Monday August 20 2:20 AM ET

African-Born Mayor Faces Challenges
By M.R. KROPKO, Associated Press Writer

EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) - Some of Emmanuel Onunwor's
earliest memories of growing up in Nigeria involve
walking. He would trek from his family farm to the
market every sunrise before school and rush home every
afternoon.

So when he became the first African-born black mayor
of a U.S. city four years ago, he decided to put those
skills to good use in this suburb battling urban woes.


``I decided I will walk the streets here,'' he said.

Almost every workday, Onunwor hits the pavements of
East Cleveland to greet constituents, listen to issues
and even confront drug dealers and prostitutes.

Onunwor, (AHN'-uhn-wahr), who moved to the United
States at age 22 to escape the instability wrought by
civil war, has developed a tough-love approach he said
is making some progress.

Onunwor's outgoing style has impressed Charles Smith,
prevention manager for East Cleveland Straight Talk, a
drug counseling and treatment program for youths.

``He's gone out into the neighborhoods. He's been out
talking to kids and he's been on the streets
identified as high-drug streets. He's been trying to
find out the reason. It's getting better here,'' Smith
said.

Onunwor said he supports drug treatment and job
training programs along with a no-nonsense use of law
enforcement. Recently, he ordered the cords cut on at
least six pay telephones he was certain were being
used for drug dealing.

``When I came in here, it was like someone walking
into a house in the dark,'' he said. ``We've been able
to accomplish a lot, but obviously we have a long way
to go.''

To win a second term, Onunwor must beat four
challengers in an open primary Oct. 2. Even so, he is
confident that he will go on to win the general
election Nov. 6.

Eric Brewer, editor of Cleveland Life, an urban weekly
newspaper, also wants to be mayor. Brewer was
Onunwor's campaign manager in 1997 and his top aide
for one year until being fired. Onunwor claimed that
Brewer was dismissed for lack of productivity and
failure to follow the mayor's directives.

Brewer said his old boss has charm, but little
administrative ability. ``He has no understanding of
municipal bureaucracies and financial management,''
Brewer said.

East Cleveland, incorporated as a city in 1911, was
once the Cleveland area's most elite community where
oil baron John D. Rockefeller had an estate, now
Forest Hills Park.

Some homes on tree-lined streets near the park could
fit easily into any middle-class neighborhood. But
much of the housing stock in East Cleveland, now
Cleveland's most impoverished suburb, is deteriorating
or abandoned.

``My main goal is to get back the confidence of the
people, and they need to believe in themselves. That
will have a lot to do for our ability to survive
economically and otherwise,'' Onunwor said.

U.S. Census figures show the city's population, which
is 94 percent black, dropped from about 33,000 in 1990
to a little more than 27,000 last year. The average
household income slipped from $27,424 in 1986 to
$24,665 in 1998, according to the Greater Cleveland
Council for Economic Opportunities.

Crime has decreased and a few newly built homes are
the first in several years.

East Cleveland has been under fiscal emergency status
since 1988, longer than any Ohio city. Ohio Auditor
Jim Petro warned East Cleveland last year that some of
its accounts remain in disarray and have deficits.

Former mayor Wallace D. Davis is a critic of Onunwor
and hopes to regain his old office this fall by
appealing to disenchanted residents.

``As with any non-native, there is a certain allure,
but after the smoke cleared they found out he was not
all that he purported to be. He has no sensitivity for
our citizens,'' Davis said.

Onunwor said both Davis and Brewer are disgruntled
former city employees. Two other community activists,
Levester Adams and Nicole E. Howell, also are running
for mayor.

Onunwor's activist career began early. He fought as a
child for the secessionist Republic of Biafra against
his Nigeria homeland in a civil war that raged from
1967 to 1970. The poorly armed Biafran forces were
defeated.

He later made his way to Cleveland, to be with his
sister and brother-in-law. He earned a master's degree
in urban studies at Cleveland State University and
landed a city planning job. In the early 1990s he
became East Cleveland community development director
and then the mayor's chief of staff.

In 1995 he was elected to the East Cleveland City
Council and in 1997 he defeated Davis. Onunwor, also
the associate minister at East Mount Zion Missionary
Baptist Church in Cleveland, took 66 percent of the
vote.

Onunwor became the first African-born black mayor in
the United States, according to the Atlanta-based
National Conference of Black Mayors. The 43-year-old
husband and father of four has since been joined by
Berkeley, Mo., Mayor Babatunde Deinbo, also born in
Nigeria.

``Where I was born and the way I was brought up is not
an issue,'' said Onunwor. ``The people are only
interested in how to best improve the quality of life
in this city.''

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