By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief

The city's third Black mayor, Jackson, 73, strutted back and forth on the auditorium stage for 40 minutes and sounded like the Democrat that he is, taking on an array of issues, including gun violence, neighborhood safety, health care , housing and economic prosperity, education, community development and gender and racial inequities.

He said that since he became mayor in 2006 the impoverished city, which has some 7,000 employees and a multi billion dollar budget, has grown financially, and that since 2014 the city has retained some 16,000 jobs while simultaneously creating 23,000 more jobs.

Poised for a possible run for a fifth- term in 2021, the mayor said he supports equal pay for women and quoted statistics on the economy as if he were an economist.

He chastised the Ohio Supreme Court for last month overturning the Fannie Lewis Law, a city ordinance that required public construction contractors to hire a percentage of the largely Black city's residents.

He showed, without a doubt, why voters in the largely Black major American city have chosen him on a historic four occasions to be their mayor.

Jackson said that while Cleveland is not top notch, due in part to racism and elitism, it is a pivotal city that is the core of the region's sustainability.

"Cleveland is a successful city but it is not a great city," said Jackson., who added that it is the heart of Cuyahoga County and that in spite of the hype that suggest otherwise, it has better data numbers than several big cities, including New York City, though its population is at 8.7 million.

The political novice said that health care is the fastest growing sector in the city and named some of the city's prominent medical institutions such as Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, and Western Reserve University Hospital, a part of University Hospitals.

At the onset of his speech the usually shy mayor said he loved his family like most people do and will not apologize relative to media and other scrutiny surrounding his grandson, who faces felony charges regarding his alleged assault on a purported ex-girlfriend, and his great grandson, who is accused of area gang activity.

"I do not apologize to anyone for my family," said Jackson, displaying the loyalty to family that has also made him popular in political circles. "Just like you love yours, I love mine."

And the mayor said he has a soft spot for Cleveland, independent of its successes and failures, the city dubbed the second most segregated in the nation behind Boston, and due in part to demographics, Blacks primarily residing on the city's east side, and Whites mainly on the west side, both separated by the Cuyahoga River.

"I love this city," said the homegrown Jackson, who still lives in the Central Neighborhood in Ward 5 with his long time wife Edwina on the city's east side where he grew up and served as councilman, a Black area he has helped resurrect, and one of the poorest communities in the nation.

The mayor, who appoints school board members and controls the city's public schools per state law, said the schools graduation and retention rates have increased under his leadership, and that more than 80 percent of the city's third graders passed the reading requirements of the Third Grade Guarantee, a state law that  mandates that children meet specified reading parameters to pass on to the fourth grade.

And while he spoke on the district's educational plan and the achievement gap between Black and White students of a public school district once under a court monitored desegregation court order, he did not mention the state's unconstitutional public school funding formula or specifics on improvements on the state report card, and nor did he address the public schools overall state ranking, which is in the bottom quartile.

He highlighted the Opportunity Corridor and other community development projects, and said millions have been allocated and spent to resurface city streets and demolished abandoned and vacant homes.

And he mentioned new schools and refurbished park and recreation centers such as the new JFK Recreation Center.

A former assistant city prosecutor and city council president turned mayor, Jackson said the criminal justice system is in disarray, the Cuyahoga County Jail in Cleveland in the national spotlight for nine recent inmate deaths, U.S. Marshal findings of illegal and unconstitutional mistreatment of inmates, and some 12 indictments coming down this year alone, including the former jail warden and jail director, and several jail guards.

He did not speak at length on the city's safety forces, or poverty in the inner city, which is prevalent in major American cities nationwide, and he was not specific on heightened gun violence plaguing the Black community, including a quadruple killing two weeks ago and a drive by shooting that last week killed six-year old Lyric Lawson, both on the city's east side.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog with some 5 million views on Google Plus alone.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, and who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.