Public Comment

The Walgreens in the corner Clark and Fulton are not taking care of the perimeter. The fence is completely destroyed. There is garbage all around it. The Stop sign (after the drive thru) is not even visible any more. I have contact the store manager multiple times and nothing happens. The residences have to deal with all the garbage from Walgreens. When Walgreens was being built they placed multiple trees on our side of the street. They would come and maintain them but with time they stopped. They are making the houses worst. There is no visibility at all because of the trees and all the garbage. There are usually people hiding in them either using drugs or hiding from employees after they were shoplifting. I have been a resident of the same area for over 20 years and it just gets worse and worse.

There is a house on my street , whose occupant(s) have animals (dogs) that are not secured. One dog in particular ( an Akita?) has bitten 3 people this year, one of which is my 12 year old granddaughter and nothing is being done. It has been reported several times but the dog remains at the residence (3657 E 147th) . Children will be going back to school soon , but cannot safely walk down this street as the owner does nothing to control his animal. They should not have to go around the block to by -pass one house. The dog owner always hides the animal when police are called and never has the animal leashed. The animal warden has been to the home several times each time leaving without taking the animal in custody…. Please do something before an attack becomes fatal.

We are a senior community. We have had at least 20 car break-ins, some having been vandalized multiple times within a few weeks. More over the course of the last year. We have called the police multiple times with little response. We understand police are working in a diminished capacity. We are a gated community, but this has not deterred vandals from accessing and wrecking havoc in our parking lot. Management states it can do little in terms of security for our residents. We do not feel safe or secure. My question is whether there is Rescue Plan money or other monies to help seniors pay for repairs to their vehicles. It is important for those who have vehicles to be able to get out to conduct their business. We have lost thousands and it seems no relief is available. We would like to speak with someone in the city, ward, and/or police to discuss options. Thank you.

Violent crimes and especially involving guns need attention by our city! There needs to be professional discussions on options to reduce gun violence. The public hears about certain council members being uncooperative and unwilling to work with our new mayor. While the public suffers over council's power trips. Stop it now and do your jobs for the people! Thank you

Each day I drive into Public Square on my way to work. The sidewalk in front of Jakes deli, across from the casino, is a mess. It is cracked, broken and slanting. A terrible visual for any visitor to see. Not only that. The garden boxes there make it look dark and unsafe. I know the bus stop is there but there is always trash in them, and along the sidewalk. I know DCA cleans the street, and I have called them. After the shooting at that store, it has a dismal look.

Councilman Michael Polensek (Ward 8/Chair of Safety Committee) consistently stokes division and a lack of progress. His comments show that he is an unserious person and should resign to make way for someone with their head in reality to take his seat.

I’m writing on behalf of a close family friend who was recently called because her mom fell at the Slovene Home in Collinwood. The ring cam footage showed another senario that could have been prevented. The aide grabbed her, did not follow protocol and lied about the incident . These CNAS make a generous salary and they are expected to perform a service. They choose to do agency work and move from facility to facility In groups and they don’t follow standards, regulations, or proper procedures. They wreck havoc with no regard to patient care. Does the city have a stance on what’s going on? Does the city enforce any regulations or standards of care? Monica Stovall 18105 Hiller Ave Cleveland Ohio 44119 is the family that was impacted by nursing home abuse. We are advocating for those others negatively impacted by CNA staff that does not perform their work properly in Cleveland’s nursing facilities. Thank You

