City Council - Regular Meeting

2026, it is 6 p.m. Addie, would you call the roll, please? Cobb. Here. Larson. Here.

Posh.

Here.

DeWitt Foy. Cohen. Cuda.

Here.

Stone.

All right, welcome to the 13th Annual Democracy Day Public Hearing. The purpose of Democracy Day is in our Codified Ordinances, Chapter 183, a political influence by corporate entities, how it works. Speakers will have five minutes to testify. Please fill out a request form if you wish to speak. And now we'll go through to the Democracy Day speakers. Greg, are you going first?

Yep, yeah, Greg's going first. If you let Greg know and you didn't sign up on a sheet, that's fine, I have your name. Okay. So Greg, you're first.

Well, good evening. My name is Greg Coleridge, 3016 Somerton Road. Exactly one month from today marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Few documents have captured the world's imagination in announcing the creation of a new nation free from centralized rule with such clarity, inspiration, and power. Though it reflected in part the sexism and racism of the time by the nation's founders, rich men of property, by stating that, quote, only men are created equal, and describing indigenous people as, quote, merciless Indian savages, unquote, its listing of 27 grievances was a potent justification for self-determination. It was a declaration to take decisive action for systemic change, not simply to reform the monarchy or reduce the lethal force of the Redcoats, or to create a code of conduct for the governors of the 13 colonies, many of which were chartered corporations like the Massachusetts Bay Company that ran the economic and political affairs of the king. The declaration also stated that when a long series of government actions seek tyranny against people, quote, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government and provide new guards for their future security, unquote. We face multiple crises today that were unimaginable 250 years ago. Journalist Chris Hedges summarizes one of them, quote, the crisis we face is the result of a four decade long slow motion corporate coup that's rendered the citizens impotent, left us without any authentic democratic institutions, and allowed corporate and military power to become omnipotent, unquote. We must declare our independence from corporate rule. which is inextricably connected to plutocratic rule by the super rich and autocratic rule by the Trump regime. Cleveland Heights has declared its collective security solidarity against corporate rule for 13 years. The grassroots-driven issue 32 passed with a 77% yes vote in 2013. It calls for, as people may know, ending corporate constitutional rights and for ending money being defined as free speech, which has corrupted our entire political system. These are core elements for the We the People Amendment, H.J.R. 54. Over 700 communities, 26 in Ohio, have already taken action. More than 800 organizations nationwide have endorsed. More than 530,000 individuals have supported. And HDR 54 has 75 House co-sponsors. You will hear from testifiers this evening as they share their modern-day list of grievances and threats to democracy and their solutions, including support for the We the People Amendment. I wish to lift up the threat of artificial intelligence. The numerous dangers of AI include cybersecurity, societal stability, economic structures, and existential human safety. The greatest peril, however, may be AI gaining constitutional personhood. Powerful corporate entities, which are shielded by constitutional rights to avoid public accountability, are strong supporters. Constitutional personhood for AI is yet another way for corporate entities to avoid potential liabilities caused by their own intelligent creations. If the Citizens United Supreme Court decision was reversed tomorrow, it would have no bearing on corporate AI personhood, since corporate constitutional rights include more than just abolishing corporate rights to spend money in elections. The route to authentic democracy goes beyond ending the Trump regime, electing better people, passing better laws, reversing Citizens United, or overturning the Supreme Court decision that equates money as free speech. Quite frankly, it's even more than enacting the We the People Amendment. It's in fact building a democracy movement to make our Constitution authentically democratic. True democracy means not only independence from corporate power, from the government or corporate entities, it means being interdependent, inner and outer. Interdependence is developing the ability to reflect in ways that pays attention and slows down. Outer interdependence is acting as if we are all connected, all people and all living things. We must work across divisions and differences to care for one another and for the natural world. I conclude. There is no way to democracy. Democracy is the way. This includes enacting the We the People Amendment, but that's only one step toward authentic, systemic, interdependent change of our institutions and ourselves.

Ann Caruso.

