Mayor Justin Bibb has taken on big projects in his first two years running City Hall. He wants to develop the shorelines of both Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River. And he and City Council have put $50 million away to assemble land for job sites.
But a mayor has to handle the little things, too.
During the 2021 mayor’s race, two Bibb promises seemed like little things, or low-hanging fruit – at least to those outside City Hall. One was removing jersey barriers at Public Square. The other: allowing credit card payments at Cleveland’s coin-only parking meters, which candidate Bibb had once held up as an example of “quick wins.”
As it turned out, the fruit was higher on the branch than it had appeared. The city succeeded in launching a smart parking option this October, a year after issuing requests for proposals. But the concrete barriers still stand in the heart of downtown, and they will remain for months, at the least.
“It’s sometimes hard to slay through the bureaucracy as quickly as you want,” Bibb said. “Particularly as the first new administration in nearly two decades with the challenge of hiring new staff and having the capacity to deliver, but also making sure that we bring others along like City Council.”
Bibb spoke with Signal Cleveland recently about his time in office so far. In the second part of that interview, Bibb addresses Public Square bollards, morale in the Division of Police, a housing code overhaul and his proposed ban on flavored tobacco.
Mr. Mayor, tear down these jersey barriers
Concrete jersey barriers have spoiled the image of Public Square since Mayor Frank Jackson’s administration installed them in 2017. Although the barriers are taken away for events, they’re hauled back into place afterward.
In his third month as mayor, Bibb introduced legislation to replace the barriers with small metal poles known as bollards. In the many months since then, the idea has cycled through the Cleveland Planning Commission and the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority board.
It will get done. But I want it done the right way.
Mayor Justin Bibb on replacing jersey barriers with bollards on Public Square
The $3.4 million project will fix damage left by RTA buses and install bollards to stop vehicles from driving onto the square at several locations. Retractable bollards called raptors will let the city shut down Superior Avenue for events.
“Could I have gotten an easy fix on jersey barriers? Yes,” Bibb said. “But I wanted the right fix. The right fix. And we didn’t anticipate how much structural damage was done to Public Square because those barriers had been up for years. There was damage to the concrete, damage to the utility lines.”
The planning commission signed off on the bollard plan in May of this year. Now, like many others during the holidays, Cleveland has been waiting for its packages to arrive.
“Now we’re seeing some supply chain issues that have delayed the progress there, but it will get done,” the mayor said. “But I want it done the right way.”
The jersey barriers may continue eclipsing the view at Public Square through the April 2024 total solar eclipse. A City Hall spokesperson said construction likely will not start until after the astronomical event, which is expected to draw big crowds to Cleveland.
The ‘ongoing challenge’ of police morale
As a candidate, Bibb said police officers had told him of a “breakdown in morale” within the force – a lack of respect and accountability, he said.
“A lack of respect in terms of the resources that they need to do their job on a daily basis,” Bibb told Ideastream Public Media in 2021. “There’s this sense that it is not a meritocracy.”
At the time, the police union was agitating for the removal of Mayor Frank Jackson’s safety director, Karrie Howard, over his disciplinary decisions. As mayor, Bibb retained Howard and has stood by him.
In his interview with Signal Cleveland, Bibb described police morale as a work in progress. He said his administration had taken steps to improve the environment for officers, such as by allowing police to sport ball caps and beards.
For a lot of the officers, they want to be accountable, but they also want to have the freedom to do their job, but in a constitutionally appropriate way.
Mayor Justin Bibb
Along with pay increases, City Hall and the police unions have agreed to 12-hour shifts rather than 10-hour ones, a change Bibb said is meant to reduce mandatory overtime.
“Have we fixed morale? No,” the mayor said. “It’s an ongoing challenge.”
The city is also working out disciplinary changes with police unions and the U.S. Department of Justice, which forced a police reform deal with Cleveland in 2015. The changes – which Bibb called “minor” and “tangential” – would give more protection to police whose lower-level infractions are uncovered during investigations focused on different officers.
The Division of Police is roughly 300 officers short of its budgeted strength as it struggles to keep up with attrition. Offering more competitive pay is part of the staffing equation, Bibb said.
But there is also “angst” about Issue 24, the civilian oversight amendment passed by voters in 2021, he said. The mayor said he understood officers’ concerns about possible excessive discipline, even as he still believed in the “spirit” of Issue 24.
“For a lot of the officers, they want to be accountable, but they also want to have the freedom to do their job,” Bibb said, “but in a constitutionally appropriate way.”
A gut rehab for city housing codes
The mayor wants to revamp Cleveland’s housing codes to curb wayward landlords, particularly those who live far afield.
New rules would require landlords who live outside of Cuyahoga County to maintain a local agent who is legally responsible for the property. Buyers of vacant homes would have to put $5,000 into escrow to deal with code violations. The city would be able to issue $200 civil tickets for certain nuisances, streamlining a process that currently winds through Cleveland Housing Court.
“Now, you have out-of-state landlords buying vacant property and doing just enough and making a profit without any real standards in terms of the quality of that housing stock,” Bibb said. “That’s unacceptable. We need more tools of accountability to address this issue.”
The suite of reforms, dubbed “Residents First” by the administration, is now pending with City Council. As Cleveland Scene reported recently, the real estate industry is getting nervous.
Short staffing in Cleveland’s Department of Building and Housing could drag down the administration’s ambitions. This week, the city reallocated $700,000 in personnel dollars out of the Division of Code Enforcement – evidence the head count is below full strength.
Building and Housing Director Sally Martin O’Toole is preparing additional requests for next year’s budget, the mayor said.
“We want to make sure that we are staffed up and ready to go to really execute this legislation effectively,” he said.
No lucky strike for mayor on flavored tobacco ban
Bibb has been pushing to ban flavored tobacco sales in Cleveland. So far, he has not swayed City Council to his side.
The mayor calls such a ban a “moral issue.” His administration has embraced a marketing effort that accuses tobacco companies of targeting kids and Black consumers. Bibb has met with Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids leaders in Washington, D.C., and cut a video for the organization.
“We can talk all day about Cleveland’s health disparities and about how we want to declare racism a public health crisis,” Bibb told Signal Cleveland. “But we need real substantive public policy to put meat behind these declarations.”
We need to make sure that we are hearing from all sides.
Council President Blaine Griffin on the mayor’s proposed flavored tobacco ban
Council is less enthusiastic, to say nothing of Cleveland’s retailers. Council President Blaine Griffin has said that he’d prefer a countywide ban over a city-only one. At a late-November caucus meeting, Griffin warned members not simply to go with the flow of those lobbying the body.
“We don’t need to be pushing policy just because some group wants us to do it,” Griffin said. “We need to make sure that we are hearing from all sides.”
The tobacco tussle has put Bibb’s lobbying abilities to the test. The mayor tried to persuade council members in a round of phone calls in September. Other advocates have kept up the pressure. But now the year’s legislating has come to a close, and the tobacco ban still hasn’t caught fire.
So how will the mayor win council over?
“Keep making my case,” Bibb said.
Does he think members will listen?
Bibb repeated himself: “I’m going to keep making my case.”
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