Justin Bibb and Laverne Jones Gore Answer Questions Ahead of 2025 Cleveland Mayoral Race

Cleveland voters will head to the polls on Nov. 4, 2025, to decide who will lead the city into its next chapter. The race features two candidates with distinct perspectives: incumbent Mayor Justin Bibb, who is seeking a second term after a tenure marked by ambitious investment and reform, and Laverne Jones Gore, a community leader and activist with a platform rooted in conservative values and neighborhood renewal. Bibb’s tenure has been marked by bold, data-driven efforts to reshape the city. A native of the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood, Bibb’s career has spanned both public service and the private sector, with roles in the Obama Senate office, Cuyahoga County government, Gallup, KeyBank and the urban innovation firm Urbanova. Jones Gore, who grew up in Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood as the youngest of nine children, built her career on education, community service, and advocacy. She has long maintained a home in Cleveland and deep ties to the city. She has worked as a radio host, led nonprofit organizations, organized food and clothing drives, and mentored young women through the Sarah J. Harper Leadership Institute. Both candidates participated in interviews with Cleveland Magazine, providing voters with a deeper look at their priorities, stories, and competing visions for Cleveland’s future.

What’s the most urgent challenge facing Cleveland right now, and what’s one concrete action you would take in your first 100 days to address it?

Bibb: “One of our major issues in the city of Cleveland continues to be affordability. Too many people are paid too little to afford the basics: a decent home, groceries, the bills and medical care — let alone have a little left over to enjoy all the great things our city has to offer. Although Cleveland is considered one of the more affordable cities in the country, we also have a median income well below the nation’s — $56,000 compared to $75,000. Housing is one of the biggest expenses families face. Within the first 100 days of my second term, I plan to build upon the progress we’ve made in making quality housing more affordable and accessible. We are working to bring a modular housing manufacturer to Cleveland to build six homes as part of a pilot project with Habitat for Humanity. The city has selected four finalists. This project will serve the dual purpose of building new affordable housing and creating good jobs for residents. Studies show that the leading cause of homelessness is the rising cost of living. Our Home For Every Neighbor Program has placed nearly 200 formerly unhoused Clevelanders in homes. We will also ramp up our efforts through the Residents First Program, which holds absentee and neglectful landlords accountable and has helped revitalize long-neglected buildings.”

Jones Gore: “First of all, when you talk about the first 100 days, even though we've spent time and energy walking all the wards and seeing every single ward, until you get into that building and until you see what's happening there, the first 100 days is a search engine. You have to find out what's been going on. If, in fact, you don't know what's going on. Just getting in there saying, I'm going to change, I'm going to change, I'm going to change, leaves the city in a position that no one actually knows what happened. We have to find out what happened. So I think investigation. But the biggest thing that's going on here in Cleveland, in my neighborhood, and in neighborhoods across the city, is crime. I know that the mayor has said it has been reduced by 50%. If it's been reduced by 50% then we must have been a war zone, because this is really bad now. The city is getting out of control. We have street takeovers. We have motorbikes. I just had my car broken into in my driveway. They didn't take the car. They just busted the window and took the contents. Right in my driveway. I am sure if it's happening here in my neighborhood, it's happening everywhere. People are afraid to walk the streets at night. They are afraid. They're afraid that something as simple as their lawn furniture won't be there the next day. So I think the biggest thing in the 100 days is we've got to get the crime under control. We have to meet and we have to talk to our policing authorities. We have to talk to our neighborhoods, and express to them our concern and commitment to reducing the crime factor.”

How would you address public safety and police-community relations, particularly in light of recent initiatives such as the RISE program? How would you improve public safety across Cleveland neighborhoods, and what role should regional collaboration play in addressing crime that crosses city boundaries?

Bibb: “I am extremely proud of our record on safety. We’ve taken an all-of-the-above approach to building stronger, safer communities from the ground up — and it’s working. We’ve cut Cleveland’s homicide rate nearly in half since I took office. Compared to last year, homicides are down 29%, rapes by 18%, robberies by 22%, and aggravated assaults by 15%. Our approach not only includes putting more officers on the street, especially in hotspots, and raising their pay. We’ve also collaborated with the county Sheriff’s Department and state police when appropriate. As we grapple with fewer resources from the state and federal government, local governments must collaborate so we can continue to serve our communities. I expect to continue finding ways to work together.”

