City Council - Regular Meeting

Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat.

Could all the council members please come to the well so we can get started? All the council members please come to the well. That's

police need to get out. They always want me to do it. Then I got to hear all the BS everybody. We got 11.

Madame clerk, please call the role. Oops. Griffin here. Bishop Conwell Davis Gray Harsh House Jones Hudson Jones Kazy Pencic Santana Shaw Slife Star. You have a quorum, Mr. President.

Thank you. Will everybody please rise for a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance. Thank you. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I make the following statement. This meeting of Cleveland City Council is a lawful meeting under section 605.04 of the codified ordinances. person with purpose to prevent or disrupt a lawful meeting shall do any act which obstructs or interferes with the due conduct of such meeting. Members of the public are invited to speak only under the rules set by this council. Disruptions including but not limited to speaking out of turn and making loud noises and loud utterances are in violation of the rules and interfere with the due conduct of this lawful meeting. Such disruptions may constitute a misdemeanor and a violation of section 605.04. Anyone who disrupts this lawful meeting is in violation of codified ordinances, commits misdemeanor, and is subject to prosecution. The following is the first and only warning. If this meeting is disrupted, I will gavo a halt to the proceedings and direct the assembled officers to escort any person participating in the disruption out of the chamber. Once persons participating in the disruption are out of the chambers, the officers will close the doors and the disruptors will be handled as directed by the director of public safety. The council proceedings will not begin again until those that participated in the disruption have left the chamber and the chamber's doors are closed. Disruptors will not be allowed back in the chamber after the meeting resumes. Again, this is the first and only warning. Madame clerk, please dispense with the journal.

By council member Bishop that the rules be suspended and the legislation just read be placed on final passage. Seconded by council member Star. Thank you. We'll now move to public comment. I remind all members to please acknowledge the speakers by turning around and listening to the speakers. And I would ask all the speakers to please acknowledge your time. Yellow means to wrap it up. Red means to abruptly end. The first member that we have that would like to speak is Daryl Houston. Daryl Houston is from Bedford Heights. He's here to talk about city issues. He's not representing anyone and not being paid by anyone. Mr. Houston, you have the floor. Yeah. Good afternoon. Uh today I just want to discuss uh a conversation I have with one of your colleagues today.

Uh it was a very enlightening conversation and I wanted to uh share come down here and share with you guys.

Uh me and uh Martin Kaine. Is that Marty? Am I saying your last name right? Okay. I just wanted to make sure. Um Mr. Kane brought to my attention that uh he felt that I was being too hard on you guys and that I should just single out instead of talking to you guys as a body. I try to talk to everybody as a body because I don't want to be disrespectful and just single one person out. So, I just thought it would be more professional to address you as a body. But after thinking about what uh Mr. Kaine said to me, I said, "Well, you know what? That's kind of a good idea." So, um I am going to uh attempt to dissect uh what's been going on down here for my last 19 24 months now. Um I am terribly displeased with the deputy of operations and there's a list of why I'm terribly displeased because as we speak right now when we look at that Kinsman bridge is terrible and for 48 months we ain't passed it. We ain't painted it and right now you can't even walk across it. Okay. So, somebody needs to be held accountable for that. And and I and I want somebody held accountable for it because these are tax dollars. And I'm trying to understand why can't we simply get what the taxpayers are asking from this body as a whole. Okay. I would like to address Mr. Kane said he was going to address the light issue, but if as you go around this city right now, Cleveland Public Powers is felling us. It's felling the residents. It's felling the business owners. Okay? We should not be going without lights like this in our community. We just shouldn't, right? Feloness, EMS, feloness. This is leadership. And I'm going to come back Monday and I'm going to point out to what it would look like if I was the mayor or if I was city council president. I'm going to come and point it out to you what I would do down here to make my residents happy. I would not continuously waste taxpayer dollars

like this administration have been doing. Okay, you are complicit to wasting taxpayer dollars on taxpayer dollars. And I just asked for some public records request and I'm growing a little aggravated with the law department playing games with me with my public request. You guys took an oath to protect the constitution, right? I'm fa out. That's everybody that took a oath that they were gonna protect this constitution. I'm going to hold y'all to that because that carries a lot of weight in the United States of America. That oath to that constitution, law license, medical license. Dr. Mongolius, I don't have enough time, but I will start with you Monday because I'm disappointed with the health department as a whole.

Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have Emily Harper from Ward 7. Emily is here to talk about voting support for the West 25th bus lanes RTA BRT project not representing one not being paid bill. Emily, you have the floor.

Good evening. Uh, and thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak. My name is Emily Harper and for the last 11 years I have been a renter in the Detroit Shoreway community and a regular rider of the RTA. I started taking transit out of necessity. My car had been totaled and I relied exclusively on our network of buses and trains to get around. There was a bit of a learning curve, but I became more connected to my community in the process and I turned into an advocate for better transit. Over the last decade, I've seen major investments that have improved rider experience and made the system easier to use. Things like mobile ticketing, an app with real-time stop information, and upgraded seating. When transit is accessible and reliable, more people use it. That's why I was so happy to see that the mayor and members of council had come out in support of the RTA's West 25th Street BRT project, allowing for dedicated bus lanes in one of the most congested areas of the city. This kind of investment in our public infrastructure will ensure residents can get to where they need to be uh cost-effectively and efficiently while also making West 25th Street safer for everyone through pedestrian friendly upgrades. I want to thank the mayor and I want to thank council for supporting this transformative project, but I also want to urge vigilance. At every phase of this project, there has been a small contingent of commercial property owners doing everything in their power to undermine a positive change that would improve transit reliability and prioritize safety among pedestrians, drivers, and cyclists alike. All in the vein of preserving a few dozen parking spots when more than 1,800 would still be available in the area. Last month, multicommercial property owner Sam McNelte went on record and said he was willing to call Senator Mareno to pull funding for this project.

I'm having trouble understanding why a business owner wouldn't want a better transit system, particularly when the uh American Public Transit Association found through a study that for every dollar we invest in public transit, five flows back into the local economy. Thankfully, not all Ohio City business owners feel this way. I was heartened to hear when I learned that the owners of Leco, Joy Machines, and Tabletop all recognize that this project is bigger than West 25th Street and have said on record that they're for the bus lanes. There is also been loud, consistent, resounding support in the neighborhood for this project among residents. I'm asking you to ensure our voices will not be drowned out. Do not allow, please do not allow a handful of people who fear change trample on a forward-looking project that would ultimately do wonders to make our streets safer and more equitable. Thank you. [applause]

Next is Stephanie Thomas from Ward 12 to talk about ICE and local police protecting residents in Cleveland. She's not representing anyone and not being paid by anyone.

