CLEVELAND — Mayor Justin Bibb expressed plenty of optimism about Cleveland’s future during his annual State of the City event Wednesday afternoon.
But he also talked about what keeps him up at night.
“There are choppy headwinds facing Cleveland – and facing cities all across the country,” he said, reflecting on fast-and-furious policy changes in Washington, D.C., and federal spending cuts. “I gotta be honest. The last 90 days have been very hard for me as mayor. Very hard.”
Cleveland is bracing for the fallout from potential cost-cutting, which could lead to job losses at City Hall and impact everything from affordable housing to public safety.
City officials said uncertainty about federal spending is already making it hard to keep and hire employees in the community development department, for example, which relies heavily on funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“Just last night,” Bibb said, “I got an email stating that the Department of Justice may be cutting millions of dollars in our city around violence prevention. … Last week, met with the CEOs of MetroHealth and University Hospitals. If the Republican-led Congress budget proposal gets in place, it would decimate our health care infrastructure in Cleveland.”
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The mayor, who is up for reelection this year, said this is a time to fight back – and be resilient. He said the city needs to work more than ever with businesses and foundations to maintain momentum, with massive projects on the drawing board, including an overhaul of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and long-awaited lakefront development.
“Washington is not coming to save us,” Bibb told the audience at Public Auditorium. “I’ll say it again. Washington is not coming to save us.”
Here are other topics the mayor touched on during the hourlong event:
On lessons learned during his first term:
The mayor said he would give his administration a “B” grade so far. He said the city has made significant progress on public safety by raising pay for police officers, recruiting new cadets and working to curb violent crime. He also cited his team’s efforts to improve extremely outdated technology and processes at City Hall.
“I think one of the lessons I learned, early on, was in order to move fast and be effective, sometimes you have to slow down,” he said, citing an early dust-up over changes to the city's leaf-collection program that surprised him during his first year in office.
"For us to achieve the big things, like making sure we have world-class waterfronts in our city, we have to get the little things right, too," the mayor added. "And that requires listening. Bringing people along. And making sure we don’t make decisions in a vacuum.”
On the Cleveland Browns and Huntington Bank Field:
The mayor said he’s still trying to keep the Browns on the Downtown lakefront, even as the team advances its plans for a $2.4 billion enclosed stadium in Brook Park surrounded by a roughly $1 billion mixed-use district.
The General Assembly is weighing a proposal to borrow $600 million for the new stadium by issuing bonds tied to state tax revenues from the entire 176-acre Brook Park project.
The Ohio House recently included that funding in its version of the state budget bill. Now the debate has moved to the Senate. Lawmakers must finalize the state budget by the end of June.
The Browns are asking Cuyahoga County to issue $600 million worth of bonds for the new stadium, too. But County Executive Chris Ronayne insists that’s too much risk for the county to take on. He’s urging the Browns to stay put at city-owned Huntington Bank Field on the lakefront, instead.
“On this issue, the city of Cleveland and the county have been aligned,” Bibb said, expressing disappointment that the corporate community isn’t backing him up, since the Greater Cleveland Partnership isn't taking a position on the move.
“We’re gonna keep fighting to keep the Browns playing good or bad football on our lakefront,” Bibb said. “And if they do get the money (from the state), we’re gonna find a way to be resilient and keep Cleveland growing. Because hell or high water, we are gonna develop a world-class lakefront that our residents can be proud of, once and for all.”
Bibb acknowledged the deep emotional attachments that Clevelanders have to the Browns. But he said the voters he’s hearing from are worried about much bigger issues than where an NFL team plays.
“They care about their jobs. They care about their schools. They’re concerned about Medicaid and Medicare,” he said.
On public safety:
The mayor weighed in on the debate over the Downtown Safety Patrol, a special unit that the Cuyahoga County sheriff’s department launched in 2023.
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Cuyahoga County Council is weighing legislation that would bar the sheriff’s office from funding the unit. Council members cite concerns about costs, liabilities and a recent fatal high-speed chase. Ronayne has pushed back, saying that disbanding the unit would risk public safety.
Bibb agrees.
“It’s the wrong move,” he said of pulling funding for the unit. “Last time I checked, Cleveland was part of Cuyahoga County. And so goes the city, so goes the region.”
On education:
With the Cleveland Metropolitan School District facing a deficit and searching for ways to save $150 million over the next three years, cuts in school days and buildings are on the table.
The board of education is set to vote next week on moving all of Cleveland’s schools to a uniform calendar, eliminating extended-day, extended-year and year-round schedules. And the district is holding community meetings to lay the groundwork for closing buildings.
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“We have islands of excellence inside CMSD, but not a system of excellence quite yet. We’ve made great progress … but that progress has to come faster,” Bibb said. “But the biggest challenge we have right now is too many school buildings, not enough children.”
CMSD said it has enough schools for 50,000 students— but enrollment of only 34,000.
“It won’t be easy, folks,” Bibb said of closing schools and moving students and teachers around. “It won’t be easy. But if we do it the right way, with the community’s support, we can have one of the best public school districts in America.”
On Cleveland’s efforts to fight lead poisoning:
Bibb said the city and its partners at the Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition had the best intentions in 2019, when Cleveland passed a law requiring all residential rental properties to pass periodic tests showing they are lead-safe— not free of lead, but free of hazards.
“But what we’re finding out right now is we’ve made compliance really hard,” he said. “We’ve made it complicated for landlords and residents to access funding.”
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Last fall, Bibb signed an executive order to require more rigorous inspections for many properties, after several children tested positive for elevated lead levels in their blood despite living in homes that passed basic tests.
Bibb said the city is going to work with the coalition and City Council to improve the existing lead-safe law and get money out faster for lead remediation and home repairs. The solutions, he said, start with reducing bureaucracy at City Hall.
“We gotta control the internal chaos before we try to get external partners to lead the way,” he said.
On jobs and the economy:
Bibb said Cleveland needs a clear plan for growth — and job creation.
“If we’re blessed to get a second term, and as we approach our final year in this first term, it’s time to embrace a new economic agenda,” he said. “This is the Cleveland era, where we can build things in Cleveland. We’re making things in America again.”
He pointed to the efforts of the Cleveland Site Readiness for Good Jobs Fund, which is acquiring land and preparing sites for companies, with an eye on manufacturing. The city seeded the nonprofit with $50 million in federal pandemic-recovery money.
Bibb also mentioned lakefront and riverfront development, the looming $2 billion airport overhaul, and a recently launched investment fund focused on filling gaps in the housing market for low- and middle-income residents.
“My assignment ain't finished yet,” the mayor said. “There’s still more work to do.”
