Council Meeting Highlights (1-24-2022)

Jan 25, 2022

Cleveland (January 24, 2022) – City Council held its regular Monday night meeting tonight. Here are highlights:

*Adopted legislation aimed at regulating small box retail stores - between 3,000 and 15,000 square feet that dedicates less than 15% of shelf space to fresh or fresh frozen foods.

The legislation states that no small box discount retail store shall be established on a lot or lots within 10,560 feet (two miles) of another lot or lots containing an existing small box discount retail store. No two small box discount retail stores shall be located in the same building or on the same lot. The legislation outlines rules new stores would be required to follow, including requiring merchants to disclose types of goods, products, or merchandise to be sold and the general cost of such items. (Stores connected to gas stations are exempt.)

The goal of the legislation is to control the proliferation of these stores in Cleveland neighborhoods. Council had placed a moratorium on building small box stores in the city, but it expired on November 1, 2020. The legislation was sponsored by Council Members Brancatelli, Griffin and Kelley.

Most of the small box operations are in poor neighborhoods and often lack general cleaning and maintenance, inside and out. They can become eyesores and places for loitering and litter. Read more. Ord. No. 816-2020.

*Approved legislation supplementing a 1976 ordinance that prohibits the release of large numbers of balloons – no more than 10 - into the atmosphere.

Balloons made of mylar or latex are particularly dangerous. Latex balloons can take anywhere between six months to four years to biodegrade. If mylar balloons touch a power line, it can cause a surge of electricity that short circuits equipment and can even lead to outages and fires. Penalties are the same as litterers: a minor misdemeanor citation and a $150 fine. 

Balloons can easily be mistaken as foliage and food to wildlife, especially birds and marine life. Not only can ingesting them seriously harm and even kill, but they can also get tangled up and killed by the string that balloons are often tied onto.

During Great Lakes cleanups between 2016 and 2018 about 18,000 balloons or pieces of balloons made of mylar or latex were found. Several states and some cities, including Toledo, have banned balloon releases.

“This council finds,” the legislation notes, “that the release into the atmosphere of large numbers of balloons inflated with lighter-than-air gases poses a danger and nuisance to the environment and public safety.”

Other options to releasing balloons include: blowing bubbles, wildflower seed bombs, planting trees or flower gardens, waving flags, banners, and streamers and more. The legislation was sponsored by Council Members Bishop, Kazy and Brancatelli. Ord. No. 1022-2021

*Approved legislation to (apply for and) accept various public safety grant awards including: the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant, which supports the employment of six police support staff, four fingerprint examiners and two intelligence analysts (Ord. 1140-2021); the COPS Community Policing Development Crisis Intervention Teams Grant to expand Cleveland’s Police and Mental Health co-responder team (Ord. 1141-2021); the Impaired Driving Enforcement Program and Selective Traffic Enforcement Program; Recovery Ohio Law Enforcement Fund for funding for the operation of the Cartel Gang Narcotics Laundering Task Force (Ord. 1144-2021); and the State Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant to also fund the Cartel Gang Narcotics Laundering Task Force (Ord. 1146-2021).

*Approved legislation authorizing the Economic Development director to enter into agreements with eligible applicants for Brownfield Remediation Program funding to work in conjunction with applicants on their project for the environmental remediation or assessment of brownfield sites.

The State of Ohio released guidelines for the $350 million Brownfield Redevelopment Program but noted the funds will be awarded on a first come, first serve basis. Assessment applications can receive up to $300,000. Remediation applications can receive up to $10 million.  Applications for the first round are due January 31, 2022. Twenty sites from Cleveland will be included in the first round to the state. Ord. 17-2022.

*Approved a resolution urging Cleveland-Marshall College of Law to change the name of the school because its names sake, John Marshall, was a slave owner.

Though Marshall opposed the slave trade, he nevertheless owned slaves most of his life. In the early 19th century, Marshall expressed reservations about large-scale emancipation of slaves, in part because he feared a large number of freed slaves would rise up in revolution. The resolution was sponsored by Councilman Kevin Conwell.

Historians believe that Marshall bought and sold slaves throughout his life. Res. No. 25-2022.

*Adopted a resolution urging Mayor Bibb and the city’s newly established “Covid 19 Task Force” to require businesses to provide hand sanitizer for the public at their points of sale and gas stations provide hand sanitizer at their gas pumps.

On January 6, 2022, Mayor Bibb announced a new Covid-19 Task Force “to monitor pandemic trends, encourage residents to get vaccinated, and offer policy advice to help tamp down the spread of illness.”

Council’s resolution notes that one of the better ways to stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus is to sanitize hands after contact with items and objects in areas that have high concentrations of people. Councilman Kevin Conwell sponsored the legislation.

The resolution says the task force should assess businesses and other areas where people congregate to ensure responsible protocols are being followed, including washing hands and using hand sanitizer. Res. No. 26-2022.