Jones Gore: “We have to look at the education system, because we don't have a situation here in Cleveland where we are succeeding at anything. I know we've got pretty lofty plans that come up in every magazine and every newspaper about what we're doing and how we're doing it, and how exciting it is. But the reality of the situation is, we have abandoned houses, we have all kinds of things going on in our neighborhoods. I understand the commitment to downtown development, because I'm excited about downtown development. But we have to start paying attention to our neighborhoods. So as I’ve said, my focus will be on crime in the neighborhoods. And let me just put in a little plug about our educational system. One of the reasons we can't bring people here into Cleveland is that we have a 66% illiteracy rate.”

How do you plan to tackle housing affordability and homelessness, and what changes (if any) would you make to current efforts like the “Home for Every Neighbor” initiative?

Bibb: “Housing affordability is a major issue across the country and has everything to do with supply and demand. We need more housing options. Working with Cleveland City Council, we have invested more than $100 million from the American Rescue Plan Act into housing - everything from apartments to new affordable homes to supportive housing. But we know those investments take time and therefore I’m so proud of the Home for Every Neighbor Program. There were times during my childhood when we were struggling and weren’t sure we could make the rent. Fortunately, we had my grandmother to take us in. I know what it’s like to wonder about whether or not you’ll have a roof over your head. The Home for Every Neighbor Program has been successful because people can’t job hunt, make it to appointments, or take care of their family when they don’t have a stable place to stay. We pair participants with a case manager who helps them get the support they need. Instead of typical housing programs, we don’t force people to jump through hoops to get a home. All someone needs to qualify is to be homeless. I plan to work with City Council to expand the program in my second term.”

Jones Gore: “This is a great town. It's a great town, but we can't afford to continue to let someone sell us on dreams. The future is important, but let's deal with what's happening right now. Yes, we want walking cities. Yes, we like green spaces. We want all of those things to happen. The climate is important. The environment is important. All of those things are important, but we have to deal with what's going on right now. And right now, it's crime, affordable housing, and we have an uneducated population. Those are the things that're happening right now. There are things that need to be focused on. And sometimes noticing those things comes with maturity. Comes with the maturity of owning a home. It comes with the maturity of raising children. Being a parent is not easy. It's just not easy. And especially when you have a poverty situation like we have in Cleveland. You have a lot of single parents here. You have grandparents raising their grandchildren. And how do you fix it all? You start with one thing you do right, but you’ve got to focus on it. Because, as a parent, you have to believe that it's going to get better tomorrow, but right now, you’ve got to focus on today. So I think the city is like that, but it takes maturity. The city needs a mother. The city needs someone who cares about them, who's willing to take the hard times on and say, ‘hey, it's going to get better, but today, we've got to do this.’ And today, I know we’re experiencing some bad times. We don't have any hope here. And we don't have hope because we have a leadership that doesn't provide that for us, because that leadership has not gone through the trials. As for A Home for Every Neighbor, well, according to a lot of the press reports, we were supposed to have gotten home for 100 and some neighbors. Let me tell you something, this is not a problem that I'm going to solve. What we're going to do is we're going to sort through a lot of the problems that we're having with homelessness. It's the fact that we have some mental illness, we have some drug addiction, and those are the kinds of things that I am prepared to say have to be remedied as well. There is no single answer. We have to plan. We have to say, ‘hey, we need some help with mental health. We need some help with drug addiction.’ We also need some help with single-parent mothers who are not capable of making the rent. We got a lot of apartment buildings out here, and some of them aren't occupied. I want to know why. Why can't they go into those apartment buildings? Where is the affordable part of the apartment buildings? People can't afford to pay rent. And there’s got to be something we can do. I was in CMH housing, and I was getting petitions signed there and saw tons of empty apartments that haven't been maintained. And I plan on calling the housing director and finding out what the problem is, what's going on?”

Cleveland’s lakefront is often described as a missed opportunity. How would you create a more accessible and vibrant waterfront that serves both city residents and suburban visitors?

Bibb: “I’ve secured $150 million to transform Cleveland’s lakefront into a regional asset we can be proud of. Our plan creates new accessible public green spaces along the lake for everyone to enjoy. We’ve also asked developers for proposals for mixed-use development in 50 acres of prime lakefront real estate. And we will ensure people in Cleveland and beyond can enjoy all our new lakefront has to offer with a centralized multimodal hub that links rail, bus, bike, pedestrian, and freight systems.”

