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We all deserve safe, healthy, vibrant neighborhoods with quality, responsive services. I’ve helped Mayors across the country strengthen neighborhoods, and worked with local leaders on strategies to do it here. As your Mayor, I’ll work with every single neighborhood to customize a plan and allocate resources that will do the job and meet people’s needs.
Safety & Justice
Cleveland has more police per resident than Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo, Akron, Indianapolis, Detroit, and Buffalo. But it’s not working. We must be smart about new resources to improve public safety with a new model of policing and act quickly to lower crime and gun violence with evidence-based programs to stop violence before it starts. We can't have safety and justice without police accountability.
- Ensure more well-trained police are on the street - Get most of our police out from behind desks, where half our cops work today, and retrain and re-assign them for neighborhood policing. We have the resources. We have to re-allocate them for safety.
- Add a Mental Health option to 911, to ensure mental health and crisis specialists as co-first responders, and neighborhood safety teams to prevent crime before it happens, and make our seniors, families, youth, and businesses safer.
- Double down on a co-responder model by expanding the ADAMHS Board pilot citywide to ensure mental health support and crisis intervention are working with the Cleveland Division of Police to address the root causes of crime and incidents involving drug abuse, mental illness and domestic violence receive the right response and are connected to social services.
- Fully commit to proven models of violence interrupter programs, and scale across all five police districts to stop violence before it starts.
- Beef up the Police Intelligence Unit to target violent offenders, appoint a dedicated Officer for Gun Intelligence and move away from hot spot methodologies that rely on racial profiles and result in overpoliced neighborhoods.
- Increase the number of detectives in the Homicide Unit to ensure justice is served for victims of crime.
- Ban homemade ghost guns that are untraceable and increase penalties if used in violent crimes to target gun dealers and prevent gun trafficking.
- Fight for better gun laws and stronger enforcement, background checks, incentives to turn guns in, and tough penalties for gun crimes and illegal sales. We must take the fight to the state and federal level and strategically join lawsuits against the gun merchants and their lobbyists.
- Focused deterrence that targets police resources towards the 1% of individuals who commit the majority of crimes.
- End cash bail for non-violent misdemeanors, to decriminalize poverty.
- Fund successful re-entry programs like Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry’s “Project Care” that once offered citizens returning from prison the opportunity to transition back into society.
Police Accountability
Police misconduct has cost Cleveland nearly $30 million over the last decade. Trust is broken and the only way to restore it is by insisting on better training and stronger citizen oversight of police. As the son of a police officer, this is personal to me, too. We can’t have public safety and true justice without more police accountability, that’s why I support the Citizens for a Safer Cleveland ballot initiative. Comprehensive, citizen-led oversight will lead to police reform, improve law enforcement, save taxpayers’ money, rebuild trust, and most importantly save lives.
- Create a truly independent, citizen-led oversight board, I am the only candidate who has endorsed this year’s Citizens for a Safer Cleveland ballot initiative (Issue 24) on police accountability. It will strengthen the Community Police Commission in the federal consent decree initiated by Mayor Jackson in 2015, and make it the final authority on police discipline.
- Recommit to enforce the Consent Decree, the Federal Consent Decree on the CPD must be met top to bottom to achieve less crime, total accountability, and real transparency. Community Police Commission members must be able to speak transparently about issues like police violence and mass incarceration, without reprisal.
- Mandate yearly racial and gender equity training and incentivize development for all our public safety workers to increase standards for policing with justice.
- Post video of all use-of-force incidents within seven days to increase accountability and transparency, similar to legislation proposed in Akron.
Jobs & Economic Recovery
As we come out of this pandemic, we have an opportunity to lead an inclusive economic recovery that creates high-paying, sustainable, lasting jobs in our neighborhoods to support small businesses and entrepreneurs. The American Rescue Plan funds represent a once-in-a-lifetime chance to invest in our neighborhoods and develop a target set of investment priorities to ensure our economy fully recovers and works for everyone.
- Establish an Office of Economic Recovery to develop a targeted set of priorities to invest American Rescue Plan funds to deliver immediate relief and build strategically for future growth
- Fight for a living wage for everyone working for local and area employers
- Ensure that good jobs in development zones are accessible to residents, and not just downtown and support CDC neighborhood revitalization programs to help every neighborhood grow their local economy
- Put local businesses and workers first in line for city contracts; make tax incentives equitable for neighborhoods; and use American Recovery Act funds to expand small business jobs.
