Public Comment

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.

As the City of Cleveland relaunches their community choice electricity aggregation program to procure 100% renewable energy for Cleveland residents and small businesses, I am writing to express my strong support for the program as originally presented within the SOPEC Plan of Operation & Governance and considered in the committees of jurisdiction, as one of two Northeast Ohio Strategy Consultants for Power A Clean Future Ohio, but also as a Cleveland resident, concerned citizen, and environmental advocate. First, we have seen over the last year how volatile the global fossil fuel energy market is in response to war, natural disaster, and other forms of disruption. Natural gas pricing often changes every 6 months and while sometimes, pricing can be lower, more often than not, that pricing is higher over the long run. Cities are now realizing that dependency on global energy markets and fossil fuels in general is not fiscally responsible, as climate change will only continue to bring disruption across our food, transportation, and energy systems. Locally or regionally-owned, installed, and distributed renewable energy systems are the most resilient option to weather fluctuating prices, brown-outs, outages, destruction of infrastructure by storms, high winds, extreme heat, and increased rainfall, and other disruptions to services, transmission, and infrastructure that we already see across Cleveland regularly. Once installed, renewable energy is price stable over the lifetime of its operation. Second, Cleveland made its mark as one of the very first Ohio cities to transition all residents to 100% renewable energy with its community choice aggregation plan back in 2018, but now we are the furthest behind in terms of actual implementation of this plan. Columbus and Cincinnati are further along than Cleveland is, both in terms of community choice aggregation, but also in terms of updated and sensible zoning, codes, and policies for affordable climate-resilient housing, net-zero building policies, multimodal transportation, healthy tree canopy, and renewable energy procurement, local installation & generation, and community ownership. As the state with the second to lowest in-state renewable energy generation in the nation, cities across the state of the Ohio can make their voices heard and push the market to more in-state renewable energy generation through community choice aggregation, and the purchase of RECs, moving from out-of-state or out-of-region purchase of RECs to required purchase of in-state or in-region RECs, signaling to the market that more in-state generation is desirable. Finally, this is a public health and environmental justice issue. Why consider opting-in residents to a default 'brown power' option, when we know this brown power contributes to poor air quality, high asthma rates, and increased risks of chronic health problems and cancer? When we are fully aware that Cleveland has some of the highest asthma rates, with some of the worst environmental justice metrics (due to redlining), and that we are still the largest, poorest city in the nation? Public health, environmental justice, and poverty are inextricably linked. Given the many other examples across the state of Ohio of 100% renewable energy community choice aggregation programs, residents are saving money and the choices we make for energy procurement in turn, address issues of public health and environmental justice by reducing the demand for brown power, often whose operations and generation are located near communities of color across our nation. While I wish the program was being implemented before the First Energy price increase, at this point the delays between City approval and the start of service result from rigorous PUCO regulations for implementing an aggregation program. If the City makes large, material changes to the program as proposed, it runs the risk of further costly delays. I ask that Cleveland City Council pass Ordinance No. 669-2023 as considered in the committees of jurisdiction, ensuring 100% clean, renewable energy in its community choice aggregation plan. Separately and if desired, City Council can work to implement a plan to protect residents from the First Energy price increase in June and July as much as possible, and there are several local, amazing, and brilliant organizations across the clean energy, environmental justice, and environmental advocacy space that I'm sure would be willing to help you on this endeavor. However, this shouldn't interfere with this particular ordinance, as moving forward swiftly with renewable energy aggregation will limit financial hardships of customers facing rising utility costs and provide longer-term cost savings.