Jones Gore: “There are only 10 freshwater lakes in the world, right? Ten, and guess what? We got one of them, Lake Erie, right here. That lakefront down there is such a missed opportunity. We have to develop that. We border international waters. There should be all kinds of things happening here. There should be trade happening here. There should be lakefront development. But you can't do that if all you're thinking about is green space. We have to create a commerce situation here. The commerce situation is going to come from that lake. It is not only a missed opportunity, it is THE missed opportunity of the region. Not only for the fact that it's one of the 10 freshwater lakes, but because it's doing nothing. And we have an opportunity there, and I know we can present lofty plans for what's going to happen in 2030, but this is 2025, and we’ve already had four years to plan. It's almost like God gave this lake to us, and we look at it every day, and we do nothing with it. But six weeks before an election, we all of a sudden have drawings, we have renderings. I know the lake is important, and not just for the entertainment part of it. I know Cleveland is a jewel. I know Cleveland can be everything. The world is running out of water, and guess what we have? We have a freshwater lake right here. That lake is important to us, and lakefront development is how we will win.”

Do you plan on continuing to try to get the Browns to stay where they are? If they move to the suburbs, what is the vision for the site?

Bibb: “I’ve made my stance on the Browns clear: They belong in Cleveland on the lake. However, my priority is delivering a world-class lakefront for the residents of Cleveland, and I am committed to that goal with or without the Browns. The City is working with our nonprofit partner, North Coast Waterfront Development Corporation, to identify development partners that will work with us over the next years and decades to deliver a vibrant, connected lakefront.”

Jones Gore: “When you're talking about vision for that site, that site's been down there, right? This is just what I can sense, because they didn't invite me to be at any of the meetings when they were talking about moving the Browns. The NFL owners came, the senators came, the congressmen came, and all of that happened. But we could have negotiated differently to maybe keep them in the beginning. I think it was a pissing contest. It could have been talked out, but one thing led to another, and then we got to the point of the team leaving. Then the governor got involved in it. Everybody got involved in it. But that's immaturity, because nobody said, ‘Hey, let's stop and think about this. Let's stop and think about this.’ Cleveland is the heart of this region. I love this city. I grew up in it, and I plan on dying here. Cleveland is the heart of this region. If you stop the heart of the region, the body will not last long. You can't just decide you're going to take everything from Cleveland because you're mad at what's happening. So now we need to talk about joint economic development. We need to talk about if you take the Browns to Brook Park, then we need to figure out how the region manages to maintain itself. Right now, all we’ve done is stall them, because I can't imagine that the Haslam Group hasn’t thought about and investigated all possible scenarios. So what you've done is stall it. You stall it and cost people more money, and it just gets back to that pissing contest. We have to move forward.”

What is your strategy for attracting new businesses to Cleveland, and how would you ensure that economic growth benefits the broader region as well?

Bibb: “Cleveland benefited greatly from the influx of federal COVID aid. I have strategically set aside portions of those funds to lay the groundwork for a new era of economic revitalization. One example is allocating $50 million to create the Site Readiness For Good Jobs Fund. The Fund works with the Cuyahoga Land Bank, JobsOhio, The Cleveland Foundation, community development corporations and other groups across the city to attract and retain employers. The Fund’s goal is to restore 1,000 acres of vacant brownfields for new factories and accessible jobs, leading to the creation of 25,000 jobs by 2040. We are already seeing it spearhead new and innovative projects in our city. For example, the Site Readiness Fund is supporting efforts to bring a modular home manufacturer to Cleveland, creating housing and jobs. We are also taking a leadership role on business growth and attraction with a new team at the city, solely focused on bringing new businesses to the city with a concierge-level of service. Finally, we have modernized our systems within City Hall to streamline permits, incentive applications, and our land bank on one integrated technology platform. These efforts will bring thousands of accessible jobs for our residents as well as reduce blight in our neighborhoods.”

Jones Gore: “First, we have to get this crime under control. We have to get this crime under control, and we have to educate the population. I have to get inside those schools and find out what's wrong. I managed to get out of Cleveland schools from a poor black family, with the National Honor Society. And I went to a college at Claremont Colleges. I managed to complete my degree in economics, and I went on to get my master's in education. Then I went on to get my public Master's in Public Health, all from John Adams High School. So how did we get to here? I have got to go find out what happened. I know something's wrong if crime is up, if we have no affordable housing, we have an illiterate population, and we have no energy here toward a lakefront with fresh water. Cleveland is worth saving. Cleveland can flourish. I plan on presenting an idea to Washington and Columbus that this is the Emerald City on the lake. Cleveland is that, and I want them to buy into it. Let's go tell them about what we want to do here. Let's go tell them about our city. I assure you, once I am elected, we will get the help. If I have to call on every citizen in Cleveland to do their part, to do their part, make some noise, and we're going to make some noise because we need the help. We've got talented people here. We've got major hospital systems. We've got football, baseball, basketball - these major league teams here. We have a world-class orchestra. We have an art museum and a history museum. We've got everything better than New York has because, you know, we're smaller and we don't talk about any of it. We've got to start talking about Cleveland. We've got to start talking about how excited we are about our city. Because when you talk to people and you realize all of the things we have, this is a great city. It just has poor leadership, and it's been like that for a while.”

