Preceding numerous upcoming major events like the total solar eclipse and the NCAA Women’s Final Four Championship, this year's State of the City address landed at a momentous time of year for Cleveland.
Mayor Justin Bibb highlighted the city's accomplishments and bright spots, while also acknowledging challenges and his upcoming plans for the city.
"As a son of this city, I've witnessed too often, in others, a feeling that we are a city past our prime; a sense that our best days are behind us," Bibb said. "But I strongly push back on that thinking every chance I get. It's a big reason why I ran for mayor in the first place."
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The event, which the City Club of Cleveland hosted at Playhouse Square's Mimi Ohio Theatre, featured updates from the first half of Bibb's term as mayor.
Twice during his speech, Bibb was interrupted by pro-Palestine activists. At one point, Bibb paused while a protester shouted "Mayor Bibb, you can't hide, you're supporting genocide."
Earlier, the first time a protester interrupted the speech, Bibb asked for applause from the audience. "Let's clap our hands for freedom of speech in our country."
In his speech, Bibb focused on technological achievements, like the city's smart parking system, the new city website and efforts to digitize and to open data and records requests. He also highlighted the city's work with nonprofit DigitalC to expand broadband access to all Clevelanders.
He drilled into housing reform, with legislation like Residents First, which aims to hold absentee landlords accountable. And he highlighted a $15 million investment of American Rescue Plan Act funds to the city's southeast side.
Then, there was safety — a key topic of Bibb's administration, and of the afternoon. Bibb cited his RISE (Raising Investment in Safety for Everyone) initiative, which was designed to recruit and to retain law enforcement. Bibb said the efforts have paid off: There's been a 45% uptick in applications to join the police force.
"This past Monday, I welcomed a new class of 52 cadets to the police academy," Bibb said. "This is larger than the previous four classes combined."
He also commented on the city's new EMS hires, 19 new ambulances, the new $10 million neighborhood safety fund, the work of the city's crisis intervention team and the expansion of ShotSpotter — a controversial gunshot detection system that was installed and has been active in Cleveland for the past few years. Bibb says that the system has helped save 40 lives. Overall, homicides have decreased in Cleveland by 14% since the pandemic.
"When you look at the nature of gun violence in our city, and the fact that in many cases, folks don't dial 911, having that technology is so important," Bibb said. "It's not just the technology that's important, but it's the intelligence surrounding that technology.
"This is what modern, intelligent policing in the 21st century looks like," Bibb said.
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"Now, I want to be crystal clear that as my administration works to support, recruit and retain officers, we remain steadfastly committed to police reform and doing the hard work to get out from under the consent decree," Bibb said.
Bibb talked about supporting the mental and physical health of Cleveland children, citing his moves to ban flavored tobacco products, expand home lead inspections, and help launch of the Youth Mental Health Workforce Development Sprint Task Force. He also touched on education and his administration's aims to make updates to Cleveland school buildings and resources.
"Our schools were built in an era when Cleveland's population was triple the size," Bibb said. "We are overdue to adjust for the here and now."
When it came to the lakefront, Bibb noted that the current lakefront development plan, managed by the North Coast Waterfront Development Corporation, followed ... at least a few others.
"Now, I know that in the last 100 years, there have been dozens upon dozens upon dozens of lakefront plans since Tom Johnson, I think," Bibb said, "but I'm confident that this is the plan."
After the speech, Bibb and Cleveland State University President Laura Bloomberg breezed through a Q&A session, including a couple of video questions from Cleveland residents.
"The state of our city is strong," Bibb said, to wrap up his speech, "and we're just getting started."
Check out the speech below:
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