June 5, 2023 Cleveland City Council 601 Lakeside Ave, Room 220 Cleveland, OH 44114 Dear Cleveland City Councilmembers: As the City of Cleveland relaunches their community choice electricity aggregation program to procure 100% renewable energy for Cleveland residents and small businesses, we are writing to express our strong support for the program as originally presented within the SOPEC Plan of Operation & Governance and considered in the committee of jurisdiction (669-2023). The Citizens Utility Board of Ohio (CUB Ohio) advocates on behalf of residential and small business utility customers to ensure cheaper bills, reliable service, transparency, consumer rights, and clean, healthy energy delivered equitably. With membership across the state, CUB Ohio works to address the climate crisis by cleaning up our energy systems and to combat systemic racism by working for environmental justice. From experience we know that aggregation is a strong tool that local communities can use to deliver low-cost clean energy to residents and small businesses served by investor owned utilities (IOUs). Since the majority of Cleveland consumers are served by an IOU (FirstEnergy), aggregation is one of the most important tools available to the City of Cleveland to supply its residents with monthly cost savings together with affordably-priced clean energy and the reduction of risk and expense posed by future severe weather and other climate disruptions that clean energy provides. In fact, we can identify no option more affordable than aggregation to deliver all of these cost-savings to Clevelanders. Based on our analysis of the public presentations and comments, we recommend that you implement this plan on a timely basis for the following reasons: Low Cost: • If consumers do not have access to the aggregation program, they will be subject to the First Energy default rate of $0.124/kWh. Once the aggregation program is implemented, consumers will be enrolled in a rate of approximately $0.069/kWh. As the average consumer uses approximately 1000 kWh/month, this represents a savings of $55.00 per month for at least twelve months. This greatly outpaces the cost of a delayed start of the plan, and locking in these savings ASAP is the most immediate and most effective tool available to the City of Cleveland to deliver savings to consumers. • This bulk buying aggregation contract also provides access to low cost purchasing of clean energy that is already factored into the pricing and allow residents to participate in sustainability goals without having to directly purchase infrastructure (such as home insulation or solar panels) on their own property. However, since this program includes net metering, they can choose to invest in their own property without penalty. Low Income Protections: • City Cleveland of leaders are appropriately concerned about protecting low-income consumers from additional expenses. These consumers are currently served by the Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP) and are not eligible for this program, so their monthly expenses are unaffected. PIPP is the program for low income residents who face a high monetary burden from paying their energy. While they will not receive the benefit of these savings, they will also not be impacted by the market fluctuations that have led to the high prices from the FirstEnergy default rate. Strong Oversight: • There is no long-term commitment to this current plan since pricing will only be locked in for 12 months. While this does open the residents up to the market in years 2 and 3, it also gives you flexibility to work with SOPEC to monitor the market and extend when the market is favorable. • Council’s new authority to review the contract every 12 months ensures that you will have visibility into the performance of the contract and its track record of success or failure. Additionally, CUB Ohio is committed to offering counsel if and when desired by Council. Savings Delivered ASAP: • If this plan is passed without modifications, it will begin to deliver the $55.00/month savings as soon as possible. While we wish that this program was being implemented before the First Energy price increase, at this point the delays between City approval and the start of service result from rigorous PUCO regulations for implementing an aggregation program. • If the City makes large, material changes to the program as proposed, it runs the risk of further costly delays. This would be detrimental to the City’s consumers because it risks both: a) a delay in the $55.00/month savings and b) the potential for the market price to rise, therefore lowering the $55.00 savings/month for the entire year. Thank you for considering this letter. We appreciate your diligent oversight and advocacy on behalf of cost savings for Cleveland residents. Given that this plan delivers the greatest saving, both short- and long-term, to Clevelanders, we urge you to adopt 669-2023 as passed by committee. Sincerely, Daniel Gray Citizens Utility Board of Ohio