Thank you. Um 75,000 or more of those who have been arrested by ICE have no criminal record, including a recent arrest of a police officer and the deportation of BIPO veterans. ICE and the Republican party are framing those who exercised their first amendment rights as terrorists. They have publicly executed law- abiding citizens, kidnappeders, separated parents and children from their families, and more. They are disrupting the mechanism of capitalism in Kyahoga County. Many of our local stores and restaurants employ immigrants. My male, sorry, my nail salon has been operating on a skeleton staff for six weeks after sending almost everybody on vacation out of the country. It took me three hours to get a gel manicure last week. I want to thank the mayor and city council for passing an emergency resolution which seeks to pro which seeks to protect residents from state state sanctioned violence. Last week I was at a block club meeting and an officer from the second district's community services unit equated lowincome children who break into cars as terrorists. He literally exclaimed, "They're terrorists." during a meeting of 40 residents and businesses and business owners in the city. This type of rhetoric is not just hateful, it's dangerous to the residents of the city of Cleveland. Low low-income children who may or may not be breaking into cars have not yet been convicted of their crimes. They are detained much like low-income adults without the opportunity to return to their families, communities, or so social services without having even been convicted of crimes for days, weeks, and months

as ICE and Customs and Border Patrol agents go doortodoor in District 3, stating their Ohio Board of Elections workers, which does not exist, probing for more innocent people to arrest. I implore the Cleveland police to protect and serve the residents and businesses of the city of Cleveland. Instead of calling children terrorists, perhaps you could educate the public about how officers and agents require a search warrant to enter private property. Instead of allowing ICE to illegally abduct residents of the city of Cleveland without a warrant, perhaps you could protect us. The current police and federal enforment enforcement culture absolutely sucks. It perpetuates violence and terror against the people. It lessens the public's ability to respect the work more and more every day. Without mutual trust and respect, there is no public safety. Thank you. [applause] Next we have Bridget Smith Jackson from East Cleveland. The topic that she would like to talk about is housing. She is not representing anyone and not being paid by anyone. Miss Smith Jackson, you have the floor.

Good evening and happy new year. Happy 2026 to everyone here today. I want to acknowledge those who have retained their seats and welcome the new members of this body. With these seats comes power and with power comes responsibility. responsibility not only to policy but to people. Again, my name is Bridget Smith Jackson and I'm here because the housing crisis in Northeast Ohio is not limited to a single ward, a single neighborhood or a particular community. This crisis affects Clevelanders in all walks of life across in I'm sorry, every corner of our region from subsidized housing to section 8 and far beyond. This is about humanity. This is about dignity. This is about whether people feel safe, stable, and valued in the places they call home. I am standing on this floor because this chamber is one of a few spaces where residents can speak directly to those with the authority to ask hard questions, demand accountability, and set real priorities. And today, I am asking genuinely and urgently. In the last 30 days alone, my phone has not stopped ringing. family displaced by that explosion and all and and other issues throughout greater Cleveland living without heat with unsafe electrical systems with rodent infestations. Families are experienced retaliation and bullying for speaking up. These are not isolated incidents. They are patterns and they are happening across the city and throughout Northeast Ohio. We must continue to say his name, Mr. Cordell Sheffield, because his life mattered. We must continue to acknowledge the two children who suffered burns on over 50% of their bodies because their pain did not end when the fire was put out. There is a direct correlation between unsafe housing and the other crisis we are facing as a city. Crime, literacy levels, substance, mental health struggles, and community instability. When people are worried about heat, electricity, mold, pests, or eviction, everything else suffers. This is not an eitheror conversation. It is a bothand responsibility. We cannot talk about public safety without talking about

housing. We cannot talk about education without talking about housing. We cannot talk about healing our city without talking about safe, dignified, and affordable places for people to live. This city has resources. This city has committees. This city um the committees are meeting now. So I ask plainly and honestly, are we prioritizing this? Are we treating housing as a fundamental or as a afterthought? Are we preventing harm or are we only responding when tragedy strikes like what happened over there um to the 85th Street Apartments? Housing and public health. Housing is equity. Housing is dignity. Housing is a foundation for change in this city. I plead with this body to act with urgency and humanity to ensure accountability, enforce standards, and protect residents before more lives are harmed. Last, but certainly not least, who should I direct calls to to ensure residents housing needs are being addressed? I don't want to take the calls anymore. Who should I send them to to where they can get the support and they can at least have a safe, warm home to sleep in when we have these dangerous temperatures out here. Thank you.

Thank you. [applause] Next, we have Ian Nan Moses from Ward Five to talk about housing, not represent anyone, not being paid by anyone. Is Ian Nan Moses here? Ian Nan Moses. Ian Nan Moses. is in the Moses. Good evening. My name is Yajin Moses. I'm a Cleveland resident and a survivor of the Rainbow Terrace explosion that led to a devastating fire. I'm here today not only for myself but for many families who lost their homes, their sense of safety, in some cases their loved ones due to preventable housing conditions. This was not a fire, it was an explosion followed by a fire and it occurred after residents raised ongoing maintenance and safety concerns that were not adequately addressed. As a result, as a young man lost his life and two children, excuse me, suffer catastrophic burns. More than 50% of their bodies collectively. Those children have already endured dozens of surgery with more still ahead. No family should have experienced that level of loss and trauma, especially when it could have been prevented. After being displaced, I was placed into housing that is unsafe and unhealthy. I am dealing with rodent infestations, including rats and mice. No resident, especially someone recovering from the trauma of an explosion and fire, should be forced to live in conditions that threaten their health and dignity. My child has now found has been found to have elevated lead levels, which is extremely alarming. No parent should have worried about their children being harmed by the very place meant to keep

them safe. This experience has taken a serious toll on my mental health as I try to heal while constantly worn about my child's health and our living conditions. What I'm experienc is not isolated. Fire and explosion victims across Cleveland are facing similar challenges, including unsafe placements and limited follow-up support. These are public health and safety concerns. They deserve timely attention. I I am respectfully asking the city of Cleveland to work with impacted families to ensure that displaced residents are placed in safe, clean, and fully inspected housing to address rodent infestation and environmental hazards promptly and to strict oversight and accountability to so that families are not put at further risk. I appreciate the city's time and attention and I hope my experience can help inform improvements that protect residents, support healing, and prevent future tragedies. Thank you for listening.

