and turn him into a true believer in urban ag.
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.
4 Responses to “MANSFIELD: Bell Peppers Don’t Vote”
John Ettorre
I hope you recognize that you’re utterly conflicted by the fact that the vineyard was made possible in the first place through a competitive grant from the city. The fact that you don’t disclose that here pains me, Mansfield. People understand that journalist is just one of your roles/personas, especially those who know you or have followed your writing for some time. But in this new era of complicated journalistic ethics–complicated by the fact that so much more useful journalism comes from people who earn their keep in ways other than journalism–we need more not less transparency about our potential conflicts. Because in the end, there’s really nothing too complicated about giving your readers the information they deserve to judge the provenance of what you write.
Lynne Dufenetz
Maybe the mayor didn’t grow up with parents & grandparents who gardened. It’s easier to get excited about urban gardening when you understand the potential yield of a small plot. The soil & climate here are excellent for fruits & veggies.
SpaceArt
PUT it this way….got this bizarre out of the blue Rotary type Mr.Lanci and ol school connected known retiree age Mr.Jackson who outside of some Yuppie hoods,few other assets,Univ.Circle and Downtown is struggling to whip up support. to be FAIR to HIM a LOT of crapola has landed over the decades and HE got stuck along with rest TRYING to figure out what the blank to do… BUT regurgitating old history only serves as a template…SAD gotta do all this wild funky stuff to survive (prosper?)…..
Mr.Lanci? A for effort…NO idea WHAT HE has in mind,etc. MAYBE means what saying…IS HE any better…REAL acid test,warriors,etc. are the nonprofit NGOs,CMSD,etc. FIGHTING lot of stuff thou…racism to other…and that coming from a white guy…PS…mail and website…FUTURE indicators of what out there…
FINALLY and somewhat sadly low birthrates to rest of it FINALLY give relief to survivors…THAT can include banks to other…Hey…
mansfield frazier
First, my apologies to Matt Zone, I did indeed overlook his efforts, and Matt, you deserve an apology. Additionally, what you’ve done in the Gorden Square District is truly amazing, and I applaud your leadership.
As for John Ettore’s comment that the city funded the green projects (including my vineyard), he’s wrong. While the vineyard is build on a city land bank lot, the dollars came from a federal grant. That’s not to say that some people in the city, like Director McGowan are not doing excellent work … they are.
But he is right in regards to my conflict between being a journalist (who should be a disinterested observer) and an urban farmer, an avocation for which I advocate for, and I should always make that crystal clear. My bad.
I freely admit that I sometimes struggle with the various hats I wear, and usually try to be up front about all of them. Indeed, I seriously considered putting away my pen so as a way of settling the conflict, but I love both too much. I’ll make a better effort to include pertinent info where needed, but I didn’t feel it was appropriate or necessary in this case because “Re-Imagining Cleveland” (the initiative whereby I got the grant to build the vineyard) didn’t happen so much because of local politicians, but more so in spite of them.
I should probably also add that the BioCellar I’ve been pushing to build (and finally will break ground on next week) received funding from my councilman, TJ Dow, and most of the other members of City Council … but not so much because they “get it” but because I know how to beg so goddamn well. With that said, once the BioCellar is built, indeed, more of them will eventually “get it.”