The Cleveland Clinic has a present for city recreation centers: 15 Peloton bicycles.
The hospital system used the stationary bikes in a clinical trial testing how healthy seniors at genetic risk of Alzheimer’s disease responded to high-intensity exercise. The trial is over, and the Clinic is parting with the high-end bikes.
The bikes will go to four Cleveland recreation centers: Collinwood, Estabrook, Cudell and Glenville-James Hubbard. Officials from the hospital and City Hall signed a memo about the gift this week.
Although the Clinic is providing the bikes, cyclists will have to come up with their own exercise routines. The gift does not include subscriptions to Peloton’s online spin classes.
Crunch time for Cleveland’s budget
Budget hearings are over. Now it’s time for Cleveland City Council and Mayor Justin Bibb to reconcile their differences and pass a spending plan for 2025.
The city charter mandates a strict schedule for finalizing a budget, complete with readings at three council meetings. That means there’s no time to waste. In past years, final-hour reconciliation negotiations have gone into the weekend.
Earlier this week, Council President Blaine Griffin said he wanted to avoid that outcome this year.
“Prayerfully, we can put some legislation together and begin to kick off the budget being read three times – it has to be read three times – before April 1,” he said.
Griffin may be praying for a smooth end to the budget season, but that doesn’t mean he can multiply the loaves and fishes of city revenue. The council president warned his colleagues not to make big asks for new spending if they can’t say where the money would come from.
“One more time, everybody, please don’t send me $25 million or $30 million worth of requests,” he said.
One of the budget readings would happen at a special meeting March 18, Griffin said. Council would forgo a meeting on Monday, March 17, to avoid the crush of St. Patrick’s Day revelers downtown.
A St. Patrick’s Day council meeting wouldn’t be much fun anyway. As signs at the Willard Garage note, there’s no tailgating allowed in the City Hall parking lot.