[applause] Thank you, Miss Moses. Next, we have Enoch Hall. Enoch calls from Ward 7 to offer gratitude to the city of Cleveland and our city council as well as to offer possible assistance. Enoch Joseph Hall Jr. Nations under God, NUG and not being paid by anyone.

My name is Enoch Joseph Hall Jr. I am presenting NUG Nations united under God. I am here to address Cleveland City Council men and women. I approach first with a message of gratitude. I humble myself before the council knowing only a portion of the work that you guys put in front of the public. I know that there's a lot of hours that goes into passing the bills that we seem not to notice. Um, and I just want to say thank you. I want to say on behalf of all Clevelanders, thank you to all of you guys. Um, besides gratitude being my true intention, I also offer offer us assistance. I have a proposal that I sent to United States Congress that I would like to pass out to you guys today and it would actually place us on the forefront of protecting the nation and I would like to hand it out. Um, I humbly request that all of council receive a copy of it. Again, this offer of assistance will address the noteworthy concerns of the public. There were six people who spoke on February 26, on February 2nd, 2026, and they all had valid concerns. Um, with the help of course of you guys, um, I have plans that would address the needs of the men and women who passionately spoke about senseless killings and the disconnect between themselves and their leadership. Also, it will protect our country. um a afford uh more federal assistance because we have led the city, led the country from right here, Cleveland, millionaires row. We did that. We will also be able to lead it from my 6411 with your bedroom as well. Um I know that Cleveland leaders are influencing the nation because we have affected change from right here. And it's time that the rest of the world see us how I do. I see the law reform that I sparked. I also see the business opportunities that spread across the nation. So, let's continue showing these other cities how

it's done. The mission is to make Cleveland the tourist capital of the world and to also create permanent senators of these tourists as we did in the past. Another millionaire's row so to speak, but we'll call it billionaires row this time around. Um, so I would like to challenge you guys. Yes, I am respectfully challenging you to allow me or to allow me to assist you in making city to Cleveland. Cleveland the city that sparks it all. Thank you guys for your attention and I'm leaving you with that. Thank you, sir. [applause] Next, we have Sunonni Willis. Sunonny Willis is from Ward Nine. And Sunny is here to talk about having no heat or water for months. And Sunny is not representing anyone. And Sunny is not being paid by anyone. Sunny, you got the floor.

Thank you. Respectfully, I would like everybody's chair turn when I'm talking and I'm going try to get through it without being emotional.

Those are my two babies out there. We haven't had heat since September of 2025. We have not had running water or power for the last month and a half. I was here Monday, but I didn't know I had to sign up to speak, but I signed up to come down here today. Councilman, I chased you down on Monday. You looked me in my face and you said, "I had your word that you'll help me." And you have been helping me. Unfortunately, we have not gotten nowhere. Mayor Bib, you looked me in my face and you shook my hand and you wrote my number down and you said, "You have my word. I'm going to personally call you. I have not heard from you. My babies have been affected. They have a routine. They have a schedule. I have been living out of hotels and Airbnbs for the last month and a half. I'm a hard worker. I go to work, but unfortunately, I lost my job. My babies have been without heat and running water and power. Since September of last year, everybody has sent me to the city. The city has sent me nowhere. I've called the health department, Red Cross 212,313, nothing. I've been nowhere. I haven't been offered nowhere to stay. I have not been offered a blanket. I have not been offered a space heater. I have not been offered a reliable resource. Since September of 2025, my property is being prosecuted right now. My babies are affected. I am affected financially. I don't have the money to spend over and over and night after night. I am on snap, but without power,

all my food has gone to waste. I have been without heat and power and running water since September of 2025. And I'm here to ask who do I run to? I was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. And my concerns have fallen on deaf ears. And I'm here crying. I had to make a GoFundMe account. I had to make a GoFundMe account. So, I will hope through all the cold nights that we didn't had, I hope y'all slept warm. And I hope y'all slept comfortable. AND I HOPE Y'ALL WAS ABLE TO EAT AND RUB YOUR FEET TOGETHER AND PRAY TO GOD BEFORE y'all went to bed. Cuz me and my two babies have been struggling with no help, no heat, no water, no power since September and nothing has happened.

Next is Terry Wong. Terry Wong is from W 8. Terry is here to talk about how Cleveland is cooperating with ICE. She is not representing anyone and not being paid by anyone. Good evening. City Hall loves to call itself pro business and even pro people, which is interesting considering how consistently its decisions make it harder for businesses and people to survive. Tonight, I want to talk to you about something that absolutely wrecks businesses, especially small businesses. It's not taxes, it's not regulations, and it's not parking. Though Mayor Bib's new parking fees would certainly hurt small businesses throughout downtown in Ohio City, it's ICE enforcement. Don't look so surprised. This should be obvious to you all by now. Our own mayor, Mayor Bib, regularly works with and cites the Brookings Institution. And coincidentally, Brookings has been very clear. Aggressive immigration enforcement undermines local economies, destabilizes small businesses, and drains entire neighborhoods of workers and customers. Take Minneapolis St. Paul, one of the regions most affected by recent ICE enforcement and one of Brookings's clearest case studies. The region ranks 96th percentile nationally for black immigrants. It also has an average life expectancy of 76 years for all black residents. Meanwhile, here in Cleveland, black residents die on average three years sooner. That's not an accident. What Brookings has found is that a community share of black immigrants is the single strongest

predictor of life expectancy for all black residents. Immigrant communities don't just contribute to growth. They stabilize neighborhoods, support small businesses, and improve outcomes for everyone. Brookings is not radical. It's the kind of institution that city hall likes to quote when it's convenient. So when even Brookings says something is bad for business and bad for public health, the responsible response would be to change course. Instead, what we get from city council and city government are toothless resolutions, careful deflections, and vague claims of non-ooperation. While working families and small businesses absorb the cost of political cowardice, other cities are making different choices. In Mountain View, California, where Google is headquartered, city leaders audited their flock license plate reader system and discovered that multiple federal agencies access the data for months in 2024 without the city's knowledge or consent. Mountain View treated that uh realization like a bad contract and took the system down. So, why aren't these actions enough for Cleveland? Why is Cleveland not removing its flock cameras? Cleveland doesn't even meaningfully audit its surveillance systems.

Refuses. Thank you. Next, we have Joseph Lewis. Joseph Lewis is from Cleveland. Joseph is here to talk about ICE. Uh Joseph is not representing anyone and not being paid by anyone. Joseph, you have the floor.

