March 31, 2025

everyone good evening everyone I'm a preacher I like feedback good evening everyone that means I know everybody's fine I don't come with personal script and I don't come with uh cliches this evening I I come with a message the message is we need to change the message the message is Law and religion and religion are not W written for women and children now I spoke with you a couple weeks ago and I told you that the this legislative body is the root of the law stand your ground didn't get passed across the country until it began in a smaller place we need to not just put prayer back into schools in the name of Jesus Christ because it's still in our hearts but we need to have some legis ation because the Constitution when it was written it was written by an all-white male establishment who was married to white females and there were no people of color at the table but also in religion and in politics it is written only in the masculine form it not only is it written in the masculine form but does not prepare us for situations such as housing domestic violence and other components that women are very power ful and children are very needful in these situations I want this legislative body to take your pens your computers take your minds and come together and put laws in place for women and children black brown multi-racial red white it does not matter yellow we need some laws we're tired of being murdered in the name of law we're tired of being murdered in the name of religion we're tired of being discounted delayed and denied in the name of the law and religion my name is Reverend Pamela M Pinkney buts I'm an aplet doing something brand new and my phone number is area code 21632 9665 I welcome a discussion with you for suggestions ideas and let you know what I already do because Mom's lives matter and we're tired of our babies our husbands and we're tired of being murdered by the law and religion in the name name of Jesus Christ I greet you and have a blessed

floor thank you council president Griffin uh good evening everyone I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak public comment is an incredible opportunity for genuine causes to be brought directly to the city's attention my name is Zoe Johnson my pronouns are she her and I'm a transgender woman I've recently purchased my first home in the Edgewater uh with my partner Jules who is also trans for years now our society has seen the normalization of opinions that can only be described as abhor I'm sure everyone in this room has experienced the ill effects of this trend right here in Cleveland uh I was horrified to learn about the racist hate mail and phone calls councilwoman Santana has received at her home I wanted to express my deepest sympathy deepest sympathies to her and her family just last week 20 truckloads of food destined for the Greater Cleveland Food Bank were withheld by the Trump Administration the denial of due process for people who hold green cards and student visas has left our communities rattled and has everyone wondering who will be next every day there are new instances in which being a Democrat run City or being part of a liberally minded institution is enough reason to deny our an alienable rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness because of this every Clevelander faces the same threat from our state and federal governments this is specific especially true and urgently felt by the trans Community with today being the international transgender day of visibility was a perfect time to raise this concern with you members of Cleveland's trans Community have many reasons to feel unsafe in our own City 2018 Kesha Wells and Felicia mitell were murdered in Ohio city and Edgewater respectively 2019 clar Legato died one month after being shot in colinwood 2020 Leo Rond day died in the Koga County Jail 2021 Tiara Marie Lewis was murdered in Fairfax every one of these victims was a transwoman of color several of these women were initially reported by the Cleveland's police as a John Doe or a male who appears to be transgender and refer to them by their dead name and incorrect pronouns the repetitive nature of these murders and the police routinely denying these victims their dignity is unacceptable and can no longer go unaddressed the risk of being Transit America grows greater and greater with each passing day while we could choose to accept the attacks from our Superior governing bodies I ask Council to see this as an opportunity to stand alongside clevelanders by adopting a sanctuary resolution for Trans people we can assert ourselves in the face of these bullies that uh we will not allow them to subjugate anyone who steps foot in our historically Forward Thinking and welcoming city trans sanctuaries have been declared by dozen other cities in the country in Ohio they've been passed in Cincinnati Cleveland Heights and Athens the city of Boston joined the cist immediately following mayor Michelle Woo's testimony during the Congressional hearing for immigrant Sanctuary cities just a few weeks ago declaring Cleveland a sanctuary would show the city's commitment to its existing legal protections for its citizens our dedication to improve Public Safety for Trans people and that we will not comply with any efforts to oppress our neighbors we need to make it known that an attack on one Clevelander is an attack on all of Cleveland we need to be Guardians for all I appreciate you taking the time to list on my concerns and I look forward to working together to make Cleveland a better pace for everyone thank

