Council Meeting Highlights

May 08, 2023

(Cleveland – May 8, 2023) - City Council held its regular Monday meeting tonight, both in person in Council Chambers and through live streaming.  The next regular meeting is May 15th. Here are tonight’s highlights:

Two Former Cleveland Schools to be Redeveloped: Council passed legislation allowing the city to acquire the Empire School property located at 9113 Parmalee Avenue and the Nathaniel Hawthorne School and property located at 3575 West 130th Street. Both schools will be conveyed to developers for new uses.  The Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) has 19 former school sites that CMSD no longer needs, where they are seeking opportunities for redevelopment. The sites include 12 with former school buildings, and 7 that are vacant land. The Empire School and the Hawthorne School are part of the twelve sites with existing school building to be reused in whole or in part. Ord. Nos. 1128-2021 and 1130-2021

Free Legal Help for Families Facing Eviction: Council approved legislation to provide $500,000 to the United Way of Greater Cleveland, as the lead partner organization, for the “Right to Counsel” initiative that provides free legal assistance to families facing eviction. Council developed the initiative which went into effect in June 2020. Council members had added $200,000 to the funding for United Way during the budget process, bringing the assistance to $500,000. Ord. No. 485-2023

Introduced:

Council tonight introduced legislation that will be funded by the American Rescue Plan Act to help Cleveland residents who’ve fallen behind on utility bills. Council has been intent to use the ARPA money and revenue recovery funds for tangible projects that improve or help Cleveland residents and neighborhoods.

Utility Amnesty Program: Legislation was introduced, if passed, will provide $2 million in assistance to eligible Cleveland Public Power (CPP) and Cleveland Water customers to reduce or eliminate outstanding balances. To qualify, CPP and Cleveland Water customers in the city must have an outstanding balance that date back to no later than March 2020 and must be signed up on a payment plan with the utilities. Councilman Brian Kazy, chair of the Utilities Committee, sponsored and advocated for this program. The funding is coming from the city’s American Rescue Plan Act allocation. Ord. No 595-2023