Jimmy Dimora, Tim Hagan and Peter Lawson Jones are sure trying. A year ago, the county commission had a half-billion-dollar plan to give downtown a jolt of vitality by building a new county headquarters and a convention center connected to a Medical Mart. But the commissioners tried to sell off their headquarters site when they figured out they couldn’t afford the project. Then the Medical Mart negotiations hit a snag (the Feb. 28 deadline for a deal was extended a week as we went to press). The commissioners will prove they have serious influence if the Mart and convention center are built.
Likewise, Frank Jackson will belong on a list like this if the Cleveland Police Department’s gun crackdown really lessens violence in the city, if the mayor wins his predatory-lending lawsuit against international banks, if the city really does end up hosting the Rock Hall inductions every three years, if downtown becomes more of a residential neighborhood, and if more suburbs embrace the mayor’s plan for regional cooperation in the hunt for new jobs. We’re hopeful, but we’ll see.