IMAGINE -- A PLAN FOR "SQUARE TO SQUARE" CAR-FREE ZONE Cleveland can create a more vibrant, people-friendly environment for Cleveland’s most important address, encouraging more shops and businesses to open, offering services to the public. Travel on Euclid Avenue, between Public Square and Playhouse Square, would be prohibited for cars, trucks and motorcycles, reserved for public buses, pedestrians, cyclists and micro-transit. Delivery vehicles servicing businesses would be eligible to use Euclid Avenue for deliveries between the hours of 2:00 am to 10am. ADVANTAGES: Improving public safety and reducing pedestrian and cyclist fatalities. Drivers struck and killed an estimated 7,485 people on foot in the US in 2021, a 12% increase to the highest levels in 40 years, an average of 20 deaths every day (2022, Governors Highway Safety Association). The percentage of speeding-related pedestrian crashes involving children ages 15 and younger more than doubled in the previous three years (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2022). Providing cleaner air, helping to meet our climate change goals, by reducing traffic emissions. Traffic is the biggest source of urban air pollution, creating risk of serious health conditions, such as cancer, stroke and heart and lung disease and premature birth and childhood asthma. Transportation is a substantial source of particulate air pollution, a substantial pollutant compromising the health of Cleveland residents. Pollution poses higher, specific risks to children and the elderly. Supporting better personal and public health through cleaner air, walking and biking. Air pollution kills around 7 million people/year, while physical activity can reduce the risk of at least 20 chronic diseases and conditions and provide effective treatment for many of these conditions. An inadequate level of physical activity is associated with $117 billion in annual healthcare costs. Increasing real estate values for downtown properties. Street closing will increase walking and cycling, supporting economic growth, with new shops and stores opening to serve Cleveland’s “Square to Square” residents and visitors. We can analogize to the value added for proximity to greenways, where studies confirm that living near trails and greenways increases area property value an average of 3-5%, sometimes as high as 15%. Helping to create Cleveland as a “fifteen-minute city,” where residents can meet their most frequent needs, such as work, school, shopping, child and medical care, in their neighborhoods, without driving a car or personal SUV. While Cleveland's population has steadily declined, stagnating at approximately 350,000 residents, the fastest growing neighborhood is downtown, with office to apartment conversions growing more common. Residents enjoy life in the center of the city. Helping meet the needs of this growing group is important for the life, vibrancy and fiscal strength of the city. Source: Kevin Cronin, Attorney; The Brown Hoist Building, 4403 St. Clair Avenue, Cleveland 44103 216.377.0615; kevin.cronin.ohio@gmail.com

As the City of Cleveland relaunches their community choice electricity aggregation program to procure 100% renewable energy for Cleveland residents and small businesses, we are writing to express our strong support for the program as originally presented within the SOPEC Plan of Operation & Governance and considered in the committees of jurisdiction. Cleveland made its mark as one of the very first Ohio cities to transition all residents to 100% renewable energy with its community choice aggregation plan. We encourage City Council and the Administration to steward a swift and successful launch of the City of Cleveland’s next community choice aggregation program for customers in FirstEnergy territory. It is critical Cleveland embrace the long term savings and environmental and health benefits 100% clean energy aggregation provides. As we are seeing across Ohio, aggregation is proving to be one of the most effective tools to both save money for residents and address our collective impact on climate change by reducing emissions. Other communities achieving cost savings through 100% renewable aggregation include: Cincinnati ($.0495/kWh, 51% savings) Columbus ($ .0799/kWh, 33% savings) Dayton ($.0965/kWh, 11% savings) Lakewood ($.06875/kWh, 45% savings) Shaker Heights ($.0771/kWh, 38% savings) Worthington ($.06935/kWh, 41% savings) The City of Cleveland aggregation program is projected at $.0696/kWh, a savings of 44% over FirstEnergy’s Standard Service Offering. Clevelanders are concerned about climate change and the most vulnerable community members will bear the brunt of the consequences unless we act now. One cost effective way to take action is with a 100% clean renewable energy aggregation program. It is the most impactful and immediate action Cleveland can take to address climate change. Implementation of a program that prioritizes support of existing renewable energy generation and development of local/regional renewable energy generation can immediately eliminate 20-25% of a community’s carbon emissions. Additionally, due to the volatile fossil fuel market, electricity prices are rising this summer for FirstEnergy customers in Cleveland. Moving forward swiftly with renewable energy aggregation will limit financial hardships of customers facing rising utility costs and provide longer-term cost savings. We ask that Cleveland City Council pass Ordinance No. 669-2023 as considered in the committees of jurisdiction, ensuring 100% clean, renewable energy in its community choice aggregation plan. We applaud the leadership of the Bibb administration, Office for Sustainability, Public Utilities Committee, Finance Committee, and the entire City Council, and other city staff for relaunching the city of Cleveland’s community choice aggregation program. We urge you to stay the course and to see this effort through to fruition. This letter is an indication of the many stakeholders in the city of Cleveland that are behind you in this effort. Respectfully, SeMia Bray, Black Environmental Leaders Dan Gray, Citizens Utility Board of Ohio James Burton, Institute for Market Transformation Rachael Belz, Ohio Citizen Action Melissa English, Ohio Consumers Power Alliance Brian Siggers & Emily Bacha, Ohio Environmental Council Action Fund Joe Flarida, Kwame Botchway & Elena Stachew, Power A Clean Future Ohio Tristan Rader, Solar United Neighbors Don Bryant, Utilities for All LINK: https://www.theoecactionfund.org/s/Cleveland-Aggregation-Coalition-Support-Letter-6523.pdf