good evening uh mayor B with your permission I like to start where I couldn't finish last week that I'm asking you on behalf of every Gardener in Cleveland to put a a a a blanket of protection over the community gardens in Cleveland Community Gardens are great things things to have in this city see the person or the The Pretender who call himself de developer and wants to take over the garden and West 47 and the people were here 18 gardeners that person called me on my cellular phone he wants to buy my garden and he said like when I answered my phone he says hi is like we we we we're friends he said I I wonder if we could talk about buying your uh bra at 9900 goodal I said that's not a bra that's an orchard and a garden and it's not for sale he says let's meet and I'll give you an offer I don't want an offer uh those people go in in a way that they want to steal Gardens and they want to force through the city some people in the city the Comm because the community garden owned by the city while my garden is protected by me private Gardens are protected by by the people who's taken care of it community garden owned by the city look there was like 3 4 years ago when we had this Statewide issue on the ballot a lady activist for the Democratic party she's known by three at least three members of this Council was canvasing for that issue and as she knock on one door a lady open the door she says honey don't knock on doors people shoot here so the lady walked back she's walking she saw my garden and she just walked into the garden when I saw her I came I talked to her she said she thought the garden was safe haven for her that's why she walked into the garden Gardens are do are safe haven uh there was a breast conference in my garden attended by uh former County Executive at at Fitz Gerald former County bruter the one before Umali and uh three former members of this Council arranged by James rakus everybody here knows who James rakus is and James rakus when he called me to arrange that meeting H press conference at Mr time that fast thank you

lamb good evening allall it it's not shocking to me but it's very discouraging to me okay like I say and many of you know I walked these floors for 50 years I been through every mirror from Carl Stoke to to MB I did this city it's troubling me I went through three Wards last week and I counted over 240 vacant Lots all of them trashed I'm not going to say what wars I went through but I'm going to get with the councilman because the one thing we're going to do in this city if we're going to use them dollars they been coming in here since Co did Mr Jackson Left Behind did M be went out the out the Washington and and G is himself see I see a lot of dollars going up on the wbsite I see a whole lot of dollars going up on the wbsite but I don't see no black businesses on the west site I you know what I see on on the East site I I see Auto Mechanic stores I see dollar stores I and dollar Mark I mean General Dollar Dollar Tree Family Dollar all within a mile where's my housing where is my housing I cannot I cannot sit here today and tell any one of you that I would vote for you right now I seen four years and I seen within the within the last 20 I seen at least five people that's sitting here today that's been on council at least 20 years and I ain't seen no product I'm having problem with the product my taxes paid for them okay my taxes paid for them I went to work when I never had to and my taxes help pay for them so I know what was out there I had the books of the last eight uh beside the last four years I have every number on the books before Sharon Dum left Cleveland Ohio so I can match up the dollars in the new uh budget hearing when budget com your time is up Mr L let get okay well let's get something your time is up Mr lamb thank you let's get something done I want to see my dollar speak for you I don't want to next we have Stacy