Hyperscale data centers in Ohio test the strength of our democracy. The growth of hyperscale data centers in Ohio provides both good and bad examples of how strong our democracy is. Data centers aren't new. We all know hospitals and other large facilities have had their own small data centers. What's new are hyperscale data centers serving companies like Amazon, Google, those doing Bitcoin mining, which use enough energy to power 30,000 to 50,000 homes and use anywhere from 1 million to 5 million gallons of water a day. Their water and energy demands threaten to draw down community supplies while the air, water, noise, and light pollution that they produce seriously threaten the health of residents and animals four or five mile radius. An important health threat is the fact that all but one of the 191 data centers operating in Ohio now send their wastewater to nearby municipal water treatment plants, which are not equipped to filter out the forever chemicals, the PFAS, and biocides resulting from the data center processing. So it's likely the drinking water for those communities is polluted with these chemicals. I say likely because Ohio EPA only regulates some substances that they have identified to be regulated. And PFAS, believe it or not, are not regulated in Ohio and won't be until 2029. So in the next four years, these communities will face tens of millions of dollars to upgrade their water treatment facilities because of these data centers using their facilities. When hyperscale data centers came to Ohio in 2024, big companies and local officials entered into permits that companies required called non-disclosure agreements. Sometimes the non-disclosure agreement was with a local elected official, and sometimes it was with a key employee, like a county economic development executive. In the latter case, the elected official, when asked by the public for information, could say they didn't have the information, because they couldn't get it from their employee. Many times the public didn't know that a hyperscale data center was even coming to their communities because there was no public information meetings, no public input opportunities. Imagine buying your dream house in a new development, moving in and finding out a hyperscale data center would be built less than a thousand feet from your new home. And that has happened in Ohio because of these serious concerns. like these have fallen on deaf ears. Ohioans, especially in Adams County or Appalachian County have organized to put a citizen's initiative on the November ballot to ban hyperscale data centers. Those would be those using, or in this particular initiative, they would ban data centers using more than 25 megawatts a month. This is an all volunteer organization called Conserve Ohio. And it's encouraging everyone to download the petition from their website, collect at least 10 signatures and send them back to them. Their goal is to collect 413,000 signatures and they have to do it by July 1st so that they can vet and make sure that they have enough. They will need signatures from around the state. Their website is www.conserveohio.com. This ballot initiative has caught the attention of the Ohio legislature, which resulted in the creation of the Ohio House and Senate Select Committee on Data Centers, which has scheduled five hearings and three have recently occurred, including one on this last Monday, which is the only one allowing public comment. And in it, the committee heard from Ohioans who are experts on some of the issues surrounding hyperscale data centers, as well as from Ohioans with experience living near these things or who will be living near one. These hearings can be seen live or on replay on the Ohio channel. And I strongly recommend listening to the June 1st hearing. I don't have enough time here to list all the concerns that were talked about in that hearing, but I'll mention a few. Many people testified about the lack of transparency and the unresponsiveness of their county commissioners and other local officials to their concerns. A striking fact brought out by some is that the creation of this select committee on data centers should have happened two years ago when these entered Ohio and not after they've been here for two years. As some citizens stated, the job of legislators is to protect their constituents from harm and not to prioritize profits and use of community resources by out of state billionaires and mega companies. As one witness told the committee in so many words, you have not done your job, so now we are forced to do it for you. Ohio is one of 25 states whose constitution allows citizens to directly place initiative on the ballot. And this is one example that democracy is still alive in Ohio. The lack of transparency and disregard for the health and welfare of the constituents in allowing these monstrous projects near homes, schools, and natural treasures is an alarming example of the opposite.

Carla Rottenberg. You're already up.

Carla Rottenberg, Berkshire Road. On May 6th of this year, the New York Times published an explainer of a 50-year-old Supreme Court case that move-to-amend activists have been trying to tell the public about since Citizens United in 2010. Nice to see that the Times has gotten around to the 1976 Buckley v. Vallejo decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court first declared that money is speech. The Supremes concluded that since the First Amendment forbids limiting speech, it also outlaws limiting campaign spending. The Buckley decision enjoyed the passionate support of not only billionaire David Koch and conservative attorney John Bolton, but also the ACLU and the NAACP. Money is powerful and speech is powerful. But of course that does not mean that money is speech. That's like saying that bad deeds are powerful and good deeds are powerful. So bad deeds are good deeds too. No. John Bolton, ex-national security advisor to Trump, told The Times, we've never had anything like Trump, that's for sure. But the fact is that big money is more evenly divided than people think. And I think it's especially true now. The paper continues, quote, campaign finance records back Mr. Bolton up. A Times analysis showed a vigorous foray by Democrats into anonymous big money donations in 2024, hoping to give former Vice President Kamala Harris a financial edge over Mr. Trump. That is just exactly the point. When all the politicians serve the interests of less than 1% of the population, democracy becomes a malicious joke. Why ever would I think the New York Times would point that out? But I guess we're fortunate that the Times, however belatedly, deigned to cover Buckley v. Vallejo at all. In a May 26, 2026 story headlined, Corporations Can Vote in Some Delaware Elections, Judge Says, Bloomberg Law didn't even mention Santa Clara versus Southern Pacific Railroad, the 1886 Supreme Court case that birthed the corporate personhood shibboleth. In 2024, Delaware's population was 1,051,917 human beings, but the tiny state has twice as many registered corporations, 2.1 million. When following a charter change, the little coastal town of Fenwick permitted corporations, partnerships, trusts, limited liability companies, and other artificial entities to vote in their most recent election. It was a bridge too far for the ACLU of Delaware, which filed suit in federal district court. They lost. The judge upheld the voting rights of corporations and other artificial entities. According to WHYY News, quote, Andrew Bernstein, the ACLU lawyer in the case, is weighing an appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court. We believe voting should be for the people, not corporations. How refreshing. Perhaps the ACLU has gained some wisdom since it supported Buckley v. Vallejo in 1976 and Citizens United in 2010. re-Mania speech, Ira Glasser, the former head of the ACLU said, I loved the whole idea because my position was it had to be made clear that this was not a liberal versus conservative issue, that this is an issue of speech that affected everybody. Absolutely. It affects 99.9% of the population very negatively to the great advantage of the 0.1%. and it makes plain the lie that we live in a democratic republic. Until we amend the Constitution to establish that corporations are not people and money is not speech, in this country, democracy will remain just another American dream. Thank you.

Kathy Flora.

Well, thank you, Mayor and Council for hearing us today. My name is Kathy Flora. I am a member of the League of Women Voters, which has said that one thing is abundantly clear. Our country is in a constitutional crisis. Our voices have been severely muted by Citizens United ruling and we have learned since that time that money in politics actually equals corruption, not speech. It has distorted our constitution and the government's adherence to it. The executive branch has exceeded its constitutional authority and has failed to faithfully execute or abide by the law. The balance of power called for in the Constitution has been undermined or disregarded completely. The administration has unilaterally imposed tariffs, blocked funds from appropriated uses in order to spend at will, used emergency powers to remove inspectors general, agency officials, and even entire departments without congressional oversight. We've been dragged into a war in violation of the law to profit the donor class. The executive branch has ordered the extrajudicial destruction of boats and the killing of fishermen in international waters. We have not been told why or who this benefits. Immigration and customs enforcement has violated 96 court orders across 74 cases in just one state in one month. The administration has solicited and accepted income from domestic entities for personal use and has used taxpayer funds, the Justice Department, and federal apparatus for personal vendettas. All of this has resulted in unlawful federal interference in state elections to maintain power. The corruption inherent with Bunny in politics has distorted the law and our constitution. It is now a crisis. The people's voices have been vastly overpowered by that money. We have a duty to each other to stay informed as best we can by speaking up, not by staying silent. And that includes our precious right to vote. Thank you.

