February 24, 2025

Apostle Pinkney, good evening everyone, and I have something here for all the council members as well as the mayor as to what I'm about to say to you, so would someone please pass those around to each one of your Council members. Would you take one please and pass it around to your council, if you could give it, when you give it to the clerk, we'll make sure that we give it- so we just put it to the Council, okay. Make sure the mayor received it also and don't take away from my time because I- because of that disruption. Please move forward. Greetings, I'm going to read you this evening as I come before you today as a ninth cousin removed to General George Washington, the first inaugurated president of the United States of America, who was first to free the slaves in 1799 before the Emancipation Proclamation was in place. I am here today to follow up and follow through with that same process.

It is true that there is no legislation in place in this body or executive order or even any part of the legal system for reparation for black, brown, and multi-racial people. This leadership must put in place laws that do not allow qualified immunity for law enforcement officers. Neither are judges to be permitted to hide behind the judiciary as racist, sexist agendas are in place in this country. There is not an excuse for our being gunned down, robbed, raped and denied equal opportunities in the name of the law and religion. Neither are judges to hide behind their permission for judiciary for us to be murdered, massively incarcerated, delayed, denied, displaced daily due to these racist sexist agendas. I disagree with the idea of no police protection in our school system. The schools are under state control. It is a predominantly black, brown and multi-racial city with a black mayor. There's no accountability for the rainy day funds or finances in this city for black, brown and multi-racial people through the white system. You may contact me at area code 216-548 eight20 to begin to put these laws into effect and in writing. You are the root of the law. Every tree that bears no fruit is cut down and considered a cursed. We are established to be a blessed and to be blessed people. This is not an option, this is an obligation. You have to those of us who have hired and elected you for the care and preservation of our communities. There's never right or civil to murder us in the name of the law and or religion. Thank you.

Good evening everyone. I just want to talk about black history for a moment. I want to mention ward seven, and I want to mention ward five about black history,

I'll start with ward 7 with Fannie Lewis' ward. If it wasn't for Fannie Lewis over in ward 7, a lot of development would not be there for people that look like us okay. Fannie Lewis did a great job. When Alliance and Bryant bought the property where Sav-Mor was, Fannie Lewis fought to get us another grocery store which sat directly across the street from her house and I would be , she probably would hurt me right now if I didn't speak on her behalf on black history, of all the accomplishments that she accomplished in ward 7.

Secondly, I'm 56 years old. There's always- ward five, there's always been a grocery store in that plaza right there. There always was a food pantry on 71st and Kinsman. These things was pillars to the community and still are to this day, but they no longer exist. So this is my black history to bring this to these different wards, bring the attention that's needed before we lose the face that belongs there, which is a black face. Thank you and have a blessed day.

Good afternoon, Council. My name is Steve Lutz. I'm a site coordinator for After School All-stars. Behind me is Britney Ciphers, a fellow site coordinator, After School All-stars. And to my left is Traci Jadlos, executive director of After School All-Stars Cleveland.

Free out of school time programs at the city rec centers are essential to the children and families they serve, as well as their communities' youth programming promotes good study habits, social and emotional learning, and helps Cleveland's youth find new passions.

I know this because I have the honor of running After School All-Stars an out of school program at the Glenville rec center. For example during this past summer session, I implemented an entrepreneurship and agriculture curriculum for the students in my program. This included the students selecting a farm animal or crop and prototyping a business around it. We got to go on field trips and visit local farms and gardens and ended in a culminating event where they pitched their prototypes to their community. In a post survey, 100% of my participants stated they were more confident in themselves, increased prototyping skills, improve their ability to generate ideas and resist failure. There are many reasons we can't afford not to invest in free out of school time programming. City rec OST programs reduce the chance of our schools, of our scholars getting bad grades, as well as keeping them safe and out of trouble. 3 to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. That timeline is critical because this is when youth are at most at risk of engaging in unsafe behaviors and becoming involved in crime. Steady long lasting and consistent OST programming is essential for our youth to flourish for years to come. OST programs that are offered throughout City of Cleveland rec centers often offer more than just recreational activities, they teach teamwork, problem solving, leadership, and they teach our youth new skills. After School All-Stars Cleveland, along with all the other organizations that run OST programming in the city rec centers, are dedicated to ensuring that every child regardless of circumstance can grow, learn, and engage in productive activities. Council, I encourage you to keep OST programs thriving and accessible to everyone regardless of income. Thank you.

