Thursday, April 13, 2017

Mansfield Frazier announces run for Cleveland City Council

Tossing hat into ring for Hough’s Ward 7 seat

The well-known journalist and community activist, Mansfield Frazier, has announced his intent to run for Cleveland City Council in Ward 7. His presence will further enliven a race that already includes the incumbent, T. J. Dow, several other newcomers, including Daniel Graves and Demar L. Sheffey, and Basheer Jones, who ran against Dow in 2013.

Frazier currently serves as the executive director of Neighborhood Solutions, Inc., a non-profit organization that has developed an award-winning vineyard and BioCellar in the heart of the Hough neighborhood that anchors the ward. He also is a columnist for CoolCleveland.com and hosts a weekly show, The Forum, Sunday evenings on WTAM 1100 talk radio.  

[Disclosure: I hired Frazier as a reporter in 1998 when I was editor of The Cleveland Monitor, at that time a weekly newspaper focused largely circulated on the county’s eastside. I have also been a guest on his radio show.]

In a press release announcing his plan to pull petitions at the Board of Elections tomorrow, Frazier, who has been perhaps Dow’s most vocal critic for the past few years, cited safety concerns, deterioration of city services, and lack of development among issues confronting the ward, saying, “the situation has become intolerable”. He also blasted Dow for his alleged failure to return phone calls in a timely manner, from both constituents and businessmen interested in investing in the community.

Frazier told The Real Deal Press that he will take leave from his radio show he in a month or so, after his petitions have been filed and verified, and his candidacy becomes “official”. He said he would return to the show “after I win”.

The nonpartisan primary election is September 12. The top two finishers will advance to the general election in November. 

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