Council Meeting Highlights

Sep 27, 2021

Cleveland (September 27, 2021) – City Council held its regular weekly meeting tonight. The next council meeting will be held Monday, October 4th . Here are tonight’s highlights:

*Adopted a resolution supporting Women’s March Cleveland and Women’s March National for reproductive and civil rights on October 2, 2021.

The Women’s March Cleveland will join cities nationwide, including Women’s March National in Washington, D.C., to host a local rally at noon and a march at 1:30 pm on October 2, 2021, at Market Square Park at the corner of West 25th Street and Lorain Avenue.

The event calls on all women across racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, religious and gender lines, and their supporters to rally and march for women’s reproductive and civil rights – control over their own bodies - in the midst of the recent Texas court ruling against reproductive rights and the attack on Roe v. Wade by the conservative right and state legislatures across the country. Res. No. 846-2021

*Approved a resolution condemning the new state legislative maps as deeply flawed and unconstitutional gerrymanders of state legislative districts; and calling upon Ohio lawmakers to immediately enact a transparent and deliberative public process for bipartisan Congressional districts.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other voter rights groups have filed lawsuits challenging the newly drawn state legislative districts recently enacted by a Republican-dominated commission in Ohio.

In one of the suits filed in the Ohio Supreme Court, the voter rights groups accuse the Ohio Redistricting Commission of engaging in “extreme partisan gerrymandering” that violates the state’s constitution. The suit says the redrawn districts “are intended to entrench a Republican veto-proof supermajority in both chambers of Ohio’s General Assembly for the next four years.” Ord. No. 847-2021.

*Introduced legislation authorizing the appropriation of funds from The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, and authorizing various contracts to be executed no later than December 31, 2024, and funds to be expended by December 31, 2026. These dates are prescribed under the federal guidelines. Any funds not fully spent must be returned.

In response to the Covid-19 public health crisis, The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) – through the U.S. Department of the Treasury - is providing needed relief to state and local governments to enable them to continue to support the public health response and lay the foundation for a strong and equitable economic recovery. Ord. No. 843-2021.

The City of Cleveland is receiving nearly $512 million over two years. Today’s legislation by the Jackson Administration addresses nearly $121.8 million of that amount, to be divided into four city departments: 

• Public Safety - $26.3 million 
• Community and Economic Development - $80.3 million 
• Building and Housing - $15 million 
• Law Department - $191,000.

*Introduced legislation authorizing the execution of a cooperative agreement with the Cuyahoga County, Gateway Economic Development Corp. of Greater Cleveland, and the Cleveland Indians Baseball Company, LLC relating to the financing, operations, repair, upkeep, and construction of appropriate modernizations of Progressive Field, and authorizing contribution of City funding. Ord. No. 844-2021.