Before I begin, I'd like to thank the city council for passing emergency resolution 114 last week. Now, I'd like to talk about ICE. Uh regardless of what you've heard, uh the story being told and the story that needs to be told is this. ICE agents have been operating in Minneapolis with no accountability or oversight and have been recorded detaining or brutalizing just about anyone, criminal or no, citizen or no, call it what you like, intimidation, occupation, subjugation. But the story we aren't being told, one mostly apparent to the business-minded among us, is one of stagnation. The stories I hear out of Minneapolis are that most people's lives have been put on hold. Ice activity means that even a simple errand carries lifealtering risk. Many people are just staying home, not going to work, not going to school, not even getting groceries. Meanwhile, their neighbors are putting their freedom and have As we've seen, their very lives on the line to protect their communities. Their economy has ground to a halt. And when it's over, they'll likely have lost millions in GDP. And the federal government ain't paying that bill. As for Ohio, the Trump admin has been beating the Springfield War drums for a while now, even though the town's 10,000 plus Haitian immigrants were invited to the US to seek asylum here. And thanks to them, Springfield is seeing economic revitalization. Despite this, the federal government falsely paints Haitians as pet eating barbarians, that they have ruined the lives of Ohioans when the opposite is true. If ICE does succeed in deporting the Haitians, it is likely that the town won't recover its lost potential. And I think the same could be said for

Cleveland. Our strongest industries are reliant on the pool of diverse skilled labor. The fear of ICE presence alone could lead to thousands of atrisisk residents staying home. Uh the city council can assuage these fears by committing to constitutional integrity. Thus, I urge the city council to consider more concrete action over purely symbolic resolutions to hinder ICE operations should they escalate in our cities. Thank you.

Thank you. That concludes public comment. Madame clerk, please share communications. File number 190, 2026 from Sarah Bank Vineamp, administrative dire administrative director, Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Notice of operations for calendar year 2025 pursuant to chapter 686 of the codified ordinances of Cleveland, Ohio. File number 191206 from Cleveland Foundation, quarter 4, 2025, report for neighborhood safety fund pursuant to ordinance 4862023 from the Ohio Division of Liquor Control file number 1926 regarding a transfer of ownership application at 3750 MLK W 2 file number 193 2026. 6 regarding a transfer of ownership application at 1700 Brook Park Road, Ward 4. File number 194, 2026, regarding a new license application at 3140 West 25th Street, Ward 14. File number uh 2011 20226 regarding a new uh new license application at 300 West Superior Avenue, Ward 8.

Thank you. Are there any condolence resolutions? Resolutions of condolence, excuse [clears throat] me, by council member Griffin, for Geette Estifan, by Council Member Pensic, for Carmelita Jerome, by Council Member Jones, for Leonardo Delane Smith. Are there any other condolences? Any other condolences? I do not see any other condolences. Will all council members rise for a moment of silence? Thank you. Are there any recognition resolutions?

Resolutions of congratulations by council member Star for Deacon William Harris on his 100th birthday by council members Pencic and Conwell for Kobe Bryant at Guin Academy alum. Uh, and the Seattle Super I'm sorry, and the Seattle Seahawks Safety Super Bowl 60 Champion. Resolutions of recognition by Council Member Santana for B at East Convenience Store.

Madame Clerk, if Councilman Conwell doesn't mind, I would like to be added to the uh recognition resolution for Kobe Bryant. Is there any opposition to all of council being added to one of our Super Bowl champions, Kobe Bryant, who is from the Glenville community and won a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks yesterday? Seeing no objection, please add all of council if we could. Thank you. So noted.

Thank you, council. All right. Uh are there any other recognition resolutions there? There are none. Are there any presentations? I do not have any presentations. Madame clerk, [clears throat] please move the first reading emergency ordinance is referred for administrative review and committee review.

Ordinance 180 2026 by council member Griffin by departmental request to amend section 127.43 of the codified ordinances as amended relating to credit transfer and other payment processing services. Ordinance 182 2026 by Council Member Conwell designating Second Mount Olive Baptist Church [clears throat and cough] as a Cleveland landmark. Ordinance 183 2026 by council members Kazy and Griffin by departmental request authorizing the purchase by one or more requirement contracts of labor materials necessary to repair and maintain the decorative and special lighting for city bridges and the Wand Whale Mural Park on North Marginal Road including materials, equipment, appertinences, services and insurance for the division of Cleveland Public public power department of public utilities for a period up to two years. Ordinance 184 2026 by council members Kazy and Griffin by departmental request authorizing the purchase by one or more requirement contracts of labor materials and equipment necessary to perform various tree trimming services for the division of Cleveland Public Power Department of Public Utilities for a period up to two years.

Thank you. First reading emergency ordinances to be passed.

Ordinance 177205 by council member Davis consenting and approving the issuance of a permit for the Pete Lenahan 5K event on September 19th, 2026 managed by Hermes Sports and Events. Ordinance 178 2026 by council members Davis and House Jones consenting and approving the issuance of a permit for Cleveland Clinic Velisano cycling event 6 mile 12 mile 2550 75 100mile bike ride on September 18th through 19th 2026 managed by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Ordinance 179206 by Council Member Slife consenting and approving the issuance of a permit for the Patrick Joyce fund 5K on July 18th, 2026 managed by Run the Land. Ordinance 181206 by Council Member Griffin to amend ordinance 1780-05 as amended by various ordinances by inserting new section 11A. Ordinance 186 2026 by Council Member Santana authorizing the the director of department of community development to enter into agreement with Metro West Community Development Organization for the Latin American Historical Society [clears throat] Oral History Project providing cultural research publications of the Hispanic community of Cleveland through the use of Ward 14 casino revenue funds. Ordinance 187206 by Council Member Conwell authorizing the director of department of community development to enter into agreement with the Italian Cultural Garden Association for the Opera in the Italian Garden Project through the use of Ward 9 uh discretionary funds. Ordinance 188 2026 by Council Member House Jones

authorizing the director of department of community development to enter into agreement with Famikos Foundation for the public purpose of providing an emergency congregate meal and community resource information to eligible city of Cleveland residents through the use of W 7 casino revenue funds as such ward existed on November 15, 2025. Ordinance 189206 by Council Member Griffin to amend section three of Ordinance 2567- A-88 as amended by various ordinances to authorize certain funding from the neighborhood equity fund.

Thank you. Read the motion to suspend the rules by council member Bishop that the rules be suspended and the legislation just read be placed on final passage. Seconded by council member Star. Call a roll. Griffin, Bishop, Conwell, Davis, Gray, Harsh, House Jones, Hudson, Jones, Kazy, Palencic, Santana, Shaw, Slice, Star, 15 Yays. Caught a roll on passage. Griffin, Bishop, Conwell, Davis, Gray, Harsh, House Jones, Hudson, Jones, Kazy, Pencic, Santana, Shaw, Slice, Star 15. Yay.

