Five Documenters covered a 12-hour day at Cleveland City Council on Aug. 16. Council wrapped up its second summer session by taking action on 60-plus pieces of legislation. It reviewed more than half of them that day, including $10-million for home repair loans, $7.3-million for middle neighborhoods, and $3.5-million for emergency repairs at Browns Stadium, plus a plan to raise parking rates in the city. Check out the highlights in this week’s episode. 👇🏿

Listen to this week’s Public Meetings Report here:

The Documenters whose work contributed to this episode are:

  • Lauren Hakim
  • Stesia Swain
  • Barbara Phipps
  • Marian Bryant 
  • Kellie Morris

Their work has been compiled this week by Cleveland Documenters’ Doug-Breehl-Pitorak and Anastazia Vanisko. The Public Meetings Report is produced by Gennifer Harding-Gosnell.

Learn how to become a Cleveland Documenter ⁠here⁠. The next Cleveland Documenters orientation is Thursday, September 21, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. via Zoom.

Show notes:

Signal Cleveland meeting briefs:

Documenters coverage: 

  • Cleveland City Council Committee of the Whole Notes and Live-Tweet Thread [Morning Session], Notes[1], Notes[2]  [Afternoon Session] (Cleveland Documenters, August 16, 2023) 
  • Cleveland City Council Notes – (Cleveland Documenters, August 16, 2023)

Related Signal Cleveland reporting: 

Legislation: 

  • Legislation authorizing funds for Cleveland Browns Stadium repairs 
  • Legislation authorizing ARPA funds for home repair loans 
  • Tabled legislation on parking system and rates  

Recordings: 

Other resources: 

The Public Meetings Report is a weekly audio rundown of what happened in local government meetings here in Greater Cleveland – in five minutes or less! The show is based on the work of Cleveland Documenters – residents like you who are trained and paid to document these meetings for the public. Produced by Signal Cleveland and Cleveland Documenters, in partnership with WOVU 95.9FM “Our Voices United,” a Burten, Bell, Carr community radio station.

Gennifer Harding-Gosnell, Freelance Audio Producer(she/her)
Gennifer is a news writer returning to her first love, radio. She holds a MA in Journalism from Kingston University in the UK, and has spent the last couple years as a Cleveland Documenter.

Managing Editor, Community (he/they)
Lawrence, a 2022 Stanford JSK Community Impact Fellow, was most recently field coordinator for Cleveland Documenters, where they led the recruitment of more than 600 Greater Cleveland residents. They bring a wealth of knowledge about journalism, civic engagement and technology. Lawrence has worked in non-commercial media for over 28 years, including 11 years at Ideastream where they focused on civic engagement and media production.

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