Public Comment

I would like to urge Cleveland city council to pass a ceasefire resolution for Gaza. Surrounding cities in Ohio, and other major cities, have already passed ceasefire resolutions. You are alienating a portion of the Cleveland population and showing you are complicit in genocide by not passing one. I highly encourage you all to do the right thing — and stand for basic human rights by calling for a ceasefire. Thank you.

We should bring Indycar back to Cleveland. This event will bring millions of dollars to our city. It will pack our hotels and restaurants. We need this badly.

I support a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Palestine. I see genocide against the Palestinian people being committed in this war. Let us call for a ceasefire now.

Israel is slaughtering Palestinians by the tens of thousands in many blatent violations of the Geneva Convention. Israel is commiting these war crimes primarily with funding and weapons provided by the United States. Many cities around us have evaluated these facts and determined it necessary and proper to voice their opposition of this genocide. Cleveland has a large Palestinian population. Cleveland also has a large Jewish population. Both groups have banded together in condemning the Israeli genocide of Palestinians. Cleveland city counsel has seen extensive citizen support of passing a resolution condemning this genocide and helping our citizens feel a tiny bit of peace knowing they live somewhere that will speak up for them. It costs us nothing. Pass the resolution. Now.

Morelle McCane is Cleveland's only current qualified USA Olympian 2024. She will be competing in Paris this summer. Glenville Alum. Tri-C Alum. Med-tech Certifications. Worked in retail, manufacturing and patient care. 9x USA National Champion. 4x National Golden Gloves Champion. It all started at the Glenville Recreation Center. Currently, she is the only qualified 2024 USA Olympian from the entire state of Ohio. Cleveland's Own!

When I was in college, I had the opportunity to shadow Holocaust research in Lviv, Ukraine. My professor, Father Patrick Desbois, interviewed Holocaust witnesses to locate and document mass grave sites and local complicity. The Holocaust there looked different than what most of us learn in history books: Father Desbois’ work has found that millions of Jews, Roma, and other marginalized groups were murdered by firing line in broad daylight. That was his emphasis: the Nazis and local sympathizers were successful in genocide not in spite of, but because they worked in broad daylight. That is what I see happening now: the Israeli government is committing a genocide in broad daylight, and as long as we bear witness without action, our inaction makes us complicit. But, further, we cannot call our current policy “inaction” — our country is serving the perpetrator, and supplying the weapons that make continued genocide possible. To claim there are “two sides” in this moment that we should view as morally equal is willful ignorance and a poor excuse for remaining complicit in genocide. The question is not to call for a ceasefire or to remain neutral, the question is whether we will confront our own complicity and demand to change our course of action from the wrong side of history to the side of justice.

This has been going on for FAR too long. We NEED a ceasefire now. If we spent the money being sent to Israel on social programs, community outreach, etc., we would have a better America and a better world.

Seeing that Cleveland City council has no spine/have financial interests tied to Israel, the people will pass their own ceasefire resolution for the children being blown apart in Gaza. We can see Bibb is too busy posing on Instagram with music stars while the school district sits in shambles with millions in deficits. You HATE children, demonstrably. Meanwhile, also expunging records of money launderers so they can continue to govern in Cleveland, and let old farts go on racist tirades from their office's phones. It's a racket and a joke. The more I learn about this city leadership, the more I realize how messed up it is. What kind of inhumane, out of touch, self important, privileged know-nothing says no to a ceasefire? Says no to ending genocide? Says yes 13,000 children are dead, let's do it some more! People who get money from it, apparently. These representatives are, quite literally, enemies of the people and must have their powers and privileges stripped.

We demand a permanent and immediate Ceasefire now!!!

Why are we not talking about decades of lavish tax abatements for fancy hotels, billionaire-owned sports franchises, luxury apartments, gargantuan nonprofit land holdings and swank office buildings that have effectively stripped urban public schools of desperately needed revenue increases? All this austerity talk now with respect to the public schools is being treated as if it’s somehow a good thing, sounding a lot like idiot Neutron Jack Welsh’s sadistic business orthodoxy: cut the fat, tighten the belt, trim the deadwood; like this is an inherently healthy process. It’s anything but healthy. It’s deeply toxic. NOBODY is talking about increasing funding, only cutting expense. So immediately, half of the critical arithmetic is made irrelevant. 40 years in business taught me this essential lesson: you NEVER can cut your way to success. It's a continuous death spiral for the city when we refuse to invest more in public schools, and the city’s children. Which is why we can expect only worse outcomes as a result, with no end in sight. Very sad.