Good evening Council and attendees, Myself and several other neighbors from old ward 3 new ward 7, not getting used to that, are here because it appears that our community is on the brink of losing its 20-year-old community garden.

20 years ago the neighbors of West 47th, one of whom is actually here with us this evening, started a community garden in a vacant lot thanks to the help of a Summer Sprout community gardening program administered by the OSU Extension. We found out very recently that the city no longer has a contract with OSU's extension Summer Sprouts Community gardening program. It was a shock to them as well, at least what was relayed to us when we found out that we also weren't going to be able to renew our lease for this community garden. I can't emphasize enough how special this place is. Neighbors over the last 20 years have invested so much time, energy and money. We have 18 gardeners. We have a brick patio built by the neighbors, a pagoda, now a community hearth where we bake bread with our neighbors. We host summer jam sessions where the families of the street get to learn how to play instruments. We host movie nights, family friendly, and then when the kids go to bed maybe something scary. We host Halloween activities, we host winter activities. Community gardens are an example of actual public safety that works in our community.

Thankfully councilman McCormack responded really quickly to our distress. He helped us navigate some of the confusion of this contract no longer existing and unfortunately, because the community seeds program no longer exists, this landbank property is now developers attempting to develop on. Everyone in my community values affordable housing. Nobody is building affordable housing right now in our community. In fact a house across the street from me just sold for close to $900,000. One around the corner is 1.1 million. These are not worth actually that much, but why people are paying that much is because of community gardens like this. Everybody who comes to the neighborhood, including Mayor Bibb who was actually invited to speak to the community when running for office, he actually spent time in seeing firsthand just how special this community garden is. These are the things we should be investing in and I really hope the administration can reconsider its contract with the OSU's extension and the Summer Sprouts program, and I hope that we can think of more flexible arrangements for how neighbors who take care of a vacant lot for 20 years with no financial compensation have the flexibility to maintain this control and keep it out of somebody who's not interested in the heart and soul of our community. Thank you.

My name is Lamel Logan. My name is Lamel Logan, and me-

[Other speaker]: Hello I'm Lamel Logan's dad, Melvin Logan. We represent Reach Success, along with the CEO, the programmer, and some tutors, and my son wrote what the program has done for him, so we would like to share that with you all to why we would like the program to continue.

[Griffin]: And sir I will allow it this time because I always show deference to young people on the floor, but it is only one person that's usually allowed, but I will allow it for this time. Okay, thank you.

[Other speaker]:Thank you. No you go okay. I want you to read it. it's okay.

My experience with Reach Success as tutoring program has been good. I have been able to improve my test scores and math and reading. Learning new skills has also helped me break down fractions to solve, and reading, I've been learn to pull out the operations that been used. I've been also develop larger vocabulary. This program helps kids be better by teaching them skills one on one that is needed to succeed. Thank you