Thank you. First reading. Emergency ordinances referred for administrative review and committee review. Ordinance 185 2026 by council member Davis changing the use area the use height and area districts of parcels of land north of Herman Avenue between 60 West 65th and West 58th Street and subjecting an area titled the site development boundary to section 333.02 O2 of the codify ordinances and attaching the approved site development plan. Thank you. Read the motion to suspend the rules.

Call the roll. I think the script is wrong. Let me make sure that I'm good because where we at now. Read motion to suspend the rules. That's where I'm at. First reading emergency resolutions to be adopted. Then read the motion to suspend the rules and call the role and call the role on adoption. 14.

Okay. So, first reading emergency resolutions to be adopted. Resolution 200-2026 by Council members Griffin and House Jones condemning President Donald Trump and his administration for the racist video portraying former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes that was posted to President Trump's Truth Social account. Thank you. Read the motion to suspend the rules [snorts] by council member Bishop that the rules be suspended and the legislation just read be placed on final passage. Seconded by council member star. Call the role.

Griffin Bishop Conwell Davis Gray Harsh House Jones Hudson Jones Kazy Palencic Santana Shaw Slice Star 15 yays call a roll on adoption. Griffin, Bishop, Conwell, Davis, Gray, Harsh, House Jones, Hudson, Jones, Kazy, Pencic, Santana, Shaw, Slice, Star. Just push it once. Uh, Conwell would like to be Push it again. Push it. So, Conwell would like to be added. Is there anyone that would like to be added to? What is that number? Excuse me. It's not on everybody. It was me and House Jones. Conwell just asked to be added. Who else wants to be added?

Bishop. Councilman Bishop. Councilman Michael Pencic. Okay. Council, is there any objection to every council member being added to this resolution? Could we read that number again? Resolution 20026. All right. So, is there any objection to everyone on council being added to resolution 200? Whatever she said, we got it. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Uh, so 15.

Okay. Thank you. Second reading, emergency ordinance is to be passed. Ordinance one uh I'm sorry, Ordinance 14472025 by council members Welch, Bishop, Slife, and Griffin by departmental request to establish sub funds 65 SF011 and 10 sub fund 114 for the deposit and remittance of new community authority parking charges at certain city-owned parking facilities and to transfer any such collected charges into the appropriate new sub fund. Ordinance 1451-2025 by council member Slife by departmental request designating the CAM's Corner Bank building as a Cleveland landmark. Ordinance 1536 20225 by council members Haristen and Griffin by departmental request to amend 3103.21 to one of of the codified ordinances as amended relating to fees for hearings and time extensions before the board of building standards and building appeals. Ordinance 28 2026 by council members Santana and Griffin by departmental request authorizing the director of department I'm sorry authorizing the director of development to enter into an option to lease agreement for a period of up to one year with Penrose Holdings for its designate for city-owned property located at 4242 Lraine Avenue for future redevelopment. Ordinance 322026 by council members Davis, Conwell, and Griffin by departmental request authorizing director of public health to enter into a lease by way of concession with Neighborhood Healthc Care, Inc. DBA Neighborhood Family Practice for the public purpose of providing medical and

clinical physician services at the Community Health Center at 2358 Professor Avenue for a term of one year. Ordinance 103206 as amended by council members Conwell and Griffin by departmental request authorizing the director of public health to apply for and accept one or more grants from Kyhoga County Invest in children program and firstear Cleveland to conduct mom's first project services under the invest in children partnership for firstear Cleveland partnership programs and authorizing the director to enter into one or more contracts with various agencies, entities or individuals. UAL to implement the grants.

Madam Cler, if you could hold for a second. Uh, I'm going to ask if the housing advocates, Miss Jackson and team, if you could hold off for a quick second because I do want to address a couple of the things that you brought up. And I'm also going to ask if Councilwoman Deborah Gray could join us in the whale because you have to be in the whale for your vote to count. And I want to make sure your vote counts. I know you're talking to the young lady, but I do want to address from council's point of view if we could. So, if uh those two things could happen. Okay. Thank you. Ordinance 109 2026 by council member Griffin by departmental request authorizing director of finance to pay as moral claims the sums opposite the names of the claimments. Ordinance 119 2026 by council members Conwell and Griffin by departmental request authorizing the director of public health to apply for and accept a grant from share our strength to conduct the food access nav navigators program under cultivating Cleveland's next generation project and authorizing one or more contracts with east 66 street services and elements of internal movement eternal pull inc to implement the grant. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Read the motion to suspend the rules

by council member Bishop that the rules be suspended in the legislation just read placed on final passage. Seconded by council member Star, please call the role. Griffin, Bishop Conwell, Davis, Gray, Harsh, House Jones, Hudson Jones, Kazy Palencic, Santana Shaw, Slyar 15 yays. Please call the role on passage. Griffin, Bishop, Conwell, Davis, Gray, Harsh, House Jones, Hudson Jones, Kazy, Pinsic, Santana, Shaw, Slice, Star, 15 Yays.

Thank you so much. We'll now move to introductions, and I want to give a special introduction uh to somebody who comes here every week, and I know he just left unfortunately uh but Juan Elliott, who usually sits right back over here to my right, your left. Uh that is a person that's a true champion and a true hard worker. Um um Director King, if you can give him um kudos. I had a resident last week who uh did not want to report that she did not have water. She was elderly and she just said, "Bla, I toughed it out." And uh we called Juan and Wan got that water up and running immediately. So I know he's not here, but please extend a pretty uh uh uh you know, congratulations to Juan Elliot. Appreciate it so much. Thank you. the uh um is any other introductions? Any other announcements? Seeing no introductions or announcements. I wanted the housing people to stay here and I'll uh put the timer on myself to start off with. Um once in a while when people come, well, not say once in a while, all the time when people come to public comment, they're really just expressing the frustrations of services that they deserve. And I want to say what Miss Jackson and what the young lady said today was exactly right. We have a housing crisis in this city. Too many houses and too many apartments are have people living in deplorable conditions. What had happened in Garden Valley and I agree with what Miss Jackson said. This entire body should be speaking out and talking to the governor and talking to everyone because it is unacceptable that we don't have answers regarding garden ballot. I know Councilman Starr has been working night in and night out to get answers and I think once again our strength as a body is what's needed to be able to speak out to hold people accountable to get answers. I have three apartment