Catalina Wagers.

Good evening, my name is Catalina Wagers and thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'm here to talk about what happens when corporations gain more power and the EPA has less authority because we already are feeling the effects here in Ohio. Let's start with water. We all know that Lake Erie is one of our greatest natural resources. But in 2014, people in Toledo were told not to drink the water. For several days, hundreds of thousands of residents could not use their tap water because of toxic algal blooms in Lake Erie. That crisis was driven in part by pollution flowing downstream from rivers, creeks, and wetlands that are meant to help protect the lake. For years, the EPA used the Clean Water Act to protect wetlands and small streams because they filter pollution before it spreads. But the Supreme Court narrowed those protections. In Sackett v. EPA with a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that many wetlands are no longer protected under the federal law unless they have a continuous surface connection to certain bodies of water. The impact of this decision is serious. More wetlands can be filled in, more pollution can flow downstream, less protection for bodies of water like Lake Erie. Now let's talk about climate change. Climate change is not a future problem. Climate change is here, Right now, the EPA once had authority to limit climate pollution, but the Supreme Court has restricted that authority. In West Virginia versus EPA with a 6-3 decision, the court ruled that the EPA cannot implement changes to reduce emissions from power plants without clear authorization from Congress. A Congress that is made up of elected officials are more likely to vote on special interests than the will of the people who elected them. There are also ongoing legal and policy debates about the future of federal climate regulation, including challenges to the scientific and legal foundations used to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. These developments could make existing protections more limited or more vulnerable over time. And if that was not enough, in Loper-Brite versus Raimondo, The court ruled that judges are no longer required to defer to the expertise of federal agencies when laws are unclear. That means that scientific expertise may carry less weight, courts have greater authority to interpret laws, and corporations have more opportunities to challenge regulations. Large corporations and billionaires can afford those legal battles. Communities and individuals cannot. Why does this matter for democracy? These decisions did not happen in a vacuum. Since Citizens United versus the Federal Election Commission, Corporations have expanded First Amendment protections to spend unlimited money independently in elections. That money shapes laws, it shapes courts, it shapes who and what is protected and who and what is not. We're seeing the consequences in the growing risk to our environment and public health. I will close with this thought. The EPA was created to protect people in a natural world. The Supreme Court decisions have increasingly limited the EPA's ability to act even when harm is clear. The health of our environment and the health of our children and future generations should not depend on how much money a corporation can spend in court. In 2013, when Cleveland Heights residents voted for a constitutional amendment to overturn key ideas from Citizens United, they were right to fear the dangers of corporate influence in shaping a future that's good for them, not for the citizens of this country. The examples I share with you today reaffirm the voters' demand for a constitutional amendment that clearly states that only human beings, not corporations, have constitutional rights, and that money is not speech. Thank you.

Frances Chiappa.

Francis Chiappa, Hampshire Road. Thank you for inviting us to do this today. I'm gonna do a song by Tom Nielsen, who is a Western Massachusetts Who we had here in Cleveland in April. And so I'm doing his song called Corporations Are Human. Corporations are human. I've just found out what being human is all about. Citizens united, ancestral line. Their corporate gene is different from mine. Well, the science is in, there's nothing to doubt. They never get cancer, gonorrhea, or gout. Encephalitis, cystitis, neuropathy. Colitis, hepatitis, A, B, and C. fibrosis sclerosis and heart disease halitosis cirrhosis a pair of bad knees they don't need protection or protection with sex but they live forever it's not that complex Corporations are human, I've just found out What being human is all about Citizens united, ancestral line Their corporate gene is different from mine People have faces and socks in a drawer Corporations are faceless here and offshore. If you think corporations had free speech before, now that they're human, they have even more. Yes, our money has free speech to be quite a shock. But I've never heard my money talk when a corporation has a colonoscopy. then I'll believe they are human like me.

Robin Coslin.

Didn't this start at 6.30? No. Well, then I'm so glad I got here now. Hold on a second.

I have to find my... Ah, my speeches.

Thank you. I started my day off pretty early for a retired person. I was in the car by 7.30 and I saw a lot of interesting things. This is gonna kind of be like, and I saw it on Mulberry Street, only it was on Taylor Road. My garbage was out and the truck was driving down my street. I love garbage day. Maybe I love it so much because I used to live in Idaho City, Idaho. In Idaho City, once a week, my husband, then-husband, and I would drive to the dump. We paid our dump fee and got rid of the week's garbage. Let me tell you, this was never my favorite activity in the summer. In the summer, it ranked as one of my least favorite activities because it reeked. But because I pay taxes, lo and behold, each and every week, that truck comes to pick up the stinky stuff. Then I had to stop because there were a school bus in front of me picking up private school kids. Our CHUH schools are not in session, but those buses are still running. Not my favorite way to spend my tax money, but it's convenient for many of my neighbors. I'm hoping they appreciate their tax dollars being spent as a convenience to them. Crews were out working on the potholes and repaving the streets. Thank you, Mayor. We appreciate that. Excuse me, I lost my place. I guess I could pay to have my portion of my street worked on. I know some libertarians think that's how things should work. I don't. I appreciate those roads being fixed and how my taxes are partly responsible. I did not see any fires this morning or any crimes being committed. I'm happy about that. I don't want to defund the police. I want to live in a safe community and realize that some protection has costs associated with them. I know my homeowner's insurance would be higher if I did not live in a city with a professional fire department. My taxes, again, are at work. I also did not see any children begging for food. I'm grateful for that as I have traveled to many countries where such sites are relatively routine. Kids can get free lunches here in the summer because we pay for it. We also provide food assistance through SNAP to families. Hooray for taxes. My grandchildren, the kids next door and down the street are pretty smart, great readers and thinkers. are part of the reason they've got such incredible skills. I'll pay for that too. This afternoon, after I finish writing this, I'm going to Cumberland Pool, or my happy place. I do not have a membership to a private pool, nor have I ever wanted one. I enjoy swimming and engaging with my fellow neighbors at the pool I pay for. I'm not going to the library today because I went yesterday. My book group has a picking party each June. A criteria for selecting a book is that it must be available in sufficient quantities at the library. Sometimes we have to wait because the book is so popular, but our public library has never failed us. Again, my text is at work.

