The Greater Cleveland Partnership will have you believe Frank Jackson has been good for Cleveland based on improvements seen downtown, but let's review some of the big ticket projects hatched under Frank Jackson as Mayor.
Credit to Leila Atassi for her series in 2013 [1] - I have added the ratings:
Public Square Makeover - ?
Schools Transformaton - FAIL
Lakefront Development - B
Turning Trash into Electricity - FAIL
LED lights - No Bid Contract -FAIL
To this list I would add:
VADDX Plastic to Energy - FAIL
Mayor Jackson and his cracker-jack economic development department [3] may trot out the recently negotiated "Land Bank" precedent with Heinen's in Warrensville Heights as an example where the "Land Bank" had to erase unpaid taxes - but in this case - Heinen's, a proven employer, was the beneficiary.
http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2014/12/heinens_is_building_a_9_millio.html [4]
What criteria does the City of Cleveland and the Cuyahoga County use to determine whether a developer's proposal warrants MILLIONS of dollars in back taxes erased ?????
This taxpayer wants to know.
Links:
[1] http://www.cleveland.com/cityhall/index.ssf/2013/09/the_big_ideas_of_cleveland_may.html
[2] http://www.cleveland.com/architecture/index.ssf/2015/05/developer_j_shorey_plans_to_tu.html
[3] http://www.rethinkcleveland.org/For-Site-Selectors/Taxes-Incentives.aspx
[4] http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2014/12/heinens_is_building_a_9_millio.html