FitzGerald’s Inspiring 2012 State of the County Speech

2012 State of the County

Since 2009 when the voters of Cuyahoga County changed their County structure, threw out their three Commissioners and elected a new County Executive, citizens have watched as the old regime has been put on trial (literally), and reform has started to happen, more quickly than anyone had dared hope.

Just over one year on the job, newly elected Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, who shares a no-bullshit approach to governance with Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, delivered a landmark State of the County speech on Wed 2/1/12 in his steady monotone, that is remarkable for it’s honesty, simplicity and incisiveness.

As he introduced the inspiring 12-point Western Reserve Plan, with goals for engaging the world and young people, establishing Greater Cleveland as a center of entrepreneurship, developing a place-based strategy recognizing downtown Cleveland as our capitol city, embracing education as a success factor and a health and wellness culture that mirrors the excellence of our medical institutions, among other goals, he took a bold swipe at the nay-sayers that have sucked up so much of the oxygen in this region’s civic discourse over the past decades:

I know that there are many who will reflexively believe, even before hearing any of the details, that such a plan would fail, and they have plenty of past disappointment which they can cite which would support their negative outlook.

But they are probably the same kind of people who never believed that we would be a world center of medicine, the same kind of people who would never believe that our Orchestra could tour to sold-out concert halls all over the world, the same people who scoffed that our universities couldn’t achieve national reknown, or that our theatre district would be the second largest in the nation.

How do those individuals, with that outlook on Greater Cleveland’s future, how do they explain the new Museum of Contemporary Art, or the $150 million expansion of the Cleveland Museum of Art, or a local food movement which is making news all over the country, or the new hotels being built, the new Aquarium, the huge new investment on the East Bank of the Flats?

So I’m sure you know some of these people, and I actually feel sorry for them; you should too. Because every day it gets harder and harder for them to persist in their view that everything just keeps getting worse. Only our professional sports teams provide them with support for their depressing view. And no, I do not have a plan to address that problem.

Read the complete remarkable, inspirational speech, listen to the City Club podcast, and get the details on the Western Reserve Plan by clicking the link here: http://executive.cuyahogacounty.us

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3 Responses to “FitzGerald’s Inspiring 2012 State of the County Speech”

  1. JUST HAD THAT cleve.IntlFund Mr.zia get HIS tail HUNG UP ON HOW many charges?! THIRTY FOUR…FRONT page PD news…ALLll this crew dropping like whutever…Im SURE good ol MR.FLATTENED NOW FLATS allllll happy n peachykeen having THAT land on his office desk first thing …..Rolling his eyes….GOT feeling down to auditors (IF Iffffffffff THEY dont SOMEHOW screwup…again…or other…) and HOTEL biz… ZIA was SUPPOSEDLY gonna be one of the tenants at new bldg goin up alongside SHOREWAY &Ol River or FRONT st…SOMEWHERE along THERE…

    ANYWAYS…sooo much for econ development…Im SURE getting to be real *$*@ n semi quicksand quality…

  2. Aquarium? TIME will tell..FOR AWHILE the WHUTEVER…got DOUBTS…PS1 skoolHouseDONTrock CUTTING budgets like MAD…NOT sure bout private,catholic,charter n all that jazz n their whutever…REAL mixed bag THERE tooo…SURE MORE real mixed bag..MT nesters,singles,some moms n their kiddies,etc.etc. MOCA? NOT exactly overrun when I went to OLD place…but THAT WAS Midday on WEEKDAY in mid winter…sorta kinda maybe there..WHEN NEW yeahh HOT luv khild…sorta…AFRAID got soo much whutever THEY sorta kinda reinforce BUT STEAL each OTHERS gig…A REAL whutever figuring THAT out…HAVE fun figuring out THOSE #s…

    HOSPITALS? Ohhh yeah…NEED…n as they say ED n MEDS which REINFORCE each other…CSU? TIME will tell…CUTTING OFFERINGS,focusing n goin w/wha works n ‘sells’…at end of day cheap deal…local..get the ed..if can stay or whutever..fine…if gotta whutever n book then hey…

    HOTELS? CASINO…n medmart to a point…Blackjack n babes…

    EAST bank? LOOK AT COMMENT above…

    Food thing..is bizarre…hey…SOOoon as have someone climb on a jet to eat HERE THEN I will believe…I HATE sounding like some *$*@* BUT….

    SPORTS crew…LET EM *$*@… WE DID IT ALL n THEN SOME FOR “THEM”….ROUND N ROUND….I DONT have enough ulcer medicine,patience,$,time,etc.to deal w/THATttt…SOUNDS like “ED” MAY feel same way…Oookk so THOSE BIG HONCHOES get allllllllllll *$*@ cuz THEIR ‘thing’ n they dont like getting upbraided an all THAT….

  3. GOT A Loooooooooooooooooong wayz to go…a FOURTH of the hoods ARE *$*@…suspect waitin for EXPANDING HOSPITAL gigs n rest to buy em up n out n turned into parking,satellite bldgs,etc.etc. n all THAT happy jazzzzzz….but hey…

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