To make more than a comment I want to make a request And it is that I would like them to place a mileage reader along with cameras so that the irresponsible who speed in this area are punished since there are children, schools nearby and they drive very recklessly no The time doesn't matter, whether it's day or all night, that's why I would love it if you could do something for Clark 44 st. Since we feel forgotten

I am writing to express concern about the Special Improvement District (SID) requested by University Circle, Inc. (UCI). I live in Little Italy. While Little Italy is presently not included in the proposed SID, residents of Little Italy are well familiar with and sensitive to the manner in which UCI member institutions interact with their host communities. It appears as if a relatively small number of large property owners are imposing their will on a large number of smaller ones. It’s not at all clear that the community will benefit much from the SID, but it is crystal clear that certain UCI member institutions will. One wonders how UCI will expand the SID in the future, both in terms of imposition of costs for other services and projects, and in terms of the areal extent of the SID. It worries me that there is little determined questioning of potential underlying motives and future implications of an SID that may not be transparent to the community now. Many people that live in host neighborhoods to UCI’s members institutions, based on their history, are correctly skeptical that all is what it is being sold as with the proposed SID. It feels very much like the camel is just getting its nose under the tent. I suggest City Council defer a vote until UCI’s new leadership is in place, has an opportunity to assess the SID and can be thoroughly and vigorously questioned by UCI’s host communities that are entitled to a complete understanding of the future implications of the SID. Appropriate restraints and oversight must be in place with any SID to assure that the University Circle institutions’ host neighborhoods are properly informed, listened to and respected. Thank you, Arthur Hargate Edgehill Rd., Little Italy, Ward 6

Thank you to City Council, Council President Blaine Griffin and Councilwoman Santana for their diligent work over the past 8 years to make Centro Villa 25 a reality. A special shoutout to Jeniece Contreras, her board and staff , and community residents. State your name, affiliation and note that you are a Cleveland resident Acknowledge the historical nature of tonight and 2023 City Council’s leadership and role in the realization of CentroVilla25, a long time vision of the Hispanic residents of Cleveland Directly thank Council President Blaine Griffin and Councilwoman Jasmin Santana Recognize City Council members (as a group not by name) for sending a clear message to the Hispanic community members in the City and region that nuestra gente están presente and add your eloquent comments Tonight City Council stands as partners with a broad array of individuals and institutions who have embraced and invested in CentroVilla25. These include but are not limited to: Hispanics and host committee members who have contributed time, talent and treasure; corporations that have donated; other public sector entities such as County Council representative who contributed; a nonprofit that invested and challenged others to participate; and philanthropic entities that stepped up to recognize the local and regional benefits and wealth creation opportunities brought forth by CV25 through culture, community and commerce. Gracias for … add your closing A ve