buildings and I want to thank the administration specifically Mr. McNair and others that are so deplorable that all of the pipes busted and every single one of the residents in those apartments on Shaker Boulevard that used to be the crown jewel have been evicted or have to have left because the conditions are so unsanitary that we have to get them in other apartments. We just had through Councilwoman Gray and myself in her efforts to go to New York and hold people accountable. We just had uh uh several apartment buildings that went into receiverhip thanks to director Griffin and I want to applaud him and the administration for doing that as well. We have too many highrises in this city and if it's nothing else I really hope we could put our heads together with the administration and address some of the deplorable conditions that these folks are living in. They are only expressing frustration because nobody is giving answers. And even though I know we don't have the purse strings and we may not have the oversight and the social service um you know heft, we do have our voice. And I'm asking this entire body because every single one of us, I'm willing to bet have deplorable apartment buildings that are unacceptable and sometimes they're under government leadership. So, at the end of the day, I really, really hope that we can work with Director Martin and the mayor and everyone else and director Griffin in order to hold these buildings accountable and start getting answer and start making sure that people are living in humane conditions. One of my it it always perplexes me because one of my favorite shows and I'm dating myself, Councilman Conwell, is Good Times. And I sit here and I watch these problems that were pervasive in 1974 that here we are in 2026 and still watching the same Good Times episodes.

And it is out. It is it is something that is hard for me to even express how frustrated I am that I have to sit here and watch a young lady as well as others that are sitting here living in substandard conditions. Ladies and gentlemen, we do care. We do. And it's frustrating because often times we're asked to try to come up with solutions that quite frankly we don't have the resources to deal with. But I promise you, I will be talking with the mayor and the administration to look at whatever creative ideas that we could do to hold people accountable because everybody should be able to live in housing in this city with dignity. So, thank you for speaking up. I appreciate it. Thank you. I have Councilman Michael Palinsk and then uh I do have Councilman Conwell and Councilman Star.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, honorable mayor, members of the public, and my colleagues that are here. Mr. Chairman, I wholeheartedly agree with you. Uh but it's just not the issue with the housing. Today was going around with the county. You look at the number of these properties that we're all complaining about, they're tax delinquent. They don't even pay their property taxes. And so we, and I say that because we, most of us who own homes got our tax bills last week, again, late, but we're asked to pay our taxes. As I said today to the county folks that I was speaking to, and then they don't pay their taxes. We see these abandoned homes sitting there that are all tax delinquent. So, Mr. Mr. Chairman, one of the things I suggested and I want to strongly encourage you to do, we need to get the county to come over to one of our caucus meetings, those who were in charge of taxation, and we need to get our new housing court judge in because there's got to be a correlation. There's got to be some integration here. We just can't keep complaining. Council members are the pin cushion. We're getting the complaints every day. The number one complaint in my office every day is housing code enforcement. and I have one of the better maintained wards in the city on east side every It's the number one complaint into my office every day. So, we've got to coordinate with building and housing. They there's got to be violations. There's got to be prosecution. We got to get them into housing court, but at the same time, we need coordination with the county to go after these people that don't pay their taxes. So, it's a multiaceted approach. I'm hoping again due to the frustration we're all sharing here that we can start to see a sitting down again whether it be in a caucus meeting, whether it be in the committee room, we got to come up with a strategy to deal with this. I drive my ward. I see these properties. When I walked door to door this summer, I couldn't believe the number of abandoned homes. I couldn't believe the

homes that were in deplorable condition. And a lady was telling me off Uclid Avenue, she said, "Councilman," she said, "we're getting all these LLC's coming in buying up everything in our neighborhood. They're just descending on our neighborhoods. These guys are coming paying cash for the houses." So, we know we got our issues. I appreciate your comments, Mr. Chairman, and those who are here in in the public. I believe every member of this body cares about what's transpiring in our neighborhoods. We see it, we witness it, we experience it every day. So, Mr. Mr. Chairman, I'm looking forward to that that integration with all the various agencies, the county building and housing, and the housing court. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Councilman. I have Councilman Kevin Conwell, Councilman Richard Star, Councilman Joseph Jones, Councilman Christopher Harsh

should be on right now. Thank you very much. I want to thank um you, Mr. mayor for jumping right on that. The young lady reached out to me u last week and um I gave her some numbers to reach to. I had Imani to help her with it with Flamco's foundation and then um I gave her the number to u matter of fact I even reached out to the wife to help her out with it. She says the numbers something was wrong and whatever the case may be. I know her mom's text me, but her mom's text me today and um so we'll just move forward. Now, you got a good person right here with Sherry. If you get Eugene Cash in the middle of the mix of it and they tell me and uh you know, it's a mother with with her babies with her children. So, we'll start executing on it right away tomorrow, but I'm gonna have to monitor it and see what's going on. But, I'll call you and you'll return my phone calls and cash is very, very good. And it's a rough thing, man. It's it's more. It's more and you just have to work with it. Let me move um let me shift gears on you. Um I went with you Thursday. Um I was at the meeting at uh the rec center about the integration of the schools in Glennville and um and Columwood. They put a schedule together how they're going to go out into the community, but they did not reach out to the council members to ask them to have so we can reach out to our residents and to our people. So, I thought about it this morning around 3:00 a.m. because sometime you can't sleep, man. You just can't sleep. So, when I woke up, I said, "You know what? I I'm going to talk with you, Council Member Mike Palinsk. We'll get our people together and then we'll meet Mr. Mayor, Council M Pinsky and I and we'll meet with some Glenville leaders as well as some Colinwood lead

leaders and we'll integrate your people because at this last meeting it was mainly the mayor staff there, the um board of education, the school board members and the board of education there. You didn't have what you had about two maybe three community leaders there. Yeah. That's it. That's it. So we'll we got to be in there. So, I'm not going to just ask anymore. One thing about leadership, you got to step in and make sure that it happens. So, we're going to do that to make that work. Um, moving right along, there something else I want to get to. Um, this lead piece really, really hurt me this morning. It really hurt. Um, lo possibly losing funding on the lead downstate. I think it's to $23 million. Um Tom, you inherited that issue. I know. I I was disappointed and upset, but not with you, Tom, because you inherited. And so I said, "What you going to do about it? You're going to always audit when people leave you and look at lessons learned." And they didn't execute on it. And we had to meet Tinoled this morning, our second um hearing in health committee because I wanted to get my arms around there to take a look at um HUD, but it wasn't HUD this time. it was with the state and um I'll talk with you because I don't mind going down state talking with the governor or we put a letter together. I'll text it to him or reach out to the governor and see can we get help because I don't like losing and I don't like losing money and those kind of things but that really really hurt and David Margolius was very very disappointed and the group saw it what what happened. So, we got to continue to audit and do quarterly audits to get on top of this stuff. I'm disappointed. I'm not happy. I'm not a happy camper because it affect the entire city. Now, what I want to switch gears on, give me two more

