A conference room in the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Administrative Headquarters overlooks one of County Councilwoman Meredith Turner’s most prized views in downtown Cleveland. Through sparkling glass panes, she sees the Terminal Tower and the Progressive Field that houses Cleveland’s professional baseball team, the southbound lanes of Interstate 77 toward Akron beyond that, and just a little farther out, the remnants of a once-thriving steel industry where her late mother worked for close to four decades before her passing in 2021.
“I love to take meetings in that conference room because it reminds me of how far we’ve come, the sacrifices that my mother made in that steel mill every day to provide an opportunity for home ownership, to provide opportunities for education,” Turner told Salon, reflecting on the shoulders she’s stood on to become a first-generation college graduate and councilwoman.
