Mike Polensek kept everyone guessing about whether he would run for another term on Cleveland City Council — until Monday.
That’s when he confirmed he would stay in the race and face fellow incumbent Anthony Hairston. Council’s recent redistricting drew both of them together in the new Ward 10, which covers the Collinwood neighborhood on the Northeast Side.
Polensek said that he “agonized” over the decision, but opted to run because he has projects in the ward he wanted to see through to completion. He also criticized the crop of council challengers he saw at a recent forum, citing it as another reason he is not retiring.
“I’m a very competitive person,” Polensek said. “The more I thought about this, I don’t think I could live with myself if I just walked away.”
Council President Blaine Griffin is taking sides. He told Signal Cleveland on Tuesday that he’s backing Hairston, even though he saw both as allies of his. He said he hoped the match would be a “gentlemen’s race.”
Griffin and Hairston said that, based on what Polensek told them, they believed that he would be retiring at the end of his term.
While Polensek didn’t “give a blood oath” or “put his hand over a candle” before promising not to run, Griffin said, “Mike did say, ‘Hey, I believe I’m retiring and I would be supportive of Anthony Hairston if Anthony was to run.’”
But Polensek said he only told Hairston that he would “strongly consider not running.” And he did consider it — that’s why it took him so long to announce his council bid, he said.
“Ask Mike White, George Forbes — I never broke my word on anything,” Polensek said, name-dropping Cleveland’s former mayor and council president, whom he served with in the 1980s and 1990s.
Hairston sees things differently. According to him, Polensek said that he had put in his time and “could leave today.” That’s why the new ward is Ward 10, the same number as Hairston’s current ward.
“The truth is the truth, no matter how much you try to distort it or twist it or turn it, it’s what it is,” he said. “Nobody’s attacking him. Myself, the council president and others are just stating that we’re disappointed in his decision.”
Another run for ‘the dean’ of council
Polensek defeated a Republican incumbent to win his seat on council in 1977, the same year Dennis Kucinich rose to the mayor’s office. He has held that seat for 47 years, earning a reputation as council’s sharp-toothed curmudgeon. He seized the council presidency from Jay Westbrook in the final years of the White administration. Recently, he has taken on an elder statesman role, embracing the unofficial title, “the dean.”
A candidate forum last week helped to seal his decision to run for another term, he said. Polensek said he saw the potential for conflict on council if some challengers win seats. For instance, one candidate at the forum said that “capitalism wasn’t working,” he said.
That appeared to be a reference to Ward 12 challenger Tanmay Shah, a self-described democratic socialist candidate who said, “capitalism is eroding our neighborhoods.” Polensek sat next to him, arms crossed.
That night, Polensek said, he decided to run.
The longtime Collinwood councilman said there are many neighborhood projects that he wants to complete, too. Shuffling through papers as he spoke on the phone, he rattled off a list: revamping Euclid Beach Park and the former mobile home park next door, finishing the East 185th and East 140th streetscapes and redeveloping the National Acme site, to name a few.
Polensek said that he isn’t afraid of losing the race.
“Never been afraid of losing,” he said. “I’m afraid of quitting. I’m afraid of not doing my best. I’m afraid of turning my back on my residents and walking away.”
Hairston says he aims for ‘the next level’
A former member of Cuyahoga County Council, Hairston has served as a City Council member since 2017. He chairs the powerful planning and zoning committees, which oversee development projects and changes to zoning laws.
At a Cuyahoga County Democratic Party meeting this week, he fell just short of the votes he needed to win the party’s endorsement.
That is not a setback, Hairston said. He’s running on his record backing a $50 million demolition fund as a County Council member, taking down vacant homes in the neighborhood and working to attract businesses to the area while on City Council.
Hairston said he wasn’t just running for the paycheck. He said he cares about the ward and is raising his children there.
“I want them to be able to walk to the park without any issues,” he said. “I want them to not have to walk past abandoned houses. I want to be able to go to the corner store like I did as a kid, without fear of not being able to make it back home.”
Hariston argued that no one is denigrating the years Polensek has put in as a council member, but it’s time to do things differently.
“I don’t have 50 years — almost 50 years — in office,” he said. “Not at all. But at some point, our community has to be able to move to the next level. And I believe that I’m the person to take us to the next level.”