- Match employers and educators with a user-friendly system to fill the 50,000 available jobs in our regional economy with training for Cleveland residents
- Focus on supporting neighborhood, minority and women-owned businesses by increasing grants for storefront improvements, connecting local businesses to the digital economy and directing community development dollars.
High-Quality Education
I admire the work our educators have done, and the real progress they are making in ensuring every student graduates ready for college, the military, and jobs. These are ideas, not prescriptions, that I offer to support and discuss with the CEO and school stakeholders.
I know the Mayor’s role is not to write the curriculum, program, or community engagement plan. It is, however, to speak up and speak out about challenges, achievements, and public accountability. I will work together with CMSD to help them dig out of a pandemic-related crisis that compounded the difficulties in overcoming social and economic conditions. I will offer constructive ideas, an active presence, and strong leadership to help stimulate and sustain CMSD’s very difficult work. And I will hold everyone accountable, including myself, so we know how we are doing in the ongoing pursuit to provide quality public education in every neighborhood for every learner.
- We need to listen to teachers, students, and parents systematically – in surveys and in person. I will work with Eric to visit our schools regularly, thank our students and educators, and provide a strong voice and role model on their behalf. I will show up personally.
- The crisis involves all our kids, because all CMSD students have lost learning and learning time during the pandemic. They risk long-term negative effects on students, families, and all of our future workforce and economy. We must help them catch up.
- I will work to ensure that we keep kids in school. They don’t just need urging – they need more intentional focus on supports and resources. We need health and mental health programs in every school, available to all our learners. We need to provide more food assistance and wrap-around family services. We need to make sure every student who has fallen behind can get the tutoring they need to keep moving forward. These are deep concerns and I’ll work with our educators and partners to do all we can to address them as such.
- By getting more police off desk duty and increasing community policing, we can keep children safe whether they walk to school or wait at bus stops. I believe this will support student attendance and build confidence in school safety.
- Going beyond the test scores, although pandemic falloffs are alarming - we need a sound strategy and set of tools to help an entire generation of students get back on track. I’ll work on priorities like these with our educators and families:
- Getting more 3- and 4-year-olds into quality pre-school, because children in poverty tend to start school already behind and without the skills to succeed.
- Sustaining and building on the nationally recognized CMSD attendance program to combat pandemic-caused declines in off track attendance.
- Repeating the CMSD Summer Learning Experience every year, because it provided thousands of kids the opportunity to continue learning and being engaged all summer.
- Expanding tutoring options throughout the school year and summer – including peer tutoring via the summer youth employment program.
- Adding and promoting more after school and weekend instruction for intensive acceleration, enrichment for students who are on track, and year-round schools.
- Developing more college and career pathways and partnerships (with local employers, organized labor, postsecondary education, and role models) so every student can see where staying in the game can lead them. This includes continuing curriculum alignment with the jobs of the future, as well shadowing and internship opportunities to get exposure to future local opportunities.
- Doing the same with visitations to Tri-C, CSU, CWRU and other colleges in cooperation with Say YES, which is an incredible opportunity for our students.
- Building on the relationships among schools, the Cleveland Public Library, University Circle cultural institutions, and our health and human services organizations, which maximizes support for student success in every way possible.
- Solving three deficiencies the pandemic made an even higher priority: better internet connectivity in all neighborhoods and every student’s home; developing families’ skills to use connectivity for their education, health care, and job; and improving online curriculum and tutoring so students can move ahead.
- Showing up, not only in schools, but in our community, in Columbus, with other Ohio educators, and doing whatever it takes to emphasize education and get the resources we need to succeed.
Modern & Responsive City Hall
City Hall is outdated. Our systems and processes are stuck in the past and it’s time for a major upgrade to ensure we operate in the 21st century with the latest technology to increase efficiency. Residents shouldn’t have to drive, walk or take the bus to Lakeside Avenue to use basic city services. City services must be responsive to neighborhood needs. When we contact City Hall, we should know that means that we can reach them and get a timely response and solution to basic requests that all tax-paying residents are entitled to.
- Modernize City Hall with new technologies, streamline permit processes and online services to make it easy for residents to get support from City Hall.
- Update the City’s website to ensure residents can easily and quickly find information about policies, programs, services, grants and other public information. Updating the city’s website is overdue.
- Upgrade the Mayor’s Action Center and implement a process to track your complaint every step of the way to increase accountability and responsiveness
- Create a culture of customer service by mandating training for every new employee and monitoring performance through regular reporting of KPIs.