I did not die from COVID.

I think the vaccine I received may be why. It did cost the government some cash to create those vaccines, but I'm pretty happy I paid for that. I wish I paid more taxes, excuse me, I wish I paid more in taxes as long as I could specify where the taxes would go. There are some expenditures that I would rather not be paying for. But I would like all of my neighbors to have good health insurance. I hate that our public school system is laying off educators. There are countries in the world experiencing famine, drought, and disease. Sometimes the problems they are experiencing now are because my country messed them over in the past. I wish we were providing more help to them through my taxes. I wish everyone was willing to pay their fair share of taxes. I am unhappy that some really rich folks have figured out how to avoid joining the rest of us in contributing to the common good. That unhappiness does not mean I am absolved of doing my part. It does mean we should have laws that require the Musks and Trumps of our country to contribute too. Clearly, this is just a beginner's guide to what we pay for through taxes. Working together, we are able to enjoy nice things. I'm saying this loud and clear, Texas benefits us all in different ways. The allure that we can have all of the above and more without taxes is a fantasy. Thank you.

Mary Kelsey.

Mary Kelsey, 3107 Meadowbrook. I have a few lines from something that is read aloud each year in the United States Senate. It was written 250 years ago by our first president, George Washington. The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. But the Constitution, which at any time exists until changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government. All obstructions to the execution of the laws are destructive of this fundamental principle. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force, to put in the place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party. often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community and according to the alternate triumphs of different parties to make the public administration the mirror of the ill concerted and incongruous projects of faction rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common councils and modified by mutual interests. However, combinations or associations of faction may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. Washington goes on to warn us in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally. This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every beneficial purpose. and there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion to mitigate and assuages. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest instead of warming, it should consume. Thank you.

Suzanne Zilber.

Hello, I'm at 2690 Edge Hill Road. My name is Suzanne Zilber. My pronouns are she, her. I have lived in Cleveland Heights for just short of five years. I'm going to speak to how PAC money distorts election outcomes, specifically elections that I was involved with through my organization. Please bear with me while I share some context before going into the details. I was raised in the Reform Jewish tradition and was steeped in the Holocaust narrative. I'm deeply alarmed at the authoritarian consolidation of power that has occurred in the US now and what that might look like in our future if we don't halt it. My primary political home is showing up for racial justice or surge at both the national and local levels. The local chapter is Surge Northeast Ohio. The goal of Surge is to bring more white people into the fights for racial and economic justice. We recognize that structural and strategic racism are central to economic injustice for the majority US population. Structural racism has also been undermining our access to a functional democracy, which has been so recently demonstrated with the Supreme Court decision to allow even more gerrymandering. We want to end white support for white supremacy. Black leaders have been calling on white allies since the civil rights movement to organize your own people. White people are 60% of the US population. We have the most wealth and many white people benefit from white supremacy. We must take responsibility for dismantling it. The white working class would benefit from uniting with multiracial, working-class people to fight the capitalist elite and white supremacy. So what is Surge doing to that end? At the national level, Surge focuses on very specific electoral phone banks in partnership with other left-leaning organizations. We engage white working class voters in deep conversation and research shows that our approach is the most effective at moving voters towards our candidates. Locally, we partner on issues work with BIPOC-led organizations and engage in disruptive actions towards corporations collaborating with ICE. In the spring of 2024, you would find me sitting at my desk, papers piled in front of me, my two screens with multiple windows open, and my cheap earphones talking to voters in St. Louis and Bronx. Surge National held phone banks to help several progressive black candidates and House squad members win their primaries. Two of these candidates were Jamal Bowman and Cori Bush. I learned later that Bowman's race was the most expensive House race in US history at that time. And here's why. At that time, the progressive movement was concerned about the intensity of Israeli retaliation against Palestinian citizens after the October 7th Hamas attack on Israelis. Our candidates, Bowman and Bush, both demanded a ceasefire in Gaza. AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, is an American lobbying group that advocates for pro-Israel policies to the United States. They did not like the demand for a ceasefire. Their political action committee raises and spends money directly on behalf of candidates who support its pro-Israel agenda. AIPAC poured record sums of money into ousting both of these incumbents from office in their primaries, and our candidates did lose. One has to wonder if the people of St. Louis and the Bronx got candidates that were really going to look after their needs and interests when a political group focused on the welfare of Israel gets to determine who serves them. When APEC got involved in these campaigns, their goal wasn't simply to remove two votes from Congress, but rather to show all legislators that if they did not tow APEC's line, their political careers could be destroyed. APEC's goal is to make it too costly for politicians to concede to progressive movement demands around Israel. Authoritarian consolidation happens in part by raising costs dramatically on people and institutions that do not fall in line with the regime. I understand that the City Heights Council is mindful of costs that might be imposed on Cleveland Heights if it takes action to resist an authoritarian federal government. I hope that the council can find actions that resist the further consolidation of authoritarian power in which our collective gain will be greater than the harms imposed. Thank you for listening.