minutes here. Give me two more minutes. This Donald Trump piece, this Donald Trump, it remind me of a President Woodro Wilson. Wro, he was the president of the United States from 1915 to 1921. He showed this film, The Birth of a Nation. The first film that was shown in Washington DC at the White House was a birth of a nation. And he dehumanized my people, black people, African-Americans. And then what happened with the birth of a nation? Um, the clan just grew. It was there already. the clan that you know that started in 18 right after 1866 by a former Confederate soldiers down in Palaski, Tennessee. That's when it started. But after Wro Wilson, the most racist, well, Trump and him are like brothers. They twins. They're really two of a kind. Anyway, I'm going to move forward. After he showed that, it blew up everywhere. It blew up everywhere. We have to fight against this kind of stuff, dehumanizing people and dehumanizing African-Americans. So, it really truly hurt me a great deal. I'm glad that you put together, Councilman Star, that resolution to deal with that. And we also need to take your resolution when we go to the National League of Cities and when we talk with all the council members and mayors to get them to agree with us and work together so it can go national. It can't just be in Cleveland, Ohio, which is important, but a lot of times things start from the city and it mushroom up. So we got to take this and we have to, Mr. President, send it down to the National League of Cities. so that it can land in Memphis, Tennessee, Atlanta, Georgia, uh Los Angeles, California, New York City. When we're

down there, we work together for the good of the whole. They got to know and we got to fight it, man. We have to fight this anywhere and everywhere cuz it starts out right here, right now. And I'm disappointed. So, we just can't do the resolution here. We got to move forward. Thank you for my time. Thank you, Councilman Richard.

Council President, how you doing? First, I would like to say thank you for your acknowledgement and the words that you brought regarding just housing in the city of Cleveland. Mayor Bib, thank you for always answering your call. Chief Ponte for always answering the call as well. And then also working with Director Sally Martin. Uh, one of the things I definitely want to bring into context is dealing with these issues that's been going on for decades at a time for a century is not something we're going to deal with overnight and fix. And what I mean by that is when you talk about code enforcement, when you talk about the lack of quality housing available, imagine if we put all the inspectors out there and go and look at every building. Where are we going to move our residents to? So when you talk about a collective effort, we have to figure out what strategy do we have in the city, what strategy we do we have in the county and what strategy do we have down in state, but most important, how do we contact our congresswoman Shantel Brown to make sure the federal government and HUD is involved with this. Um, over the last two or three years, I've been working with building the housing inspectors. I've been working with these private owners and getting it case by case. Now, you have some property managers who don't even follow the rules that you ask when you meet with them. And that's where we start getting tricky. You have some properties where we don't even know who the owner is of those properties where you then have to take a flight to New York like Councilwoman Gray had to do to figure out who is what, who's doing what, and how they're going to get these things addressed. But I do agree, we have to lock in together to solve this issue. And it's not about one ward, that ward, or just administration. We have to be lock forced to make sure our residents, like you mentioned, council president, are getting the good quality of housing. It's residents that are afraid to call my office because they

then receive an eviction notion when you talking about a person putting on your door that you violated your lease when you know you don't even know what to do. So now they scared to reach back out with this information. So these type of things are stuff that's going on through and throughout our city like the residents address today the same as you said council president and I look forward to working with the mayor BM administration director Sally Martin and making sure HUD is at the table. HUD can hold them accountable. HUD has a call and also when we do our branding and marketing we need to make sure our residents know that there is a 24hour emergency HUD hotline. And once you put in that request about a maintenance issue, it triggers straight directly to the owner and it requires them to have give a 24hour notice on how they're going to solve the issue. We have a HUD office downtown in the city of Cleveland. We need to hold those inspectors. We need to hold them all to get accountable to help assist all the work that we need to do. And as well, we need to make sure when we look at our budget this year that we have enough code enforcement inspectors that can be on the spot to help with these properties. So, I look forward to the discussion and working with you all. Council,

thank you, sir. Councilman Joseph Jones.

Thank you, Mr. President. to my colleagues. Um we had a session, a caucus last week and we talked about these issues in terms of um code enforcement and we talked about this being an issue going back since 1998 when we sat and talked about the same issue. And then Mayor Mike White was the mayor of the city of Cleveland. And at the time that mayor was very particular on improving the housing stock in the city of Cleveland and he had pushed community development on all fronts to have housing projects in every neighborhood, developments in every community. And we were successful in putting Sunny Glenn in place and a number of other projects in our neighborhood as it relates to new housing development. We're at that same space now where we have to challenge our financial institutions to put skin in the game. We have a number of financial institutions in this city that are um receiving all sorts of benefits from the city of Cleveland and the city of Cleveland needs to hold them accountable in terms of investing back into this city. And one of them is in housing. We've had some problems where we could not even get the financial institutions in the city of Cleveland to to loan money to citizens to do rehabilitation to their homes, to loan citizens the resources they need to buy properties next door uh to them. Um and even though they were creditworthy. So we have some challenges here that as this council we need to face. Another one that my colleague talked about was code enforcement. code enforcement. You won't be able to do anything about improving the housing

stock unless you have some really good code enforcement people who are out there consistently doing their job. And if we were consistent over space and time, because this is not a situation of this administration or next administration, this is what we call kicking the can down the road. We've kicked it so far down the road that now we don't just have some parts of our city in a in a problematic situation. We have all of our city in a situation now where we have problems throughout this entire city as relates to code enforcement. And it's appalling to see that we're doing nothing fundamentally about it. We even had a former director of the department um say that when was asked at the table and I know I've asked this at the table to directors is there any tools you need is there any more resources you need to have to do your job better and to receive from uh this former director that he lied to the table. Uh now I'm a fan who believes in when we get ready and start this uh budget hearing process, building and housing has a surplus there. People get out there and they they do their work and they're one of the few departments that actually have a huge surplus at the end of the day. So I'm the type of person who believes in paying people. If they're doing a good work and they're doing a good job, let's enhance their pay. Let's look at how we can increase those funds and then how we can give that back to that department so that we can make code enforcement a viable, strong, strengthening system that it should be. And when we start doing those fundamentals, then we won't be standing up here kicking the can down the the the next year on to the next year to the next term to the next mayor. So when we face this this budget here, and I hear some of the talk that if you cut here, you have to cut there. Well, if we can

find $20 million to give it to the wealthy and rich for their stadiums at any time we feel fit to do so, we can also take that money and invested into our departments and keep our city whole. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.