evening uh I am a cinwood resident and my wife and I have three children who attend cmsd schools I have a PhD in education policy and I've published research and peer- review journals I came here this evening to ask the members of this Council and mayor bib to urge the CEO of cmsd to maintain at least some of the school calendars that include extended school year and extended school day I'm going to give you a definition uh according to George Washington University equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstance ances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome on February 14th 2024 the mayor's education Chief sent an email urging Dr Morgan and the school board to cut all schools to One calendar because taking a school by school approach could cause Equity issues the mayor's education Chief also wanted to use the attendance data to defend this approach Now setting aside The Tragically incorrect usage of the concept of equity the district's own study has shown that not only do extended program schools have better attendance rates but predictably on all measures students who have more instructional time P perform better in school the district is touting this as a cost-saving measure but in a $ 1.9 billion budget the savings gained by reducing instructional time would generate roughly $4 million in savings that's 0.02% of the budget that's $1 for every $500 spent our district is entirely too administratively topheavy we pay too much in rent at 11 11 Superior and we need to consolidate some buildings so please urge the CEO and the school board to take every other cost-saving measure before making moves that are detrimental to our children's education our city stands to lose a lot with this move including significant portion of our young black Talent the John Hay schools that continually turn in some of the highest performances in the district including graduating students who attend IV every year they're not going to be able to maintain that kind of programming and those kinds of results s the Davis aeronautic school did you know that kids are flying drones right now on on a a frighter and they they can graduate with a pilot's license that's not going to happen if they don't have an extended calendar my sons are in fifth grade right now and we would love for them to attend Davis but part of the reason my daughter is in non-public school right now is because of this calendar change I welcome the opportunity to talk with anybody who wants to think about real solutions about this problem because it seems to have fallen on deaf ears when I speak at the Schoolboard meetings thank

evening everyone I'm Terry Wong former commissioner of the Cleveland Community police commission on March 18th I issued a taxpayer demand letter to law director Mark Griffin exposing the city's 2-year pattern of violating Charter section 115 when director Griffon finally responded he claimed the city had quote fully complied with the law and had appointed quote outstanding Commissioners let me dismantle that fiction the charter explicitly States quote no Police Association representative may have a record of police misconduct whether whether adjudicated or not yet last summer after 18 months of secrecy the city finally released Commissioner James tur's disciplinary records They prove his appointment was illegitimate even though he was the former Commander overseeing the investigation of the 137 shot Massacre and the killing of Tamir rice commissioner chura ignored Anan tol's plea for justice and stood by while I fac retaliation and intimidation for pursuing police accountability and now there's Sheila Mason a current commissioner that's been recently appointed this is a disciplinary letter I hold that confirms she has violated Trias Public Safety policies resulting in retraining a forced transfer and a written warning quote one more infraction and you could be fired she resigned from tricy within a year only to be later hired by woodmeere police who are in the process of fulfilling my records request so director Griffin and mayor these aren't outstanding appointments they're blatant Charter violations yet chura and Mason refuse to step down why because those in power like President uh council president bla Griffin choose to protect them your silence speaks volumes your power matters more than a working commission more than Justice more than the city you swore to serve this is not just corruption it is systemic deliberate and possibly a criminal conspiracy to dismantle civilian oversight across this nation people are condemning authoritarianism but here Cleveland's leaders enable it by ignoring the charter crushing the Democratic will of the people and silencing dissent here's how Cleveland can resists follow Mr Tober at new erore Cleveland on Instagram to witness how the system punishes people who report police misconduct follow me at commissioner Terry Wong for updates on char 115 and how to fortify against police interference Demand Action call bla Griffin Chris harsh Justin Bib and Mark Griffin tell them to remove chura and Mesa in the lease and restart the commission selection process please amplify this story expose the Betrayal of the people Charter 115 belongs to all of us and the people must unite to protect it thank