My name is Arthur Hargate. I live in Ward 6 in Little Italy. I am writing to express concern over the firing of Tessa Jackson from her position as the City of Cleveland’s Economic Development Director. First, this is a matter that should be of great concern to City Council. Ms. Jackson’s recent testimony to City Council and its reporting in the media was a welcomed breath of fresh air and finally offered some encouragement to me and many taxpayers I know, in which she questioned the wisdom of certain taxpayer subsidies like abatement and Tax Increment Financing, highlighting their ineffectiveness in truly helping the situation of poor people in our community. These are City policies and practices that many, many taxpayers have known to be gigantic problems for decades, and finally someone in government here was willing to call them out for what they unquestionably are: grotesquely inequitable. It seems ironic then and highly coincidental that she speaks out like that, and now just weeks later she’s gone? Apparently developers didn’t appreciate her candor and as a group complained to the City. I wonder if her demeanor, as described by a developer in a Plain Dealer article, would have been perceived to be less “harsh” and “abrasive” had it been coming from an older, white male? It’s critical for taxpayers to know exactly what happened here. Because it seems pretty obvious that powerful business interests and developers pushed back hard and got her fired, because she expressed an honest, informed professional opinion about public money subsidies that have to date failed to benefit disenfranchised people in Cleveland in any economically measurable way. She seemed to very much be an advocate for all Clevelanders, but developers apparently think that’s a bad thing. It smells really bad, that’s for sure. It appears she was canned for simply speaking an inconvenient truth about how economic development in our community has benefited some but by no means all. If that’s the case, it’s frightening, embarrassing and emblematic of why Cleveland remains one of the poorest big cities in the United States. It suggests strongly that our “leaders” answer preferentially to the business elite, investors, banks and speculative real estate developers, but not so much to neighborhood residents, voters and the overwhelming majority of taxpayers. Because we know that poverty is a policy choice, it’s clear our “leaders,” both in government and in civic life, have refused to make poverty a high enough priority here for the last fifty years. So this is what happens when you have the courage to speak truth to power in Cleveland? Unconscionable. Results matter. Data matters. Facts matter. Tessa Jackson simply brought forward the results, the data and the facts regarding Cleveland’s track record in subsidizing economic development. And the results, facts and data were not pretty, so she was expunged. The facts are it’s been a great ride for the posh, powerful and privileged in greater Cleveland the last fifty years, but not at all so great for the middle class and positively tragic for poor people. This firing suggests not much is changing under Mayor Justin Bibb, and initial indicators are our new County Executive is on the very same wave length as our mayor: catering to big money special interests and ignoring average and poor people, while glossing over the raw inequity with slick marketing and feel-good bromides of verbal gobbledygook. Let’s hope Tessa Jackson stays here and helps to push for an equitable Cleveland in other ways. We need a lot more truth-tellers like her in our government and civic organizations. Nonetheless, this looks like another bleak and embarrassing confirmation of the deeply outsized influence the business, investor, real estate development and finance community has on government in Cleveland. Tessa Jackson likely was fired because she spoke the truth as she and many taxpayers understand it, and it obviously peeved some of the power elites, so they had the Mayor show her the door. Councilpersons from the forgotten wards get it, but the overwhelming regional push now is for even more glitzy, expensive new stuff to try to attract population back to our region, especially downtown, to pump up the tax base and fill the pockets of the power elite. So, the shakedown of taxpayers in subsidies and lavish public money for private wealth development is likely only going to get worse: for the failed MedMart, to county council members pet projects, to the Browns, to the CAVS, to a pricey gargantuan unnecessary land bridge, to the lakefront, to Bedrock, to a jail, to a courthouse, to more tax-abated luxury rental paradises and now to “reimagine” how the lower level of the Detroit-Superior bridge can entertain tourists and the well-to-do. And correspondingly, because trickle-down economic development is a cosmic lie we have been force-fed here in Cleveland for the last 50 years, we will almost certainly remain one of the poorest big cities in the United States, affordable housing to rent and buy will remain elusive, as will plentiful living wage jobs. Our public schools will remain underfunded, infant and maternal death rates for people of color will stay tragic and the city will remain particularly unlivable for black women and families (as reported in the media.) Our rapid transit system will stay anemic, and the tree canopy that can protect the most vulnerable of us from the climate crisis will take an inordinate amount of time to build back. Because there has never been a nexus between Cleveland’s ever changing and chaotic economic development schemes chasing the most recent bright and shiny object of attraction for the wealthy and the desperate need here for more living wage jobs accessible to poor people. Because our economic development priorities have to date not directly addressed the region’s aching deficiencies in living wage jobs, affordable housing, segregation and discrimination, funding to public schools and violent crime that have driven population away. But the urban buzz-speak, effervescent toxic positivity and blah, blah, blah bloviating boosterism of our government and civic “leaders” will continue. We'll all be "dreaming big" and "reimagining" in our "high density," “vibrant,” "walkable, multi-modal" "15 minute city." Right. Sure we will. Because our Mayor asserts his number one job is being Cleveland’s biggest cheerleader, and truth be told, he’s getting darned good at it. Seriously? We elected him to fix Cleveland’s big problems, not flit around the country and world selling the virtues of our, by all objective measures, eminently below average city. Population will return when we finally fix our endemic problems and shore up our obvious deficiencies. It’s time City Council pushed back and pushed back hard on economic development initiatives and their tax subsidies that do not directly benefit ALL Clevelanders, and in particular the poor, disenfranchised and middle class in our community. Community Benefits Agreements can certainly help, but that’s just a start. Tessa Jackson had it exactly right, but having it right got her fired. Her advocacy for the underserved in Cleveland should be a model for City Council and the City Administration to follow, and follow closely. Thank you.

To whom this may concern, I'm wondering what kind of training our firefighters receive in regards to incidents that occur in, or with, high-rise buildings in the downtown metropolitan area? It is of great concern that there seems to be a lack of any familiarization training or practice of standard operating procedures in such occurrences. This would be detrimental to the Firefighters responding to these incidents and could result in lives lost. Please let me know if such materials, classes, or training exists. I hope you make it a great day! Please respond on "https://www.clevelandohio.gov/CityofCleveland/Home/Government/CityAgencies/PublicSafety/Fire", via frequently asked questions.

On June 7th, my partner was struck by a car while biking down Quincy Ave, at Quincy and E 100th. As he recovers, a shocking number of our friends and community shared that they have either been struck by a car while biking in Cleveland or knew someone who had also been hit by a car while biking in Cleveland. Even the driver at fault has been struck by a car as a cyclist. I wish I knew fewer people who have gone through this! Quincy Ave does have a bike lane but it appears and disappears; it is not contiguous. It is not protected by posts, it is just paint. Long-term studies show that painted bike lanes do not measurably improve traffic safety for any road users. However, protected bike lanes increase safety for *all* road users. I am begging City Council to commit to the Vision Zero platform adopted by the city instead of just talking about it. Do a comprehensive audit of bike infrastructure and identify where bike lanes can be extended and protected. Do this swiftly. Install speed tables. Make roads narrower for cars. Plant more trees in tree lawns. Commit to just one of these things, all proven to increase road safety for all users! I am sick to death of seeing vision zero stickers without seeing any actual changes to the road surface. I want to bike to a baseball game without fearing for my life. I never want to get a phone call that a loved one has been hit and is in an ambulance. I hope this never happens to any of you, but with the roads in the state that they are, I fear that it will just become more common.