What is your approach to economic development, and how will you ensure growth benefits all neighborhoods, including historically underserved ones?

Bibb: “We’re making sure the development boom isn’t just happening on the Lakefront and Downtown – although that’s important. I’m directing funds to seed businesses on the South East Side as well – so people there have places to shop, bank, and go out to eat. We created a team of neighborhood investment managers to reach out to small businesses across our city to provide support. Because unions are the best way to shrink the race and gender wealth gap, I embraced Project Labor Agreements for publicly funded projects. I’m also working with partners to create more pipelines into good-paying union jobs through apprenticeship and preapprenticeship programs. I plan to double down on these efforts in my next term.”

Jones Gore: “We have D-rated schools. We can't accept that. That's unacceptable. That means that if we want to attract businesses at entry-level positions, and they can't read and they can't get through the school system, then what do we really have? What do we have to offer? And I think the school system should be focused on more of the trades, electrical, plumbing. Those are the new and up-and-coming jobs that we have at the entry level and sustainable level. I understand the need for green space, but I also understand the need for people to eat. We have to look at affordable housing. Not everybody can pay $1200 and up for rent because we don't have the jobs that will sustain that. So you see how it all works out, and that we have a spiraling situation. So if you've got crime and you've got a poor educational system and you have unskilled workers, then your attraction for businesses goes out the window.”

As remote work continues to affect downtown activity and office vacancies, what is your plan for revitalizing commercial real estate and increasing foot traffic in the city center?

Bibb: “Our Shore-to-Core-to-Shore initiative will attract more businesses and residents downtown by spurring new development, especially on underutilized and vacant land. By opening up access to our lakefront and riverfront for all residents, we will make downtown an even more compelling place to live, work, and visit. Bedrock has already broken ground on its new practice facility with the Cavs and the Cleveland Clinic on the Cuyahoga River, and plans for lakefront redevelopment will transform our downtown. The City has taken an innovative approach to financing by adopting a tax-increment financing (TIF) district over its downtown, leveraging a tool that has been successfully used by Columbus and Cincinnati to revive their downtowns and neighborhoods. Over 42 years, the TIF District is estimated to generate between $3.3B and $7.5B for public infrastructure like parks, roads, and lakefront access.”

Jones Gore: “I won't lie to you, I like working in my pajamas. Who doesn't, right? But the reality of it is, restaurants and hotels need people out. We have an economy in our country, not just in Cleveland, in our country, that was built on activity. I also think the socialization of the population is very important as well. I think you miss something when you're not going out and greeting people and meeting people. I think Americans are social. I think that our society misses when we take that away. I don't deny anybody wanting to work at home, because it's fun, it's nice, cool, but we need to get back busy. And that's just how I feel, and people are going to not agree with me, but the benefits will be for the restaurants, hotels, and we'll get our economy moving. Maybe more people will be employed because we come back to work and we institute a thriving economy. You know, everybody has to be a part of this. Cleveland is at a point where we all have to be active and involved in order to rejuvenate our city.”

Many future-facing projects will need to account for sustainability and climate resilience. How would you ensure the city is planning for long-term environmental and infrastructure challenges?

Bibb: “I have been very vocal about my commitment to making Cleveland a cleaner, healthier, more resilient city. We are committed to moving to 100 percent clean and renewable energy sources by 2050. On Earth Day this year, my administration released a comprehensive update to our city's climate action plans in collaboration with community members, businesses and nonprofit stakeholders. These plans outline our pathways forward to benefit Clevelanders, creating 1,200 jobs annually, preventing asthma cases and premature deaths from respiratory diseases, and saving residents $2.2 million per year through home energy efficiency programs and electrification. Last year, our recycling program processed more than 5,000 tons of material. We also started a food scrap drop-off composting program. Taking inspiration from the “15-minute city” concept, I have also worked hard to encourage transportation alternatives, installing new bike lanes and traffic calming measures. My goal is make sure every Cleveland resident can easily walk to get their daily needs met.”

Jones Gore: “We’re spending millions on bike paths and walkways. But we have got start focusing on the people. We have got to do that. We can't just keep talking about all this lofty stuff and it's not nonsense, because the environment is extremely important to the sustainability of any society. There's room for that too. But right now, I've got to fix the leaks, and we've got a lot of those leaks in Cleveland that need our focus.”

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