actually I want to thank all of you um multiple times you have passed levies that has um in as a cmsd teacher worked in my favor so thank you to all of you as the taxpayers um primarily I'm here to reiterate something that was already said uh mayor bib House Bill 525 gives you the authority to appoint the head ofand Cleveland Public Schools um with that being said House Bill 525 also created the Cleveland transformation Alliance um its goal was to grow a number of high performing buildings while closing low ones investing and phasing in educational reforms from prek to College and Career Readiness and here's the one that's really interesting shifting Authority and resources to individual schools um from the Northstar that was established uh by the Cleveland transformation Alliance they said that they want families to actively participate in continuously improving and evolving their schools to fit Community needs Cleveland students will have access to individualized opportunities to prepare them for to participate in society and Forge a meaningful path finally cmsd students will have access to Equitable education in schools that Inspire joy and learning what I find interesting is that standardization of our buildings is not going to do that if you ask me to if you ask me to differentiate in my classroom but then you won't do that for our buildings is it that differentiation doesn't work or is it that it does work and you don't want to face the hard discussion that as it's been seen that's not really an educ that's not really like cost benefit analysis we're now what a three star District uh as someone who teaches at Garrett Morgan we 3.5 star school I have the uh Joy of teaching 90-minute classes instead of the traditional 80 so I see the impact because my students recently for competition my freshman won again and we have the double projected amount at 113 they're supposed to do about 60,000 a month so that time does go to good use that instructional time so I think cutting it is going to severely damage the progress and the gains that we've already made it's going to go against house bills 525 as well as the Northstar that was established by the Cleveland transformation Alliance so again I would consider why are you asking me to differentiate if you're not going to do that for our buildings um the whole purpose of that was to cater our buildings that are more to the neighborhoods um max Hayes is very appropriate for the trades that it offers and it caters linguistically to the neighborhood just as Glenville um especially with the sports and whatnot having taught at both of those I can say that each building is diametrically different and has very different needs so to try and standardize it in the name of equity leaves a really bad taste in my mouth as a ninth grade English teacher uh thank you that's all

you all right thank you um and we're addressing um you ladies and gentlemen of City Hall and mayor BB because you have an actual human constituency we are also um addressing the cmsd board board of education but you answer to the people they answer to Mayor BB um and the people the students and staff of Newton de Baker were told um about two weeks ago that our school was going to be unceremoniously closed at the end of this school year due to gross uh disrepair and just general when roofs go bad they need replaced if you own a home your roof's going to go bad eventually and it's going to be replaced that's the way things work um but we were told it was impossible for the district which is perpetually broke by Design to repair the building and it was impossible to find a space for our 300 plus kids and our staff to continue to learn and teach together um what is possible I've lived in this city for 50 years I there I've seen things that I didn't think were possible Jacob's field was built in my adult life um a a new Brown Stadium was built in 1999 um the development of downtown University Circle gentrified areas of the near West Side um have been amazing and I knew there were business when the Metro Parks came in you can get get on a walking or bike path right at Michael J's zone go to Ohio city go to Tremont go to Irish B is that what it's called It's amazing I went down there and I'm like Oh my God look at all this money that they're dropping well that that's our money that's the children's money all development in this city is done on tax increment financing on the backs of the residents of this city um so so what is possible um what are our children worth I mean we drop over $2 million a year to rent two floors at 11-11 Superior when we basically gave away the Board of Education building got E6 in Rockwell um for for like $4 million maybe the most Prime real estate in the city to build a hotel for the RNC now we spend half of that yearly um but we can't get money to fix our roof we keep this school together this district is worried about data but they need to worry about the causation why do children learn because they're comfortable they feel love and there's Community thank you implore this board to keep our school open mayor B

Griffin fellow Council people I'm here tonight because I'm Gravely concerned about this money that the haslams are asking for to build this new stadium no public money should be used for that the stadium I mean no City money no County money or money from the state and I do have a question are the hlum is the hassum group taking us to court to force us to pay $1.2 billion as well as their legal fees for this project we all are aware that the Haims used the Modell law to purchase a team in Columbus and now they're trying to Interchange that law in favor of overturning the cleeveland position there I have another question if the hams are are successful where will the funds come from to demolish the present stadium and what will be the cost the the uh the Cleveland Cleveland and the County residents are already supplementing Sherman Williams we are committed to building a new jail in Garfield and when the project was presented the cost was 750 million how however however of March of this year the cost has gone up to 9 million and not one shovel has been put in the ground you know our property taxes were were raised you know like my property taxes went up 83% and I'm just going to give you a quick example I'll just say last year they were $1,000 this year is $1,830 so I mean so you I'm just thinking you did this was done I don't in order to supplement all of these projects that we're giving to the uh major corporations and and my question to you is how long will the major cooperations be allowed to bleed the poor City residents of all their money thank you for