Cleveland City Council passed a tax-increment financing deal last week to transform a vacant industrial site near Edgewater Park into 106 apartments and commercial space.
What’s interesting is that so many council members voted no. The vote was 9 in favor and 5 against, an unusually high number of defections for a council that typically votes with unanimity.
Is a portion of council — however small — growing tired of TIFs? Ward 12’s Tanmay Shah, a new member who voted against the deal, said he wanted to counteract the “race to the bottom” in which cities are expected to subsidize projects.
“At some point we’re going to have to draw a line and say, ‘Look, we cannot keep mortgaging off our future to have some immediate development,’” he told Signal Cleveland.
The deal, known as a non-school TIF, redirects tax payments on new property value back into the financing of the project. (Cleveland schools still receive revenue, but other taxing entities don’t.) This particular TIF has a total value of about $11.4 million over 30 years.
The residential portion of the project will also receive a 15-year property tax abatement. The abated property value will become part of the TIF after those 15 years are up.
Another no vote came from Ward 5’s Richard Starr. On Monday, he said the Workforce Committee, which he chairs, should have had a chance to vet the project’s community benefits agreement. Council Members Nikki Hudson, Brian Kazy and Stephanie Howse-Jones also voted no.
The council member who represents the area to be redeveloped, Ward 7’s Austin Davis, called the $81.5 million project “a huge success story” because it turns the vacant Westinghouse property into new housing. He offered an upbeat assessment of his colleagues’ pushback on the deal.
“This is a new council,” Davis said. “It’s a new term. I am excited about the idea that there’s different views on this council and we’re going to discuss them.”
New neighborhood for Mayor Bibb
For years, Mayor Justin Bibb has lived in the Lumen, a high rise at Playhouse Square. It was fodder for adversaries during the 2021 mayoral race.
No longer. Bibb has taken up residence in the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood, election records show.
The Near West Side has been good to Bibb in both of his elections. The new Ward 7 gave him 85% of its mayoral votes last year, more than any other ward.
East Siders have long held the mayor’s office. George Voinovich lived in Collinwood, Mike White in Glenville, Jane Campbell near Shaker Square and Frank Jackson in Central.
Bibb spent his early years on Cleveland’s Southeast Side and in neighboring suburbs. Now he’s the first Cleveland mayor with a West Side address since Milan Avenue’s Dennis Kucinich.