Summary
- New Ward 12 Council Member Tanmay Shah held his first community meeting with constituents at Eagle Kafe.
- Shah talked about his priorities for the ward, including setting up an online system to manage constituent concerns, hiring new staff, and establishing an office within the ward.
- Shah took questions from residents about housing and road issues, and he talked about Cleveland’s plan to convert the closed CVS at Madison and West Boulevard into a fire station.
Follow-up questions
- After Shah’s election in November, multiple news articles described him as a “democratic socialist” (with either one, both, or neither of the two words capitalized). What does this mean exactly? Is he a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)? Is he a “self-described democratic socialist”? Something else?
- Do other council members support the idea of council creating a separate city budget from the mayor? If so, how could that happen, and how likely is that to happen?
- In the ward meeting, Shah said that Cleveland Director of Building and Housing Sally Martin O’Toole had stated during recent city budget meetings that the city did not need more housing inspectors. However, Cleveland Documenters’ coverage of the Feb. 23, 2026, budget meeting quotes O’Toole — in response to a question from Council Member Mike Polensek about having enough staff — as saying “there will never be enough staff.” How to explain this? Is there a difference between department staff overall and housing inspectors specifically? Am I missing something?
Scene at Cleveland Ward 12 community meeting
Note: Ward 12 includes Edgewater, Cudell, West Boulevard and Jefferson.
The Ward 12 community meeting was held in a back room at Eagle Kafe, a small Albanian coffee shop on Detroit Avenue and West 111th Street. The room was very crowded, with 40 to 50 people attending. Attendees enjoyed free food from nearby Earth Bistro. Ward 5 Council Member Richard Starr was also present and responded to questions asked during the audience Q&A part of the meeting. Because of technical issues, the meeting didn’t start until around 6:15 p.m., 15 minutes past the scheduled start time.
‘Corridor of Darkness’ along West Boulevard
The first resident who spoke in the Q&A asked about the lack of lighting along West Boulevard, referring to it as the “Corridor of Darkness.” They said the street lights have been out in a quarter-mile stretch of the street since Feb. 20. Shah said that while the Cleveland Public Power (CPP) grid is “outdated” and would need $30 million to $50 million in investment, it was also an asset to the city.
Presentation from Ward 12 Council Member Tanmay Shah
The meeting began with a presentation from Ward 12 Council Member Tanmay Shah, which took around 30 minutes. The outlines of the presentation were shown on a screen at the front of the room. In my recap of the presentation, the words that were shown on the screen will be in bold, and my summary of his remarks (along with additional context) will be in regular font.
Our new ward – A map of the new Ward 12 was shown, which includes the neighborhoods of Edgewater, Cudell, West Boulevard and Jefferson. It borders Lake Erie to the north and West 117th Street to the west, and includes portions of the old Wards 11 and 15.
Priorities: 1) Affordable housing 2) Affordable groceries 3) Reliable city services
Our work so far – Getting our bearings – Shah talked about his work connecting to city departments overall and partner organizations in Ward 12 specifically. Shah referenced his shortened preparation time before joining council (the Ward 12 race in the November 2025 election was very close and was not finalized until near Thanksgiving), and how it would take time to establish his communication setup.
Building a constituent service system – Shah said that while currently his staff is “reacting to our resident needs,” the goal is to become more proactive over time. As part of this effort, Shah talked about establishing an online system to track and monitor constituent concerns and to discern patterns by geography in the ward, city departments involved, etc. Shah also said this online system could collect contact information to allow faster and more efficient communication with constituents.
Shah said that he was able to collect past concerns recorded from the part of the ward represented by former council member Jenny Spencer, but not from the part of the ward formerly represented by Danny Kelly. Of the concerns received, Shah estimated around two-thirds related to housing, such as tenant complaints about landlords and seniors needing help with home repairs.
Budget 2026 – Shah described the 2026 Cleveland budget hearings as a “crash course” on city operations. Although Shah said the budget process was “fine,” he said some council members are advocating that council comes up with its own budget and not just be “reactive” to the mayor’s budget. Shah showed a pie chart detailing funds allocated to city departments from the approximately $1 billion 2026 General Fund expense budget. Public Safety was the largest recipient with 46% of the funds, with about 19% of the funds allocated for unspecified non-department functions.