Bob Close.

You pronounced it correctly, thank you. My name is Bob Close, I live in Royal Heights on Kingston Road. I will wear this shirt for our annual July 4th parade that includes Kingston and Queenston, Princeton and Canterbury roads. We have good reason to believe it might be our 75th annual parade. I am grateful for this opportunity to speak on behalf of democracy at a time when our administration in D.C. appears to understand it differently than I do. Why is one man allowed to do so much harm? Just days ago, I returned from a six-week pilgrimage to some of the oldest cities and sites in England. I had read a Bernard Cornwell how many small kingdoms became Angolan, what that union made possible, and what people a thousand years ago sacrificed and fought for to keep their land, their autonomy, and faith in their new nation. I saw one of five extant copies of the Magna Carta in Salisbury, England. The Magna Carta was not unique. Other legal documents of its time, both in England and beyond, made broadly similar statements of rights and limitations on the powers of the crown. Indeed, some things are self-evident. The charter became part of English political life and was typically, though not always, renewed by each monarch in turn. In the room adjacent to the cathedral where the document was securely displayed and dimly lit, a placard read, When it was written in 1215, Magna Carta offered protection to certain people in need. Today, we recognize that human rights belong to everyone, including refugees fleeing war, violence, conflict, or persecution while they seek safety in another country. Less than a week ago, I was sailing home. I got up early in the morning because the ship's navigator had said we'd be passing under the Verrazano Bridge at about 3.30 a.m. I set my alarm. When I stepped out through the door onto the observation deck, I should not have been surprised to see nearly a hundred fellow passengers. One gentleman was pouring champagne as a bell was sounding on a buoy nearby. Then I heard a three-year-old ask his father, why is she green? I turned to see what the lad was pointing at. Lady Liberty. Illumined and resolute right where she landed nearly 150 years ago. What a thrill. What an honor. to witness what countless others had strained to see. The New Colossus is a sonnet by American poet Emma Lazarus. She wrote the poem in 1883 to raise money for the construction of a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty. In 1903, the poem was cast onto a bronze plaque and mounted inside the pedestal's lower level. It reads, Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame with conquering limbs astride from land to land. Here at our sea washed sunset gates shall stand a mighty woman with a torch whose flame is the imprisoned lightning and her name mother of exiles. From her beacon hand glows worldwide welcome, her mild eyes command the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. Keep, ancient land, your storied pomp, cries she with silent lips. Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless tempest tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door. I am a citizen in a country where rights are being denied, killing has gone unpunished, and laws broken repeatedly by persons elected to be public servants. And yet I stand here, unthreatened, healthy, and relatively free. The least I can do is show up, speak up, and rally others within earshot to pledge to defend that which all of us cherish, freedom to pursue life liberty, and happiness. Thank you.

Okay, Deborah Van Cleef, Clarendon Road. This is a song by Lou and Peter Berryman of Madison, Wisconsin. It has a refrain that repeats at the end of each verse, so feel free to jump in. All of our bedrooms are gilded and burnished with every conceivable luxury furnished like Tiffany cauldrons of custom made candy and lead crystal snifters of 100 year brandy with eiderdown pillows of thousand count satin, 12 poster beds with a view of Manhattan, a soothing and comforting sight. So why do you people keep asking us how we can sleep at night. We've diamonds the size of split peas on our slippers, night shirts of lace with titanium zippers, security guards always lurking here somewhere, and shrinks who descend at the hint of a nightmare. With classical chamber musicians who linger and cognitive drugs at the touch of a finger. Oh, much to the Sandman's delight. So why do you people keep asking us? how we can sleep at night with dreams of our limousine fleets holding steady and jets on the tarmac all fueled up and ready thousand foot yachts For our White House connection and choppers to whisk us in any direction. While even our House of Accountants relaxes. They've worked it all out so we barely pay taxes. The future is peaceful and bright. So why do you people keep asking us? How we can sleep at night And thanks to the coming of privatization They'll no longer nick us for free education We won't have to spring for the old and the lazy Or pop for the health of the wretched and crazy We're calmer today than we've been throughout history So why you would ask us this now is a mystery. We don't get it, try as we might. But why do you people keep asking us how we can sleep at night? Oh, why do you people keep asking us how we can sleep at night? singing along.

Brian Houlihan.