- Conduct an audit of every Department to identify inefficiencies and opportunities to integrate so ensure residents don’t have to call 4 or 5 departments to get their grass cut.
- Appoint new management to the West Side Market to ensure city-owned assets are managed and maintained by experts and vendors receive the dedicated support they deserve.
- Select a Cabinet that reflects the diversity of our city and appoint a Chief Racial Equity Officer to ensure every policy and program is examined through a racial equity lens.
Public Health
The City allocates only 1% of its budget to the Public Health Department. We must increase funding immediately to ensure we can recover from this health crisis and keep residents safe and healthy. We must develop coordinated strategies to quickly distribute vaccines, accelerate lead testing and increase access to healthy food to close food deserts.
- Increase funding for the Public Health Department and hire experts in public health response to help us recover from this health crisis.
- Coordinate vaccine outreach to address vaccine hesitancy and increase distribution to protect our residents and their loved ones from COVID-19.
- Accelerate lead testing and remediation. We must move faster on testing and remove lead paint and pipes that poison our children.
- Leverage the Opportunity Corridor as a food manufactuing hub to address food deserts and insecurity.
Housing
In 2020, Cleveland overtook Detroit as the poorest big city in the country with 30.8% of residents living below the poverty line. A Bibb Administration will develop a hyperlocal economic development strategy that recognizes the unique needs of each neighborhood and make investments to increase affordable housing options across the city by revisiting outdated incentives, encouraging homeownership and supporting our homeless population with services and pathways to secure housing.
- Re-examine tax abatement policy and provide tax relief for long-time owner occupants to stop residents from being priced out and pushed out
- Increase access to homeownership by working with banking partners to offer equitable, accessible lending products, including lease-to-purchase programs and mortgages under $100,000
- Evict predatory property managers, I will make it a priority to stop the decay of our housing stock before it is too late. I will throw out the predatory companies who exploit and destroy our neighborhoods and incentivize our neighbors to rehab, improve and otherwise invest in their homes.
- Invest in permanent supportive housing for people at risk of homelessness. It’s a proven model which shows that built-in wraparound services provides individuals with the care they need and prevents hospitalization and corrections costs.
Neighborhood Services
Every resident should live no more than 15-minutes from public transit, fresh groceries, healthcare, recreation centers, libraries and other essential services. A Bibb Administration will get back to the basics by focusing on making sure every neighborhood has access to the basics in 15 minutes and fight for immediate action on the lead paint crisis, decayed housing stock and recycling to clean up our neighborhoods.
- Plan a 15-minute city. All residents should be able to access high quality childcare, clinics, recreation areas, senior centers, libraries, schools, transportation,a grocery store, park, and other community assets within 15 minutes. These are basic city services and amenities that improve quality of life.
- Accelerate lead testing and remediation. We must move faster on testing and remove lead paint and pipes that poison our children.
- Prioritize basic infrastructure upgrades for public safety. We need to identify, track and repair potholes and cracked sidewalks to reduce walking hazards, particularly for our seniors.
- Add protected bike lanes in high-traffic areas to protect cyclists from dangerous and potentially fatal collisions so we don’t leave our riders' safety to chance.
- Remove the jersey barriers at Public Square
- Restart recycling program to ensure recycling is an option for all Clevelanders. We need a more cost-effective vendor and a public education campaign to prevent costly contamination in the waste management process.
Climate and Environmental Justice
Cleveland gets most of its power from the third-largest emitting coal plant in the country, that has to change as we move towards a clean energy future. The climate is in crisis and we must recognize that this is a public health emergency. Everyone deserves to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and walk on streets that aren’t covered in trash. I will fight for environmental justice to stop residents from paying too much for their electricity bills, ensure everyone has access to affordable public transit and ensure every neighborhood has access to public parks and greenspaces.
- End the 50-year contract locking residents into a bad deal with Cleveland Public Power, which overcharges residents for services at the expense of mismanagement at CPP.
- Increase frequency of public transit and expand routes to better connect Downtown to our neighborhoods by conducting a route analysis of our railways, bike and path trails to develop a connected mobility strategy.
- Pilot free or highly subsidized transit for low-income riders paid for with newly generated sources of revenue from smart parking meters
- Prioritize public parks and greenspaces in every neighborhood and develop an equitable parks Master Plan to drive new investment decisions in park development and design.
- Punish polluters who illegally dump garbage into our neighborhoods and vacant lots and violate[5]
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