Thank you. Good evening, thank you again for the opportunity to speak. My name is Teri Wang. I'm an immigrant, a former Community Police Commissioner and Cleveland neighbor. I'm here because oversight of our police is a shared duty, one built through accompaniment walking with the community, not ignoring its needs. Charter 115 promises a commission reflecting all of us, immigrants, refugees, survivors of injustice, and even police officers. Yet the city has repeatedly broken that promise. In 2021 Cait Kennedy, a mayoral nominee lacking legal qualifications, was appointed as a stand in civil rights attorney. She missed meetings without consequence, shielded from removal by Mayor Bibb. Commissioner James Chura, a police union representative, served 18 months despite a disciplinary history that should have disqualified him. These aren't oversights, they're betrayals of Cleveland voters. Now in 2024 the cycle repeats. The mayor and city council advanced three police nominees without scrutiny. Quinton Jordan, who was convicted of misusing law enforcement databases, Richard Jackson who has prior disciplinary history, and Sheila Mason, who was appointed without transparent vetting. Meanwhile the only two Asian-American applicants to the commission, myself and advocate Loh, both with ties to immigrant, refugee, limited English-speaking communities as well as victims of police brutality were denied interviews. The application process ignored not only our perspectives but also the work we had already completed for the commission. How can a commission meant to protect all exclude so much and so many.

Cleveland taxpayers also recently paid $99,000 for a retreat meant for new commissioners before Council even approved the mayor's nominees. Two nominees were later rejected. Who will repay this bill? Thank you to council members Polensek and Kazy for voting against reappointing Shandra Bonito and Sharina Zaid. To the others on Council, why do you continue ignore to ignore warnings from the community about these existing commissioners and nominees? Soon I will send a taxpayer demand letter to law director Mark Griffin with three demands, halt these appointments and remove all charter violators, redo the selection process ensuring all Commissioners are appointed for their skills, open the books and the records to demonstrate your accountability to taxpayers. If the city fails to act, litigation will burden the very taxpayers this commission should protect. In one recent year the city paid about $40 million in lawsuits related to police misconduct. Isn't there a better path building justice with the community rather than fighting amongst yourselves for power? Certainly I think there is more nobility in serving others than serving yourselves.

Good evening, I'm Marcia Nolan, I live at 183- I'm sorry I get nervous. Jenny knows I live at 1836 West 47 Street and I've lived there for 25 years. I wanted- Ellen Kubit did a great job telling you what our garden has become, but I wanted to tell you what it was.

20 years ago, I and five women developed two strategies to deal with arson, prostitution, drug dealing, break-ins, 11 vacant houses and 10 vacant lots of West 47th Street, between Bridge and Franklin. Our strategy centered around forming a block club. We formed the block club and our idea was to make people feel safe and to know that there was a group of people that were going to actively work for them to deal with all of these issues.

The second strategy was to create a community garden, and what we did even before the city had its lease community garden program, we took a vacant trash strewn overgrown tax delinquent lot, we cleaned it up, and that was the beginning of our community garden. Even in those days we were doing crafts for kids, we were doing potlucks, we were doing everything to bring the community together. Now we're told that our heart, the center of our neighborhood, is going to be redeveloped. We don't need another $800,000 house, we need that community garden so children have a place to go because it's their secret garden. And Ellen outlined all of the activities that are there. I think I don't know if you mentioned the two weddings we've had, two weddings in our garden. So anyway please don't turn our garden into another development site. We really need the garden to bring the community together. I also want to give kudos to councilman Zone, councilman Cimperman, and Kerry McCormack, and also the police of the second district. I can't tell you how many times they met with us, did special patrols, did whatever they could to work with us to ensure that we wouldn't leave and that crime was reduced in the area. Thank you.

Hello everyone I'll be quick and brief, but we all are sitting here, well you all are through your education as we got you in the seats, and it started from somewhere. It started with that one parent, that aunt, that cousin, that whoever had time. Reach Success has time. Upon the time they have for my son allow my son to progress in more ways than one. I'm here to just say one or two things, please keep the Reach Success program going for any and all parents that do not have the support at home and the ones who do need the support. My son benefit along with his friends, and it's a great deal to have him come tell me what he's learned and excited about it, not like it's a punishment. So I just ask once again through the Reach Success program, my son has a a great deal till, now he's on the seventh grade math level and only in the fifth grade, and just now hit the academic level of a fifth grade reader, which is a struggle for young black boys in America. So I'm proud of him, I'm proud of the program, and once again, please keep the program going. Thank you.

