Why I support Danforth for mayor

I support the candidacy of Barbara Danforth because she will make an excellent mayor of Cleveland Heights.

Competent city managers kept Cleveland Heights financially solvent, physically intact, and well protected by safety forces. Hopefully, mayors will do the same. But the first mayor chosen under a new system will have neither experience nor history as a guide. Our city will require especially talented leadership during the initial transition period. Danforth is the candidate most likely to provide such leadership.

Danforth has experience managing large organizations. She has hired and supervised talented employees to operate them. The most important job of the new mayor will be to find a city administrator and other staff who can manage ably important day-to-day city operations. Danforth has credentials that prove her ready for this job.

Danforth has demonstrated a concern for the maintenance of basic services at a quality level and at reasonable cost. She promises more than other candidates that this will be a top priority. She will show her concern for social issues, but she will not be unduly distracted by them.

Danforth has a history with municipal government that no other candidate can match. She has served as an executive member of the cabinet of a Cleveland mayor. This history distinguishes her from other candidates who claim legislative experience. She has proven skills and the right personality to work cooperatively with the legislative branch of government, as she has in the past.

Danforth understands our community. She has a detailed knowledge of commercial developments in all areas. She has strong concern for the development and maintenance of our housing stock. She appreciates the necessity of open, accessible and accountable government. Most of all, she shares our city’s pride in diversity.

A new form of government will require major changes. It is not a given that the maintenance of basic services will have the same priority as before. We need assurances that garbage will get picked up on time, and that the police car, the fire truck, and the ambulance will arrive when needed. We need assurances that tax dollars will be spent wisely. Danforth offers such assurances. For this reason, she is the best candidate to lead our community as it moves away from its past.

Alan Rapoport

Alan Rapoport, a longtime resident of Cleveland Heights, served on CH City Council (1980–87) and as mayor (1982–87).

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Volume 14, Issue 7, Posted 3:14 PM, 07.01.2021