CRISIS = OPPORTUNITY: Aside from Mitch Schneider's whining (expect lots more of the same from the PD editors and others) there are two take-away quotes in this morning's Plain Dealer story about Wal-Mart and Steelyard Commons.

First, there is Mayor Campbell's statement that "subsidies would probably be needed to attract an anchor and that she would work with council to come up with a plan".

Second, there is AFL-CIO leader John Ryan's observation: "It's an opportunity for good community planning, instead of reacting quickly."

For months, city leaders have been hiding behind their lack of jurisdiction to justify an "anything goes" approach to the Steelyard plan. We have no zoning authority, they've said; we're not being asked for money, so what can we do? Planning Director Bob Brown actually told a community meeting in my neighborhood last week that "no one in the administration wants Wal-Mart, but we have no say."

Now that it's clear that Schneider's private, unplanned strategy was half-baked -- totally dependent on the interest of a chain that's not interested -- the City has an obvious move: Buy some control.

Here we have the perfect opportunity for Campbell and Jackson to show what they're made of. It's like a Public Administration 101 essay question: One of the city's most important development sites is in play. The developer, whose clay feet are now obvious, needs some public help. There are significant unaddressed issues -- neighborhood impacts, labor market impacts, traffic impacts, a real highest-and-best-use controversy. Up to now the city has lacked jurisdiction to address these issues. What does an effective municipal leader do?

I say that an effective municipal leader finds a way to take the developer off the hook for some period of time, in exchange for a significant measure of public authority over the final plan for the site.

Schneider is saying, for example, that he has only ninety days to find another anchor. Presumably this is tied to conditions on his financing. (In fact, this may be a Port Authority loan deadline.) The city could offer to put up some money to help extend this deadline to six months or a year... maybe pre-pay some interest.

In exchange, the city could seek normal retail zoning and design jurisdiction over the site, tied to a meaningful community planning process that seriously examines:

a) whether retail is the best economic development use of the hundred and thirty riverside acres in question, and...

b) if retail is the site's future, how to mitigate harm -- or even create opportunities -- for existing Cleveland businesses and workers.

The media will call Wal-Mart's withdrawal a crisis. Actually, it's an opportunity. Let's see if either the Mayor or the Council President has the vision -- and political nerve -- to seize it.
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