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Next – Staff hiring – Shah said he wants to hire a housing organizer to conduct training sessions (for example, tenants’ rights) and to follow up on housing-related constituent concerns. He also mentioned having just hired a “constituent services organizer” to help connect residents to the city department.
Ward office – Shah spoke of the importance of having an office in the ward so residents won’t have to go to City Hall downtown to receive service. Shah said he hopes to have an office established on Lorain Avenue (or another major street in the ward) by May.
School mergers – Shah said that three CMSD schools in the ward are scheduled for closure and consolidation with other schools (for example, Louisa May Alcott Elementary will merge with Joseph M. Gallagher in the next school year). Shah described this as an “amazing opportunity” to shape redevelopment in the ward (although later in the meeting, he noted that the CMSD Board of Education has to navigate a state law affording priority to charter schools to take over closed public school buildings).
Empowering residents: – Connecting neighbors through block clubs, neighborhood associations, and community organizing – Shah talked about a feeling of alienation and disconnection in the Ward 12 neighborhoods and about actions like empowering people to establish neighborhood block clubs.
Neighborhood funds – Shah spoke about using city funds to help nurture neighborhoods in the ward, specifically referencing the “Summer Sprouts” program and money to establish neighborhood gardens.
Suggested Reading
Audience Q&A with Ward 12 residents
The second part of the meeting was a Q&A between residents and Shah. This began around 6:45 p.m. and continued until the conclusion of the meeting around 8:10 p.m. Residents started to leave around 7:15 p.m., with the crowd gradually dwindling until the end of the meeting. Common themes mentioned in residents’ questions/comments include:
- Road-related issues – A couple of residents asked about getting speed tables for streets near where they lived, with one resident specifically requesting an asphalt speed table because it would be more resistant to snowplow damage. Shah said he couldn’t guarantee anything, but invited the residents to talk further with him on the issue and (along with Starr) explained how speed tables are installed in the city (with 18 tables already scheduled for installation this year). One resident mentioned illegal parking on their street (Shah said that placing plastic strips over the street could help), while toward the end of the meeting another resident talked about the benefits of turning small side streets from asphalt to brick (less paving, lower speeds). Shah said to stay tuned, as Ward 11 Council Member Nikki Hudson is also interested in this.
- Resident-led neighborhood self-improvement – A couple of residents talked about activities they did themselves to clean up and improve their neighborhoods. One resident who lives near West 110th Street and Lake Avenue talked about maintaining flowers in a traffic island by their house. A resident near Bellaire Road and Highland Road talked about sweeping up broken glass off the road. In addition, Shah spoke about the larger problem of maintenance for a city that was built for a much larger population than it has now (he mentioned this at one point in response to a concern about persistent water main breaks).
- Housing – The issue of dilapidated and abandoned housing was raised by residents. In responding, Shah mentioned how, during recent budget hearings, Director of Building and Housing Sally Martin O’Toole said she didn’t need any additional building inspectors. Shah referred to information presented earlier in the meeting that Building and Housing represented only 1.8% of the 2026 General Fund budget, which he said reflects Mayor Justin Bibb’s priorities. A local landlord said that negative comments about landlords spread a “false narrative” and that torn-up properties are largely the fault of tenants. He proposed compiling a database of “extreme” tenants. Shah responded by noting current avenues for landlords to deal with problem tenants (evictions), and redirected the exchange toward efforts to prevent landlord discrimination toward possible tenants.
- Miscellaneous – In response to a resident’s question about plans for the former CVS store at the intersection of Madison Avenue and West Boulevard, Shah announced that the city had made an offer of above $600,000 to the owner to buy the property for conversion to a fire station. The owners have 10 days to respond, and if they aren’t interested in selling, Shah said the city is willing to use eminent domain in order to buy the building and proceed with the project.
These notes are by Documenter Tucker Handley. Tucker also recorded audio.
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@signalcleveland.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.