Hello everyone, thanks for giving me the opportunity to speak. As you heard from these other two women, our garden is under threat. If my wife could be here today you'd be hearing from three women. She and I live next to the community garden. She has been the garden leader since 2018. So in the previous Summer Sprout program, that program required all garden leads and there are 144 in the city to fill out a hydrant permit for the watering to submit a lease every year and also to take a 9-week course with OSU now all that has been scratched W. So this leaves us as you heard with a developer that is pursuing development of this parcel. Now I can't overstate the importance of this community for our our whole street here. It's our Public Square, if you will. It's a place to collaborate, share ideas, make art, socialize, the list goes on and on. It's cherished by everyone who lives there, that's a large part of why I know all of these ful people and we're all friends and enjoy where we live and are proud to be there. So to combat this because we're given no other option, Ashley and I have submitted an application for a sideyard expansion to acquire that parcel. Right now all we are operating on is promises that it won't be sold to a developer, but we don't have anything in writing. So we've all been, we've all seen instances where things have been decided in a meeting only for the public to find out later and it's too late to do anything about it, and we're worried that this may happen in this instance. We really need a solution to this that we can all be confident in and U protect what is so dear to all of us. So thank you.

Good evening, good evening, thank you, appreciate it. Linda Howard, Young Mothers of Cleveland. I stand here with just lived experience, y'all I don't want to go off of stats or nothing, I just want to just go off the cuff and go off my heart, so no disrespect to nobody in the room, but once again, Miss Linda here to represent myself.

I am the founder of Young Mothers of Cleveland and my biggest thing, yes ma'am, my biggest thing that I want to fuss and put boots to the ground about from here on out. There nothing about house, just all about housing, we could sit down and we could talk about programs. We can sit down, we could talk about different services, but we don't sit down and really talk about housing. We can pass out eating or we can pass out section 8 all day. I live it. I have scanned the city, it's no shelter it's nowhere for them to go. Everybody want to make a house out of make an office with a house. I need somewhere to be able to place these women. Miss Linda is not funded by nobody, I'm a regular manager for Wendy's and I'm a dispatcher for alarm service. I thank God and I respect Miss Deborah Gray and I thank you for who you are. We came a long way. Mount Pleasant is very active, but it's raggedy, it needs some TLC. I put my kids pantry inside the rec center so we could be able to keep it open because it was the only thing that was a Mount Pleasant that they had. I respect Richard Starr too. I'm a ward five baby and I'm a ward four adult. Mount Pleasant been my stepping grounds in my grown life. I watch them tear down my projects where I had my baby at 13. Everybody know me, I was the only kid walking through the projects with a baby. And now that I got grown and I see that people don't have the same stability that I had when I had my parents and I give that love back. They shop at the kids' pantry for free, they come to me and say Miss L I got this voucher I got landlords that don't even want to take it because they know that section 8 is sly kind of a game for real. So where do they leave them? I call every shelter in the world, I have a boarding house. My Council woman have been there. She have been in my neighborhood, she see me she has seen me work she has seen me grow. All our ask is when we sit around the table and have conversations, can we talk about real housing and not the outside people coming in. I'm not mad at nobody coming in to buy anything up, but can we think about what we're going to do for these people that we putting out on the streets and we tearing down all of what they know? That's all I ask of, can we figure out how to make a bigger shelter, make it a little bit more livable. I don't know, go make another building like 9511 Buckeye so we could be able to have somewhere for them to go. When they want to just pass out vouchers we have nowhere to live they have nowhere to go so we talk about menaces and we talk about jails. I'm not opposed to it, cuz have to have somewhere to go when they do something bad, but at the end of the day what they going to do if they have nowhere to live, they have nowhere to go, they have nowhere to sleep. We don't have nowhere to go and buy groceries and eat. What do they do. I'm bored I'm going to go tear the city up, and that's what it is. So I thank everybody for all the hard work that yall doing city of Cleveland and I thank you. Just think about us.