CLEVELAND — Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb delivered his state of the city address Wednesday to mark his first 100 days in office.
Bibb delivered the address at Maltz Performing Arts Center at 7 p.m. and was candid about early improvements he's made and some of the issues he could have handled better during the first three-plus months of his administration.
He made it clear city safety is his highest priority and pledged to increase staffing levels within all city safety forces.
“We are budgeting for 80 cadets from 3 classes to graduate in the Cleveland Division of Police, 80 cadets from two classes from the Cleveland Division of fire, and 35 cadets from class from EMS,” Bibb said. “The division of police is running frequent violent crimes task force operations, focusing on crime of violence, gang activity, and drug enforcement.”
Bibb also talked about the progress being made in setting up the community-based Cleveland Police Commission, improving enforcement of city lead rental registration at Cleveland rental units, legislation that will assist the financial future of the West Side Market and planning to improve the Cleveland lakeshore, including studying the future of Burke Lakefront Airport.
“Studying various ways we might extend our fragmented malls to the lake, continued progress in the revitalization on Irishtown Bend and finally exploring the future of Burke Lakefront airport as well too,” Bibb said.
Bibb also admitted the city snow removal effort needs additional improvement after a rough effort during the Jan. 15 snowstorm, along with improvements in the city 311 and resident city hall hotlines.
“We learned the hard way that our policies were outdated, that our people didn’t have enough equipment and our processes were incomplete, but the truth is we fell short, and I fell short,” Bibb said.
“People are confused about which phone number to call, and when they do call, they don’t have the confidence that someone will call them back.”
You can watch the full address in the player below:
On the Voices for Change podcast, recorded in our station’s podcast studio on April 6, 2022, Bibb joined News 5 Anchor Danita Harris to share what his first 100 days have been like so far — the highs, the lows, the challenges and the unexpected.
RELATED: Q-and-A: Mayor Justin Bibb looks back on first 100 days in office
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