I'm Brian Houlihan. I'm not from Cleveland Heights. I'm 1906 West 52nd Street, Cleveland. I was here a couple of years ago speaking on the same subject. So I'm gonna add to what I spoke about a couple of years ago, but I'm a member of the Single Payer Action Network, healthcare for all Ohioans. So corporate power and healthcare is what I'm talking about. So I've been thinking about the phrases, economic violence and social murder. In the realm of healthcare, these ideas manifest themselves in multiple ways, but they can be easily demonstrated by the number of people that die every year because they can't afford to see a doctor. Estimates are from 45 to 60,000 a year. And the savings every year if the nation adopted a national health insurance plan, $500 billion a year. These numbers exist because the medical industrial complex It needs to extract their profits from the wellbeing of all of us to satisfy the tenants of unfettered capitalism, the quarterly earnings of health insurance and pharmaceutical companies, along with for-profit hospitals and medical device makers. Don't be fooled by our so-called nonprofit hospitals. They operate as if they were for-profit companies, so they fall into this paradigm as well. The reason we cannot have a rational healthcare system like most comparable nations in the world is because corporations have all the leverage over government due to Supreme Court rulings, which many of you are aware of since you're here tonight. Their money is considered free speech, making it easy for them to control the political economy of the nation. as a move to amend member abolishing corporate personhood is the goal. Until we get there, many states like Maine, Michigan, Montana, and Hawaii are attacking corporate spending in elections by attempting to limit giving to political action committees by corporations preempting Supreme Court review since they are not challenging spending a speech. The Montana plan also would end corporate spending by revising state corporate charter laws. that they believe the Supreme Court would not reverse because it has previously never ruled against state control of these laws. I also believe in a Congress that uses their constitutional authority to regulate the courts, which they never exercise because they're controlled by their corporate sponsors, their corporate donors. Theoretically, they could impeach corrupt court members, expand the members of the court, limit their terms, and pass court stripping legislation that would forbid the courts from ruling in certain areas like a future national health insurance plan, which this present court would probably search for a pretext to avoid. I still believe that the passage of a 28th Amendment is the best remedy to ensure that we can elect a Congress that would take any of these steps. Until then, social murder will continue unabated as we allow ultra-capitalist rent-seeking to predominate as the de facto operating system of our healthcare economy. As an example of this economic violence, I don't know if any of you caught the series of articles in The Pointing Dealer. over the last month or so about patients attacking medical professionals. And I think this is one of those manifestations of the economic violence that we're experiencing as a nation. The corporatization, financialization of healthcare that people experience where they have 10 minutes with a doctor or whatever it is because they're being pushed to extract more out of less. So they can meet some investors, private equity or venture capital firms, bottom line, investors paid off. So I think we have to contemplate what it is that we're, people in our nation, people especially with no money and no power are experiencing when these outward manifestations of physical violence are noted in the media.

Stephen Norris.

Hi, my name is Steve Norris, and I'm here to connect money and corporate rule. Last year's federal tax cuts sounded like a relief to many Americans, but the numbers tell a different story. Interest payments on the federal debt are now projected to surpass what the United States spends on Medicare. Let that sink in. We are spending more servicing debt than keeping our elderly healthy. and it trickles down to us. Right here at the local level, we see it in tax abatements handed out to corporations as incentives to build here, investments that often fail to deliver the promised jobs and tax revenue while shifting the burden to homeowners and small businesses. We see it in school budgets squeezed year after year, in deferred road repairs, in libraries cutting hours, in emergency services stretched thin, This is austerity, not as an abstract concept, but as a lived reality of our community. And here is where the story gets more complicated. The money that governments borrow, most of it is created by private banks as loans at interest for profit. Each dollar that flows through our public institutions was first conjured into existence to serve someone else's bottom line. We borrow what could be ours. We pay interest on what we, as a society, could create. That is not a law of nature. It is a policy choice. I also want to name the billions of dollars that corporations and billionaires are pouring into elections. They're not doing this out of civic spirit. They're doing it to protect and expand systems to concentrate wealth and power in their hands. And it's working. The more money flows into politics, the harder it becomes to challenge the monetary arrangements, the tax structures, and the budget priorities that keep ordinary people and local governments like ours in a permanent squeeze. but it doesn't have to be this way. There is a piece of federal legislation called the American Monetary Reform Act. It proposes something straightforward, but transformative, that the government should create money as a public utility, not leave that power almost exclusively in the hands of private banks. Under this framework, governments would no longer need to rely so heavily on borrowing to fund public goods. The first use of newly created money would go towards the public rather than private profit. That includes meaningful revenue sharing with state and local governments, resources that could fund our schools, our roads, our health services without the constant threat of austerity. This is one piece of a larger puzzle. We also need to address the concentration of political power directly. The We the People Act and the work of Mood to Amend are aimed at ending the constitutional fiction that corporations have the same rights as human beings, the legal framework that allows unlimited money to flood our elections and override the will of actual humans. These are not small reforms, but neither is the problem small. We are talking about escaping a cycle of austerity, reclaiming democratic sovereignty, and ensuring that the resources of this nation serve its people rather than a shrinking class of the extraordinarily wealthy. I urge you to look into the American Monetary Reform Act and the We the People Act. I urge you to ask hard questions about where our money comes from, who benefits from our borrowing, and what it would mean to do things differently. The people of this community deserve governments that can actually govern. That means having the resources and the political independence to do so. Thank you.

Linda Strievski.

