Feb. 26: Cleveland City Council

Covered by Documenter Christina Easter (live-tweets)

Celebrating Shirley Chisholm

Cleveland City Council is considering changing the name of a park in Ward 9 to honor the late Shirley Chisholm.

In 1968, Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to Congress. Also known as “Fighting Shirley,” Chisholm introduced more than 50 pieces of legislation that “championed racial and gender equality, the plight of the poor and ending the Vietnam War.”

The Ward 9 park is currently named Moulton/Scoutway. New signage is expected, according to the ordinance.

Council Member Kevin Conwell, who represents Ward 9, sponsored the legislation. It needs council’s final approval.

‘Interconnected struggles’

Since October 2023, community members have packed City Hall at every Monday night City Council meeting to ask that council pass a Gaza ceasefire resolution. All five public commenters in this meeting spoke about the ongoing violence in Israel’s war on Gaza.

One speaker, Bayan Taweel, talked about Black History Month and the “interconnected struggles” faced by Black and Palestinian people.

“Though separated by geography, our shared aspirations for freedom, equality and justice bind us together in a common struggle,” said Taweel. She drew comparisons between the Civil Rights Movement and the current fight for Palestinian liberation.

“We are not stopping,” she said about calls for a ceasefire.

Grant funding for police

Council also referred legislation for committee discussion that would allow the city to accept a $3.75 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice as part of its COPS Hiring Program. The program is designed to hire 30 officers – six additional officers for each of the city’s five police districts – to focus on violent crime reduction for three years. 

The city would contribute about $4.5 million, bringing the total cost up to roughly $8.2 million. Officers hired through the program would be expected to attend community meetings and work with residents and stakeholders on community policing efforts, according to a legislative summary.

Read the live-tweet thread from Documenter Christina Easter:

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Service Journalism Reporter (she/her)
I am dedicated to untangling bureaucracy so Clevelanders can have the information (and the power) they want. I spent 10 years on the frontlines of direct service working with youth and system-impacted communities before receiving my degree in media advocacy at Northeastern University.

Cleveland Documenters pays and trains people to cover public meetings where government officials discuss important issues and decide how to spend taxpayer money.