Next, we have Councilman Christopher Harsh. Councilman Christopher Harsh kick in. Uh, I just want to share this uh with folks. If you can pass that around a little. Um, I do want to uh It's hard to be excited. It's hard to be happy in this country right now. I said if you could share that around. Um, but I do want to share a little optimism and a little bit of gratitude today. Um, I'm sharing a map with everybody and and I sorry I didn't print off tons, but it's on it's from the open data portal. It's a map of uh all the land bank parcels in the city of Cleveland. Um, so before I share my optimism, my joy, I got to tell you what keeps me up at night. And this map is what keeps me up at night. Uh, quite literally I I I close my eyes and I think about this sucker. And every little dot on this map used to be a house. It used to be a house where somebody lived in our city. Um, and there are they've all been torn down. This is the empty the city of Cleveland doesn't keep houses. They only we only keep empty land. Um, and when I came to Cleveland in 1998, Mr. President, I got an apartment on the west side for $300 a month, which sounds crazy. I know it was 30 years ago, but it was crazy 30 years ago, too, right? A $300 a month apartment was pretty cheap. And the reason we could do that 30 years ago is that we were a city built for a million people, and we had about half of that at the time. So, we had more supply than demand. And as everybody knows, when supply exceeds demand, prices fall. But we have since torn down tens of thousands of houses. We currently in the city land bank have 16,179 I'm sorry, 16,179 residential parcels. 1,460 are on the west side, but 14,719 of these parcels are on the east side. For every west side vacant residential parcel, there are 10 vacant parcels on the east side. And this is what keeps me up at night. The city of Cleveland is not going to bifrocate. We're not going to break off the west side and go off and and do our own thing. The west side of Cleveland cannot function if the east side of Cleveland is collapsing. And we have to stabilize these neighborhoods on the east side of Cleveland. And and I've been thinking about this for decades.

And um this is I think possibly the only existential crisis that the city might be facing. I I don't use that word lightly. If we can't figure out how to repopulate the east side of Cleveland, then we don't have a city to live in. Um, there is no factory that's going to move in. There is no new industry that's going to come in and take up all of our land and and turn all of our vacant neighborhoods into job centers. We're not going to turn the the city of Cleveland into a farm. We're not going to grow soybeans and get our way out of this. Um, we're not going to put stadiums on the east side of Cleveland anywhere that's going to solve our problems. We have to put people back in our city. And um, that is the only way that we are going to save this this city. And entire neighborhoods uh are underwater. This is the problem of building new houses. We think that builders should just come here and build. But I got to tell you, any builder that builds a $250,000 house in Cleveland can really only sell it for $285,000. They can build that same house in Madina and sell it for $450,000. And they can only sell it for $285,000 in Cleveland if they avoid the east side. Okay, this is the problem. We don't have comps. We don't have markets. We are a functionally broken city in many many neighborhoods and um we you know we are the reason I'm excited Mr. President is that we are very very close to achieving the modular builder that we've been working on. And this is why I'm excited. I'm excited because I see so many people in this room working together for that goal. When you think about the way Cleveland looks, you think about the classic Cleveland double, right? Everybody knows that street. I got Brooklyn in my in my neighborhood. There's a bunch of everybody has a street in their neighborhood. all the houses look the same, right? I guarantee you when those houses were being built, there were people that hated them. There were people that thought they were ugly. They thought they were stupid. They thought they were the wrong price. They thought they were in the wrong neighborhood. They thought they were in the wrong place. And now we think it's iconic. I found out the other day when they were building the brownstones of the East Coast, you know, the famous walk-ups that people hated those because brick was a cheap building material back in the day. Brick was a a penny a pound or whatever they said. They thought that real houses were made out of wood and

you shouldn't build houses out of brick. Of course, that was a contemporary criticism. There's always going to be contemporary criticisms. Now, we think those houses are great. What I'm saying this for is that if we can reimagine the way Cleveland looks 50 years from now and we can reimagine it with some consistency and some architectural uh normality down new streets, we can rebuild the entire city. And the reason we can rebuild the entire city with modular, Mr. President, is that modular brings down the price of construction. Okay? It speeds up this the time of construction. And with some really innovative projects that we're working on, we might be able to start building pockets of functioning neighbors on the east side and grow outward from within. And this is, I think, the only really way to address the problems that this map displays. Um, I'll be I'll wrap this up and I apologize for going over. Um, we need to build a new city. And I promise you in 50 years they're going to think it's beautiful. In 50 years, they're going to look back and say, "Wow, those modular houses were really nice. Look how beautiful this street is." Um, but I am grateful and I want to share my gratitude because uh, uh, Councilman Star took a call from me on Saturday afternoon uh, when I wanted to get to cross some tees and dot some eyes and he was very, very quick on that call and I appreciate that, Councilman. Councilwoman House Jones has been involved in all these meetings and sending if she's over booked sending MNA to and I'm thankful for her and for MNA for being in these meetings and I'm thankful to Councilwoman Santana for allowing us to build some pilots in your neighborhood. We learned a lot building those pilots and we know what we're going to do now because of your uh of your graciousness and I want to thank uh council president. Um you've been behind on 100% on this the entire time and you thrown everything you've got into supporting this project and I feel like we're really close to being completed. I got to thank uh Mayor Bib for putting your staff on this. This has been I've never seen city hall work on so many levels together like this. Um Chief Mersman helping us get a piece of legislation ready for tomorrow. Uh that's really really essential to this and uh Chief McNair running around like a chicken with his head cut off making sure that uh papers getting signed and that that that uh we're not dropping balls and we're getting things done. So I wanted to just take this moment to say thank you to everybody who's working on this. If we don't get people back into the city of Cleveland, we don't have a

city of Cleveland to fight for. And it is it is a problem that is that dogs all of us. And it's not a problem we created. No one in this room, no one in this city created the problems that we have in this city right now. It's market forces. It's it's capitalism. It's America. It's all these things happening. But we are the people that have to solve this problem. And I'm so very proud to be part of this team because you all are getting this work done. So, thank you very much. I just want to express that gratitude, Mr. President. Thank you. Thank you.

And thank you for your work on that, Councilman Harsh. I know you've kind of been the uh the resident council person on focus on housing uh types and all of that. So that being said, madame clerk, please excuse the absences. There are no absences. Therefore, council's adjourned to the call of the chair. Upon adjournment, please exit the council chambers and continue all conversations in the hallway so that the police can secure the chambers. We've had a lot of people hanging around the chambers. Please take conversations out into the hallway. This council is ajourned.

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