Hi, everyone. It's nice to be with you. Linda Strievski, Delamere Drive. The title of my comments is Happy Birthday, United States of America. What's next? This year, we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our country. I've been reflecting on the state of our democracy and specifically on how we, each one of us, help our nation continue on the quest for that more perfect union that our founders envisioned. We know that the founders did not launch a perfect union. Many of them recognize that. For one thing, they left outside their idea of a more perfect union much of the populace. It's easier to say who was included, white men with property. But it also was easier for them, the founding few, to accept that compromise since they were among the privileged few who benefited from it. Fortunately, We have moved past affording rights only to those privileged few, but we have done so in fits and starts. To this day, the sharing of full enjoyment of rights is certainly not equal. People in groups with power very, very seldom give up any power voluntarily. We go two steps forward, one step back. Three steps forward, one and a half steps back. There are many examples of this, but the rise of Jim Crow laws after Reconstruction is one example. More recently, the state-by-state erosion of reproductive rights and of voting rights protections for minority communities are two more. If you, like me, are dismayed literally on a daily basis by large and small assaults on our constitutional rights, then you may wonder, as do I, where are we headed? Is there any hope for our so-called democracy? I choose to say yes. We have seen other times in our history when reforms were thwarted by a president or a governor on the executive level or by various levels of legislatures or by the courts. They trade off sometimes in reigning on the parade of constitutional rights. But we have seen voters and other branches of government push back, resulting in further progress towards that more perfect union. Our system of checks and balances is designed for this pulling and tugging. Unfortunately, recently, there haven't been a whole lot of checks and balances being applied. To focus on one specific example of recent assaults, the United States Supreme Court decided in Louisiana versus Calais to gut a core element of the Voting Rights Act. That decision, in my opinion, ignores the obvious evidence all around us that racism is alive and well. It's phenomenally disappointing, but not surprising from this Republican dominated court. But you may ask, what can we do about it? We as voters don't have the power to vote out the Supreme Court justices, but the Congress has the power to change the Supreme Court. There could be laws passed to change the scope of authority of the court, or the composition of the court, or the term of office for the members of the court. The Supreme Court has not always had nine members. The number was changed by Congress after the Civil War because of concerns that the court would undermine the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. There also were proposals for other changes due to concerns about the court disregarding the laws Congress passed to support those constitutional amendments. And the Supreme Court got the message. They saw the handwriting on the wall that they had gone too far. We appear to be overdue for some such changes to the Supreme Court now. So while we the voters don't elect the United States Supreme Court justices, we have the power to elect representatives and senators who can support legislation that reimposes the Voting Rights Act and goes beyond that to further strengthen voting rights. In the midterm elections in November, the control of both the House and the Senate can be changed. The new session of Congress can change the Supreme Court. They can enact new laws. If you agree with me that you want change like that, that you want to see voting rights expanded, not threatened, and I expect that we all have our own favorite things that we would like to see changed on the federal and state level, but if you want to see things changed, then you have to do your part to make the change happen. So let's focus here on what you can do. First, you can vote for people who will in turn vote for the changes you want. Second, you can encourage those around you, family, friends, and neighbors to likewise vote. Third, you can invest some of your time and energy supporting those candidates who will help us get you closer to your vision of a more perfect union. Every vote matters, every vote is valuable. If you doubt that your vote is valuable, consider the large number of people trying very hard to take the right to vote away from any of us. If our votes were not valuable, there would not be so many schemes put forth, not only year after year, but feels like week after week, day after day, there's some new way to make it harder for us to vote. And that tactic of constant change, change, change, change, that's a method to discourage people from voting right there. So if you want our democracy to continue into the future, as I do, into your future and my future and the future of your children and my children, please exercise your right to vote in every election. It is the foundation for all of your other rights. Thank you.

Hi, good afternoon. I'm Marty Gelfand, Meadowbrook Boulevard. I oppose corporations being considered people. So I'm for issue 32. The reason I want to talk about democratic institutions. Democratic institutions, of course, include the city council, the mayor's office, state, county, federal government that we see every day. It also includes a lot of... but appointed by Democratic elected people. Like, you know, we have library boards and park boards and parks and recreations committees. And, you know, we also have nonprofits, which are Democratic institutions in that Section 501C3 of the federal tax code allows them to operate without having to pay tax because they perform some kind of public work. public service. So these are all democratic institutions and I want to make some observations right here at the local level about some things that have happened recently that I'm concerned about. First, anybody here hear of radio station WCSB? Raise your hand. 89 point whatever it was. It was a great radio station. It was staffed by students at Cleveland State, another democratic institution because it's a higher education state school. Staffed by students, run by students, but also staffed by just ordinary people who want to do radio shows. And I participated in a similar station, WRUW at Case Western Reserve. It's a great democratic institution. People have the opportunity to say what they want, to play what they want. Behind closed doors, the Cleveland State Board and the Idea Stream Board, a nonprofit, colluded to shut down that station and do a jazz show. I'm all for jazz. I like jazz. But this was a great radio station, and they just shut it down. That's my first observation. I don't think that was right. And I think Ideastream and Cleveland State should be held accountable. And personally, you know, people say, well, this is national public radio. It's great. And I listen to national public radio and I support public radio, but I no longer support Ideastream. I'm now a member of Louisville Public Media and Minnesota Public Radio, where I have family in both places. I can't do that. I think it's just wrong what they did. And until WCSB is back... or they lose the court case, I'm not going to support them. The library board, which is appointed... Our library board, which is appointed by our school board to seven-year terms, they kind of... They shut down a really good institution, the Coventry, the old Coventry School, had a lot of nonprofits operating out of there. They said it's not their mission. But, you know, and I loved Obama. I'm a member of Obama. I support Obama. But, you know, that's a nonprofit and it's sitting in a library building. I just think they were wrong. I'm glad that the executive director resigned. I think it was her time. We need people in that institution that supports what people do. And now we have a last observation. The sewer district has taken it upon themselves to decide for us that Shaker Lakes isn't needed. And it's something, it's, you know, park boards, parks and recreation, those are democratic institutions. Our parks are part of our democratic institutions. People are going to tell you And by the way, none of you are Adam Dew, so I know you all take money. And I ran five elections for government office. I took money. I won three, lost two. But it's, you know, I understand how elections are run. But just because you take money in an election doesn't mean you have to... slavishly, and I'm not saying there's no quid pro quo necessarily, but when someone comes to you and says, we have to do this, it's so important, listen to what the people say. Because I think if you listen to what the people say, you'll be all right. You'll be all right politically. You'll be all right. You'll be able to sleep at night as the song goes. And you'll take into consideration what your constituents want. They elected you. We elected you. And we want you to... to respect our institutions, the democratic institutions that you're all elected to oversee. Do the right thing. Don't let a law director, no offense, tell you, oh, we can't do this. The law director works for you, and you should be able to ask the law director to come up with a better opinion sometimes. Thank you.

That is the end of the list I have.

Is there anybody else who wishes to speak? Mayor? I shouldn't, I'm sorry. I shouldn't put you on the spot like that. Our city administrator has joined us, Michael Reese, thank you. Any council people would like to speak?

Yeah. I'll be brief. I wanna thank everyone for coming out tonight to share their thoughts on democracy. And while I'm, grateful for the many people that came tonight. It's a little disappointing that this room is not completely filled. And to me, that's just symptomatic of the disengagement and lack of participation in our democratic system today. That is getting worse. We are stuck with the current president because of a lack of voter turnout and participation. We are living in a state dominated by one party rule because of a lack of voter turnout, not voter suppression in this state, voter turnout. People have complained about the elections here in Cleveland Heights, yet our voter turnout in some precincts was 25 to 30 percent here in Cleveland Heights. We have an opportunity to change things with an upcoming election and take this state back, at least for our statewide office holders. So I'm encouraging everyone in this room to get out. And we have a enough registered voters. We just don't have people that take the time on election day to vote or to buy two stamps and return their absentee ballot. So if everyone in this room would commit to going out and talking to people that are sitting on the sidelines and get them to vote, we can actually affect change in this state and in this country. I know I'm preaching to the choir in this room, but when I hear people complain about things and then they haven't voted, then I don't have any sympathy for them. We've got some self responsibility and we need to move the needle and we're not gonna move the needle unless we get people to vote.

I echo what Craig said. Thank you all for being here tonight. whether you spoke or not, it shows that you're interested in civic engagement. And I would like to just read the first couple of lines from the title 15, the political influence chapter 183 on public hearings. Beginning in 2014, city council shall hold a public hearing during the month of June each year to examine the impact on our city, our state and our nation of political influence by corporate entities and big money in connection with the most recent election. Corporate entities include business corporations, political action committees, super PACs, 501 C4 groups, and unions. I feel that this moment in time that we're in, it's more important than ever that we are speaking our truths this evening, and we should continue to speak our truths as we, are out in the public whenever you meet anyone else who might not be as engaged as you are, speak your truth to power. And the line that starts this particular section is 183.03. The hearing no longer required when state constitutional amendment is ratified. We need to hear it more than ever and to be engaged more than ever. So thank you so much.

Thanks. And thanks for everybody that spoke and showed up and is thinking about all this stuff. There was something that Linda Strasky mentioned that I think is sort of like the root car of something that I hope we could all think through a little bit more. And I just wanted to highlight what I think about it. I agree. I have faith our democracy is going to stand. But the only reason it's going to stand is because of people like you in this room. I mean, you got to get out there. You got to speak your piece. We can't be fragmented. We can't be doing special interest kind of things. We got to get people to get out there and vote. That's the only way this is all going to change. And I like what Councilmember Cobb mentioned. It's like... We could be winning, we, I think the Democrats, we can be winning if we can just get people to show up to vote. It should be pretty simple, you would think. Why do people wanna sit it out? So that's sort of a root issue. And I think if we were able to do that, many, if not all the things that everybody here spoke about so passionately about, I think we'd have a solution for. So again, thank you for showing up tonight.

So Citizens United, I heard a lot tonight, how it affects privatization, data centers, the environment, PAC money can affect elections, healthcare, all very poignant and really appreciate you taking the time to come here I'm gonna share this book with you that I'm actually currently reading. It's by John Meacham. It's called The American Struggle. Again, Linda's talked about a more perfect union. That's the subtitle, Democracy Descent and the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union. I'm gonna read a little bit from this.

I'm gonna put my glasses on.

This is Frederick Douglass speaking and it was actually on July 5th, 1852. And he said, fellow citizens, I am not right wanting in respect for the fathers of this Republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men too. Great enough to give fame to a great age It does not often happen to a nation to raise at one time such a number of truly great men. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not certainly the most favorable, and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots, and heroes. For the good they did and the principles they contended, And I will unite with you to honor their memory. This is a person who was considered property at the time. And then eventually he says, now take the constitution according to its plain reading. And I defy the presentation of a single pro-slavery clause in it. On the other hand, it will be found to contain certain, contain principles and purposes entirely hostile to the existence of slavery. So if you read the whole thing, he says, hey, you know, this is a great document. And this country is going somewhere. He was optimistic, very optimistic. And I want to talk just briefly about my optimism right now. In 2019, we changed our form of government. We went out and collected a bunch of signatures. We put it on the ballot. I believe that the strongest argument for changing our form of government was is that it was more democratic to let you choose who leads this city as opposed to four or more council people, because that's the way it worked before. In 2025, just last year in November, dozens and dozens of amendments to our charter. I think we created more co-equal branches of government. I think we're now more fully empowered to do our jobs. I think that it's not a perfect charter, but I think it's a more perfect charter. I don't like this home rule business that, that that's being taken away from us in Columbus. I don't think that's democratic. Um, as a matter of fact, we kind of all agreed. There's a lot of different types of democracies. If you've ever studied foreign governments, but we don't have a unitary government. We have federalism here, the three levels, not three branches, the three levels of government. And we're supposed to be able to conduct our affairs here the way we want to. And, um, And I just wanna say how much I appreciate my colleagues, Eddie, our clerk of council, our mayor. A big part of the reason I do is because we share, I believe a common sensibility about democratic principles. and those separation of powers, checks and balances and our roles in our respective branches. So thank you again for coming. I hope you are uplifted because you certainly uplifted us. This meeting is adjourned at 7.23.